Culture Shock & Some Rather Interesting Things

I have now been in Australia for three weeks!! (if you haven't been counting ... I know mom is). My first week here went by too fast to even think. But my second week, hit hard! AustraLearn students were of the first to move in, which was great because we got to explore campus while it was still calm, but all the people we had just lived with for a week were widely dispersed around campus. My first shock, and biggest concern, was the food! Our dining hall is specific to our residence hall, but open for two hours, three times a day (each meal) and serves the most bizarre, tasteless, often disgusting combinations of food that even the Australians cringe about. "Tomato sauce", ketchup, is very acidic here; nothing like Heinz. Barbeque sauce is missing that hickory smoked authentic taste and chocolate is NOT sweet ... it's strange. We have a small selection for breakfast, "brekky", which I never make it in time for (7am-9am), always have make-your-own sandwiches for lunch (it is already getting old) with a small selection of fresh fruit (usually the go-to) and dinner ... well dinner is special (not!). Every night they serve us a nice heaping pile of under cooked white rice, a choice between two meats (which usually contain 40% fat:60% meat), roasted potatoes and steamed frozen vegetables. The only food to look forward to is on Friday nights when they have fish and chips (french fries are always called "chips" here, but so are potato chips!), baked fish and ice cream for dessert!

Second to the food shock, is definitely the lack of urgency in this country. In America, our lifestyles are so fast paced that we can get pretty much anything we needed at almost anytime of the day. Here, not so much. As an anxious individual, their "no worries" response to any problem drives me INSANE! Stores are only open from 9am-5/530pm on weekdays, except late night Thursdays that are open until 9pm (shocker) and are only open for a short time on Saturdays and only select stores open shortly on Sundays. The campus staff is virtually no help because most of them are only part time, so our RA's get tortured with our questions :) Speaking of, my RA's name is Brendan and he is great! He has been at Uni for six years (very typical here) and is a stereotypical Aussie; very sarcastic and loves to bust people up, so we get along well.

Shopping in Townsville has been a very interesting task. The cost of living is very high in Townsville, so some of the items we could buy cheap at Target at home are not so cheap here, even at Target. For some reason, clothes are more affordable than food, but with our currency being at such a good rate I have been pretty okay with carefully spending Mom's money :) on school supplies of course! While shopping I have come across some interesting items not found in the States. Take a look ...


P.S. - I found the setting that only allowed Google account members to comment, so now EVERYONE can comment if they wish! Sorry I didn't find it sooner :/


< Why use an escalator, when you can use a moving sidewalk that takes you up to the "car park"






< "Mallow Bunnies" - anyone in the mood for a giant Peep?











< I hear these are a revelation, but yet to try any











< I don't trust it! Umm, yeah I will pass thank you.













< These are the most delicious cookies, EVER!













< Australian Coins


















< Finding out that you have tons of coins isn't so bad when they are worth $1 & $2












< These are not so fun to find: 5 cents & 10 cents












< 20 cents & 50 cents, but these get heavy!





Pictures of campus soon! I am waiting for another sunny day to finish them off!

Miss you xoxoxo

Day 6 - Townsville

This was a day of travel. We woke up early and left Cairns at 9:00am heading 4 hours south to Townsville. As we all know I get motion sickness very easily, so I was quite drugged on Dramamine and slept for most of the ride. We stopped for lunch at a little mom & pop Greek deli. The food portions were huge, but of course I polished it off, no problem haha! We arrived at James Cook University around 4pm ... finally! It was raining, hot, humid and the Dramamine was still kicking in. Thank god the RA's carried my 50lb bags up to the 3rd floor :) After unpacking and experiencing the first of many terrible, unflavored dinners, I was beat and went to bed. I have some pictures of my room, balcony and view from my balcony, but it has been raining a LOT, so no great pictures of the gorgeous rain forest campus just yet...hopefully soon.

Of course Steven did not forget Valentine's Day ...

My first week at University Hall was ... interesting. Because of the seasonal difference this semester is first semester for them and there are a LOT of freshman, aka "freshers" and with this being our first (and only) semester here we are also considered freshers. James Cook is composed of five different residence halls, all who have very strong rivalries. University Hall is the oldest of the residence halls, so we have quite the reputation to uphold. As freshers we are required to wear paper chef hats with our name on it, as a way for "everyone to learn our name"/a great way to embarrass us at all times. One night we were woken up to walk up and down all three floors screaming our "Uni Chant", which are very vulgar, so I will not be posting them haha. I lost my voice that night :/ The next night we went a tavern not to far from campus for a casual, social, meet and greet, which was really great! Toga night was Tuesday, when all the bars and pubs have specials on their drinks ($2 draft and mixed drinks). My bed sheet came in very handy and came out pretty cute. (it was also very comfy to fall asleep in after the bar
haha).

Wednesday we took a bus with the other freshers and non-freshers to an outdoor venue. Uni Hall event organizers paid for open bar, so we could all mingle as equals for the first time of orientation week. We were so lovingly woken up at 4am to walk around campus chanting and "proving" our Uni Hall spirit to other dorms. The 90+ students in my dorm disturbed many that night. On our long walk we encounter another dorm, waiting for our arrival with hoses. The had no problem soaking us with them as we chanted on their grounds, but we did it with unity! Our night finished off with a picture... sounds so innocent. The non-freshers were above us on the balcony, waiting seconds before the photo to dump buckets of water and flour on us. Luckily, I saw it coming and was able to shield most of my body. It was sucky getting flour/water paste out of my hair, but it was all in good fun. Tomorrow is kegs on the lawn! We are finally rewarded for the torture.

Class starts next week. I have Mondays off which is great if I want to travel and am very excited for my classes. I found out that between my two Marine Biology classes, we take many field trips to gorgeous islands, such as Magnetic Island (a paradise location nearby)! I will let you know how my first week of classes goes! Miss you all!

Keep checking for campus photos to be posted.

Days 5 - Cairns - Great Barrier Reef

We started our morning at 6:30, so we could get out and start our day at sea. The Passions of Paradise ship had a great staff that kept us, entertained and amused on our 2 hour excursion out to the Great Barrier Reef. There was about 50 of us on the ship and by the end of the day, each crew member made it a point to know all of our names. On the ride out there we listened to a diving brief about safety and always following our instructors. They taught us the hand signals so we could communicate under water and what to do if something was wrong with our air, mask or anything else. The first piece of equipment we received was our stinger suits. Even though we look like the blue man group, it is box jellyfish season and getting stung by one = death, so the $7 suit was well worth it (see picture). As you can see, one of the instructors is strapping a weighted belt on me. This helps to keep us under. I got some pink flippers, mask and sat down in front of the airtank. They strapped us into it like a backpack with five different clips around the front. I stood up to walk down the steps to the dock we were jumping off and OH MY GOD was it heavy. Good thing I workout ;) Taking your first step into the water is very nerve racking, but exciting. One big step later and I was holding onto the rope strung from one side of the dock to the other, underwater and practicing breathing with my instructor. They have you hold the rope for five minutes, while practicing the hand signals and breathing techniques, making sure you are comfortable before they have you swim down to a deeper rope. Five minutes later, they signal and ask if you want to go back up and be done or continue to dive. Obviously I said YES! We held our instructors hand for a while as we got adjusted to breathing, swimming and popping our ears as we dove deeper.

Diving was incredible! Our first dive was at Michaelas Reef, where the water was more shallow, so our dive instructor was able to allow us to swim without holding on to him. We saw the most vivid colored reef! And the water is just the most beautiful blue you have ever seen! I saw two blue sting rays, tons of "Nemo" clown fish in anemones, parrot fish (see picture) and two types of sea cucumbers/sea slugs. We got to pick them up and hold them ... squishy is the only word to describe it. After diving for 30minutes we got to snorkel along the reef, where I took some pictures.

The second dive, at Paradise Reef was even more gorgeous! The water was a lot deeper here and there was a huge drop off in the reef, but there was also so much more to see. The section of the reef itself was larger with twists, turns, plant life and reef that created the most amazing environment for so many different species to live in. We swam in awe this time of how peacefully beautiful the reef was. It is just massive and has so much to discover, I wish we could have dove longer! (see pictures)

Check for my next update! Miss you!

Day 3 & 4 - Cairns - ATV Riding & Kuranda

Day 3 we split up into very small groups and had a "Free Day" to do our pre-planned activity. I chose ATV riding in the rain forest and it was incredible! We had so much fun riding through the huge puddles of mud and down steep hills, over the creek and through the twists and turns of the rain forest. I was great! Too bad I couldn't bring my camera on the ATV because we saw the biggest termite nests ever. Auntie Maria if you think you've had termites, let me tell you! I would compare some of them to the size of Mom's lilac bush between the yards. It was disgusting, but awesome at the same time haha!

The next morning we all grouped back together as good samaritans and helped out the community at Kuranda Conservation. The endangered bird that I had mentioned before, the Cassowary, eats particular types of fruit that only grow in certain vegetation, so basically we were planting new bushes to help prolong the endangerment (and hopefully extinction) of this bird. Between 25 of us at a time, we dug holes, planted and watered 50+ trees in a half hour (see picture of field where we planted tiny baby bushes). This conservation does more than help the Cassowary bird, though. We learned how they recycle Koala poop in these holding containers and let worms turn the poop into compost that they use as soil for potting plants that they will later bring into the wild (see picture). The black bags are full of Koala poop, so we had to watch our step haha! Obviously the conservation is in the rain forest and has its own interesting vegetation of its own, including a green ant nest. Green ants will nest on mostly any tree and they come in what seems like thousands. It is tradition in Australia to have tourists lick the butt of a green ant to see what it tastes like and yes, of course I watched an Aussie do it first and then proceeded hahaha. Once you picked it off the nest you simply touched its butt to your tongue and it tastes like a citrus fruit! (see picture). The ant is killed by your crushing fingers, but his butt was tasty!

Stay tuned for more on the GBR (Great Barrier Reef) Day!

Day 1 & 2 - Cairns - Move In & Rainforestation

... So the first day I arrived in beautiful Australia, we were thrown into chaos! We got a bus ride from the airport into Cairns (pronounced Cans) where we stayed at the Bohemia Resort, which is a hostile mostly for backpackers. The hostile was set up with dorm style rooms (6 girls/room - see pictures), a pool and nice little bar area. Upon arriving, all sweaty and jet lagged, we had 20 minutes to carry our 50lb bags and carryons up to the third floor, shower, get dressed and ready for dinner downtown at Blue Sky Brewery...fun. Dinner was great, but I was way too tired to eat much and went to bed early.






I woke up at 4am starving (normally it would be around lunch time at home) and took some sleeping medicine to go back to sleep. A few hours later.... we were off to the Rainforestation where I was able to see and experience some of the Aboriginal customs: spare throwing, boomerang throwing, Didgeridoo playing and various dances (see pictures & video). We were asked to try some of their 'ice cream fruit", which only resembled ice cream because it was very sweet, but after peeling and sucking the flesh there was a big pit that you spit out; not at all filling or refreshing (see pictures). I learned how to throw the handmade boomerangs, which was so cool! We also took a "Army Duk" tour (similar to Boston's duck tours) through the rain forest and swamps to see the many diverse plants and animals living in the rain forest. We ate some, lunch with delicious, fresh passion fruit and then finished our day with the animals. I held and took a picture with a koala and fed and pet a group of kangaroos and wallabies that were just hanging out on the lawn (see pictures). Nana the next one is especially for you! I held a PYTHON!! :) It was really strong as it slithered around my arm and hand, so awesome! (see pictures). Some other tropical animals we saw were less fun because we couldn't touch them; Cassowary (an endangered bird in Australia), dingoes, a huge crocodile and alligator.











Keep checking my updates for day 3&4 here!