My First Night @ Sydney
Dear God,
Thank you for giving me a safe journey here. Sometimes we plan and have an ideal image in our mind what will actually happen here in Sydney. But things always do not work out as planned.
Well one thing for sure, I did not expect to struggle with my luggage bags. It pays to travel light, but I didn’t have a choice because my Mum and Dad were not accompanying me and mind you, I would be commencing a 4 years course, so obviously my bag would be super heavy. My troubles begin right at the check in counter at change airport; I was made to remove an additional 2 kg from my check in bag due to some Australia customs laws that prohibits travelers and students to check in more than 32 kg. Honestly, this is ridiculous. This sort of arrangement should be based on the demand and supply curve. If some passengers carry lesser load, why not than transfer their unused load to those who needs the luggage space more than them. So there I was right in the middle of the airport, unpacking my stuff. Than I realized my mum did not bring my e-ticket on SQ. But I need not worry for it’s a paperless ticket, all I need to do is to produce my passport and I would be checked in. The kind lady at the reception counters than directed me to the ticketing counter to retrieve my travel itinerary. Thank God for such efficient staff. SQ really does provide quality customer service. Thereafter, I stood there welcoming some of my friends, church pastor and leader, my ex boss and my relatives. I kind of forgot about time and soon, I realized that I had 5 mins left to charge to the gate to board my flight. Woah, never did I expect to be so rushed. In my mind, my perfect and ideal image was sipping coffee at transit before I board at a leisurely pace, but it was the not the case.
At the inspection corner, I was made to strip my hand luggage and if u have seen my hand luggage, you will know that it’s such a hassle to reassemble my luggage back to its original position. So I took another couple of minutes to rearrange my hand luggage. Okie I made a pre seating arrangement for the EMAX(emergency exit( seat) based on my friends recommendation due to more leg room size and etc. To my horror, my seat was kind of obstructed my emergency exit so it appears to be more squashed up than the regular seats. And I did not have an option to change seats as the flight was overbooked. But I took it all in my stride. I knew that we should learn to just bear with it and move on. The passengers beside me were really nice people. An Irish and an Englishmen, both traveling to Sydney for holidays. I took the initiative to start a conversation with them. It was really nice just hearing about their lives and how they intended to celebrate valentines day- in bed with their girlfriends. Haha. It was hilarious.
Okie so I arrived at Sydney airport at around 730 am and was ushered to the immigration department for clearance purpose. The lady at the counter was really sweet. I realized that when u are sincerely nice to people, they will reciprocate back. I was talking to her for a while and found out that her younger brother would be commencing his studies in the commerce faculty at the University of Sydney. Thereafter, a couple other immigration officers came up to me and questioned me regarding my purpose in Australia and whether I have anything to declare. Well it’s true that the immigration authorities are very strict and really enforcing their quarantine laws so its no surprising that many people seem rather frustrated with the whole waiting thing,
I proceeded to my university apartment and checked in at the reception. I give thanks to God for sending so many people to help me Take for example, I was stranded at the University Reception desk just now because I had a whole load of luggage and I was having a lot of difficulty carrying my baggage over to my hostel room, a lovely lady from Taiwan came over and volunteered to assist me to find my hostel room and help me move my luggage here. I cannot express my sincere heartfelt thanks. I swear I will be very helpful to all newcomers in the future.
To my shock and horror, none of my other rommies have arrived yet. Well. I don’t know but it sucks being the first to arrive. There’s no one to receive you and I am all alone in this big and spacious apartment till my rommies come. I think I came over too early. Apparently the rest of them will only start coming in late this week as orientation is next week, so I guess this is a short lived misery. I pray that God will grant me a roommate soon and I also pray that God will provide the right roommates for me that I will be able to appreciate other nationalities even more. I am overwhelmed today by the sheer amount of things to do and I really felt quite ‘alone’ today but I guess this is growing up. I wish that the university could have done more to make me feel more welcomed, but yet again I appreciate the university’s style as I realized I am indeed more independent now as this is just such a small hurdle. The big hurdle is still yet to come in terms of coping with my double degree, so I should learn not to be anxious but in all things submit to God in keen petition and he will keep my path straight.
As I lay out my plans for tomorrow, I am even more optimistic that many more great things are ahead of me and I will open my spiritual eyes and ears for more of God’s direction. I know God has laid a path for me and I walk ahead knowing that God is leading my path and no matter what he will never forsake me. I am tired and need to sleep after all the jet lag. so take care till we meet again.
Thank you for giving me a safe journey here. Sometimes we plan and have an ideal image in our mind what will actually happen here in Sydney. But things always do not work out as planned.
Well one thing for sure, I did not expect to struggle with my luggage bags. It pays to travel light, but I didn’t have a choice because my Mum and Dad were not accompanying me and mind you, I would be commencing a 4 years course, so obviously my bag would be super heavy. My troubles begin right at the check in counter at change airport; I was made to remove an additional 2 kg from my check in bag due to some Australia customs laws that prohibits travelers and students to check in more than 32 kg. Honestly, this is ridiculous. This sort of arrangement should be based on the demand and supply curve. If some passengers carry lesser load, why not than transfer their unused load to those who needs the luggage space more than them. So there I was right in the middle of the airport, unpacking my stuff. Than I realized my mum did not bring my e-ticket on SQ. But I need not worry for it’s a paperless ticket, all I need to do is to produce my passport and I would be checked in. The kind lady at the reception counters than directed me to the ticketing counter to retrieve my travel itinerary. Thank God for such efficient staff. SQ really does provide quality customer service. Thereafter, I stood there welcoming some of my friends, church pastor and leader, my ex boss and my relatives. I kind of forgot about time and soon, I realized that I had 5 mins left to charge to the gate to board my flight. Woah, never did I expect to be so rushed. In my mind, my perfect and ideal image was sipping coffee at transit before I board at a leisurely pace, but it was the not the case.
At the inspection corner, I was made to strip my hand luggage and if u have seen my hand luggage, you will know that it’s such a hassle to reassemble my luggage back to its original position. So I took another couple of minutes to rearrange my hand luggage. Okie I made a pre seating arrangement for the EMAX(emergency exit( seat) based on my friends recommendation due to more leg room size and etc. To my horror, my seat was kind of obstructed my emergency exit so it appears to be more squashed up than the regular seats. And I did not have an option to change seats as the flight was overbooked. But I took it all in my stride. I knew that we should learn to just bear with it and move on. The passengers beside me were really nice people. An Irish and an Englishmen, both traveling to Sydney for holidays. I took the initiative to start a conversation with them. It was really nice just hearing about their lives and how they intended to celebrate valentines day- in bed with their girlfriends. Haha. It was hilarious.
Okie so I arrived at Sydney airport at around 730 am and was ushered to the immigration department for clearance purpose. The lady at the counter was really sweet. I realized that when u are sincerely nice to people, they will reciprocate back. I was talking to her for a while and found out that her younger brother would be commencing his studies in the commerce faculty at the University of Sydney. Thereafter, a couple other immigration officers came up to me and questioned me regarding my purpose in Australia and whether I have anything to declare. Well it’s true that the immigration authorities are very strict and really enforcing their quarantine laws so its no surprising that many people seem rather frustrated with the whole waiting thing,
I proceeded to my university apartment and checked in at the reception. I give thanks to God for sending so many people to help me Take for example, I was stranded at the University Reception desk just now because I had a whole load of luggage and I was having a lot of difficulty carrying my baggage over to my hostel room, a lovely lady from Taiwan came over and volunteered to assist me to find my hostel room and help me move my luggage here. I cannot express my sincere heartfelt thanks. I swear I will be very helpful to all newcomers in the future.
To my shock and horror, none of my other rommies have arrived yet. Well. I don’t know but it sucks being the first to arrive. There’s no one to receive you and I am all alone in this big and spacious apartment till my rommies come. I think I came over too early. Apparently the rest of them will only start coming in late this week as orientation is next week, so I guess this is a short lived misery. I pray that God will grant me a roommate soon and I also pray that God will provide the right roommates for me that I will be able to appreciate other nationalities even more. I am overwhelmed today by the sheer amount of things to do and I really felt quite ‘alone’ today but I guess this is growing up. I wish that the university could have done more to make me feel more welcomed, but yet again I appreciate the university’s style as I realized I am indeed more independent now as this is just such a small hurdle. The big hurdle is still yet to come in terms of coping with my double degree, so I should learn not to be anxious but in all things submit to God in keen petition and he will keep my path straight.
As I lay out my plans for tomorrow, I am even more optimistic that many more great things are ahead of me and I will open my spiritual eyes and ears for more of God’s direction. I know God has laid a path for me and I walk ahead knowing that God is leading my path and no matter what he will never forsake me. I am tired and need to sleep after all the jet lag. so take care till we meet again.
posted by theflyisneverdead at 2/16/2006 09:06:00 PM
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