TIGblogs - Tiara

It’s been a while since I have written in here: I have been quite busy. There is definitely plenty to write about, but here are some snippets:

1. Part 2 of the Guide to Semester at Sea has been posted. In here, the author Tom Muller writes about his experience on board - taking classes, boat life, and the various opportunities he gained. It’s a great way to see this sort of educational experience on a first hand basis.

2. I and EducateDeviate are featured in the September 2006 issue of Off The Edge, a lifestyle magazine offshoot of Malaysian business paper The Edge - it’s part of the Malaysian Futures series of interviews. I will post up a transcript shortly.

3. The World Bank will post up all the entries of the 2006 Essay Competition shortly. Currently they have a report on the current competition, as well as the winning essays.

So what have I been up to? Plenty: I have just completed volunteering for the Brisbane Writers Festival and Straight Out Of Brisbane, an arts & ideas festival. These gave me hands-on experience in management, logistics, and events, as well as smaller stuff such as working a cash register and checking for ID! It was fun and quite rewarding.

I am also quite busy in university and in college. I have just been elected as International Students Director for the QUT Student Guild, which puts me directly in charge of the international students’ affairs from a student perspective (QUT has their own International Student Services office which is maintained by their own staff). Part of my plan for the coming year is to make more study-abroad options open for QUT students (especially multi-country and alternative types of educational travel) so this should prove interesting!

I’m also getting more and more involved with the college I live in, International House. I’ve participated in their main events such as Soiree (an annual international food & entertainment fiesta, their biggest event) and Dancefest (an inter-college dance competition) and even played squash once, though I’m not really any good! Apparently I made enough of an impact, because I recently received an Acheivement Award for “embodying the spirit of International House” - quite an honour, considering I just arrived here!

It’s by getting involved in activities such as these (and many more) that I really get my education - hands-on experience, interacting with people, learning about the world one on one. There is still the uni coursework and exams to be done (indeed, I am actually procrastinating from a big essay!) but I’d rather my entire degree be made up of experiences like these. At least through there I am really learning.

If you have any updates for me in the world of alternative education, please feel free to share!

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