Amidst O-Week

Hello again,

This time I greet you in the middle of Cromwell College Orientation week.  It started last Sunday night and goes until this coming Sunday (the day before classes start).  Each residential college does it a little differently, and each college is distinct in its treatment of freshers during their first week at uni (university).  While I can't divulge the deep secrets of Cromwell O-week, I can tell you some of the basics.  It is fairly strict and intense, but not overwhelming.  I understand that its purpose is to build a strong community with each other and Cromwell.  We wake up at 6:15 each morning for the morning program which consists of jumping jacks, high knees, and stretching for a warmup, then continues with some skipping and holding hands to a destination around campus as a group of 130 some freshers in Cromwell.  Today, for instance, we skipped to each of the other residential colleges at University of Queensland and had a cheer for each of them after we were told by leaders what exactly our relationship with the each other college was and is today; some better than others.  

This is a picture of the walkway on all sides of the main quad at UQ.  This is where Market day was held  yesterday.  Market day is the time where all the clubs set up a table and present their group in hope to gain sign on's from the incoming freshers and returning students.  It is also where each college performs their "Fresher Dance."  Ours is amazing and we are told that out of all the colleges, ours is most entertaining.  No bias at all.  Eventually, some form of video will probably circulate around the internet with all the UQ Fresher Dances from 2012.

With only a few days left in O-week, I am excited to get into a fixed schedule and start up classes.  The class selecting process is more complicated here than at Dickinson, but RA's are here to help if you have questions.  All in all, O-week has been fun and challenging with lots of funny stories all kept in my daily journal.  There are too many to tell on this one blog but I will say that during a Bus rally between Indroopoly, Toowong, and Brisbane, where we had to complete tasks, such as doing the hokey pokey in public, getting phone numbers, getting pictures with Emos, getting a present for the social chairs, staging fake break ups, trying on makeup and bras, and many other embarrassing things, for points, I, along with a few others, waxed my eyebrow clean off.  We'll see how long it takes for it to grow back.

That is all for now, I look forward to updating more pictures and experiences as more of them occur here in Australia

Remind Me Why I Go to Dickinson Again

Hello All,

After a few days here in Australia, the group has come to a collective agreement that we are so happy to be here in Brisbane and can't fathom how Dickinsonians back in Carlisle manage to suffer through the rain each day.  So far, Australian weather has been amazing; clear blue skies, sun shining bright, and a gentle cooling breeze.  Not half bad, and a few of us already have some sun burns.  It really is surreal that we will be living here for 4 months in this big city and big campus, but each day that we use the public transport on our own with our own Go Cards (like a bus/ferry/train pass), I for one feel more independent and more at home here.  The ferry is a personal favorite so far so you can see the city from the water and don't have to be cooped up in a bus for the duration of your trip.

We arrived to our respective dorms/ apartments on Sunday and began life at UQ from there.  Here at Cromwell, I am living in a double with Nick Underwood, another Dickinson student, and we share a bathroom and a shower.  Its a good setup so far and I am happy to have a roommate to explore the new country with, especially after my debit card wouldn't let me take out money for the first few days and I had to write a few IOUs.  Fortunately, the matter was resolved with a little help from Mom and Dad and a call to Wells Fargo.

As for Cromwell specifically, it is a co-ed dorm with 200 some students living in it.  Most of the freshers (freshmen) arrive tomorrow and O-week shall begin (Orientation).  The stories of O-week have been pretty entertaining so I can only assume that our week will be just as good.

But we haven't been cooped up in the dorms all this time.  We have taken a tour of Brisbane, wandered around campus to get our campus ID's, taken the bus to a local bar called the RE to "experience culture," and the most important thing we've done so far is go to the Koala Sanctuary.  The Koala Sanctuary has 115 Koalas, tons of Kangaroos, some wallabies, wombats, bats, emus, snakes (most of which are poisonous), various birds, and heaps of other animals.  They charged 16 Aussie dollars to take a picture with a Koala.  While this seems a little bit like exploitation, most of us now have a good sized picture somewhere in our rooms.  All the animals seemed very tame too, because most of them didn't fret too much when groups of us approached with hands extended.  Some of the kangaroos didn't even get up.  They just laid there and accepted our grass offerings.

 One problem with the Australian system is that there is a limit on internet usage, so we have to pick and choose when we can get online so as to not use all of the quota in the first few days of the month.

Overall though, its been a great first few days and I am glad that we had this time to get used to the time and culture a little bit before being thrust into O-week and school.  I am not quite adjusted to the time and have a habit of waking up at 5am each morning so far but that'll pass soon enough, or if not, i'll have to start being productive with that morning time.

Cheers,

MH (for now until I get a new fresher name during O-week)

Off to Australia on Sunday

So I am only a few days away from my departure to the country/continent of Australia for a study abroad experience at the University of Queensland in Brisbane until the end of June.  I am very excited for all the new opportunities and struggles that this semester will bring whether I am ready or not.  Currently, I am in the pre-planning stages.  This means that I am planning what I should pack but do not actually have anything in bags yet.  The one thing I know for sure is that it'll all work out soon enough and I will be on my way for one heck of a long plane ride, with a Crichton book in hand to pass the time.  But once I arrive at UQ, I will be staying in a dorm on campus named Cromwell.  As for studying that sometimes happens while studying abroad, I will be taking a few psych classes, an Australian history, and a Marine bio.

I am excited for a lot of things this semester and hopefully this blog will be home to many of those memories in text form.  Thanks for keeping tabs on me as I go down unda.  Feel free to email me or comment on this blog if you have more questions or comments.