I woke up Monday morning and met my first "friend" on my floor. A nice, big cockroach. Yipee. I tried to spray it with killing spray as given to me by my roommate...but he was too quick and scurried back under my bed. Excellent. Now, I know he's under there and I'm calling him Mortimer. We will be great pals....until he becomes too slow due to lack of food and meets the bottom of my shoe. Until then Mortimer - enjoy the comforts of Spring Hill room 2.
At school, I did make real friends in all my classes. I've met people from all over the world - including France, UK, USA, Australia and some places in Asia. I'm super stoaked for all my classes, particularly my marine biology and ecology courses since I have 5 field trips to look forward to. 5! And all of them sound so freaking spectacular, it's unreal. I promise to go through all of them in more detail later on!
Tuesday brought my first full day of classes, which to those in uni right now means textbook searching, organization and figuring out who is the best partner to choose for labs. I had my first ANAT practical - no cadavers yet, but I managed to team up with a group of mature students (since it's a first year course and all the others are freshers....not that it's bad, but I'm over the whole, OMG it's a penis! Um. Hello? You are taking anatomy....of course there is a penis on this man. JESUS.) So yeah, I'm in a group with Matt from the UK, Mel from Aussie, and Sabina from France. We all worked our way through 2 amazingly tough labs and have now decided that Anatomy will be the bane of our existence for the rest of the semester. I feel blessed though, because my other course are not that tough, but they all have biology, chemistry and physiology to deal with on top of the anatomy!!!
A quick pic of me on campus...more campus shots to come!!
So - crazy cool thing here which I had to add in. I am not buying textbooks. Yeah, I know. Danielle, the uber-keen studier is NOT buying a SINGLE book. Why? Because UQ has it right - the library lets you take out class resources FOR ONE ENTIRE MONTH. Yup, you read correctly. A WHOLE MONTH. Unlike Queen's, where you get the book for a meager 3 hours, I have the means to textbooks for the entire month. But still, the only textbook I lugged home from the UQ library was the anatomy one. In my other courses, I'm learning about a) how to write a science report (all of first year bio coming back to haunt me!) and b) dinosaurs in Australia. Yuo - dinosaurs. SUPER cool. Oh, and there's french. We're working on a project where we have to apply for a "pretend" job, write a french CV and cover letter. Wanna know another cool thing? I ALREADY DID THAT IN GRADE 10. So basically, I'm done the assignment which is due at the end of April. I love Australia.
Now, onto the field trips. With my two biology classes, I have 5 field trips to attend. They all cost additional fees, but it will be SO worth it. My first field trip is in a week - I'm spending next weekend at the coastal study station on Moreton Island. It's right in Moreton Bay, an area famous for dolphin and whale sightings!! The next trip is March 19th, a day trip to Brisbane National Park for some bushwalking and observations of natural forests and trees/widllife. Then, in April, are the two big field trips - April 1st to 5th is on Fraser Island, where we get to watch dingoes, play beach volleyball and do some studying in between....then April 6th to 10th is another field trip to Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef. This trip will include snorkling, diving, sailing and more beaches....with the occasional data collection in between! Keep your eyes peeled on the blog for some photos as the trips pass! The last trip is another day trip to Australia Zoo - the zoo Steve Irwin made famous. Since we are going with our professors, we actually get to go behind the scenes and feed the animals!!!
Side note - it's been super rainy here, and after reading a friend's blog (Becks!) about her sunny week in Scotland, I'm beginning to think that these two countries have traded weather patterns! As part of my one course, I'll be learning about Aussie's weather, so in due time I can probably explain why it's so hot down here, but overcast (typically) over in Och-land....
Lastly, on my way home from a long and tiring week this past Friday (serisouly, I get up at 6am to make it to class for 8am, since it takes 30 minutes on the bus and I need to eat, make coffee...wake up etc) I met the last of my friends for the week. A nice, inviting bird called the Ibis (eye-bus). He's a lovely fellow with a beak that can kill and isn't afraid of ANYTHING. These birds are the equivalent of your killer seagulls Becks - and man, was I ever scared. Worse part is, I have to walk through a park full of these buggers to get to and from my house....EVERY SINGLE DAY. I swear - if it weren't for my umbrella as a weapon to ward them off, I would be writing to you from a hospital bed, mutliated.
The Ibis. Freaky eh?? I mean, look at that beak...
All my love and keep those emails, blog comments, skype convos and facebook messages coming my way!
Miss you all,
xoxo Danielle
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