Day 26: The Haka

Hello readers! Today was a good day! This morning we walked back to the War Memorial Museum and watched the Maori Cultural Experience. This performance consisted of three Maori men called warriors and three Maori women called maidens who showed us traditional songs, dances, and weapons demonstrations of their culture. It looked a little funny but I gained some insight into the Maori culture.

After we went to a New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team exhibit which was awesome. They were the 2011 World Cup champions and probably some of the toughest guys I have ever seen. Their pre-game game routine is one of the coolest things ever. It gets me so pumped up. It's called the Haka. It's a traditional war dance that was used to intimidate and scare their foes away. It consists of shouting chants, slapping their body to show that they couldn't feel pain, and sticking their tongue out and bulging their eyes in defiance to the opponents. The legend has it that several times the Maori's foes would run away in fear just because of the Haka.

We took a few pictures with the warriors and explored the museum and headed off to one of the major streets in Auckland, Queen Street. We picked out a new cell phone plan, which was not as convenient as Australia's plan, it costs us about 89 cents a minute to call home. After we got our SIM cards we hopped a cab and went to a little side street restaurant/pub and I had a delicious creole chicken pie, cheddar mash, a salad and a pint of an IPA called Epic Armageddon. We explored Queen Street and enjoyed the sites before we grabbed some food and had a fun evening back at the apartment. We're headed to Auckland University tomorrow! War Eagle!

Day 25: Welcome to N-Zed.

Finally made it to New Zealand! I called it “Zed” because New Zealander’s pronunciation of the letter Z is pronounced “Zed” rather than “Zee.” Anyway, this country is beautiful. We flew into cloudy, slightly rainy weather but the scenery was still beautiful. We’re staying in the Waldorf at St. Martin in the Auckland CBD and it’s awesome. I’m in an awesome three-bedroom apartment with Andrew and Matthew. After settling in, our group headed out to a park nearby and got to see the beautiful Maori War Memorial fountain. We grabbed a kebab and watched a movie and called it a night. War Eagle!

War Memorial

View from our apartment on the porch

Day 24: Goodbye Melbourne!

Last day in Melbourne! We had a pretty busy day and an enjoyable evening. We went to the Southern Crossing rail station and observed the interesting curved structural steel design. Here's a couple pictures:

After the train station, we headed over to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds and got a private tour, which was really cool. The tour was lead by an old man named Robert who was the typical awesome crazy, funny senior citizen that knew so much about Melbourne Cricket and has been coming to that stadium since the 1940's. I was I could've seen a match in that stadium but we have to leave tomorrow!

Robert, our tour guide, with his amazing jacket

We were fortunate enough to be able to go see a play that evening, The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll at the Victoria State Theatre. It was better than I expected it to be even though it turned out to be a tragedy. Everyone loves a good tragedy a guess.

Talk to y'all tomorrow in New Zealand! War Eagle!

Day 23: Why does someone have to be naked to be perceived as artistic?

Hopefully the title of the blog revealed that we went to the Melbourne Art Centre and not something...weird. Moving on. The museum was actually pretty cool despite the gratuitous "natural" human form paintings and sculptures. The stained glass ceiling in one section of the museum was really neat and they encouraged people to lay down on the carpet and stare up to get the full effect.

Really long light ladder or optical illusion?

After the art museum, our professors decided to take us to St. Kilda Beach to watch the massive influx of sail boats and kite surfers littered throughout the bay. It was beautiful. But I didn't jump in the water today because the water was freezing and the wind was really strong. We had a chill night and watched a few movies that we rented down in the common room. Only one more day left in Melbourne! It's crazy how fast its gone by. I can't wait for New Zealand! War Eagle!

Try to ignore the man drying off

Day 22: Australians end every sentence like they're asking a question?

Today was a busy day! We got to sleep in fairly late and make our way back to RMIT's School for Construction Management for a Q&A session with some of the current staff which was extremely helpful for the BSCI students with questions about their thesis. We had a guided building tour of the classrooms and the offices for the school which was interesting to see the setting where students from around the world learn. After the tour we walked over to the construction site of RMIT's newest project, the Swanston Academic Building, which was really cool. It was extremely unique in a variety of ways. The exterior facade was crazy and the ideas they incorporated into the design and the implied feel of each office, commons area, and classrooms was interesting. I find myself almost being jealous of Australian architects and the unparalleled freedom they are given when designing a structure. I've seen some of the coolest/weirdest/ugliest/insert adverb in this country than I have ever seen in my life. These structures introduce a refreshing sense of complexity into cities because it seems like no two buildings are alike, but it's cool because at the same time I feel like there's still continuity within the urban environment. I know that sounds contradictory, but I think that aptly describes Melbourne.

There are intricate aluminum panels on each window which acts as a sun shade for the interior of the building.

Standing in a lecture hall from a professor's view

Interesting interior facade near an entrance hall that is supposed to represent a jungle

Classroom

Well we're all looking forward to a fun night because we are headed to the Victoria Night Market, which has great food, drinks, live music, and cool street vendor booths. After the R.A.'s at RMIT Village (where we're staying) want to take us out for a night on the town. They want to take us to a bar that serves Budweiser so "we'll feel comfortable." Ha. A little taste of home I suppose. Cheers!

Day 21: The Notebook? Really?

Today was yet another busy but fun day! We hooked up with RMIT again and walked through a couple construction sites at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Guilfoyle Serviced Apartments. The MCEC was probably one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen in my life. It's the ideal picture of what I believe American builders should strive for when constructing sustainable structures. It is the only 6 Star Green Star convention centre in the entire world. It is enormous and they have literally thought of what seems like every situation and have a gadget or have built something into the structure to aid in a certain scenario. I could start describing certain cool aspects of the building but I would probably end up rambling for way too long and I don't want to bore y'all with all these little details as neat as they are. Check out the link or Google it to take a look at the details. Here's a few pics:

Wish I could say I took this picture. Props to Google.

Breath-taking Auditorium 

Enormous Ballroom

Crazy Entrance Hall

After a quick lunch at the Melbourne World Trade Center, we hopped a tram and headed to the Guilfoyle Serviced Apartments construction site. It was being built by L.U. Simon also, but the site is only about 1/4 of the way done. They walked through the process they used to pour the carpark (parking deck) and then showed us the finished product of the central stairway and the placement of the elevator shafts. We stood on the 3rd floor and had a Q&A session and then headed back downstairs and our professors dismissed us for the day.

We finished up the day with grabbing a great meal at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown called Kum Den and came back and wanted to watch a movie in the common room but the RA's of the RMIT Village were already there watching The Notebook, so, we settled. I know its a chick flick but it's a great movie. Going to bed, thanks for reading! War Eagle!

Day 20: We're wearing these yellow vests so we won't lose each other.

G'Day! Today was a busy day! Melbourne's RMIT University Construction Management staff was kind enough to take us under their wing for the next few days as they lead us through several large construction projects going on in the city currently. RMIT invited us to their offices, served us lunch, and discussed how Construction Management programs work in Australia. After lunch we received our very own bright yellow safety vests and hardhats we headed down the road to the site, the Lacrosse Docklands Serviced Apartments, built by the L.U. Simon company.

 It was a nice site with what seemed like a very efficient schedule and an interesting workforce. Most of the laborers were in boots, jean shorts, tank tops, and were covered in tattoos. Skilled labor union workers in Australia have it made. Carpenters can make up to $240K a year. All laborers work from 7-3:30 on base pay, they are considered to be on overtime and make 1.5 times base pay from 3:30-5, and if they work after 5 they make 2 times base pay and are required to be provided with dinner. They work Monday through Saturday and get every other Monday off. If the weather in Melbourne gets over 42 degrees (105 fahrenheit), job supervisors are expected to send the laborers home with a full day's pay. Also, the guys were telling me if it rains for more than 4 hours at a job they get sent home with a full day's pay, and supervisors are required to have awnings built from parking to the site because the workers don't have to walk in the rain. Sounds like union workers seem like divas, but I wouldn't complain with all those perks.

Top floor of the complex, 22 floors up.

Towards the end of the site tour, I found myself getting distracted knowing what I was going to be able to go in the next few hours, the Australian Open! We all got tickets to the Monday night evening match in Rod Laver Area featuring Roger Federer vs. Alexander Kudravstev and Caroline Wozniacki vs. Andrea Rodionova. For any of you that were just skimming let me repeat that one more time. I saw ROGER FEDERER and CAROLINE WOZNIACKI live. It was amazing. We thought we would be in the nosebleed section after seeing the tickets, but once seated we realized there wasn't a bad seat in the entire arena. Federer and Wozniacki dominated because it was still an early round, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'll never forget. Gotta grab some sleep because we have two site tours tomorrow. Thanks for reading! War Eagle!