(no subject)
well, here i am in the land down under after an awesome stopover in cheese world (aka - visiting emily). we took a lovely hike in the mountains, did water aerobics as inspired from middle-aged women (i looked so freakin' frumpy wearing that floaty belt thing), and ate apple cheese pie, choc. raisins, cookies, choc. truffles, icecream, and of course - lots of cheese. (thanks emi!)
the plane ride wasn't too bad. i got a solid 6 hours of sleep and could watch movies on demand - awesome documentary on cane toads - nasty little buggers. plus i stole the pillow, which is quite handy.
i can successfully distinguish the southern cross and was even taught how to find south although it involves drawing strait lines across the night sky and since i can't even do that on paper, i'd probably end up in nebraska no matter which direction i went. i haven't seen the moon, yet though. (wanes and waxes on opposite sides in S. hemisphere)
we finally started classes today after a harrowing orientation week. i'm in emmanuel college along with four other dickinsonians. all the "freshers" moved in and they are mostly all an alarmingly 17 years of age. I just can't work with that! such a different mindset. so while i've met a couple that aren't just concerned with getting wasted, i've unfortunately retreated into an international bubble, but i'm ok with that since i came here to see the country and whatnot and not to drink beer. but hazing is huge here, so for a week i woke up to our wing leader (RA) BANGING and Pounding our doors and screaming at us to get up. i never got up. but those who did got floured and painted and had to run.
so anyway - classes are HuGE! MY biggest class is like 200, but many have around 300 and there's no continuity between profs. my animal behaviour class has like 4-5 profs. kind of neat, but strange. but 3 of my 4 classes have field trips (that's why i chose them - and the 4th one was compulsory). and it takes like at least 15 minutes to walk anywhere - the campus is a small town (~40,000 students)
the weather here = sticky. i just sweat all day and the sun usually gives me a headache if i'm not careful, but the evenings and nights are lovely. i guess the climate here is akin to Miami although probably a bit drier.
Brisbane is an ok city, i guess. my favorite part is the city cat, which is the ferry which runs along the river, which runs through the center of the city. i'm working on composing an ode to the city cat. so far i have:
city cat, o city cat!
pretty good, eh?
Friday i went to surfer's paradise on the gold coast. i spent some time chillaxin' on the sand and jumping in the waves. i only got burnt on my baby fat (by my armpits), which is quite painful when wearing a backpack. but those waves were enormous - definitely the largest i've ever seen. there were tons of these little blue jellyfish in the water and washed up on the beach.
sat and sun. i was a true, nerdy environmentalist and went to eco-camp, whcih was run by Uni. of Queensland Environmental Collective/club. we camped at this organic farm located in the glass mountains. the glass mountains are amazing and make me wish i were a geologist. they're just these huge rocky humps stuck in the middle of flat land - no real range, just random humps. it would have been lovely camping, but of course it poured rain and we hadn't secured our rain fly properly, so i woke up in a puddle and ran inside where this other eco-camper was mysteriously but deliciously eating nutella, which was quite a tasty welcoming at a wet 2:30 am. in the morning we planted trees and then went to this national park to "bush walk". we hiked down to this amazing rock pool. there was a lovely waterfall pouring into it, which i swam under and enjoyed meditating on the sunny world outside from behind that shimmering curtain.
coincidentally, there was one girl who had interned at Big Oaks wildlife refuge last summer, so we had fun reminiscing about birds and good ol' joe rob.
hmm . . . today i finally went to classes, went to an env. collective meeting, went swimming, and that's about it. it feels weird to be in an actual classroom at a scheduled time. that hasn't happened since last may!
australians really do have a great sense of humor. everyone i've met and all the speakers always crack jokes and are concerned about everyone really enjoying themselves. although i think there's something to be said for loud americans b/c most of the time i have trouble hearing what people are saying, which rarely happens in the US. and there's quite a difference in vocabulary. for example a pick-up truck is a ute, the bathroom is engaged, not occupied, everything is a freakin' barbeque (no cook-outs here!), and green peppers are capsicums.
but, it feels strangely like the beginning of freshmen year all over again. i guess b/c i'm in a new uni and everyone around me (well, in my hall) is a fresher and i don't know anyone or where anything is. but my objectives are different and everyone has an awesome accent.
the only other exciting thing is that the possums here are cute, i saw and heard a kookabura sitting and laughing in an old gum tree, i fed and petted kangaroos (which look uncannily like deer when sitting), and i met a guy named Gus.
the plane ride wasn't too bad. i got a solid 6 hours of sleep and could watch movies on demand - awesome documentary on cane toads - nasty little buggers. plus i stole the pillow, which is quite handy.
i can successfully distinguish the southern cross and was even taught how to find south although it involves drawing strait lines across the night sky and since i can't even do that on paper, i'd probably end up in nebraska no matter which direction i went. i haven't seen the moon, yet though. (wanes and waxes on opposite sides in S. hemisphere)
we finally started classes today after a harrowing orientation week. i'm in emmanuel college along with four other dickinsonians. all the "freshers" moved in and they are mostly all an alarmingly 17 years of age. I just can't work with that! such a different mindset. so while i've met a couple that aren't just concerned with getting wasted, i've unfortunately retreated into an international bubble, but i'm ok with that since i came here to see the country and whatnot and not to drink beer. but hazing is huge here, so for a week i woke up to our wing leader (RA) BANGING and Pounding our doors and screaming at us to get up. i never got up. but those who did got floured and painted and had to run.
so anyway - classes are HuGE! MY biggest class is like 200, but many have around 300 and there's no continuity between profs. my animal behaviour class has like 4-5 profs. kind of neat, but strange. but 3 of my 4 classes have field trips (that's why i chose them - and the 4th one was compulsory). and it takes like at least 15 minutes to walk anywhere - the campus is a small town (~40,000 students)
the weather here = sticky. i just sweat all day and the sun usually gives me a headache if i'm not careful, but the evenings and nights are lovely. i guess the climate here is akin to Miami although probably a bit drier.
Brisbane is an ok city, i guess. my favorite part is the city cat, which is the ferry which runs along the river, which runs through the center of the city. i'm working on composing an ode to the city cat. so far i have:
city cat, o city cat!
pretty good, eh?
Friday i went to surfer's paradise on the gold coast. i spent some time chillaxin' on the sand and jumping in the waves. i only got burnt on my baby fat (by my armpits), which is quite painful when wearing a backpack. but those waves were enormous - definitely the largest i've ever seen. there were tons of these little blue jellyfish in the water and washed up on the beach.
sat and sun. i was a true, nerdy environmentalist and went to eco-camp, whcih was run by Uni. of Queensland Environmental Collective/club. we camped at this organic farm located in the glass mountains. the glass mountains are amazing and make me wish i were a geologist. they're just these huge rocky humps stuck in the middle of flat land - no real range, just random humps. it would have been lovely camping, but of course it poured rain and we hadn't secured our rain fly properly, so i woke up in a puddle and ran inside where this other eco-camper was mysteriously but deliciously eating nutella, which was quite a tasty welcoming at a wet 2:30 am. in the morning we planted trees and then went to this national park to "bush walk". we hiked down to this amazing rock pool. there was a lovely waterfall pouring into it, which i swam under and enjoyed meditating on the sunny world outside from behind that shimmering curtain.
coincidentally, there was one girl who had interned at Big Oaks wildlife refuge last summer, so we had fun reminiscing about birds and good ol' joe rob.
hmm . . . today i finally went to classes, went to an env. collective meeting, went swimming, and that's about it. it feels weird to be in an actual classroom at a scheduled time. that hasn't happened since last may!
australians really do have a great sense of humor. everyone i've met and all the speakers always crack jokes and are concerned about everyone really enjoying themselves. although i think there's something to be said for loud americans b/c most of the time i have trouble hearing what people are saying, which rarely happens in the US. and there's quite a difference in vocabulary. for example a pick-up truck is a ute, the bathroom is engaged, not occupied, everything is a freakin' barbeque (no cook-outs here!), and green peppers are capsicums.
but, it feels strangely like the beginning of freshmen year all over again. i guess b/c i'm in a new uni and everyone around me (well, in my hall) is a fresher and i don't know anyone or where anything is. but my objectives are different and everyone has an awesome accent.
the only other exciting thing is that the possums here are cute, i saw and heard a kookabura sitting and laughing in an old gum tree, i fed and petted kangaroos (which look uncannily like deer when sitting), and i met a guy named Gus.