I survived midterms (yes midterms, school starts earlier here)

            Hey everybody…or whoever is still reading this blog after weeks of silence. Yay, things have been very busy, considering I’m half way through my semester! OMG!!!! These past couple of week have been running me ragged I’ve had to write 3 3,000+ word papers and several exams.  Blech! I’ve also been on and off sick, must be due to the campus, they are a breeding ground for travel savvy germs.

            But enough about that, on to fun stuff. I finally went diving! We left the marine at 6:30 am to start the 3 hour trek to a nearby reef. You would think that you would run into reef if you swam from shore, nope. There are a bunch of ecological reasons why its out this far, but I won’t bore you. Plus 3 hours is relatively close by Aussie standards. On the way there we saw whales! This pair of humpback whales were hanging out at the surface and they were huge!!!! We slowed down to watch them, much to the befuddlement of everyone else on the deck. Diving for the first time in two years was, nerve wracking I’ll admit. I thought I’d forget everything and I’d do something really stupid. Except for my initial decent, everything went awesomely! I had problems trying to sink to the bottom. I am very buoyant plus the thick dry wetsuit wasn't helping. When I finally reached the bottom and looked around it finally hit me that after years of reading and staring at glossy photos of fish and reading about reefs I was diving on the largest and most species diverse reef network in the world. I was in full-blown geek mode. The water drag reduced my happy dance to a slow panoramic twirl. I had two dives with my dive buddy, one of the dive masters. She swam a bit too fast, but other than that it was great. All the fish were so colorful and the coral was stunning! The coral looked like statues but so alive at the same time.

Look I found Nemo and Martin! (Not really, they are clownfish just not the same species)

            I didn’t see anything big, but that's the best part about the ocean, its dynamic and its never the same experience twice. We did get to see clownfish and spotted stingrays. (On a side note the dive signal for clownfish is an open palm with your thumb touching your nose and a spotted stingray is laying your hand flat and pointing at different places to indicate spots). My favorite was when we were swimming out in the open; all of a sudden this huge white stingray lifts off out of the sand and swam away. It was wonderful.

            Unfortunately after the trip I got sick, fever, colds etc. and then midterm assignments hit like textbooks falling out of a messy locker, inevitable and painful. (Trust me, I would know). I haven’t been doing much since except homework. Oh, and I joined my GR (George Robert’s) choir group, we had a competition last week, yay!!!! It was so much fun. All of the dorms competed in various musical groups. Our group sung the “4 Chord Song” by the Axis of Awesome. (I’m tagged in a clip of our performance). We didn’t win, but we had so much fun doing it we didn’t care.

            After all the stress of the past couple of weeks I finally had a chance to swim in the river after the chaos of this week. There is a river just a short walk away from my dorm and its big, deep and has a dock. It was relaxing to just hang out with friends and goof around for a bit because this week is lecture recess!!! This is Australia’s equivalent to spring break, but until back home classes can use this to set up week long field trips. My coral reef class is one such case. I’m spending 4 days on Orpheus Island taking coral surveys. Sounds boring, but think about it. I’m gonna be on a non-touristy island, with friends, on a beach, snorkeling on a reef all day…*faints from joy*. I thrive on research and doing this is unique experience. After that I’ll be going down to Whitsundays for a few days of fun in the sun! Until then! 

At first I was like woah, and then she was like woah! And then we were like woah…

Hi everybody, I’m still alive! No, I haven’t been mauled by a vicious koala. I’ve just been busy with schoolwork. Ugh. The worst part is that it’s all reading. No practices no work pages, just reading and essays. On the other hand there hasn’t been much going on socially, most of the clubs aren’t very active or don’t advertise themselves well (except for Anime Club, go figure).  I have been getting exercise though just walking to class, which is a 15-20 minute walk away! Goodness this campus is sprawling! To combat this problem I bought a bike! Yay for transportation!

On a happier note I went to Magnetic Island with my friend Sarah and we went snorkeling and kayaking! For those of you who may not know Magnetic Island is, obviously, an island 20 minutes from Townsville by ferry. It's a weekend favorite of all JCU students and one of the least touristy islands I’ve ever been to; which is good and bad. Bad because you can barely find anything on the island, good because there is no crowd of tourists everywhere you turn. It feels like uncharted paradise. So, Sarah and I first went to Florence Bay to go snorkeling…which involved a 3km hike one way up and down very steep hills. They were so steep rental vehicles were having trouble going up them! 0_0. Wow. The snorkeling was worth it! The reef was just a few feet away from shore and gorgeous! It was like a scene out of Blue Planet! The fish were so colorful and the coral vibrant and lively. Then, Sarah tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at something to our right. It was a…sea turtle!!!!!! This beautiful green turtle swam next to us; it was over half my size! The way it swam looked like a bird in flight. It was so breathtaking to watch an animal I’ve learned so much about in its natural habitat, it really brings home the fact that these animals are more than the subject of short answer essays and reside solely in aquariums. This is why I want to be a marine biologist, to study these beautiful animals and study their complexity and show that to others. It’s really hard to describe that swim. I think the best summary was when Sarah and I left the water and were hopping up and down squealing, “Did you see that potato cod? That fish was so colorful! OMG turtle!” When you get two people studying marine biology on a reef our vocabulary drops significantly.

After that we hopped on a bus to Horseshoe Bay for a sunset kayak. Unfortunately we got off at the wrong bus stop and had to take a long walk up to the beach. The ocean kayaking was great, but man what a workout. We managed to see a few more turtles and watched the sunset from our kayaks. All it was a spectacular day!

p.s. I have (crappy) video of the green turtle, I’ll post it on facebook! For those without facebook, should I start a Tumblr page so you can see it? Let me know in the comments below!

 p.p.s. : Yes this is from my camera, underwater housing for the win!

Meeting the locals

Squee! My cuteness-o-meter just hit critical! Ok, let me back track. Several days ago I bought tickets to go to the wildlife sanctuary. I knew I was going to encounter some of the local wildlife, just not to the degree I met them. The tour started as most do, a greeting, short background story of the sanctuary and then move to the first exhibit. The first animals we saw were koalas. They were so chill and relaxed. The ranger said that they sleep most of the day because of their nutrient poor diet. Then he told us we could go in and pet the koalas! I was so excited I squeed and started hopping up and down (my natural reaction to most animals). We met one of the younger koalas named Ray Charles, a blind koala. This little koala was surrounded by a swarm of uni students getting up close and personal and he didn't even bat and eyelash; he just keep on eating and then fell asleep!

We also got to meet what I thought was the cutest animal at the sanctuary, not just because he was fluffy, but because of his history. I’m referring to Tonka the wombat, this gigantic marsupial nearly the size of a bear cub. The ranger brought him out and he looked so sleepy and relaxed (wombats are nocturnal, so he was tired!). The ranger told us that a cyclone hit Townsville in February and they had to close down Billabong temporarily. During this time Tonka stopped eating and was listless. After he lost weight and took him to the vet they discovered that Tonka was depressed; he missed getting hugs from the visitors! (He was raised by humans since he was little, so he thinks he’s a human!). Since the park has reopened he’s gained his weight back and is now happier than ever. I made sure to give him a big warm cuddle and pat on the head.

Hopping outside the enclosures were dozens of kangaroos. You could walk up to them and pet their fur; it was so soft! They weren’t the big kangaroos you normally think of (those are red kangaroos) these came up to around shoulder height. I fed a little kangaroo, he was adorable; hopping on his little legs and eating out of my hand (don’t worry it was feed handed out by the park keepers). I also held a baby crocodile, python, and joined to feed the turtles!!! It was so funny watching them eat raw fish whole! I missed the turtle race because the bus came early, oh well. I did manage to bring a little friend back from the sanctuary; maybe I’ll introduce him some time soon.

I enjoyed Billabong a lot! We closely interacted with the animals and had a wonderful tour guide. He was informative and very funny, which seems to be the normal Australian attitude. I wasn’t a fan of the new cockatoo being acclimated to humans though. They put it on a branch and clipped its wings. Poor thing was freaking out as people crowded it. The rest of the sanctuary was fun though.

Yesterday we went to ReefHQ the largest coral reef aquarium in the world! The coral was gorgeous and the fish were so colorful! This one type of fish, called an orange spot surgeonfish (because their fins are sharp and used as defense) change their color right in front of me. It turned from black to silver grey. Apparently this change occurs when the fish becomes less hostile and wants to invite cleaner fish to groom it. They also had the largest nurse shark I’ve ever seen! It was easily 6 feet long and very big. Since we had a private tour we were lead to the sea turtle hospital. They had several green turtles in tanks recuperating from various things, mostly from garbage in their stomachs.

On the way back to campus we saw the forest fire that has been burning for the last several days. Ok, before anyone freaks out, it was a prescribed fire. This means that they intentionally burn some of the underbrush so when wildfires happen they don’t spiral out of control. It is controlled and monitored closely and they do this often, so don’t lose your head. It is pretty to see it in the middle of the night though.

Aussie word of the day: joey= infant marsupial

p.s.: You can see more pictures of my first week in my new facebook album "Aussie Welcome Wagon"

Couching nerd, (not so) hidden dork

So I tried my first Australian party…not a fan. The music was pounding, I a million conversations going on at the same time, and beer. Australia seems to be a drinking culture. I’ve been here a week and it seems that there’s a party or people going out to drink every night. It may just be due to classes not starting yet, but I’ve talked to some of the locals and people go clubbing on a Tuesday (called cheap Tuesdays).

Call me a teetotaler, fuddy-duddy, lame; I don’t care. I don’t get it. I don’t care about it either way; it just tastes gross to me (drinking age is 18 here, calm down). Which is a good thing because alcohol is expensive over here. Ehh. I was more excited about seeing the wallaby walking back from the party (I can already hear the chorus of friends and family saying “you would be” :D ).

Today was full of meet and greet events. I finally met the Japanese language professor, who has been very nice about responding to my neurotic emails. Unfortunately I won’t be able to take the intermediate level because my coral reef ecology class practical is during one of the lectures. RAGE! I’ve made so many sacrifices for this class; took a 3 week summer stats class, constant emailing of professors to approve everything, reorganized my schedule, sacrificed my week long lecture break for research (which is in a beautiful remote location, which is cool, but its grating on my last nerves, plus the trip wasn’t mentioned in the course offer). I’m so drained from this class and I haven’t even started it! Enough about that, I found the shark section of the library! I checked out a huge textbook field guide to sharks of Australia; need to know who I’m looking at when I dive.

I’m gonna try to fall asleep now, there’s a party going on next door…ugh.

Aussie word of the day: Bubbler= water fountain

p.s.: next post is a surprise!

Almost like home, but not quite

I’ve been here for nearly a week now and I’m already noticing a few differences. Not big differences like everyone walks backwards or speak another language (though sometimes the accent is difficult to manage) but little things like; a parking lot is called a “car park” and when you order a burger they slap a salad on top of it. Seriously I had a hamburger with lettuce, cheese, tomato, carrot, ketchup, pickles, pineapple and beet root (beet root seems very popular over here). I’ve been out exploring via (pronounced vai~a, not ve~ia) car, I’ve found a friend with a car very quickly, and completely on accident. Yay for striking up random conversations in the dinning hall!

Food wise things are recognizable with a few changes; you have spaghetti on toast in the morning, dessert is only at dinner (the apple crumble and custard is delicious), you sprinkle cinnamon directly on to your toast, there is no soda in the dinning halls (probably a good thing), and coffee is always: instant, 1/5 coffee and the rest is milk. Not unsettlingly different but its caused me to double take more than once. The other night we did go out to the Strand (a nearby beach) and I had the most delicious goat curry. It was spicy and savory and wonderful!

I also went to see Harry Potter; it’s been in Australia since the 13^th (release dates over here are a bit wonky). It was awesome and a good way to get to know my new friends better. On a side note the concessions at the theater were like a candy store, you could get anything from normal snacks from home to chocolate dipped ice cream cones and pizza!

Normally on Sunday all the stores are closed. So streets are closed down and dozens of street markets open up. The one I went to was a fairly standard market; fresh produce, handcrafted toys, crocodile skin belts (ok, maybe not that one). Everything was bright and colorful…and expensive. I know that the American dollar isn’t very strong right now and the exchange rate adds to it, but I still couldn’t help but whistle under my breath at some of the prices. So I window shopped! I found the cutest hatters that specialized in those fancy hats you see ladies wear at the Kentucky Derby. Apparently at weddings here you usually wear a hat, they also have a lot of horse races locally. Some of my friends went to one last week and had a ball. Maybe I’ll go next time, maybe even wear a fascinator.

Today was more or less checking off things on my list:

-get an Australian phone

 -get snacks

       -buy tickets to JCU sponsored events (They’re a secret, but I’ll write about them eventually)

Buy books…

I tried to find them, but nothing came up on my ‘books I need to buy list’, which is weird. I’ve never had a biology class that didn’t have a textbook big enough to k.o. a kangaroo. But I did come across this stunning flock of rainbow lorikeets munching on flowers outside one of the dorms!   

p.s.: Since there isn’t going to be a turtle count anymore I’m going to have a word of the day that’s either a different from the American phrase or completely new!

Word of the day: zebra (pronounced zebra) crossing = cross walk

Fresh off the boat

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of posting, I’m a little discombobulated and overwhelmed. So I made it Australia, and what a trip it was! 24 hours of flight + lay over + different time zone – 1 day= 1 very dazed and confused me. By the time I stood in front of the Townsville Airport I could only sway back and forth on my feet as I tried to respond to people with accents. Luckily I met up with the other students from my school and I met one of my roommates! Our dorms are suite style singles! Dinning halls are annoying though. There’s one for every dorm and they have strict hours so interacting with campus is limited to the dorm, meh. I have met quite a few people so far; Germans, Norwegians, Dutch, Hollanders, Ecuadorian, English…and a bucket ton of Americans. I came here to escape America! Oh well, I have noticed that foreign students tend to group together, mostly with their own nationality. It feels weird being the international student, now I know why my schools foreign students huddle together like they do; being in a foreign country is easier with people going through the same things.

I’ve mostly been getting familiar with campus and smoothing out my schedule. I had to drop photography due to a clash, so now I’m taking painting. Other than that I’ve been hanging out with my new friends and trying out the local activities. I’ve been to the tav (tavern) and we tried to go to the aboriginal full moon drum circle; unfortunately it was rained out. Which is weird because we’re in the middle of Australian winter.

At the tav last night we met one of the tav’s usuals, a beer loving possum! They’re very different from the possums back home (this guy was actually cute, I suggest you look them up on Google). A bandicoot also joined the party to snack on bugs. That's the thing about the wildlife here, its everywhere and mingles surprisingly well with the people. I wake up to hear the stereotypical jungle background sound every morning (the kind that has all the bird calls). Kookaburras are abundant; causally flying around giving students only a passing glance and laughing raucously at 6 am… They’re not the only birds around campus; I’ve seen ibis, magpies, turkeys, and other birds I couldn’t name. These animals are very unique even the turkeys are pure black with bald red heads and a double-fanned tail, and these animals are just on campus. Henrietta (my Norwegian friend) says she saw a wallaby early one morning, I’ve yet to see one.

Everybody do the construction car conga!

My times as turtle hunter have come to an end. Word must have got around the terrapin water cooler because we found 6 turtles yesterday; the first one we found even before we started our route, we drove up to it! I guess they wanted to see me off, or get one final nip at me. 8174 wished me farewell by sitting in the road and making me carry her across it; seriously we caught her 4 times and she’s always crossing the road, just pick a spot you finicky reptile! Maybe she has a death wish.

It was sad to leave my housemates, we may have only known each other for about a month, but when you’re with someone nearly every waking moment of the day and are all huge zoology nerds you just click. I’ve done a lot with these girls over the past month, from chasing down threatened species to errands and hanging out. They’ve certainly made this a memorable and fun experience. They even surprised me with pie and ice cream on my last night!

 And so began my 6 hour drive back home…you would think that driving at night would lessen the crowds, it did except for the infinite number of construction sights spawning like zombies in a horror movie! Its like every tractor trailer in the state magnetizes towards them and no one has ever heard of the concept of alternate feed. And why is there so much construction if there is an economic downturn? I digress; I made it home and now am scrambling to grab everything I need for 5 months in Australia. Going a little nutty I must admit.

I also went to the new Yankees stadium for the first time, only to see them soundly beaten, oh well. The seats were comfy and I enjoyed myself immensely, go Yankees!

Final terrapin tally: 58

Final nest tally: 15