The Year of Isms, Ologys, and Everything in Between: The Honours Program, Part II

I took one last look at my emails in a mixture of frustration and disbelief. Leaning back in my chair, I took a huge breath and covered my face, blocking out the view of my cobweb filled ceiling. Was I really going to need to stand outside a school tomorrow and hand out flyers, begging families to be participants in my research. What had I gotten myself into?

To start, a quick word on accommodation as promised from part 1. As soon as semester one wrapped up, I moved off of campus to live in a share house in West End. I finally felt like I was actually living in Australia instead of a strange bubble atop a hill. Having friends who have absolutely nothing to do with university and mingling with locals is refreshing and I feel it's important when putting things in perspective. It was a definite improvement, the major one was probably not being constantly surrounded by 18 and 19 year olds anymore. I hold absolutely nothing against them, when I was that age, I was probably the same - being unnecessarily loud, brash, irresponsible, and always looking for a party. Anything else was 'lame'. I'm not sure I would have survived semester two had I continued to live on campus.

Semester Two.

I made a big mistake at the end of semester one. If you read part 1 of this series, I finished semester one with a perfect GPA and it seemed things were going to plan. I did two things which would come back to bite me in the ass later. Firstly, I took my foot off the gas. Secondly, I planned a trip back home to Malaysia. Now... The second part wouldn't necessarily be so bad had I not 'relaxed' my focus. I needed to go back to see mum anyway and catch up with the family.

When the semester ended, because I really needed the scholarship, my focus altered slightly from my dissertation, to pushing articles that I could submit to journals and show that my work was 'publishable'. I set my dissertation aside completely, thought to myself 'she'll be alright', I'll restart work on that when I go home to Malaysia, use my family and friends as pilot studies. I didn't touch any of the ethics stuff that in hindsight, I should have just completed to get it out of the way.

On the article side, I think we did pretty well. I got roped in to co-write a review paper with my supervisor and submitted it before the year closed out. So I felt good, gave myself a pat on the back, and again, thought things were going to plan. Surprise surprise, it all fell apart as soon as I flew home. As is common, and I should have known this, whenever I visit home, my itinerary quickly fills up. Whenever I thought, I should probably start working on my dissertation and try writing another journal article, I'd get a call or invitation from family or friends to hang out. My justification was always, meh... I'm only home for a month, might as well catch up with as many people as I can. Long story short, I got about as much work done as the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission. None.

So I get back to Australia late January, with my brother due to join me in the first week of February to watch Opeth and Underoath. Before I knew it, I had the first half of my dissertation, my second review paper, my ethics, and data collection plan all due by the first week of March. We managed to hammer out the ethics application and it was approved within a week, thank jeebus. In my first meeting with my supervisor for the semester though, we counted out the weeks to submission and what I had to get done by the end of April, so I could write and edit in May for submission on June 2nd. Turned out I had about 5 weeks to interview all my participants. Quick tip: start early!

My researched focused on Virtual Reality usage for families. Guess what? As a single, young(ish) immigrant, I knew maybe 3 families personally. Where were the other 10 or so going to come from? I made flyers, I sent out emails, got on the university mailing list, I posted on Facebook, I texted anyone and everyone who would give me the time of day. You know when your friends join a MLM scheme and suddenly they're pressuring you to come for meetings and shit? Yeah, that's what I kind of became. Except I was a dodgy-looking Asian fella in Australia who hardly knew anyone.

Accurate representation of data collection.

But things weren't moving quickly enough. It's understandably difficult to get families to allow a stranger into their homes and take 2 hours of their time, with the children present. Too early and parents are still at work, too late and you're eating into family/bed time. Through the kind souls at university, I quickly racked up 3 interviews. The first 3 weeks or so went alright, I got up to 7 interviews. But then it suddenly dried up. April was ending and I needed at least 5 more families to interview. That's when the situation in the introduction happened. My supervisor suggested I was moving way too slowly and I needed to try something different. She suggested standing outside a school and handing out flyers. I'm not sure if the universe sensed my dread and panic. But somehow, some way, I found 5 more families. People who were brushing me off and seemed like dead ends decided they could pull the family together for 2 hours and I got it done.

You can plan all you like for these long-form, group interviews. Let me assure you, none of them will go to plan. Kids get restless and antsy as soon as the VR demonstration is done. People clam up as soon as you turn on the audio recorder. You forget to ask important questions. Kids get distracted and start asking me about myself (even with my tattoos covered up for interviews, I understand that I'm a peculiar looking person). I remember one interview in particular, where their daughter, who was about 5, was happily chatting with me but as soon as I started asking the real interview questions, we couldn't get another word out of her. All of this as my urgency level is already turned up to 11. But anyway, the point is I got it done. Through repeated shared mental breakdowns and reassurances from my peers. But that was just the beginning, what was next was hell week.

Ah.... transcription. Literally the devil incarnate. Remember when I said I was doing long-form style group interviews? Every 10 minutes of audio is roughly an hour of transcribing. I now had 12 interviews, averaging about 40 minutes each. 480 minutes of audio. Yes, 48 hours worth of transcribing. I hated every second of it. I don't mind hard work, but when it's as mind numbing as re-listening to the interviews and typing it out, it's like riding a tricycle into an oncoming truck with shards of glass glued on the front. But again, I got it done. Thanks to a nifty transcription tool recommended to me by my partner-in-crime and saviour, it took out half the frustration.

Hell week continues when it comes to analysis. This is where you code your interviews and make sense of the data. I think we spent a week cooped up in a house together, brains melting, our conversations getting more aloof as the hours slipped by. Only too aware that time was running out. The thing with analysis is, at the end of the day, it's up to you to decide what patterns appear and what patterns you think is relevant to your research. This leaves a lot of space for second-guessing. My initial coding and the final outcome were almost nothing alike. Through many conversations with myself, sometimes in public, I tore down all my reasonings and built them back up until I could no longer challenge myself. Oh, and bear in mind, I was still working on a review paper on the side all through-out this.

Accurate representation of Hell Week.

In part one, I touched on how it was important to have moments where you could completely forget your research and reset your brain. A key change happened in semester two which allowed this. Our department had a change of head. Prior to the start of semester 2, I had been allocated classes to tutor. When the changes were applied, I found that I had lost my classes because 'undergrads should not be tutoring undergrads'. I'll get more into this at the end of this post. But that freed up some of my time. I signed up to be a mentor to new international students, meaning I would spend at least an hour a week helping a new student adjust to life in Australia over coffee. This was great. Just having inane conversations about life in Australia, and exchanging knowledge about each others' cultures (my mentee was from Germany). I also picked up boxing, started playing more music, rock climbing, and running to get my frustrations out. So again, despite the avalanche of work, you have to make time to disconnect from it all. It's necessary to remain sane through-out.

So when the analysis is done, next comes putting everything together in a legible manner. Writing the actual dissertation. We left this quite last minute to be honest, which I suppose is to be expected. You want to push it right to the edge to ensure the quality of work. I think I completed my first draft about 2 weeks before submission. This was a 'soft deadline' we had set for ourselves. Initially we had plans to have the finished work proof read. Nope, that went out the window. Editing, reviewing, editing, and more reviewing, and editing. It's all a part of writing. I had to switch around sections, graphs, titles, tables, etc until both my supervisor and myself were satisfied. It was a mad scramble, but I submitted my full 118-page dissertation on deadline day. 2nd of June, 2017. To get the scholarship, I could not score anything less than first class honours, and I could also not miss the deadline because of the time they needed to mark in time for the scholarship decision. This sound simple, but I know at least 2 of my peers who had to get extensions on their deadline. If I missed it, I would have been disqualified from this round of scholarship applications, the next round would be after my visa expired, so I would then have to get out of the country, apply from abroad, figure out what to do with my car, rent etc. You get the picture, not a desirable outcome.

Fast forward to today, 30th June 2017. In the month since submission, I've taken time off. After a full month of non-stop rushing, your brain and body falls apart in relief. I finished off my review paper and got it submitted as well. Weirdly, in the past week, I've started getting restless and antsy. After 6 months of having a huge goal to focus on, suddenly just being forced to sit around and wait feels uncomfortable. It's also very difficult to motivate yourself to work on things when you have no idea if you're getting kicked out of the country in the next month. The next big thing was the scholarship outcome. Either this was the end of my journey here in Australia, or the start of a new journey for the next 3 years.

On 29th June 2017, I got confirmation that I had somehow finished my Honours degree with a perfect CGPA of 7.0 and that my scholarship had been confirmed (dealing with Griffith admin is a whole other story. We were left hanging unnecessarily in suspense for way too long). I would be officially starting my PhD in the first week of July. The moment felt surreal. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, scream, or a combination of it all at once. I think my biggest feeling was one of relief. I had not wasted the past year, I achieved what I set out to do and it gave mom a huge boost of morale. Looking back at it, it's been strange, this transition over the past year. Just a year ago, you could have asked me if I was going to do a doctorate degree and I would have laughed in your face. If you asked me a month ago, I would have told you there is nothing I want more. Despite the little gripes and idiosyncrasies of life in academia, I may have finally found my calling. For now at least. I'm looking forward to this journey, the path will be long an full of terrors. I hope to share with you my stumbles along the way. And yes, we got a celebration tattoo to mark the end of the Honours.

Accurate representation of this week.

My big problem with the Honours program, having completed it: For some strange reason, the honours program is considered an undergraduate course. We share the same exact course program with the students doing their graduate diplomas. Same classes, same deadlines, same everything. And yet, they are categorised as postgraduates while we were undergraduates. The biggest problem with this, as I outlined above, is that we are not allowed to be involved with the undergraduate courses doing their bachelor's degrees. No marking, no tutoring etc which is a big source of income. The other thing is not being assigned a hub or working space (I used the Queensland Library as my temporary office), and whatever other benefits a post-grad gets. A little footnote, but a strange one indeed.

Thank you for reading, if you've made it this far. I hope some of it gives you an insight into the life and strife of the honours program if you're considering it, or going through the same battle right now. I may write another more concise '8 tips and tricks to acing the honours program. Number 3 will shock you' sort of post for those thinking whether doing the honours is even worth it. I've included my acknowledgements if for some reason you'd like to read it. And lastly, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to get in touch!

Disclaimer: This entire post is very contextual and you should not generalise anything from here. Everything you've read is from my own personal experience and results will probably differ from individual to individual.

Becoming Minimalist

Last night, I watched 'Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things' on Netflix. It was the straw that broke the camel's back in my constant struggle with consumerism and materialism. I went down the rabbit hole of the minimalist lifestyle - read blogs, articles, and searched it up on youtube. Almost immediately, having gathered my bearings about what minimalism was all about, I was excited to embark down this path. Today, I started my journey and in this post, I want to share why I'm embracing minimalism and how I'm going about it.

Let's start with what becoming a minimalist means. If you want further information, I'll link the websites I've read at the end of the post, but this is what it means to me. As stated in the documentary and on The Minimalists website, minimalism is basically simplifying your life. Ridding your life of excess to focus on the things that add value and quality to living. I've always been intrigued by articles about people who have adopted extreme minimalism but I was never ready to take a plunge that drastic. In my mind, before today, minimalism seemed like a very boring way to live. There were always stories about people who had only 10 items in their closet, only a futon in their bedroom, and so on. Pushing the extremes to live on the bare minimal. Having read more about it though, minimalism is basically what you want it to be in your current situation. More importantly, it does not only focus on your possessions (although this is the key reason for me). In ridding excess, the question is always, 'Does this add value to my life?'. This encompasses relationships, time, work, activities etc... basically all the opportunity costs when making decisions. Ridding yourself of toxic relationships, overwhelming jobs, things that weigh you down. Decluttering.

"We work jobs we hate, to buy shit we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like."

In a sense, I have sort of been skirting the edges of minimalism through-out my life. My wardrobe is very monochrome, I default to all black everything quite often, I've shunned 'climbing the corporate ladder' and I've not had a real 'home' for the past 5 or so years. Constantly travelling helps with not building clutter as I always preferred to try and travel light. However, in the past year, I've settled down in Brisbane and I've allowed the clutter to build up. Being into sneakers, streetwear, and fashion has probably not helped either. Whilst travelling, I would still keep track of the trends, but didn't have the money or space to accumulate all this junk. Now that I've had a little more spending power (everything seems so cheap when you're earning and spending AUD), I've come to the realisation that I've spent the past year wasting way too much time and money on things. 

It's hard not to. Advertising and consumerism is constantly in your face these days. Open your facebook or instagram feeds, your email, twitter,  youtube, or just turn on your TV. There's a constant message of you need this, or you need that to achieve happiness. 'The influencer era'. The latest cars, fashion, tech, so you can get 1 step closer to becoming your idols. Especially now, with all the Mid-Year/End of Financial Year sales. I opened up my email inbox and there were no fewer than 13 emails from local retailers telling me 'Now is the time to shop! 50% off storewide' (I spent a chunk of last night unsubscribing from newsletters). Afterpay, interest-free payment plans, exclusive discount codes, store credit etc. And I have fallen for these sales time and again, buying stuff I probably didn't need. $80 for a complete outfit that would've normally cost $200, paid over 4 months?! It'd be rude not to! Huge discounts are hard to resist. Walk into any fast-fashion retailer. Stuff is so cheap and changes so quickly that I pick things up without thinking, just because it's $20 or $10. 'Meh, it's this cheap, why not?' And then never use it. You know this, when you do your annual clean and find that cute shirt or novelty item buried in your closet. 'Oh, I forgot I even had this!' It's not the quality items you use daily that weigh you down, it's the stuff you buy at DFOs.

"Collect moments, not things."

The other thing that sparked this 'a-ha' moment was my room. I think that the state of your room is a reflection of the state of your mind. Whenever I am overwhelmed with work or stress, the effect is mirrored in my room. An assortment of papers, clothes and things will start to pile up in various places. It quickly becomes a mess. When I looked around my room last night (I've been on-edge for the past week, waiting to hear about my scholarship), it was cluttered. There were things stacked on other things, boxes of stuff I'd kept around 'because they look nice' or 'maybe one day I'll need it'. Clothes I hardly wore cause they no longer fit or I don't like the look of but 'it's a waste to throw away or donate it because I paid x amount for this or that'. With so much clutter, it's hard to focus on and appreciate the things that really matter. The things you like the most. The things that make you happy. Not to mention having to clean that many more things. Clear your room, and it clears your mind. I've always been a fan of the minimal aesthetic anyway.

So what have I decided to do? Today I donated 30 pieces of clothing, including shoes and various accessories. I threw away old documents, old bottles and boxes that I kept around simply because they looked good. I gave away books I'd already read. There's not going to be a drastic change overnight, I'm not going to move everything out of my room and be left with only 30 pieces of clothing etc. No, it's a gradual process and the focus is more on how I make decisions in the future. When I moved into this house about 8 months ago, I decided to go with an open clothing rack. It was a financial decision back then and I planned on picking up a proper cupboard somewhere down the road. Now, it's an integral piece of this new journey. Anything that doesn't fit on my clothing rack, I don't need. If dust builds up on something, it's because I don't wear it, and therefore, I don't need it. I got rid of the storage boxes under my bed for stuff that didn't fit on the rack. This way, it's strictly one in, one out (for the time being, I'm doing one in, two out). If I buy something, I have to sell/donate/throw the thing that it replaces. This keeps me from impulse buying or stress-shopping and prompts the question 'Is buying this thing going to improve on what I already have?' It will also help with quality over quantity. The goal is to have a wardrobe where everything is a favourite piece. Again, ridding the excess. Personally, being a very indecisive person, having quality over quantity, or fewer options, also helps with time management.

Open Clothing Rack

What this also means is more gratitude. Be grateful everyday for what you already have instead of constantly chasing the next thing, a better car, a better house, a nicer watch and losing sight of yourself. Sure, you can use those things as motivation but if you're working your butt off just to buy a nicer car, do you own the stuff, or does the stuff own you? Do things because you want to, not because you need to to fund that next luxury item.

One very important thing to keep in mind, is how things add value to your life. In the documentary, there's a section where someone asks about getting rid of all their books even though they love the tactile feel of the pages, the smell, and so on. If you think your collection brings you happiness, then by all means, go ahead. Keep that hobby or collection. As long as it doesn't get in your way or stress you out about findings ways/time to store/maintain them. Remember, you decide how you want to approach minimalism. It goes without saying, this is not for everyone. If you have to stress and force yourself, it defeats the core purpose of a more fulfilling life.

"Love People. Use Things. The Opposite Never Works."

Alright, I've rambled on long enough. I hope it didn't come across as preachy. As I continue this journey, I'll share how being a minimalist extends to my lifestyle, relationships, and activities as well. Thank you for your time, have an amazing day. If you have any feedback, or just want to share your thoughts, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Resources:
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015)
Becoming Minimalist
The Minimalists
Jenny Mustard

The Year of Isms, Ologys, and Everything in Between: The Honours Program, Part I

It was cold, I was fraying at the edges, overwhelmed, confused, and honestly a little rattled. Everything hit me at once like a pile of bricks in the face as I walked out of my first university class in 5 or so years. I had some catching up to do, the Honours program had officially started. I also needed some extremely heavy metal music.

But I digress, let me take you back to the start. How did I end up here? If for some reason you’re interested, you can go back through my blog posts where I share my 6 months of living and working in New Zealand, a free and roving spirit, a sabbatical if you will. Long story short, I had grown weary of working in the tourism/hospitality industry, but still very interested in the industry as a whole. Whilst in New Zealand, I’d worked as a freelance copywriter, but going further down that path was going to be a bigger struggle than I was willing to risk. 

As the universe would have it, toward the tail end of my New Zealand stint, I randomly met up with my lecturer from back in university for coffee and a catch up in Dunedin. She sold me the idea of combining my interests of writing, tourism, and training into doing research. Incredibly, she offered me the chance to join her at Griffith University to do the Honours program, as a pathway toward a PhD. This took me by surprise. I’d never ever considered a doctorate degree before. As it is, being in the tourism industry, I’d had my fair share of ridicule for completing a Bachelor’s Degree. ‘Why did you spend 4 years in university to stand on the front desk or be a waiter’ etc. I let the idea sit and aerate for a couple weeks, then decided to plunge into it. I had always gravitated toward the training/mentoring/man-management parts of working in tourism, and transitioning into teaching or lecturing in university made sense. It was one of those ‘maybe someday’ things that I stored in the back of my head. But I thought - If not now, then when? If not you, then who?

I took the offer, and in a very limited amount of time, got myself to Brisbane, Australia. I knew this path would be fraught with road bumps, and as you will find out, there have been more than a few. The first of which was when Griffith University ‘lost’ my documents that I had express air-mailed to them, less than a month from which I was supposed to fly to Australia. This meant I had to make, then send them another batch (which I had to have certified all over again by my previous university). And I needed Griffith’s approval before even being able to apply for my student visa. Needless to say, I didn’t unclench until the visa got approved, hopped on a plane, and restarted my life again, this time in Brisvegas, Straya.

Semester One.

Because I had to rush through my decisions and application, I opted to stay on-campus. 1 less thing to figure out (house-hunting). My thought process was to live on-campus for a semester, find some housemates then move out. I quickly found out that there was a fundamental flaw in this plan. Almost everyone who chose to live on-campus were exchange students who were going back to their own countries after 1 semester. It was not all bad, living on-campus had several benefits. Always being just 5 minutes away from class had it’s perks. Since I’ve moved out, I have also come to appreciate not needing to find parking when being on campus. Having a gym (which we shared with the Brisbane Roar A-League team) right outside my door was also nice. The free food and activities for college residents didn’t hurt either. At the start of the next part, I’ll outline why eventually moving out was a significant improvement though.

But first, let me try to paint my first impressions of Griffith University's Nathan campus. Universities back home in Malaysia are very different. They’re usually concrete behemoths plonked in the middle of urban areas. There’s usually not much space and the architecture is utilitarian - cold and sterile. More importantly, they lack character. As we pulled into Griffith, my brain-to-mouth filter malfunctioned and I actually said out-loud to my driver ‘Holy shit, this is huge’. Nathan campus is perched on top a small mountain (Mt Gravatt I believe) and it’s a protected forest area. Immediately, I found it pretty amazing that the university and dorms were surrounded by wildlife and flora. There are hiking tracks right out of the university, and you’ll see wild turkeys, koalas, and crocodiles on campus just roaming around minding their own business. Okay, settle down mate, maybe not crocodiles but you get the idea. I settled into my flat quickly, which was shared with 7 other students, looking forward to the start of the semester.

This is what orientation looked like. Well, not really but you could get to this path directly from the Uni.

Views from the six. I mean my room, and it wasn't room six either.

So the semester starts, I needed to fulfil 40 credit points each semester. In semester 1, as recommended, I took all 4 compulsory courses. Qualitative Methodology, Quantitative Methodology, Research Design, and Special Topics in Honours Research. My first class would be Qualitative Methodology. I trudged my optimistic self to class and immediately was met with a reality-check slap to the face. Sat in a classroom surrounded by post-graduates in various states of their research, terms like epistemology, paradigm, interpretivism, post-modernism started being thrown around. Some of the more advanced post-grads were asking questions like, ‘Do you think an interpretivist paradigm would be suited to a mixed-method?’. I had to check if they were speaking English, because I understood nothing from that sentence. Bear in mind, I had completed and presented a thesis back when I was doing my undergrad, but this flew straight over my head. With all the courses, the lecturers constantly reminded us that, ‘If you don’t ask or share your thoughts, we cannot help you.’ Here I was thinking, I don’t even know what I don’t  know. It’s like being thrown off a cliff and then being told ‘Hey, ride the fall line, watch out for crevasses, and don’t ride across that cornice. Do you have your ABS and Beacon on transmit mode?’ WHAT DO ANY OF THOSE TERMS EVEN MEAN?! Don’t get me wrong here, I was very fortunate to have incredible lecturers in all my courses. But it was definitely a case of ‘Are you talking too fast, or am I hearing too slow?’ I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for students where English is not their native tongue.

This is where the importance of building strong relationships with your peers come in. I cannot overstate the importance of having friends doing the same courses where you can bluntly discuss how stupid each of you feel out of class. That ‘I’m not the only one’ feeling is incredibly important for staying motivated. Again, I was extremely lucky to have peers who were on the same exact path and wavelength. Needless to say, we were pretty much joined at the hip in trying to stumble through the semester in one piece. I feel like this is an integral part of surviving the honours. Having someone to share your mental breakdowns with who knows exactly what you’re talking about. If you call your parents and say stuff like ‘I think I’m going to use the black swans analogy to address falsification in my case-study justification and limitations.’ I’m fairly sure they will either hang up or fall asleep mid-sentence.

My second road bump appeared relatively early in the semester. About a month into the program, on a routine Skype with my parents, I was told that my mother had been admitted to hospital. She had difficulty breathing and the tests found that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. Now, friends who know me well enough have described me as ‘emotionless’ or ‘calm’. For better or worse, I often keep my feelings and emotions in check and do the rational thing. The constant overload of information from the courses combined with being away from home though, completely broke me. I was a complete mess for at least a week, breaking down at night when I was alone, contemplating the what-ifs and battling the guilt of not being at home to support my family. My dad, brother, extended family, supervisor, and close friends from back home were amazing in checking up on me and reassuring me to take things 1 step at a time. I have all of them to thank for getting me through the past year. My mom, through her chemotherapy, also constantly assured me that it would not make a difference if I gave up the honours and went home, and that she would like to see me complete what I’d started. At a bigger level, this was a huge source of motivation through-out the year. If she was strong enough to fight the cancer, I would be strong enough to crush the honours. Very quickly, this drove me to stay laser-focused as I wanted to make sure none of the time I spent was wasted.

Taking things 1 step at a time was an important technique in completing the Honours. My mantra, unhealthy as it was, was ‘There is no plan B’ and ‘Failure is not an option’. To do the PhD, I needed a scholarship. To get the scholarship, I needed first class honours and an academic CV that would put me ahead of the other applicants. This meant, in addition to my Honours Dissertation, I had to have at least 1 peer-reviewed publication and shown an apt for the rigours of academia, whether that was through being a research assistant, tutoring, and so on. If you don’t just focus on the immediate task at hand, that pressure quickly becomes suffocating. The thought that constantly ran through my head was ‘If I don’t get the scholarship, I’ve effectively wasted a year, and a lot of money, doing the Honours here in Australia, whilst being away from mom who’s battling cancer’. The consensus was that doing the PhD program at home in Malaysia would not suit my lifestyle and I would feel stifled. Deep down, I also felt like going home with my tail tucked between my legs would be a failure.

This unhealthy habit of overthinking everything is one that runs through-out the research industry, in my opinion. When you think about research, and what the day-to-day tasks are, you’d be forgiven for picturing a bunch of bespectacled tweed-jacket wearing folks sat in think tanks discussing important topics, or with lab coats on, developing the next big thing. Yes, there are aspects of it that resemble some of that (I do not wear tweed coats btw), but a large part of it is spent in isolation. I spent countless hours staring at walls, lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, muttering to myself, second-guessing my opinions and thoughts. It’s like a vignette effect focusing on your thoughts and tuning out the outside world. With most of the discussions, it’s through barely coherent emails or texts back and forth, hashing out ideas with increasing aloofness. My default pose most of the time was hunched over a notepad or laptop, headphones on blaring to tune out everything else, burrowing deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of whatever I was trying to figure out. I guess the point I’m trying to get to is, you need activities outside of your research to give your brain a break. Reconnect with the world and reset every now and again.

A wall.

Whether it was subconsciously or not, I picked this up early and started to set aside time for these ‘resets’. The Griffith Mates hosted and organised a myriad of activities which students could partake in for free. I signed up for as many as I could, within my time constraints. Keep in mind, I was also working as a research assistant and doing some freelance copywriting alongside my actual studies (contrary to popular belief, instant noodles as a sole source of nutrients is not the best idea). Guided tours of the city, cultural nights, networking nights, free movies etc. These were all great and meeting new people was always good, especially because most of the time, the others who showed up were also international students and I got to mingle around all these different cultural viewpoints and quirks. My main go-to though, was joining the Mt Gravatt Environmental Group. Every other Saturday, I spent a couple hours up in the mountain clearing lantana, planting trees, and so on, having conversations which had absolutely nothing to do with university or the Honours. It was a fantastic way to disconnect from the research world. 

The other big event was the Queensland Tourism Awards, in which I was selected to be a student judge. You know those gold, silver, or bronze rating stickers you see in hotels or restaurants? Every year, industry experts gather to judge submissions by these hospitality establishments and hand out awards for the best hotels, restaurants, eco-retreats, attractions, etc. Being part of this process was really eye-opening and we spent 6 full days of judging. Being invited to the fancy Awards Gala dinner probably didn’t hurt either. If you get the chance, I recommend applying for this. It’s good fun, looks good on the CV, and you also get fed daily. And let’s be honest, which student is going to say no to free food and unlimited free coffee?

Mt. Gravatt Environmental Group.

Gala Dinner.

Griffith University contingent at the Queensland Tourism Awards 2016.

Back to the 4 courses in semester 1, having each course broken down into 3 assignments each was great. I was honestly amazed at how much I progressed as the semester barrelled on. I know earlier on I said speaking up and asking during the classes was daunting, but the support given to me by every single academic I asked was invaluable. I’d start emailing lecturers questions about trivial details and getting in-depth answers; eventually building a rapport with all the lecturers and being able to just chat about random stuff. In fact, I was able to put one of my lecturers down as a referee in my CV, and he was happy to vouch for me. Even just looking back at the state and direction my thoughts were in at the start of semester 1, compared to the end, they’re nothing alike. It's such a cliche saying, but if you treat it like the journey is more important than the end, I truly believe you'll get a lot more out of the courses. The countless reiterations of my focus, approach, and even the core topic of my dissertation moulded and shaped it to what it was in semester 2. We were extremely lucky to have the lecturers that we did, and that is not lost on me. As this chapter, and semester 1 drew to a close, I was buoyed and relieved to find out that my efforts paid off. I somehow managed to score first class in all 4 courses and finished the semester with a perfect GPA of 7.0. To my surprise, I also somehow was awarded the top scoring student for 2 out of the 4 courses. But this was only the beginning. Semester 1 was setting the foundation to begin writing the dissertation, a whole other basket of eggs.

If somehow you’ve read this entire post, stay tuned for Chapter 2, where I share my experience with actually ‘doing’ the research, writing the dissertation, and applying for the PhD scholarship. When I originally began writing this, I intended for it to be 1 short post with the entire experience summed up. Unfortunately, I’ve rambled on and I’m doing this more for myself. Like a time machine for my thoughts. If any of this has helped you, or you want to ask me any questions in further detail, please do not hesitate to get in touch and I’ll be more than happy to give you my 2 cents. I will also eventually write up a more concise ‘tips and tricks’ for the Honours program style thing.

Disclaimer: This entire post is very contextual and you should not generalise anything from here. Everything you've read is from my own personal experience and results will probably differ from individual to individual.

The New Zealand Chapters. V: Solscape, Raglan

Perfection, what we all strive for even when we know there is truly no such thing. Every once in awhile though, if you're lucky enough, you stumble across a place which comes pretty close. With Solscape, I think it's the closest I've come so far.

At the core, when I started this blog, I meant for it to be for reviews hence the name. It's morphed into more of a travel blog where I store my thoughts. However, I try to put an in-depth review out there every once in awhile when the time and place is right. This week, I'll take a break from my travel diary and review one of the coolest places I've lived at so far, Solscape.

Travelling and visiting Solscape and actually living and working there are two pretty different experiences in my view. Therefore, I am going to split the review into 2 parts. The first will be your traditional travel-blog review from the eyes of a traveller spending some time there. The second part will be more for the backpackers who are planning to do a little volunteering and have a bit more time to spend in Raglan.

one.

Solscape is designed as a place for rest, rejuvenation and playful inspiration, to nurture our connection with each other and the natural world.

That's what it says on the Solscape website. They are actually a BBH and YHA hostel although it bares almost no resemblance to any of the YHA and BBH backpackers I've stayed at before and after. At it's simplest form, owners Phil and Bernadette want to spread a positive message through the hostel. After acquiring the place over a decade ago, they figured that close to 30,000 tourists pass through Raglan through out the summer and decided that by using the hostel itself, they could spread a message of sustainability by having the entire place be a working model of sustainability and carbon footprint reduction.

That's the theme that you will find running through-out the entire place. Speaking of the place, Solscape is comprised of several forms of accommodation. Starting at the bottom, they have campsites, followed by cabooses, tipis/tents, earth domes, and fully self-contained houses. They also have an organic no-meat kitchen next to the reception called The Concious Kitchen and their own surf school which predictably also rents out surfboards. Rounding it off are a yoga space and a massage room.

Let's start with location. Any serviced-based business owner will preach location, location, location. If there's one thing Solscape has got locked down, it's location. Set into the side of Mt. Karioi, Solscape sits between Ngarunui Beach and the world famous Manu Bay, about 8 minutes drive from Raglan Town. Driving up the road which hugs the coastline, you could be forgiven for not knowing that a sprawling 10 acres worth of accommodation lies hidden above the myriad of cutbacks that form the Solscape driveway.

As soon as you get up there to reception though, do yourself a favour and turn around to drink in that view. A view to rival any other, treat your eyes to the crashing waves along Ngarunui beach that stretches into the horizon, flanked by lush green rolling hills on one side and nothing but blue sky on the other.

Your next task will be to pick your accommodation. Let me try and help you with that. As stated earlier, your cheapest option will be to rent a campsite to either sleep in your tent, or in your car. If you're a backpacker there's a good chance this will be your option. Unlike any other campsite or hostel I've lived at since, sleeping in your tent or car here does not take anything away whatsoever from the Solscape experience. With all the facilities like several kitchens, and bathrooms scattered around the place you're not far away from anything and because everyone hangs out in the central kitchen where there's a fireplace, I really think Solscape is one of the few places where sleeping in your tent or car takes nothing away from your experience.

Next up are the cabooses. They're repurposed train carriages and are the closest you'll get to the traditional multi-bed backpacker room. Each caboose holds from 3 to 8 people and I believe there are 12 carriages in all, including a huge overlander that is self contained. The majority of beds in Solscape are in cabooses and are the option I'd recommend to most people. Sleeping in a train carriage is definitely a novelty.

In the summer, Solscape opens up a tipi/tent section which is a small walk on gravel through the forest from the main area. The tipi area has it's own set of bathrooms and kitchen, including a really cool wood-fire pizza oven. Everything in the tipi area is built to be self-sustainable. The hot water runs on solar power and so do the lights. This also means there are no plug points but if you're looking for plug points whilst sleeping in a tipi I think you've missed the point. The tipi area definitely evokes the strongest opinions, especially from the volunteers who've been at Solscape for awhile. On one hand, it's the coolest area. Who wouldn't like to live in a tipi and make pizzas every night while lounging around in the open kitchen? On the other hand, if the weather is damp, things get rough pretty quickly. I could be wrong, but I believe tipis were not made for wet weather and this becomes very apparent very quickly. The interiors get very damp and there won't be hot water as it's purely solar-powered. Also, as it's about at 10 minute walk uphill and downhill from the main area, forgetting to take something becomes infuriating, especially when it's the third time in a day. It's still a really awesome option, you just maybe want to check on the weather before you book your tipi. Also, small tip to pack light. You are not be able to drive your car to the tipi area.

Inside a tipi.

I unfortunately did not manage to live in any of the self-contained options. However, the earth domes are extremely interesting. Built to be sustainable and sourced from the earth (hence the name), they're the only ones of their kind in the world. The walls were formed mainly by sacks if my memory serves then covered by clay. The houses, luxury options in Solscape, give you the best views. Instead of sitting in the area behind reception where it's relatively flat, the houses sit alongside the winding driveway up, giving unobstructed views of the ocean. There are interesting stories to how most the rooms and houses were conceptualised and built and if he has the time, ask Phil about them.

Attractions wise, the obvious one is the surf. I won't bother going into that as it's more a Raglan attraction instead of Solscape in particular. It is really convenient to be able to rent your board and walk down to the beach in about 10 minutes though walking back up is another matter. In fact, you can walk all the way to town on the beach when the tide is out. It'll take you about 2 hours probably. I also believe Solscape is the only backpackers that sits between Ngarunui and Manu Bay, giving you loads of options based on your ability level.

Almost as big an attraction though, are the yoga activities on offer. There's yoga sessions every morning and some evenings. I participated in a meditation session by Venu and it was an amazing experience. The fact that you step out onto the deck and have the ocean spread out in front of you when you're feeling super zen does not hurt at all. Even if you don't go for the actual classes, there'll be bodies littered all around the place in various states of yoga, more than happy for you to join in.

After your activities, make use of the huge open spaces and hopefully good weather, grab a huge pillow and just lounge in the sun. Book in hand, just relax away into the evenings, where on the colder nights there's usually a log fire in the kitchen. For the more social, you could just as easily replace the book with a guitar or cards or even drop it all and just talk to people. I had many an interesting conversation in my time there.

The only reason I would discourage you from staying at Solscape is if you are a party person. There is Karioi Lodge up the road for that. With the 10-11pm lights out / no alcohol policy, there are hardly any parties and if you're staggering around drunk, you will quickly be casted out anyway when compared to the chill vibes of everyone else. The other type of person that I would advise against staying at Solscape is the business type who's stuck to their laptops and emails. Whilst there's free wifi at reception, it closes at 8 so you'll be sitting outdoors to connect to the wifi. There are also very few plug points around the place and in most areas there's no wifi even if you want to pay for it. If you're that desperate for plug points and wifi though, you're probably missing the point, which is to disconnect from technology and reconnect with yourself and others for a while.

Rest, rejuvenate, inspire they say. I guarantee you, when you leave Solscape you'll have all 3 in bucketloads.

two.

Our volunteer programme has been designed for travellers who wish to spend time in this beautiful place in a meaningful way- contributing, learning, connecting to the place and people and enjoying what is on offer in a very affordable way.

Now is probably a time as good as any to put in a disclaimer about me having volunteered at Solscape which probably affected my views of the place. This is also where I review the volunteering experience there. If you're a backpacker going around New Zealand looking for wwoofing opportunities, this should be useful for you.

The policies Solscape have in place change over time and the woofing experience for me at the start and towards the end were quite different. I believe for a majority of the year, you work 2.5 hours, 6 days a week in return for accommodation. Solscape also seems to prefer you to be there from 2-4 weeks. This probably increases in the slower months like winter where the turnover is slightly lower.

Most of the work revolves around cleaning the place daily. You work alongside the full-time housekeeping staff cleaning up the kitchen and mainly the showers and bathrooms. The work is not difficult and at 2.5 hours a day, it breezes by, giving you a lot of time to indulge in the plethora of activities available or pick up another paying job in town. Apart from housekeeping, you can be rotated to be involved with gardening, laundry, or some maintenance around the place. Again, none of the work I would describe as difficult or back-breaking. It's all relatively enjoyable especially in the company of your fellow volunteers. More than that, learning about permaculture and how and why certain things work the way they do is great and if you spend an extended amount of time there, I believe even the staunchest of skeptics will slowly come round to seeing the logic. A little bonus from all the gardening and permaculture is you can use any of the herb, flowers or veg planted in the various gardens.

Amongst the benefits of being a volunteer is discounts at the Conscious Kitchen, where they serve up some incredible meat-free food and lots of interesting vegan and no-bake cakes and muffins alongside standard coffee fare and great fruit smoothies. You also get surf rentals at half price. Whilst I don't agree with companies charging their own staff for rental gear, it's better than nothing. Worth noting though that Raglan Backpackers in town gives their volunteers free rentals.

Now, if you've been reading my blog you'll have noticed that I mentioned I volunteered at Solscape for close to 7 weeks. Wait a minute, I just said 2 paragraphs ago the maximum period is 4 weeks. Towards the end of my time there, the policies changed to match the increase in occupancy. Instead of 2.5 hours a day, hours went up to 4 hours a day in exchange for breakfast in the cafe daily and dinners on what seemed like alternate nights. During my time we also had pretty fixed duties so everyone kind of knew what to expect. With the change though, I believe Phil wanted volunteers assigned to different tasks weekly for their 4 week period so they could experience all facets of the operation in their time there.

No pipi, sleeping doesn't count as a task.

4 hours of volunteering a day means finding a paying job in town becomes significantly more difficult, so you probably want to keep that in mind. Volunteering is a great way to base yourself when you're new in the area though and finding your feet. You'll meet loads of people and especially in small towns, someone always knows someone who has a room for rent or is looking for help and that's how you move on from your 4 weeks. You could even start working full-time in Solscape itself should the opportunity present itself. Housekeeping, barista, kitchen hand, maintenance crew, reception. Just some of the positions you may find yourself in.

Accommodation-wise, you usually start off pretty fancy in one of the cabooses for a night or 2 before moving into "real" staff lodging. Yes, we got moved around quite a bit and some of the volunteers actually preferred to sleep in their cars through-out but you'll soon find out that it does not matter. At the end of the day it's just a bed to rest on at the end of the day as you'll be spending all your waking hours outdoors anyway.

If you've made it this far through this post, you will probably enjoy volunteering at Solscape. Lots of fun in the sun, deep conversations, music sessions, group dinners, random celebrations, pizza nights, and just all around awesome people to surround yourself with. Personally, their mission of spreading a positive message worked for me. I tried out some stuff I never would have had I not spent time there and the sustainable and permaculture message definitely affected some fundamental thinking in me. If you're a creative, chilled-out person, you'll easily fit into the hippie commune that's Solscape and all the good that comes with it. Good times.

I still have at least a chapter left for Raglan where I explore more of Raglan Town and the activities that come with it. My adventures surfing, German lessons, jumping off a bridge to ill effect, and awesome live music. I shall see you then.

All the better looking pictures in this post, including the header are taken by the super-talented Kali Garbaczeski whom I'm blessed to call a friend and part of the Raglan squad. Check out her website http://www.kaligphotography.com/ for more insane shots from around the world.

If you don't know how hyperlinking works and want to check out the Solscape website, it is http://www.solscape.co.nz/

The New Zealand Chapters. IV: Raglan, Part I

The fog of sleep clears slowly as the world blurs into view. With a groan, I get up off the mattress, the fifth different bed I've slept in in 6 days. Sunlight streams into the bell-tent as the zip opening unravels and my toes step onto the dew-tipped grass. Every step towards the front brings a crunch from the gravel underfoot, my skin caressed by the warm morning sun. Stepping onto the deck, a smile involuntarily creeps across my face. Ocean as far as the eye can see, lush rolling hills, waves crashing onto the beach. The start of another day in paradise.

Oh Raglan, you sneaky little devil. Let me start this chapter with a public service announcement. If you're doing a working holiday or even just travelling New Zealand and happen to be on the North Island, do yourself a favour and spend some time in Raglan. The only thing I'd caution against is going there as your first destination. More than once have I seen people checking out Raglan and just never leaving. Heck, if I didn't have a deadline to leave and see the South Island, I would probably still be there right now. You think I'm exaggerating but there is an inside joke in Raglan where you ask people when they're leaving and the answer will always be tomorrow. Nobody leaves, and why would you when you've found paradise.

View from reception.

My love affair with Raglan didn't exactly start like a house on fire though. First of all, Raglan was never even part of my plans. Towards the end of my time in Ohakune, I spotted an ad for jobs in Raglan on the Facebook page. I sent the owner an email and she called me telling me I was hired and that she wanted me to help her set up the restaurant for the summer. After a bit of asking around, I found out that Raglan was a surf mecca filled with hippies and that a few of the winter staff from Ohakune were actually headed there for summer. That gave me my next destination and I let the owner know I would be there on the first of November after my North Island road trip.

First of November rolled around and I texted the owner, saying I would rock up pretty soon and that I was ready to start work. She replies with "I think I've hired too many staff and it's quieter than I thought, if you wait until December, I'll give you some hours." Does this sound familiar yet? It was the Powderkeg all over again. I told her to jog on, I didn't have nearly enough cash to live a month in Raglan without work. After doing so much research about Raglan though, I was determined to make it my next destination. You know that feeling when you're playing poker and you try to buy the pot so you raise-check everyone a ridiculous amount but there's that one bastard who calls your bluff, but you're in too deep now so you keep raising anyway and every time you do it, you ask yourself why, then you lose everything to that damn German who's now taken your laundry money for the week. You shrug it off and smile, a smile that is trying it's best to hold back a torrent of tears. Yeah, it kind of felt like that. I was committed now.

By research, of course I meant that I took a quick look on google maps to find out where Raglan was and that the backpackers closest to town was named Raglan Backpackers. Of course when I turned up, it was full. But I was in too deep now! The guy who owned the place gave me a few suggestions on where to sleep for the night. The first of which was Solscape, a 10 minute drive into the mountains. I headed there and obviously it was also full. With a stroke of luck, the owner, Phil, was in the back room and he poked his head out, saying he could give me a bed in the surf shack. It was just that, a shed that used to be a store room for surf boards. I wasn't so sure but it was a bed for the night. While walking up to the shed though, we walked pass caboose 8 (almost all of the rooms in Solscape are re-purposed train carriages but I'll go in to depth about that in the next chapter with my full review of the place). Caboose 8 was under maintenance but there were beds in there still. We poked our heads in and both decided it was good enough for the night. And that's how I spent my first night in Raglan, pure luck.

I did some walking around the place and one of the first things I saw whilst wandering around in the woods was a natural spring with a plaque that invited you to take a drink from the sacred space. Whoa... I thought the hippie thing was a joke, but as I was about to find out after, it wasn't. The train carriages, sacred spaces, tents and train station that served as the lounge had piqued my interest and I had a browse on their website to find out what the place was all about. Solscape at it's core tries to spread a message of sustainability, which again, I'll go into further in my full review. But anyway, at the corner of the website was a little button which said volunteers. At this point, cash was running pretty low so my thinking was volunteering for accommodation would be a good way to stop the cash from bleeding out too quickly.

The next morning, I walked to the reception to have some breakfast. Let me first say that the view you have from your table at breakfast will punch you in the gut with it's beauty. The kind of view that you sit at and pretend to write poetry and before you know it, a few hours have gone by. Solscape sits on Mt. Karioi so when you sit at the deck, the town of Raglan opens up beneath you alongside the sea and Ngarunui beach, which stretches on forever. With a good flat white, you could sit there forever with a glazed look in your eyes. Well at least until you finished your coffee anyway. They say a picture says a thousand words, this would be the kind of picture they're talking about, but it doesn't say a thousand words or I wouldn't be writing, would I.

At reception, I had a chat with Christian, the German receptionist who's been stuck in Raglan for 3 years, about volunteering. He said they were full at the moment but handed me an application in case something opened up. To his disbelief and my incredible luck, a volunteer left the next day and boom, I was in.

I spent a total of over 7 weeks in Raglan, volunteering at Solscape for 6 and a half. Let me begin to try and explain why Raglan remains very close to the top of places I've lived. First up, I lived in a fricking train carriage for a good 5 weeks. When was the last time you saw that sentence anywhere? If that wasn't good enough, I then moved into a tipi, then back into another train carriage, then into a huge belle tent, and finally into my car. Secondly, as a person who's grown up and lived most his life in cities and suburbs, it is incredibly refreshing to spend a majority of time lounging around outdoors, most of the time barefoot. For half the time we stayed at Solscape, our kitchen was outdoors and had 3 walls. Most of all though, it's the people. The core crew of volunteers we had obviously helped with the experience. Really cool, funny and chill people who just enjoyed life. Over the course of 7 weeks though, during which people come and go as is natural, I don't remember meeting any bad eggs. Anyone who stayed on longer or any new volunteers that replaced the old ones were just as cool and fit into the group just as easily. I suppose with a place like Raglan and Solscape, you get a very similar group of people who decide to stay on and anyone who doesn't like the vibes moves on pretty quickly.

3-sided kitchen.

On the volunteering and work front, a large part of it was housekeeping. Making beds, a little bit of gardening and maintenance, and a lot of toilet scrubbing. On days when you're feeling particularly high and mighty, I suggest you try wiping and scrubbing a toilet seat that's still warm. You'll be surprised how quickly that brings you crashing back down to earth. For work, I picked up a few hours here and there working in the cafe that was a part of the Solscape reception. Just basic waitering, although serving a wedding (I can't escape weddings no matter how far I run) was pretty fun, and we did have quite a few yoga retreats that had breakfast and lunches included.

I really didn't mind the work or volunteering though, working alongside friends with some banter and loads of good music is definitely a good recipe. Waking up and almost looking forward to work is such a foreign feeling especially when contrasted with my time in Singapore where every working day I woke up with a dread of the day ahead.

Good music and creativity is definitely healthily nourished at Solscape. In fact, in the time I was there, I played the guitar more than the past 3 years combined. Hanging out in the sun, playing the guitar with or without other people was a daily feature. The hippie vibes, alongside the sustainability, huge open spaces, sunshine, and mainly lack of internet or plug points led to a lot of drawing, colouring, reading, music discussion, and in my case, writing. Most of the chapters you've read so far were written in a stained, sun-kissed notebook during my time in Raglan before I bothered to transfer them here.

When I wasn't at Solscape, I was usually at the beach. That's the main attraction of Raglan, the beach and longest left hand break in the world at Manu Bay. I'll go into my adventures surfing, hiking, what I did for money, and the number of great bands I managed to catch in Raglan in the next chapter. Stay tuned, and see you next week.