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.