this post also isn't on Uluru...

In typical Xu fashion I'm not serving up what I promised, which was an epic story on my journey into the heart of Australia.

Instead, this post will chart the journey into the heart of Vogue... Entertaining + Travel. (Brought to you by popular demand from Christie, Lauren, Chris, and any number of other people wondering what a pre-med is doing at Vogue Entertaining + Travel.)

Let me preface this by saying that everytime someone asks me where I am doing my internship, their eyes inevitably glitter with excitement when I reply "Vogue..." and then fill with opaque confusion as I finish, "...Entertaining + Travel." Yep, that's right folks, Vogue Entertaining + Travel, affectionately abbreviated to VE+T in the office (because let's face it, Vogue Entertaining + Travel is a mouthful, and to just say Vogue would be misleading...)

A magazine published exclusively in Australia, VE+T celebrated its 30th “birthday” in October 2008. VE+T was originally published as a supplement to Australian Vogue Living in 1978, but by 1979 it was published as a separate magazine called Vogue Entertaining Guide. The vision for the magazine was for it to become an authority on the best Australian cuisine and a showcase of a new wave of creative Australian chefs. Although it's published under the "Vogue" brand, it really doesn't have much connection with the typical image of Vogue that we've got in our heads from watching Anne Hathaway suffer in Devil Wears Prada.

Nevertheless, even people who I explain VE+T to still get mislead into thinking that I am working amongst fashionistas and a new wave of creative geniuses that will set the lifestyle examples for the rest of the middle class population. Well, I'll give you part of the former and most of the latter. The people I work with aren't fashionistas, although some of the women in my office would like to think they are!, but instead they are ordinary people who are a bit artsy and sophisticated in an off-the-beaten-track, I've travelled-around-the-world sort of way. They are, side note, inordinately skinny for the most part. And the writers and creative team are not exactly lifestyle trend setters, but they do have an eye for "the luxe life," a phrase that VE+T likes to throw around to explain its vision.

Essentially VE+T is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to providing fresh travel stories and the scoop on the best restaurants, regions, hotels, etc. around the world. They have oodles of recipes included with each feature. There is also a fashion page and a... CAR page... to sort of round out the magazine as more of a lifestyle magazine than just a food and travel mag. (The regular car feature really confused me, since our target audience is "smart, affluent females, aged 30-59, looking to be inspired by the latest food, travel, entertaining and lifestyle trends." Essentially, a population who I don't think really care about cars... but I guess there's something for everyone.) I'm also working for VE+T's sister magazine, delicious, which is more geared towards recipes and foodies and less on travel.

What surprises me about the magazine? That the staff is SO tiny. Unlike the huge magazine teams you see in American movies and TV, VE+T and delicious rely on a small editorial team of about six each, who are responsible for all of the content in the mag. (Occasionally the odd freelance story gets included, too.) For example, my senior editor wrote this month's feature on Wellington, New Zealand, and she is currently in Perth, Western Australia to do research on the next issue. We also have stories on Sri Lanka and the Piedmont region of Italy in this month.

What exactly do I do for my internship? Well I work Tues-Fri from 9-5PM and somehow I manage to fill the time. My internship fits into almost all areas of the magazine's structure. I'm given lots of odd jobs and tasks, nothing glamorous, and most of the jobs I am trained for on-the-spot. Basically, I help where I am needed and I learn as I go along. I contribute mostly to the editorial side of the magazine since my interests are in writing, but sometimes I'll help out the art director. I do tons of mind-numbing fact checking (i.e. are the phone numbers for all these restaurants correct? Maybe? Why don't you call all of them to see?) but I also get to do some fun stuff too. I went with a designer of delicious one day to the in-house photo studio to watch some products being shot for a page that I helped to write. So far I've written really tiny bits of editorial content for VE+T and delicious. First was an “advertorial” (advertising/editorial) in which I wrote snippets on several products that VE+T recommends to its readers...($40,000 Rolex watch, anyone??). I also wrote the “Club VE+T” page, detailing the prizes that subscribers can win this month. And I also wrote three short introductions for our featured contributors in the June/July issue. None of these were too big, but it's going to be exciting to see my name printed in the magazine!

Essentially since the teams at VE+T and delicious are so small and interrelated, I work with all aspects of the mag and have fun doing it. Plus--big plus--people will come in with free cocktail samples (I got INCREDIBLY flushed at work one afternoon as the result of this) and tons of free pastries, teas, anything-under-the-sun to try to bribe the editorial staff into writing about their product. Yay for freebies!

Okay, so hopefully this post will satisfy anyone with even the tiniest bit of curiosity on what I do at VE+T and delicious. And truly, it's been quite an eye-opener for me--who knew that so much work went into creating the "look" of the magazine... or that a job as a "food stylist" exists???

Peace and Rolex watches,
Xu

PS I linked the websites of both VE+T and delicious if you want to check it out for yourselves. :)

PPS Thao, you would love my job because pretty much all it is is massive amounts of food porn, and we all know how much you love food porn! (Okay, well I know, and now my parents who are reading this blog also know, hah.)

jk, this post is not on Uluru (aw shucks)

Sigh. I started writing up the post for my Outback experience... and then realized that it's not just a 30 min. endeavor but more like a 2 hr odyssey to go back and recapture each detail. It's going to take me more than just this bit of time sitting in my Australian lit class and not paying attention (sidenote: when I decided to take a "vacation" to Australia for the semester, my work ethic went on permanent vacation, too).

Instead, despite this being a WEE bit out of order, I'll share with you my 20th birthday celebration. Andrei was here the week of my birthday, and I had all my friends around me and it was really all a girl could ask for:

The night of my birthday I had class 6-8PM, but afterwards we headed off to Newtown (which I think I've written about previously) to go to a restaurant that Andrei had checked out earlier that week, called UrbanBites. I think it's important to note here that Andrei and my friends were entirely responsible for making this a memorable night for me. Andrei truly went above and beyond by planning out the entire evening perfectly: dinner, gifts, cake, and figuring everything out to make it all work! My friends went all out, too (as you'll see in the following pictures).

Also, this is the first time I've attempted to upload a video on blogger, so cross your fingers it works. The part when things go sideways is when Rachel oh-so-gracefully almost drops the camera.

A normal picture of us at dinner....

...followed by a SWEET asian-ified picture of us (also because they tease me for doing this way too often... perhaps they don't understand that it's facetious???)

This is the cake that my friends baked for me in UniLodge's ghetto ovens. I don't think the people at home can understand how touching this is until you've moved to UniLodge and gone to one of their kitchens (it is NOT conducive to cooking). They added Oreos along the side because they all noticed (and very observantly so) that I like carrying around Oreos with me as a snack on long trips. :D I feel like these girls from me backwards and forwards! Special thanks to Becky and Jane! (Also note the v. cute Happy Birthday Beanie Baby knockoff in the back, courtesy of them as well.)

The after-dinner party in the lounge. They had BALLOONS and everything; it was glorious. A short side note to explain the ballooons. It was about 11PM when we had finished eating at UrbanBites and it had been raining all night. I'm in a dress and heels and so me, Andrei, Kelly, Marie and I take a cab back to UniLodge. The other 5 walk back, insisting that they'll be fine. Turns out they chose to walk back because they needed time to blow up the balloons. So imagine that you're just minding your business in Newtown at 11PM at night, and suddenly these 5 girls come running at you... brandishing.... BALLOONS. Which they are blowing up mid-run. And it's pouring outside. I'm told it was a very funny scene.

And finally, all 8 of us together (Andrei is taking the photo) :) It brings a tear to my eye.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the video, as low res as it is--and as usual I look like a total idiot as everyone around me is acting supremely nice. (PS the video took a humongously long time to upload and I probably blew off all of BUSC's internet capabilities just to upload this one measly 32 second video...)

A Most Belated Post, Pt. I

All right, it's down to business. Andrei returned to the US and my parents left yesterday, so no more excuses for not writing.

Nearly six weeks ago I traveled to Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city and my favourite city to date. Known for its badass graffiti, cozy laneway cafés, and extremely laidback attitude, Melbourne appears a sleepy city on the surface but emerges as a serious contender for coolest city in the world upon closer inspection. The graffiti really lends a sense of youth and rebellion to the city, and there are some crazy clubs and bars around town. One bar we went to called The Croft Institute was mad scientist themed--drinks with edgy names like "Dope as Fuck" and "Labsinthe" served in test tubes, beakers, and even "syringe shots" of you-name-it. The bathroom had a "sterile" hospital bed in it, and outside the bathroom there was an empty vintage wheelchair hanging from the ceiling and facing a broken television in the CREEPIEST fashion. My favourite part? The tables that we sat at were all lab benches with laboratory sinks!!! I loved the whole package, despite its inherent creepiness. Science major, go figure.

The Croft institute: would go back again, and bring premed friends with me instead :D

Artists at Work

Another highlight of the trip: traveling down the Great Ocean Road to visit the Twelve Apostles (now only eight? of the rocks remain). The Twelve Apostles are a national icon (but perhaps not well known to the international crowd), and apparently it's the most photographed place in Australia (of this I am skeptical, despite its beauty). The drive along the Great Ocean Road was very pretty, but generally uneventful, so we spiced it up by... taking a helicopter ride above the Twelve Apostles! This was my first time in a helicopter, and I was really thrilled with the experience. Something about wearing those silly-looking headsets really pleases me! (Remember how in my previous post I guffawed at people who would pay the money to do scenic flights? Yeah well I am swallowing my words.)

Beautiful view of the 12 Apostles from the Helicopter

Rockin' out in the heli

The last unexpected but delightful experience in Melbourne was a surprise attendance at WICKED, a musical that people have been gushing about forever but I have never had any interest in seeing. Well, the whole thing went down like this: Two of my friends entered a same-day lottery for discount tickets to see WICKED the second night we arrived in Melbourne, and in spite of the small chance of winning, they won! I had resigned myself to not seeing the show since they had no extra tickets, but on the very last day in Melbourne a Taiwanese friend of mine suggested that we enter for the afternoon show... and lo and behold tickets descended from the heavens at the very affordable price of $30AUD for FRONT ROW SEATS (regularly priced seats were $100+ and who knows how much front row seats cost). And that's how I came to serendipitiously see WICKED, which I liked but did not love. (Not being a huge Broadway musical fan might be part of it; but mostly I thought there was SO MUCH! they could have done with the idea of the story of Oz from the Wicked Witch's perspective. Alas, not all that I was hoping for.) But after the show we snuck around to the back of the theatre like the creepers we are and got autographs from the actors, who were surprisingly chill.

In Melbourne we also visited the Melbourne Cricket Ground with my Australian Sports class (ironically the class taught me nothing about Australian sports, as in don't ask me anything about rugby or cricket because I don't know the rules, or the point...). One night we ate dinner and watched the sunset at St. Kilda's where there is a beautiful beach and pier. The next day we ate dumplings in Melbourne's Chinatown (A+). Sidenote: Melbourne's Chinatown is the oldest surviving Chinatown in the world (San Francisco's was destroyed by earthquake and fire in 1906 and had to be rebuilt).

Some other random stuff that happened between Melbourne and my Spring Break trip to Uluru: TropFest (biggest short film festival in the world) and a field trip to Wine Odyssey (an extremely cool wine tasting place in the Rocks that even has an "aroma room" where you can smell all the different aromas you might find in wine, i.e. black pepper, peach, butter, lemon, leather, etc, etc.)

OK, next post on Uluru/the Outback.
Update on my ETA: 4 more weeks in Oz and 3 weeks in NZ.

back to reality

Wow, an incredible amount has happened since I last updated, incluuuuding my 20th birthday (many pictures forthcoming, I hope).

Just before Andrei left my parents flew in, meaning that I was at Sydney Airport on TWO separate occasions yesterday, phew!, but all is well and my parents are now safely bumming around Sydney while Andrei is no doubt passed out in Boston by now.

And meanwhile I return to work at Vogue Entertaining & Travel tomorrow morning--I'll update on that as well--now that I have more free time (hopefully).

The last few weeks have been mindblowingly but exhaustingly INCREDIBLE! and I wouldn't have it any other way...but tonight I think I am going to stay in and totally pig out on the cake that my friends baked me for my birthday!!!

return from the center of the earth (or the center of Oz, at least)

I survived the Outback!  After five days and four nights of being in the middle of Australia's most unlivable area, I've finally returned to civilization (most missed: running water and a real bed).  It's hard to describe how much I loved the Outback, especially Uluru and Kata Tjuta.  It was unlike any place I've ever been to before and I felt so drawn to it.  Well, as much as a person can feel drawn to big giant rocks, anyway.  Mostly, I felt so much in awe the entire time, knowing that everything I was seeing was hundreds of MILLIONS of years old.  And now my shoes are caked in bright red Outback clay that will probably never come out, my body is dead tired, and my mouth is still dry from tramping around in the desert, but I'm here and I'm tired and two minutes from now I am definitely crashing into bed.

But not before I check when Andrei's plane comes in tomorrow morning!!

I can hardly believe that six weeks has already passed and that my friends at BU are having their Spring Break already.  Well, technically Spring Break's not here just yet, but somehow I convinced Andrei to skip class Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to flight out to Sydney early.  Who needs class when you can have perpetual sunshine and beaches?  And what better place to have Spring Break than Down Under?

Long story short, the next week will probably be void of any lengthy posts as I'll be playing the role of the perfect hostess for Andrei.  By next week I'll hope to have posted something--anything--on Melbourne, and soon thereafter I want to write about Uluru and the Outback before I forget all the details.

There'll be some awesome pics that I'll upload, so stay tuned!

xoxo,

Xu

(Final sidenote: I have been watching Gossip Girl Season 1 with friends here and I'm a smidge addicted and rather ashamed of the fact.)