I have now been in Cairns for two weeks.
I still am in love with the tropical rainforesty landscape of Far North Queensland, but it hasn't all been sunshine and beach parties. Adjusting to living in a foreign country is hard. Because the language spoken here is the same (relatively speaking), it is sometimes easy to forget that I'm over 7,000 miles across the ocean away. But then I see a (super confusing) multi-lane intersection or someone hitting cane toads with a golf club for fun, and I remember.
(*Side note* Cane toads are a massively invasive species here in Queensland, originally brought in as an attempt at biologically controlling the destructive cane beetle. Not only did the toads fail at controlling the intended pests, they became one instead, eating both the food of native frogs, and sometimes even the frogs themselves! They also carry and spread diseases that affect the biodiversity of this region. And they are everywhere. Almost all Australians hate them. Now, I'm not remotely justifying the drunk cocky Aussie's cruel actions [I literally couldn't believe it was happening], but merely attempting to provide some sense of cultural context).
I have been frustrated a lot since I've been here.
Getting yelled at by an angry bus driver for not knowing the correct schedule, route, or price is not fun, nor is sitting in your room as groups of people traipse by, already the best of friends. Don't get me wrong, I have made some awesome friends here (and will continue to do so), but it sometimes seems like it is so much easier for everyone else to do. Foods don't taste the same here, and it takes strong determination to hunt down everything I need in the grocery store. I still sweat out what feels like half my body weight every time I go outside or exert any type of physical activity like walking or breathing, and I just LOVE meeting new people when I'm red-faced and sweaty (AKA most of the time here).
However, I have also had many victories!
One day last week, I wanted to go to Smithfield Shopping Center (closest mall to us, just a few miles from school). I needed a few groceries and wanted to open a bank account at Westpac Bank. So after finishing reading my book by the pool (and acquiring a few bugbites, causing me to add bugspray to my mental shopping list), I headed for the bus stop. I went to the right one for the direction I wanted to go (sometimes confusing because of having the road directions all switched around), and a bus showed up in 3 minutes. I told the driver (in mostly correct terms, I think) that I wanted a round trip student ticket to Smithfield and handed over my money. I smiled cheerfully at the wonderfully surly bus driver, my good mood refusing to be dampened by his withering glare. I even managed (without too much thinking) to get off at the right stop!
(*Another side note* I don't understand how everyone I have met from this country is so incredibly friendly and nice, yet most of the bus drivers act like a shark with diarrhea took a dump on their pillow. Then again, if I had to drive a bus for a living, I'd probably be a wee bit grumpy too.)
I have met loads of awesome people, both Australians and other foreign students, and have gotten flirted at by attractive Australian men. I successfully completed my first week of classes and have a feeling I will learn a lot this semester, and it is all stuff that I'm wildly interested in! (I'm going to do another post about my classes later this week, providing the internet doesn't decide to stop working for three days again). I have gotten to talk to my family and friends via the wonders of technology, and have started writing people back home postcards (again, let me know if you'd like one). I survived wading through a flooded underpass (either that or running across the highway in the dark, and no, there weren't any creepy crawlies in it [snakes, bugs, etc.]. We checked.)
Yes, I am still adjusting. Yes, I still have issues. Yes, it is getting easier. Yes, I'm still 100% glad I came here :)
Time for my weekend trip to Chillagoe Caves!
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Song of the day: Go Do by Jonsi
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Pictures, round one
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| My room! |
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| I love that I live here :) |
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| There are some crazy awesome plants here |
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| This is what the apartments I live in look like from the outside |
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| SO PRETTY |
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| IS THIS REAL LIFE?!?! |
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| James Cook University! |
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| :) :) :) |
Let me know if you would like any more information about any of the pictures/places they were taken, or if the links don't work.
And now my camera and I are off to the market!
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Song of the day: Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club
Monday, February 14, 2011
Trust me, this is an interesting place
Short shorts on men are not regarded as strange, and are quite a common occurrence. As are Capri pants. I am ok with both of these things.
Tropical rain is fun :) But VERY wet. Drenching, one might even say.
Puddles are SUPER fun.
There is a very large and colorful beetle in the tree outside my window.
Being barefoot in public places (malls, grocery stores, buses, etc.) is much more normal here than in the sates, but NOT allowed in places that serve food, for obvious health code reasons.
Looking left first for cars before crossing a street could get you hit by a hurtling vehicle. Which will be coming from the right (look right, left, right, not the other way around).
They do not have slugs here. "What's a slug?" is a very strange question to be asked. I hope the answer "kinda like a snail without a shell" was sufficient.
Geckos are cute. Buses are confusing. People are friendly. Plants are vivid.
All my clothes and shoes fit into the tiny wardrobe in my room. Pleasantly shocking :)
Cheddar cheese (excuse me, Tasty cheese) is very pale yellow here. Makes me wonder what is in our blocks of Tillamook....
Everything is expensive here. Minimum wage is about A$18/hour. I feel like those two things are connected.
I keep forgetting and walking on the right side of sidewalks and paths, and then having awkward encounters with native Australians who are on the correct side. Good thing I'm not driving a car!
I got invited to a LAN party by a drunk Dutch millionaire last night.
I do believe that I will spend the next six months sweating out half my body weight every day. Give or take a few kilos.
_______________________________________
Song of the day: Oh, It Is Love by Hellogoodbye
Tropical rain is fun :) But VERY wet. Drenching, one might even say.
Puddles are SUPER fun.
There is a very large and colorful beetle in the tree outside my window.
Being barefoot in public places (malls, grocery stores, buses, etc.) is much more normal here than in the sates, but NOT allowed in places that serve food, for obvious health code reasons.
Looking left first for cars before crossing a street could get you hit by a hurtling vehicle. Which will be coming from the right (look right, left, right, not the other way around).
They do not have slugs here. "What's a slug?" is a very strange question to be asked. I hope the answer "kinda like a snail without a shell" was sufficient.
Geckos are cute. Buses are confusing. People are friendly. Plants are vivid.
All my clothes and shoes fit into the tiny wardrobe in my room. Pleasantly shocking :)
Cheddar cheese (excuse me, Tasty cheese) is very pale yellow here. Makes me wonder what is in our blocks of Tillamook....
Everything is expensive here. Minimum wage is about A$18/hour. I feel like those two things are connected.
I keep forgetting and walking on the right side of sidewalks and paths, and then having awkward encounters with native Australians who are on the correct side. Good thing I'm not driving a car!
I got invited to a LAN party by a drunk Dutch millionaire last night.
I do believe that I will spend the next six months sweating out half my body weight every day. Give or take a few kilos.
_______________________________________
Song of the day: Oh, It Is Love by Hellogoodbye
Friday, February 11, 2011
Finally.
I am here.
After knowing about this trip for over a year, preparing for it for months, and being ready for it for weeks, I am finally, FINALLY here! I still can't quite believe it, even after the (roughly) 37 hours total spent in airplanes and airports over the last two days. Yet when I woke up the first morning, I knew exactly where I was.
I think I'm going to like it here :)
As I type this, I'm attempting to log into the finicky wireless internet the Cairns Student Lodge is nicely letting us use for free for a week or so because someone accidentally cut the internet hard line that goes across the street to the college. Ah, success.
It has poured rain six times since we've been here, but it is lovely warm fat splatty rain, and I think it is fantastic!
I ventured to the grocery store yesterday, which was an adventure in itself. First of all, everyone drives the shopping trollies (not carts) on the left side of the aisles, just like cars on the road here. The prices of everything seem higher, and probably are, but they are fairly consistent from store to store. The cost of living is just higher here. Also, I need to look up what cities and such are close to here, because I am still going to try and eat as locally as possible, and when a bag of apples says that it's from the Riverina, I have no idea where that is (I looked it up later, it is in Tasmania).
I ended up just trying to get the basics: oatmeal, peanut butter, jam (not jelly, because jelly is Jell-o and they will look at you strangely if you want to put jelly on your toast), bread, eggs, pasta, veggies, cheese (cheddar cheese is called "Tasty Cheese" here, which I find quite appropriate), hummus, chips/crackers, tomato juice, tuna, rice, and pasta sauce. All that should last me for a good while. AND today my roommates and I may venture into downtown Cairns and go to Rusty's Market, which has delish and local fruits and veggies (so I have been told) for reasonable prices.
Off to more adventuring!
___________________________________
Song of the day: In the Dirt by S. Carey
After knowing about this trip for over a year, preparing for it for months, and being ready for it for weeks, I am finally, FINALLY here! I still can't quite believe it, even after the (roughly) 37 hours total spent in airplanes and airports over the last two days. Yet when I woke up the first morning, I knew exactly where I was.
I think I'm going to like it here :)
As I type this, I'm attempting to log into the finicky wireless internet the Cairns Student Lodge is nicely letting us use for free for a week or so because someone accidentally cut the internet hard line that goes across the street to the college. Ah, success.
It has poured rain six times since we've been here, but it is lovely warm fat splatty rain, and I think it is fantastic!
I ventured to the grocery store yesterday, which was an adventure in itself. First of all, everyone drives the shopping trollies (not carts) on the left side of the aisles, just like cars on the road here. The prices of everything seem higher, and probably are, but they are fairly consistent from store to store. The cost of living is just higher here. Also, I need to look up what cities and such are close to here, because I am still going to try and eat as locally as possible, and when a bag of apples says that it's from the Riverina, I have no idea where that is (I looked it up later, it is in Tasmania).
I ended up just trying to get the basics: oatmeal, peanut butter, jam (not jelly, because jelly is Jell-o and they will look at you strangely if you want to put jelly on your toast), bread, eggs, pasta, veggies, cheese (cheddar cheese is called "Tasty Cheese" here, which I find quite appropriate), hummus, chips/crackers, tomato juice, tuna, rice, and pasta sauce. All that should last me for a good while. AND today my roommates and I may venture into downtown Cairns and go to Rusty's Market, which has delish and local fruits and veggies (so I have been told) for reasonable prices.
Off to more adventuring!
___________________________________
Song of the day: In the Dirt by S. Carey
Eleventh Hour Alphabet
*Note: This was supposed to have been posted before I flew out of Portland on Tuesday, but the internet was being silly and didn't let me. So here it is now.*
A is for Australia. Duh :)
B is for big bags: two 49 lb. ones to check, and then my hiking backpack and tote bag to carry on the plane.
C is for Cairns (pronounced "can" or "Cannes" like the film festival in France, hence the title of this blog is kinda a pun).
D is for Daintree Rainforest, the 1200 square miles of super diverse, tropical plants, mammals, birds, and reptiles that is just north of where I will be staying.
E is for EXCITED, because I am SUPER STOKED about everything!
F is for flora and fauna. 80% of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, exists nowhere else. Bitchin.
G is for Great Barrier Reef, where I will (hopefully) be scuba diving (somewhat) shortly after my arrival (within a few weeks, perhaps?).
H is for hugs, because of all the wonderful ones I've gotten from my awesome friends and family the past few days :)
I is for In a Sunburned Country which is an excellent and hilarious travel novel (by Bill Bryson) about Australia that I got as a gift and have read twice already. I highly recommend it.
J is for jet lag. Cairns is 18 hours ahead of the Pacific Time Zone. Jeez.
K is for kangaroos, which are apparently quite common to just see around, kind of like squirrels are here (and by "here" I mean Oregon/Washington).
L is for learning. I am taking super awesome classes and I'm stoked to learn stuff outside of class too!
M is for meeting lots of new people!
N is for nervous, because I am also nervous about this. But an excited nervous.
O is for Oz, the land down undah.
P is for public transportation, which is apparently rather good in Cairns. I will be using it a lot.
Q is for Queensland, the state Cairns is in (and it is roughly the size of all of Western Europe put together).
R is for red. Which my skin will NOT be, because I'm bring 8 tubes of SPF 55 and I will wear it EVERY DAY ALL THE TIME
S is for showering, because that's the first thing I will do when I get to my place of residence.
T is for tree kangaroos. They are quite rare, but super cute, and I really want to see one.
U is for upside down and under. I wonder if their maps are upside down (to us) and if their toilets flush the other way....
V is for vegetarianism of mine. Which may go out the window depending on food choices there. We shall see.
W is for wine in a box. Apparently, it is often the drink of choice. *shrug*
X is for X-country/continent flight (I know it is a cop out, but really, what good words are there for X?)
Y is for yummy fresh local produce that I have been encouraged to try whenever I go to the market.
Z is for Zealand, New (another cop out, I know) where I would really like to visit, while I'm in that neck of the woods. Relatively speaking.
_____________________________________
Song of the day: Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver
A is for Australia. Duh :)
B is for big bags: two 49 lb. ones to check, and then my hiking backpack and tote bag to carry on the plane.
C is for Cairns (pronounced "can" or "Cannes" like the film festival in France, hence the title of this blog is kinda a pun).
D is for Daintree Rainforest, the 1200 square miles of super diverse, tropical plants, mammals, birds, and reptiles that is just north of where I will be staying.
E is for EXCITED, because I am SUPER STOKED about everything!
F is for flora and fauna. 80% of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, exists nowhere else. Bitchin.
G is for Great Barrier Reef, where I will (hopefully) be scuba diving (somewhat) shortly after my arrival (within a few weeks, perhaps?).
H is for hugs, because of all the wonderful ones I've gotten from my awesome friends and family the past few days :)
I is for In a Sunburned Country which is an excellent and hilarious travel novel (by Bill Bryson) about Australia that I got as a gift and have read twice already. I highly recommend it.
J is for jet lag. Cairns is 18 hours ahead of the Pacific Time Zone. Jeez.
K is for kangaroos, which are apparently quite common to just see around, kind of like squirrels are here (and by "here" I mean Oregon/Washington).
L is for learning. I am taking super awesome classes and I'm stoked to learn stuff outside of class too!
M is for meeting lots of new people!
N is for nervous, because I am also nervous about this. But an excited nervous.
O is for Oz, the land down undah.
P is for public transportation, which is apparently rather good in Cairns. I will be using it a lot.
Q is for Queensland, the state Cairns is in (and it is roughly the size of all of Western Europe put together).
R is for red. Which my skin will NOT be, because I'm bring 8 tubes of SPF 55 and I will wear it EVERY DAY ALL THE TIME
S is for showering, because that's the first thing I will do when I get to my place of residence.
T is for tree kangaroos. They are quite rare, but super cute, and I really want to see one.
U is for upside down and under. I wonder if their maps are upside down (to us) and if their toilets flush the other way....
V is for vegetarianism of mine. Which may go out the window depending on food choices there. We shall see.
W is for wine in a box. Apparently, it is often the drink of choice. *shrug*
X is for X-country/continent flight (I know it is a cop out, but really, what good words are there for X?)
Y is for yummy fresh local produce that I have been encouraged to try whenever I go to the market.
Z is for Zealand, New (another cop out, I know) where I would really like to visit, while I'm in that neck of the woods. Relatively speaking.
_____________________________________
Song of the day: Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver
Monday, February 07, 2011
I Have
It is my last night in my Kirkland home for about 6 months.
I have packed 2 large suitcases, a carry-on backpack, and a totebag, weighed them, and repacked and redistributed the weight as to not incur oversized baggage fees.
I have hugged all my family members, Molly (the best dog in the world) included, many, many times.
I have checked items off To Do lists, and organized all my necessary papers.
I have made sure I have no contraband items in my carry-on bags; all my knives and scary more-than-3-ounce containers of liquid and nail clippers are tucked away in my checked baggage.
I have all my scuba gear packed and ready to use.
I have my follow-up tonsillectomy doctor appointment in the morning and he better say that I'm allowed to fly because I'm doing it anyway (apparently, you aren't supposed to fly for 2 weeks after having your tonsils removed).
I have my reservation number for my train ticket to Portland printed out and ready for 2pm.
I have my passport in a specific pocket of my tote bag, and I have checked that is still there roughly 52 times today.
I have my clothes laid out for tomorrow.
I have the worst posture ever when I type on my computer, especially late at night.
Clearly, I need sleep, so I am going to go to bed.
I hope I have everything.
_____________________________________________________
Song of the day: Wonderful by Gary Go (click to hear the song/see the video)
I have packed 2 large suitcases, a carry-on backpack, and a totebag, weighed them, and repacked and redistributed the weight as to not incur oversized baggage fees.
I have hugged all my family members, Molly (the best dog in the world) included, many, many times.
I have checked items off To Do lists, and organized all my necessary papers.
I have made sure I have no contraband items in my carry-on bags; all my knives and scary more-than-3-ounce containers of liquid and nail clippers are tucked away in my checked baggage.
I have all my scuba gear packed and ready to use.
I have my follow-up tonsillectomy doctor appointment in the morning and he better say that I'm allowed to fly because I'm doing it anyway (apparently, you aren't supposed to fly for 2 weeks after having your tonsils removed).
I have my reservation number for my train ticket to Portland printed out and ready for 2pm.
I have my passport in a specific pocket of my tote bag, and I have checked that is still there roughly 52 times today.
I have my clothes laid out for tomorrow.
I have the worst posture ever when I type on my computer, especially late at night.
Clearly, I need sleep, so I am going to go to bed.
I hope I have everything.
_____________________________________________________
Song of the day: Wonderful by Gary Go (click to hear the song/see the video)
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