Week 7 (I think? I can't actually remember how long I've been here). In which the adventures just keep happening!

Hi everyone! I’ve been pretty busy lately, started having some assignments to write, have had field trips and other excursions with the girls, continuing to learn to cook (so much fun!), and other such things.

Lets see, all the way back on the 8th, a Sunday, Kathy and I had a field trip to Rowe’s Bay. Basically we got to explore the rocky intertidal in Australia. So cool comparing it to the rocky intertidal in the Gulf of Maine! I was in heaven, poking around, harassing the wildlife (as Steve always says I do). Definitely the coolest things I found were the conches (see the video below, its of a conch turning itself rightside up).

Unfortunately, in the process of sticking my nose under every huge rock I could still roll over, I scraped my hands up a bit. Didn’t think anything of it, until about a week later my hand was unbelievably itchy and then got this huge blotchy rash. Lo and behold, its not all the poisonous animals I needed to be watching out for, it was the bacteria. If anyone would like to send me Neosporin, that’d be wonderful, because you need to get a prescription to get it here, and I’m always getting minor scrapes and bumps :) The good news is, it’s about 97% gone, after a couple of days of awful itchiness and swollen fingers.

Ewgross. The bump on my index finger got bigger, and my fingers were way more swollen before this got better

We’ve also had two field trips to Reef HQ. I love aquariums, but going to this one 3 times in one month is a bit much.. The lab I had last Friday was much more interesting, involved sawing a fish into sections so we could compare the distribution of red and white muscle. Alicia, Kathy and I were pretty fabulous at sawing fish, if I may say so!

Alicia, Kathy, and the Fish. Or his head at least.

On Sunday, the 15th, we walked up Castle Hill. Some great views of Townsville, an invigorating walk.

Kathy and Savannah are up in the front, followed by Trish and Rachel. Castle Hill is on the right

This past week mostly involved writing some papers, and not sleeping. So this weekend mostly involved sleeping, however on Friday we also went to Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park. The international office put on this free trip for all the international students. It was really great to have the chance to get to a part of Townsville that we wouldn’t otherwise have easy access too. I loved it there, the beach was gorgeous, a nice mix of sandy and rocky. We went on a walk that went up a hill, past a gun emplacement and a quarantine station (now a little museum) and then back down the hill to this gorgeous beach. I was quite proud of myself, I got myself onto the roof of the gun emplacement and then back down, all by myself, without getting stuck like I normally do, haha! My favorite part of going to Pallarenda was seeing familiar sights in a slightly different perspective. For example, we saw Castle Hill from a slightly different angle, and Magnetic Island was so much closer then we’re use to seeing. Anyway, keep an eye on my facebook for pictures from that day coming up soon.

I’ve been involved in the Christian Union group here on campus. I was vaguely aware of its existence before coming here, but I didn’t know anything about it, and I didn’t know how I was going to go to church, but my philosophy was that God will supply what Christian support I’ll need. And how He has! The people in CU have just been so warm and friendly and have really made me feel apart of the bible study, and right away found my lifts to church. So thanks guys, I really appreciate how welcoming you’ve all been!


Everyone back home.. I love and miss you, keep in touch!

Frog Sneak Peek

More blog and pictures on facebook coming really soon, but until then, I wanted to share a couple of the many pictures I took of this really bitty, super adorable frog we found at Pallarenda Park on Friday. Enjoy!

Preview

Australia - 1 month down!

Hey all!

Sorry I've been slackin' with the postings, but I figured Lara was on top of it.. I gotta say, I'm definitely loving Australia!!!! :) It's absolutely gorgeous here, pretty much every single day, I still can't get over that it's technically their winter right now, lol...crazy! Classes are interesting, I'm taking Invertebrate Biology, Aquatic Animal Ecophysiology, Biodiversity of Tropical Australia, and Animal Adaptation to Environmental Change.. The first two I'm taking because they count towards my major, yayyy, so I should be set when I go back to UNH next semester. Not sure how I feel about them yet, I'm not so much into the inverts, I'm more of a large mammal kinda gal, but unfortunately I've already taken classes in that, and I had to do what was best for my graduating on time next spring. We'll see how it goes, could be interesting, I just know that Invertebrate bio will be really intense and will take up a lot of time. :/ ugh.

Compared to last semester however, this semester can only be better...I hope, lol..... As much as I love being here, it's extremely hard because of missing and worrying about Derek. The second week I was here, I discovered that as long as I'm outside the U.S., he's not allowed to contact me via phone or letter :/ That was a huge blow, I honestly didn't think it could get harder until that moment hit, and I realized it still could.. But I'm managing, one day at a time..and I was able to talk to him online for a little bit last week which was amazing :) It's a hard balance though, because I want this semester to go at a good pace because I'm in Australia and that's amazing and possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity, but at the same time, I also want this semester to speed by so that I can be with Derek finally.. I already have a countdown, lol.....

But no matter how hard it gets at times, I'm thankful I'm here and I'm trying to enjoy each and everyday and just get through it all with a smile on my face. I'm lucky to be here, and I'm so lucky to have met such awesome people already and have such amazing friends here! :)

Week 3. In which I start classes.

So I've had a week and two days of classes so far! I've been enjoying them all, they seem pretty easy and interesting. I'm taking:

Marine Conservation Biology. I'm most looking forward to this class. I took a conservation class last semester and really liked it, so I'm looking forward to focusing on marine. Professor is cool. Seems like it's not too hard and not too easy.

Biodiversity of Tropical Australia. Easy, fun class, mostly just "these are the animals and plants of Australia." Been super boring so far because its all been basic ecology while he catches us up to speed, but should get interesting in the next class or two when we start talking about marine critters! Lots of fun field trips, professor is this hilarious english guy.

Animal Adaptation to Environmental Change. Ok, the subject matter of this seems really interesting, but the actual class seems like it will be a bit of a pain. It's a video conferencing class, the professor is actually in Cairns. The real pain is that we have to pay for a field trip that takes up most of the lecture recess. Hopefully the field trip will be really interesting, I think thats what is going to make or break this class because a big portion of our grade is based off the trip.

Aquatic Animal Ecophysiology. Professor is hilarious, very down under, very casual, very energetic. I think this is going to be my hardest class. I hope there isn't too much biochem involved, but I suppose really I should hope for more biochem because I know I test well with that sort of material.

In the States, as we all know, the norm is that classes either meet MWF for 50 minutes, or TR for 80 minutes, and the class will meet at the same time each of those days, and in the same room. Well, things are a bit more sporadic down under. Just about all the classes are 50 minutes long and meet at random times and places and days. For example, Ecophysiology meets at 2 on Mondays in one room, and at 9 on Thursdays in another room. Very random. And that class has a practical (a lab) but it only meets 5 times this semester. Thats the major difference between classes here and class back home. The other big one is that here each class only has one test (a final at the end) thats worth at least 50% of the grade, and only a few assignments making up the rest of the grade. It makes the semester easier, except for the last couple of weeks.

Despite always having to look at my timetable to figure out when and where my classes are, my schedule is actually pretty easy. I have lots of free time, which is just what I wanted, because this is my semester to relax! It is also my semester to stop worrying about grades and focus on enjoying the content. All my classes interest me, so I'm excited for this semester!

Lets see, have I done anything interesting other then classes... Kathy's friend from back home came for a couple of nights (Hi Kari!). She was in Sydney last semester and has been traveling ever since. On Friday, the three of us took a walk out of campus (45-60 minute walk I suppose) to a nearby river and had a picnic there. There were gorgeous huge trees hanging over the river, and a botanical garden nearby. On Saturday we went into Townsville and looked at some of the shops and went to the beach (and got gelato of course! There is a great gelato place on the Strand).

Man, my posts are always so long, hope I'm not boring y'all! I'll be back next week!