After an exhausting day of travel on Monday, I was able to take the day on Tuesday to relax in Melbourne. Monday Night Football was on so Brett, Keian and I went to the residential hall to watch it to keep up with our American sports. While we were gone, the local AFL team the Hawks won the championship and the entire town of Hawthorn went wild and celebrated in the streets and had a great time. It was too bad we missed it but we were too busy snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef which we saw as a good enough tradeoff. After the football game I did some grocery shopping at Safeway and did some homework for the remainder of the evening. Wednesday I was back to class after the nice long break but wasn’t ready to get back to it. I had my Geomechanics and Fluid Mechanics lectures for the day and was still so exhausted from the trip that I took a nap after my Fluids class. Well rested, I did some homework and went out with the “American Crew” to the Nevermind for trivia which we inevitably lost but was still a good time.
Thursday was just another typical day, with my History of Ideas lecture in the morning, followed by the tutorial and then my tutorial for Fluid Mechanics with less people seeming to be showing up for each class. I found the same type of attendance patterns in Australia as I do at Northeastern, with most of the students having shown up the first few weeks and week by week it could vary how many decided to come. Thursday night I stayed in to finish up my homework for Geomechanics the next day and then hung out with Brett in the apartment. Friday I had my extra Fluids tutorial in the morning about what we had gone over in class and then had a quiz in my Geomechanics Tutorial. That evening a group of us went out to the town Richmond where we had yet to go so we could experience a different part of the city. The town was pretty alive and we had a good time out exploring. Saturday morning Keian, Mary Beth, Julie, Josh, Brian, Mike and I went to a pub near St. Kilda that was celebrating Octoberfest so we decided to check it out. They went all out, with a band with an accordion player and all the waiters and waitresses in lederhosens while serving classic food like sausages with sauerkraut. After spending a good amount of time there we headed back to our place, got some Grill’d for dinner and hung out in our apartment building with a group of Australians for the evening. Sunday was daylight savings time which pushed us another hour away from the time back home, putting us now 15 hours ahead. Brett and I went down to the Crown Casino to hang out, watch some sports and play at the casino a little bit. After a long weekend we just relaxed that night and watched a movie in our apartment room.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A Week in Cairns
We landed in Cairns around 12:45 and luckily didn’t have to wait around for our luggage so stepped outside into the humid night air we had all anticipated on our arrival in Australia two months earlier. Our hostel, the Koala Resort was a fifteen minute taxi ride away arriving around 1 am. Being that it was so late we got our key out of a security box outside the front door only to find it was to a room with only four beds for the five of us. We all ended up staying up a little later before Mallory and Mary-Beth went to bed while Julie, Brett and I stayed up all night. We walked just a short ways down to the beach to watch the sunrise before returning and preparing for our day at Fitzroy Island. We went down to the marina around 7:30 and met up with Keian, Mike, Ben, Tosha and Erica and we all left on the boat to Fitzroy Island at 8:00. It took about 45 minutes to get to the island through the very choppy water but it was all worth it as the island was beautiful. Our boat of no more than 100 people were essentially the only ones on the island. There’s a resort there that they’re doing restoration work to making it shut down so the only other people were the construction workers and people working in an outdoor café. We first went to a beach covered entirely in small coral which was right next to the dock but we kept walking through the forest for about 10 minutes and reached a beach named “Nudey Beach” (no implications) which was a sandy beach where we ended up staying. We had the beach basically to ourselves for most of the day as not too many people ventured down. We were a little skeptical about swimming because there was a sign warning of jellyfish in the water from October to May and we were there the last week of September but the water was too nice to stay away. In the afternoon Mike, Brett and I took a hike to the peak of the island which was a rigorous hike but very rewarding as we could see in all directions; from the islands surrounding us to crisp blue open ocean. We left the island around 4:30 and stopped by a restaurant on the esplanade for dinner before heading back to our hostel and the other group headed back to theirs. Everyone went out later that night to check out the town but I was too exhausted so stayed in.
The following morning we got picked up at 4:15am to go hot air ballooning. We got to the sight a little before sunset and saw them “blowing up” the balloons, which was really neat to see. There were two balloons each holding 20 people and we set off still before the sun had risen. The pilot was telling us they don’t have much control over horizontal direction, only vertical by using the fire. There are different wind patterns at different heights that they get in and communicate with the other balloon about at what height they’re at. The whole experience was amazing, just floating up in air to about 4,000 feet and watching the sun come up over some mountains. We were in flight for about half an hour and landed not even close to where we started as the pilot has no idea where he’ll land until he descends close enough to the ground and spots an open area and calls it into some guys to pick us up. After our flight there was another flight that we waited around for and then helped them pack up the balloon before heading back to a museum where we had a buffet breakfast. At breakfast they had any animal keeper come in and show some of his animals and with him he had a spotted quall, a while owl, a large bird that’s related to the bald eagle and a baby crocodile and we were able to hold the crocodile and the owl. The quall was about the size of a cat with a longer tail and they’re trying to get it domesticated here in Australia. We arrived back in Cairns before noon and met up with Erica for lunch and the six of us went to a lagoon for the day which was near the marina and was filled with both ocean and chlorinated water. Cairns itself is a very touristy place, with many hostels, restaurants and shops around, although the “center” of town isn’t that huge nor much different than the rest of the city. There are a few square blocks of things to do but where we were staying, only two blocks from the center as pretty much the end of the shops. That night we went to a place called the Woolshed for dinner and drinks and we got a coupon from our hostel for $10 for a meal, drink and desert and the food was pretty good. This was the last day the other group was in Cairns with the exception of Mike who was staying to do a 3 day, 2 night scuba diving trip.
Thursday was another jam packed day but enjoyable as well. We got picked up early in the morning again to head up to Cape Tribulation which is where a portion of the rainforest is and is much quieter than Cairns. This was a guided tour with stops along the way and our first stop was at an animal sanctuary. There we saw many of the animals we had seen before but they never get old as seen by the countless pictures I continued to take of kangaroo’s. This time the kangaroo’s came right up to us and were very lively unlike the other places we had seen them and there was even one with a baby in its pouch which I had yet to see. There were many of them small and large and were just roaming around their huge caged area among emu’s, ducks and various other animals. There were a few tree kangaroo’s which look like a cross between a wallaby and a possum and live in trees in the rainforest only in Northeastern Queensland and New Guinea. We also saw a variety of birds, one of which being a cassowary which is the third largest flightless bird and considered the most dangerous bird in the world and is also a very rare bird. After hopping back into the van we went a little further and got out and walked through the rainforest and started to learn about all the hurtful or deadly things that live in there. There’s the “wait-a-while” which starts as a vine and grows spikes on it that if you brush up against it, it can scrape your skin and it will puncture you before you break the spikes. There’s also a leaf with similar qualities with thousands of tiny spikes on it which will stay in you if you brush against it and the best way to remove them is by getting it waxed like a leg wax. If not treated quickly, any small change in body temperature will re-irritate it for at least 3 months. It’s known to be the most excruciating pain that won’t kill you. Luckily, the area’s we walked through were all regulated and the paths were clear of both of these, with the only exception being the 1 they kept slightly off the path to show us. We made our way through the forest and came upon a swimming hole in a river where many of us went for a swim. It reminded me of swimming back home in Vermont but this water was so fresh you could literally drink straight from it, it was that pure. The local village had a pipe coming straight from the river directly to their town with no filtration. After a quick swim we continued north and went on a boat to look for crocodiles. We spotted three of them, all along the edge of the water and one being a baby. Afterwards we continued on to where we were staying at the Cape Tribulation Beach House and arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon. It was just like staying at summer camp with the huts really being more like cabins and a communal bathroom but we really didn’t need anything special for just the one night. We walked down to the beach and sat for a little while before going for a swim in the pool. We had learned about two types of jellyfish in the area, one that’s so small you can’t see and will sting you 100 times and once you realize you’ve been stung you have 15 minutes to live while the other larger one is very painful and again can lead to death. After that we stayed out of the ocean for the rest of the trip. We ate dinner at the bistro right next to the beach and I had a type of fish called the Barramundi which is native to the area and was delicious.
Friday we went to a zip-line place about 15 minutes from where we were staying. It was up in the rainforest and we went on four separate lines, going from one platform to the next. For the first two, two of us went at a time but the other two we did alone and the last one we were able to do upside down. It started to rain a little when we started but luckily that only lasted for about 5 minutes. After the zip-line we got dropped off at a separate hostel down the road from where we were staying to get some lunch but they didn’t have anything we wanted so we walked along the beach back to our place. The walk was much longer than we anticipated but we weren’t in much rush to get back because there wasn’t much around to do. Along the beach were hundreds of small holes with sand balls around them, often in a certain pattern and we finally figured out they were made from small white crabs but some of the designs they made were really interesting. We headed back around 4:30 and about half an hour down the road there were two cassowaries crossing. Our tour guide from the day before had said they are very rare to see in the wild, even some natives had never seen them so this was a very rare occurrence and if someone were see one and hit them with a car it’s a $75,000 fine. Once we got back we went back to the Woolshed for dinner and then to a hostel called Shenanigans which had a bar and live music.
On Saturday we went out to the Great Barrier Reef which was absolutely amazing. It was about a 2 hour boat ride out to our first stop which was an island surrounded by birds. The island had actually been made by bird droppings and became their habitat so only a small portion of the island can be used as to not ruin their home. We did a glass bottom boat tour which drove around the reef so we could see different coral and fish that lived there. Afterwards Brett and I did an introductory dive which we went down a meter in the water with scuba equipment on and stayed under for about 10 minutes before resurfacing and it was really cool. We didn’t have time to go back out snorkeling like the others did so went back in the boat and had lunch. About an hour later we were off again to our second destination in the middle of the ocean and went snorkeling over a portion of the reef which was beautiful. The reef was very colorful and diverse and there were lots of different fish as well. In some spots the reef only about 2 feet below us so we were able to see a lot. After being able to snorkel for about 45 minutes we headed back to the boat and back to the port. There was a special dinner meal that night at our hostel so we ate there and met up with Mike who was back from his scuba trip for a few drinks.
Sunday we had another guided tour for the day, this time up to the tablelands. These are high up in the mountains next to Cairns where the forest on the drive up turns into the rainforest. Unfortunately not too soon into the day my camera broke so I was unable to take pictures but thanks to the digital age I can take some pictures from the rest of the group. Our first stop was at a fig tree nicknamed the “Cathedral Fig Tree” because it reminds you of a cathedral. It was formed over hundreds of years and I believe is made by birds dropping seeds in the tops of trees and then the roots running down and around the tree to the ground and then stealing the nutrients from the original tree and suffocating it with it eventually dying leaving it essentially hollow and then this process being duplicated many times. Our next stop was at a lake for a picnic style lunch and then a few of us went swimming for a short while before moving on. The next stop was an amazing one at a place called Milla Milla Falls which is the most photographed waterfall in the world with a height according to wikipedia as 18.3m high which is about 60 feet. A few more of us went swimming this time and we were able to swim underneath the waterfall to a pile of rocks to go to on the other side. We stayed just a short while longer before moving on again. Our final stop was at an enormous gorge in the rainforest and then to another swimming area. This swimming area was just down the river from the Milla Milla Falls and the water was very cold as well. There was a tiny waterfall here that we went under and behind it was a cave but not a very big one. We got back on the bus and made one final stop at a hostel to drop some people off before heading back into Cairns, finishing our day around 7pm. We went out and got dinner and then stayed out for a little while longer before calling it a night.
Monday was our final day in Cairns. Since we had booked our flights at separate times we were not all on the same flight. Brett left early in the day around 10am and he and I went out for a coffee before he left. After he left the four of us went out for breakfast and then wandered around Cairns a little before going to the lagoon to hang out and enjoy the sun. Mallory left around 5 so Julie, Mary-Beth and I went and got ice cream and stayed by the pool at the hostel before we had to leave. We picked up dinner at the airport before boarding and arrived in Melbourne around 11:45, right before Mallory’s flight got in (she had a layover in Sydney). This time we had to check our bags through but luckily didn’t have to pay a fee for doing so, although we did have to wait an extra half hour at the airport for our luggage. Our only way to get home was by taxi which ended up costing about $80 although split 4 ways wasn’t too bad.
Overall the trip was amazing. It was fairly exhausting at some points but in the end was all worth it. My favorite part of the trip was probably snorkeling on the reef but everything else we did was truly amazing as well. We all had a great time and didn’t regret a single thing we did. I will surely remember this trip over the course of my lifetime.
*Here’s my photo’s from Cairns: Click here and here.
I’ll post some photos that other people took soon on a separate place.
The following morning we got picked up at 4:15am to go hot air ballooning. We got to the sight a little before sunset and saw them “blowing up” the balloons, which was really neat to see. There were two balloons each holding 20 people and we set off still before the sun had risen. The pilot was telling us they don’t have much control over horizontal direction, only vertical by using the fire. There are different wind patterns at different heights that they get in and communicate with the other balloon about at what height they’re at. The whole experience was amazing, just floating up in air to about 4,000 feet and watching the sun come up over some mountains. We were in flight for about half an hour and landed not even close to where we started as the pilot has no idea where he’ll land until he descends close enough to the ground and spots an open area and calls it into some guys to pick us up. After our flight there was another flight that we waited around for and then helped them pack up the balloon before heading back to a museum where we had a buffet breakfast. At breakfast they had any animal keeper come in and show some of his animals and with him he had a spotted quall, a while owl, a large bird that’s related to the bald eagle and a baby crocodile and we were able to hold the crocodile and the owl. The quall was about the size of a cat with a longer tail and they’re trying to get it domesticated here in Australia. We arrived back in Cairns before noon and met up with Erica for lunch and the six of us went to a lagoon for the day which was near the marina and was filled with both ocean and chlorinated water. Cairns itself is a very touristy place, with many hostels, restaurants and shops around, although the “center” of town isn’t that huge nor much different than the rest of the city. There are a few square blocks of things to do but where we were staying, only two blocks from the center as pretty much the end of the shops. That night we went to a place called the Woolshed for dinner and drinks and we got a coupon from our hostel for $10 for a meal, drink and desert and the food was pretty good. This was the last day the other group was in Cairns with the exception of Mike who was staying to do a 3 day, 2 night scuba diving trip.
Thursday was another jam packed day but enjoyable as well. We got picked up early in the morning again to head up to Cape Tribulation which is where a portion of the rainforest is and is much quieter than Cairns. This was a guided tour with stops along the way and our first stop was at an animal sanctuary. There we saw many of the animals we had seen before but they never get old as seen by the countless pictures I continued to take of kangaroo’s. This time the kangaroo’s came right up to us and were very lively unlike the other places we had seen them and there was even one with a baby in its pouch which I had yet to see. There were many of them small and large and were just roaming around their huge caged area among emu’s, ducks and various other animals. There were a few tree kangaroo’s which look like a cross between a wallaby and a possum and live in trees in the rainforest only in Northeastern Queensland and New Guinea. We also saw a variety of birds, one of which being a cassowary which is the third largest flightless bird and considered the most dangerous bird in the world and is also a very rare bird. After hopping back into the van we went a little further and got out and walked through the rainforest and started to learn about all the hurtful or deadly things that live in there. There’s the “wait-a-while” which starts as a vine and grows spikes on it that if you brush up against it, it can scrape your skin and it will puncture you before you break the spikes. There’s also a leaf with similar qualities with thousands of tiny spikes on it which will stay in you if you brush against it and the best way to remove them is by getting it waxed like a leg wax. If not treated quickly, any small change in body temperature will re-irritate it for at least 3 months. It’s known to be the most excruciating pain that won’t kill you. Luckily, the area’s we walked through were all regulated and the paths were clear of both of these, with the only exception being the 1 they kept slightly off the path to show us. We made our way through the forest and came upon a swimming hole in a river where many of us went for a swim. It reminded me of swimming back home in Vermont but this water was so fresh you could literally drink straight from it, it was that pure. The local village had a pipe coming straight from the river directly to their town with no filtration. After a quick swim we continued north and went on a boat to look for crocodiles. We spotted three of them, all along the edge of the water and one being a baby. Afterwards we continued on to where we were staying at the Cape Tribulation Beach House and arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon. It was just like staying at summer camp with the huts really being more like cabins and a communal bathroom but we really didn’t need anything special for just the one night. We walked down to the beach and sat for a little while before going for a swim in the pool. We had learned about two types of jellyfish in the area, one that’s so small you can’t see and will sting you 100 times and once you realize you’ve been stung you have 15 minutes to live while the other larger one is very painful and again can lead to death. After that we stayed out of the ocean for the rest of the trip. We ate dinner at the bistro right next to the beach and I had a type of fish called the Barramundi which is native to the area and was delicious.
Friday we went to a zip-line place about 15 minutes from where we were staying. It was up in the rainforest and we went on four separate lines, going from one platform to the next. For the first two, two of us went at a time but the other two we did alone and the last one we were able to do upside down. It started to rain a little when we started but luckily that only lasted for about 5 minutes. After the zip-line we got dropped off at a separate hostel down the road from where we were staying to get some lunch but they didn’t have anything we wanted so we walked along the beach back to our place. The walk was much longer than we anticipated but we weren’t in much rush to get back because there wasn’t much around to do. Along the beach were hundreds of small holes with sand balls around them, often in a certain pattern and we finally figured out they were made from small white crabs but some of the designs they made were really interesting. We headed back around 4:30 and about half an hour down the road there were two cassowaries crossing. Our tour guide from the day before had said they are very rare to see in the wild, even some natives had never seen them so this was a very rare occurrence and if someone were see one and hit them with a car it’s a $75,000 fine. Once we got back we went back to the Woolshed for dinner and then to a hostel called Shenanigans which had a bar and live music.
On Saturday we went out to the Great Barrier Reef which was absolutely amazing. It was about a 2 hour boat ride out to our first stop which was an island surrounded by birds. The island had actually been made by bird droppings and became their habitat so only a small portion of the island can be used as to not ruin their home. We did a glass bottom boat tour which drove around the reef so we could see different coral and fish that lived there. Afterwards Brett and I did an introductory dive which we went down a meter in the water with scuba equipment on and stayed under for about 10 minutes before resurfacing and it was really cool. We didn’t have time to go back out snorkeling like the others did so went back in the boat and had lunch. About an hour later we were off again to our second destination in the middle of the ocean and went snorkeling over a portion of the reef which was beautiful. The reef was very colorful and diverse and there were lots of different fish as well. In some spots the reef only about 2 feet below us so we were able to see a lot. After being able to snorkel for about 45 minutes we headed back to the boat and back to the port. There was a special dinner meal that night at our hostel so we ate there and met up with Mike who was back from his scuba trip for a few drinks.
Sunday we had another guided tour for the day, this time up to the tablelands. These are high up in the mountains next to Cairns where the forest on the drive up turns into the rainforest. Unfortunately not too soon into the day my camera broke so I was unable to take pictures but thanks to the digital age I can take some pictures from the rest of the group. Our first stop was at a fig tree nicknamed the “Cathedral Fig Tree” because it reminds you of a cathedral. It was formed over hundreds of years and I believe is made by birds dropping seeds in the tops of trees and then the roots running down and around the tree to the ground and then stealing the nutrients from the original tree and suffocating it with it eventually dying leaving it essentially hollow and then this process being duplicated many times. Our next stop was at a lake for a picnic style lunch and then a few of us went swimming for a short while before moving on. The next stop was an amazing one at a place called Milla Milla Falls which is the most photographed waterfall in the world with a height according to wikipedia as 18.3m high which is about 60 feet. A few more of us went swimming this time and we were able to swim underneath the waterfall to a pile of rocks to go to on the other side. We stayed just a short while longer before moving on again. Our final stop was at an enormous gorge in the rainforest and then to another swimming area. This swimming area was just down the river from the Milla Milla Falls and the water was very cold as well. There was a tiny waterfall here that we went under and behind it was a cave but not a very big one. We got back on the bus and made one final stop at a hostel to drop some people off before heading back into Cairns, finishing our day around 7pm. We went out and got dinner and then stayed out for a little while longer before calling it a night.
Monday was our final day in Cairns. Since we had booked our flights at separate times we were not all on the same flight. Brett left early in the day around 10am and he and I went out for a coffee before he left. After he left the four of us went out for breakfast and then wandered around Cairns a little before going to the lagoon to hang out and enjoy the sun. Mallory left around 5 so Julie, Mary-Beth and I went and got ice cream and stayed by the pool at the hostel before we had to leave. We picked up dinner at the airport before boarding and arrived in Melbourne around 11:45, right before Mallory’s flight got in (she had a layover in Sydney). This time we had to check our bags through but luckily didn’t have to pay a fee for doing so, although we did have to wait an extra half hour at the airport for our luggage. Our only way to get home was by taxi which ended up costing about $80 although split 4 ways wasn’t too bad.
Overall the trip was amazing. It was fairly exhausting at some points but in the end was all worth it. My favorite part of the trip was probably snorkeling on the reef but everything else we did was truly amazing as well. We all had a great time and didn’t regret a single thing we did. I will surely remember this trip over the course of my lifetime.
*Here’s my photo’s from Cairns: Click here and here.
I’ll post some photos that other people took soon on a separate place.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Week 7
Well it has certainly been a long and eventful three weeks and I have a lot to catch up on. I’ll post three posts here to break it apart but I hope you get a chance to read them all. I also have plenty of pictures that need to be posted as well and they’ll be coming soon as well. As for where I left off, it was week 7 in Australia and quickly approaching our mid-semester break. On Monday the 15th of September I went to the student employment office here at Swinburne to inquire about doing an internship once my studies had ended in December. They told me there would be a lot of competition since there is a similar program here to the co-op program at Northeastern called an IBL (Industry Based Learning) which is offered to science and engineering majors here at Swinburne. As an international student due to government laws I am not eligible to participate in this so they informed me that my best chance would be to find an employer with an office back in the US and to contact them. From that point until now I have done a little research and found a company with offices throughout Australia as well as in Boston and other offices around the US. I also informed my co-op advisor of this who told me to contact them as well as contact the international co-op advisor to see if they knew of anything here as well.
Tuesday morning Keian, Brett and I watched Monday Night Football in the morning (the game started at 10:30 am) between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. The game was close but in the end the Cowboys won know none of us were rooting for. That afternoon I did some homework and studying as I had a big week ahead of me. In the evening a group of us went to St. Kilda to relax and have the ten dollar steak special dinner. Wednesday I didn’t have my Geomechanics class because our professor had a workshop all week so my only class of the day was Fluid Mechanics in the afternoon. We learned new equations which describe the momentum analysis of flow systems in such cases as water powering a sprinkler. That night I worked more on a paper and presentation I had due the following day for History of Ideas. The topic of each was the same, and asked “The 19th and 20th centuries have been committed to progress. In regard to this commitment to progress, would you say that the Radical Enlightenment has been more triumphant, or the Moderate Enlightenment? Why?” My argument was for the Radical Enlightenment but as it is an opinionated question either could be argued.
During the lecture in History of Ideas on Thursday, we learned about social Darwinism which claims evolution implies morality, economic and social policies as well as believing in the “survival of the fittest”. After the lecture I gave my presentation in the tutorial followed by two other people who presented on different topics. That night Brett and I went to Max’s who was with some of his friends and we hung out there for a little while before going to the Hawthorn for a few drinks. With my Geomechanics professor still gone and having finished the lab for the week my only class on Friday was in Fluid Mechanics where we spent an hour going over example problems which had to do with the lecture on Wednesday. The end of the class marked the beginning to my mid-semester break. Brett and I went out and got sushi for lunch then went back and watched Casino Royale. That night there was a birthday party for Tim who lives in our building that Brett, Mary-Beth, Julie and bunch of other people attended.
On Saturday Brett and I went with our friend Steve and a guy they call Brit (because he’s British) to Lorne to meet up with Max and some of his friends at his beach house. Lorne is about a two hour drive southwest of Hawthorn right on the ocean and is part of the Great Ocean Road which is a long set of highway which runs next to the coast of the ocean and is beautiful. We stayed there for the night and Brett and I went back the next day with Gary and Dale who both live in Unilodge as well. We stopped by Gary’s house on the way back and we had lunch and met his parents and found out his mom is originally from Connecticut. From there we took a train back into the city and then from there another one back home.
Monday I spent the day preparing for our trip to Cairns. I went out and bought a duffle bag to take on the trip as all I had for luggage were my two huge suitcases I came with. Once we were all ready to go, Brett, Mary-Beth, Julie, Mallory and I met up and took a train into the city where we got a bus to take us to the airport. Security at the airport seemed very relaxed compared to what I’m used to in American airports. At the check-in desk we didn’t check any bags through and they didn’t weigh our carry-on’s to see if they were too heavy. At the security checkpoint we didn’t have to take our shoes off and we were allowed to bring more liquid bottles on board (I was able to bring all my shampoo, body wash and other toiletries). We didn’t have to wait around the airport too long before we started boarding our flight, which was nice, and left on our 9:25 pm flight to Cairns.
Tuesday morning Keian, Brett and I watched Monday Night Football in the morning (the game started at 10:30 am) between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. The game was close but in the end the Cowboys won know none of us were rooting for. That afternoon I did some homework and studying as I had a big week ahead of me. In the evening a group of us went to St. Kilda to relax and have the ten dollar steak special dinner. Wednesday I didn’t have my Geomechanics class because our professor had a workshop all week so my only class of the day was Fluid Mechanics in the afternoon. We learned new equations which describe the momentum analysis of flow systems in such cases as water powering a sprinkler. That night I worked more on a paper and presentation I had due the following day for History of Ideas. The topic of each was the same, and asked “The 19th and 20th centuries have been committed to progress. In regard to this commitment to progress, would you say that the Radical Enlightenment has been more triumphant, or the Moderate Enlightenment? Why?” My argument was for the Radical Enlightenment but as it is an opinionated question either could be argued.
During the lecture in History of Ideas on Thursday, we learned about social Darwinism which claims evolution implies morality, economic and social policies as well as believing in the “survival of the fittest”. After the lecture I gave my presentation in the tutorial followed by two other people who presented on different topics. That night Brett and I went to Max’s who was with some of his friends and we hung out there for a little while before going to the Hawthorn for a few drinks. With my Geomechanics professor still gone and having finished the lab for the week my only class on Friday was in Fluid Mechanics where we spent an hour going over example problems which had to do with the lecture on Wednesday. The end of the class marked the beginning to my mid-semester break. Brett and I went out and got sushi for lunch then went back and watched Casino Royale. That night there was a birthday party for Tim who lives in our building that Brett, Mary-Beth, Julie and bunch of other people attended.
On Saturday Brett and I went with our friend Steve and a guy they call Brit (because he’s British) to Lorne to meet up with Max and some of his friends at his beach house. Lorne is about a two hour drive southwest of Hawthorn right on the ocean and is part of the Great Ocean Road which is a long set of highway which runs next to the coast of the ocean and is beautiful. We stayed there for the night and Brett and I went back the next day with Gary and Dale who both live in Unilodge as well. We stopped by Gary’s house on the way back and we had lunch and met his parents and found out his mom is originally from Connecticut. From there we took a train back into the city and then from there another one back home.
Monday I spent the day preparing for our trip to Cairns. I went out and bought a duffle bag to take on the trip as all I had for luggage were my two huge suitcases I came with. Once we were all ready to go, Brett, Mary-Beth, Julie, Mallory and I met up and took a train into the city where we got a bus to take us to the airport. Security at the airport seemed very relaxed compared to what I’m used to in American airports. At the check-in desk we didn’t check any bags through and they didn’t weigh our carry-on’s to see if they were too heavy. At the security checkpoint we didn’t have to take our shoes off and we were allowed to bring more liquid bottles on board (I was able to bring all my shampoo, body wash and other toiletries). We didn’t have to wait around the airport too long before we started boarding our flight, which was nice, and left on our 9:25 pm flight to Cairns.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Week 6
Not to my surprise I’m still finding new things to do and this week was no exception. The weather has been windy but my friend Keian from California said that that indicates a change in weather back home and the weather has certainly been beautiful. Monday started early with Brett and I getting up to watch live football. We went out to breakfast before going to the residential building next door to watch his home team the San Diego Chargers play the Carolina Panthers on FOX. Unfortunately for him the Chargers lost but it was still fun watch. Afterwards he had class, as did most everyone else so I just relaxed in the apartment and got some work done. Tuesday was my final lab for Fluid Mechanics where we studied flow through a Venturi Meter which measures the flow of water with a certain pressure through a tube which varies in diameter and flow readings at various increments. We then use different calculations and measurements and compare these answers to see how accurate our results were and to analyze these results. After the lab Julie, Mary-Beth and I went to pick up our itinerary and Brett came along to book the same set of things we booked so he could join us on our trip. He and I have also been talking about adding sky diving but we have yet to decide on this.
Wednesday morning was my Geomechanics class where we studied soil hydraulics and specifically looked at a flow net which measures the flow and pressure of water underground. In the afternoon I had my Fluid Mechanics class where we further went over the Bernoulli equation which we learned last week. That night Brett and I went to the Spud Bar to get a baked potato from Konrad. Thursday morning I conducted my lab for Geomechanics with my lab partners. We had a special tool to dig up soil about 6 inches in diameter down about a meter and recorded what we found. We dug in the side of a park as that’s really the only ground around campus that we could dig on. The ground was pretty clayey and we ended up finding some glass and crushed pottery and brick as well. After that were my History of Idea’s lecture and tutorial where we learned a lot about Charles Darwin and how his idea of evolution came about. Afterwards I had a tutorial for Fluid Mechanics where we had a quiz and then did some practice problems from the previous weeks lecture. Thursday night there was an event sponsored by the international office which was a city secrets tour which was a scavenger hunt around the city to see some places we had yet to explore. It was right in the city in area’s we had been before but hadn’t fully explored the small alleys. A group of us went out to dinner after the tour and then headed back to campus.
My first class Friday was a lecture in Fluid Mechanics where we went over some problems pertaining to the Bernoulli equation and other energy equations. After the lecture I had my lab in Geomechanics, although two of my lab partners had decided to go in early and do a large portion of the lab. So when our other lab partner and I got to class most of what we needed to do was already done. On Thursday when we dug up the soil we placed about 3 kilograms worth in an oven to be dried so we could calculate the moisture content in the soil. On Friday they took the soil and finely grounded it and then added water to make it a certain consistency. This soil was then placed in an open cylinder which will air dry and shrink and we can then calculate the shrinkage of the soil. Once we arrived, we added a little bit of water to the dry mix and had to make this a certain consistency as well so when rolled back and forth it would be about 3mm in diameter before it crumbled. This sample was then placed in the oven to dry to determine its moisture content. After the lab we had a test in our Geomechanics tutorial and then learned how to make a flow net which we learned about in the lecture. That night I hung out in the building with Brett. There was a Mexican party for their National Independence Day on our floor so we went out there and checked it out for a little bit.
On Saturday Julie, Mary-Beth, Keian, Erica, Josh, Mike, Will and I rented a van and drove down to Phillips Island which is about a two hour drive going straight there. Keian drove both ways and coped well being on the opposite side of the road and car. On our way down we stopped at a cattle farm which had kangaroos we could feed and pet, as well as emu’s, a duck pond and other various animals. From there we continued on down and stopped at a Koala sanctuary, although we ended up not going in because we had all seen them at the Healseville sanctuary and we were hopping to hold them here or get closer but we couldn’t. So we got some food instead and hung out on a beach for a little while before going to spot to see penguins emerging from the ocean. These little penguins as they’re referred to come to shore once it gets dark out and have a designated habitat where they go to and can be safe. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take pictures because the flash isn’t good for their eyes but the scene was pretty spectacular while the coastline had a high ledge and the waves coming in must have been at least eight feet high.
Sunday Brett, Steve and I decided to clean the apartment as it was becoming a mess. We made it cleaner than it had been since we’ve lived here since Konrad had already lived here before we moved in. Brett and I went to the city to walk around a little and go to the Big W to get a blender and a few miscellaneous items and then went to Grill’d afterwards for dinner. We went back and made milkshakes with our new blender and watched a movie before heading to bed.
Well the Phillip Island trip was the highlight of this past week but everything else was enjoyable as well. The end of this upcoming week marks the end of the first half of my semester and then it’s off to Cairns (pronounced “cans”) on Monday. I’ll post more pictures soon!
Wednesday morning was my Geomechanics class where we studied soil hydraulics and specifically looked at a flow net which measures the flow and pressure of water underground. In the afternoon I had my Fluid Mechanics class where we further went over the Bernoulli equation which we learned last week. That night Brett and I went to the Spud Bar to get a baked potato from Konrad. Thursday morning I conducted my lab for Geomechanics with my lab partners. We had a special tool to dig up soil about 6 inches in diameter down about a meter and recorded what we found. We dug in the side of a park as that’s really the only ground around campus that we could dig on. The ground was pretty clayey and we ended up finding some glass and crushed pottery and brick as well. After that were my History of Idea’s lecture and tutorial where we learned a lot about Charles Darwin and how his idea of evolution came about. Afterwards I had a tutorial for Fluid Mechanics where we had a quiz and then did some practice problems from the previous weeks lecture. Thursday night there was an event sponsored by the international office which was a city secrets tour which was a scavenger hunt around the city to see some places we had yet to explore. It was right in the city in area’s we had been before but hadn’t fully explored the small alleys. A group of us went out to dinner after the tour and then headed back to campus.
My first class Friday was a lecture in Fluid Mechanics where we went over some problems pertaining to the Bernoulli equation and other energy equations. After the lecture I had my lab in Geomechanics, although two of my lab partners had decided to go in early and do a large portion of the lab. So when our other lab partner and I got to class most of what we needed to do was already done. On Thursday when we dug up the soil we placed about 3 kilograms worth in an oven to be dried so we could calculate the moisture content in the soil. On Friday they took the soil and finely grounded it and then added water to make it a certain consistency. This soil was then placed in an open cylinder which will air dry and shrink and we can then calculate the shrinkage of the soil. Once we arrived, we added a little bit of water to the dry mix and had to make this a certain consistency as well so when rolled back and forth it would be about 3mm in diameter before it crumbled. This sample was then placed in the oven to dry to determine its moisture content. After the lab we had a test in our Geomechanics tutorial and then learned how to make a flow net which we learned about in the lecture. That night I hung out in the building with Brett. There was a Mexican party for their National Independence Day on our floor so we went out there and checked it out for a little bit.
On Saturday Julie, Mary-Beth, Keian, Erica, Josh, Mike, Will and I rented a van and drove down to Phillips Island which is about a two hour drive going straight there. Keian drove both ways and coped well being on the opposite side of the road and car. On our way down we stopped at a cattle farm which had kangaroos we could feed and pet, as well as emu’s, a duck pond and other various animals. From there we continued on down and stopped at a Koala sanctuary, although we ended up not going in because we had all seen them at the Healseville sanctuary and we were hopping to hold them here or get closer but we couldn’t. So we got some food instead and hung out on a beach for a little while before going to spot to see penguins emerging from the ocean. These little penguins as they’re referred to come to shore once it gets dark out and have a designated habitat where they go to and can be safe. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take pictures because the flash isn’t good for their eyes but the scene was pretty spectacular while the coastline had a high ledge and the waves coming in must have been at least eight feet high.
Sunday Brett, Steve and I decided to clean the apartment as it was becoming a mess. We made it cleaner than it had been since we’ve lived here since Konrad had already lived here before we moved in. Brett and I went to the city to walk around a little and go to the Big W to get a blender and a few miscellaneous items and then went to Grill’d afterwards for dinner. We went back and made milkshakes with our new blender and watched a movie before heading to bed.
Well the Phillip Island trip was the highlight of this past week but everything else was enjoyable as well. The end of this upcoming week marks the end of the first half of my semester and then it’s off to Cairns (pronounced “cans”) on Monday. I’ll post more pictures soon!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Week 5
Now a week into September I can see things changing around here. Spring is clearly on its way with a few sunny days this past week while the birds are chirping and the trees are beginning to bloom. It rained at times but nothing like the rain that just hit New England or the rest of the east coast and south for that matter. It sounded as if the storm that hit New Orleans thankfully wasn’t as bad as predicted or close to that of Katrina. I’ve been watching some of the news here but mostly have been getting it off the internet. I wanted to touch upon a cultural thing I’m still trying to pick up but very prevalent here. Three common phrases I hear a lot are “mate”, “cheers”, and “no worries” which I feel are reflective of the Australian culture as a whole. Many people refer to others as their “mate”, whether male or female, when greeting each other which creates a friendly bond whether they know them well or not at all. “Cheers” is a common way to say “thank you” while “no worries” is often used to say “you’re welcome”. They seem like less proper ways to express these terms but reflect a friendlier atmosphere, which is how I generally feel about Australians.
Well it was another good week here in Australia. Monday was my day to relax which I spent around the apartment and getting some work done. Tuesday was my Fluid Mechanics lab. This week we observed the flow of water through a string of pipes which were connected with different diameter joints as well as a section of pipe that had a larger diameter than the rest of the pipe. With these variations we observed how each affected the flow of water. Tuesday evening Julie, Brett and I went to St. Kilda which is south of the city and went to dinner. There we met up with Keian and Erica from Cal Poly, Josh from Pennsylvania, Ben and Tosha from England and Mary-Beth for this restaurants Tuesday night special of $10 steak, potatoes and a salad and it was excellent. This was a fairly classy restaurant and they only had this special from 5pm-7pm so we were able to get in on it and try it.
Wednesday we finished our unit in Geomechanics on soil identification and discussed how to separate a soil mix to identify how much of the mix is gravel, sand and fine grains by using a sieve analysis which I had already learned to do back at Northeastern last fall semester. We also formed groups for a final project we have to present at the end of the semester and our group is tentatively doing Death Valley but that isn’t confirmed yet. My fluids lecture was in the afternoon where we primarily focused on learning the Bernoulli Equation which relates pressure, velocity and elevation in dealing with flowing fluids.
Thursday I had my History of Ideas lecture and tutorial and we are now progressing through the Enlightenment period by comparing and contrasting popular views of the time and how, with new scientific evidence surfacing, each view expressed them and perceived the opposite point of view. In the afternoon I had a my tutorial for Fluid Mechanics where we reviewed the previous weeks material by doing a few sample problems and worked on an assignment due on Monday. After classes Brett, Keian, Brian from Cal Poly and Mike from Michigan and I went to Chapel Street and got food at the Lucky Coq as only Brett and I had been there before.
Friday I started the day with a lecture in Fluid Mechanics which went over problems from this weeks lecture. After that I had my first lab for Geomechanics which was more of an introduction to the lab then actual lab work. Our Professor had gone over some of the procedure to the lab in our lecture but the tutorial instructor went over more fully what we were assigned to do. Our lab is to dig about a meter down into the earth and record the type of soil we find and some properties of that soil as we dig deeper. We then bring that soil back to the lab and do some tests on it which I’ll go into more detail about once we’ve conducted the experiment. After the lab was my tutorial for Geomechanics and we did some practice work on how to read data from a sieve analysis and how to plot it on a graph. After classes a large group of us made dinner on the grill in my building and I grilled some Kangaroo. It was pretty good although it had been hyped and I don’t think I made it as good as it could be so I’ll have to try it again but at an actual restaurant. Keian had gotten some footy tickets so he, Brett, Mike and I went to see Hawthorn’s first playoff game and it was heaps of fun (heaps is another popular word here). There are a lot of teams from different suburbs of Melbourne and around Victoria with a few teams outside of Victoria. Hawthorn won the game which made it that much more fun. Afterwords we went to Chapel Street to meet up with Mary-Beth, Julie, Erica, Ben and Tosha and hung around there for a little while.
On Saturday the bulk of the group I had been hanging out with this past week all went out to Lygon Street where Mary-Beth, Julie and I had gone for Italian food. This time we went to a different restaurant and had an excellent meal, with almost all 10 of us ordering a different meal from a variety of pasta dishes to chicken, veal, and a great fish dish that I got with shrimp on top. After walking off our dinner we got gelato which was very good as well. Sunday Mary-Beth and I went to see Batman: The Dark Knight at the IMAX since neither of us had seen it yet while most everyone else had. It lived up to the hype (at least for me) and the IMAX made it an even greater experience.
Well, another week has come and gone and a new week is upon me. In store for this week so far is a fairly heavy workload and a possible weekend trip. I’ll let you know of my endeavors next week!
Well it was another good week here in Australia. Monday was my day to relax which I spent around the apartment and getting some work done. Tuesday was my Fluid Mechanics lab. This week we observed the flow of water through a string of pipes which were connected with different diameter joints as well as a section of pipe that had a larger diameter than the rest of the pipe. With these variations we observed how each affected the flow of water. Tuesday evening Julie, Brett and I went to St. Kilda which is south of the city and went to dinner. There we met up with Keian and Erica from Cal Poly, Josh from Pennsylvania, Ben and Tosha from England and Mary-Beth for this restaurants Tuesday night special of $10 steak, potatoes and a salad and it was excellent. This was a fairly classy restaurant and they only had this special from 5pm-7pm so we were able to get in on it and try it.
Wednesday we finished our unit in Geomechanics on soil identification and discussed how to separate a soil mix to identify how much of the mix is gravel, sand and fine grains by using a sieve analysis which I had already learned to do back at Northeastern last fall semester. We also formed groups for a final project we have to present at the end of the semester and our group is tentatively doing Death Valley but that isn’t confirmed yet. My fluids lecture was in the afternoon where we primarily focused on learning the Bernoulli Equation which relates pressure, velocity and elevation in dealing with flowing fluids.
Thursday I had my History of Ideas lecture and tutorial and we are now progressing through the Enlightenment period by comparing and contrasting popular views of the time and how, with new scientific evidence surfacing, each view expressed them and perceived the opposite point of view. In the afternoon I had a my tutorial for Fluid Mechanics where we reviewed the previous weeks material by doing a few sample problems and worked on an assignment due on Monday. After classes Brett, Keian, Brian from Cal Poly and Mike from Michigan and I went to Chapel Street and got food at the Lucky Coq as only Brett and I had been there before.
Friday I started the day with a lecture in Fluid Mechanics which went over problems from this weeks lecture. After that I had my first lab for Geomechanics which was more of an introduction to the lab then actual lab work. Our Professor had gone over some of the procedure to the lab in our lecture but the tutorial instructor went over more fully what we were assigned to do. Our lab is to dig about a meter down into the earth and record the type of soil we find and some properties of that soil as we dig deeper. We then bring that soil back to the lab and do some tests on it which I’ll go into more detail about once we’ve conducted the experiment. After the lab was my tutorial for Geomechanics and we did some practice work on how to read data from a sieve analysis and how to plot it on a graph. After classes a large group of us made dinner on the grill in my building and I grilled some Kangaroo. It was pretty good although it had been hyped and I don’t think I made it as good as it could be so I’ll have to try it again but at an actual restaurant. Keian had gotten some footy tickets so he, Brett, Mike and I went to see Hawthorn’s first playoff game and it was heaps of fun (heaps is another popular word here). There are a lot of teams from different suburbs of Melbourne and around Victoria with a few teams outside of Victoria. Hawthorn won the game which made it that much more fun. Afterwords we went to Chapel Street to meet up with Mary-Beth, Julie, Erica, Ben and Tosha and hung around there for a little while.
On Saturday the bulk of the group I had been hanging out with this past week all went out to Lygon Street where Mary-Beth, Julie and I had gone for Italian food. This time we went to a different restaurant and had an excellent meal, with almost all 10 of us ordering a different meal from a variety of pasta dishes to chicken, veal, and a great fish dish that I got with shrimp on top. After walking off our dinner we got gelato which was very good as well. Sunday Mary-Beth and I went to see Batman: The Dark Knight at the IMAX since neither of us had seen it yet while most everyone else had. It lived up to the hype (at least for me) and the IMAX made it an even greater experience.
Well, another week has come and gone and a new week is upon me. In store for this week so far is a fairly heavy workload and a possible weekend trip. I’ll let you know of my endeavors next week!
Monday, September 1, 2008
One Month Already
Wow, have I really been here a month already? Well the good news is that I still have at least three more months here but what a month it has been. As I had figured now that I’m more settled in and down to a routine the times starting to go by quickly. The weather is starting to show potential of improving soon. So far it’s still been cool, windy and sunny to overcast at any point but Friday was warm and sunny and it should be a more common scene over the next month. Also as the days are getting shorter at home they’re getting longer here, finally staying light past 6 o’clock which is also something to look forward to.
Well this week was a little less eventful as past weeks but I still kept busy. My day off Monday I spent doing some homework and studying as well as doing some homework. I had a test in each of my classes coming up towards the end of the week so got some things done early in the week. As far as assignments are concerned there seem to be less than what I would expect at Northeastern. I have a quiz every other week for all three classes which unfortunately makes them fall all in the same week each time but I’ll have to cope with it. For Geomechanics I also have two lab reports and a group presentation for the end of the semester. Fluid Mechanics I have three assignments and a few lab reports although they haven’t told us exactly how many yet. In History of Ideas we have a minor and major essay as well as a presentation on top of the quizzes. However for each class there is a lot of suggested work to do, such as readings and practice problems which I know will help me better understand each course, it just isn’t graded. At Northeastern we had lab reports due every other week with assignments nearly every week for each class being at least checked if we had done it if not handed in and graded.
Tuesday was my lab for Fluid Mechanics and this week we looked at the flow of water with different pressures and compared the pressure with the flow rate. We used both a flat plate and a hemispherical plate for the water to hit to compare them as well. Tuesday night there was supposed to be a barbeque in my building but the grills weren’t working so the barbeque got moved to the other unilodge building but either not many people knew it was moved or not many showed up. Bret and I went over for a little while before heading back to our room.
Wednesday morning was my Geomechanics class and we moved on from our geology unit in the first two weeks to the classification of soil. Soil properties are very important to civil engineering as they are used as a foundation and material for structures. In the afternoon was my Fluid Mechanics lecture where we went through Fluid Kinematics which deals with the motion of fluids and visualizing these flows. Afterwards Julie, Mary-Beth and I went down and booked our trip to Cairns and I’m now very excited about it. We’re now leaving Monday the 22nd and returning the following Monday the 29th. The flight was much cheaper to leave that Monday and we wanted to leave ourselves enough time to get to everything we had hoped. So our itinerary is as follows: we arrive late Monday night and will be staying in a hostel. Tuesday we go to Fitzroy Island and spend the day on the beach and hiking the hill in the middle of the island. It should be a nice relaxing day after our late night. Wednesday morning we get up early and are taking a hot air balloon ride at sunset which should be absolutely amazing. Thursday we’re going to Cape Tribulation which is up the coast from Cairns, going to a wildlife sanctuary, walking through the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest at Mossman Gorge, taking a river cruise and then having some free time. Friday we’re doing a zipline through the jungle before returning to Cairns in the afternoon. Saturday we’re sailing out to the Great Barrier Reef and will have a few hours on the reef to snorkel. Sunday we’re doing a waterfall tour in Cairns, walking to two different waterfalls in the area and having the rest of the day and Monday in Cairns before flying back to Melbourne Monday night. Unfortunately a friend of ours called us a few hours after we made our reservations to say he was getting some people together to make a trip to Cairns but they’ll be going Friday the 19th through Thursday the 25th but we’ll be able to spend a few days together hopefully. My roommate Bret has decided to join us now as well but was hesitant at first by the cost which is why we booked without him but hopefully he’ll be able to book everything with us and we have room for an extra person in our hostel room so we’ll see.
Thursday was a busy day starting with my History of Ideas lecture. We’re moving along the history timeline and have moved into the 17th and 18th centuries where science has progressed to the idea of evolution, although that was still a radical thought. We further discussed this in the tutorial following the lecture and then had presentations on the Lunar Society which was a secret society of intellectuals in Europe as well as a presentation on Lamarck’s evolutionary theory. After the tutorial was my first test of the week in Fluid Mechanics which was just 1 problem which was similar to one we had done the previous week and I knew how to do so I think I did well on it. After the test we did some problems which covered the concepts we went over in the lecture the previous day. After class I spent the remainder of the day studying for my test and doing homework for Geomechanics which required drawing to scale a part of a mountain range where the various layers had been squished together creating various inclinations.
Friday I had a short lecture in Fluid Mechanics in the morning and then my Geomechanics tutorial in the afternoon where we took the test which was 20 multiple choice questions and then had our homework looked over before leaving. After class I had an online quiz for History of Ideas which was 8 multiple choice questions then went grocery shopping with Bret before spending the rest of the day hanging around the apartment and in our common area of the building where some other people from the building were hanging out.
Saturday was Melbourne Day so Bret, Mary-Beth and I and some kids from Cal Poly all went into the city. We took a cruise on the river which took us along the Yarra to the end which is Port Melbourne before turning around and heading back. I had yet to go down the river that far so it was good to see parts of the city I had yet to explore. I noticed that there was a lot of construction happening with new buildings arising all over the place especially towards Port Melbourne indicating that the city is expanding fairly rapidly. Afterwards we went to the Crown where the casino was I had been to before and this time we went bowling which was fun. We went back to campus for a few hours before heading out again to the city to go to an Ice Bar which was a small bar with everything made out of ice, from an ice couch, chair and tables, to ice sculptures to and even the bar and the glasses were pure ice. After staying just a short while we walked around the city a little before heading back to campus. We had to take taxi’s back as the trains had stopped running by this point and while the rest of the group were able to grab a taxi, it took Brett and I and our friend Mike an hour and a half to get one which wasn’t very fun.
On Sunday Julie, Mary-Beth, Brett and I went to Queen Victoria Market which is this huge indoor and outdoor market which had everything from meat to cheese to fruits and veggies to clothes and souvenirs. We arrived only a few hours before closing and some of the shops had already closed up while others were starting to do the same but we were still able to see most of it. For dinner Mary-Beth, Julie and I went to Prahran so I could show them the Lucky Coq pizza place I had been to the week before. This time I got a calamari pizza which was delicious and the three of us split two desert pizza’s, a dark chocolate and mascarpone one and a mixed berry and mascarpone which had strawberries, blueberries and raspberries which were each cooked on pizza dough and were excellent.
Well it’s now September and I’m only a few weeks away from Cairns but hope to be doing plenty before then. Hope you’re all doing well. More to come next week!
Well this week was a little less eventful as past weeks but I still kept busy. My day off Monday I spent doing some homework and studying as well as doing some homework. I had a test in each of my classes coming up towards the end of the week so got some things done early in the week. As far as assignments are concerned there seem to be less than what I would expect at Northeastern. I have a quiz every other week for all three classes which unfortunately makes them fall all in the same week each time but I’ll have to cope with it. For Geomechanics I also have two lab reports and a group presentation for the end of the semester. Fluid Mechanics I have three assignments and a few lab reports although they haven’t told us exactly how many yet. In History of Ideas we have a minor and major essay as well as a presentation on top of the quizzes. However for each class there is a lot of suggested work to do, such as readings and practice problems which I know will help me better understand each course, it just isn’t graded. At Northeastern we had lab reports due every other week with assignments nearly every week for each class being at least checked if we had done it if not handed in and graded.
Tuesday was my lab for Fluid Mechanics and this week we looked at the flow of water with different pressures and compared the pressure with the flow rate. We used both a flat plate and a hemispherical plate for the water to hit to compare them as well. Tuesday night there was supposed to be a barbeque in my building but the grills weren’t working so the barbeque got moved to the other unilodge building but either not many people knew it was moved or not many showed up. Bret and I went over for a little while before heading back to our room.
Wednesday morning was my Geomechanics class and we moved on from our geology unit in the first two weeks to the classification of soil. Soil properties are very important to civil engineering as they are used as a foundation and material for structures. In the afternoon was my Fluid Mechanics lecture where we went through Fluid Kinematics which deals with the motion of fluids and visualizing these flows. Afterwards Julie, Mary-Beth and I went down and booked our trip to Cairns and I’m now very excited about it. We’re now leaving Monday the 22nd and returning the following Monday the 29th. The flight was much cheaper to leave that Monday and we wanted to leave ourselves enough time to get to everything we had hoped. So our itinerary is as follows: we arrive late Monday night and will be staying in a hostel. Tuesday we go to Fitzroy Island and spend the day on the beach and hiking the hill in the middle of the island. It should be a nice relaxing day after our late night. Wednesday morning we get up early and are taking a hot air balloon ride at sunset which should be absolutely amazing. Thursday we’re going to Cape Tribulation which is up the coast from Cairns, going to a wildlife sanctuary, walking through the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest at Mossman Gorge, taking a river cruise and then having some free time. Friday we’re doing a zipline through the jungle before returning to Cairns in the afternoon. Saturday we’re sailing out to the Great Barrier Reef and will have a few hours on the reef to snorkel. Sunday we’re doing a waterfall tour in Cairns, walking to two different waterfalls in the area and having the rest of the day and Monday in Cairns before flying back to Melbourne Monday night. Unfortunately a friend of ours called us a few hours after we made our reservations to say he was getting some people together to make a trip to Cairns but they’ll be going Friday the 19th through Thursday the 25th but we’ll be able to spend a few days together hopefully. My roommate Bret has decided to join us now as well but was hesitant at first by the cost which is why we booked without him but hopefully he’ll be able to book everything with us and we have room for an extra person in our hostel room so we’ll see.
Thursday was a busy day starting with my History of Ideas lecture. We’re moving along the history timeline and have moved into the 17th and 18th centuries where science has progressed to the idea of evolution, although that was still a radical thought. We further discussed this in the tutorial following the lecture and then had presentations on the Lunar Society which was a secret society of intellectuals in Europe as well as a presentation on Lamarck’s evolutionary theory. After the tutorial was my first test of the week in Fluid Mechanics which was just 1 problem which was similar to one we had done the previous week and I knew how to do so I think I did well on it. After the test we did some problems which covered the concepts we went over in the lecture the previous day. After class I spent the remainder of the day studying for my test and doing homework for Geomechanics which required drawing to scale a part of a mountain range where the various layers had been squished together creating various inclinations.
Friday I had a short lecture in Fluid Mechanics in the morning and then my Geomechanics tutorial in the afternoon where we took the test which was 20 multiple choice questions and then had our homework looked over before leaving. After class I had an online quiz for History of Ideas which was 8 multiple choice questions then went grocery shopping with Bret before spending the rest of the day hanging around the apartment and in our common area of the building where some other people from the building were hanging out.
Saturday was Melbourne Day so Bret, Mary-Beth and I and some kids from Cal Poly all went into the city. We took a cruise on the river which took us along the Yarra to the end which is Port Melbourne before turning around and heading back. I had yet to go down the river that far so it was good to see parts of the city I had yet to explore. I noticed that there was a lot of construction happening with new buildings arising all over the place especially towards Port Melbourne indicating that the city is expanding fairly rapidly. Afterwards we went to the Crown where the casino was I had been to before and this time we went bowling which was fun. We went back to campus for a few hours before heading out again to the city to go to an Ice Bar which was a small bar with everything made out of ice, from an ice couch, chair and tables, to ice sculptures to and even the bar and the glasses were pure ice. After staying just a short while we walked around the city a little before heading back to campus. We had to take taxi’s back as the trains had stopped running by this point and while the rest of the group were able to grab a taxi, it took Brett and I and our friend Mike an hour and a half to get one which wasn’t very fun.
On Sunday Julie, Mary-Beth, Brett and I went to Queen Victoria Market which is this huge indoor and outdoor market which had everything from meat to cheese to fruits and veggies to clothes and souvenirs. We arrived only a few hours before closing and some of the shops had already closed up while others were starting to do the same but we were still able to see most of it. For dinner Mary-Beth, Julie and I went to Prahran so I could show them the Lucky Coq pizza place I had been to the week before. This time I got a calamari pizza which was delicious and the three of us split two desert pizza’s, a dark chocolate and mascarpone one and a mixed berry and mascarpone which had strawberries, blueberries and raspberries which were each cooked on pizza dough and were excellent.
Well it’s now September and I’m only a few weeks away from Cairns but hope to be doing plenty before then. Hope you’re all doing well. More to come next week!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Week 3
Well the first two weeks here seemed to go by rather slowly as I became adjusted and classes started up, however this past week seemed to fly by. Monday was my day off from classes so I went out to lunch with Julie, Mary-Beth, Bret and Matt who is from Australia who we had met at one of the orientations. We went to Grill’d which is right down the road on Glenferrie and is some of the best food I’ve had here so far. I got a hamburger with tasty cheese (which we know as cheddar cheese), salad (lettuce) and bacon on Panini bread. After lunch Bret had to go back to class but the rest of us walked around Hawthorn, walking to where the shops end on Glenferrie and back down again to school, stopping in a movie store similar to Blockbuster and a few computer stores.
Tuesday I had my first lab for Fluid Mechanics and we used four different methods for measuring airflow through a tube and had to decide which method was most accurate. After my lab I went grocery shopping with Bret, this time at Coles which is only a little past Safeway. The food here is generally the same as in America with some different brands and some of the same brands. I’ve been eating generally ham and cheese for lunch and pasta, sausage and hamburger among other things for dinner. I wasn’t aware of this but our microwave doubles as an oven, I just haven’t figured out how to use it as an oven yet. After all that grocery shopping Bret and I ended up going out to dinner where our roommate Conrad works at a place called the Spudbar. There they mostly serve baked potatoes which you can load with a wide variety of vegetables and they also serve salads.
Wednesday I had two lectures, one for Geomechanics and one for Fluid Mechanics. In Geomechanics we went over identifying sedimentary and metamorphic rocks as well as looking at maps of the rock formation of the Melbourne area. Wednesday night I went to Prahran with Bret and a group of kids from Australia. One of them, Max, had a friend who he grew up with playing in his band at a nightclub so we all went down to check it out. Before the show we went to a restaurant called the Lucky Coq where they had excellent pizza. Although Bret and I ate earlier, we decided to split a pizza as they seemed too good to pass up as well as only being $4 for any pizza. These were personal sized pizzas cooked in a brick oven and we split a salmon and spinach pizza and it goes up there as one of the best foods I’ve had so far and definitely worth making a trip back for. After dinner we went to the Revolver Upstairs to see the show in the one room venue. They were a rock band with a guitarist, drummer and bassist and were pretty good, especially with this being their first show they had ever played. They played for about an hour with generally the only people there being ones that knew them. There had been a band on before them so I assume that this is a place for a variety of bands to get some stage time and get started up.
Thursday was a rather slow day. I had my History of Ideas lecture followed by the tutorial where we talked about the Age of Reason and how people used to view nature as something that God created for humans to use and used nature to justify the existence of God. After my tutorial for History of Ideas I had a tutorial for Fluid Mechanics which was a class of about 20 and we went through selected problems from the chapters we had gone over in the lectures so far. Later that night we all went out to the Hawthorn for toga night, although only a few people were dressed in a toga.
Friday I had a tutorial for Fluid Mechanics for an hour to further go over the material we went over during the lecture that week. I finished the day with a tutorial in Geomechanics where we were given samples of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks to identify. After class Julie, Mary-Beth and I went to STA Travel to get some information on making a trip to Cairns for our spring break which is a week off at the end of September. We put a temporary trip together which includes going to the Great Barrier Reef and taking a hot air balloon ride as well as taking a few other excursions. We’re probably going to finalize our trip this week to ensure nothing has filled up since that’s a busy time of year for going to Cairns. After checking that out we went to an Australian Rules Football game with a lot of other international students, which was at the Telstra Dome right in the middle of Melbourne. I had watched a few games on tv so I had some sort of idea how the game was played. The game is played on an oval shaped field with 18 players on each side and four goal posts on each side. To score a goal you have to kick it through the middle two posts for 6 points or the outer two posts for 1 point. To pass you can either kick it and if caught that person has a free pass or you can punch it out of your hand to another player although you can then be tackled. It’s a very fast paced game with a lot of scoring, tackling and no protective pads. After the game a group of us went out to the city for a little bit and met up with some other kids who were also at the game.
On Saturday Mary-Beth, Julie and I went into the city and went to the Melbourne Aquarium. It was fairly big and had an Oceanarium which was filled with sharks, stingrays and other fish and had tunnels to walk under the water which was pretty cool. After the aquarium we went to the tallest residential building in the world which had a skydeck in one of the top floors which looked out over the city. They also had a glass cube that we went in that went 3 meters over the edge of the building and we could look straight down to the ground and look out over the city. I had done something similar to this when I went to Toronto with my Dad and went up the CN tower and they had a glass floor which we could walk across. Later that night some friends of mine were having a birthday party in my building so I went with Bret and some others and was able to meet some more people.
Sunday I stayed in and watched the end of the Olympics. I really wanted to watch the USA vs. Spain basketball game but as it’s not as big a deal here as it is in the US I only saw about a quarter and a half as they squeezed it between a footy game and their 6 o’clock news. I went out to dinner at the Spudbar again and got a free potato with Bret and our other roommate Steve. Afterwards Bret and I walked down Glenferrie to an ice cream shop before returning to watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
I’ve put up pictures from the aquarium and the footy game on that same website but I can’t add any more photos for a month so below are some more photo’s I took of Melbourne. Well that’s all for now, I’ll update you in a week!
Hans
Tuesday I had my first lab for Fluid Mechanics and we used four different methods for measuring airflow through a tube and had to decide which method was most accurate. After my lab I went grocery shopping with Bret, this time at Coles which is only a little past Safeway. The food here is generally the same as in America with some different brands and some of the same brands. I’ve been eating generally ham and cheese for lunch and pasta, sausage and hamburger among other things for dinner. I wasn’t aware of this but our microwave doubles as an oven, I just haven’t figured out how to use it as an oven yet. After all that grocery shopping Bret and I ended up going out to dinner where our roommate Conrad works at a place called the Spudbar. There they mostly serve baked potatoes which you can load with a wide variety of vegetables and they also serve salads.
Wednesday I had two lectures, one for Geomechanics and one for Fluid Mechanics. In Geomechanics we went over identifying sedimentary and metamorphic rocks as well as looking at maps of the rock formation of the Melbourne area. Wednesday night I went to Prahran with Bret and a group of kids from Australia. One of them, Max, had a friend who he grew up with playing in his band at a nightclub so we all went down to check it out. Before the show we went to a restaurant called the Lucky Coq where they had excellent pizza. Although Bret and I ate earlier, we decided to split a pizza as they seemed too good to pass up as well as only being $4 for any pizza. These were personal sized pizzas cooked in a brick oven and we split a salmon and spinach pizza and it goes up there as one of the best foods I’ve had so far and definitely worth making a trip back for. After dinner we went to the Revolver Upstairs to see the show in the one room venue. They were a rock band with a guitarist, drummer and bassist and were pretty good, especially with this being their first show they had ever played. They played for about an hour with generally the only people there being ones that knew them. There had been a band on before them so I assume that this is a place for a variety of bands to get some stage time and get started up.
Thursday was a rather slow day. I had my History of Ideas lecture followed by the tutorial where we talked about the Age of Reason and how people used to view nature as something that God created for humans to use and used nature to justify the existence of God. After my tutorial for History of Ideas I had a tutorial for Fluid Mechanics which was a class of about 20 and we went through selected problems from the chapters we had gone over in the lectures so far. Later that night we all went out to the Hawthorn for toga night, although only a few people were dressed in a toga.
Friday I had a tutorial for Fluid Mechanics for an hour to further go over the material we went over during the lecture that week. I finished the day with a tutorial in Geomechanics where we were given samples of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks to identify. After class Julie, Mary-Beth and I went to STA Travel to get some information on making a trip to Cairns for our spring break which is a week off at the end of September. We put a temporary trip together which includes going to the Great Barrier Reef and taking a hot air balloon ride as well as taking a few other excursions. We’re probably going to finalize our trip this week to ensure nothing has filled up since that’s a busy time of year for going to Cairns. After checking that out we went to an Australian Rules Football game with a lot of other international students, which was at the Telstra Dome right in the middle of Melbourne. I had watched a few games on tv so I had some sort of idea how the game was played. The game is played on an oval shaped field with 18 players on each side and four goal posts on each side. To score a goal you have to kick it through the middle two posts for 6 points or the outer two posts for 1 point. To pass you can either kick it and if caught that person has a free pass or you can punch it out of your hand to another player although you can then be tackled. It’s a very fast paced game with a lot of scoring, tackling and no protective pads. After the game a group of us went out to the city for a little bit and met up with some other kids who were also at the game.
On Saturday Mary-Beth, Julie and I went into the city and went to the Melbourne Aquarium. It was fairly big and had an Oceanarium which was filled with sharks, stingrays and other fish and had tunnels to walk under the water which was pretty cool. After the aquarium we went to the tallest residential building in the world which had a skydeck in one of the top floors which looked out over the city. They also had a glass cube that we went in that went 3 meters over the edge of the building and we could look straight down to the ground and look out over the city. I had done something similar to this when I went to Toronto with my Dad and went up the CN tower and they had a glass floor which we could walk across. Later that night some friends of mine were having a birthday party in my building so I went with Bret and some others and was able to meet some more people.
Sunday I stayed in and watched the end of the Olympics. I really wanted to watch the USA vs. Spain basketball game but as it’s not as big a deal here as it is in the US I only saw about a quarter and a half as they squeezed it between a footy game and their 6 o’clock news. I went out to dinner at the Spudbar again and got a free potato with Bret and our other roommate Steve. Afterwards Bret and I walked down Glenferrie to an ice cream shop before returning to watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
I’ve put up pictures from the aquarium and the footy game on that same website but I can’t add any more photos for a month so below are some more photo’s I took of Melbourne. Well that’s all for now, I’ll update you in a week!
Hans
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