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)