I’ve established a comfortable routine of doing work, getting free coffee from our lounge, cooking, going to class. I’m doing more work than I thought I’d be doing, learning less than I hoped to, but definitely enjoying school more than I do at Kalamazoo College. So how does that weigh out exactly? Here’s a breakdown by class:
I did my presentation for Intro to Indigenous Australians—about 50 minutes of my partner and I talking—definitely the longest presentation I’ve ever given. Readings and lectures for that class point out a few important/interesting facts about Indigenous cultures but for the most part are repetitive/almost useless. I’ll learn more about Indigenous Australians when I go on the John Curtin Weekend, a trip promoted by Curtin Uni that flies students out to remote parts of Australia to do camp-like activities with Aboriginal people.
I’m absorbing a lot in Coral Reef lectures and tutorials (taxonomy, anatomy, habitats). It’s pure science—what’s not to love?? We cut up some Red Mushroom Corals and will measure their growth for the rest of the semester. I’m researching Black Corals: deep water corals that can withstand strong water currents that transport food & oxygen to them (instead of using zooxanthellae symbiotic relationships for photosynthesizing). They’re usually made into jewelry; they are Hawaii’s gem. Boss.
Sustainable Development and Environmental Uncertainty: we watched Inconvenient Truth, which I astonishingly hadn’t seen yet. It gave a broad overview on climate change and anthropogenic guilt. The usual. I’m researching ecotourism at the Ningaloo Reef (off the cost of WA), which is the largest fringing reef in the world. It’s home to migratory waters for the whale shark, the largest fish in the world, and therefore attracts a lot of ‘ecotourists.’
Coastal Planning: A guest lecturer from WWF talked to us about her organization in WA and biodiversity. We’re preparing to do beach surveys—a day long field trip to collect data on peoples’ perspectives of beaches in WA.
For fun stuff…I went to my second AFL game. After one quarter the Freo Dockers were losing 2 to 39 and it started to rain. I was sick at the time (I’ve recovered now) so I just caught the train home and left them to lose with shame.
Two Sundays ago I went to the Perth Zoo. It’s such a great city zoo—very spacious and well-planed. They had such great African, Asian and Australian species I’d never seen before. I got to pet a kangaroo! I visited the aquarium (AQWA) last Sunday and saw sea dragons, lionfish, touch some sting rays and go in this circular tank where it feels like you’re submerged.
Last night Ash took me out to Attivo, his favorite restaurant (Italian) and we had the whole works: garlic bread, white wine, shells with salmon in a cream sauce and a coffee afterwards at the marina. We stopped the car at the ocean front and I got to soak in the wind and waves.
I’m going to repeat that I’m living in a paradise. The ocean is absolutely immense and gorgeous. This place continues to remind me of the Earth’s beauty and generosity.
A note about the possible W-curve: I felt a touch of homesickness this week. It’s because of my independence and distance away from my mates in the States. I go grocery shopping, can visit the city, study and eat alone or with my flatmates (sidenote: they are really friendly and fun—we hang out in our flat and go out together). This leaves me a bit disconnected with the Americans. We go out on weekends and to the tav together, but sometimes they leave me out of their plans. It’s prob not intentional. I also feel that I don’t have a go-to person, someone I can talk to about everything. The people I usually do this with (Katy, Megan, Moriam) are traveling go-getters like me and I’m finding it’s incredibly difficult to keep in touch with the people I care about. I haven’t talked to my family in awhile either.
But no worries. I expected this. Being away from people and learning to live far away from them, but still with them, is a part of studying abroad. I'm still living it up--I love it here.
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