Fiji in Four

We're going to Fiji in four days, so right about now I'm just trying to finish up all of my work before mid-semester break. Since we started in July and end in November, we're just about halfway through, so if it seems like weird timing compared to US schools, it is.

I finished my scuba ceritfication yesterday, so I'll be all ready to go without an instructor on our break. The dives yesterday were not as good as my dives last weekend. Last weekend I saw a bunch of sea turtles, a flathead, and Wobygong shark. This weekend, the conditions were not half as good but it was still a fun day on the boat. Mike, one of the Duke boys who is already ceritifed, came along with me and another Duke boy, Grant, was starting his certification dives.

My exams are going okay, I've taken two and I have two projects to turn in. I haven't gotten any grades back though and their testing system is very different from the States. I had a multiple choice test in my Catchment Hydrology class last week, which was bizarre considering I had to construct graphs and do engineering problems for just about every question. Unfortunately, that means zero partial credit, so we'll see how the grades turn out.

Happy Rosh Hashanah to everyone (a little late)! I will be in Fiji on Yom Kippur so that will make for an interesting day of fasting. I probably won't be able to get to a phone so consider this my wishes for the best towards the end of the holidays.

Again, questions courtesy of Aunt Francesca:

Is Australia like here but with an accent? Yes, but it's also much more relaxed and much sunnier!

Do you feel as if your getting a good idea of what the country is like or still too many Duke students? I don't think there are too many Duke students. In general, the Duke kids here are pretty independent so we all do our own things. I just haven't become very close friends with too many Australians yet, but I certainly have met a lot.

Are you out partying a lot and being a crazy child? Debateable.

I haven't taken any pictures since Cairns (too much studying). I'll try to work on that in Fiji.

Miss you all!
XOXO

Cairns

I missed two days of school last week because we left Thursday night for Cairns and I skipped on Wednesday to go to the beach. The big event was Cairns where we went to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef and see the Daintree Rainforest. Mollie, Katelyn, Tad and I went together and spent Friday on the beach and exploring the city, Saturday on the scuba boat, and Sunday on the rainforest tour.



Our Hostile Room



Mollie on the Scuba Boat



The Group in the Rainforest



View from the Interior of the Rainforest



Crocodiles We Saw on the River Cruise

Also, we had dinner at this amazing steak house with on of the other Duke boy's mom and grandparents who came to visit. The group consisted of the four boys who stayed in our apartment while they were still looking for housing (their picture is in an earlier post) and the four of the girls in my group. It was great to have a big nice dinner with everyone and meet his parents. Unfortunately, Lindsay's parents came while we were in Cairns, so we didn't get to meet her parents but I think she had a good weekend with them anyways.

I have my first test tomorrow in Thermodynamics. We'll see how it goes, but considering that I should be studying right now, I'm not expecting anything fantastic. It seems like everyone suddenly got a lot of work for before our trip to Fiji, I suppose that's because it's "Mid-Semester Exams" according to Australians. I'm hoping to finish my scuba certification this weekend, but I doubt I'll have too many interesting stories until I get back from Fiji.