I'll be on the Northwest trip from March 5th (Friday) to 14th (Sunday) Australian time (13 hours ahead of USA EST) and won't be updating during that time. Sorry I didn't update Wednesday and today.
Wednesday: 2 lectures and a lab. Wasn't too bad. Went to the pool 3 times (once with Jesse, twice with Connor). Got no work done. Fail of a day. Fun nonetheless.
Thursday: 1 long lecture. Got a bit of work done. Jesse, Connor and I went to South beach only for it to be CRAZILY windy. It was scary. The wind driven waves were ridiculous. We stayed only a short while. Still haven't packed yet and I have a beer date (only a few I assure you!) with Connor, Jesse & Co. and a Skype date with Alicia. I'm also waking up at 6:30am tomorrow. I should finish packing, ay?
Wednesday: 8
Thursday (today): 6
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Four Speedos Are Better Than One
Mondays are one of my favorite days because I only have one lecture and I'm done by 1:30. Yeah, it's a two hour lecture, but it's an easy day for me. That lecture is Pollutants given by my very eccentric professor who I'm starting to enjoy more as a person, but like his lectures less for the content. They frustrate me. His lectures don't teach me too much. For this class I have 2 essays worth 60% (30 each, go figure) and a 40% final exam. I feel pretty confident about this class because 1) I like writing essays and 2) the final exam is mostly writing. I'm sure I'll have plenty of studying to do, but I'll manage. For my other classes, they're mostly final exams with one midterm between the two (only 15% of my grade, and it's at the end of this month) and some lab stuff here and there. I'm getting a little worried about Plant Diversity just because the labs are so intensive as are the lectures. I hope the week after my trip I'll be able to get on the same page with everything and study better for the class so I'm more prepared.
My Pollutants lecture on Monday was extremely hot. I don't know if the room has air conditioning, but everyone was sweating. I forgot my water bottle in my room, so I bought one... for $4 AUD because the damn machine ate my money and gave me back 10 cents worth of change. Bastard. After lecture it was decided I would wait an hour to go shopping with Jesse (once he got out of class) so I just relaxed and ate lunch. Yeah, we totally forgot it was damn labour day here in Australia, so all them shops were closed. To make matters worse, we had class on labour day, and the student village administration office WAS CLOSED even though I had to go to my damn lecture. This means I couldn't get my package that was waiting for me.
After wasting more time, Jesse, Sarin, Alice and I went to the pool. Jesse who had these awesome blisters from running had to duct tape his heels because he had them popped at the nurse's office to allow them to heal. He was hoping it'd keep them dry. So. Yeah. Jesse. My orange duct tape. His heels. It was pretty funny. Plus they didn't work. But he stayed in the pool anyway because he's a trooper.
We threw my little vortex football in the water for a while with a bunch of other kids we knew there (mostly Clark kids I think). Good times. I totally clocked one of them in the head with my elbow while jumping for the ball while we were playing 500. I'm awesome. I spent nearly two hours there which was silly because I was supposed to be studying.
I went to the library in the early evening for a little while and I came to realize I wasn't too sure I needed to be studying the few things I was trying to. I'm still not sure how I'm going to study for my classes, but I think I'll end up taking as good of notes as possible in lecture ad write out additional notes from the lectures once they're posted online. Hopefully I'll review the notes too every once in a while.
I stayed up way too late (until 2am!) talking to Alicia and writing in my other blog (leavingdesolation.blogspot.com) but it was worth it. Totes. I woke up on Tuesday at 8am feeling hung over, again. I talked to one of my friends at the bus stop this morning (the one who I nearly killed in the pool with my elbow) and she says she drinks a lot of water and just wakes up to go pee all the time. I think this is going to be my approach from now on, because I hate feeling so damn shitty when I get up.
Because Greg wanted to go to the beach today, I went to Kardinya at 8:30 to get my necessary shopping out of the way to free up my afternoon. I bought stuff for my Northwest trip (sleeping bag, flashlight, sunscreen, duffel bag, etc) and was pretty successful with getting everything I needed even though it took a long time to find everything. I had 6 eggs for breakfast and 2 slices of toast. It was yummy. Oh, and, yeah, finally got my package. I lost my packing slip in Kmart because I ALWAYS lose pieces of paper from my pants pocket there, I swear. I usually lose my shopping list. ANYWAY, the package was from Alicia and it made me so happy... when I saw it was from her box number on the package (she didn't put her name on it) I got very excited. She sent me some cute little things, a mix CD with some lolzy stuff on it, and, yeah, AND Annie's. I'm so excited to eat them. Too excited even.
I went to my Microbiology lecture and was astonished to see about 1/4 of the class show up. I feel like I could prolly get away with not going to lectures, but I feel like I should, especially since I always do. An hour later I went to my Pollutants discussion which was a big waste of my time, and probably will always be a big waste of my time. Apparently if I don't show up to them (they're not mandatory), the TA won't help me near the end of the semester if I have questions. She's acting like a child. Sorry ma'am, but the discussions are boring ESPECIALLY WHEN NO ONE DOES THE READING SO WHY GO? Grrr.
The plan was to run home after my discussion and run to the beach, but I called Jesse and he said he and Greg were still food shopping, so I had plenty of time. I always put sunscreen on at home before going to the beach, and I used my spray on sunscreen for my whole body this time and it was so incredibly fast and easy (we'll see in the morning if I missed any spots). I bought it for getting my back, but I prefer it to the usual cream, especially since it's a lot less messy. This was a boring paragraph.
Greg, Jesse and I went to the beach with our neighbor and friend Connor (he's from Darwin) who drove us in our RA's car. Don't worry mum! Connor's a good driver! (He's not from MA.) The best part of going to the beach was we ALL wore our speedos. It was the gayest thing ever, but so, so good. But boy, did we look good. So, so good. Pretty sure the 17 year old girls couldn't keep their eyes off us.
We spent most of the time playing in the water with the vortex football. Good stuff. We then made a silly little sand castle and took inappropriate photos in our speedos. AWESOME TIMES.
That's me, Jesse, Connor & Greg!
It was one of my favorite beach visits so far. So so good (like us in our speedos!). I made myself go for a run and ended up going much further than originally planned (40 minutes). I almost kinda got lost but I sorta kinda knew where I was going. It felt good though and I hope to keep up the running. I won't be running at all for 10 while on my trip, but I hope to pick it right back up and get back in shape. Jesse ran 7.1 miles today in 51 minutes (that's just over 7 minutes a mile for 7 miles) which is ridiculous. Always has to show me up!
I'm getting incredibly tan but I'm still working on my speedo tan. My face and hands (weird!) are really tan but the underside of my arms and my legs are not. I'll be quite orange when I come home in June!
Monday: 7.5
Tuesday (Today): 8.5
My Pollutants lecture on Monday was extremely hot. I don't know if the room has air conditioning, but everyone was sweating. I forgot my water bottle in my room, so I bought one... for $4 AUD because the damn machine ate my money and gave me back 10 cents worth of change. Bastard. After lecture it was decided I would wait an hour to go shopping with Jesse (once he got out of class) so I just relaxed and ate lunch. Yeah, we totally forgot it was damn labour day here in Australia, so all them shops were closed. To make matters worse, we had class on labour day, and the student village administration office WAS CLOSED even though I had to go to my damn lecture. This means I couldn't get my package that was waiting for me.
After wasting more time, Jesse, Sarin, Alice and I went to the pool. Jesse who had these awesome blisters from running had to duct tape his heels because he had them popped at the nurse's office to allow them to heal. He was hoping it'd keep them dry. So. Yeah. Jesse. My orange duct tape. His heels. It was pretty funny. Plus they didn't work. But he stayed in the pool anyway because he's a trooper.
We threw my little vortex football in the water for a while with a bunch of other kids we knew there (mostly Clark kids I think). Good times. I totally clocked one of them in the head with my elbow while jumping for the ball while we were playing 500. I'm awesome. I spent nearly two hours there which was silly because I was supposed to be studying.
I went to the library in the early evening for a little while and I came to realize I wasn't too sure I needed to be studying the few things I was trying to. I'm still not sure how I'm going to study for my classes, but I think I'll end up taking as good of notes as possible in lecture ad write out additional notes from the lectures once they're posted online. Hopefully I'll review the notes too every once in a while.
I stayed up way too late (until 2am!) talking to Alicia and writing in my other blog (leavingdesolation.blogspot.com) but it was worth it. Totes. I woke up on Tuesday at 8am feeling hung over, again. I talked to one of my friends at the bus stop this morning (the one who I nearly killed in the pool with my elbow) and she says she drinks a lot of water and just wakes up to go pee all the time. I think this is going to be my approach from now on, because I hate feeling so damn shitty when I get up.
Because Greg wanted to go to the beach today, I went to Kardinya at 8:30 to get my necessary shopping out of the way to free up my afternoon. I bought stuff for my Northwest trip (sleeping bag, flashlight, sunscreen, duffel bag, etc) and was pretty successful with getting everything I needed even though it took a long time to find everything. I had 6 eggs for breakfast and 2 slices of toast. It was yummy. Oh, and, yeah, finally got my package. I lost my packing slip in Kmart because I ALWAYS lose pieces of paper from my pants pocket there, I swear. I usually lose my shopping list. ANYWAY, the package was from Alicia and it made me so happy... when I saw it was from her box number on the package (she didn't put her name on it) I got very excited. She sent me some cute little things, a mix CD with some lolzy stuff on it, and, yeah, AND Annie's. I'm so excited to eat them. Too excited even.
I went to my Microbiology lecture and was astonished to see about 1/4 of the class show up. I feel like I could prolly get away with not going to lectures, but I feel like I should, especially since I always do. An hour later I went to my Pollutants discussion which was a big waste of my time, and probably will always be a big waste of my time. Apparently if I don't show up to them (they're not mandatory), the TA won't help me near the end of the semester if I have questions. She's acting like a child. Sorry ma'am, but the discussions are boring ESPECIALLY WHEN NO ONE DOES THE READING SO WHY GO? Grrr.
The plan was to run home after my discussion and run to the beach, but I called Jesse and he said he and Greg were still food shopping, so I had plenty of time. I always put sunscreen on at home before going to the beach, and I used my spray on sunscreen for my whole body this time and it was so incredibly fast and easy (we'll see in the morning if I missed any spots). I bought it for getting my back, but I prefer it to the usual cream, especially since it's a lot less messy. This was a boring paragraph.
Greg, Jesse and I went to the beach with our neighbor and friend Connor (he's from Darwin) who drove us in our RA's car. Don't worry mum! Connor's a good driver! (He's not from MA.) The best part of going to the beach was we ALL wore our speedos. It was the gayest thing ever, but so, so good. But boy, did we look good. So, so good. Pretty sure the 17 year old girls couldn't keep their eyes off us.
We spent most of the time playing in the water with the vortex football. Good stuff. We then made a silly little sand castle and took inappropriate photos in our speedos. AWESOME TIMES.
That's me, Jesse, Connor & Greg!
It was one of my favorite beach visits so far. So so good (like us in our speedos!). I made myself go for a run and ended up going much further than originally planned (40 minutes). I almost kinda got lost but I sorta kinda knew where I was going. It felt good though and I hope to keep up the running. I won't be running at all for 10 while on my trip, but I hope to pick it right back up and get back in shape. Jesse ran 7.1 miles today in 51 minutes (that's just over 7 minutes a mile for 7 miles) which is ridiculous. Always has to show me up!
I'm getting incredibly tan but I'm still working on my speedo tan. My face and hands (weird!) are really tan but the underside of my arms and my legs are not. I'll be quite orange when I come home in June!
Monday: 7.5
Tuesday (Today): 8.5
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Smiling Lizards
Boy, am I getting lazy. I haven't done a post in four days. The past week has been extremely hot (90s and 100s °F) and I've been sick for the past 7 days with what may have been strep. I had an EXTREMELY sore throat and was very stuffy. It got to the point a few days in where I could take a few ibuprofen, some caffeine, and be alright for most of the day. But come 9pm I would start coughing and would cough all night and the next morning. Coughing makes trying to fall asleep a real pain in the ass, especially when it's 85-90°. Apparently Perth is consistently one of the hottest cities this time of year. It's not very pleasant.
Thursday is my best day, as I'm done at 10:30 in the morning. After a nice leisurely lunch, Jesse and I went to the beach in our speedos. En route, we met up with two of our friends who were at the bus stop. Midway to the beach, Jesse got off the bus for some Subway, which he was way too damn excited about. Jesse... LOVES Subway. It makes him the happiest person ever. On several occasions I've been talking about Subway to someone and Jesse's ears perked up.
My friends (Sarin & Crystal) and I played in the sand and water for about 40 minutes before Jesse caught up after stopping and eating at Subway. The tide coming in was really strong and climbed really far up the beach. We had to move our towels three or four times. Because the tide was really strong, I saw several dead sea creatures such as a crustacean and an echinoderm. Sarin said she saw a cnidarian of some sorts, but I didn't see it. Additionally, a ton of sea shells were being washed up which made entering and leaving the water very painful.
We came back after a little while and decided to go food shopping, but not until we had showered because the sun and salt just gets too much, even after only being at the beach for a short time. Thursday's the best day to go shopping because Coles, my favorite supermarket, is open until 9! It's pretty exciting. Australia closes everything extremely early and it's really annoying. Except for Thursdays. The load of us got a fair amount of groceries and it was quite interesting getting it all together to get the bus back to campus (which took it's sweet time getting to our stop to pick us up). It was so damn hot I just made several nutella and peanut butter sandwiches rather than cook.
After finally falling asleep through the coughing and heat, it cooled down. Mixing of cool and warm air creates thunderstorms. We got one.
Holy Baby Jesus was the thunderstorm loud! It was the loudest storm I'm ever experienced. I think it was right outside my window, because one of the lightning strikes was so damn loud I was almost scared to death. I think we got some hail and a bit of rain, but I'm not sure. Something made plenty of noise on the roof top. I went out on my balcony during the storm and it was so cool temperature wise. It was a nice change.
I woke up nice and early Friday to find my computer lacking internet access. It sucked. Apparently one of the lighting strikes hit the next flat over or another one nearby. Either way, I was without internet. You know, the really crappy internet I pay too much for? I mean seriously Australia, HOW HARD IS IT TO HAVE DECENT INTERNET? It's extremely annoying. This isn't a great start to my Friday, which is my least favorite day of the week because it's so damn long. I have two lectures (3 hours total) and then a long lab (2-3+ hours). My lab this week was no exception. Not only is it being heavily graded, but there's just so much I had to do and still have to do before I hand it in by Thursday. I'm dreading Fridays because I hate this lab so much. I just want to be done and get the hell out of there, but my professor just expects us to do so much damn stuff. It's freaking ridiculous.
After taking a very quick dip in the pool with Jesse because it was so damn hot, the entire CIEE group (in several waves) all went into Freo to meet up with Paul. Because it was a little early still, a few of us went into a microbrewery. After getting some samples, I got a tall glass of strong beer. Because it was so hot (and I was dehydrated) and I had a small lunch 6 hours before that, I'm embarrassed to say that drink hit me ESPECIALLY hard. It was quick comical even. Jesse was in the same boat as me, but my drink was at least 1.5x the size of his.
We got dinner as a group at this foot court styled place, so Paul stood in the middle of us passing out cash. It was quite interesting to see. Very buzzed and very hungry, I sifted through loads of people looking around at the different places (there were about 8 of them, 5 of them Asian cuisine) before I got some fried rice and some spring rolls. It was pretty cheap and good. Good enough to fill my belly.
After dinner, our group went to the Fremantle Prison, which was notorious for its horrible living conditions and such. It's extremely haunted and we went for a night tour. I was a little scared going in, but it was quite fun. We were told we might get pictures of weird things, such as orbs (which might be paranormal energy), but I'm not sure I really got anything good. A little ways in, in one of the main wings where the prisoners were kept, we discussed the presence of a safety net between the rows of cells to prevent people from committing suicide. Not 3 seconds after I asked the tour guide what the most common ways to commit suicide in the prison were, some asshat dropped a body from the top of the prison on top of us, following a very loud scream. I mean, yeah, the prison is haunted enough and kinda scary, but I think intentionally scaring people is stupid. We heard some good ghost stories, but after a while I wasn't scared with the exception of people jumping out at us which was unnecessary.
Paul who was meeting up with an old student during the prison tour got us all gelato which was very tasty. Most of us went back after, and I spent the evening with Greg and Jesse (and a few others here and there) drinking our wine and listening to awesome American music outside of Greg's flat. It was a really fun night to say the least.
On Saturday, I slept in a little late and got up feeling pretty crappy like usual these days. Jesse and I went into a different Target to look for stuff for my trip next week. This Target was horribly laid out and they didn't have anything I needed, so I was pretty damn disappointed. It was a total waste of time. I did however have a very good lunch of pasta and garlic toast after which kinda made up for it. Jesse and I then went to the beach by ourselves and it was a good visit. We spent most of the time in the water throwing my mini vortex football, which was filled with miraculous diving catches (but you wouldn't expect any less of me!).
I cleaned my room when I got back because it was getting a little out of hand, and I made some vegetarian pasties. I think Monday night I'm going to spend about 2 hours cooking a whole bunch of them to get me through the week when I only have a short time for lunch. Saturday night proved to be pretty disappointing because I had only 2 glasses of wine, and over the course of an entire night panned out to be a big bummer. Two glasses of wine when you're really hydrated doesn't do anything. I didn't say I wanted to get SMASHED, but you know. Oh well. I couldn't go crazy anyway because I had to wake up early for the sustainability tour I went on this morning (Sunday).
I got into Freo pretty early with my fellow environmental science kids (four of us total) and we met up with Isabella, who runs our extracurricular trips. We took a bus down to South Beach where we went on a tour of this couple's house and several cottages they had made to be extremely passive and use very little energy. It was pretty cool and I learned a few things. The other 3 Americans with me were extremely giggly the whole trip, as we were talking about crazy things we used to do in the 90s. I think one of my favorite parts is when one of our tour guides found a blue tongued lizard and we got a picture with it. We're silly. The lizard's smiling. He's silly.
After the tour, we ended back up at the beach so we decided to go for a swim. We knew we were going to end up there so we came prepared with our bathers (swimming suits--these Australians have silly names for things). To the right of me is Justin (from Clark), Macy (from TCU), and Brendan (he's also from Clark and lives in Rutland, VT... he and I also went to the same Boys State back in the summer before senior year of HS.)
Yeah I know it doesn't seem like I did a lot this weekend, but I really didn't and it's kinda sad. I have so much damn work to do this week, but I won't be going to class on Friday because that's the day I leave for my grand tour of West Australia. This week's going to be extremely crazy and I don't think I'm ready for it just yet. I better go make an awesome dinner and get a head start tonight with studying. SO EXCITED TO STUDY AND WORK ON MY GROUP PROJECT.
Thursday: 7
Friday: 8
Saturday: 6.5
Sunday (Today): 6.5
Thursday is my best day, as I'm done at 10:30 in the morning. After a nice leisurely lunch, Jesse and I went to the beach in our speedos. En route, we met up with two of our friends who were at the bus stop. Midway to the beach, Jesse got off the bus for some Subway, which he was way too damn excited about. Jesse... LOVES Subway. It makes him the happiest person ever. On several occasions I've been talking about Subway to someone and Jesse's ears perked up.
My friends (Sarin & Crystal) and I played in the sand and water for about 40 minutes before Jesse caught up after stopping and eating at Subway. The tide coming in was really strong and climbed really far up the beach. We had to move our towels three or four times. Because the tide was really strong, I saw several dead sea creatures such as a crustacean and an echinoderm. Sarin said she saw a cnidarian of some sorts, but I didn't see it. Additionally, a ton of sea shells were being washed up which made entering and leaving the water very painful.
We came back after a little while and decided to go food shopping, but not until we had showered because the sun and salt just gets too much, even after only being at the beach for a short time. Thursday's the best day to go shopping because Coles, my favorite supermarket, is open until 9! It's pretty exciting. Australia closes everything extremely early and it's really annoying. Except for Thursdays. The load of us got a fair amount of groceries and it was quite interesting getting it all together to get the bus back to campus (which took it's sweet time getting to our stop to pick us up). It was so damn hot I just made several nutella and peanut butter sandwiches rather than cook.
After finally falling asleep through the coughing and heat, it cooled down. Mixing of cool and warm air creates thunderstorms. We got one.
Holy Baby Jesus was the thunderstorm loud! It was the loudest storm I'm ever experienced. I think it was right outside my window, because one of the lightning strikes was so damn loud I was almost scared to death. I think we got some hail and a bit of rain, but I'm not sure. Something made plenty of noise on the roof top. I went out on my balcony during the storm and it was so cool temperature wise. It was a nice change.
I woke up nice and early Friday to find my computer lacking internet access. It sucked. Apparently one of the lighting strikes hit the next flat over or another one nearby. Either way, I was without internet. You know, the really crappy internet I pay too much for? I mean seriously Australia, HOW HARD IS IT TO HAVE DECENT INTERNET? It's extremely annoying. This isn't a great start to my Friday, which is my least favorite day of the week because it's so damn long. I have two lectures (3 hours total) and then a long lab (2-3+ hours). My lab this week was no exception. Not only is it being heavily graded, but there's just so much I had to do and still have to do before I hand it in by Thursday. I'm dreading Fridays because I hate this lab so much. I just want to be done and get the hell out of there, but my professor just expects us to do so much damn stuff. It's freaking ridiculous.
After taking a very quick dip in the pool with Jesse because it was so damn hot, the entire CIEE group (in several waves) all went into Freo to meet up with Paul. Because it was a little early still, a few of us went into a microbrewery. After getting some samples, I got a tall glass of strong beer. Because it was so hot (and I was dehydrated) and I had a small lunch 6 hours before that, I'm embarrassed to say that drink hit me ESPECIALLY hard. It was quick comical even. Jesse was in the same boat as me, but my drink was at least 1.5x the size of his.
We got dinner as a group at this foot court styled place, so Paul stood in the middle of us passing out cash. It was quite interesting to see. Very buzzed and very hungry, I sifted through loads of people looking around at the different places (there were about 8 of them, 5 of them Asian cuisine) before I got some fried rice and some spring rolls. It was pretty cheap and good. Good enough to fill my belly.
After dinner, our group went to the Fremantle Prison, which was notorious for its horrible living conditions and such. It's extremely haunted and we went for a night tour. I was a little scared going in, but it was quite fun. We were told we might get pictures of weird things, such as orbs (which might be paranormal energy), but I'm not sure I really got anything good. A little ways in, in one of the main wings where the prisoners were kept, we discussed the presence of a safety net between the rows of cells to prevent people from committing suicide. Not 3 seconds after I asked the tour guide what the most common ways to commit suicide in the prison were, some asshat dropped a body from the top of the prison on top of us, following a very loud scream. I mean, yeah, the prison is haunted enough and kinda scary, but I think intentionally scaring people is stupid. We heard some good ghost stories, but after a while I wasn't scared with the exception of people jumping out at us which was unnecessary.
Paul who was meeting up with an old student during the prison tour got us all gelato which was very tasty. Most of us went back after, and I spent the evening with Greg and Jesse (and a few others here and there) drinking our wine and listening to awesome American music outside of Greg's flat. It was a really fun night to say the least.
On Saturday, I slept in a little late and got up feeling pretty crappy like usual these days. Jesse and I went into a different Target to look for stuff for my trip next week. This Target was horribly laid out and they didn't have anything I needed, so I was pretty damn disappointed. It was a total waste of time. I did however have a very good lunch of pasta and garlic toast after which kinda made up for it. Jesse and I then went to the beach by ourselves and it was a good visit. We spent most of the time in the water throwing my mini vortex football, which was filled with miraculous diving catches (but you wouldn't expect any less of me!).
I cleaned my room when I got back because it was getting a little out of hand, and I made some vegetarian pasties. I think Monday night I'm going to spend about 2 hours cooking a whole bunch of them to get me through the week when I only have a short time for lunch. Saturday night proved to be pretty disappointing because I had only 2 glasses of wine, and over the course of an entire night panned out to be a big bummer. Two glasses of wine when you're really hydrated doesn't do anything. I didn't say I wanted to get SMASHED, but you know. Oh well. I couldn't go crazy anyway because I had to wake up early for the sustainability tour I went on this morning (Sunday).
After the tour, we ended back up at the beach so we decided to go for a swim. We knew we were going to end up there so we came prepared with our bathers (swimming suits--these Australians have silly names for things). To the right of me is Justin (from Clark), Macy (from TCU), and Brendan (he's also from Clark and lives in Rutland, VT... he and I also went to the same Boys State back in the summer before senior year of HS.)Yeah I know it doesn't seem like I did a lot this weekend, but I really didn't and it's kinda sad. I have so much damn work to do this week, but I won't be going to class on Friday because that's the day I leave for my grand tour of West Australia. This week's going to be extremely crazy and I don't think I'm ready for it just yet. I better go make an awesome dinner and get a head start tonight with studying. SO EXCITED TO STUDY AND WORK ON MY GROUP PROJECT.
Thursday: 7
Friday: 8
Saturday: 6.5
Sunday (Today): 6.5
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Part 1: Study, Part 2: Wear a Speedo
Yesterday (Tuesday) started out with an early wake up and some decent studying. Monday night I went to the library and got a good start on my studying and I felt really accomplished. I finished most of what I had started my class time in the morning, only to get to lecture and immediately find out I really didn't need to be there because we were going of bacteria taxonomy. Not only do I know a lot about basic taxonomy already thanks to my professor and adviser Dr. Hibbett, but I had already gone over (plant) taxonomy in another lecture. Not being one to skip lectures, I stayed and made the best of it.
I had my first tutorial for my pollutants class an hour later, which ended up being mostly a discussion. I don't get the feeling often, but I felt like I knew a lot more about certain things than my TA. It makes me feel arrogant and uncomfortable. It gets to the point when I say in my head, "no, you're totally wrong." Unfortunately, it seemed like I was one of 2 or 3 who actually did the reading, and I dominated the conversation. Truth be told, I only skimmed the reading. However, it was pretty basic stuff. Nonetheless, it appears my tutorial is filled with incompetent students. I'm hoping they prepare better for the next one.
We have a paper to write for that class, and my group of two has now grown to four to my great dismay. It's going to be a cluster**** trying to get everyone on the same page. I would rather write a 2,500-3,000 word essay by myself than write a 6,000 word essay with three other people in such a short time. It's going to be awkward.
After I was done for the day, I went into Kardinya to get a few things at Kmart and Coles. Nothing extremely fun, but I had run out of bread and garlic toast makes my pasta dinners scrumptious. I'll have to go in again Thursday and get some more while I get fixings for more vegetarian pasties. After I got back, I shot hoops with Jesse, and because the hoops at 9 feet high (American ones are 10 feet), we couldn't hit any shots. It's absolutely ridiculous how hard it is. I can barely dunk but haven't tried to much on it. It's like suddenly being 6'10" and trying to make baskets. I don't care for it.
I didn't get much done in the evening which was disappointing. It was so damn hot last night, and I was really tired. I tried sleeping early (10:30) but couldn't fall asleep because it was so damn hot and I was coughing terribly. I finally did fall asleep but didn't sleep very well.
I didn't get much work done at all in the morning either, which was especially disappointing. I trudged off to my first of two lectures in a row with low morale. My two lectures weren't too too bad; my second professor showed up 22 minute late for a 50 minute long lecture. I was nearly out the door when he came in. He PLOWED through the slides of his talk such that it was impossible to take notes. He makes me laugh though (and no one else) which makes it all better. I'm not sure if a) he's not really funny b) I find him funny because I find his humor appealing c) I find him funny because I actually get his jokes d) everyone else just sucks at life.
After a speedy lunch, I went off to my Micro lab. We slowly went through what we were supposed to do (even though I already knew what we had to do) before finally getting into lab. I spent more time than I wanted to looking at my stupid bacteria cultures, but got out of lab by 3 which wasn't too bad. My friend Allie from SC, who works beside me, went to the beach right after lab with Greg (who's from Clark) which was fantastic. Yesterday I bought some spray sunscreen and I did my own back. I don't think I got burned at all which is really nice because there might be days when I go to the beach by myself (because usually I have someone else sunscreen my back).
Our bus driver was crazy. He was driving really fast, stopping really fast, and stopping 35 feet past the bus stop so people couldn't get on after he dropped people off because he was late or something. This was especially interesting when we first got on because the bus was crammed. We finally got to the beach at around 4:40, about 30 minutes later than I had hoped, but I was there so it didn't matter.
Greg and I wore out speedos (him for the first time) and it was really awesome. Jesse too some pictures of us and they make me giggle. Jesse took some PG-13 pictures using Greg's camera (and he still hasn't posted them yet) that cracked us up so bad. Greg has this crazy straw hat Paul (our program director) gave him that covers up his speedo if held infront of his crotch such that it looks like he's naked. It was a great time at the beach.
I have a lecture in the morning and then Jesse and I hope to spend most of the day at the beach. It should be a really good and hot day at the beach!
Tuesday: 6.5
Wednesday (Today): 7.5
I had my first tutorial for my pollutants class an hour later, which ended up being mostly a discussion. I don't get the feeling often, but I felt like I knew a lot more about certain things than my TA. It makes me feel arrogant and uncomfortable. It gets to the point when I say in my head, "no, you're totally wrong." Unfortunately, it seemed like I was one of 2 or 3 who actually did the reading, and I dominated the conversation. Truth be told, I only skimmed the reading. However, it was pretty basic stuff. Nonetheless, it appears my tutorial is filled with incompetent students. I'm hoping they prepare better for the next one.
We have a paper to write for that class, and my group of two has now grown to four to my great dismay. It's going to be a cluster**** trying to get everyone on the same page. I would rather write a 2,500-3,000 word essay by myself than write a 6,000 word essay with three other people in such a short time. It's going to be awkward.
After I was done for the day, I went into Kardinya to get a few things at Kmart and Coles. Nothing extremely fun, but I had run out of bread and garlic toast makes my pasta dinners scrumptious. I'll have to go in again Thursday and get some more while I get fixings for more vegetarian pasties. After I got back, I shot hoops with Jesse, and because the hoops at 9 feet high (American ones are 10 feet), we couldn't hit any shots. It's absolutely ridiculous how hard it is. I can barely dunk but haven't tried to much on it. It's like suddenly being 6'10" and trying to make baskets. I don't care for it.
I didn't get much done in the evening which was disappointing. It was so damn hot last night, and I was really tired. I tried sleeping early (10:30) but couldn't fall asleep because it was so damn hot and I was coughing terribly. I finally did fall asleep but didn't sleep very well.
I didn't get much work done at all in the morning either, which was especially disappointing. I trudged off to my first of two lectures in a row with low morale. My two lectures weren't too too bad; my second professor showed up 22 minute late for a 50 minute long lecture. I was nearly out the door when he came in. He PLOWED through the slides of his talk such that it was impossible to take notes. He makes me laugh though (and no one else) which makes it all better. I'm not sure if a) he's not really funny b) I find him funny because I find his humor appealing c) I find him funny because I actually get his jokes d) everyone else just sucks at life.
After a speedy lunch, I went off to my Micro lab. We slowly went through what we were supposed to do (even though I already knew what we had to do) before finally getting into lab. I spent more time than I wanted to looking at my stupid bacteria cultures, but got out of lab by 3 which wasn't too bad. My friend Allie from SC, who works beside me, went to the beach right after lab with Greg (who's from Clark) which was fantastic. Yesterday I bought some spray sunscreen and I did my own back. I don't think I got burned at all which is really nice because there might be days when I go to the beach by myself (because usually I have someone else sunscreen my back).
Our bus driver was crazy. He was driving really fast, stopping really fast, and stopping 35 feet past the bus stop so people couldn't get on after he dropped people off because he was late or something. This was especially interesting when we first got on because the bus was crammed. We finally got to the beach at around 4:40, about 30 minutes later than I had hoped, but I was there so it didn't matter.
Greg and I wore out speedos (him for the first time) and it was really awesome. Jesse too some pictures of us and they make me giggle. Jesse took some PG-13 pictures using Greg's camera (and he still hasn't posted them yet) that cracked us up so bad. Greg has this crazy straw hat Paul (our program director) gave him that covers up his speedo if held infront of his crotch such that it looks like he's naked. It was a great time at the beach.
I have a lecture in the morning and then Jesse and I hope to spend most of the day at the beach. It should be a really good and hot day at the beach!
Tuesday: 6.5
Wednesday (Today): 7.5
Monday, February 22, 2010
The King of Parks
I woke up Sunday feeling pretty crudy. My sore throat remained from Saturday, and I was stuffy. Not a good start for a day when I was supposed to go to the park. I sucked it up however and took the bus to the Murdoch train station, and took the train into Perth. It was my first time in the city. I didn't spend much time in the city at at, and didn't see much, but it's pretty damn small. West Australia, three times the size of Texas, has a whopping 2.2 million people. Perth, the state's capital, has 1.65 million of those residents, so you wouldn't expect that much of Perth.
I spent the day in Kings Park, the biggest city park in the world, on the edge of the city. I didn't see much and would like to go back and explore but I liked what I saw. I had a long picnic with my local friend Angela and her friends Sam, Kally & Jarryd. It was a pretty fun visit but a little weird since I only kinda knew Angela, but I was glad I got off campus and explored a bit. We stayed for about 3 hours. The highlight was seeing Jarryd jam on his Guitar Hero-like guitar, which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6R_T3aWKD4 (it's worth seeing). Oh, and the view from where we were (just down a few paces from our picnic site) was pretty nice:
Angela drove me home in the beautifully sunny late afternoon, only for me to leave campus again about 20 minutes after I got back to go to a independent film festival with Jesse in Freo. I wasn't sure if it was going to be something I would enjoy, especially since I was feeling worse at this point, but I went anyway. We saw 16 short films and they were pretty good overall. There are 5 that I really liked, but there was as a 30 minute intermission at the midway point. The festival ended just before 10pm, and because of the 30 minute intermission, we missed the last bus back to campus by 1 minute (we saw the bus leave the station even). Silly Jesse and I didn't check to see when the last bus left the station on a Sunday, but to us 10:01 seemed kinda early. We almost walked the roughly 5 miles back to campus (we even started walking back) but took a cab a few blocks in, because the fare ended up being only $18 AUD, and split between the two of us, it wasn't bad.
I woke up today (Monday) feeling pretty crappy at an early 8 am (considering my only class started at 11:30) with the hopes of studying before class. The only thing I succeeded in doing was making tasty scrambled eggs (with some cheese in them; absolutely fantastic) and talking to my Clark friend Alicia for a few hours online. Even though I set my alarm on my cell phone, I still lost track of time and left for class a little later than I would have liked. Apparently that classroom's clock is 6-7 minutes fast, because when I got there 5 minutes before the scheduled start of class, my professor was already talking which greatly annoyed me.
Class was okay, but it's going to be a hard class to study for since I can't really take notes: he has a lot of stuff on the power point but skips a lot of it (this is also true for the reading). I'm going to try to write down the subjects we talk about in class and any notes I can spare, and then go over the reading in the library after and take notes from there too. I have to do a 4-5k word paper (with a partner) on something toxic in our society, and it looks like my partner and I are going to be investigating Red Bull (specifically the caffeine load). The highlight of class was my professor (who is very eccentric and funny) talking about children being more susceptible to toxins, because they lick and suck the floor. Good times.
After lecture I ate lunch and got ready for the beach, which I ended up going with just Jesse. We got there around 3:30, 4 which is the latest I've gotten there. I um, yeah, I wore a speedo for the first time and it was really interesting. It felt kinda cool actually, to tell the truth, but I was already getting a slight tan line from my board shorts. My arms are really tan but that's about it. I guess I'll have to work on my tan now while it's still hot. I was looking at the average temperatures for June, when it gets down to about 67°F.
We took the bus back to campus, but had to wait about 15 minutes between buses which prevented us from going to Kmart and Coles, because by the time we got to the mall, it was already 5:52pm or so, and both stores close at 6. It didn't help that our bus lost power or whatever twice en route. I'll go in tomorrow afternoon though, no worries, and get what I need.
I'm going to go make dinner now then run off to the library for a few hours to prepare for my first Pollutants (the class I had today) tutorial and do some other studying. I'll most likely spend my free time tomorrow studying so I can spend most of Thursday (when I'm done by 10:30 in the morning; Jesse has Thursday off) at the beach. Pity I have lab all afternoon on Wednesday, because it's going to be sunny and 96°F (36°C; my roommate said she heard 41°C). However, it's going to be partly cloudy and 95°F on Thursday.
Sunday: 7
Monday: 7
I spent the day in Kings Park, the biggest city park in the world, on the edge of the city. I didn't see much and would like to go back and explore but I liked what I saw. I had a long picnic with my local friend Angela and her friends Sam, Kally & Jarryd. It was a pretty fun visit but a little weird since I only kinda knew Angela, but I was glad I got off campus and explored a bit. We stayed for about 3 hours. The highlight was seeing Jarryd jam on his Guitar Hero-like guitar, which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6R_T3aWKD4 (it's worth seeing). Oh, and the view from where we were (just down a few paces from our picnic site) was pretty nice:
Angela drove me home in the beautifully sunny late afternoon, only for me to leave campus again about 20 minutes after I got back to go to a independent film festival with Jesse in Freo. I wasn't sure if it was going to be something I would enjoy, especially since I was feeling worse at this point, but I went anyway. We saw 16 short films and they were pretty good overall. There are 5 that I really liked, but there was as a 30 minute intermission at the midway point. The festival ended just before 10pm, and because of the 30 minute intermission, we missed the last bus back to campus by 1 minute (we saw the bus leave the station even). Silly Jesse and I didn't check to see when the last bus left the station on a Sunday, but to us 10:01 seemed kinda early. We almost walked the roughly 5 miles back to campus (we even started walking back) but took a cab a few blocks in, because the fare ended up being only $18 AUD, and split between the two of us, it wasn't bad.
I woke up today (Monday) feeling pretty crappy at an early 8 am (considering my only class started at 11:30) with the hopes of studying before class. The only thing I succeeded in doing was making tasty scrambled eggs (with some cheese in them; absolutely fantastic) and talking to my Clark friend Alicia for a few hours online. Even though I set my alarm on my cell phone, I still lost track of time and left for class a little later than I would have liked. Apparently that classroom's clock is 6-7 minutes fast, because when I got there 5 minutes before the scheduled start of class, my professor was already talking which greatly annoyed me.
Class was okay, but it's going to be a hard class to study for since I can't really take notes: he has a lot of stuff on the power point but skips a lot of it (this is also true for the reading). I'm going to try to write down the subjects we talk about in class and any notes I can spare, and then go over the reading in the library after and take notes from there too. I have to do a 4-5k word paper (with a partner) on something toxic in our society, and it looks like my partner and I are going to be investigating Red Bull (specifically the caffeine load). The highlight of class was my professor (who is very eccentric and funny) talking about children being more susceptible to toxins, because they lick and suck the floor. Good times.
After lecture I ate lunch and got ready for the beach, which I ended up going with just Jesse. We got there around 3:30, 4 which is the latest I've gotten there. I um, yeah, I wore a speedo for the first time and it was really interesting. It felt kinda cool actually, to tell the truth, but I was already getting a slight tan line from my board shorts. My arms are really tan but that's about it. I guess I'll have to work on my tan now while it's still hot. I was looking at the average temperatures for June, when it gets down to about 67°F.
We took the bus back to campus, but had to wait about 15 minutes between buses which prevented us from going to Kmart and Coles, because by the time we got to the mall, it was already 5:52pm or so, and both stores close at 6. It didn't help that our bus lost power or whatever twice en route. I'll go in tomorrow afternoon though, no worries, and get what I need.
I'm going to go make dinner now then run off to the library for a few hours to prepare for my first Pollutants (the class I had today) tutorial and do some other studying. I'll most likely spend my free time tomorrow studying so I can spend most of Thursday (when I'm done by 10:30 in the morning; Jesse has Thursday off) at the beach. Pity I have lab all afternoon on Wednesday, because it's going to be sunny and 96°F (36°C; my roommate said she heard 41°C). However, it's going to be partly cloudy and 95°F on Thursday.
Sunday: 7
Monday: 7
Friday, February 19, 2010
Surfing in the AUS!
Today, we went surfing.
A small group of us met at Paul's office, and we piled into a maxi taxi (small bus) driven by Paul (which I thought was funny). Our group was mostly Clarkies (there's another group going tomorrow) which was fun. A few beaches north of Cottesloe beach, the wind was pretty strong and the currents were especially strong. After slipping on wet suits and getting (longer) surf boards (made of a lot of foam) we trudged along the beach to find a good spot.
We started out on the beach, practicing paddling on the sand. Boy were we a strange sight. Paul, who had my camera, got some video of us looking ridiculous. I'll have to make a video to put on YouTube later. After more instruction which Justine (who was next to me in line and is from Clark) and I didn't pay much attention to because we were posing with ridiculous faces in the background as Paul was taking pictures, we went in.
Man, was it difficult. Paddling out against the waves and current was a real challenge. The currents change the sand levels a lot, so you might be walking in a step into a sudden drop off or a hole. Or you could be way far out and notice you can stand up because there's a sand bar.
Like always at the ocean, I managed to swallow a lot of sea water at first, which always really hurts. Besides a short run by Jesse, we didn't have much success as a group surfing. I feel like we didn't have enough time out there to figure it out by ourselves. I got up twice on my board, only to have the wave die out from under me. Even though we were all getting tired, I feel like if given another hour by myself I could have gotten the hang of things. I'd like to try it again sometime if given the chance.
Paul took us to this pie place for lunch, and I had two really good spinach and feta pies. Puff pastry makes everything taste good, I swear. I also tried a mocha milk shake thing (which comes in 600mL cartons and can be found anywhere in Australia) which had 20g of protein to my amazement. It was pretty good, but tasted too much like chocolate milk to me. I'll have to get their iced coffee version next.
Overall, it was a fun experience and I'm glad I went (even though I almost didn't sign up for it). Our instructors were both good, cheery, and funny blokes. Not having a car will make getting out there again a real bother, so I don't know if I'll get to have another go.
Check out the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vah7MDdabEw
I'm editing this post with a new YouTube link (the current one fixed the old one, which didn't load properly because my internet sucks) and discussion of this evening. Everyone's going out tonight (my American friends) to clubs and bars, mostly clubs. Not only am I extremely tired from surfing, but I find clubbing extremely juvenile. Are clubs the typical hot spots for intellectuals? You can make an argument, but I would so no, definitely not. I find no appeal in going to clubs whatsoever, and I think they're slightly detrimental to society. Why? Because they put overwhelming influence on physical appearance in the social interaction aspect of clubbing. Is this fake? Hells yes it is. The whole idea of it is fake. I understand why some people like it (it's fun, etc), but I think it's absolute rubbish. Tell me I'm no fun all you want, tell me I should be going out and having fun all you want, but I still think it's an immature way to have fun. Really.
Today: 4 (If we had gotten to surf a lot longer or if I hadn't been so damn tired, I'd be feeling better.)
A small group of us met at Paul's office, and we piled into a maxi taxi (small bus) driven by Paul (which I thought was funny). Our group was mostly Clarkies (there's another group going tomorrow) which was fun. A few beaches north of Cottesloe beach, the wind was pretty strong and the currents were especially strong. After slipping on wet suits and getting (longer) surf boards (made of a lot of foam) we trudged along the beach to find a good spot.
Man, was it difficult. Paddling out against the waves and current was a real challenge. The currents change the sand levels a lot, so you might be walking in a step into a sudden drop off or a hole. Or you could be way far out and notice you can stand up because there's a sand bar.Like always at the ocean, I managed to swallow a lot of sea water at first, which always really hurts. Besides a short run by Jesse, we didn't have much success as a group surfing. I feel like we didn't have enough time out there to figure it out by ourselves. I got up twice on my board, only to have the wave die out from under me. Even though we were all getting tired, I feel like if given another hour by myself I could have gotten the hang of things. I'd like to try it again sometime if given the chance.
Overall, it was a fun experience and I'm glad I went (even though I almost didn't sign up for it). Our instructors were both good, cheery, and funny blokes. Not having a car will make getting out there again a real bother, so I don't know if I'll get to have another go.
Check out the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vah7MDdabEw
I'm editing this post with a new YouTube link (the current one fixed the old one, which didn't load properly because my internet sucks) and discussion of this evening. Everyone's going out tonight (my American friends) to clubs and bars, mostly clubs. Not only am I extremely tired from surfing, but I find clubbing extremely juvenile. Are clubs the typical hot spots for intellectuals? You can make an argument, but I would so no, definitely not. I find no appeal in going to clubs whatsoever, and I think they're slightly detrimental to society. Why? Because they put overwhelming influence on physical appearance in the social interaction aspect of clubbing. Is this fake? Hells yes it is. The whole idea of it is fake. I understand why some people like it (it's fun, etc), but I think it's absolute rubbish. Tell me I'm no fun all you want, tell me I should be going out and having fun all you want, but I still think it's an immature way to have fun. Really.
Today: 4 (If we had gotten to surf a lot longer or if I hadn't been so damn tired, I'd be feeling better.)
Cutting Up Plants, Meh
My DYLAN #10 post was a Friday morning rant, and I felt like I should explain the rest of my day.
After going to my second lecture and a quick lunch, I went to my Marine Plant Diversity lab. I went in without a lab manual, because even though the other Plant Diversity class' lab manual said "LAB MANUAL" on its front cover in the bookshop, ours didn't, and apparently we DID have our lab manuals in stock. Therefore, everyone else had theirs which was a real bother. Our lab manual says "lab notes" on the front cover, which to me meant notes from the lab because there's a separate notebook we can buy that says "lecture notes" on it. AND, since the lab manual was encased in thick shrink wrap, I couldn't open it to see if it was the one I needed.
My lab professor, who is extremely nice, made me a copy (which happened to be from his notebook with all the answers in it) to use for the lab. I would have rather have had my manual before lab so I could have known what I was supposed to be doing, and I felt completely stupid for 2+ hours. It was an introductory lab, and since our lab is laid back, I ended up doing okay. We cut up plants and looked at them under the microscope. Very exciting. I skipped out a bit early because I didn't NEED to be there and I was in an annoyed mood. I was able to pick up the lab manual in the bookshop however, so I'll be all set for next week.
I think after this week I'll be more comfortable with things. I have a lot to catch up on though and a lot to get started on, so we'll see how it goes. Since I have an 8:30 lecture Thursday and Friday, I might work on getting up at similar hours the rest of the week and getting 2-3+ hours of studying in before my lectures start. Because I have all of Thursday late morning and afternoon off, I might make that my beach day. I hope I can get some studying done before lunch time then head over after. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time reading, studying notes and lectures, and preparing for labs and such. I think I'm going to have a big load this semester, and since our first study break is the first full week in March (which is coming right up) I'm getting nervous about exams after my first week of classes, which isn't fair.
The first study break I'll be going on the North West trip, which is a 2,500 mile tour of Western Australia, which should be a lot of fun. I'm going to be gone for a week and have too many pictures to post once I get back. It'll be ridiculous. Unfortunately, I need to drop about 100 AUD on stuff for the trip (like a sleeping bag) which is really lame. The roughly 850 AUD trip is already paid for by my student group (CIEE) so that helps a lot. I'd like to go to Bali or Queensland on one of last 2 breaks, but we'll see how that pans out. If I'm working, I'd like to work one week to save money and maybe try to go snorkeling around Perth, and then travel the other week. I should be able to do a fair amount of snorkeling on the NW trip though, and I'm STOKED for that.
The job search sucks right now, but I think I'm going to do a new round of applications on Monday in Freo. I'll take almost anything I can get right now. We'll have to see. :-\
Jesse and I watched the first episode of Lost, season 6 and were confused like everyone else. We then decided to watch a 3 hour movie about blue aliens on a planet being mined by humans because we're both huge fans of said (unnamed) movie. The soundtrack and everything is absolutely gorgeous. Makes me fall in love with it all love again!
Friday: 4.5
After going to my second lecture and a quick lunch, I went to my Marine Plant Diversity lab. I went in without a lab manual, because even though the other Plant Diversity class' lab manual said "LAB MANUAL" on its front cover in the bookshop, ours didn't, and apparently we DID have our lab manuals in stock. Therefore, everyone else had theirs which was a real bother. Our lab manual says "lab notes" on the front cover, which to me meant notes from the lab because there's a separate notebook we can buy that says "lecture notes" on it. AND, since the lab manual was encased in thick shrink wrap, I couldn't open it to see if it was the one I needed.
My lab professor, who is extremely nice, made me a copy (which happened to be from his notebook with all the answers in it) to use for the lab. I would have rather have had my manual before lab so I could have known what I was supposed to be doing, and I felt completely stupid for 2+ hours. It was an introductory lab, and since our lab is laid back, I ended up doing okay. We cut up plants and looked at them under the microscope. Very exciting. I skipped out a bit early because I didn't NEED to be there and I was in an annoyed mood. I was able to pick up the lab manual in the bookshop however, so I'll be all set for next week.
I think after this week I'll be more comfortable with things. I have a lot to catch up on though and a lot to get started on, so we'll see how it goes. Since I have an 8:30 lecture Thursday and Friday, I might work on getting up at similar hours the rest of the week and getting 2-3+ hours of studying in before my lectures start. Because I have all of Thursday late morning and afternoon off, I might make that my beach day. I hope I can get some studying done before lunch time then head over after. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time reading, studying notes and lectures, and preparing for labs and such. I think I'm going to have a big load this semester, and since our first study break is the first full week in March (which is coming right up) I'm getting nervous about exams after my first week of classes, which isn't fair.
The first study break I'll be going on the North West trip, which is a 2,500 mile tour of Western Australia, which should be a lot of fun. I'm going to be gone for a week and have too many pictures to post once I get back. It'll be ridiculous. Unfortunately, I need to drop about 100 AUD on stuff for the trip (like a sleeping bag) which is really lame. The roughly 850 AUD trip is already paid for by my student group (CIEE) so that helps a lot. I'd like to go to Bali or Queensland on one of last 2 breaks, but we'll see how that pans out. If I'm working, I'd like to work one week to save money and maybe try to go snorkeling around Perth, and then travel the other week. I should be able to do a fair amount of snorkeling on the NW trip though, and I'm STOKED for that.
The job search sucks right now, but I think I'm going to do a new round of applications on Monday in Freo. I'll take almost anything I can get right now. We'll have to see. :-\
Jesse and I watched the first episode of Lost, season 6 and were confused like everyone else. We then decided to watch a 3 hour movie about blue aliens on a planet being mined by humans because we're both huge fans of said (unnamed) movie. The soundtrack and everything is absolutely gorgeous. Makes me fall in love with it all love again!
Friday: 4.5
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