Dustin in Australia

Two. I am still finishing moving into my apartment and I came...

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:36:37 -0400

Two.

I am still finishing moving into my apartment and I came across a ton of papers that I had to fill out for the internship. The almost three months of planning for my six weeks still makes me do a mental double take. I remember the anticipation. No matter what happened in Australia, it would have been a complete surprise because I had no idea what to expect.

And now I’m back. Every time I think of something I want to share there are two sets of friends I want to share. The whole trip gave me time to reset, to reassess how I operate. But I also met amazing people. People I wish I could see every day. I thought that about my friends and family here while I was there, but I knew what date I would see them again. So that may be the overall perspective gained from this trip; value. Especially from the internship itself, I think I now know what I need to start learning.

I hope to be back in Australia the next chance I get.

Pics from my Flickr set I’ll try to recap my last week in...

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:01:05 -0400

view on the way back from work

Gold Coast beach

Weekend in Sydney

Weekend in Sydney

Pics from my Flickr set

I’ll try to recap my last week in Australia.

Last week in Australia was taking some more portfolio pictures at work, a visit from interns from Sydney, a trip to the Gold Coast, a last-minute flight to Sydney, a concert, an awesome photo exhibit, a family dinner, a last breakfast with friends, and another 36 hours (ish) of transit back home to the States.

I am at a loss of how to thank everyone. I can’t really imagine how it could have gone better.

I’ll post one or two more times before I call this blog quits. Until my next trip…

Overnight layover in Melbourne. This is my inspiration. Late in...

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:26:01 -0400

Overnight layover in Melbourne. This is my inspiration.

Late in getting this published. I meant to post this before I left which was about 36 hours ago. Now at home, so I guess that would mean this blog is done, but I will recap the last week or two before I call it quits. It’s worth it.

Mornings

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:00:05 -0400

I think my friends may be a little tired of hearing me say “I want to be a morning person”. At least I am. I love getting up before anyone else; having peaceful time to think about and pray what I want to get done and get out of the day while knowing it is going to happen. It’s almost like instant gratification.

On my day in Sydney, I walked for a solid hour first thing at 8am to find a good place to get breakfast (which turned out to be toasted banana bread an orange and a cappuccino for four bucks from a pastry shop: awesome). I took it to the park and people watched the Monday morning commute.

I love finding those moments in the day when you can stop and watch what you’re doing, so I think mornings are making those moments happen.

Weekends

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

I am still trying to comprehend this. Within the past 24 hours I have travelled about 500 miles. Long story short, after some last minute decisions, I am now in Sydney for the weekend.

I wrote the above paragraph two days ago. I do not know how to start explaining the past week or so. I’m back from my two-day excursion to Sydney. I have four days left. Maybe then I can start to process all of this.

Oblong promo work

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:06:05 -0400

Oblong promo work:

Just thought I’d show some of what I’ve been working on the past week or so. I got to shoot and edit these photos (with a fair bit of directing).

This was the last guy on our plane. This is as close as I can...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

This was the last guy on our plane. This is as close as I can get to describing what skydiving was like last weekend

Skydiving Australia (by AFStillings)

20110628_AUIntern_CityWalk_DHG_003 on Flickr.Took a nice long...

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

20110628_AUIntern_CityWalk_DHG_003 on Flickr.

Took a nice long walk the other day for a little break from work. It was nice to get out of the office and see the city functioning during normal business hours. I think all cities can never have enough parks.

Last week, I got to go to the print shop where everything the...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:06:06 -0400

Last week, I got to go to the print shop where everything the design studio I’m interning at gets printed. I can sometimes be a little obsessive about how things work, so it was really cool to see exactly what every command we do in the software does to the printer. They also used some of the pictures I took on their blog.

Then we (the American interns) went to Moreton Island this past weekend. It was nice.

Like I said, last weekend was pretty sweet. I still have not...

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 08:43:00 -0400

Like I said, last weekend was pretty sweet. I still have not been on an over-night backpacking trip, but I will still jump at the chance to go camping. Still, I consider camping to be kinda too luxurious for sleeping outside. I think I’d be fine with a sleeping bag and some form of fire-starter. And maybe a hammock. But I would definitely want to try that in the summer (like it is at home), because it was a good thing I was able to rent a sleeping bag. I didn’t know outdoor stores (oxymoron?) delivered their products (yes, like a pizza). Is it really true that the best way to stay warm in a sleeping bag is to sleep with as few clothes as possible? I had three pairs of (cotton) socks, and my frozen feet were the only thing that woke me up.

I guess I like to talk about camping. The video should explain a lot. It was cool. The weekend’s events went something like: ice skating thursday night (winter festival downtown), driving/camping Friday, hiking/mountain climbing Saturday (and did the ferris wheel and checked out the casino for a little bit that night after I got back too), and the Australia Zoo on Sunday. Everything lived up to expectations. Feeding kangaroos was awesome, but they still scare me.

Too much to go through right now, but this weekend included: ice...

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:00:06 -0400

Too much to go through right now, but this weekend included: ice skating, camp fires, camping, hiking, mountains, peaches, ferris wheel, a casino, and a zoo.

I wanted to check out the winter festival that was happening...

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:14:09 -0400

I wanted to check out the winter festival that was happening downtown this month. So I was glad a friend from the church I’ve been going to here invited me.

Ice skating was not on my list of things I thought I’d be doing on Australia. It was a good time, and there was so good food there too.

I was also able to walk around a bit and get some decent night shots of the city.

For the rest of the weekend, I am looking forward to camping (glad I could rent a -5º C sleeping bag), and possibly the Australia zoo. No big deal.

Some moments I'm looking forward to

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:00:00 -0400

Wrote this a month or two before I left:

~~walking down the terminal by my self~~
~~the boarding call for melbourne being called over the loudspeaker in LAX~~
~~seeing the Australian continent for the first time~~
~~that first realization that I have five more weeks ahead of me like the one that just passed~~
~~the call/text/email when my brother becomes a dad~~
~~the first time I realize I’m going to miss Australia~~
my reaction to being re-exposed to American culture

Watched the Queensland v. New South Whales Rugby game

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:00:06 -0400

Still not 100% how rugby works, still had a good time.

This weekend was a national holiday for Australia, the...

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:00:06 -0400

This weekend was a national holiday for Australia, the Queens’ Birthday, so we got a four day weekend. It was a good break from getting used to the work and trying to figure out the city. I decided to take a walk Saturday morning and came across a festival. I think it was to honor a lot of the work that went into rescuing the floods; there was a big ceremony at the beginning. There was some music and other art venues happening, but what I think got the most attention was the jenga tent. I wouldn’t mind having a set like this.

20110612_AUIntern_City_DHG_029 on Flickr.

20110610_AUIntern_House_DHG_005 on Flickr. The houses in...

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:43:00 -0400

20110610_AUIntern_House_DHG_005 on Flickr.

The houses in Australia are made to let the air flow through. They do. All 50 degrees every night face little to no resistance into the house.

Joking aside, I’m am still trying to figure out if all Australians leave their doors open pretty much all day. I went for a jog this morning (I should have most Fridays off) and didn’t really notice too many open doors. Maybe I was just focused on not getting any more lost than I was. Had a good time the rest of today exploring downtown.

More pics on flickr

"well enjoy the future"

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:44:33 -0400

“well enjoy the future”

- chat with my bro

Lunch break on first day of work. Today was pretty great...

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:21:33 -0400

Lunch break on first day of work. Today was pretty great overall. I think I have a lot to learn, but everyone at the studio was really helpful.

Yesterday, I really wish I brought my camera with me. I went to a church a few blocks from where I’m living, and one guy from the church gave another intern and I a tour of downtown on his way back to his place. We also got our bus cards and a lot of good pointers on where to go and eat.

I’m finding the majority of the Australians I’ve met make an effort to be friendly. The bus driver this morning made a point to greet everyone on and off the bus, whether or not they had headphones in.

Well, looks like writing quality has dropped a lot in the past five minutes which I guess means I’ve still got jet lag.

Video

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:02:06 -0400

This is now over and I’m am posting this from my room in...

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:06:00 -0400

This is now over and I’m am posting this from my room in Brisbane! Too tired/busy to take a pic right now.