"terra AUSTRALIS," the great southern land

I arrived in Australia on Sunday the 17th of August, 2008. My flight was long and trying, with a delayed flight, lost baggage, and missed connection flight. But eventually everything worked "all right" as the Australians say. Despite those things, I really got a shot of Australian hospitality as soon as I got into the Los Angeles airport terminal, talking with friendly Australians on every flight or stop along the way, and the Qantas airline staff were really great in seamlessly fixing all those problems that arose for me, including driving my luggage to my residence in Brisbane when it arrived.
My first impression of Brisbane was that it reminds me a lot of a US city, especially like San Diego, except with a bit more construction. My host home is a best case scenario, for me at least. My host mom's name is Sue, she is single, 45, and works as a dental receptionist. When I arrived, there was myself, Lauren from UC Santa Barbara who is also on my program, and 3 other international students living there. They were Tanya (22) and Paul (23) who are from Russia and studying at an English school, and they were recently married, and Eric (23?) from South Korea. Eric, however, decided to go back to South Korea to live with his parents for a few months, so he doesn't live there anymore. The house is really cute, Sue really seems to have a hippyish mentality and style of decoration. She doesn't seem uptight about anything, and is just very agreeable and accommodating. We live in a suburb of Brisbane called Coorparoo, and we take the very efficient public transportation system (buses for us) to school. My first impression of Australia is that everything was just upside down, backward, and weird. I left San Diego in high summer, skipped a day of my life (I never lived August 17th 2008), and arrived in Australian winter. The cars drive on the wrong side of the street, the toilet flush swirls in the wrong direction, there are large bids that fly around looking sort of like swordfish which are the Australian equivalent of pigeons, large potato looking structures hang from the trees, wild turkeys run around my campus, etc. The first week I spent exploring Brisbane a bit, including going on a really (and I mean really) cool tour of the Four X beer factory, and the Queen street mall. We had lectures for a few days at the University of Queensland St. Lucia campus, from our amazing professors specializing in marine biology and land ecology (especially botany). Their lectures helped me make sense of the geological history of the country, and helped explain why Australia being so weird...actually makes sense. And we get tea time at lunch everyday :) After a few days, we were out of the city and off for our first Marine Biology adventure at the Moreton Bay research station on Stradbroke Island...

Scuba class

Tonight I finished the swimming pool session of my NAUI open water diver certification.  The class was/is being offered through navy MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) and taught by staff from IB divers (Imperial Beach, to the San Diego uninformed).  In the past week I have made great progress in my comfort with scuba diving.  I was initially frightened to descend into the depths of the 14 foot swimming pool, relying only on my scuba unit as a life source.  Now, I am feeling much more comfortable in the underwater environment, and have learned the proper techniques for handling emergency situations.  I have overcome the initial fright, and I am really starting to enjoy my time underwater, even looking forward to these sessions. Tomorrow is my first open water dive.  I am excited as well as humbled, anticipating the beauty, complexity, force, and sheer power of the ocean.  By keeping a calm, collected manner, and remembering all of my training, I feel confident in handling the prospective perils I may encounter, yet I hope for a rewarding, memorable experience.  

Tomorrow we will be diving at La Jolla Shores, entering the water from the beach.  This site has been one of my favorite San Diego destinations.  Due to the clarity, cleanliness, and calmness of the water, this is my favorite San Diego beach for swimming by far.  Just up the shore are some really great tide pools at Dike rock.  Also on the beach sits the Scripps Institution, where I worked my favorite job thus far.  I have also passed a handful of evenings along this shore enjoying myself at such events as barbecues, picnics, bonfires, and the solo drum circle I attended at Black's Beach.  Thus, it is only natural that on this beach, where I have learned so much from, and greatly enjoyed exposure to many things oceanic, that I will take the next step into my encounter with the marine realm...