BEng Naval Arch - Bulefin Voyage and my 21st Birthday 2009

The most unforgettable 21st birthday I ever spent in my life was held in Tribunna as I went on a Bluefin voyage,the educational voyage for 2nd years students of naval architecture that introduces me a hands-on seagoing experience and I also gave out presentations in front of my peers. This voyage is a tremendous opportunity for me I'll never forget in my life.Thanks to the Lecturers, Paul and Giles, as well as other friends, got together in celebration of my 21st birthday. However, there's one thing that still give me shivering is that I got seasick for three days non-stop, I have to admit it's somehow quite a disaster for me.

Check out some pictures I took on board

me and Jason next to the Blufin


me and George from Korea who is doing Naval Arch like me

SEE! my name is on the list for the allocated cabin

Me and Maryam, she made fun of me when I have a barf face... so mean!

everybody celebrating my 21th Birthday.

Me, Richard,and Ronni did a 21 sign in celebration of my B'day

Me with the lecturers, Giles and Paul.

After I got back to campus with a tiring body, my friend Shafeen invited me out for drinks and having fun, also to celebrate my birthday. Apart from that, the day after was my friend, Maddy's birthday so I cant help but to accept his offer and decided to go out and have fun to paint the town red. :) See how drunk we rocked

Me and french friend, Brice

Shafeen, Brice, Maddy, me and Sandra

drunk frenchy and Taiwanese

Elements of Shipboard Safety (ESS)

In order to work on a small commercial fishing or trade vessel, even as a deck hand, you need to have an ESS certificate.So today I took the ESS course, and it’s was so exciting because I never did this kind of course before. It is all about ship safety, how you are gonna save you life from a ship disaster. First of all we wore very special life jackets like frogman and then we jumped into the water to do some practical training. It’s really amazing to see how Australians emphasize ship safety when it comes to engineering students. The depth of the water is like 4.3 deep, you cant touch the ground. Luckily, I learn to how to swim back in Taiwan before, so I still can handle it
somehow. You have to know what the best pose is when you’re floating on water with life jacket. Otherwise, you have a great possibility of getting choked by your life jacket, I feel quite funny when I am doing this with all Australian students. They’re all Caucasians while I am the only Asian here taking the course. Also, in the water we have to hug each other to prevent form hypothermia as well as other techniques I have to learn how to apply when wearing a life jacket. Also we have to do the ‘’abandon ship’’. It feels so real that you’re easily to get nervous when doing this kind of activity. We have to pull off a giant cylinder that contains with a life jacket, and when it was pulled down the water, it exploded and inflates with air in no time. And they make all those artificial thunders, rain, and sound to make you feel like you’re in a real situation. And of course, those equipments we have to use is real for survival, we just need to learn how to use them properly. So we jumped in to water from height in dark one by one, there’s a capital who is in charge of giving orders, telling us what to do. But he’s also a student for sure.

Survival training with a life raft

Start with my adventures in Australia

This blog is mainly recording my life while I am studying in Australia. I think I am so lucky to be entitled to receive a grant from the Ministry of Education which enables me to study abroad for one year at the Australian Maritime College.

Here goes my life abroad, I hereby would like to share this with my friends. The day I departed for Australia, my mom drove me to the Kaohsiung international airport. Actually I was not that saddened at that time because I know I am going to experience a brand new adventure which is far cry from Taiwan, the home I used to belong.

The dreamland I am going to land is called Tasmania which is separated from the rest of Australia by the 240 km stretch of Bass Strait,Tasmania is an island apart -a place of wild and beautiful landscapes,friendly ,welcoming people,a pleasant,temperate climate ,wonderful food and wine. Maybe I am giving too much credits for my destination. :)

The school institution where I study at is the Australian Maritime College or AMC, it is a specialist institute of the University of Tasmania and I have access to world-class teaching and research facilities because it's said that AMC is top 5 institution in marine industry worldwide which I found very impressive .

That's why I believe the AMC is my ticket to the world.