Crazy Profs and Loads of Coffee

FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES TACKLED.
I'm going to give you all a day by day run down, with probably way too much detail about things you don't actually care about. But whatever. In 30 years I'm gonna read this and be like "oh yeah, I remember that prof with the mutton chops...good thing I obnoxiously wrote about it in horrendous detail!"
also, I really have nothing else to do yet. There aren't any assignments yet so I'm just trying to kill time between lectures. Yay school.

Monday
well, first of all, I stayed up way to late Sunday night. I'm not quite sure why it's a thing to go out on Sunday nights here, but I needed coffee at 3pm to make it through my evening classes. It's safe to say I will not be taking part in any more of those outings, because who wants to start off their week feeling all sleepy like that?
It's really weird for me to start off the week so late in the day. I don't have class until 2, and I am such a morning person that I actually hate this. I'd so much rather have my classes start at 8 in the morning and get them out of the way. But Mondays I have class from 2-7pm, and it's not very enjoyable.
My first class was Conservation, a third year bio course on...well, conservation. Which is actually my major, so I think that's why they let me in the class. It's the equivalent of a fourth year class at Cal, since they only have 3 years of uni here.
The prof for this class is the one with the facial hair reminiscent of 19th century presidents. He started off class by telling us he was inspired to become a conservationist by the old British tv show "The Goodies" and Midnight Oil. I am not kidding-the band Midnight Oil. He idolized Peter Garrett, the lead singer and, surprising to me, environmentalist (the lyrics to Beds Are Burning make total sense now). So this prof seems pretty entertaining, and I was impressed with his tweed jacket/wingtips combo.
Very professorial.
After an awkward hour break in which I finished Mindy Kaling's book-I'm into books written by comedians right now, apparently-I went to my Marine and Coastal Environmental Protection class, which I have been the most excited for. After meeting this prof I'm fully convinced that all professors in environmental fields used to be hard core hippies (I say used to, but I'm pretty sure most of them still would call themselves hipppies). This guy told us he had tinnitus from too many rock festivals back in the day. He also had Billabong and Quicksilver stickers stuck all over his laptop and said he spends his weekends on the coast, surfing and diving. I'm just so AMPED for that class. He was telling us about the guest lectures and the topics for the semester, and when he said "NGOs and how they benefit coastal areas" I just about peed my pants in excitement. And that's how I know I'm in the right place doing the right thing.

Tuesday
Class from 9-3, straight. HOW DID I DO THIS DAILY IN HIGH SCHOOL?!?! I have lost all my stamina and ability to be engaged in classes for a full 6 hours. It's just not a thing.
For the first three hours I have a lab for my conservation class. Labs here are very different from labs at Cal. They're actually RUN BY THE PROFESSORS.
WHAT?!?!?!
Yeah, the prof leads the labs. We're in a massive, long lab room, split up into sections separated by half walls. There are tutors-similar to GSI's but more plentiful and helpful-for each section, and for each pair of students there is a massive Apple computer screen. On each of the little half walls, there are Apple TVs which show what's happening in the front of the room, so you can actually see the professor and what he's doing. They also broadcast what hes saying over the speaker system in the room. So, if you're not in the very front of the room it's like watching a TV show or something.
It should be an interesting lab, though. We'll be doing conservation planning projects for a part of Tasmania, and today we did an exercise that involved protecting the highest number of species for the lowest cost. I'm hoping to get some valuable, practical experience out of this.
Directly after this I went to my International Conservation Policy lecture. Nothing specially significant or funny to say about the first day, other than there will be a lot of guest lecturers. Which is great, because the guy who ran today's class was borrrriiiiiing.
Normally I'll have a tutorial for that class my last hour of today, and it clashes with a lecture for another class. But not today! I went to my lecture for Australia's Marine Environment, which seems like it will be a lot of basic information I already know, but there's a super amazing 5 day research field trip to the Great Barrier Reef, so I will definitely be staying in that class. Besides, who doesn't want an easy class in their schedule?
Side note: tutorials are called tuts (read: toots). I think it's hilarious. And this is where my mom would tell me I sound like Uncle Mark and probably mention the biogas story we all know and love...or something.

Wednesday
Wednesdays are great because I only have one class! It's a 8 am...but I'm done by 9 and I have the whole day to do things (read: study).
The lecture is for the marine environment class, and today it was totally pointless. Like I could have skipped it and been perfectly fine. I think every science class ever HAS to start out with "what is science" and "this is the scientific method." But HELLO, we are third year science students. WE KNOW THIS STUFF. I KNOW WHAT A HYPOTHESIS IS. I am waiting for the day when a science prof says, "You all know about the basic principles of experimentation, so let's move on," because I am soooo over taking notes on it for each science class I take. Oy.
Today UQ was holding their "Market Day," which is like Caltopia on steroids. Every club and organization tables around the quad and harasses students to join. I came across a few cool clubs, but it was $5 to join, so I figured I'll like their facebook page and actually pay the membership if anything really cool comes up.
I did find ultimate frisbee though! I had emailed them a few weeks ago, and they told me about their different leagues and what not. Wednesday night there's a social league, but the guys at the table thought I'd be above that because I've played for a few years. I'm setting some high expectations for myself here...
In addition to Wednesday nights, they put a team or two into the mixed league in greater Brisbane, which plays in the city on Monday nights. Hopefully I can play both nights! I've missed frisbee so much!
Martha and I both only had one morning class, so we went to the "beach." In the middle of the city there's a man-made beach, with what is basically a salt water pool. It was nice to feel like we totally left our normal stomping grounds for a while.

And then I went to practice! It felt so great to be playing again. I was running around during the game grinning like an idiot. They really need girls on their team so a few people immediately thought I was the best thing ever because I was both a girl and I could throw pretty well-NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING.
Afterwards I met my friends at the UQ rugby game. Rugby is weird, but we had a great time. No one really cheers for their team though! I'm so used to massive students sections screaming "roll on you Bears" and many other, more explicit things, but nothing like that happens out here. It was like a crowd for golf but we were watching people pound on each other. It was weird.

Thursday
Thursday morning I have another lecture for my conservation class. Today when we walked in the prof was blasting a Radiohead song. So that's cool.
That afternoon I had a lecture for my marine environment class where we learned how to write a scientific paper, which again, we ALL KNOW HOW TO DO. Another lecture I could have skipped. This class should pick up next week. I hope.
The end of my week is surprisingly chill. I have hardly any class compared to Monday or Tuesday. This is probably bad because I feel like I'm done with the week by Wednesday morning, but once I have assignments and things it'll be nice to have so much free time.
Thursday night my roommates and I made an Aussie version of slutty brownies. Normally, slutty brownies are a layer of cookie dough, a layer of oreos, and a layers of brownie. Instead of oreos, we used Tim Tams, the best thing to have ever been placed on this earth (second to Ryan Gosling). If you haven't tried these cookies you need to CHANGE THAT. I'll bring some home, because from what I've heard they only sell them here and in Israel. So go Israel.

SO GOOD.

Friday
One 8 am lecture for conservation. None of my other roommates have Friday class. Actually very few people at all seem to have Friday class. I'm glad it's early so I can get it out of the way, but just in case I don't make it every lecture it recorded and put online.
The only thing significant is that the prof managed to work Johnny Cash into the lecture. In between a slide on deserts and a slide on Mediterranean biomes there was a slide with a picture of him in a Johnny Cash shirt and an audio clip of a song. Just for fun.

And that's my week! Class wooooooooooooooooooooo
its the freakin weekend

Bridget, me, and Martha taking on Brisbane