I suppose the whole point of me being here is school. So here's a little about my classes.
The whole system is set up differently than in the US. Students generally spend 3 years pursuing an undergraduate degree. That is mostly because there are non gen ed. courses, students go straight into their major and take the core classes. There is some room for electives, but very rarely are there things like the humanities and foreign language requirements you see in the US. I am not sure of my opinion on core vs. liberal arts education but if you have one I'd love to hear it. Maybe get a discussion going.
What is interesting is that despite this focus on the core, the classes tend to be much more discussion based. Even in lectures the professors tend to draw students in. Which is different from sitting and being talked at for an hour or two. Here they also have a couple hours of tutorials to compliment the lectures where we all sit around a big table and talk. I've never really had that sort of educational experience. Talking through (and often arguing about) the material presented in lecture is really a great way to get one's head around it. For me, it's also an impetus to keep up with all the reading. I enjoy the debate and always want to be prepared.
I am taking two classes that lean toward political science, Global Political Ecology and Understanding Climate Change. Being American puts me in an interesting spot because there tends to be a lot of criticism of the US. I tend to agree with most of it, but it still puts me a little on the defensive. But Australia has many of the same issues as the US, albeit on a smaller scale, so they can't go at me too much!
On the straight science side, I am taking Oceanography and Antarctic Ecology. The Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the Uni is world renowned for its research on the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, so it is a very exciting place to be studying. One of my lecturers is a Nobel Laureate! How incredible is that! I am really hoping to get some research experience within IMAS, to see some of the cutting edge science they do here and to (hopefully) make some connections. If I play my cards right there is a remote chance I may get the opportunity to go out on a research cruise or even down to Antarctica!
Over the past year, my academic interests have shifted to Marine and Climate Science. I may physically be at the bottom of the world, but Hobart is more or less the center of the world for those subjects! I really can't get across how exciting this is for me!
So all in all, classes are great! They will keep me busy for sure, but I am finally studying my passions. That will make it much easier for me to burn the midnight oil.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
More About How I'm Doing, Less About What I'm Doing
So far I feel like I have given you all a pretty solid objective account of what I've been doing, with the requisite personal opinion peppered here and there.
But Ian, you ask, how are you? And what are your impressions of Australia?
So glad you asked!
I think from the time I arrived in Cairns a few weeks ago (I know I haven't told you all about Cairns yet, I'll get there eventually) I have been in a perpetual state of awe. This place is just so different from home, it has been sensory overload taking everything in. And that is definitely a positive thing. I think I am finally emerging from the initial culture shock and starting to really get comfortable and settle in. I've gotten a handle on how to accomplish basic tasks like navigation, getting food, getting money and other things that you might not even think about. Little errands and the like. And we finally have a washing machine so I don't have to spend my Tuesday afternoons at the Laundromat! Woo! (A side note, the washing machine apparently caught fire the day before I showed up. Interesting.)
What I Like:
Aussies are laid back, nearly horizontal in some cases. This can lead to a lack of organization, as was the case with my enrolment at the Uni. What is nice, is that they understand everything is unorganized, and will gladly work with you until its all sorted out. One of my favorite Aussie sayings is "She'll be right," which essentially means it will all work out. When working with the same sorts of problems in the US, you often run up into brick walls. But, at least in Hobart, people seem genuinely interested in helping whether I am trying to figure out how to read my lecture timetable or trying to find the right bus.Hobart especially is full of a very cool, hippie ish crowd. There is a ton of music and they just like to have fun. My kind of people!
The landscape, as you have seen, is absolutely incredible. I can't really do it justice with pictures or words. You are just going to have to come down and see it.
Tim Tams. The most delicious cookies on the face of the earth. According to Wikipedia: A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. Crazy good. We go through at least one pack a day. Often 2 or more. I am not really sure how I am going to survive going back to the states without them. Maybe I will mail back a few cases. Ought to last me about 2 days.
My classes are very interesting, and more discussion based than anything I've had in the states. More about classes will come later on, once I've gotten a better feel for them.
Tasmanian apples. Tiny but delicious.
The Markets. Salamanca on saturday has just about anything you could need, and another farmer's market takes place on Sunday.
Things That were/are Challenging:
The initial adjustment was a little tough. The first night I was here was definitely a night of reflection, if you consider the repeated thinking of "What the hell am I doing here?" reflection. Fortunately, those thoughts passed quickly once I got up and started to explore. Now its more like I am wondering how I am every going to be able to leave.
Getting up to a cold room. Just not fun. Tolerable I suppose. The rest of the day when I am dressed I really don't mind not having heat, but the minutes between getting out of bed and into warm clothing are a little chilly.
Keeping up with the reading. I have about 3-4 scholarly articles to read each night. If you are familiar with this type of literature, you know it is not something you can lay down in bed and read before you go to sleep. For the most part it is interesting, if a little tedious. But 2-3 hours every night is a touch brutal, and that is not including any other work I have to do.
Things I miss:
Hah most of this is food, Root Beer, Straight up NY style pizza. And I suppose I miss you folks a little as well!
Summer! It should be warming up here though.
Things I don't like:
Drop Bears. Buggers are like small Koalas with fangs and claws. They hang out in the Eucalyptus trees and wait until a Kangaroo or Wallaby or other small mammal walks by and ambushes them by dropping on to them. They will occasionally drop on to a person walking along a trail or sidewalk at night. One gave me a serious start the other night. Fortunately, it dropped adjacent to me and not on me, so I escaped without injury. I'll definitely keep a better eye on the low hanging branches from now on.
Being sick. I had a little bit up a cold the first week or so I was here. Definitely not surprising, considering I am in a new place with completely new bugs. Corollary: Sudafed is $14 for a 6-pack.
Anyway, it's about bed time for me. Hope life is good!
But Ian, you ask, how are you? And what are your impressions of Australia?
So glad you asked!
I think from the time I arrived in Cairns a few weeks ago (I know I haven't told you all about Cairns yet, I'll get there eventually) I have been in a perpetual state of awe. This place is just so different from home, it has been sensory overload taking everything in. And that is definitely a positive thing. I think I am finally emerging from the initial culture shock and starting to really get comfortable and settle in. I've gotten a handle on how to accomplish basic tasks like navigation, getting food, getting money and other things that you might not even think about. Little errands and the like. And we finally have a washing machine so I don't have to spend my Tuesday afternoons at the Laundromat! Woo! (A side note, the washing machine apparently caught fire the day before I showed up. Interesting.)
What I Like:
Aussies are laid back, nearly horizontal in some cases. This can lead to a lack of organization, as was the case with my enrolment at the Uni. What is nice, is that they understand everything is unorganized, and will gladly work with you until its all sorted out. One of my favorite Aussie sayings is "She'll be right," which essentially means it will all work out. When working with the same sorts of problems in the US, you often run up into brick walls. But, at least in Hobart, people seem genuinely interested in helping whether I am trying to figure out how to read my lecture timetable or trying to find the right bus.Hobart especially is full of a very cool, hippie ish crowd. There is a ton of music and they just like to have fun. My kind of people!
The landscape, as you have seen, is absolutely incredible. I can't really do it justice with pictures or words. You are just going to have to come down and see it.
Tim Tams. The most delicious cookies on the face of the earth. According to Wikipedia: A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. Crazy good. We go through at least one pack a day. Often 2 or more. I am not really sure how I am going to survive going back to the states without them. Maybe I will mail back a few cases. Ought to last me about 2 days.
My classes are very interesting, and more discussion based than anything I've had in the states. More about classes will come later on, once I've gotten a better feel for them.
Tasmanian apples. Tiny but delicious.
The Markets. Salamanca on saturday has just about anything you could need, and another farmer's market takes place on Sunday.
Things That were/are Challenging:
The initial adjustment was a little tough. The first night I was here was definitely a night of reflection, if you consider the repeated thinking of "What the hell am I doing here?" reflection. Fortunately, those thoughts passed quickly once I got up and started to explore. Now its more like I am wondering how I am every going to be able to leave.
Getting up to a cold room. Just not fun. Tolerable I suppose. The rest of the day when I am dressed I really don't mind not having heat, but the minutes between getting out of bed and into warm clothing are a little chilly.
Keeping up with the reading. I have about 3-4 scholarly articles to read each night. If you are familiar with this type of literature, you know it is not something you can lay down in bed and read before you go to sleep. For the most part it is interesting, if a little tedious. But 2-3 hours every night is a touch brutal, and that is not including any other work I have to do.
Things I miss:
Hah most of this is food, Root Beer, Straight up NY style pizza. And I suppose I miss you folks a little as well!
Summer! It should be warming up here though.
Things I don't like:
Drop Bears. Buggers are like small Koalas with fangs and claws. They hang out in the Eucalyptus trees and wait until a Kangaroo or Wallaby or other small mammal walks by and ambushes them by dropping on to them. They will occasionally drop on to a person walking along a trail or sidewalk at night. One gave me a serious start the other night. Fortunately, it dropped adjacent to me and not on me, so I escaped without injury. I'll definitely keep a better eye on the low hanging branches from now on.
Being sick. I had a little bit up a cold the first week or so I was here. Definitely not surprising, considering I am in a new place with completely new bugs. Corollary: Sudafed is $14 for a 6-pack.
Anyway, it's about bed time for me. Hope life is good!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Getting to know Hobart
I suppose I should do my best to keep up with current happenings too, otherwise I'll become even more hopelessly behind. Last Friday was bright and clear, and with classes and other administrative issues pretty much squared away, it was time to explore! First of all, here is a picture of my house. My room is on the far right. We have to get it cleaned up for inspection next week, so I will grab some interior shots for you all then.
We had been into Hobart City to the north, so we decided to make our way down the Derwent River to the South. Here is Rebecca and George (two people I met in Cairns) standing on the Casino Dock with Mount Wellington as the backdrop.
This place is so gorgeous it really is hard to believe sometimes. Here is another good photo from the walk:
That is an old fortification, a relic of the cold war. For some reason they thought the Russians might want to invade Tassie. Not sure why.
Saturday we rose (semi) early to go to the Salamanca Market. It was completely incredible. It would not be a stretch to say there were several hundred vendors, selling all sorts of food and crafts and almost anything else you can imagine. And a lot of street performers. If you are familiar with the Charleston Farmer's Market, take that and multiply it by about 10 and you have Salamanca. And they do it every week, incredible. I will be sure to bring my camera to snap some photos for you all next time.
After returning home for dinner (potato stew-great for staying warm) we went back to Salamanca for the Big Sing, a huge bonfire/vocal concert/community sing that was attended by several thousand people. At the end of the night, they taught the crowd the different harmony parts to a song and we all sang. Being part of that large a group singing together was really an amazing experience. The photos didn't come out all that well in the dark, but here is one of the best:
And here is a link to a news article about the event. http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2009/07/11/2623269.htm?site=hobart
And another one to a video of the final song:
The audio isn't the best, but hopefully you can use your imagination a little bit.
Sunday I hiked up Mount Nelson with Logan and Becca, as well as their housemate, Andrew. I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Looking North to the Hobart CBD.
Looking South to the Tasman Peninsula and the Southern Ocean.
One of the many beautiful views on the way up. And looking East across the Derwent to Bellerive and beyond.
There was a nice little cafe at the top where we enjoyed an afternoon snack before heading down. I definitely plan to hike up for sunrise one day and eat breakfast at the cafe.
Monday saw the beginning of classes, which seem interesting. The final roster is Understanding Climate Change, Intro to Oceanography, Global Political Ecology, and Antarctic Ecology. More on those later.
In other news, I am going to try to get a photobucket or similar site up in the near future so all of you non-facebook people can see my pics.
Hope all is well wherever you happen to be!
Ian
Rewind Part 2: LA to Cairns
So I last left off with the story at the Los Angeles Airport.
As it turned out our plane, which was scheduled to depart slightly before midnight finally pushed off at about 1:30. I had to gate check my guitar (though for some reason Logan was able to keep his) and off we went. The flight was about 13 hours, and it went a lot faster than I expected it to. The food was decent and I was able to catch a fair bit of sleep.
About three hours out of Sydney, it started to dawn on us that we may have an issue making our connection. According to the original plan, the international flight would get in slightly before 7:30 am Sydney time, we would collect our bags, clear customs, and make our way to the domestic terminal for the connection to Cairns, scheduled to depart at 9:05. Tighter than we would have liked, but doable.
Even making up some time en route, we were scheduled to land at 8:45. Not much time there. The flight crew announced some changes in connections for other destinations, and said that everyone headed to Cairns should talk to the attendant at the gate in Sydney. So no worries, we were going to be find.
The gate attendant had some very simple advice for us: don't worry about your bags, just run and catch the flight. Everything else is filled for the next 3 days. So we took off through the airport, and at some point the hero of the day appeared. It was a (very loud) Qantas flight attendant, yelling "Connecting to Cairns, this way!" She must have moved through the airport via a system of secret tunnels, because she seemed to be everywhere at the same time. When we got to customs, the officer that was inspecting my bag tried to mess with me by saying I could not enter the country with the 10-kilo banana he found in my backpack. I did my best to be good natured, but I must have sent him some really nasty look because he quickly became very quiet. I think we all cleared customs in record time, and with the help of the loud flight attendant, breezed through security. Luckily, they had held the plane for us and we boarded about 9:15 and took off shortly thereafter. It really was amazing how runway construction at JFK that had delayed our first flight managed to delay a flight from Sydney to Cairns. The flight was only about 2 and a half hours, a quick hop compared to the international flight, and we arrived in Cairns about noon. I suppose it did us some good that we knew our bags hadn't a prayer of arriving with us. We still cast a glance toward the carousel to make sure some baggage miracle had not occurred. Even without our bags, we were still in great spirits, we had finally made it to Australia. By the time we got to the hostel in Cairns, I had been traveling for just shy of 36 hours. It's pretty amazing you can make it halfway around the world in a day and a half.
As it turned out our plane, which was scheduled to depart slightly before midnight finally pushed off at about 1:30. I had to gate check my guitar (though for some reason Logan was able to keep his) and off we went. The flight was about 13 hours, and it went a lot faster than I expected it to. The food was decent and I was able to catch a fair bit of sleep.
About three hours out of Sydney, it started to dawn on us that we may have an issue making our connection. According to the original plan, the international flight would get in slightly before 7:30 am Sydney time, we would collect our bags, clear customs, and make our way to the domestic terminal for the connection to Cairns, scheduled to depart at 9:05. Tighter than we would have liked, but doable.
Even making up some time en route, we were scheduled to land at 8:45. Not much time there. The flight crew announced some changes in connections for other destinations, and said that everyone headed to Cairns should talk to the attendant at the gate in Sydney. So no worries, we were going to be find.
The gate attendant had some very simple advice for us: don't worry about your bags, just run and catch the flight. Everything else is filled for the next 3 days. So we took off through the airport, and at some point the hero of the day appeared. It was a (very loud) Qantas flight attendant, yelling "Connecting to Cairns, this way!" She must have moved through the airport via a system of secret tunnels, because she seemed to be everywhere at the same time. When we got to customs, the officer that was inspecting my bag tried to mess with me by saying I could not enter the country with the 10-kilo banana he found in my backpack. I did my best to be good natured, but I must have sent him some really nasty look because he quickly became very quiet. I think we all cleared customs in record time, and with the help of the loud flight attendant, breezed through security. Luckily, they had held the plane for us and we boarded about 9:15 and took off shortly thereafter. It really was amazing how runway construction at JFK that had delayed our first flight managed to delay a flight from Sydney to Cairns. The flight was only about 2 and a half hours, a quick hop compared to the international flight, and we arrived in Cairns about noon. I suppose it did us some good that we knew our bags hadn't a prayer of arriving with us. We still cast a glance toward the carousel to make sure some baggage miracle had not occurred. Even without our bags, we were still in great spirits, we had finally made it to Australia. By the time we got to the hostel in Cairns, I had been traveling for just shy of 36 hours. It's pretty amazing you can make it halfway around the world in a day and a half.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A Little About Hobart.
First off, it's cold. Not freezing, but well down into the 30's at night and getting up into the low 50's during the day. What makes this all more interesting is that they don't have central heat in the houses, so there are space heaters in every room. This would all probably work well if power wasn't so expensive, but it is. I guess the sum of all this information is dressing in layers and lots of blankets at night.
Other than the temperature, the weather is absolutely beautiful. It's been clear and crisp every day; you can see everything once you gain some altitude. Which is not hard to do around here.
I have the boring stuff worked out, a bank account, some food in the cupboard, my enrollment in the Uni is all squared away. I'll be taking some cool classes: Antarctic Ecology, Oceanography, Understanding Climate Change, and Foundation Audio, which is an introduction to running live and studio sound.
My house is no great shakes. Definitely a bachelor crash pad type deal. But the roommates are very cool and the location is great, adjacent to the school and only 2 blocks from the water. I am lucky that my room has a big window facing to the north, I get sun in almost all day so it keeps it warm enough to no be completely bundled.
It's about time for me to get going, here are some pictures I took my first morning here.
This is the View from the top of my street. My house is down at the bottom.
The Mountain turns all kinds of colors in the morning.
Other than the temperature, the weather is absolutely beautiful. It's been clear and crisp every day; you can see everything once you gain some altitude. Which is not hard to do around here.
I have the boring stuff worked out, a bank account, some food in the cupboard, my enrollment in the Uni is all squared away. I'll be taking some cool classes: Antarctic Ecology, Oceanography, Understanding Climate Change, and Foundation Audio, which is an introduction to running live and studio sound.
My house is no great shakes. Definitely a bachelor crash pad type deal. But the roommates are very cool and the location is great, adjacent to the school and only 2 blocks from the water. I am lucky that my room has a big window facing to the north, I get sun in almost all day so it keeps it warm enough to no be completely bundled.
It's about time for me to get going, here are some pictures I took my first morning here.
Morning rainbow over Mount Wellington.
The marina down the street.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Typos
Hey all,
Sorry for all the typos in the last post. I'll work on fixing them when I get the chance.
Cheers,
Ian
Sorry for all the typos in the last post. I'll work on fixing them when I get the chance.
Cheers,
Ian
Monday, July 5, 2010
Catching Up
Hey all, I’ve finally got my computer working, semi-reliable internet access, and some down time so I am going to work on this in stages. I’ve been jotting this particular section down in bits and pieces for the past week so the times are a bit incongruous. I have faith that you all can figure it out. I am in Hobart after an awesome week in Cairns, but first thing is first.
I. Preparations
Logan came into town a week ago Monday and provided plenty of distraction from packing and other preparations I should have been engaged in. We had a lot of fun going down to the boat and hanging around in West Chester.
The heat came Thursday evening, when it suddenly dawned on me I was leaving on Sunday and I had accomplished very little in the packing department. That night my computer hard drive crashed, taking all of its data with it. Among the data was my beautiful packing spreadsheet that I had spent hours working on. Thursday night was the only time I was really nervous about the trip; I had lots to do and the computer nonsense had caught me completely off guard. Friday morning I hit the ground running with a trip out to Best Buy for a new hard drive, only to find that I had purchased a desktop (as opposed to a laptop hard drive). I sent Logan and Pete to exchange it for one that would actually fit into my computer while I scrambled to make up a new list ( a hard copy this time) and get packing. By the evening I was probably about 85% packed and I had a functioning computer. On Saturday we took the boat out for one last run before I left, and between Saturday night and Sunday morning I tied up the loose ends.
II. The Trip
We departed for the airport about noon on Sunday, and after an easy drive we parked the car and after an easy drive in we parked the care and my family came with us to the security line to make sure the guitars got through. Everything went smoothly and we said out goodbyes.
The first leg to Dallas was on time and went without a hitch. We had a long layover, so to amuse ourselves Logan and I rode the SkyLink train a full loop around the airport, stopping in the middle to get some food. Getting back on the train, Logan pointed out that the name SkyLink was suspiciously close to SkyNet (the rouge computer system in The Terminator). Fortunatley, the computer controlling the SkyLink train seemed to have no hard feelings towards us and we boarded the plane to LAX a few minutes later.
Los Angeles is where the story starts to get a little interesting. We had to go out through security and walk over to the international terminal and check in with Qantas to get our boarding passes for the rest of the trip. As we approached, what we first assumed was a lot of people waiting for taxis and other transportation started to look more and more like a check in line. It stretched out the doors of the terminal and easily a hundred yards or more down the sidewalk. Nervously we walked passed, hoping that we wouldn’t have to stand in it. Even though we had a comfortable layover time of about three hours, I don’t think we would have made it to our plane. It turned out the line was for Singapore Air, so we dodged that bullet. I am curious about how many people in that line made it to their plane on time. In the (much shorter) Qantas check in line, we chatted with a guy we recognized from our last flight. As we exchanged final destinations, a girl in line turned around and asked us if we were going through Australearn. We met Rebecca, who will be studying in Tasmania with us.
While deciding whether to get dinner outside of security, I assured Logan and Becca that there was probably lots of food on the other side. I was kind of spooked by the Singapore Air check-in line and wanted to make sure we would get through. Fortunately, we cleared security in about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, there was only one restaurant on the other side, and their prices reflected that fact. Chock one up against my ethos.
Waiting in the lounge, we ran into several other Australearn kids. Our plane had been delayed even more so we gathered together and swapped the requisite information about our home towns, our majors, and our final destinations. We were all headed initially to Cairns for the Australearn orientation, but then we would travel to several different universities throughout Australia. We also pulled out the guitars and played a little in the airport.
This is where the story starts to get interesting, but I need to collapse in bed. Hopefulkly the next installment in a day or two. Hope all is well back in the states!
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