And so begins the second semester of university in New Zealand. Classes have been interesting thus far, although later in the day then I'd prefer. This semester I'm enrolled (they spell it enrol and enroled here, it drives me nuts!): Pharmacy 111G, Philosophy 215, Psychology 108, and German 101.
Pharmacy 101, "Drugs in Society", is a general education course designed for students with a non-science background and since engineering is technically not sciene, I don't feel guilty for taking it. Before the first few lectures the course tutor (TA) warned us they would be confusing, but it's smooth sailing so far. We're learning basic terminology (affinity, efficacy, LD50, Emax, etc.) and how drugs enter the cell (although on a level rudimentary enough to be, effectively, useless). I am, however, relieved that we aren't learning the structure of an atom, which I've learned more times than I care to count. You know a course is promising when you talk about horse tranquilizers, caffeine, and ketamine on the first day, right? We have to do a portfolio of news articles pertaining to drugs in society which is ever so slightly irritating. I haven't done a portfolio since high school writing and the word reminds me of diorama which reminds me of annoying, useless grade school projects.
Philosophy 215, French philosophy of the 20th century. Luckily my flatmate, Christoph, is taking the course, too. The reading looks promising, lectures are looking not too engaging. The lecturer seems quite nice and accommodating of "artistic renderings", but is rather soft spoken and tricky to follow. Being in technical classes for so long I've really taken structured, straightforward lectures for granted. Topics we're covering haven't been very confusing, but a lot of the discussion has been quite vague. So much waffling. Not sure how the term paper will go, but there's plenty of time to sort that out before it's due.
Psych 108 is rather dry, but promises to be maximum grade with minimal effort, so no complaints.
German 101! Foreign language. So far it's going well and I'm picking up words faster than I expected, but it certainly isn't easy for me. German grammar is quite different from English and Latin, a bit elusive at times, but I have lots of great help at my finger tips, so no worries there.
Most of the people living in my residential complex (PSV) last semester have moved out. The new neighbors and flatmates are lovely! My flat is getting along beautifully and I'm so happy to live with them (Nathan from Tauranga, Megan from Wellington, Ash from Wellington, Christoph from Germany ... can't remember which region right now, and Eric from Mass). That's all for now, should get some actual work done!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Austraaaaalia
Just got back from a splendid two week vacation ("holiday") in Australia. To start, I had several misconceptions about Australia before heading over
(1) Australia is hot. This is not false, but certainly not uniformly true. Upon arriving in Melbourne, I was less than impressed by the 4° C weather and the wind chill. I was, however, quite impressed by the lovely animals at the Melbourne Zoo, and very thankful to have great friends who picked me up from the airport in the morning :)
(2) Koalas have a lot of character. False, although they are nothing short of precious, they tend to be quite boring to watch. I reckon it's all the eucalyptus.
(3) Kangaroos are zoo animals. FALSE. They are all over the place! Even the ones in the zoos and wildlife parks seem to diverge from usual "wild animal behavior". Also, I'm still surprised by the diversity of the marsupials over there, really quite different from other mammals.
(4) I guess it's all the Mercator projections from school, but I hadn't realized how massive Australia is.
ANYHOW, after arriving in Melbourne and checking out the zoo, my friend Carmen and I also toured around the city (missing many a free tourist shuttle bus), ending up at the Victoria Market, Docklands, Crown Casino, and above all, the rejuvenating Yarra River. While in Melbourne, I stayed the Elephant International Backpacker and enjoyed meeting (mostly just curiously observing) the various people staying there. Watched several strange movies and learned my fair share about AFL (quite the big deal over in Oz). The people I met there were interesting, and I especially enjoyed the fact that another backpacker was wearing a panda hat/beanie! (Although mine is MUCH cooler). Also wandered over to the War Memorial/shrine. I find it curious that ANZAC soldiers receive so much more respect, recognition, and devotion from their nations than Americans, espeically considering how massive the US keeps its armed forces.
A few days of weather less than 10° during vacation proved more than enough, so Carmen and I booked a flight up north to the warmth (the southern hemisphere still confuses me in that regard) of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast = magical! We stayed in Surfers Paradise, I kid you not, SURFERS PARADISE, Australia!! We enjoyed not being tourists and hassling the party tour sales people who would without fail ask any young paserby "hey, you ladies partying tonight?" "you boys want to check out the clubs?". The Beer Garden had $3 Happy Hour, which is virtually unheard of in New Zealand. As a side note, while in Australia I also went to Phillip's Island and saw the world's smallest (33-35 cm tall) penguins scurry across the shore-- very cute, but very cold. Anyhow, we went to the Australia (Steve Irwin) Zoo and were absolutely appalled by the live show. The crocodile, though impressive, didn't seen keen on acting the relentlessy irritating Bindi Irwin. Her singing/dancing routine was horrific, and the shameless promotion of her books/movies/what not was extremely disappointing. Growing up Steve Irwin was definitely a hero of mine, and it was distressing to see how his child seemed to be a cash machine. Much to Carmen's delight we saw wombats being walked on a leash through the zoo! Besides the two keepers managing the wombat, there was a wagon for it to hop into when it got too tired to walk back to it's enclosure--that's the life. Although characterized by extreme laziness, many native Australian creatures become quite threaning when intimidated or provoked.
The town Surfers Paradise reminded me of IV, although much more commercial, certainly cleaner, and with some occupants outside the 17-24 age group. That's all for now, I'm quite worn out from travels and meeting my awesome new flatmates!
(1) Australia is hot. This is not false, but certainly not uniformly true. Upon arriving in Melbourne, I was less than impressed by the 4° C weather and the wind chill. I was, however, quite impressed by the lovely animals at the Melbourne Zoo, and very thankful to have great friends who picked me up from the airport in the morning :)
(2) Koalas have a lot of character. False, although they are nothing short of precious, they tend to be quite boring to watch. I reckon it's all the eucalyptus.
(3) Kangaroos are zoo animals. FALSE. They are all over the place! Even the ones in the zoos and wildlife parks seem to diverge from usual "wild animal behavior". Also, I'm still surprised by the diversity of the marsupials over there, really quite different from other mammals.
(4) I guess it's all the Mercator projections from school, but I hadn't realized how massive Australia is.
ANYHOW, after arriving in Melbourne and checking out the zoo, my friend Carmen and I also toured around the city (missing many a free tourist shuttle bus), ending up at the Victoria Market, Docklands, Crown Casino, and above all, the rejuvenating Yarra River. While in Melbourne, I stayed the Elephant International Backpacker and enjoyed meeting (mostly just curiously observing) the various people staying there. Watched several strange movies and learned my fair share about AFL (quite the big deal over in Oz). The people I met there were interesting, and I especially enjoyed the fact that another backpacker was wearing a panda hat/beanie! (Although mine is MUCH cooler). Also wandered over to the War Memorial/shrine. I find it curious that ANZAC soldiers receive so much more respect, recognition, and devotion from their nations than Americans, espeically considering how massive the US keeps its armed forces.
A few days of weather less than 10° during vacation proved more than enough, so Carmen and I booked a flight up north to the warmth (the southern hemisphere still confuses me in that regard) of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast = magical! We stayed in Surfers Paradise, I kid you not, SURFERS PARADISE, Australia!! We enjoyed not being tourists and hassling the party tour sales people who would without fail ask any young paserby "hey, you ladies partying tonight?" "you boys want to check out the clubs?". The Beer Garden had $3 Happy Hour, which is virtually unheard of in New Zealand. As a side note, while in Australia I also went to Phillip's Island and saw the world's smallest (33-35 cm tall) penguins scurry across the shore-- very cute, but very cold. Anyhow, we went to the Australia (Steve Irwin) Zoo and were absolutely appalled by the live show. The crocodile, though impressive, didn't seen keen on acting the relentlessy irritating Bindi Irwin. Her singing/dancing routine was horrific, and the shameless promotion of her books/movies/what not was extremely disappointing. Growing up Steve Irwin was definitely a hero of mine, and it was distressing to see how his child seemed to be a cash machine. Much to Carmen's delight we saw wombats being walked on a leash through the zoo! Besides the two keepers managing the wombat, there was a wagon for it to hop into when it got too tired to walk back to it's enclosure--that's the life. Although characterized by extreme laziness, many native Australian creatures become quite threaning when intimidated or provoked.
The town Surfers Paradise reminded me of IV, although much more commercial, certainly cleaner, and with some occupants outside the 17-24 age group. That's all for now, I'm quite worn out from travels and meeting my awesome new flatmates!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)