AFIS Amazing Race

AFIS (Australian Federation of International students) are hosting their AMAZING race event which is based on the TV series.

This is on again on the 20th. Here you race in teams of 4 or 5 people and you meet at Federation Square at 10am. There you'll get your first clue. And from there its a race to the finish line. Here there are various fun tasks along the way to do. This is a great way for students to explore Melbourne and make friends.

Its $5 to register and it includes only one snack. Its best to bring your own protein snacks for the trail. What I would like to bring is a protein shake or two and some lunch as you are bound to be hungry along the way.  Also do bring a water bottle or two.

Melbourne does have four seasons in a day so its best to bring an umbrella, hat and sunblock as you will be outside.

Do register for this amazing opportunity online

ASEAN games: Day 2 at MSAC

MSAC is Melbourne Sports and Aquarium centre in Albert Park for those that do not know. And every year MASCA (the Malaysian Student Council of Australia) runs this sort of event to encourage students to be tolerant of other cultures.

In the past few years there has been a bit of rascism in our streets. You might remember Meld's story on this where there were 11 comments. Events like these help to stem the racism that is going on in Melbourne. In fact there were a few Aussies in the basketball team and at the table tennis/badminton area all playing with the Asian students.

In basketball the competition was really fierce. I enjoyed watching every moment of this. There were a few really good teams that were all in white. There was a bit of cheering and lots of spectators as people cheered their favourite teams on.

Then for lunch we went to the one café which is called Lakeside. Here at 12pm it wasn't that busy and they had 50% off the total price for sushi which normally is $7 per pack of two. So I bought that and had salad.

Today they had roaring trade due to the ASEAN games. All the players and spectators all wanted food.

The sushi was Koshi Sushi and was vegetarian but it was a day old. I didn't find this out until I bought it. Luckily it was still alright.

Do go to next year's games as it is set to be bigger and better than ever.

National Fitness Week

Image courtesy of Fitness first on Facebook.

Fitness First were hosting a National Fitness Week all over Australia. Here we brought our friends in for free. Keep each other motivated and on track. Normally to join it is $75 but that week it was free. This was to encourage people to go to the gym.

The free classes were good all week and many people signed up. There weren't any giveaways but people didn't mind.

The receptionists were friendly as always and did not mind answering people's questions. There were posts everyday on social media about the classes.

The locker rooms were a mess however.

Do join Fitness first. You can pop into your local Fitness first and they are mainly in the metro areas. The only thing is that they don't have a cheap casual pass. Theirs is at $125 for 5 visits and $750 for 50 visits.

Healthy Lifestyle Lounge

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

The Healthy lifestyle lounge has been around for quite some time now and it has helped a few people to achieve their weight loss goals. We talk about this here

The Healthy Lifestyle Lounge is on Level 10 at 10 Elizabeth st Melbourne.
We really enjoyed ourselves here. The coaches really spend a lot of time helping you to not only lose weight but to be healthy and at your best.

Being healthy is not boring. In fact it is fun and the nutrition workshops and party shows this. The less obese (plump, put in a nice way) you are the happier you are. About 7 out of 10 people are overweight and could be helped to be leading a better lifestyle.

We were shown different types of smoothies which incorporated fruit and their protein powders from a company called Herbalife. They say that you should eat every 2-3 hours and smaller meals.

One of the Herbalife teas

One of the things we learnt is that it is not all about exercise to be healthy. It is about having 80% of nutrition (good fats and protein and carbs) and 20% of exercise which helps a lot to lead a healthy lifestyle. There are fit clubs all over Melbourne which are free to join and the post workout smoothie is only just a mere $5

At the end of the month there is a party to celebrate your achievements during that month. Of course it is healthy as it is a healthy fit club but there are lots of yummy treats that are healthy such as cheeses, breads and dip

My week with Heart week

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

Heart Week was on this week and its all about being healthy and less sedentary. About 14.5 million Australians and International students are obese and now is our chance to do something for a change. That is about 1/3 of the population in Melbourne with regional cities being the highest.
The Heart Foundation says that about one obese person dies every 12 mins.

We talk about the simple steps that we did during the week and how doing these can turn your life around.


Sunday
Was out for most of the day and I went to the gym in the morning. And then I went to the Regional living expo via walking from Melbourne Central station to Exhibition Centre. It was about a half an hour walk. I also walked to the train station instead of tramming it.

Had rye bread with salad in the morning. Its a little bit odd but considering that I am having a fried schnitzel burger I thought I may as well.

Monday
Was at home but did go for a walk in the park for 60 minutes. It was such a nice day. Had salad for lunch with sultanas. And then for dinner I had char siu pork and beef which was also rich in iron. But these were not stir fried in a lot of oil, just a little drizzle. I also had tofu.

Tuesday
Went to the gym and burnt about 200 cal. My heart rate on the bike was at 140-155 beats per minute. I was easily puffed. Had a Yucatan (bean burrito) which is full of iron for the heart.

Wednesday
Also went to the gym that day. But I ate pizza and six slices of it and it was bad for me.

Thursday
Went out walking at home. Had a salad for lunch and slow cooked beef for dinner.

Friday
Went to Movida and had five healthy courses. Also went to the gym beforehand

Saturday
Went to the gym and burned about 180 cals on the bike. Also had a healthy salad and wholemeal roll

Sunday
Had a salmon salad with lots of avocado. This is good for omega 3 fats for the heart.

So there you have it. It is easy to be healthy and fit exercise in everyday.

The BBQ Meetup

RNIS was invited to the BBQ Meetup 
As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

The clean BBQ

 This was organised by the Couch and one of the guys bought stuff from Victoria Market. It was a really nice day for this in Melbourne. It was sunny and a little bit windy.

Cooking the vegetables

We met at the Southside of Docklands park and this started a little late say 2pm. And it went on until 10pm that night. There was a lot of cooking and mingling and seeing weird eggplants.

All the foods were fresh especially the vegetables.

Eggplant

I tried the mushroom- yum. Also the fish and prawns were lovely.  They were coated in beer and oil with a lovely dose of pepper and salt.

Also the squid was really big and that had to be cut. The girls did that job and they also gave it a good wash.

There was a very spicy sauce which was too spicy for me.

There was also a lot of drinking going on as well as merrymaking. Other people brought stuff in such as the cookies and the drinks

Many thanks to the Couch for the invite. 

Regional Living expo

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015 

Cooking class

             The Regional Living expo is on this time every year. This event was on at Melbourne Convention Centre in the CBD. It attracts hundreds of people over this three day event. People can explore regions and find out about what they offer. It is good for students in terms of general migration as the regional towns and cities are always looking for people. This is a good way to boost points for migration and PR. Although we are no experts, this is what some of the migration agencies say. We have been to a few of these seminars in the past.

Coffee table

Free coffee

Competition for a holiday

Back to today, we love visiting country towns just for something different and I always love to visit during events time. So we went around to different stalls to see what's on offer. Like Mildura is known for its food especially olive oil and fresh produce. We would love to a trip to Mildura one day but it is quite long and expensive to get there.

We loved trying the kale salad, zucchini pasta salad and the kale chips that was at the cooking demonstration.  They were very healthy and delicious and in fact the Mildura olive oil you can buy that at David Jones. Afterwards I had this garlicky taste in my mouth from the pesto

We also loved the free juice as that was freshly made using the finest produce that Mildura has.

Orange juice

We had a great time there, entering competitions and all. Many thanks to Meld Magazine for recommending that students visit.

Flinders St Fitness first turns a big "1"

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015
RNIS did not have to pay to attend as they are already members of the gym. Other people had to sign up for gym membership

Fitness First in Flinders st has just turned one and there were huge celebrations and promotions. Here we sampled lots of new products and loved the protein shakes. I really enjoyed the chocolate and vanilla one. There were pt training sessions for $10 but we were content with learning about the proteins and doing or own thing

I went there twice and the opening night was really busy.

 We got free food and free samplings of the proteins as listed below.

One of the samples that I took home

At the opening night I burnt 270 cals within the two hours. 140 cals was burnt on the bike and 130 cals was burnt by doing strength exercises. At the end I felt happier and lighter.

During the second visit I burnt 167 cals on the spin cycle. There was an exercise routine being shown but I was content in doing my own thing. They showed me how to make sure that the bike is right for me and how to adjust it. The handlebars should be slightly above or at the same height as the seat.

There are 10 levels of energy and the 10th level is the hardest one. I fit in around about level 6 or 7 and I am happy with that.

Many thanks to Fitness first for the invite and the samples

The Plus one's events

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

This year the Plus Ones are organizing a lot of events for the wider community and RNIS was invited to these two. The plus ones are a team of bloggers who talk about the best events in Melbourne

Trivia Night
This was held at the Precinct hotel and it was free for all. More so my drink was free as someone had left behind theirs.

It was lots of fun and many teams participated. Many new friendships were formed over trivia as many people shouted out the answers and cheered when the questions were being asked.

Pop up Bugaloo
It was at the veggie patch where food and beer was free. Food and beer was supplied Little Creatures and the Little Veggie patch.

Plants and sign

Sign

Plants

Seeds

This was my first time visiting that patch and that patch was fun. It was fun to taste some of the homegrown vegetables and herbs. I loved my veggie patty as it was made with lots of love and they had lots of fresh veg from the garden.

I also loved hanging out with Brenton from the Plus ones as well as Rukmal (or Ruki) as people do call him.

Do sign up to the Plus Ones site to receive information and invites to their latest events in which they will be organising more for the year

Intervarsity games

RNIS was invited by the Singapore Students Society of Victoria.
As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015
 
Founded last year this group is one of the biggest groups in Melbourne to date. Here they look after all the different university Singaporean clubs such as RMIT Singaporean Students Association and Singaporean Medical Students Society.

They hold big events such as this which was a big turnout today of spectators and participants alike. Participants had to pay $20 registration fee per person where it goes to hiring the courts at MSAC for a few hours and the pool for the swimming competition. Some of that money went to the prizes in which four teams took home vouchers.

There were free drinks from Yeo's for the participants and the participants got a very good workout. In the end they all went home very tired.

I had plenty of fun today just watching the futsal and the captains ball. Captains Ball is like netball where two teams try and score the most goals and try and get the ball from the other team. They also have to stop the other team from scoring.

Futsal was the most dangerous as the ball went flying everywhere.

They now have a membership card which you can sign up for at various times of the year. But you have to join your own university's Singaporean students society.