ok this is the email from a month ago
a lot has happened since this was written, which was Aug. 13... umm yeah a more current one will be posted soon.. hopefully...
Hey everyone,
I figured I should start sending out emails and letting everyone know what I've been up to since I've been in Australia. I've been here for about a month and it has been AMAZING.
There were no problems with the flights over. Mom and I flew from BWI to Las Vegas to LA, where I met up with the rest of the students from Dickinson, and then we flew to Sydney, and finally on to Brisbane. The first few days consisted of getting to know the city and getting settled. We are all living on campus, although in different colleges. The way the university is set up here is classes and the actually academic part is called "university" or "uni" and then colleges are where you live. There are about 8 colleges around campus, all with less than 400 people since a lot of the university is made up of commuters or people living off campus. So within your college you have dorms and a cafeteria and a staff. I live in Emmanuel, which is one of the largest colleges. It's co-ed and there are internationals and Aussies, although probably many more American students that I would have liked. I have one friend from Dickinson at Emmanuel with me, and the others are spread out among 3 other colleges.
The first few days we did some touristy things. We took a bus tour of Brisbane, and a scavenger hunt just to help us get acquainted with the city. We also went to the Koala Sanctuary and held and petted koalas and kangaroos and saw wallabies and birds and all sorts of Australian animals. It was a lot of fun, although I must say I like koalas even less after seeing them. They don't do much of anything and just sit there and look drugged. and they smell really bad. We also took a tour of the XXXX brewery (keep in mind, Dickinson is paying for all of this). It was interesting, but I don't really like beer so I didn't get a kick out of it as much as some other members of our group. At the end we all got 4 free beers, which I proceeded to give away to some of the other guys. We also went to an Aussie Rules Football game. That was a lot of fun. We were right near the field, and it was easy to understand. The Brisbane Lions played Hawthorn somethings... and the Lions were pretty far behind after the first quarter... and then miraculously came from behind and won! it was sooo much fun. Then we all ran onto the field afterwards and people were kicking balls everywhere.... it was crazy! We also went to a play called Johnno. It was interesting... a lot of it took place in about 6 inches of water. It was very contemporary. We also watched a rugby game on TV. One of the other colleges that we have some Dickinson girls living in already had Aussies coming back because they started school early (we had about a week and a half on campus before Aussie arrived and school started) and one of the Aussies they met set up a projector to watch the game on a big screen and was trying to explain the game to us. I still couldn't tell you how to play rugby.
I've had 3 weeks of classes now. I don't have classes Mondays or Fridays which is pretty awesome. I'm taking 2 psychology courses, Learning & Cognition and Attitudes & Social Cognition. They're both pretty interesting. I'm also taking a marine biology course that only study abroad students are allowed to take. This course includes 2 trips, which Dickinson covers the cost of, one of which I just got back from and will talk about in a bit. Finally I'm taking an Australian cinema class which is ok. I've never seen Australian movies before, nor do I know much about Australia's history, so I don't have much to go on in the class, but I'm learning.
I'm also playing ulitmate frisbee of course. I've become good friends with a bunch of people on the team already. We start a league on Wednesday of UQ students. I'm also trying out for Unigames, which is like nationals for frisbee (and other sports). If I make the team I'll be going to Adelaide over spring break to play. I'm really excited about it, but kind of nervous about making the team. However, playing here is such a wonderful experience. I'm surrounded by some amazing players who are already helping me improve my game. The club worlds are being held in Australia in November and I know a bunch of people playing in them. I played on a pick-up team for a tournament a few weekends ago and some of the worlds teams were there. We played against one of them, and even scored on them! It was a lot of fun.
I haven't had a chance to do much traveling yet. I've been trying to get settled and into a rhythm here, and tryouts are kind of getting in the way. However, I did go to Moreton Bay with my marine bio class this past weekend, and it was INCREDIBLE. Moreton Bay is the bay the Brisbane River runs into (Brisbane is bit inland, about 45 min. from the beach). The bay is home to many diverse animals. There were about 70 students on this trip, and we stayed at a reserach facitlity on Stradbroke Island. We spent a lot of time just wandering around teh water looking at different creatures and the tutors would come tell us about them. We saw things like anemones, sea cucumbers, starfish, feather stars, soldier crabs, other crabs, scorpian fish, toad fish... and other things I can't think of right now. The first night we took out a net to capture fish for a grad student who is doing research here. The first time we only caught fish. Then most of us went inside and a few people took the net out again, and they caught 2 sharks and a stingray. It was pretty neat. The next day we got up early and did more exploring. We had to choose something we wanted to write our paper on. A couple of my friends and I found a hermit crab w/an anemone on its back, and a feather star on it's back with 2 little lobsters underneath the feather fish. It was pretty neat, and we decided to write our paper on that. We went out later to collect data, and measured a bunch of different feather stars and looked to see if there were any creatures living underneath it. That afternoon we did some exploring along the beach and found osme beautiful water and these boats taht were half buried in sand on shore and half in the water. It was really beautiful. On Sunday, our last day there, we went to Point Look Out. It was probably one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Such clear water, it was amazing. We saw sea turtles and dolphins and whales while we were there. I have some pictures, I'm not sure how they came out yet, but maybe I'll send some out at some point. Then we went swimming in the clearest water I have ever been in. It was so refreshing. This was the first time I had been to the beach since being in Australia, and it was wonderful. We played in the water for along time then I went for a walk with a couple of people and foudn a dolphin about 20 yards into the water. It was so cool. It was close enough that you could probably walk out to it and pet it, although we were smart and no one did. Needless to say, this trip has really sparked my thirst to travel, and we are already making plans to do more traveling.
Coming up in a few weeks Dickinson is paying for a trip to Sydney. I'm also starting to plan a trip to Frazer Island with some friends, and some trips to the various beaches around. I'll let you know how those go.
Hope all is well with everyone. Feel free to pass this email on to people I didn't, since I don't have everyone's email addresses. Love and miss you lots!
-Annie
PS - my address here is:
Anne Scholle
Emmanuel College
Sir William MacGregor Dr.
St. Lucia, Qld 4067
mobile - 04 1683 8685
room phone - 617 3871 9246
and if you want to talk to me I would recommend getting Skype. It's a really cheap way to talk to people through the internet, and if you have a microphone you can actually call and talk to people. It's how I've been calling Mom and Dad since I've been here. You can search for it on google and download the program.
Hey everyone,
I figured I should start sending out emails and letting everyone know what I've been up to since I've been in Australia. I've been here for about a month and it has been AMAZING.
There were no problems with the flights over. Mom and I flew from BWI to Las Vegas to LA, where I met up with the rest of the students from Dickinson, and then we flew to Sydney, and finally on to Brisbane. The first few days consisted of getting to know the city and getting settled. We are all living on campus, although in different colleges. The way the university is set up here is classes and the actually academic part is called "university" or "uni" and then colleges are where you live. There are about 8 colleges around campus, all with less than 400 people since a lot of the university is made up of commuters or people living off campus. So within your college you have dorms and a cafeteria and a staff. I live in Emmanuel, which is one of the largest colleges. It's co-ed and there are internationals and Aussies, although probably many more American students that I would have liked. I have one friend from Dickinson at Emmanuel with me, and the others are spread out among 3 other colleges.
The first few days we did some touristy things. We took a bus tour of Brisbane, and a scavenger hunt just to help us get acquainted with the city. We also went to the Koala Sanctuary and held and petted koalas and kangaroos and saw wallabies and birds and all sorts of Australian animals. It was a lot of fun, although I must say I like koalas even less after seeing them. They don't do much of anything and just sit there and look drugged. and they smell really bad. We also took a tour of the XXXX brewery (keep in mind, Dickinson is paying for all of this). It was interesting, but I don't really like beer so I didn't get a kick out of it as much as some other members of our group. At the end we all got 4 free beers, which I proceeded to give away to some of the other guys. We also went to an Aussie Rules Football game. That was a lot of fun. We were right near the field, and it was easy to understand. The Brisbane Lions played Hawthorn somethings... and the Lions were pretty far behind after the first quarter... and then miraculously came from behind and won! it was sooo much fun. Then we all ran onto the field afterwards and people were kicking balls everywhere.... it was crazy! We also went to a play called Johnno. It was interesting... a lot of it took place in about 6 inches of water. It was very contemporary. We also watched a rugby game on TV. One of the other colleges that we have some Dickinson girls living in already had Aussies coming back because they started school early (we had about a week and a half on campus before Aussie arrived and school started) and one of the Aussies they met set up a projector to watch the game on a big screen and was trying to explain the game to us. I still couldn't tell you how to play rugby.
I've had 3 weeks of classes now. I don't have classes Mondays or Fridays which is pretty awesome. I'm taking 2 psychology courses, Learning & Cognition and Attitudes & Social Cognition. They're both pretty interesting. I'm also taking a marine biology course that only study abroad students are allowed to take. This course includes 2 trips, which Dickinson covers the cost of, one of which I just got back from and will talk about in a bit. Finally I'm taking an Australian cinema class which is ok. I've never seen Australian movies before, nor do I know much about Australia's history, so I don't have much to go on in the class, but I'm learning.
I'm also playing ulitmate frisbee of course. I've become good friends with a bunch of people on the team already. We start a league on Wednesday of UQ students. I'm also trying out for Unigames, which is like nationals for frisbee (and other sports). If I make the team I'll be going to Adelaide over spring break to play. I'm really excited about it, but kind of nervous about making the team. However, playing here is such a wonderful experience. I'm surrounded by some amazing players who are already helping me improve my game. The club worlds are being held in Australia in November and I know a bunch of people playing in them. I played on a pick-up team for a tournament a few weekends ago and some of the worlds teams were there. We played against one of them, and even scored on them! It was a lot of fun.
I haven't had a chance to do much traveling yet. I've been trying to get settled and into a rhythm here, and tryouts are kind of getting in the way. However, I did go to Moreton Bay with my marine bio class this past weekend, and it was INCREDIBLE. Moreton Bay is the bay the Brisbane River runs into (Brisbane is bit inland, about 45 min. from the beach). The bay is home to many diverse animals. There were about 70 students on this trip, and we stayed at a reserach facitlity on Stradbroke Island. We spent a lot of time just wandering around teh water looking at different creatures and the tutors would come tell us about them. We saw things like anemones, sea cucumbers, starfish, feather stars, soldier crabs, other crabs, scorpian fish, toad fish... and other things I can't think of right now. The first night we took out a net to capture fish for a grad student who is doing research here. The first time we only caught fish. Then most of us went inside and a few people took the net out again, and they caught 2 sharks and a stingray. It was pretty neat. The next day we got up early and did more exploring. We had to choose something we wanted to write our paper on. A couple of my friends and I found a hermit crab w/an anemone on its back, and a feather star on it's back with 2 little lobsters underneath the feather fish. It was pretty neat, and we decided to write our paper on that. We went out later to collect data, and measured a bunch of different feather stars and looked to see if there were any creatures living underneath it. That afternoon we did some exploring along the beach and found osme beautiful water and these boats taht were half buried in sand on shore and half in the water. It was really beautiful. On Sunday, our last day there, we went to Point Look Out. It was probably one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Such clear water, it was amazing. We saw sea turtles and dolphins and whales while we were there. I have some pictures, I'm not sure how they came out yet, but maybe I'll send some out at some point. Then we went swimming in the clearest water I have ever been in. It was so refreshing. This was the first time I had been to the beach since being in Australia, and it was wonderful. We played in the water for along time then I went for a walk with a couple of people and foudn a dolphin about 20 yards into the water. It was so cool. It was close enough that you could probably walk out to it and pet it, although we were smart and no one did. Needless to say, this trip has really sparked my thirst to travel, and we are already making plans to do more traveling.
Coming up in a few weeks Dickinson is paying for a trip to Sydney. I'm also starting to plan a trip to Frazer Island with some friends, and some trips to the various beaches around. I'll let you know how those go.
Hope all is well with everyone. Feel free to pass this email on to people I didn't, since I don't have everyone's email addresses. Love and miss you lots!
-Annie
PS - my address here is:
Anne Scholle
Emmanuel College
Sir William MacGregor Dr.
St. Lucia, Qld 4067
mobile - 04 1683 8685
room phone - 617 3871 9246
and if you want to talk to me I would recommend getting Skype. It's a really cheap way to talk to people through the internet, and if you have a microphone you can actually call and talk to people. It's how I've been calling Mom and Dad since I've been here. You can search for it on google and download the program.