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
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Work?
Unfortunately my open-water dive training sessions this weekend were postponed due to weather conditions so I won't be certified when I'm in Cairns. I should definitely have my certification for Fiji though so I will just have to do an introductory dive and some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Instead this weekend I just hung out with the girls that I'm living with (the weather was pretty crumby), so we just had a nice relaxed weekend and went out at night.
Since Aunt Francesca sent me some questions, I'll answer those for everyone:
Have you met a lot of locals or mainly college students?
One thing I do regret is that I came to a university dominated by exchange students. There are 40 people here from Duke alone, which makes the incentive to meet people a little bit harder. At the same time, I have met a bunch of Germans and Dutch people in my scuba class, there are a bunch of Germans that we have met in our apartments, there are other Americans that I have met who have come from other universities and programs, but, in general, I have only really made friends with a handful of Australians through meeting people out or at things like ski club. Since you all know I'm pretty independent, I hope that when I'm alone in New Zealand I will be able to meet loads of people.
What are you going to be studying once school starts? Will you travel on the weekends?
School has started. It actually started July 23, I'm just not to concerned with it right now. I do all of my work, but it's just not very hard yet. Don't quote me when my grades come back though. So, yes, I will be traveling on the weekends.. and some weekdays for that matter. Right now I'm studying:
Catchment Hydrology
Soil Mechanics
Thermodynamics
Coral Reefs
We toook a field trip to a catchment the other day to study how to design for floods, which was an interesting experience. We basically walked for a half mile through the rain in a ditch that collects storm runoff so that we could calculate the flow capacity using formulas that have never been explained to us... it was pretty cool! Anyways, I did write a twelve page paper on the Bahamas for Coral Reefs, so that counts as real work, right?
Anyhow, since I'm skipping Friday this week and Monday next week to go to the Barrier Reef, I'm thinking that I should maybe go do some work or something. Hope all is well!
Lauren
Since Aunt Francesca sent me some questions, I'll answer those for everyone:
Have you met a lot of locals or mainly college students?
One thing I do regret is that I came to a university dominated by exchange students. There are 40 people here from Duke alone, which makes the incentive to meet people a little bit harder. At the same time, I have met a bunch of Germans and Dutch people in my scuba class, there are a bunch of Germans that we have met in our apartments, there are other Americans that I have met who have come from other universities and programs, but, in general, I have only really made friends with a handful of Australians through meeting people out or at things like ski club. Since you all know I'm pretty independent, I hope that when I'm alone in New Zealand I will be able to meet loads of people.
What are you going to be studying once school starts? Will you travel on the weekends?
School has started. It actually started July 23, I'm just not to concerned with it right now. I do all of my work, but it's just not very hard yet. Don't quote me when my grades come back though. So, yes, I will be traveling on the weekends.. and some weekdays for that matter. Right now I'm studying:
Catchment Hydrology
Soil Mechanics
Thermodynamics
Coral Reefs
We toook a field trip to a catchment the other day to study how to design for floods, which was an interesting experience. We basically walked for a half mile through the rain in a ditch that collects storm runoff so that we could calculate the flow capacity using formulas that have never been explained to us... it was pretty cool! Anyways, I did write a twelve page paper on the Bahamas for Coral Reefs, so that counts as real work, right?
Anyhow, since I'm skipping Friday this week and Monday next week to go to the Barrier Reef, I'm thinking that I should maybe go do some work or something. Hope all is well!
Lauren
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Scuba
This wekend I did my lecture series and pool training for my scuba certification. Next weekend I'll be going on dives both on Saturday and Sunday for my open water requirements, which will mean that I will be a certified open water scuba diver by next Sunday.
Byron Bay was fun last weekend and we took a ridiculous tour called "Jim's Alternative Adventures," which was basically a bus ride with amazing music the whole time. On Sunday we just went and sat out at the beach all day.
Wednesday this week was a public holiday called "Ekka Day." Everyone got dressed up and went to the hourse races. It was like a mid-week Preakness, but it definitely wasn't quite as intense. Instead of the infield, the college student just congregate around the tracks and wander in circles.
Byron Bay was fun last weekend and we took a ridiculous tour called "Jim's Alternative Adventures," which was basically a bus ride with amazing music the whole time. On Sunday we just went and sat out at the beach all day.
Wednesday this week was a public holiday called "Ekka Day." Everyone got dressed up and went to the hourse races. It was like a mid-week Preakness, but it definitely wasn't quite as intense. Instead of the infield, the college student just congregate around the tracks and wander in circles.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Some Highlights So Far
Playing with kangaroos at the Koala Sanctuary.
The Duke boys who will be traveling with us for Spring Break.(McGroddy, Doug, Toby, and Laz)
Visiting the Koala Sanctuary.
Katelyn and I joined the waterskiing/wakeboarding club.
All the girls living together on our way back from our first professional rugby game!
(Lindsay, Katelyn, me, and Mollie)
Visiting the Koala Sanctuary.
Katelyn and I joined the waterskiing/wakeboarding club.
All the girls living together on our way back from our first professional rugby game!(Lindsay, Katelyn, me, and Mollie)
Travel
This weekend 10 of the Duke students here in Queensland are taking a trip to Byron Bay and staying at a hostel called the Arts Factory http://www.artsfactory.com.au/, which was established by hippies in the 70's. While we're there, we'll take a day trip to Nimbin and spend a day at the coast.
The two following weekends will be dedicated to my getting scuba certified, so that I can be ready for CAIRNS!
August 28-Sept 1 we will be going to Cairns. We are planning on spending two days diving and sailing and one day in the rain forest.
September 20-October 1 is Spring Break, and we're going to Fiji on an Extreme Adventures tour called "Coconuts." We'll be island hopping and doing different things every day. When I find the itinerary, I'll give you more details.
October 19-21 will be our trip to Sydney. We're going to visit our friend who's studying abroad there. He's a big fan of sailing so we've asked him to take us out to Sydney Harbor, but otherwise we're not sure what we're going to do there so we're open to suggestions.
November 18-??? After school ends I'll be headed to New Zealand with the girls that I'm living with. They will be returning on the 25th to make their flights home; however, since I don't come back until December 5, I didn't book a return ticket yet. I want to visit Easter Island, but it seems quite costly, so now I'm just messing around with some ideas... maybe fly into Southern Australia and take a bus tour (they have tickets here where you can just keep getting on and off for a certain number of days and go wherever you like), but who knows?
That's all we have set in stone for travel, but it seems like plenty to me. Hope everyone is well!
Miss you!
Lauren
The two following weekends will be dedicated to my getting scuba certified, so that I can be ready for CAIRNS!
August 28-Sept 1 we will be going to Cairns. We are planning on spending two days diving and sailing and one day in the rain forest.
September 20-October 1 is Spring Break, and we're going to Fiji on an Extreme Adventures tour called "Coconuts." We'll be island hopping and doing different things every day. When I find the itinerary, I'll give you more details.
October 19-21 will be our trip to Sydney. We're going to visit our friend who's studying abroad there. He's a big fan of sailing so we've asked him to take us out to Sydney Harbor, but otherwise we're not sure what we're going to do there so we're open to suggestions.
November 18-??? After school ends I'll be headed to New Zealand with the girls that I'm living with. They will be returning on the 25th to make their flights home; however, since I don't come back until December 5, I didn't book a return ticket yet. I want to visit Easter Island, but it seems quite costly, so now I'm just messing around with some ideas... maybe fly into Southern Australia and take a bus tour (they have tickets here where you can just keep getting on and off for a certain number of days and go wherever you like), but who knows?
That's all we have set in stone for travel, but it seems like plenty to me. Hope everyone is well!
Miss you!
Lauren
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