Ryan Ko

Walking through Southbank to the LUME

Day 1 - Arrival

Our flight arrived at Melbourne at around 3 AM (SGT). No one got any sleep.

My seat was next to a Student at the University of Melbourne, and he was a very nice guy who was good at naturalising conversations. During the plane ride, turbulence occured for ~2 hours, and I got motion sick for the whole DURATION. I NEED HELP.

As soon as we arrived, Anthony's shoes literally fell apart. He was lucky as he had packed slippers so he quickly swapped shoes.

We rode a bus to the hotel and left our bags there to immediately go back outside to the LUME, which was a place where we could experience impressionism, a form of art depicting the visual impression of the moment.

The LUME balanced the use of classical music and a documentary styled video to educate people. You could just sit or lie down while watching the documentary and listening to the music. In the gift shop, Tanay bought a $45 AUD claude monet styled hat which he would wear for the rest of the interim. After the LUME, we went back to our hotels and got our rooms. Tanay and Anthony wanted to arm wrestle so we did while waiting for our rooms. I thought I was puny but apparently I'm not that weak.

Bioluminesence by Andy Thomas

After setting up our rooms, we went to St. Bourke Street to eat dinner. There, Anthony was able to buy new shoes (completely black ones). We (Shaurya, BingQing, Tanay, Anthony and I) went to a toy shop to see random toys and in the front of the shop, we saw a cellist named ChrispyCheese who was playing the cello (an instrument I also play). When we arrived back home, Bingqing had to take his online course which ended at 10. He fell asleep before it ended. So I cleaned up his bed so that he could actually sleep so that he wouldn't be tired to death the next day.

Day 2 - Street Art Tour

After having breakfast, we left at 9AM to the street art tour. We got stopped by this sports guy who was supposed to be a tour guide for another interim. Once we arrived to the location we had to wait. The local churches were ringing bells at that time, but they were so off time that it triggered my musical brain. Street Art was great, we were given insight towards many pieces and the motivation behind each piece from each artist. There were diverse styles of art with different interpretations. I learned that art is a form of communication which serves to fill the gap from language boundaries.

Day 2 Cont. - stencils

After the Street Art Tour, we ate lunch near the Victoria Market. Then, we headed towards the HQ of the tour guides from our street art tour to learn about stencils and actually make them. We had to come up with a sketch, use bridges, cut out the outline from plastic covering, then spray paint the background and the actual stencil. I did mine on Lechonk, one of my favourite normal type Pokemon which was also an easy drawing for my artistic level. I did regret not setting the background gradient to be a mix of orange, yellow, and red as that would've made Lechonk look more "holy". The current gradient between purple and blue did make the background more mystical.

Day 2 Cont. - St. Kilda fair

After our stencil exploration, we went to the St. Kilda Fair via tram. It was still a weekend so the fair was very crowded. We also found a water which was horribly designed and had fluctuating levels of water (hard to refill water bottles). Ms. V and I had a conversation about sand being rough and annoying for many people. "I hate sand, it's coarse and rough and it gets everywhere" -Anakin Skywalker.

For the fair, Tanay, Anthony, Shaurya, and I, rode a ferris wheel (we bought a gondola because it was cheaper for each person). Then we walked down the fair to see what was going on. Tanay wanted to ride a very spinny ride but I knew that if I rode that, I would get motion sick so I did not ride that.

View of the Whole Fair

Anthony and I were hungry then, so we bought potato on a stick. Very salty and crispy on the outside, yet it retained the softness of a potato on the inside while also being incredibly LONG.

Day 3 - Kayaking

Both of us woke up late because my alarm did not ring. My instincts saved us as it told me to wake up as I had been sleeping for a while. So when I checked the time and realised that it was very late, we both rushed out and made it on time, thankfully. Unluckily, we both did not eat much breakfast that day. During the Kayak session, my stomach acted up as a response to me not feeding it earlier and I had to stop midway to go to the bathroom. During the kayak session, BingQing and I went really fast so we got swapped out. After kayaking, we went to melbourne central to eat lunch. Then we looked at the structure of the RMIT University.

Day 3 cont. - Prison Tour

We went to a prison tour and this is where I learned more about the cruelties which humans can commit. One of the most famous prisoners there was a man named Ned Kelly, known as the armoured prisoner, famous for being like a robin hood for the poor. His arrest was quite a battle in which he would earn his title. He wore armour over his head and upper body, which made the police's shots futile. One high ranking officer, realised that Kelly wasn't wearing any protection on his lower body so he shot Kelly's legs and forced an arrest. During Kelly's trial, he cursed the judge "Where I'm going, you are going too". The judge then died a few days after Kelly did.

Photography Workshop

After the prison tour, we had to wait for our photography workshop guide. I asked Mr. Koebnick about "The apple and the rock". In which he explained a comedic story about an apple on set having a concrete hard core which went through multiple hacksaws. Now that set apple was worth around $400 from the amount of hacksaws it got through. Then Anthony and I laid on a patch of grass under trees and examined the clear blue sky from below. Our photography guide taught us the importance of many aspects of photography. I also learnt what the word Biennale meant from him: An art exhibition held every 2 years.

We learned the importance of lighting and focus on different areas of our photos

Using an app called snapseed, I was able to convert this little figure on Anthony's hair into the figure on a wave

Using burst shots, we were able to capture inhumane feats such as this really cool image where I appear to be balancing at an impossible angle

Day 3 - Evening

Once we got back to the hotel, I went to the gym to work on cardio (I run too much for the amount of stamina I have in frisbee), etc.

After dinner, a lot of my clothes were dirty from the previous days so Bingqing, Anthony, Tanay, and I decided to do laundry. The plan was simple. Tanay and Anthony would get coins for the washing machines while Bingqing and I would go to the nearest convenient store (right in front of our hotel) to buy laundry detergent. Bad news: the store had stopped selling detergent a week prior to our visit. Good news: I thought that if the washing machine was in the hotel, then the hotel should have some detergent so Tanay asked the staff about it and luckily we got saved as they had detergent (I don't know why we didn't think to ask them before).

The biggest theatre complex they had (13 holes in 75,000 cups for the ceiling)

Day 4 - Theatre hall tours

In the morning, we went to the theatre halls of Melbourne. We were given the opportunity to look inside the theatre halls and see the structure, the rationale behind it, theatre tech. Overall, every theatre was grand and welcoming and the difference in lighting and size for each theatre complex showed the subtle differences which characterised each theatre. After the theatre tour, we went to do a puppetry workshop nearby (sadly, I forgot to take photos there). We focused on articulation of the puppet, synchronisation with our partners, and a bit of scene setting where we made scene with our paper bag puppet. Our scene was on the puppet (which was a muscleman), and asking it to do some muscleman things such as lifting. Then it would beat up Tanay who made a paper pun joke towards the puppet.

We went to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to look at fashion clothing from Alexander McQueen.

This clothing's head dress was composed of a painting which was broken down, and I found it very creative.

This head dress was literally a boat. Or: "It's like Marie Antoinette's hair but a hat" - Anthony Ding

After the Alexander McQueen Exhibition, we went back to our hotel rooms and chilled out until dinner. For dinner, Tanay, Anthony, and I went to a place named Old Man Pho in Southbank.

Day 5 - Healesville sanctuary

I set my alarm ringtone to the Lake Guardians Theme in the morning (everyone should listen to it in their life).

We rode the bus outside Melbourne City to go to the Healesville Sanctuary. It wasn't that far and took a shorter amount of time than expected. Some people slept and others talked during the bus ride.

We then went to the Dingo exhibit where we found many dingos all tired and trying to sleep. We left because we didn't want to disturb the dingos.

The first animal in the sanctuary was an Emu. These flightless birds are infamous for being the beta version of an ostrich. This specific Emu enjoyed the attention it got and posed in front of the people who were taking photos. One of the reasons why I like the Emu in comparison to some of the Australian animals mainly because of the history behind them. The Great Emu War of 1932 - an embarrassment of the Australian Ministry of Defense. This war was quite a funny war where the Australian Government and Ministry of Defense lost an entire war to Emus.

Right after the Dingo exhibit, there was a bird cage where we saw the birds "Gang-Gang Cockatoo". The only species placed under the genus, Callocephalon.

The exhibit right after the bird cages was a little area showcasing the Echidna. A hedgehog-mole like animal species which waddle to walk (very cute).

Koalas were next and all of them were asleep. Koalas have cartilage on their bottoms and their fingers are split up to 3 and 2 grouped up on each side. Two of their fingers are attached like our human ring and middle finger tendons. They use these to groom themselves. Koalas also spend around 90% of their days sleeping so seeing all of them sleeping was not a surprise. Right after that, we looked at the tree kangaroo exhibit. They were just grooming each other on a little house. Mr. Koebnick was incredibly confused about the Tree Kangaroos and how Kangaroos evolved into Tree Kangaroos

Kangaroos are surprising similar to humans. When they stand up, they look eerily similar to us. They are also very fast and can jump really high. The fence surrounding the Kangaroo exhibit was literally just a rope. They would switch between the different domains freely. There also were Rock Wallabies which are like really small Kangaroos with the coloring similar to a rock.

The Wombats just sat there and looked at a wall the whole time. Must've been an interesting wall. They are actually similar to koalas but their pouches are rear facing. They like to dig holes in the ground and go inside them. Their bottoms are also composed of cartilage so that when they enter the holes they dig, their bottoms will be protected.

I saw Pelicans outside of the "Night Animals" exhibit. Huge beak to swallow huge quantities of water and their prey. They also have a very large wingspan. There was another Pelican just swimming around in the water near this Pelican.

This platypus was incredibly hard to find. It camoflauged perfectly with the rocks and combine that with the fact that the entire room was pitch black, it was a very hard task to find it. Once we found it, it swam around a lot and every time it went near a rock, we would lose it. The platypus also looks like Psyduck (Anthony's favourite Pokemon) even though it's a platypus and not a duck.

Right before the flight arena, there was this little bird walking around the entrance to the flight arena. Anthony and I just followed it until it hopped a fence and flew away to another area of the Sanctuary.

The flight arena showcased multiple birds and their characteristics but the most outstanding bird for me was the parrot. This parrot would literally speak and do the action which was asked. It was truly a master of mimicry.

After the show ended, we went to the gift shop where I bought a little parrot hat pin for my dad's hat/whatever he wanted to put the pin on. Anthony bought a little dingo doll and Tanay bought sunglasses.

Right after the Healesville Sanctuary, we went to a bus ride and saw a great display of the beautiful mountains and such graceful clouds.

After we stopped to take a gaze at the beautiful scenery, we went to the Yarra Chocolaterie and there I bought my mom and my sister some milk chocolate letters: G and I (their first name initials).

This is the view of the swaths of the Yarra Chocolaterie.

We then rode back to the hotel on the bus and a lot of people slept during that ride.

We ate dinner at Swanston Street (we got the option to leave the hotel or stay and I chose to leave). This is the view of Southbank Yarra River at around 8 PM. This is when we were walking back to our hotel.

After the Debrief, we wanted to chill at reception and we decided that we wanted to see if we could beat stereo madness with our noses. After failing we decided to go out to the balcony and chill out until room checks would begin.

Day 6 - Victoria Market

After breakfast, we went to the Victoria Market. There were so many people running stands and shops. At the Victoria Market, I bought a scroll containing a very nice looking painting of mountains and waterfalls. We then looked at a store selling different types of stones. I bought a pillar made of Green Jade symbolising life force, harmony, and well being. I gave it to my mom as she is prone to sickness more than anyone else in my family. BingQing bought a very squishy dumpling stressball like object.

National Gallery of Victoria

We went to the National Gallery of Victoria again. This time, we looked at the work there instead of the Alexander McQueen exhibit. We met our tour guides and got split into groups of 15. The "lobby" of the gallery had a ceiling made out of glass pieces. I randomly guessed the approximate amount of glass pieces in the ceiling: ~6000 pieces.

Claude Monet's piece of impressionism, great capture of the landscape and the intricate use of brush strokes to add detail to the water.

Another one of Claude Monet's pieces. A very cool lengthy brush stroke usage and mixture of colour to portray the waves. The contrast of colour between waves and skies are clear.

Waiting for the tram which would take us to the district of the theatre

Day 6 Cont. - Mary Poppins

After we went back to our hotel, we had to change into formal clothes for the restaurant and Mary Poppins theatre.

The restaurant was set up for us with two really long tables which would fit everyone there. I ordered the BBQ Meatlovers Pizza. I finished the plate and while doing that, I also drank a LOT of water. My stomach was basically filled with water after dinner.

Mary Poppins was a pleasant surprise. It was so good and completely blew me away. The coordination between the actors onstage, the utilisation of theatre tech for different entrances and little details, the musical like pieces performed in unity. Such a great masterpiece and honestly better than all the movies I watched in the past year. It ended at around 10 PM and we went back to the hotel via a tram and a bit of walking.

Right before starting to eat our food

Theatre before Mary Poppins started to play

Theatre before Mary Poppins starts

Tower above Hamer Hall as we are going back to our hotel

Our Improv Workshop room

After the workshop, we went back to Melbourne Central to eat lunch. I ate at a food court and people would come a play the piano which was present in the food court.

Day 7 - Improv Workshop

We went to do an improv workshop which like Mary Poppins was a pleasant surprise. We learnt the resting position and how to stay calm. Then we did an activity by standing in a circle. Zip would go left and Zop would go right. Zap could go across the circle but not to the direct right or left. Boing would bounce the zap back to the person who zapped you. Then we simulated walking speeds from 1-10 and did some quick-tableaus. Then we got randomly paired a had to tell an elaborate story from our lives. After that, we had to simulate giving someone a gift and that person could act out what the gift was. Finally, we would simulate a scenario with each person filling two opposing roles. Mine and Tanay's was literate (Tanay) and illiterate (Me). When we got out, Anthony slid on a bench and scraped his elbow and knee. Luckily, I had spare tissues in my bag which he used to stop the bleeding.

Day 7 Cont. - Blindside

After lunch, we went to a small art gallery exhibition called Blindside. It was at the 7th floor and because I was too lazy to wait for the elevator, I used the stairs. There, we were given information on how blindside was a volunteer organization. We also learrnt about how the art pieces there were and are chosen through hundreds of applications, truly showing the difficulty to be featured at a gallery and having your talents shared to many.

View outside the Blindside Exhibition

Day 7 - Moonlight Cinema

After the Blindside exhibition, we went to a grocery store to buy some snacks for the movie we were going to watch in the moonlight cinema later that evening. After buying snacks, Shaurya and I just donated our coins to people sitting out in the streets because coins were annoying to carry around and convert and there were people whose days were made from these actions.

The last tram ride in Melbourne (to the moonlight cinema)

On our way to the moonlight cinema, we had to walk a really long trail. At that point, I was wearing a long sleeved SuperDry shirt but because it wasn't the late evening, the weather was still pretty hot so I sweated a lot. While walking to the cinema, Mr. Laurence and I had a conversation about frisbee. I had no idea that he was also into the sport and how much more experience he had over me. That was a very entertaining conversation and I had forgotten that I was talking and walking whilst in a completely hot environment. The trail was quite nice and we walked past many people who were running. Once we arrived in front of the entrance to the Cinema, we took a group photo holding up the Interim Semester 50th year banner.

The Moonlight Cinema was great. We sat on beanbags which were super comfortable and the screen in front of us was massive. The environment around us was so comfortable as the night approached, we could see the shift of colour from the sky, draining away the mystical blue and orange, and welcoming in the lightness of the dark. The bathrooms were really far though, and Anthony and I took a detour when going from the back because we didn't know where the bathroom was located. Thankfully, we went before the movie or advertisements even begun so we made it back way before anything could happen. Once the movie began, people were seated, laid back and we all let the movie make the rest of the time we had left in the interim.

Once the movie was over, I was thankful that I wore a long sleeved shirt as I wasn't cold during the movie. The movie ended at around 11:45 PM and we rode the bus back to our hotels to go to sleep for our final time in this country.

Day 8 - Departure

As soon as we were up in the morning, we left the hotel after cleaning our rooms and checking out. Once we arrived at the airport and got through immigration, I went to buy an Aesop product my mom wanted me to buy for her which they sold at the Melbourne airport. Then Anthony, Tanay, Shaurya, and I decided to eat lunch before the flight. We ate noodles nearby our boarding gate. Our flight got delayed by 25 minutes due to weather issues. When we got on the flight, I was seated in the aisle with another person who wasn't in our interim. They were quite nice but did not each much because they slept a lot during the flight. During the flight, I read the book I bought at the National Gallery of Victoria, and I also did some physics work so that I wouldn't need to work on it once we arrived back in SG. Obviously, after I had finished with it, I watched some movies. After our flight arrived at SG, Anthony, Shaurya, Mr. Laurence, and I, got held back at immigration for around 30 minutes because our passports or fingerprints just failed (so we were lined up at the manual immigration line). However, we got out of that without much trouble and found our bags. We all said bye to each other and the teachers and headed out of baggage claim, to be welcomed by our families who had gone through 8 days without seeing us.

After arriving home, I unpacked all my things and gifts and prepared myself for the next week by doing what I do best: sleeping.

That marks the end of this interim. It was a pleasant experience full of little moments shared with people which I just wouldn't be able to fit all in just this site. The most important thing which I took from this interim trip were the experiences I gained in my life. All the little details, not just the main activities planned for us, were all packaged to deliver the best possible experience I could've had. Thank you to all my interim classmates for keeping me entertained and thank you to all the teachers who kept us safe and looked out for us.

Page updated

Report abuse