1st week of class!

Hey!
Is anybody reading this? No one has left any comments, starting to feel like I'm writing for myself. Oh well, maybe I am.
Anyway, classes started Monday. I had only one, it was my Reef Fishes course, which actually turned out to be a bummer because the teacher is still on vacation in the Galapagos! But on Wednesday for the same class we watched a cool video of his work on Lizard Island. It definitely got me motivated!
I'm starting to really feel fine here, but at the same time I think I am actually starting to miss people, maybe its just hormones, who knows!
Tuesday I only had one class too-Conserving Marine Wildlife. That was another heart thumper. I think I told my mom-maybe conservation work is what I'm suppose do with my life. We'll see!! Tomorrow we get a lecture on sea turtles, I'm psyched! Typically I would also have a reef fishes "prac"(short for practical, equivalent to our labs) after that class but all of my labs aren't happening for this first week of classes (for some of them the first 2 weeks). At this point I was getting really sick of being in my room so I decided to go for a walk (like Mag-my twin- always tells me to do). So I did, but more like a hike! Right behind my building is a road that turns into gravel and then red Australian earth. So I followed that up up and away. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool. It was like my own hidden place-there were tons of little paths leading up the side of this mountain. Check out my previous pictures of campus with the mountains and you'll see exactly what I climbed up. The coolest part was that it was so near to raining and it was thundering in the distance and the clouds were moving so fast. The temperature was pretty cool so it was really enjoyable. And the view! WOwee you could see the ocean and all of Townsville. I told myself I would wake up every morning and climb it, but lets be honest-I'm only a morning person when I have to be. After climbing down, I still felt like I couldn't go back to my room. So I switched shoes and went for a run around campus! That was fun, lots of dead cane toads (I think thats what they are) and I ran into this Swedish kid I met at the Billabong. Sweds! Gotta love 'em. You can imagine I was pooped after all this exercise and slept well that night.
Wednesday I woke to a Coral Reef Geomorphology lecture. Also another exciting course! Our teacher is young and funny and has that Aussie accent. He talked to us a lot about the GBR (Great Barrier Reef) and what the heck geomorphology even is. Surprisingly when he asked us if we knew what it was..no one raised their hands. Later that day I had my first rainforest ecosystems lecture. The teacher is an old guy and the room was dark with no windows and sadly I had this class after lunch so as you can imagine..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..not really because again it was extremely interesting. But you can see how close to sleep I would have been if it wasn't interesting. Who woulda thunk, plants could win over the lunch time zz's? After this class I went and bought a pool membership for 39.95 AUD and did some laps for an hour! That was fun except that as soon as I got out and changed it began raining! Oh well, I went back to my room and grabbed my raincoat before heading off to my next class (the video of my reef fish's teacher on Lizard Island). That night Rhona and I watched a movie-what a fun way to spend a rainy night.
Thursday I woke up and went to The Strand! YAYYY. I LOVE the ocean. I convinced Scott and Morgan to go with me--tried to get Rhona but she wasn't enthralled by the idea. We went to a different area than I went last Saturday so that was nice. There was this jungle gym apparatus at this spot made out of ropes and it probably went about 30 feet. It was fun to climb -but no pictures this time, sorry. It was pretty early in the morning so when it finally got so hot and unbearable we went in the water. It was a lot cooler than Saturday, likely due to the rain, but refreshing just the same. What a way to start the day! Then we rushed back to try and get to campus before lunch was over. Somehow I made it, I'm not sure about them (they live in a different building). After lunch I wanted to go find the dive club who only appear on Thursdays between 12-2 haha. I found them! And I booked a trip with them to get my Advanced Open Water Certification. 590AUD wa wa we wa. It should be well worth it though as it will be on the world famous Yongala wreck. Had class again after that-rainforest ecosystems-in which I was a lot more active today. I actually brought my computer and typed my notes on it. I think I am goingi to do that for the whole semester to save paper and still be able to bring my notes home with me. (I got a new computer over winter break-an Acer mini-it lasts for 5.5 hours!! sweeeeeeeeet)
Well thats about it. I had dinner with my Aussie crew, which is always divine! Tomorrow we are having a movie night, which I am definetly looking forward too!! Now its time for bed because I have an 8 AM class -yuck! I know I know on a Friday!! But before I depart I must say I have made plans to go visit my awesome friend Theresa in Cairns for next weekend where I will perform my first dive trip in the Australian GREAT BARRIER REEF!! WOHOO!!
Thats all for now. Please shoot me an email or comment and let me know whats up with you!
Love you all and miss you too!