Saying goodbye to February

Helloooo! I have had a fun and exciting past week and a half. We had orientation week, or O-week as they call it, so I ended up going to a bunch of meetings that were more directed towards freshmen. Wednesday was Market Day, and the center area of UQ was full of people, booths, and food. I ended up signing up for the science club, Unidive (the scuba club), and Student Life (a Christian organization on campus). I also went to an Ultimate Frisbee pick-up game to check out what that club is like. Overall, I am really happy with all of the activities and outlets the school offers, and I am excited about all the opportunities for the semester. During the day on Thursday, I took a trip to the botanic gardens at Mount Coot-tha. It was so nice just to walk around in a rainforest and observe all the interesting plants and creatures that were there. I probably looked ridiculous because I had to keep running away from giant lizards. I also made my way to the Mount Coot-tha summit and got an amazing view of the Brisbane area. I could not only see the city, but also the ocean and a vast range of mountains. I attended a Unidive meeting on Thursday night, and I am officially signed up for a dive at Stradbroke Island from the 7th-8th of March. A TA from one of my classes was at the meeting also, which may come in handy later on. Friday, my friend from UCSD Sam and I explored South Bank for an afternoon. We hung out at the fake beach by the river and went to the Sciencentre of the Queensland Museum, which is kind of like the Tech Museum in San Jose. We were definitely a little too old for the activities, but we had fun trying everything out. Saturday a group of us headed down to Surfer’s Paradise at the Gold Coast. The beach there was really crowded and full of tall buildings, kind of like the beaches in Florida. However, the water is so refreshing especially with the hot sun beating down, so we weren’t complaining too much about all the people. Because it has been awhile since I did a dive, I decided to do a refresher course at a dive center nearby. On Sunday, I ended up doing the pool training with a group getting their certification, and I definitely feel way more confident now with my dive skills. I actually had an interesting experience when I entered the pool. Right when I entered the water, my fins exploded into a million little pieces. Let’s just say I’m definitely glad I did the refresher course so that didn’t happen in the middle of the ocean. I have found a church nearby that I am really keen on, and I will probably be attending it for the duration of my stay here. The people are really nice, and they teach straight from the Bible without adding personal bias in order to bring in more people. It has also been a great way to meet some other young adults in the area. Today was my first official day of school. I only had one lecture, so I was eased in from summer vacation pretty well. I ended up changing my schedule around to get easier/more fun classes. I figured that I’m here to enjoy myself, and I’ll still get the same amount of credit at UQ and UCSD while saving myself a lot of time. Right now I’m taking the Anthropology of Aboriginal Australia, Ecology, Australia’s Marine Environment, and most likely Molecular Cell Biology. I can already tell from my one lecture that schooling here is going to be much better than at UCSD. For my molecular biology class, they bring in 4 different lecturers to talk on the areas that they specialize in. There is no textbook; it’s all based off modern day research. I’m really excited for the semester, and there are a lot of cool field trip opportunities with most of the classes. We are all starting to plan our Easter break trips…it’s looking like Melbourne and Tasmania for me right now. We’ve been checking the airline sites to get the best deals that we can. I’m still not used the humidity or heat, and I’m ready for it to cool down and dry up a little here. Well, I’m off to bed…I have an 8 AM class tomorrow. Oh wait! Wildlife story of the week: a giant cockroach flew into our apartment and hit Kate in the face. It then hid in her closet, so we had to sneakily creep up on it and hit it multiple times with a book to kill it. A giant moth also flew in that night as well. It was all very disgusting. Until next time…
-Erin