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!