Profs, Pubs, and Paperbacks

Monday was a busy day. My body hasn’t quite adjusted to the time difference, so I woke up a few times during the night (after going to bed at 9:30 pm, because I was just that tired), and I finally gave up and got out of bed at 7:30 am. I ended up having to walk all the way across campus and back to IH (International House) about three times for meals and to retrieve my passport, which it turns out I needed in order to get my student ID (getting the ID was funny because they don’t tell you where to look when they take the photo, so I ended up with a pic where I look somewhat wistful, with my gaze up to the left). Thankfully, I actually got a fair amount of stuff done, attending an ‘arriving and surviving’ session hosted by International Student Services (most of which was stuff I already knew, but some of which was novel information), getting my laptop configured for the university Wi-Fi, setting up my phone account at IH, getting my ID printed, and browsing quickly through the university book shop. I had been told by Australian customers at HBS (Harvard Book Store) that books here were expensive, but they weren’t kidding. I picked up a trade paperback copy of The Selfish Gene to check the price and it was $27! For a trade paperback! It’s small wonder that so many Australians shipped books back home from Cambridge, it must still have been a heckuva deal, even with the shipping cost. At any rate, I also met the Master of International House, who is, in fact, from Chicago, as is the only other American resident who I have met so far. In the evening I ended up watching films with a few other IH residents which was nice, it seems like some of them share my interests. One Australian student in particular offered to let me make a copy of the 30 gigs worth of X-men comics she has on her computer…I am sorely tempted. Also, I would like to put this woman in the same room with Kari and myself, it seems like our shared presence could create some kind of nexus of fandom. At any rate, I hope to get to know her better.

Tuesday was a banner day as I met my program director Des Cooper. He very kindly took me and another MConBio student out to lunch so that we could get to know each other. It was a lot of fun as both of them have great senses of humor (back in his office Des was telling me about a group of researchers who had gone into the bush looking for koalas and ended up finding a Death Adder… and only one koala). I also had my first experience at an Aussie Pub, the Regency (aka “the Reg,” pronounced ‘Reeg’). A whole bunch of IH people went to get drinks together. I was happy to find out that Pubs are non-smoking. I also found out that beer is cheap ($3 or $4), but cocktails are wicked expensive (~$11). My wallet thanks those in Cambridge who helped turn me into a beer-drinker. By the end of the night I also confirmed that I am still just as terrible a pool player as I have always been.

On the way back to IH we all stopped at McDonald’s. I didn’t have anything, mainly because of the pricing difference…at this point in time I refuse to pay $6.50 for a 6 piece chicken nugget meal.  We shall see if these principles last until the end of the semester. When we got back we played Scattergories and I had my first instance of being told that someone couldn’t understand a word in my accent. The subject was “Things in a Refrigerator” and the letter was “B.” I said “Bowl,” which apparently I pronounce “Bol” rather than “Bow-elle,” so somebody from Germany thought I was saying Ball. It was a new experience for me. I have had to repeat myself a couple times, but this was the first time that somebody really thought I was saying an entirely different word.

Wednesday I slept in a bit and then walked to the next suburb over, called Randwick, to buy some clothes hangers. It’s about a twenty minute walk to a pretty nice $2 store, I will likely make another run over there later this week to pick up a few other things on the cheap. In the afternoon I met several more of the MConBio students outside a coffee shop by the campus library.  7 of us showed up: 5 Americans and 2 Kiwis, all women. It turns out that many of us have done internships or other work in Zoos. Everybody seems pretty cool. It also seems like I really lucked out getting into IH, as some of the other women haven’t found housing yet, or they are paying a lot more than I am. At any rate, the 7 of us went on a quick campus tour, followed by a free new student barbecue (just hotdogs really), and then a rather disappointing talk welcoming Postgrads that seemed like it was mostly just a vehicle to promote paying for a membership with the student union organization. I think we were all expecting it to be more about what to expect from postgraduate programs and how to succeed in them. One thing I’ve learned about Orientation week is that the programs which allow social interactions are worthwhile, but the informative programs are generally full of stuff that you can just as easily learn by reading the website, or the booklets provided by International Student Services.

In weather news, it is colder here than I expected. I actually kind of wish I had brought heavier gloves. It has been overcast quite a lot and I got caught in heavy rain with an IH friend on my way home tonight. Consequently, I have opted to sit in my room for the rest of the evening and read more of either The Selfish Gene (I ended up getting it out at the library after the $27 paperback price tag) or World War Z. To be honest though, there are a lot of stairs on campus, especially in the lead-up to the library, so between walking to Randwick and back, walking to meet the other MConBio students, and then the campus tour as well, I might just end up falling asleep mid-chapter. Here’s hoping I don’t wake up with Dawkins imprinted on my cheek…that could be embarrassing.

Arachnids and the Big Banana

When I got up to use the bathroom Sunday morning, I saw this:

In fact, I saw it times about 8 in various places along the ceilings and corners of our bathroom. Many of the people who would read this blog probably know about my aversion to spiders, it’s maybe not as bad as my aversion to roaches, but it’s still not so great. To illustrate my point, my first response to seeing this arachnid was to leave the bathroom quickly (without even using it), and return to my room where I proceeded to read all of the spider entries in my Dangerous creatures of Australia green guide. As it turns out, it looks like only the funnel web is known to be seriously dangerous, and there is even anti-venom for its bite. I have, therefore decided on a new approach to my spider-aversion: Get over it and man up. It’s not as though I can just avoid the bathroom 24/7. Also, in the ten years from 1980 to 1990, there was only 1 recorded death from spider bite in the whole country, so I think I’ll be okay.……………just imagine they are Charlotte’s children Liz…….Salutations.

In non-arachnid news, during lunch on Sunday I was invited on a trip into the City by 3 women at the dorm. The hardest part of getting downtown was trying to get a bus. This is because Sunday was the last day of the World Youth Day celebration so the Pope was here and appeared at a mass at 10 am, the venue of which was the race course that is just across the road from my university. By the time we were ready to catch the bus, there were loads of WYD pilgrims also trying to catch one, so it took us about 30 minutes just to get on. Once we reached the central bus station, we walked north to Darling Harbour, and then along the water until we saw the Sydney Opera House,

among other things. There were two guys playing didgeridoos to recorded accompaniment as well. On the way back our bus passed a Target and I got way too excited. It’s not that the Target was the only American thing, everywhere I turn I see bits of American culture (including the inevitable McDonald’s, though I’m not sure it should qualify as culture), but I had been trying to figure out where I could get clothes hangers and Target is one place I’m sure I can get them (Although, to be honest, every time I see a branch of an American company, all I can think of is Mitch Hedburg’s routine about how when he was in Kilkenny, Ireland the only American thing was a Subway, which subsequently became his personal US embassy. No disrespect to Subway or Target, but if I had to pick something to be my personal embassy, I think I’d have to go with a Taco Bell).

So far I am really enjoying talking to my fellow International House residents. The women I went downtown with were from Germany, India, and small town Australia so we spent a fair amount of time talking about how our homes differed from one another. At dinner we were talking with another Australian, he was trying to explain the Aussie trend for cities to have giant statues of various objects and/or animals (e.g. the Big Banana–Bryson also talks about this phenomenon in In a Sunburned Country). The woman from Germany was rather perplexed as to why on Earth someone would want to build such a thing, and then who on Earth would drive out to go see it? As the only American at the table I was able to say “I understand perfectly, in my home state we have the world’s largest tire.”

I love America.

First Impressions at UNSW

So, not surprisingly, flying from San Francisco to Sydney takes a really really long time. Or, at least, it felt really really long because it’s hard for me to sleep sitting up, and the woman next to me seemed to think that when she had to get into the aisle it was better to stand on the armrests and step over my lap and then down, rather than wait for me to stand up and move out of the way. The good news is, I made it to Sydney and customs was a breeze (probably because I declared everything that might possibly have needed to be). My cab dropped me off at the main gate to UNSW (University of New South Wales), and I was able to walk my copious amounts of baggage to International House from there (in fact, I can already see the friendliness of the Australian people, as a vaguely Santa-esque gentleman offered to help me cross the street with my two suitcases and two backpacks and when I politely declined, we had a couple laughs chatting as I waited for the walk signal to change).

The first thing that struck me as I reached the main drag on campus was how few people were around. I know it is generally a commuter school and the semester hasn’t officially started yet, but at U of M I was accustomed to seeing all sorts of people on the diag, no matter what time of the year it was. It only took me a little while longer to be struck by the next big difference, the birdsong. I haven’t been able to see one yet, but the calls sound like budgies, rather than song-birds, it’s something that you wouldn’t think you would really notice, but which gave me a vaguely otherworldly feeling since the city, so far, is reminiscent of London and other song-birdy, non-parroty areas. When I got to the dorm, I called the senior on duty, a very nice and tall young woman who let me in, gave me my key and helped me get my stuff to my room on the second floor, room 231 (actually another nice resident helped me with the second, smaller suitcase as well). I proceeded to unpack a little and then realize that I wouldn’t really be able to unpack until I bought some hangers. After an unsuccessful attempt at napping, I cleaned up for lunch (fyi, I packed toiletries last, when I was running out of space in my suitcase so the only soap-like thing I ended up packing was a foaming facial cleanser…….which I can now confirm does not work all that great as shampoo). At lunch I sat with a small group of other residents, who all seemed very friendly and with good senses of humor, I don’t know if I made the best impression as I was so tired that when I went to get hot water for tea, I mistook the milk dispenser for the hot water dispenser, even though they look nothing alike…seriously, there was no mistaking that it was milk. As far as my room is concerned, it is small, as the brochure stated, but it’s really not much smaller than my bedroom in Cambridge was.  There is a twin bed, a large desk, a set of shelves and a closet with a small built-in dresser inside of it. Above the desk is a wide window that I can open, as well as a plug-in heater, should I need it. The mattress and pillow are surprisingly comfortable and I find myself already feeling at ease, mostly because it is a space I can retreat to in order to be alone. In book news, I am currently reading World War Z, an excellent mix of sci-fi, politics, and history, it makes me wish I knew more about what is going on in the world, since I already know a lot about zombies.

mid-June update

Well, housing deposit has been paid and plane ticket has been purchased. I will be leaving Detroit on June 17th, and arriving in Sydney on what will be the morning of the 19th there (with a brief stop-over in Chicago to change flights). Fortunately, this means I will be able to move right into my dorm room, as the 19th is the first day it will be available.

In other news, my time in Detroit the past couple weeks has had a mixed impact. On the good side, I had a lovely time at a BBQ thrown by a couple friends of mine at Kensington park. On the bad side, I caught a bug and was feverish and full of nasty upper-respiratory issues for about a week. Fortunately, after two weeks I have gotten it down to just a cough which I hope will clear up soon as well.

In New Zealand news, I received my acceptance packet from Victoria University late last week. Although this means I must again go through the process of obtaining a visa, international student health insurance, housing, etc., this process is much less daunting now that I have gone through it all once already. I also have until October 1 to get the first few portions accomplished, which is a pretty open window. So, I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

In book news, I am currently reading Greater Nowheres by Dave Finkelstein and Jack London (not the Jack London you probably think of first), a book that is, according to Jim Harrison, “A classic of travel literature. It’s unthinkable that anyone would go to Australia without first reading this book.” I am a little more than half done and have found that its tone is similar to Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country, although with fewer laugh-out-loud portions (I reserve the term LOL for icanhascheezburger). The writers do not spend much time in Sydney, but I am learning some of the geography of the country and, perhaps, getting a feel for the nation as a whole. So far the only thing that has me concerned is the funnel web spider–my current plan if I see anything spidery is to run as if the zombie invasion had begun and I were the only warm brain around. Other than that, I look forward to everything with great anticipation.

As always, hoping that friends in Boston/Cambridge, and elsewhere, are avoiding upper-respiratory bugs and enjoying as nice a summer as we are having here in Detroit. Lots of thunderstorms, but then, I always liked rain, it’s the Welsh in me coming out I think.

ttfn

Adventures in Housing

The awesome news of the week is that I was just offered a spot in International House, one of the residential colleges at UNSW.  This is exciting for several reasons:  International House looks fantastic; everyone has their own rooms, there are several common rooms including a kitchenette, the residents are all senior undergraduates or grad students, and many of the students are from other countries so I should have the opportunity to become part of a very diverse group of friends.  Also, it happens to be the most affordable of the residential colleges, which is always a nice bonus.

Now that I have a housing offer I won’t have to fly into Sydney weeks ahead of time to apartment-hunt either, which was a rather stressful prospect.  This is exactly the outcome I was hoping for, so I’m really thrilled.

In other UNSW news, the professor of the animal behavior class that I really wanted to take but didn’t have room in my schedule for said that he would be happy to allow me to sit in on the lectures.  This is fantastic since, based on the course syllabus, what I learn in his lectures could really inform my research project.

In book news, I received two used titles from Abebooks this week:  Australian Snakes, A Natural History by Richard Shine (He’s a professor at the University of Sydney who is most well known for expertise in Australian snakes but has recently had his team looking at the impact of the Cane Toad, Bufo marinus, on native fauna), and Frogs and Reptiles of the Sydney Region by Ken Griffiths, which was actually published by the university press at my school, UNSW, but it is, unfortunately, out of print, hence Abebooks.

As the countdown to Sydney progresses, I am working on choosing a research topic.  Ideally, it should focus on a species that is easy to observe in the Sydney area.  Since it’s me, a reptile or amphibian is the obvious choice.  I originally considered working with the Cane Toad myself, as invasive species also fascinate me, but, good news for the environment of New South Wales, the Toad hasn’t reached Sydney yet, though some scientists project that it will within a few more years.  I’m hoping that the Ken Griffiths book will help me discover a species that I was hitherto unaware of.  If so, I will spend some time doing electronic journal searches for any recent research.

I guess that’s all the news for now.  Hope everyone is well in Cambridge and elsewhere.

Count-Down to Sydney

Well, it’s official. Today my student visa was approved so I am one plane-flight away from being on Australian soil. I still need to arrange housing, but, well, that’s…um…in the works.

Anyway, one of my friends recommended that I start a blog about my adventures overseas. I thought it was a good idea since almost everybody I like will be on the complete opposite 24-hour schedule from my own. This should be a good way to keep tabs on me, make sure I’m still alive, etc. I don’t expect to do much posting between now and mid-July, but stay tuned. I’ll try to keep it interesting.