Holidays + #Instagram

Following a recent trip to Australia’s other top dog city in Victoria, I can safely say that I’ll never take my iPhone or Instagram account for granted again.

People laugh and poke fun at those who even have an account that’s not Facebook – that too was once laughed at and mocked – simply because they deem it uncool or, as some people tend to put it these days, is “for mere hipsters and not us mortal folk.” Yes, I’m almost certain I didn’t just make that up in my head.

There’s a particular joy that comes with having the ability to achieve photographer genius in under 27 seconds with the use of another glorious Apple product. And then receiving a bulk of ‘likes’ from people who appreciate/admire your creative efforts is just the cherry on top.

Melbourne was a highly Instagrammable city (that too is something I don’t think I just made up), where delights and a European-style sense of street life paved the way for my photographic prowess as I captured all of the most glorious moments for the entire Instagramming public to see.

I found this quite cute.

Rock & Roll… OMG those ribs are delicious.

Last Saturday evening was quite chilled. A few of the exchange students and I headed to Munich’s kicking Hard Rock Cafe where we nibbled on all sorts of yummy treats such as Nachos, burgers and ribs, all in the name of the USA. It was a very delicious [and fattening] thanksgiving to be had. ;]

Just chilling in these pics below. :]

Hope my dear American’s all had a great Thanksgiving too!

Ryan :]
x

OKTOBERFEST… (Take Two)

So on Saturday the 1st of Oktober, I enjoyed the never-ending booze-fest for a second time and on a day that I found rather suitable for its namesake- being the first day of October. :]

Of course wanting to get a table in a Beer Tent meant I was waking up at 4:50am and meeting the other exchangees at 5.30 to get to Theresienwiese before the main crowds… we all failed in that pursuit. It was already packed and we were lucky enough to score a table in the tent… but we were forcibly kicked out at 11.30am due to a reservation… didn’t ruin my day though. :]

Later that evening my host brother celebrated his 18th birthday and boy did we have a good time.

Lots of good stories about that one. :p
But I won’t be mentioning them on here… perhaps on request. ;]

There was a good variety of German food, a lot of dancing (to my amazing music) and there was even a few Shisha pipes. Here’s some photos from that glorious day/evening. :]

Can’t wait till my next birthday ;] 19 Years old… still got quite a while to go though :p Stay tuned for some more Oktoberfest photos. :] Shall be uploaded within 24 hours or so. LOVVVVVE Ryan. x

Up in the clouds.

I’m certain most of the people with an inner-child have seen this brilliant film below right?

Well, this weekend I was at pretty much the same level in the sky that Carl, Russell and Dug were at. Invited by my Rotary Club, a fellow exchange student from Chile and I spent two nights, three days in the Wendelstein Mountain area, quite close to the beautiful town of Schliersee in Southern Germany. :]

We ended up doing a short hike, ate some amazing food, stayed in a beautiful old hotel, went into a cave, saw a waterfall, went to an old German village, and took a cable car down the hill (or should I say giant-ass mountain?), just to name a few things.

Here’s a small gallery of what we got up to (I seriously had to cut down on the photos… so many of them were simply superb).

Beer, Lederhosen and Bretzen…

… I most certainly am referring to the one and only OKTOBERFEST!!

World famous, and rightfully so, this beer mecca isn’t just for the locals… I’m certain that 90% of the drunks within the Hofbräu Beer Tent were Australians… making their country “proud”. ;]

Anyway, just to be clear, I only had four hours sleep from the night before (nothing to do with someone drunk-calling me)… but my host brother, two Argentinian exchange students and I decided to go clubbing… prepping up for the big day. :]
Well worth it normally, I was incredibly tired when we arrived in Munich, but that never stopped me from having a blast with some long-lost friends! Met up with so many people I know… no mentioning names… *cough* Mississippi-mates *cough*… :]

The beer was delicious, the bretzen too (although certainly not fresh), and the rides were great…. after two beers :] Haha. The Olympic themed rollercoaster was a personal favourite, as was the pitch-black ‘Haunted House’ rollercoaster…  :D

So without further adieu (I’m sure that’s how you spell it), I give you a gallery filled with great memories!

Just so we know, I have recently come to own a gorgeous second-hand pair of lederhose… so the next time we go, I’ll be looking all that more authentic. :]

Hope some of you join me there.
We’ll have a ball… and a few beers ;]
Lots and lots of drunken* love…
Ryan
x

P.S. IF ROTARY READS THIS, I DIDN’T DRINK AT ALL… it was all for show. ;]

One TV jingle, two TV jingle’s, three… I want it.

I know I’ve once posted a list of songs I enjoy. I thought why not ad a list of my favourite 15 commercials. Many of them have now got jingles stuck in my head. Great for me though, coz I can’t get enough of them ;]
It seems it’s not just for me though, many of the classics here have been remade again and again.
And in no particular order we have:

1. Makes Those Bodies Sing – Australian Bananas, early-mid 1990′s, Australia (early 2000′s remake, latest edition)
2. Decore – Decore Shampoo, 1986, Australia (1988 remake)
3. Banana Boat - Banana Boat Sunscreen, late 1990′s, Australia
4. “Not Happy Jan” – Yellow Pages, 2000, Australia
5. Flashdance/Flashbeer – Carlton Draught, Australia
6. Satisfaction, Tooheys Extra Dry, Australia
7. Balls – Sony Bravia, 2005, Worldwide
8. ‘A Summer Classic’ - Peter’s Drumstick, Australia
9. Vegemite Nostalgia - Vegemite, 2010, Australia
10. I Still Call Australia Home – QANTAS, 1998, Worldwide (2000 remake, 2001 remake, 2004 remake, 2009 remake)
11. Adam & Eve – Centraal Beheer, 2008, Netherlands
12. Come As You Are – McDonald’s, 2010, France (and its parody)
13. Use Condoms – Zazoo Condoms
14. Never Say No to Panda Commercials – Panda, Middle East
15. “Tidy Up” Commercials – IKEA, 2005, Europe (Other Version)

Prague, Prag, Praha. Ein wunderschönes Stadt.

‘A beautiful city’.
That’s what it says in the heading for all those people who haven’t had the lovely challenge of learning German. But I have to admit, as my skills (and slight arrogance) in German grow, my English becomes worse. Not happy Jan.

Yet that’s not why you’re here. You’ve not come to listen to complaints and sit there idly as nothing can be done about it (except for clicking that little ‘x’ at the top of your web browser… but then we could never be together through the use of my blog). You have come though to hear about the joyous adventures that I’ve been having, and what I’ve been up to most recently. So sit back, relax, make some popcorn and read about the only jewel i’ve found amongst the worlds great cities that even comes close to my beloved Sydney; Prague. :]

It all began on a cold winters day…. Just kidding. I’m quite sure I remember it as blistering hot. In fact, it very well may have been… As it was a public holiday, I had to get up very early to travel with my host mum to the nearest train station or I’d have no means of getting to Munich on time for our train to Prague. I managed to struggle out of bed and into the shower, feeling quite instantaneously refreshed. Much more awake and less bitter (it occurs most often in the mornings), we drove to the station and caught the 6am train to Augsburg where I changed and ventured on further to Munich, full of anticipation for the long weekend ahead.

Meeting up early at Burger King (the [filthy] American version of Hungry Jacks), we slowly headed over to our train and squeezed onboard for the six hour journey. It was hellish if anything, having to sit in the corridor, as people (who had not reserved seats) sat in the cabins. All we could do was sit, wait, and mouth/sing the words to Katy Perry songs to annoy the other passengers. It was most certainly a success. :]
Win for the exchange students.

As the train eased into Prague’s outskirts, we pounced on the opportunity to pinch some more comfortable accomodation from those who wanted to take pictures and stand in awe at the sights of the surrounding cityscape. We still won. We got seats and a show. :]

The train finally drew into the station and we disembarked with our ridiculous amount of luggage and were off to the nearest currency exchange. The luck some people had in finding somewhere in which we could exchange our money for 0% was quite astounding. But I still feel as if we may have been slightly ripped off. Oh well, that’s Eastern Europe.

Distrikt Konferenz

This was quite a recent event. Perhaps about two weekends ago and held in the town of Dillingen, on the Donau River. It was a picturesque German town and was very similar in attributes to most small towns we saw on the Deutschland tour: quiet, calm and pretty. We were lucky enough to have the Rotary District Conference for 1840 (The Greater chunk of Bayern) here. It was I must say, a memorable weekend. We had a lot of fun.

I did this just to spite you Lil.

So this is Lily, and she’ll love it when she sees i’ve uploaded an embarrassing photo of her. It’s when she had ice cream. Evil one. Anyway, enough of Lily, and more of the events… So we were asked to do a presentation [all the exchange students] in front of the entire conference, based on something that is culturally significant for our own countries. For example, the Argentinian’s danced Tango, the Brazilian’s danced Samba and Capoeira, the Taiwanese girls played traditional instruments and then all the English speakers (plus one Finnish girl) joined forces to sing their own verses to an Australian song: Home Among the Gum Trees! Win for the Aussies, aye? Think Again… We were followed by a lone Kiwi who performed the Haka with every other male exchange student, apart from me. It was a small defeat. The crowd cheered at their performance. So I ask every Aussie back home or abroad who’s near a Kiwi. Beat him at something. And I don’t mean with a plank of wood.

Frühlingsfest [in München]

So, for those who just can’t quite work that out, it’s a Spring Festival [in Munich], and we went there the day after Plärrer. So apologies there for the delay, I’ve had a bit of trouble with internet and stuff, plus I’ve just recently moved on to my second family. So now I’m living in Zusmarshausen, which means I must travel about 120 mins per day with the bus to get to school and back. Yippee. But there’s really no complaining. Apart from having to get up at 6am, which I suppose is good training for my future career, the bus trip is quite lovely. Our route takes through the rolling hills of the Bavarian countryside, between lush forests and Augsburg‘s sprawling suburbs. Quite a journey indeed.

But back to the main event. I’m offering you some insight into what I got up to on this chaotic Saturday. It began with me travelling in with three Brazilian‘s and an Argentian. We travelled to Munich’s Main Station and then got an underground train to where the festival was being held (at the same site as Oktoberfest). We were surrounded by rides galore. A true playground for children and adults alike.

What an awesome ride. Except that it's covered in America.

I should have tried photography... this ain't half bad.