The Melbourne identity

This blog is over - welcome to Facebook!

2007-07-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

Due to Facebook's growing popularity over the last few months, I have now created my account and started posting pictures. You will find Facebook is a lot more interactive and very easy to use.

You can view the latest pictures, developments and keep in touch at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=875430071

You can also check out my new marketing blog: digitalmarcom.blogspot.com

Goodbye Montreal and McGill ... I will miss you!

2007-07-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day in Montreal ... I thought I would share a couple of pictures I took while being in Quebec. Stuying here was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone. Let me start by those two shoots of those stairs that are so typical of Montreal.

This is a picture of my soon-to-be married friend Damien. It was in November 2005 and we experienced our first ski-bike ride this day.

My favourite boutique in Montreal followed a typical Quebec restaurant chain.

And finally, a picture of our last party in Montreal. Anne-Sophie and I say goodbye to Gunter, Matt (not on the pic, where have you been) and the McGill MBA awesome community !

Home Sweet Home - Back to Brittany in France

2007-06-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

After 7 years away from France, it is nice to go back to Brittany (Western France) periodically. It is often said Brittany used to have some common Celtic roots with Northern Europe and sometimes I wonder to what extent Brittany is truly French. Anyway, here are a few pictures of' my one last week holiday in Europe. Starting with the 'Cote Sauvage' which sounds very Australian to me. For those of you who recall the first pictures of the 12 apostles posted in the blog previoulsy, the Cote Sauvage look very similar ...

Of course, the waves are not that great compared to Australia but that's better than nothing. Here is a picture of an early start at 8am with Brad on a Sunday morning.

A few hours later, in the absence of waves, we ended-up riding the mini ramp. It took ags to get used to it, it has been a while but Brad and I managd to get ome fun!

Bachelor Party ... en route to Switzerland

2007-06-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Here we are .. . one of my closest friends is getting married. Thi is pretty unusual these days where most people I know chose to ignore the whole wedding thing. In a few words, this might be my only chance to be a best man! The event had to be duly celebrated. A bunch of Damien's (the lucky duck) friends got on a plane to Lausanne, in peaceful French speaking Switerland. I can't say the week end did any justice to Switzerland (we saw most of it under the influence of alcohol), however we definitely had an amazing time.

Beijing Wild Wild East

2007-05-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

When we decided to travel to Beijing on our way back to Europe, we expected a big surprise. We were not disappointed. I suppose our trip from the airport to our friend's place was a great way to start. OK, maybe travelling with a surf board to Beijing was not a great idea. But it was fun arguing with the taxi drivers who of course did not speak English. The language of signs was the only way to go and we ended-up in a tiny taxi with four pieces of luggage and a 2m long surfboard. As you can imagine, travelling through downtown Beijing was a joke. Things got even funnier when we found out about the Chinese way of driving. There is basically no rule in this (not organized) chaos. I already knew that driving in emerging countries can be exciting. But when our tax driver took-over a car already taking over another car (all of this happening a two way lane), we became a bit tense. We eventually made it to the city. A few stops later to ask for our way, we found out most taxi drivers in Beijing have not much of a clue as to where to go. Even if you give them addresses in Chinese ! We got lucky, after more than a hour delay, we managed to pick-up Nathalie, our French Chinese speaking friend who was our host for the rest of the stay. I have to say without Nathalie, our Chinese experiene would not have been as enjoyable (thanks !!!).

Beijing is a huge city under construction. Chinese are getting ready for the 2008 Olympics. Aparrently, most factories outside Beijing have been pushed away inland to decrease high pollution levels in the city. From what we have seen, this is far way from enough, although the sun was out most of the time in Beijing, we only got one clear blue sky day. It is a bit like living a huge cloud of dust all the time, not nice at all. We suspect this is due to the vast majority of the city being refurbished. Unless you like pollution or 24/7 engineering or traffic noise, our first piece of advice is to find refuge in touristic attractions and/or get way from the city from time.

That's exactly what we did and here are some pictures of the Forbidden City (aka imperial palace and the Great Wall. I have to say the Great Wall was the highlight since we left Europe in January. It was just huge, spectacular and challenging. Along with our friend Mike from the U.S., we walked 9 kms in total. This went up and down and passed 30 towers. Anne-Sophie nearly collapased in the end but this was so much fun.

Back to Beijing; we spent a few days hanging around the city. We loved the hutong which are the small streets where ordinary Chinese live. This was an exciting part of the city; where surprisingly we did not see that many tourists.

Now, let me talk a bit about our second highlight in Beijing. This place is called factory 798 and this is where contemporary artists get together. It was refreshing to break way from tradionnal China and get a glimpse into Chinese modern art. Not suprisingly, there are man references to Mao times and this is what makes it so unique for us. Factory 798 is a mosaic of warehouses outside the city, about 15 mns from the airport. Since Chinese art is becoming a hot property, it is definitely something to check out.

That's it for Beijing. We had a great time there and would highly recommend it to westerners. Jus make sure you have a guide or friend to help you out there. It definitely helps !

Stay tune for more pictures from around the world. The next destination is Geneva in Switzerland.

Goodbye Australia - we will miss you

2007-05-20T01:54:00.000-07:00

Today is a sad day, we are leaving Australia after 4 months of adventure, fun and sun! After touring in Cairns, the Sunshine and the Gold coast, our final stop is in Sydney. Contrary to what we heard, Sydney is not an American type city or overwhelming for any reasons. For us it is just a bigger Melbourne. Old Victorian buildings are also mixed up with new modern buildings. The city is very cosmopolitan with lots of influence from the UK, Asia but also California. Shops are trendy and amazing. People are nice, even though they do not seem to be as relaxed as in Melbourne (which is a bit of a village compared to here). Anyway, all of this to say, we LOVE Sydney as much as we love Melbourne. And we will definitely move here if an opportunity comes-up.

This last post from Australia is dedicated to all great people we met while here, the International students crew (what a bunch of incredible easy-going dudes !) , the MBS students who were great fun to hang around with, our hosts in Sydney, our buddy at the Torquay surf rental shop, any cool Australian we met (basically all of them) and most importantly our roommate who took us around the city in her little Subaru. Thanks Mavis and everyone who made this trip a once-in-a lifetime experience.

Next, check out the blog for our adventures in Beijing !

The shots above were taken from the Harbour Bridge and somewhere in one of the cute streets in Paddington. The ext two were taken in Bondi beach, where we stayed for three days.

Byron Bay

2007-05-16T02:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Byron Bay, famously known for its consistent great waves (and hippies). I am making progress slowly but surely, even though I still look like a robot on the water. The second picture is actually a video of a very crowded day at The Pass in Byron. Enjoy.

Rainforest wild wild west

2007-05-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

We left Melbourne 2 days ago to go to Northern Tropical Queensland, home of dangerous creatures, stingy plants, jellyfishes but also cute kangaroos and koalas.

Marketing Communication Presentation

2007-04-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

At last ... I can prove I actually did some serious work at MBS. This is the intoroduction to one of my very last MBA presentations and our team had a lot of fun putting it together. I hope you like it :)

We are moving out to 65 Brighton beach !

2007-04-26T01:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we spent the all afternoon there, staring at these cute beach houses, on Brighton beach which is 15 mns away from downtown Melbourne. I was very inspired and broke my personal reccord. 300 pictures in one afternoon :) I guess we are sad to leave Melbourne next week and want to gather as many memories as possible.

During that day, we even ran into our two world traveller friends: Merries from the States and Campbell from the UK. After living in South Africa, the States, UK, Campbell has decided to apply for his Australian citizenship. Should we following his path ?

Design design design ....

2007-04-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

The second day we arrived here, someone reminded us that Melbourne was sort of a mini London. We found it hard to believe, how could such an Australian remote city (22 hours from Gatwick) be similar? Very soon, Anne-Sophie and felt very much at home here and realized there must be some connection between these two cities. London is our favorite city in the world ... if the weather (plus the crap food and this soccer obsession) was not that bad, we might actually have stayed there. Melbourne does have a perfect weather and in is culturally and socially very similar to London.

As my Irish Marketing Prof told me, we love Melbourne because it is so European and looks like home. The city is made-up of old Victorian buildings and definitely a UK flavor. Aussies have a love and hate relationship with the U.K. As any ex British Empire colony, they pride themselves in being different. Australia resonates with outdoor, strange animals, sports, fun, booze, surf and Australian football (not soccer, do not get them offended). In the same time, Australians watch the BBC, buy UK magazines, dress-up like any London pop star. Some of the yougest Australians even go and live in the UK for a while (they have this great thing called 'Commonwealth temporary work Visa').

All of this to say, Melbourne does remind us of London. I guess the most unexpected thing for us was to realize how much this city was culturally active. It ahs nothing to envy to European capitals. Honestly, who would think Australian as being so innovative in terms of design and arts in general. No later than last weekend, I found myself by accident in a Skateboard exhibition; I mean the good stuff with boards decorated by underground artists. I have been looking for this type of event for a very long time and never found anywhere else, even in Europe. I paid attention to the people running this event and found that there is a lot of Asian influence. Looking closely at all these trendy people on the streets, we found that the majority are from Asia, in particular these rich South East countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore. We are not quite sure what makes Melbourne in particular so appealing to them, maybe the language, or a more liberal country; maybe it is cheaper to study?

What we know for sure is we have been impressed by Melbourne's design capabilities and how people actually pay attention to these tings. In a way this is what makes Melbourne way more European than we expected. And we have been pleasantly surprised. Above is a picture of one of our friends' lobby in the Eureka Tower. I nearly got kicked out of the building after I took that picture ... but it was worth it!

Bell's beach - Surf competition

2007-04-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to be Melbourne's surf event of the year. Unfortunately the swell was very little and the event actually took place in a different location. We went to Bell's beach anyway, just to check out onf of the most famous surf beaches in the world. And we followed the surf comp online: http://www.ripcurl.com/ripcurlpro/

This year's winner was Taj Burrow !

Korean BBQ

2007-04-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

Our Korean exchange student friends organized this BBQ during the Easter week end. We can count at least 7 different nationalities in this little group there ! It was a lot of fun ... they promised to organize a Bam drinking session next week end :) PS: The Tokyo sweatshirt is pure coincidence !!!

Rabbit on the beach

2007-04-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous me on the beach!
OK, I have been a bit photoshoped by Ben who is taking photography classes at the Uni.
So let's just say that the model is beautiful and the photograph is talented.
This was taken on the last summer day as now we have entered a more autumnal weather ( still not too bad though, we are not even wearing coats).

I have a new hair cut!

2007-03-29T01:10:00.000-07:00

Magic mushroom

2007-03-26T02:50:00.000-07:00

We found this huge mushroom while walking by the Yarra river... Today's the food and wine festival and Melbourne knows how to celebrate ! Along with a bunch of international students, we went to the beer tasting session down in Federation Square. We only stayed for a couple of hours and left with a huge smile on my face !

Studying hard - Group assignment !

2007-03-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

I recently received numerous complaints about this blog, it appears indeed that some people think my life as a student is not very challenging. Let me address these concerns:

I am only off on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Everything else is class time.

There is a lot of pressure on the grades. If I fail a class, I may have to take the exams again (and stay for another semester, what a waste).

Job search is intense and takes a lot of my time.

It rained at least 5 times since we have been here, forcing me to study in the library.

Group meetings are difficult. We have strong arguments and fights. It's not always clear who has priority on catching the good waves.

If you feel you can make a difference and help an underprivileged student getting through his exams please donate to bplomion@gmail.com. Your donations will buy my essential course materials such as a new surfboard, caisse of white wine and a new pair of flip-flops.

Thank you!

Melbourne port

2007-03-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic from the StKilda pier, minutes away from Dowtown Melbourne. Yes, there is no wave and that's not quite the surf spot we expected. But this is still a fun place to relax.

Outdoor cinema

2007-03-13T02:30:00.000-07:00

That was out first outdoor movie and was really an incredible experience. The setting was just amazing, after-all we are in the Royal Botanical garden, one of the most prestigious parks in Australia. We came early with tons of food and wine. After an hour, half people out there were pretty drunk, reaching for their pillows ! The movie sucked (Marie Antoinette) but we had a great time watching the birds and bats (!!!) fying over our head !

Ikea coffee table

2007-03-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

This is by far the weirdest office building I have ever seen. It is right in the middle of Southern Cross train station, in central Melbourne.

This is typical Melbourne: a great mixture of old victorian stuff with sleek new construction .... Did we say Melbourne it reminded us of London ?

Temperatures have suddenly dropped ....

2007-03-05T02:25:00.000-08:00

... Just Kidding !!!

Temperatures have only dropped from 35 to 25 Celsius degrees here ...

This is just a distant memory from Montreal !

Tree House

2007-03-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from last week end. We drove on the Great Ocean road and stopped at several sights, amongh which this amazing metal structure in the middle of a National park. You can explore the forest suspended about 30 metres high and the tower on one of the pics is 47 metres high. Needless to say, we had vertigo and were a bit freaked out when the wind was blowing as the whole structure shakes at the same time.

12 Apostles

2007-02-28T04:31:00.001-08:00

Alongside the Great Ocean Road, we stopped by this place called the 12 Apostles (named after 12 stand-alone cliffs) . This is one of Victoria's most famous sight. The rocks are millions years old and are remainings of the previous coast line.

Thirsty Camel !

2007-02-25T02:30:00.000-08:00

Thirsty? The Camel is there to rescue you anytime.
Yes people, we discovered the booze drive thru. This novelty concept ( to us) consists of 3 elements: bottles, cars, and a till. You drive there, open the trunk, and load your chosen beverage. You have got to love it !

Studying hard !

2007-02-14T04:25:00.000-08:00

Allright, this is not quite what I expected from my MBA classes ... what can I say, it is 30 degrees outside and I could not resist stuyding one of those HBS case studies on the balcony, a few ms away from the pool. What happened is I fell asleep and Anne-Sophie took a picture of me. I showed up in my evening class with a bit of a sunburn. Tough life really !

Trip to the Yarra Valley wineries

2007-02-11T01:31:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we filled up 2 vans with international students and headed to the infamous Yarra Valley, a place where wine is the king.

We managed to hit 5 wineries and one dairy farm in one afternoon and probably sampled about 30 different wines. This place is like the cheapest bar on earth, they keep serving you (OK, in very small volumes) and are not at all offended if you don’t buy anything.

The people on the picture are other MBAs students in exchange with the University of Melbourne (just like Ben) and they are a really cool bunch. Everyone is true to the stereotypes of their own countries while at the same time being very aware of it.

First day of class

2007-02-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

I can't really say that was a stressful day ... All 22 exchange students were invited for an orientation day. The vast majority of exchange students are from North America's universities, such as Cornell, Duke, NYU, Schulich and Rotman. Thanks god, we also had a bunch of Korean and one Swiss students that made the student body a bit more diverse. Our orientation day was pretty relaxed, it started with a welcome speech by the Dean followed by an afternoon at ... the Melbourne ZOO !!! Yes, we spent 4 hours bonding with each other at the Zoo. I can't say I remember many of the animals I saw but for sure, I had a fantastic time getting to know the other students in such an awkward environment. By the way, here are a few quotes from the Dean's speech in the morning ... ''Mots of you are here on a Pass or Fail basis, please take advantage of that'', ''There is more of the exchange than studying in the library''. Did I already say my first day here was relaxed ?

This is the entrance of Melbourne Business School, a few minutes away from Melbourne University. MBS ranks in the 50s in the FT 2007 ranking, it is the second largest MBA in Australia and has a great reputation for its marketing program (this is great news, I had no idea really when I applied for the school!). Classes are pretty small (100 students) but students are very much looked after. There is a bunch of acclaimed profs (yes, those HBS MBA/PHD grad who write books and teach at Kellogg or Stanford), lots of career resources and administrative staff. For instance, as exchange student, we have a full time person that only looks after us. All of this is pretty impressive even though it comes at a cost. To join the MBA program, students pay AUS $ 50,000 a year.

Surf trip in Torquay

2007-02-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the time has come to explore the surfing scene in Victoria. We headed off to Torquay, home of Australian surfing. Rip Curl, Quiksilver and a few other companies have their roots there. Torquay is a small village, 1 hour away from Melbourne. It is mostly known for Bell's beach that hosts the Rip Curl Pro every year in Easter. The first picture shows Torquay's Back Beach on a windy day: powerful waves were about 5-6 feet, not as clean as the day before. Too much current (hey, I am just a beginner !) forced me to go to the left hand side, where waves are much smaller. The second picture shows me trying to surf after a one year break. I do need more practice and that's where we came here ! One the third picture is Anne-so, taking it easy on the wind and wave free Front Beach.

View from Southbank

2007-02-03T02:34:00.000-08:00

Two picture from Southbank. The first one is a beautifull view on the Rialto towers, the highest towers in Asia/Pacific. The second picture shows the Yarra River, with federation square on the right hand side and the yellow Flinders train station. This is a good illustration of Melbourne where Victorian buildings are mixed up with brand new American type towers.

2007-02-02T03:23:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it is the food, the weather or the different time zone but I have been feeling a bit weird lately

More of St Kilda

2007-01-29T04:25:00.000-08:00

St Kilda may not be the beach we expected but we found this odd amusement park ... Here is a picture of the entrance that reminded us of the old piers in Brighton ...

Athletic Sunday

2007-01-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken from the South Yarra river bridge on a beautiful sunday. A bunch of people are rowing while others are running. Just behind the building at the back, there is a mini skatepark, which would have suited me had I brought my board here ! Nevermind, I will watch the Melbourne Open tennis, this will keep my mind busy for a while !

A day with no sun !

2007-01-27T01:49:00.000-08:00

A very threatening skyline: it is not always sunny in Melbourne!

This was taken in St Kilda, the beach neighborhood. Well, those buildings have view on the closest thing to a beach Melbourne has. We had fantasised about this beach but we found out that was not quite not what we expected. This looks like a UK south east beach: there is little room to sit, the water is opaque and the atmosphere is kind of oldish (a bit like Brighton really). We were told later that all the amazing beaches Melbourne has to offer are an hour away. We will check those out very soon, more pictures to come !

Downtown from a balcony !

2007-01-26T02:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a view of Downtown Melbourne from a balcony of a 12 storey building (one of the residences we visited). Melbourne is so beautiful: the old bits make it look like London and the modern parts are so California like. So that's the best of both worlds. Loads of other pics on Picassa( link on the top right).

Today was Australia day, mate! Everyone was outside barbequeuing and getting drunk, just like in any other sunny city.

We found a place to stay !

2007-01-25T02:17:00.000-08:00

After 10 day accomodation hunting and endless apartment viewings, we have found an awesome place in South Yarra. The area is really nice: very central and trendy. I don't know whether that's amenities (pool, sauna, spa), the amazing looking building or maybe our roomate from Singapore that got our attention ... but here we are and we are loving if ! Here are some pic with a nice view of the gym, pool (above). Our 3 storey building is just behind. It is so sleek, looks like a posh boutique spa ! Here is another pic with the pool !

Arrival in Melbourne

2007-01-23T04:19:00.000-08:00

Not quite as nice as this backpacker hotel, our $90 a night hostel is above a parking lot, surrounded by the city's skyscrapers. It was fun getting there in the middle of the night, after 22 hours in the plane: we left Paris at 6am and got to Melbourne at 10pm the day after ! It is amazing how much day light one can had on a plane from Europe to Asia, there is litterally no time to sleep !