Seven Days Down

Goodbye Sydney, for now.

Sydney Central Train Station

I <3 Sydney

     It has been a full week since I left Los Angeles but only five full days of adventure. I am finally in Wollongong (Wool-long-gong), NSW. It took about 80 minutes on a train to get here. The weather is a mixture of sun one day and rains the next; you can't plan a day at the beach it just has to happen. My sunburn is almost healed. The city is beautiful sits along the eastern coast with soft sand beaches.

Stanwell Lookout Point of Wollongong

I feel like I am going to school in the rain forest.

      With the beauty comes the price. Australia is expensive. A good meal costs about $25.00 minus the beer. I usually start the morning with any piece of fruit I can get my hands on. The standard staple for lunch consists of a piece of white bread covered with either tomato or BBQ sauce and a chicken sausage link. The causal meat paired with salad and chips for dinner.  To wash this all down I grab a beer, I am really taking a liking to Coopers Brew Pale Ale.

       

Uni Campus 

       Aussies at my place are all friendly and very mature for a group of 18 year olds. See in Australia 18 is the legal drinking age so most of them started around 16-17. The first couple days the groups were segregated boy/girl but now that we been in close quarters it is starting to mix. For instance, we visit the North Gong Pub for an $8 steak (Note: Steak is cheap here), after we all mingle and chat like 25 year olds (Great scene, all we really needed was a fire but then its 75 degrees outside). 

We talk about:

1.Kangaroos

2. Guns and how screwed up the US is- "If we had America's gun laws, 20 of us would have walked into the bar tonight and only 5 of us would of walked out," says the mate Michael.

3.Rugby

4. Beer- If an Aussie male drinks cider, he is a "pussy".

5. The influx of Asians in Australia

6. All the towns everyone is from and what is NOT special about each

      We are all staying at Flinders Motel for a month. There is a consensus it will extend past.  I like the motel because it is only five minutes from the pubs, beach and mall.  Plus it has this ratchet kind of dodgy ("shady" in AUS) look all dark with common kitchen and laundry with no dryer. Spring Break 1978! Where we are suppose to go to in a month reminds me of the new lofts in Pasadena, Calif. My room is shared with a girl from Indonesia who is here to learn English. Yes, she knows very little and she chose Australia to learn English, not my first choice.

North Wollongong Beach 

       Australia does have the potential to be my first choice in the category of where I want to live for the next few years. Aussies have done amazing job with their country, they have found that balance between appreciating what they have and wanting to progress ahead. Their backyard is amazing, full of history and natural resources while a sustainable and efficient vehicle sits in the driveway. I read somewhere on pamphlet that Australia holds the records for most inventions, and I can definitely believe it.

Turtle Love

Sick of Parking Citations

           Even though frustrations about parking violations are popular among Cal State University Long Beach students, the majority pay their fines on time. Since January 2011, CSULB has acquired the amount of $300,000 from unpaid parking violations. The student government on campus is working to amend the parking policies; making the process more efficient and beneficial. 

            Associate Student Inc. Vice President Jonathon Bolin proposed an idea that has been gaining support from students and faculty. The basic idea is that if you get a parking violation and you don’t have a valid permit visible, the only way you could absolve the ticket is with the purchase of a semester permit. This has to occur within seven days of receiving the parking ticket. You cannot reverse the ticket if you already have a semester permit or buy a $5 daily pass.

            “This would promote the purchase of $123, which would be more funding for the school. It is almost triples the revenue that a parking ticket would bring in.” stated Bolin.

            Talia Fuentes, a freshman at CSULB, thinks the school should eliminate $5 daily parking passes entirely. 

            “For sure there is a parking problem at our school. Take those random lots by the dorms and create parking structures not water fountains,” Fuentes suggested as a solution.  

            When asked if there is adequate amount of parking spaces for students, Mark Rudometkin, general manager of parking and transportation at CSULB answered “Right now there is enough space, enforcement is done to provide consistency of the space availability and to uphold the integrity of the policies and regulations at school.” He also added his thoughts on permits, “Semester permits are the best value if you attend school at least twice a week.”

            The only factor delaying Bolin’s plan is that there is still some research about where the revenue goes and how it is redistributed.

            “Right now we want to make sure a department won’t lose funding that might be helping students through other programs,” said Bolin.  If all the research works in favor of his proposed policy then he predicts it will take effect by fall 2012 semester.

            However, the newly proposed idea does not address the $300,000 in fines that are unpaid at CSULB. Even though 35 percent risk the penalty of late ticket fees, Bolin says that this percentage could drastically decrease if his plan is passed.  

            If students have any suggestions about making the campus more resourceful, Bolin is urging them to attend the ASI senate meetings this summer. The senate meets in the USU/Senate Chambers every Wednesday at 3 p.m.