First Week of Classes. Finally!

I only have classes Tues, Wed and Thurs. I'm essentially living the life! My first class of the semester was MARS2005 - marine biology. I was honestly only taking it because everyone has told me to (which sometimes doesn't work out). The class was essentially 95% international students, with about 4 token Aussies. Everyone takes it for the field trips, with one to Heron Island and one to the Great Barrier Reef. Then I thought about it. Looking at fish and coral and such is a cool thing to do, but I'm not sure if researching which fish fill certain pools during the night time and which fill them during the day time is really my cup of tea. I haven't taken science since Chemistry 11, and that's when I had mono and got away with not even really taking it. I would essentially have to start from scratch. When the "lecturer" asked the class who was a science student.. there were only a few of us that didn't raise our hand. She then went on to talk about different aspects of waves, etc... and the novelty of the class wore off quickly. I decided to switch into a class about Australian pop culture - now that's my cup of tea.

I'm also in a sociology class called "Sex, Drugs and Diseases". The prof is a little cute man, who speaks like kermit. I didn't come up with that myself, my TA in my tutorial did. I've learned a lot about Australia already and am so excited to learn more. We already have a project and presentation due next week on lesbians. It should be very interesting!

My other class is a geography class (also another first) about global population issues. This class looks unbelievably interesting, especially because at the end of the year the Earth's population is going to reach 7 billion! How crazy. Did you know that there are 2.5 more people every second? Crazy. The big topic of discussion is that the earth's population is supposed to reach 9 billion by 2050 and if we're ready for that. I'll get back to you on that with an educated answer.

The last class I'm in (only in 4 because 4 here is a full course load) is a political science course on the indigenous people of Australia. Honestly, I only took it because the prof's last name is Brigg. Thankfully the class looks amazing and I'm so excited to learn about Australian politics. It's in a really nice building, with fancy projectors and flat screens that drop from the ceiling, and everyone gets their own computer. How exciting! The prof was playing music when we came in and seems really relaxed. It was a really great learning environment (how nerdy).

So far, so good. I'm really liking UQ. Everyone hangs out on their breaks in the "Great Court". It's an open grass field with really pretty trees and tons of people eating lunch. Sat outside and read there for a few hours today. I'm getting a bit, just a bit, more comfortable with the roaming birds. I was sitting outside with a friend from a group project who got bit by a "green ant". I asked if we could move (not wanting to get bit myself..) and she went on to tell me that there was no point because "everything wants to kill you in Australia".

How comforting.

The Great Court. I'll try to take a better photo, without the garbage can.