July 26
I got up this morning and went to my 9:00am 2-hour tutorial in conservation biology, where the some students presented (using powerpoint) summaries of several scientific papers that they were assigned, and tied in the conservation biology stuff that we've learned so far. For the most part they were pretty interesting, and I guess now I know what I have to do in a couple weeks when I present mine.
After this class I had about a 40 minutes of a break, and I met up with a couple ppl from the FOCUS (Fellowship Of Christian University Students) group at their market table on the concourse. I introduced myself to the one guy, who mentioned that he had replied to my e-mail. I talked to him a little about the group, churches, and where I was from/how long I was gonna be here, etc. Then I went to my Literary Studies class. I feel a little lost in there, because I miss one out of every two lectures every week (due to class conflict). I have to do an "audit" of an Australian text (I've never read any... haha), which is due in a week. I guess I better get a move on. I might need to ask her more about it, since I'm not entirely clear on the assignment. I might just write something and hope it's what she wants. There's some guidelines kinda in the course outline. It doesn't mater, I'll figure it out. I'm in Australia so all I need to do is pass the class. :) I actually like the professor for this class. She's an older lady, I'd guess in her 70s. I listened to her talk today (i.e. the way she talks, not just what she says), and I realized that the way she speaks is like a well-written essay. For example, she'll say perhaps and other much more fancy words that you might find in a thesaurus for when you want to change some words to make an essay sound better. But that's just the way she talks. She also pronounces everything correctly, saying all of her T's and D's, etc. That's just the way she talks. I like how she talks, because she talks very well and does a good job of conveying what she means, much as a well-written essay does. Sometimes it sounds like she's reading an essay to the class... but she's never reading anything, and is always looking around the room.
At FOCUS, the pastor dude that gave the message had long hair (down past his ears), and he had the same type of accent as the croc hunter (Steve Irwin), only imagine the croc hunter not sounding so excited all the time, and just in a normal, kind of toned-down conversational mode. It sounded just like him if he were like that. Aussie accents vary somewhat (from person to person, partially depending on where you come from), and some are really easy to understand, while others are less so. It's weird the different words they use here too. Like the student that got up and welcomed us all at FOCUS. It went like this "So how ya all going?" (Aussie audience member replies) "Tops". Then he went on to welcome us all and talk about what we were doing. It was pretty much announcements, reading the Bible, hearing a "sermon", then praying and hanging out for a bit, then leaving. So yeah, "tops" I guess is an Aussie word that kinda means "awesome" or "great" or something. When I wrote an e-mail to someone about FOCUS earlier in the week, I got a reply that said something like "it would be tops if you could come". I'm going to have to try to pick up as many Aussie words as possible. Another word is "cheers". Cheers has multiple meanings. It can be just like in the U.S. and when you're doing a toast. But it also means thank you. If you hold the door for someone, it's not uncommon to get "cheers" as the response. If you say thank you to someone, "no worries" or "no worries, mate" is the most common response. :)
I read the one essay in the book for our tutorial today too, and I really liked it. It was an essay that pretty much was about sadness and depression, and the difference between the two, and their histories and current issues, and what is being done and not being done about it. It was really well-written, and I really enjoyed reading it. Heck, if all literature was like that, I wouldn't mind so much. And as boring as it sounds, it was a really good essay.
So yeah, after FOCUS I came back, made myself some PB+J, read the one essay in the book that I had to read for my tutorial (while I was walking to my class), and went to my tutorial. I really liked the essay that I read. It was pretty much about sadness and depression, the differences between the two, their histories, current cultural issues involving them, etc. But it wasn't a scientific essay. It was an opinion essay, and it was written as a real general thing, and in a very relaxed tone. It was a well-written essay, and I actually really enjoyed reading it. I decided that if all literature was like that, I wouldn't mind it so much. In the tutorial (for this literature class) we werebroken into groups of two or three (mine was a group of two, with a middle-aged guy) to talk about our readings. We then each took turns talking to the professor/class about what our group came up with about the readings. The tutorial was much more like a normal lit class back home, where everyone talks about some questions posed by the professor (similarities, differences, tone, etc. between two readings). It was an interesting conversation. When I talked, I almost thought I heard some whispers coming from the rows behind me (I sat in the front row), but I'm not sure. I suspect a couple of people may have exchanged "is he American?" or "I didn't know he was American" after hearing my accent when I spoke. Who knows. I wonder sometimes what people think. I don't stand out at all, because like 95% (an observational statistic that I made up) of ozzies are white. The rest are mostly Asians.
After my tutorial I had a two hour break. I came back then went for a short run. I did about 5 short 30-second sprints after a warmup, and that's about all. I think I'm going to run around the lake tomorrow, then just go for a short run on Friday. Saturday morning I've decided I'm going to catch the bus at 7:00 am and get to the city interchange at 7:30. Then I'll walk/jog the ~1K or so to the start of the race, and I should have a good hour or so to check in, get my numbe, and warmup before the race. The 5K starts at 9:15. If I am in the top-3 finishers (haha, yeah right) for men, I will get a Jaggad (that's the brand name of the company sponsoring the race) sports/running top. I don't care where I finish, I just want to have a good race.
After running I went with Mike from on my floor, because he drove to class. There's a car park right outside the dorm, and his car was right there. It's about a 10 minute walk to class, or a 2-minute drive. So we drove. :-D It turns out Mike owns a Holden ute (Holden = a make owned by GM, ute = utility vehicle, which here means car that is a "truck" -- imagine Subaru Baja, only way better looking) It was my first ever ride in a ute, and it was pretty cool. It's a lot like a car in the front, I guess. Well, it is a car. But the whole back of the car is a pick-up bed. Apparently Mike said they get the same gas mileage as the car-versions, and personally I think they make so much more sense than just exclusively selling big pick up trucks like they do in the states. One, because they get car gas-mileage, two because they're practical, and three, they're already low to the ground, so kids who like to lower their cars for racing and stuff wouldn't have to bother lowering them. :) Plus they make some pretty sporty ones here. Ok, enough about cars.
After my final class of the day I came back and made angelhair spaghetti and green beans. Bea, the girl across the hall from me, borrowed some of my spaghetti yesterday (because she was pretty much out of food) and when she went grocery shopping today she bought be a whole package of angelhair to replace the little bit she ate. Yay! So now I have to buy less spaghetti. :)
After this class I had about a 40 minutes of a break, and I met up with a couple ppl from the FOCUS (Fellowship Of Christian University Students) group at their market table on the concourse. I introduced myself to the one guy, who mentioned that he had replied to my e-mail. I talked to him a little about the group, churches, and where I was from/how long I was gonna be here, etc. Then I went to my Literary Studies class. I feel a little lost in there, because I miss one out of every two lectures every week (due to class conflict). I have to do an "audit" of an Australian text (I've never read any... haha), which is due in a week. I guess I better get a move on. I might need to ask her more about it, since I'm not entirely clear on the assignment. I might just write something and hope it's what she wants. There's some guidelines kinda in the course outline. It doesn't mater, I'll figure it out. I'm in Australia so all I need to do is pass the class. :) I actually like the professor for this class. She's an older lady, I'd guess in her 70s. I listened to her talk today (i.e. the way she talks, not just what she says), and I realized that the way she speaks is like a well-written essay. For example, she'll say perhaps and other much more fancy words that you might find in a thesaurus for when you want to change some words to make an essay sound better. But that's just the way she talks. She also pronounces everything correctly, saying all of her T's and D's, etc. That's just the way she talks. I like how she talks, because she talks very well and does a good job of conveying what she means, much as a well-written essay does. Sometimes it sounds like she's reading an essay to the class... but she's never reading anything, and is always looking around the room.
At FOCUS, the pastor dude that gave the message had long hair (down past his ears), and he had the same type of accent as the croc hunter (Steve Irwin), only imagine the croc hunter not sounding so excited all the time, and just in a normal, kind of toned-down conversational mode. It sounded just like him if he were like that. Aussie accents vary somewhat (from person to person, partially depending on where you come from), and some are really easy to understand, while others are less so. It's weird the different words they use here too. Like the student that got up and welcomed us all at FOCUS. It went like this "So how ya all going?" (Aussie audience member replies) "Tops". Then he went on to welcome us all and talk about what we were doing. It was pretty much announcements, reading the Bible, hearing a "sermon", then praying and hanging out for a bit, then leaving. So yeah, "tops" I guess is an Aussie word that kinda means "awesome" or "great" or something. When I wrote an e-mail to someone about FOCUS earlier in the week, I got a reply that said something like "it would be tops if you could come". I'm going to have to try to pick up as many Aussie words as possible. Another word is "cheers". Cheers has multiple meanings. It can be just like in the U.S. and when you're doing a toast. But it also means thank you. If you hold the door for someone, it's not uncommon to get "cheers" as the response. If you say thank you to someone, "no worries" or "no worries, mate" is the most common response. :)
I read the one essay in the book for our tutorial today too, and I really liked it. It was an essay that pretty much was about sadness and depression, and the difference between the two, and their histories and current issues, and what is being done and not being done about it. It was really well-written, and I really enjoyed reading it. Heck, if all literature was like that, I wouldn't mind so much. And as boring as it sounds, it was a really good essay.
So yeah, after FOCUS I came back, made myself some PB+J, read the one essay in the book that I had to read for my tutorial (while I was walking to my class), and went to my tutorial. I really liked the essay that I read. It was pretty much about sadness and depression, the differences between the two, their histories, current cultural issues involving them, etc. But it wasn't a scientific essay. It was an opinion essay, and it was written as a real general thing, and in a very relaxed tone. It was a well-written essay, and I actually really enjoyed reading it. I decided that if all literature was like that, I wouldn't mind it so much. In the tutorial (for this literature class) we werebroken into groups of two or three (mine was a group of two, with a middle-aged guy) to talk about our readings. We then each took turns talking to the professor/class about what our group came up with about the readings. The tutorial was much more like a normal lit class back home, where everyone talks about some questions posed by the professor (similarities, differences, tone, etc. between two readings). It was an interesting conversation. When I talked, I almost thought I heard some whispers coming from the rows behind me (I sat in the front row), but I'm not sure. I suspect a couple of people may have exchanged "is he American?" or "I didn't know he was American" after hearing my accent when I spoke. Who knows. I wonder sometimes what people think. I don't stand out at all, because like 95% (an observational statistic that I made up) of ozzies are white. The rest are mostly Asians.
After my tutorial I had a two hour break. I came back then went for a short run. I did about 5 short 30-second sprints after a warmup, and that's about all. I think I'm going to run around the lake tomorrow, then just go for a short run on Friday. Saturday morning I've decided I'm going to catch the bus at 7:00 am and get to the city interchange at 7:30. Then I'll walk/jog the ~1K or so to the start of the race, and I should have a good hour or so to check in, get my numbe, and warmup before the race. The 5K starts at 9:15. If I am in the top-3 finishers (haha, yeah right) for men, I will get a Jaggad (that's the brand name of the company sponsoring the race) sports/running top. I don't care where I finish, I just want to have a good race.
After running I went with Mike from on my floor, because he drove to class. There's a car park right outside the dorm, and his car was right there. It's about a 10 minute walk to class, or a 2-minute drive. So we drove. :-D It turns out Mike owns a Holden ute (Holden = a make owned by GM, ute = utility vehicle, which here means car that is a "truck" -- imagine Subaru Baja, only way better looking) It was my first ever ride in a ute, and it was pretty cool. It's a lot like a car in the front, I guess. Well, it is a car. But the whole back of the car is a pick-up bed. Apparently Mike said they get the same gas mileage as the car-versions, and personally I think they make so much more sense than just exclusively selling big pick up trucks like they do in the states. One, because they get car gas-mileage, two because they're practical, and three, they're already low to the ground, so kids who like to lower their cars for racing and stuff wouldn't have to bother lowering them. :) Plus they make some pretty sporty ones here. Ok, enough about cars.
After my final class of the day I came back and made angelhair spaghetti and green beans. Bea, the girl across the hall from me, borrowed some of my spaghetti yesterday (because she was pretty much out of food) and when she went grocery shopping today she bought be a whole package of angelhair to replace the little bit she ate. Yay! So now I have to buy less spaghetti. :)
posted by itsbenrael at 12:17 PM
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