GBR 09

It's late September and that can only mean one thing: SPRING BREAK. Or maybe that's just on this side of the world. It's pretty sweet to get two spring breaks this year and let me tell you, this one did not disappoint. My marine science class went on our second field trip, this time to Heron Island, which is in the Great Barrier Reef. This trip is the single reason I enrolled in this class because, let's face it, I do not do science.

We left at 11:15 Thursday night and took a loooonngggg overnight bus ride and ferry ride to get there, finally arriving at 1 pm Friday afternoon. Food was obviously first priority and we had a delish lunch prepared by Maggie, the heinous tyrant of the kitchen who barks at you for taking too long in the sandwich line and watches to make sure you don't take two slices of cake. Maggie is terrifying but she makes a mean ravioli. After that we immediately went snorkeling. Mind you I have been snorkeling precisely one time and that was in 8th grade (TCS '03 what up) so my skills were rusty. After a few failures in the realms of breathing (the mouth is hard when I'm used to the nose), seeing (my mask kept filling up with water), and swimming (flippers can be tricky), I was good to go and we floated around.


Saturday was by far my favorite day. We went out on boats (I thought I was going to fly out and never be seen again) to a spot that was in the deep part of the ocean. It was AMAZING. Every two minutes I would think about what I was doing and kept coming to the conclusion that this was the most incredible experience of my life. We were snorkeling in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. The GBR!! Unreal. We saw tons of animals: rays, sea turtles, sharks, and heaps of bright, colorful fish. It is crazy seeing a completely different world beneath the surface of the water. It's just so vast and open and natural. Definitely in the top 10 days of my life.





Definitely not in the top 10 days was Sunday's night snorkel. Okay, I am not a super scared person, and I'm generally fine in water but OH MY GOD I was terrified. We were in the middle of the ocean, at night, with only a wimpy little flashlight guiding us. Reasons for terror: my mask wasn't tight enough and I could not see (partly because it was filling up and partly because it was NIGHT). Then I started hyperventilating (blatant lie, I just started breathing harder) which caused me to worry that I was having a panic attack (I clearly was not). Then every time a flipper would hit me (and this happened quite frequently as we were all in a tight bunch) I was absolutely certain it was a shark because it was NIGHT which, conveniently, happens to be shark feeding time. Basically, I was freaked out the whole time and didn't actually see many cool things because I was entirely focused on: not drowning, not being stung by jellyfish, and not being attacked by a shark. I think I'm gonna stick with day snorkeling from now on.

Oh yeah, we were actually there in the name of "education," whatever that is... our project was measuring the sizes of poop that came out of sea cucumbers. Science at its finest. We worked really hard for one day and then rewarded ourselves with several trips to the beach to lay out.


Have I mentioned how intense the sun is here? You know, the whole lack of ozone deal. Yeah, well, little miss I-never-get-burned-so-I'll-just-put-on-a-little-sunscreen here learned a valuable lesson. I am no match for the Australian sun. My face got burned, as did my legs. And my knees. The knees were the worst. You can't really see the burn but I assure you it is there. I have newfound sympathy for people who go through this regularly. I generally just assume people are wimps who can't handle a little sun exposure but holy crap it was painful. I now have ridiculous tan lines and will be coming home a full three shades darker.

Now I am back in Brisbane and not looking forward to the rest of break because it is full of nothing but schoolwork, aka the one thing I do not want to be doing right now. I have four papers and an online debate for the next two weeks, which is a lot of work in any place but seems extra horrible in Australia. I just... don't want to.... but alas, it will all get done after I stop complaining.

Bottom line: if you have the time and the money, you must visit the GBR. Seriously incredible. And if you need a snorkel buddy, I'm your gal. Daytime hours only, please.

time flies and i cries

My Australian adventure is just over halfway done. I cannot believe it. It's been the fastest two months of my life and I'm guessing the second half will fly by even faster. I really want time to slooowww down. Here is the point where I could get all cheesy & sentimental but I'll just say that I am having the time of my life and I am not prepared to leave this behind forever.

Happier news: Great Barrier Reef next week. Plus Jeanenne & I booked tickets to Sydney at the beginning of November. Both are true Australian essentials so I'm glad I'll get to go there.

Even happier news: Gossip Girl is back.

Yeah, I know, I know. I'm in Australia & GG should probably not be my number one source of excitement. But have you SEEN Chuck and Blair?! Loooveee.

NOOSA

This weekend's trip to the beach was fantastic. It took about 4 hours to get there by a combination of buses and trains (Transportation Committee was on top of it). We rented a villa, which was this 2 story house with a kitchen, a bunch of beds, and an L-shaped couch (only the best of the couch options). The villa is right off the the main street in the town, where all the shops and restaurants are, but more importantly, it's a mere 5 minute walk to the beach.


The prospect of our own kitchen was thrilling, as we haven't seen a home cooked meal in months. Thus we made pasta, salad, and garlic bread. And by we, I mean the Dinner Committee (of which I had no part, but come on, this is no surprise if you know me at all). No worries, though, I was on clean up crew and man, am I a skilled dish-washer. All those years of doing the dishes have really trained me well.

We spent the majority of our time on the beach, obviously. It's a touristy place, so there were tons of people around. A lot of families with little kids, who were adorable to watch. Everyone in Australia wears hats because, awesome news, the hole in the ozone layer is directly above us. Skin cancer runs rampant here. Even I have taken to wearing sunscreen and that is big.


We buried Biagio in the sand one afternoon. Turns out, there was a wedding going on and we were directly in the aisle. To be fair, there was no announcement of said wedding and the aisle was not marked in any way. Only when the bride walked past us did we realize we were being 5 year olds as a beautiful, life-changing ceremony was going on next to us.


We also played a game, appropriately titled Sock Head, where you throw a sock and try to get it to land on someone's head. I told you, we are 5.

All photo credit is due to Xtine. I have basically stopped taking pictures because someone else is always on top of it. Instead I pop in as many as possible, hence the ridiculously high number of tagged pics in the past 9 weeks. Anywa, this was one of the best weekends I've had in Australia. I could easily live in Noosa. Oh, and not to brag or anything, but morale was out of this world this weekend. I take my role seriously.

from A to Zed

Tonight at dinner we got to talking about American/Australian language differences. For one, they pronounce the letter Z as "zed" instead of "zee." Which means that zebra is pronounced "zehbra." I thought this was hilarious. Other abnormalities of Australian English include a high frequency of unnecessary vowels inserted in words (behaviour, labour, colour), as well as 's' where there should clearly be a 'z' (organisation, realisation).

Further, their candy (lolly) selection is far inferior to the American arsenal of sweets. No Reese's. Tragic, really. Instead of gummy worms and gummy bears they have gummy rattlesnakes (vicious but acceptable) and, worst of all, gummy BABIES. Human babies. In gummy form. If you want to go really crazy you can get the kind with the liquidy stuff inside and have squirting babies for an afternoon snack. These people are freaks.

Meal times are some of my favorite parts of the week. Besides the obvious enjoyment I get from eating, it is nice to have guaranteed socializing opportunities. At WashU it is so easy to avoid everyone and eat alone at 3 pm or 9 pm or 2 pm (all times we do not eat here), but here, there is such a small window for eating that everyone is together. I kinda love it, kinda hate it. It definitely keeps me on a schedule and gets me out of my room on those days I just want to sleep all day.

Today in our marine science class the lecturer spent the entire class detailing the many ways we could die by Australian sea creatures. The abbreviated list includes cone snails, box jellyfish, blue ringed octopuses, stingrays, and sharks, all of which we'll be encountering on our trip to the Great Barrier Reef in a couple weeks. I'm generally okay with deadly animals, you know, NBD, but that octupus freaked me out because it blinds and paralyzes you while you are fully conscious. I live a dangerous life.

Two of our friends are traveling this weekend and the rest of us were jealous. Not to mention we have gotten rather lazy lately. My time in Australia is going so fast that it is stupid not to take advantage while I'm here. Hence our quick decision to go to Noosa this weekend. Noosa is a place on the Sunshine Coast (I know, sounds perfect already) and we're staying at a villa on the beach for two nights. Shoutout to Christine, who is on the Transportation Committee* and planned the whole thing in like an hour (and also scored a sweet discount on the villa). Looking forward to getting out of Brisbane for a couple days and doing something different.

*Committees are always necessary in any group of friends. I'm Morale Committee, FYI. Basically I just get excited about things and encourage to others to get excited, as well. It's crucial.

these are a few of my favorite things

Yesterday I got to thinking about the things I miss from America. Here is an abridged version.

- Panera bread bowls
- SONIC
- Watching TV on an actual television
- Being able to eat at all hours
- Pigz
- the other 90% of my wardrobe
- magazines
- Mexican food
- basketball (I guess it's not basketball season so I wouldn't be watching it at home but there is a profound lack of interest in the sport here)
- my car/being able to travel without relying on public transportation
- Red Lobster
- unlimited outlets. I only have one in my room, and I only have one adapter.
- dressing casually to go out. why do we always have to be fancy here?!
- home cooked meals
- root beer
- rap & hip hop music. Techno, I have acquired a tolerance for you but we will never be friends.
- pop in general ($3 for a bottle of Sprite- no thanks)
- Target (exists here, but it's just not the same)
- Steak n Shake

I find it incredibly sad that the vast majority of things I miss are food related. It's just that the food situation here is really tragic. Having a one hour window for each meal is difficult. Having roasted chicken/beef and almost-good-but-a-little-too-bland pasta for every single meal gets old. It just gets old.

At some point I'll share with you the list of things that make Australia cooler than America, but right now I just want some tacos so I'm feeling patriotic.