Rubénerd :)

The University of South Australia which I am attending for university (surprising though it may seem) recently updated their MyUniSA student home page with more information and swishier graphics. So far I’m liking it to the extent that it’s good to have something new to look at after seeing the same thing for ages, and I like being able to define my own links and see the weather on the sidebar.

Unfortunately they’re still using the dreadful Outlook Web Access interface for email which only works in it’s enhanced mode in Internet Explorer 6 (ugh, don’t get me started!) and granted I’m sure very few of their users use Opera but the menubar looks a bit messed up even in version 10. The latter I can live with, but they really, really, REALLY need to ditch Outlook Web Access.

It would bore you to tears if I were to relay all the gritty details, but suffice to say when I took my extended leave of absence to be with my mum before she passed on it messed up my university timetable because the degree I started changed during the time I was away. I was able to start studying again, but there was lots of ambiguity and confusion as to what I was supposed to be doing.

One quick session at the Student Advisory Centre at the Mawson Lakes campus this morning fixed it all right up. I sat down with one of the friendly councillers who drafted a new study plan and timetable, explained to me in detail what the new courses are and how they’re structured, and even gave me some help and advice on the Federal government study payment scheme whatnot. I now know what I’m doing again.

I’m all for flexibility but there’s some security and comfort in knowing that things have been taken care of and something is definitive. I’ve been living week by week with far too many variables, health scares and negative experiences over my now 23 year life that something stable and set in stone is refreshingly consoling, if that makes any sense.

For the first time since 2006 I have a 100% clear and structured path to achieve my study goals. I’m not sure what "study goals" means, but it sounded fancy. No matter what it is, my life is finally back on track. Look out world, Ruben Schade is back!

ASIDE: I’d cite the "Shady’s back" lines from an Eminem song, but I respect you, dear reader, too much to subject you to it.

My sister Elke and I at Hahndorf, a German villiage in the Adelaide Hills

I’m typing this from a internet cafe in Rundle Mall in Adelaide, with a thick coat on, a tall Hudson’s Coffee Americano in my hand and looking out over the street out the window next to me. How poetic! I’ve finally moved back to Australia to resume my full time studies after doing it part time during my mum’s final days, and my sister Elke is just starting.

Because we’re are going to the same university we’re sharing a small house near the IT and Engineering campus of UniSA in Mawson Lakes, about 12 kilometres north of the CBD. The initial costs of buying white goods, beds and tables was pretty steep, but over the next year or so we will save lots of money instead of staying in the student housing. $130.00 for each of us makes sense to rent a house for less than $220.00. Plus with the Australian Dollar’s latest rally our Singapore Dollars buy a heck of a lot less than they did before, this is an important consideration!

One thing that has really affected us has been the weather. Being in the southern hemisphere, Australia is going through winter right now. Coming from Singapore where the daily temperature averages around 32 degrees and 24 at night (about 90F and 77F), Adelaide’s current winter temps of around 12 during the day and 2 at night (about 54F and 36F) have been a shock! Not only that, but some local Adelaideans say this winter has been one of the coldest they can remember. I do look pretty freaky with blue lips!

I feel as though my life is getting back on track again. I do miss Singapore, and I intend to move back there when I finish all this studying whatnot.