First Day of Classes + The Great Bike Debacle

OK, so I had my first day of class yesterday. Everything went pretty well for the most part. My Wildlife Conservation and Management class seems fun, pretty similar to things I've covered before but a lot more Australian emphasis. We also have to arrange to do at least two days of fieldwork (i.e. volunteering with a research scientist) which should be a lot of fun. I also met a girl from Vermont who's in the class, as well as my friend Tanja from Germany who I wrote about earlier and a guy from Sweden (who is in zoology with me as well).

After that lecture I rode my new bike over to the Perth Zoo, which is across the river but only about a 15 minute cycle away. Got a membership card, which was $49 but gets me unlimited access (one-time admission is $21) plus reciprocals at zoos across Australia. Had a brief look around, saw some lemurs, gibbons, cassowaries, and tree kangaroos, then had to get back to Currie for lunch and my next lecture, which was Vertebrate Zoology.

Lecture itself was pretty good, my professor has a gnarly beard that goes down to about his waist but is completely bald otherwise. But once I got done I came back out to find that the back tire on my bike was completely flat. Great.

I had to stay on campus for zoology lab (which was interesting; we were looking at lampreys, which are jawless fish that have suction cup mouths and rasping tongues they use to suck blood), but then afterwards I had to carry my bike all the way back to Currie because of my flat. Not fun. Too late to go to the bike shop (lab ended at 6) so instead I had dinner, watched a movie with some folks, and hung out playing cards (thankfully no homework...yet).

Normally on Tuesdays I have a lecture and a tutorial (essentially a discussion/quiz section) for a history class but they were canceled for today so I had a free morning to sort out some stuff with my bank and cellphone accounts. Fortunately at lunch I met up with my friend Matt (from Melbourne) who has a hired car through Monday, to help me out with my bike. With some tinkering and a wrench we borrowed from the maintenance shed we were able to get the back tire off and then take it to the bike shop. Turned out when I initially bought it, the outer tire wasn't installed properly so the innertube got punctured by the edge of the rim. Not my fault, no charge to replace it. Whew.

Getting the tire back on took a little more effort (mostly getting the brakes aligned) but fortunately Matt is a mechanical engineering guy and we got it figured out. I can now happily report it's riding like a dream. Pretty easy afternoon - got a gym membership, played some ping pong and pool, and now about to head off for dinner. 8 AM lecture tomorrow (fortunately my only one of the week) so it'll be an early night, but we have an intercollege tav party tomorrow which oughta be a good time.

Bike!

Bit of a lazy morning today, got up for breakfast (which closes at 10 AM, 9:30 on weekdays), worked on my earlier blog post and just sort of screwed around on the computer. Then about noon went bike shopping with Sindre and Noam - we caught a bus down Stirling Highway (which splits Currie from the UWA campus) to a bikeshop in Claremont. The place had pretty good deals, but the clincher was a guaranteed buyback where I can seel the bike back to them after about 5 months for around half the price. I got a new hybrid bike for about $370, which means that ultimately will only cost me about $180 or so.

I didn't have my helmet with me and TransPerth doesn't allow bikes on their buses (no bike racks out front or anything, a little weird for what otherwise seems like a pretty bike-friendly city) so we had to walk back. About halfway there, though, we saw a sign for a garage sale which we decided to check out. It was about 1:30 by this point so they had sold most of their stuff, but we did get to talk to some nice old West Australian ladies.

Going back to the highway, we walked about a block further and saw another garage sale sign so we decided to check that out. It was about two blocks over from the highway, but even that far in there was a sign for yet another sale - apparently Sunday is garage sale day or something in Australia. Ipso facto, between the three sales we went to I was able to get a washcloth and hand towel (which I really needed), a pillow (the one they gave us at Currie Hall is about a thick as a couple sheets of paper so I needed another one) and a tennis racket in perfectly good condition other than needing a new grip, for a total of $5.

When we got back to Currie, Sindre (who also bought a racket) and I played doubles tennis with Cindy and our friend Oliver from Singapore. That was a lot of fun even though the net on our court is kind of broken so it has a huge dip in the middle. Just got back from a jog through King's Park with Noam and looking forward to dinner in a few minutes. Hope everything is good back in the states.

First two classes tomorrow - lecture for Wildlife Conservation & Management and Zoology lecture. Done by two, though, so hopefully I'll have time to take my new bike for a spin.

Beach!

It's been a couple days since I posted last, but I've been pretty busy with stuff. Friday was another day of orientation, which was actually mostly worthless. We had a couple welcome speeches, the highlight of which was the traditional aboriginal welcome where this guy played the didgeridoo (sp?) for us. Then we had a sort of scavenger hunt/campus tour and a free lunch, and afterwards met with our faculties (our departments) - which was actually really boring and not of much value unless you were an actual degree student (we didn't even tour the department buildings or anything like that).

After orientation though I was able to catch a bus into the CBD (that's the central business district - downtown Perth) and get myself a mobile (cellphone to us Americans). Played some pickup basketball when I got back to Currie and after dinner, it being Friday night and all, a group of decided to go out and get some drinks. I wasn't really sure what I wanted, so I got a sample of some different Australian beers:


(and no, mom and dad, I didn't have all those Friday night, I only had the emu bitter, which I thought was pretty good, and the Beez Neez, which was a honey wheat beer and was also pretty decent). Alcohol in Australia is damn expensive - eight bottles ran me about 28 bucks.

Next morning we had another uni-organized bus tour, this time to some areas in Perth and around. Our first stop was King's Park, this time the other end where I hadn't been before. There were some beautiful views of Perth downtown and the Swan River, and some beautiful grassy lawns where we played some frisbee (Noam, another Currie hall'er who's on exchange from Maryland, brought the frisbee).



Next we went to Cottlesloe Beach, which was maybe ten minutes from UWA and was absolutely gorgeous, despite the fact that it was a little nippy out. I waded into the surf up to about my kness and now I can proudly say that I have been in the Indian Ocean! We all played some more frisbee on the beach and then the buses took us down the road to Fremantle.



Fremantle (or Freo, as it's known here, Australians like to abbreviate stuff) was awesome. It's a small port city thats also very artsy, it actually reminded me a lot of Seattle. There was a marketplace that was sort of a mini version of Pike's Place as well as a whole bunch of shops and restaurants. Walked thorugh some of that with a group of Currie Hall exchange kids (we're sort of becoming our own little clique), plus Patrick, another exchange student from Germany who's staying off campus. After scouring the area we managed to find some decently priced fish and chips (by that I mean it was $13; this really is an expensive country - other places had it as high as 34). We also checked out this beach fort before heading back to campus:

Fremantle market building

Saturday night a group of us went out to the CBD to see the movie Inception. Luckily the movie theater was still open when we got there at 730, but pretty mcuh everywhere else except the bars and clubs was closed, parts of the shopping center felt like a ghost town. It was a real contrast to having been there on Friday (I went at about 430) when it was very busy and lively. Perth just seems to shut down early; I've heard there's a lot of old retired people that move out here (a la Florida or Arizona) so that may have something to do with it. Inception was amazing and now I'm about to go out looking for a bike. Classes start tomorrow!

Shearing a Sheep

From our Farm Show today, step by step (start from the bottom).
Apparently yields enough fine wool to make 3 men's suits.

Animal Day!

So far in my few days in Australia, I've been having a blast but other than the birds I've been blogging about (which, admittedly, have been pretty cool), I haven't seen any Australian animals, certainly no mammals - which is a bit odd since I'm so used to seeing squirrels everywhere in Seattle.

But that changed today, at least a little, because we had an exchange student trip to Caversham Wildlife Park, which was about 45 minutes outside Perth and has about every big or medium-sized Australian animal you can think of except some of the reptiles.

Our first hour at the park we had a guided tour that started out with a trip to the kangaroo enclosure where we could hand feed and pet about 70 kangaroos - reds, western greys, and some special white kangaroos they had. Certainly a different animal philosophy than what I'm used to but cool nonetheless. From there we saw a whole bunch of different animals - quokkas (cat-sized kangaroos), black swans (the iconic animal of Western Australia), dingos, echidnas, quolls, emus, cockatoos, barking owls (yes, barking - they sounded like a dog), Tasmanian devils, even a baby crocodile. We also had a photo op with a wombat named Big Bups (Australian for big baby) and a koala, where I partially got over my fear of the evil gremlin-looking creatures and got close enough to give it a small stroke on the back (which was all the touching we were allowed.

After the tour we saw the park's Aussie Farm Show, where we were introduced to sheep herding (with Australian kelpies or sheepdogs) and sheep shearing technique, the art of whip cracking, and afterwards we all got a turn at milking a cow, which I did for the first time in my life and actually found it a lot easier than I'd always assumed it would be.

We got a little more time to look around the park and then were treated to a barbecue lunch by a company that was promoting outdoor excursion tours in Western Australia (some of them look pretty cool, I may look into doing one of them). Part of their presentation was an introduction to vegemite. As I already know I like vegemite pretty well, I volunteered Sindre to take part in the vegemite sandwich eating competition. He did well but I don't think he came away a fan.

Back to campus and dinner. in a few minutes we have another Currie Hall orientation activity, a coffee crawl (like the family friendly version of a pub crawl, I guess) which should be a good time. More orientation activities tomorrow.

Enrolment Day!

And yeah, that's how they spell it here, with only one "l". First things first this morning I had to do a bit of shopping, so I went by the local shopping center, Broadway Fair, for some things - postage stamps, power strip, shampoo. I have to check back tomorrow at the phone store to get the phone that comes with the best deal because they're fresh out. Also went by the bank.

Then at 10:30 I started my enrolment. This was a multistep process that involved a few stops across campus, but by the end of about an hour and a half I not only was signed up for my classes, but I now have a student ID, membership in the UWA Guild, and a TransPerth SmartRider card that will get me on local buses, trains, and ferries (yes, they have ferries here! not quite as big as the ones back home, but still a familiar sight). I also stuck my head into the camous secondhand bookstore (for any UW readers, basically UWA's version of the Book Kennel except it's on campus) and bought a handy little guide to the animals of Australia and New Zealand. I can now proudly report that the mystery bird from yesterday's stroll through King's Park is a white-backed magpie.

As it stands, I'm enrolled for four classes: Australia's Wars, Sudan to Saddam (Australian history should be interesting, and let's face it, they haven't been around that long so there can't be too many wars to cover), USA since 1945 (very interested to see what the Aussies have to say about our history), Vertebrate Zoology, and Wildlife Conservation Management (hope there's a fair amount of Australian spin on this course). I find out my finalized timetable on Friday, so more about classes then.

After lunch I played a bit of casual cricket on the Currie Hall quad lawn. This was my first real intorduction to the game of cricket, which is quite the interesting sport. In some ways it's kind of like baseball, except there are no bases and the batter, as far as was explained to me, isn't under any real obligation to run at all anywhere. Instead, balls are pitched to him/her and can be hit anywhere on the field on play. It actually reminded me a little bit of the home run derby except it's more like the infield single derby because theres no real reward for hitting it higher or farther and an out can occur when the ball is caught in the air or caught with one hand after the first bounce. A ball hitting the wicket, which the batter stands in front of (we used a garbage can, and the first time I batted I basically stood beside it like you would home plate, with the result that I smashed the bat into the garbage can - I felt pretty cool) is also an out. But one out didn't necessarily seem to mean a change of batter - I'm not sure whether that's because we were just playing for fun or what the deal is. Like I said, an interesting game - with a lot more nuances than those I've just described.

Post-cricket match I decided to have another look at King's Park. I was on my own this time but I made it a bit farther. There's still a lot of the park I have yet to see, but I made it to some cool sights nonetheless. The first was the DNA observation tower, so named because there are two sets of stairs you can take to the top, each of which wraps around the central supports like a DNA double helix. From the tower you can see downtown Perth as well as a lot of King's Park. From there I traversed the park by means of a long, grassy lawn that ended at the coolest kid's playground I've seen in a long time. The whole thing was set around a central pond that had an island/playset in the middle, and a path around the pond was designed like a journey through geologic time, with periodic stops at different eras, each with a lifesize statue of an extinct creature from that time - there were dinosaurs, giant extinct crocodiles, extinct birds, and giane marsupial beavers.

A little further and I came to the edge of King's Park and the community of Subiaco, where I had a look at a bikeshop (they didn't do used bikes but they gave me the name of a place that does) and then caught the bus back to Currie Hall (I actually was having major trouble figuring out which bus to take when I bumped into the man who checked me in at enrolment this morning, and he pointed me in the right direction - #97 bus). After dinner there was another orientation activity - ice skating! It was a lot of fun and also pretty cool seeing the different talent levels of people from around the world. I managed to eat it only once so I'd consider the outing pretty successful. After we got back I went out for pizza with a big group of kids and just got back from that.

It's almost midnight here, by far the latest I've been up since arriving in Australia. Here's to the jetlag almost being gone! Uni-sponsored trip to Caversham Wildlife Park tomorrow, should be a blast. Hope all is well back in the good old U.S. of A.

Rather busy day today. I'm still pretty jetlagged which meant I woke up at 5:15 and stayed up for about an hour and a half before I could doze off again. At breakfast I tried vegemite for the first time and despite what just about every non-Australian has ever told me I actually liked it. It's basically just like peanut butter except instead of the peanut flavor there's an intense saltiness. Not bad at all.

After breakfast I had a very casual game of pickup basketball with about 8 people - my friends from California Leslie, Cindy, and Alyssa, Sindre my Norwegian friend, and a few guys from Singapore (there are a TON of Singaporeans here) on the Currie Hall court. After that it was pretty much nonstop sports for a lot of the day - played some volleyball on the Currie quad lawn, got a lesson on how to handle the ball in Australian rules football, and played indoor soccer at the rec center - all part of our orientation week at Currie Hall.

About 3:00 a small group of us went to explore King's Park, which is the massive park that sits between UWA and downtown Perth. We had to be back for a meeting at 4, so we didn't see very much of the park, but what we did get to see was pretty cool. Most of the park is preserved as natural bush habitat, which means really dry scrub forest. There's a whole network of paths through the park where you can cycle or run/walk. Further along there's some cool things - a tower shaped like a DNA helix, this giant suspension bridge, and some overlooks of the Swan River - but we didn't get that far today.

We did see a whole bunch of these cool birds that were about the same size and shape as a crow but mixed black and white with a very pale powder blue colored bill. I'm not too great on Aussie bird identification but I'll try to figure out what they are and post it. Posted a picture if anyone happens to know what it is.

Dinner in a little bit then we have a movie/pizza night for orientation week. Tomorrow I register for classes, get a student ID and can join the student guild (which runs all the clubs and stuff on campus - same thing as ASUW at U Dub). I also have to go shopping to get a few essentials, and hopefully I'll also be able to set up my bank account and get a cellphone. I hope the winter weather stays as nice as it was today - basically about sixty (which is about 15C - the rough estimate I guess is to double the celsius reading and add 30) degrees and bright sun all day.

First Day of Orientation

Today was the first day of orientation. Mostly it meant a lot of sitting and listening to presentations from a bunch of people, but a lot of it was valuable and there were a few bright spots. We had a UWA anthropology prof who did a hilarious routine introducing us to "Australian" english ("G'day, howyagoin, Russell's me name"). I also got to meet some new people including Sindre, who's from Norway and also in Currie, and Tanja, a girl from Germany who's studying zoology and I hopefully will have in a few of my classes.

And if this is the dead of winter you'd never know it, weather today was sunny and about 55-60 F (which I should really be reporting in Celsius but the metric system is just one more thing to deal with right now). Tomorrow I have a free day so I'm going to be taking care of some logistical business and going to explore King's Park, which is a giant tract of land that sits between the university and downtown Perth. But first tonight I have bowling with Currie Hall folks in a few minutes.

There was a kookaburra calling in the trees when I came back to my room this evening. I'm in Australia. It's awesome.

Pictures from Yesterday

Birds: above is a lorikeet and below is a cockatoo. Both on the UWA campus!

Across the road from campus; next to the Swan River with King's Park and the Perth skyline in the background

Banyan tree on UWA campus

x Winthrop Hall bell tower, UWA campus

Arrival!

Very long flight, and I'm pretty tired, so I apologive if any of this is incoherent or gramatically screwy. I actually had a very successful, stress-free voyage down under. My flight down to San Francisco was very uneventful other than the extremely gay and very funny flight attendant. 15 hours to Sydney is a long way to go no matter how you slice it, but I was able to sleep some, watch some movies, and generally enjoy myself - plus the people I sat next to were very nice. Major drawback - I was in economy, not ideal for a 6'4" guy, the dude ahead of me had his seat back into about my lap, and my seat recline button was broken. Such is life.

Customs in Sydney was actually very smooth, I especially want to commend the Australian baggage handling industry for having my bag for me within five minutes of arrival in both Sydney and Perth. Flight on to Perth went very well, I got a window block of seats all to myself so I could stretch out and get a little bit of shuteye.

UWA fortunately has a wonderful airport pickup serice, so I was delivered by a lovely driver right to Currie Hall, where I was promptly checked in and allowed to set up my room. The room isn't anything too special, sort of smallish but enough space for one. My guess is Currie Hall was built in about the 1930's and parts of it really look it but it's good enough. I got some lunch in the dining hall and met a few people from all around the world - Nigeria, Kenya, UK, Australia.

After lunch I finished setting up and, not wanting to fall asleep (I have an orientation dinner at 5 - it's about 430 right now) I decided to take a walk and see the UWA campus, which is right across the road (via a walking tunnel) from Currie. Lucky me, it started raining and I turned around to get a raincoat when I bumped into a couple people I had met earlier while checking in. Three girls from California and one guy from Singapore. While the rain was coming down we played some games in a lounge area, then the sun came out and we ventured out.

All I can saw about the UWA campus right now is that it is GORGEOUS. Planted groves and lawns everywhere, sandstone buildings, and it's set right on the banks of the Swan River (as is much of Perth). We walked all over and tried to see as much of it as we could. Naturally, the thing that most caught my attention was the wildlife, namely the birds - there are crazy exotic birds everywhere you turn here. Flcoks of cockatoos, colorful lories, kookaburras, some crazy looking ducks - even the crows here look cooler than back home. I'll have some pictures later, of the birds and the campus, but I just got back a bit ago and I have dinner/orientation coming up soon so that'll have to wait.

Leaving Today!

So today's the big day I finally take off. My flight doesn't actually leave until about 8 tonight but I've got a pretty daunting voyage ahead. First I fly a short leg down to San Francisco, which shouldn't be too bad. Then it's about a 17 hour flight to Sydney. Finally in Australia, yay! But then I have two hours in which I have to get off the plane, get my checked bag, go through customs, get checked in for my next flight, and head to Perth. That's another five hour flight. Basically, it takes a lot of time to travel halfway around the world. And I should also mention that saturday essentially won't exist for me, because I'm going east to west over the international dateline. I get to Sydney about 630 Sunday morning, and I'm in Perth by about noon (when it will still be Saturday back in the states).

Regardless of all the anticipated travel hassle, I'm very excited to go. I've wanted to go to Australia for a very long time and this is a trip I've been planning for over a year. I also want to give a shout-out to my parents, especially my mom, who have been extremely helpful in getting me ready, packing, and generally ensuring my life is in order. Thanks guys!

Pre-Departure Ramblings

I was trying to come up with a creative name for this thing and I figured I ought to include an homage to the tapir, far and away the greatest animal on the planet, but also that this is all about my trip to Australia...and somehow I came up with wild tapirs down under. Maybe it'll work, I don't know, but if you've read this far you probably know me, and understand (or at least tolerate) my love for tapirs and all other animals, so it's probably all good (right?).

My adventure to Australia began more than a year ago, when I decided I wanted to do some sort of study abroad program. Australia had always struck me as a cool country. As a wildlife conservation major, they have some of the most bizarre, unique, and coolest animals on the planet. As a history major, it's a country that has a fascinating past and is still emerging from its colonial roots. And hey, they speak English so even if I'm completely lost I don't have to worry about translation.

Actually signing up to go to Australia on an exchange program was the hard part. I think I submitted my application for an exchange about last October and waited around till March to hear back on acceptance. After that it was a simple matter of filling out a whole other application to my host university, then trying to figure my way through about 200 different forms from both the University of Washington and the University of Western Australia (especially loved the ones the Australia advisor didn't tell anyone about until a month after they were technically due). Long story short, studying abroad takes a lot of paperwork, a lot of red tape, and a lot of waiting.

But I think (I hope, I wish) I'm through with most of that now. 8 days to go before I take off for the Land Down Under. I'll be heading to Perth, a city about 24 hours flight time away from Seattle, about which I know about this much: it's in Western Australia, it's on a river, it has a zoo - an important criteria and measuring stick for any major city (according to Perth Zoo's website there's a new baby giraffe!), and it's a reeealllyyy long ways from anywhere else. As soon as I arrive after a full day of flying I have a welcome dinner for my residence hall and then I start orientation bright and early the next morning at 8 AM.

Should be a good time. I'll let you know how it goes.