The Joy of Reading

As many of you know, when school begins typically there is no time for hobbies. Well, for the first time in a VERY long time I am able to go to school without having to have a job. The extra money would be nice, but I soon realized my efforts will likely be double that of my classmates because I do not have the kind of background that they have. I'm positive I do spend a lot more time with homework than others, but I am finding I can still do other fun things as well.

I recently was able to buy the Chronicles of Narnia e-books for really cheap as well as the audiobooks with them. I had just finished reading all of the Leven Thumps books, and Sorcery & Cecilia, and was in need of some new ones. Since I travel on the bus at least a couple of times a week I usually get some great time to read, but having audiobooks has brought it to a whole new level. It is now really easy to just listen to an audiobook on my 15 minute walk to and from school. It's been wonderful! I am already on the 3rd Narnia book - The Horse and His Boy. Additionally, because of the kindle app - Matt also has access to all the books and audiobooks so we can essentially be listening to them together. It's still not the same as reading and imagining the book, but I like that I have the option to do either.

This last week I spent most of my time working on my statistics assignment that is due tomorrow. It has been very frustrating. The program R that we use for the different tests is very difficult to learn. I often got stuck on  coding something and couldn't move forward until I got my question answered from the teacher. After spending hours and hours on it, visiting the teacher twice and taking up her entire consultation time, I think I figured it all out. I'm glad I learned all that I did and I was able to help my friends in the class with what I had learned so they wouldn't have to spend the amount of time I spent. I'm really sick of statistics for now and class yesterday was SOOO boring, but the good news is that we don't have any class or homework for next week because Monday is a holiday.

Last week we had a biology seminar on trees which was way more technical than I could handle, but it was still interesting. If you want to see the simplified version you can read my blog. I was only too happy to finish that blog and be done with that topic because I am just not very good at technical plant stuff. It was also a pretty good week because I had done some homework in advance so I had a little bit more free time than normal.

I was able to buy a few clothing items I needed last week and was frustrated when I couldn't find any long shorts! I've been avoiding wearing yoga pants and the like to school because those seem to be too casual to school. It's uncommon to see people in workout clothes or really casual clothing at Uni, so I was trying to find another pair of shorts. It seems I had just missed the window since now mostly winter clothes and long sleeves are in fashion. Another fashion statement I converted too was flats. I'm not a big fan of flats, but I have had some flip flops break and my pair of alpargatas (similar to Tom's) fall apart since being here. Also, on my walk to church on Sundays I decided it might be worth having flats for the walk and then switching to heals.

This Sunday I got to use my new flats for the first time. I accidentally got off on the wrong bus stop so I had a few more blocks to walk and I was grateful to have been wearing flats. As I got closer to the church however, the flats were starting to dig into the backs of my ankles and I had nice pieces of skin that had been rubbed off. Luckily wearing heals didn't rub against it much and I didn't need to walk often. I gave the lesson in Relief Society on The Atonement by Boyd K. Packer that day too. We had just talked about the atonement two weeks earlier so it was a really hard lesson to prepare for as I tried to think of what I could do and say to make it different. I focused more on the suffering of the Savior to pay the price on our sin, and how we have to choose to be the repentant sinner to make his suffering worthwhile. To be the repentant sinner I focused on how we had to understand all that Jesus Christ did for us to find the intense love that leads us to repent. In the end I got a lot of compliments, but I didn't cover half of what I wanted to because I only got about 30 minutes. I've included the video I was hoping to share below. I was glad church was over in the end because my poor ankles were not too happy with me and I had to walk on my toes home to not rub my ankles any worse. So far my experience with flats has not been that great.

Yesterday was the start of what will be a great week I think. I went to Brock and Kaytlin's for FHE and this time we had Gideon and Clarissa, and Dave Cruz as well. Dave gave a great lesson which is definitely worth sharing. He asked "If you could write a letter to your 15 year old self, what would you say?" There are so many thing I can think of to answer that. Most of all, I would want to let my teenage self know that the Lord loves me, has a plan for me, and that everything is going to be all right. I've been through a lot of difficult ups and downs, but the most comforting thing you can hear is that it all happens for a reason and that it's all going to work out in the end (at least the way the Lord intends it to work out). Afterwords we played telephone pictionary which worked out very well and I was laughing so hard it hurt at times. I'm really glad Dave was able to give me a ride because I wouldn't have been able to stay that long if I hadn't had a ride home. Overall it was a good day and since I don't have any classes after Wednesday for a whole week, I am pretty happy! Happy Easter in advance!

A LONG Week

Wednesday wasn't too bad because I had my regular seminar to attend, which was actually awesome. It was all about overpopulation and overconsumption, and basically how the world is going to collapse. Read my blog about it for more details (http://biofrontiers.wordpress.com/). The only thing I did NOT include in my blog was how much that lecture got me thinking about Science vs. Religion. Paul and Anne Ehrlich who gave the seminar described how everyone should only have one child. I agree about the problem, but I don't believe the Lord would want it that way. Overconsumption is a much bigger problem, and the lack of contraception provided throughout the world. Some women probably do not want large families, yet they have no real ability to prevent it. If others want large families - why not?It's like the song in Pete's Dragon where Nora sings "There's Room For Everyone". We just have to start learning to make room for everyone and stop taking up so much space ourselves! I believe the Lord intends for us to be able to bring as many children into this world as we desire, and assuming this will vary from person to person, I think it will all balance out. The real problem is everyone (including me), specifically in more developed countries, being obsessed with having more of everything. We don't typically bother to think about the people that are getting less because we are taking more. It's definitely an issue worth thinking about, and hopefully do something about.

When you first start a Masters program you think "This will be great. I can finally start studying things that will actually apply to what I want to do in life!" WRONG! Of course, I knew that research is long, tedious, monotonous, boring most of the time, and frustrating. But, I did somehow believe the classwork leading to the research would be helpful. This last week I have been able to learn that Masters coursework can be just as dull as Undergraduate coursework.

It all started last Monday as I went to statistics to learn about more things that confuse me for three straight hours. I decided not to go to my next lecture since I could just listen to it online, and I had some other homework to attend to. Since missing that lecture once I decided I will never attend again since I actually absorb so much more when I'm not getting bored in lecture. At home I can pause, go back a slide, and do other things if it's really boring. After that day I felt like all I did every day for the rest of the week was more homework!

Anyway, I went to another seminar that day about how to eradicate the invasive cane toads in Australia. It was a pretty awesome seminar. Me and two others took the train to the city (Sydney) to go see it. We were all really glad we went because not only was it a great seminar, but there are some other upcoming ones we hope to see. The only downfall of this long adventure in the city was taking the train home by myself, and not having any time to do homework when I got home.

As I said I had a lot of homework reading, writing, and hair-pulling stuff to do this last weekend so there wasn't anything very special about it. I did get pretty much everything done in the end, but I don't really know what quality. It turns out to give an extended definition of learning (500 words) is actually very complex. I chose to define learning in animal behavior complete with operant and classical conditioning, reinforcement, etc.. I thought it would be easy since I knew a lot and it had many inner concepts, but as I tried to back my definitions with good sources it got REALLY hard. Additionally I had another blog due and I got my grade back on the previous one Friday night, which made me very nervous about the one I was in the process of writing. Getting 76% is passing, but if I get many more like that I will not be able to get the grade I need in the class. With the masters program you have to graduate with a grade level above 75% to be able to do a PhD, and not to mention I'll lose my scholarship if I go below 75%. This is a lot of pressure and although I could see why I did not get good marks, I did put a lot of work into that blog. I may need a designated proof reader to check for fluency, grammar, and other issues. Unfortunately Matt's not so reliable with that.

I'm glad it's the beginning of a new week, but that means I now have my statistics assignment to work on. It's pretty much a nightmare when I feel as if I'm losing any previous Statistics knowledge I had with this class. I was able to go see the movie OZ yesterday with Brock and Kaytlin for FHE at least. Sorry for the lack of pics this week, but I do have LOADS to do!

Why Australia

Many people have asked me why come to Australia. Typically my first answer is why not Australia? Nevertheless I feel it would be beneficial to explain further details about why I decided to move across the world.

School

I came primarily to go to Macquarie University to work towards getting my PhD in Animal Personality. Since I had already studied abroad here I had a great advisor in mind, Jennifer Clarke, who I had already previously discussed graduate work with. Also after working in the animal behaviour lab I was very impressed with their research facilities as well as the amount of publications they produce. Additionally, when inquiring multiple potential advisors about graduate study Jennifer was the only one open - which was great for me since it was my first choice. So career wise this is a great place to be.

Additionally Macquarie University has quite a lot of features I like (although I'm still not impressed with the new library). For one thing, there is no smoking on campus except in a few designated areas. OSU became smoke free after I graduated. Next, due to many students commuting, most lectures are also audio recorded so in case you have to miss it you can always go online to what is called iLearn and listen to the audio and follow along with the lecture slides. Lastly, it is common for classes to only meet once a week with perhaps a  tutorial or lab another time during the week. Although the class is longer, it is nice to have more free days to focus on homework or other errands that need to be done.

Atmosphere

Australia is beautiful! What more can I say. This week I have tried to take some pictures of the surrounding nature I get to see all the time! Besides what you see here there are lyrebirds (see video), bower birds (thief video), and all kinds of other exotic types of birds. Everything is fairly green and even the heat isn't overpowering. The beaches are great, the people are nice and laid back, and who doesn't love a great Aussie accent? My favorite part is that in Australia there are beaches, mountains, and desserts so it's the best of all worlds.

This Week

There are plenty of other reasons to live here, but I have listed the main reasons I came here. This week was great because I was able to get a lot of homework done and I now have a good idea of what I am doing for my literature review in one of my biology classes. I am going to be writing about aggressive mimicry, which is quite a fascinating subject where animals such as the orchid mantis use their mimicry to gain access to prey. As I will be doing a lot of reading on this topic I am glad I was able to find something interesting. This week I also was able to get my financial aid! Friday I went to the Sydney temple with Brock and Kaytlin and stayed the night so Kaytlin and I could go shopping the next day. It was a long day of shopping, but I got everything I needed and at about the exact amount I estimated it would all cost. I'm super grateful for Kaytlin's help as she knew where to go to get the cheap stuff. 

Sunday was also fun because after church I spent time with Jeff and Corrine who are from the US, but moved here for the next two years. Jeff is here for IBM to train new employees. They had to move here with their three kids Ellie (3), Jameson (5), and Jacob (7). James has down syndrome and is adorable. It was good to be doing something with people and I might go hiking with them sometime as well. 

And the Loneliness Begins...

The rest of last week was fairly uneventful. Thursday I went to hang out with Kaytlin and Brock Butler. Kaytlin and I just talked a lot which I think I realized later I really needed. Matt called while I was there and I was able to have him "meet" Kaytlin and show her our cat. It was a fun night that ended to be quite wet as it was raining when I ran to the bus.

Rain continued for most of the weekend. Unfortunately I wasn't quite clothing equipped for it so when my roommate and I went to class Friday morning my feet were completely soaked as well as my jacket. I might finally have to get an umbrella since I prefer walking to school every day. It's just such a waste to wait for the bus when the Uni is only 10 minutes walk down the road. Nevertheless it was a pretty good day. My tutorial (lab) that day was a blast because my teacher is this fun bigger woman in her 50's I believe with a heavy Scottish accent. She's been in Australia for a long time, but the accent is still thick which makes her so much fun to listen to. Also, she spent the first 15 minutes explaining how she is really laid back so that makes it even better! I originally planned to switch to the Thursday class so I could have a long weekend, but I'd rather have a great tute teacher even if it is on Friday morning.

It also helps that I made a new friend in class besides my roommate Semeera. Cedrick is an IT student and a hip-hop dancer - I had to introduce him to the class. We had lunch afterwards and it was nice to have a local recommend food places as well as tell me how to pronounce certain things such as a Gozleme is pronounced gauze-el-em. You'd be surprised how many things are spelled and pronounced different here. Brock and Kaytlin make fun of me saying carmel when it should be caramel. Tires are spelled tyres, behavior is behaviour, organization is organisation, and my all time favorite - jail is spelled gaol (don't ask me why). It's all part of the fun.

After my class I went to the library to work on a blog for one of my classes. You can check it out here: biofrontiers.wordpress.com. I spent around three hours straight to finish the blog based on other research I had done prior only to find out when I got home my teachers decided to change the due date to Monday. Oh well, at least it was done. That night it was still raining which made it really cold in my room. This was not helpful as I only have a sheet to keep my warm - so I've started sleeping with my sweater and socks on. It's not freezing, but a sheet is definitely not enough.

Saturday I was extremely lazy and basically watched a lot of movies. It was raining so I didn't feel like going outside and my bus pass expired so I wasn't going anywhere. That's when I decided I was actually really lonely. I could have bugged a roommate, but it's just not the same as your best friends that always want to know how you're doing and what you're up to. The feeling continued on Sunday as well when I ran into a friend from the last time I was here. It's simply awkward seeing people I knew before I was married after over three years. It gets better over time, but that first time is still different. It's not just because I'm missing my other half, but I've changed tremendously since I last saw these people and naturally they have too. So, it's like making new friends again in a way. I don't mind it too much, but it would be nice to have Matt here. At first I think I missed the cat more, but now I miss my eternal companion that I'm used to sharing everything with. We'll just have to make up the time when he gets here. In the meantime, I'm trying to be more social and branch out, and I am looking into getting a job if I can find one on campus.

Today I think I did rather well branching out. I now have a group of bio students to talk to during my Stat's class (we're all in most of the same classes). It was a great day to chat too because the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building. About a minute after returning it happened again so it was a good opportunity to bond over how ridiculous that class is. The Master of Research program is brand new so all the classes for the program are brand new as well. Being the guinea pigs is good and bad since your teachers are more flexible, but they may also not have a great structure. My stats teacher is well knowledgeable, but her method of teaching us how to use the R program for statistics is slow-moving. At least I have even more to talk about with my bio group.