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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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In the City That Never Sleeps

You want a "city that never sleeps"? Forget about New York or Las Vegas, Bangkok is it. In fact, parts of Bangkok just come alive at night. I assume that's because nighttime is when the smoldering sun goes down, and people can walk around a little more comfortably. Either way, with 8 million+ people in one city, there are always people up and about.

For one thing, Bangkok is full of tourist consumerism. Millions of tourists flock to Bangkok each year, and in turn, much money is invested in its tourist industry. I came across this place called Terminal 21 yesterday. Nine different floors, each with their own international city theme.

("Terminal 4": San Francisco city, "Terminal 5": San Francisco pier)

So brightly lit, nicely decorated, air-conditioned, and staffed with many English speaking workers. Then I walked back outside and down a block, and I was back next to dilapidated buildings, water dripping from I don't know where, and the smell from the sewers. It's just so crazy how much money is put into the tourist industry, when right next door to these malls are these kinds of sights common all throughout the rest of Bangkok. Odd...

Anyway, back to what I've been doing. On my first real day in Bangkok, I tried to catch a taxi to my hotel. After not being able to communicate with the first few cabs I flagged down, I wrote out some crappy directions to my hotel and luckily got a cab driver that spoke some english. He laughed at my english-written notes and was super nice. We spent a good amount of time looking for my hotel, but I finally got there, failing to take note that my hotel check-in wasn't until 2pm. I sat in the lobby for 2.5 hours waiting to check-in (which didn't happen until around 3), sigh, and THEN my day started! I walked down the block and picked up some good looking skewers. I bit into them, and it was cold and it was liver. Damnit. Then, I spent the next few hours taking a train to and then getting lost in the MBK center, bargaining for a new suitcase and such. That mall is crazy. Eight stories, with each floor packed with stores on top of each other. The rows were endless.

Wandered the streets a bit, and then took the train back to my hotel area.

This street, Sukhumvit 38, although it looks like any other road during the day, really lights up at night. All of those lights are street vendors, busy with hungry customers for some good ol' Thai food. Foreigners and locals come together here, feasting on noodles, rice plates, fruit, and drinks. I had some yummy pad thai that first night, and this is where I got the mango and sticky rice that I ate last night! Couldn't help myself. Went back to my nice air-con room and knocked out.

It rained and thundered overnight! eep. The weather conditions have actually been surprisingly good, considering it was supposed to be lightning storms all week. Decided to get some noodles for breakfast, since that's what an overcast day calls for. I kept seeing people packed at this one lady's stand near my hotel, so that was my immediate choice. And man, that was the best decision I've here made yet. I don't know what made the broth so good, but the meal was delicious! I also added too much chili, which made it painfully spicy. Still finished it though.

Word to the wise for you travelers - if the locals eat there, you eat there! Good quality, good taste, mmm my mouth is watering thinking about this soup now.

After breakfast, I took the Skytrain (Bangkok's newer subway/airtrain system that is SO convenient and reliable!) towards Lumphini Park to check out preparations for Loi Krathong. Loi Krathong is a festival celebrated throughout Thailand in giving thanks to and asking for forgiveness from the goddess of water. Getting off the Skytrain, I overheard some people talking about the Walking Dead (heh). I turned around to chat a little, and we happened to be going the same way! Friends! Apparently they're a group of guys (and girlfriend) from New York that are in Thailand for two weeks to train Muay Thai! Pretty cool. So I followed them to the famous Lumpinee Stadium.

Then we ventured over to Lumphini Park, a spot of green in the bustling city. It's a very old park, still very beautiful. People use the park a lot for exercise - yoga in the morning, bicycling through the extensive pathways, and running by the lake.

I saw a Kimodo dragon while I was there! It was HUGE, but it was raining at the time, so I couldn't get my camera out to photograph it. Yes, I alone was caught in the torrential downpour when the others left to grab some dinner. It was the perfect time for people watching, though. I watched as people in the park went about their usual day. People were still running, as if it weren't raining, the peddle-boat man stood in the cover of his shack, and some others just took out their umbrellas and walked along. Pretty interesting.

Then I met back up with the group from NY for a free Muay Thai fight outside a shopping mall. My first fight! :) It was cool, because they were all really nice in teaching me the basics of Muay Thai fighting and how much respect and discipline goes into the training. They're going to see a fight in Lumpinee Stadium tomorrow night, which sounds awesome.

After a few fights, we went to the Chao Praya river to see the closing festival of Loi Krathong. People were lighting the candles and incense of their Loi Krathongs and casting them downstream. These Loi Krathongs were made and sold all throughout the city during the day. We went to the temple to see other forms of offerings to the water goddess, including floating lanterns!

I wish my camera took better quality night pictures. Then I could have taken awesome shots of the beautiful festival like this one. (To be fair, this one was taken at a temple in Chiang Mai - a little different from out Bangkok experience, heh.)

Mmm, had some dumplings, coconut ice cream out of a coconut, and YUP, some fried insects! The insects were alright... probably wouldn't add them into my usual diet though. The festival went on all night, but by then, I was beat. Even as we were leaving the area, people were getting off the train to just begin their night. I went back to my hotel (after picking up my snack heehee), showered, and slept.

Today, I slept in. Had some duck and rice this morning and trekked over to my next hotel. I caught a ride in my first tuktuk! Wooo, fun, smoggy, and speedy. By then, it was later in the day, so I wandered over to check out the King Rama VIII bridge, which I can see from my window. (You can google some really nice pictures of it at night on your own, haha).

Then I went over to the infamous Khao San road, bought a few things, wandered a little more, and then headed back to my hotel. I stopped to have some "country style" vermicelli, I think it was called. REALLY spicy, but she warned me beforehand haha. Tasty. Taking it easy tonight, since I've been out late the last couple of nights. Ate a lot of junk food that I picked up at the grocery store the other day heehee. (Lychee flavored chews, tamarind with apricot powder, casava chips!!!!! and other goodies.)

(The jam-packed Khao San road. Even more lit up and poppin' at night.)

I'm excited to meet up with my friend from my Australia program tomorrow evening. Being in that group of people yesterday made me appreciate the ability to have actual conversations on a day-to-day basis. Don't know if that made any sense, but basically I miss being able to talk to people aside from smiling and pointing and my sad use of a few Thai phrases. Traveling alone, while really eye-opening and exhilarating, gets a tad lonely. But yay! More adventuring tomorrow. I think I'll start my day with some temples, maybe a boat ride now that I'm closer the river. We will see.

This was a pretty long post... I'll be surprised if anyone reads it all the way through! I got real in-depth with my recapping. :/ Like I said - I MISS ACTUAL CONVERSATION. Just kidding. Half kidding. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhkay, until next time peoples! :)

Mmm, grasshopper.

#bangkok #thailand #travel #study abroad #australia #brisbane #uq #University of Queensland #ucsb #gilman scholarship #insects #food #loi krathong #muay thai #noodles #tuktuk

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Midnight snack after a long day. Mango on sticky rice with salted coconut milk! MMMMM. #bangkok #streetfood #delicious

#bangkok #delicious #streetfood

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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"Bangkok has her now."

Hey people!

I made it into Bangkok last night and took a shuttle to my hotel! Ventured out just a bit, and then went to bed by midnight (minor jetlag). Woke up this morning, got some breakfast, and strolled around. Went to the 7/11 down the street to look at common prices for things and to buy some bottled water(!). I'm trying to get used to converting things from Thai baht to US dollars quickly. Shuttled back to the nearby airport and took the airtrain to the center of the city, where my next hotel is. The fare was a little over a dollar! Such a change from Brisbane, haha.

Then I walked around looking for a cab that could find my hotel... much more difficult than expected. I finally sat down and wrote out the directions (I'm so happy I kept the window open when I had last checked it with the hotel wifi!!). I flagged down another cab, and luckily the driver was this super nice guy that was aspiring to learn english! Yay. We had a laugh over my english-written directions, but he was able to find my hotel! In this obscure little streetway... damnit. Anyway, he was extremely helpful, so I tipped him. The fare + my big tip came out to be about $4.25, which was pricey, but hey, I made it! (And really, I'm still on an Australian dollar mindset so...)

Check-ins not until 2:00pm, and I got here around 12:15pm. Jumped the gun a bit, but after having to lug around all my crap in the heat for a while and getting lost and all, I don't mind sitting for a bit. I'll check in and get some lunch soon though. I can already tell, I'm going to spend a lot of baht on street food... IT ALL LOOKS DELICIOUS.

One thing though, every time I eat or drink here I get this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think my body's trying to get used to the food/water here lol. Oh yeah, my two main goals while in Thailand: 1) don't get anything stolen and 2) DON'T GET SICK. I will not! Yup, so that's why I went out and bought bottled water. We'll see about my first experience with streetfood soon enough! Hopefully that strange almost nausea feeling will go away in a few days time. . . Might hit up some shopping today, too.

A couple pictures to end the post. Lucky for me that the hotel lobby has some pretty speedy wifi! Woooooooooo, I want food!

The Thai written language is so... foreign to me... and I only know how to say "hello" and "thank you" in Thai. The people that have gotten those phrases from me love it though. ;)

This morning from the balcony, before the daytime rush. Tons of motorbikes, cars, and palm trees.

Essentially, I'm in an LA where everyone speaks and writes in a different language, they ride motorbikes, there are exponentially more street vendors, and the weather's f*#$ing humid. fun fun :)

#bangkok #thailand #travel #study abroad #not on gilman money anymore #uq #university of queensland #ucsb #santa barbara #humid #tiny ants #brisbane #airport #palm tree #tired #backpacking

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Goodbye, OZ!

Quick post as I have to head to the airport now....! A little nervous/anxious for my first time in Asia. Traveling by myself for a bit. Will keep you all posted!!

Please let there be no bad news on Thailand in the next two weeks to worry my family more than they already are....

k, CYA!

#travel abroad #thailand #australia #koala #kangaroo #gilman scholarship #uq #UCSB #uc eap

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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All Good Things Must Come to an End

Our UC EAP Marine Biology and Terrestrial Ecology program officially ended last Thursday. We finished up finals two weeks prior to that and then headed to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef for our last Marine Bio field trip. HERON ISLAND WAS A.MA.ZING. Definitely one of the best moments of my life was spent laying on the shores of that island, looking at the beautiful water.

Now that the program has come to a close and I've found myself with a little bit more time on my hands before I fly out to Thailand, I've decided to go back and write a post for all the trips I failed to talk about before. I finally updated with just about everything from my Australia trip!!!!! Yay! Now, I'll end this post in reflection and with pictures from our farewell dinner.

I've met some pretty amazing people on this trip. I mean, we spent three months hiking together, swimming together, eating together, going out together, taking all the same classes, doing the same assignments -- it's like we were all basically chained to each other... (in a good way?). And I don't think I could've asked for a better group dynamic. I'm really happy to have met everyone in our program, and the staff at UQ was amazingly welcoming and helpful. This is one experience I could never hope to forget. Things I've seen and experienced here will always be a part of me, and I'm so appreciative to have had this opportunity with everyone I've encountered in Australia and in all the places I've seen down under. I can't believe these past three months flew by that quickly. In the moment, I feel like I never had time to stop and reflect on what I was really partaking in, and now I wish I could just hold on to specific moments in time that I've had over this trip. It's all been so amazing, and it's crazy that it's all in the past now.

Thank you to everyone that's made this trip just all so wonderful.

Cheers! <3

Pictures from the farewell dinner:

View of the terrace from the balcony.

Los gauchos!

Alyssa and the sunset!

Jay!

Stacy!

and so many more individual pictures!

The crew.

John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snails4lyf.

Smag it.

My lovely roommate<3

And then things got weird after dinner...

Love y'all!

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Last Day in Brissie

Tomorrow is my last day in Brisbane! The other night, my housemom bought me dinner, and then we took a walk around the park by the river. It was nice. I'm really thankful that she's been so nice and has housed me for the last few days in between the end of my program and my trip to Thailand!

Speaking of my homestay, my roommate and I spent her last day here doing the essential Brisbane things that we hadn't had the chance to do; we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the casino, and the botanic gardens at Mount Coot-tha. Then we sent her off! She thankfully agreed to take home my suitcase filled with stuff, so that I could travel lighter in Thailand. How nice is that!! :') I'm so lucky to have had such a great roommate here in Oz. :)

After that, a group of us traveled up to the Sunshine coast. It stormed. Then I tagged along on part of my friends' roadtrip down south, with my sole stop at Byron Bay. It was probably my favorite beach out of all the ones we visited! So pretty. So many dolphins. The beach was beautiful and relaxing.

I'm sad to leave Australia, but I'm also so excited to go home. Some things I'll miss: delicious 30c Macca (McDonald's) ice cream cones!, Aussie slang and way of abbreviating everything, Tim Tam SLAMs, warm beaches, kangaroos, Babies (pictured below), train etiquette signs, and Cadbury Dairy Milk Celebration bars.

Things I will not miss: the giant bugs, the humid summer, the incredibly loud birds, burning ant bites, depending on the Translink buses, being a nomad.

Kind of a sloppy post, but you're only in it for the pictures anyway. ;) Just kidding, but I'm tired and am trying to fill in all my Australia posts while I'm still in Australia, so. lol. PICTURE TIME!

First of Byron Bay<3:

At only another 41 km left to Byron!

The hostel

OH, STOP IT.

Walk up to the lighthouse

Cool!

Dolphins everywhere.

And then I had to leave them the next day, sadly. :'( Hope you had a great roadtrip guys!!!

AND RANDOM PICTURES OF BRISSIE!:

Held a koala at Lone Pine. ;)

Emu...

Cassowary

WOMBAT. <3

At the botanic gardens

The lookout over Brisbane

Not even just the regular Babies, but this is a picture of the SQUIRTING ones... (Starburst brand gummies. Crazy babies.)

Oh, you know, the common household HUNTSMAN SPIDER . . .

Did I ever mention that I got a tick bite in Lamington? ON MY NECK?

"Amy sees Paul. She leaves the allocated space free. 'Thank you,' says Paul.

Train etiquette. Super simple stuff."

Boat ride back from Carnarvon Gorge. The sun sets over the mainland on the east coast, duh.

I loved the West End markets - they were held every Saturday morning.

Don't know when I'll be seeing this side of the moon again.

Good night, Brisbane!

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Bushwalking in Oz

One thing that I loved about our program was the instructors. We couldn't have asked for a nicer, more accommodating, enthusiastic ecology professor for one thing. There's no going back to looking at the organisms and land around us the same way anymore. (At least not for a while...) I've had this talk with a few people from the program, saying that we can't stop wondering how everything around us works now and we'll try to identify different things in the ecology of our surroundings... dorky stuff, I know haha Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I really appreciated our Terrestrial Ecology field trips and our professor John Hall, and they are all something I will always remember. I've posted about our field trip to the rainforest in Lamington, so I'll post some pictures of our first trip to the Australian bush of Girraween and to our final ecology field trip to the semi-arid desert of Carnarvon Gorge. Enjoy!

Girraween National Park:

Setting up tent city! IT WAS FREEZING AT NIGHT.

Our first encounter with kangaroo!!!!!!!!!

Lectures in the bush

Bushwalkin'

Pyramid Hike

Joey and mama

Our first encounter with the birds and plants of Oz

and the intense ants...

Granite formations from Turtle Rock

After jumping into the ice cold water!

And Carnarvon Gorge:

Pretty-faced wallaby

Crazy kookaburras stealing our food...

Aboriginal art

Rainforest refugias in the desert!

Into the Amphitheatre

Early morning hike

We saw a PLATYPUS in the wild!

AND an echidna! :)

Kangaroo watching for field work

And some lovin' before the talent show on our last night

I'll miss it!

Oh, might I add that we saw some pretty amazing views/other stuff that pictures wouldn't do justice... :') CYA.

#kangaroo #australia #ucsb #uq #University of Queensland #girraween #gilman scholarship #study abroad #travel koala #travel #echidna #platypus #john hall #oz

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Sydney in September (Lots of Pictures!)

Talk about overdue post...

So, a group of us flew down to Sydney over one of our long weekends way back in September. It was a lottt of fun! Two of my friends and I bought tickets for those tourist buses that go around and drop you off along their route. It was really worth it to see as much of Sydney as we did in one weekend. We ate some really good food, saw street performers, a Brazilian concert in the park, went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, ate at the Opera House... Good times. Enough talk, I'll explain the trip through pictures ahah.

Our hostel!

In Hyde Park - Australia's oldest parkland!

The beautiful Bondi Beach

Then back to the city -->

where they had a lot of these old churches

with heads on the doors, which my camera kept focusing on as if they were real people...

Went to the hostel's Scary Canary that night. :)

--> Next day, to the Fish Market!

They had so many venders...

and it was all delicious.

Ended up at a Brazilian concert in the park. It was so cool, probably one of my favorite things about the weekend.

The iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge

and the Opera House

Shopping at the Rocks

Boat ride from the Harbor to Manly Beach

Windy but really pretty still!

Pizza and shizz

Before I knew I was holding $20 worth of candy... It was right in front of the boat entrance! WHY.

The Opera House on the boat ride back

--> Next day,

When we fell in love with Pie Face (pot pies for days)

Then off to the Museum of Contemporary Art >>>

The colors!

From the rooftop

Lunch at the Opera House

Overlooking the bridge

Government House in the Royal Botanic Gardens

It was such a pretty place.

Soon after, we all packed up into a van and flew back to Brisbane.

It was a really good weekend. Hope my friends that are down there right now are having as good a time as I did. I'm leaving for Thailand in two days guys!! Will post more about Australia before then, though. See ya!

#sydney #ucsb #uq #University of Queensland #study abroad #travel #australia #kangaroo #pie face #opera house #new south wales #brisbane #september #gilman scholarship

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef

For those of you keeping up, this is Post 1 of my go-back-and-blog-about-all-the-trips-I-never-wrote-about posts, starting with the most recent trip.

I'd like to start off by saying that no pictures will ever appropriately convey how incredibly beautiful Heron Island was. Even if the rocky, 2.5-hour boat ride made us feel a little sick, stepping off onto the smooth, white sand and being surrounded by clear, bright blue water instantly made it all go away.

We spent a total of ten days there, but the days flew by so quickly, it didn't seem that long at all. Yes, we were there for "research," but I definitely spent more time laying out on the beach and leisurely snorkeling than anything else. We ate deliciously. Maggie, the cook hired through UQ, prepared the best meals for us including her amazing oatmeal and delicious sandwich spreads, curry and homemade bread. One night, we even had a FEAST of seafood! Who eats like that on a field trip?? Also, my roommate spent her birthday on the island. How often do do you get to say that you had your birthday party on an island in the GBR? Yeah.

I was definitely spoiled for my first real snorkeling experience. The waters were so clear and WARM, and the underwater life was so cool! Corals, sea turtles, sharks, rays, fish in every color, octopi, giant prawn, GIANT SEA TURTLES, everything, everything. We swam after sharks and rays, dove down under coral... I just couldn't get enough. I think I have about a thousand pictures saved to my computer from the island, taken by different underwater cameras and such.

For our research project, we went down to the rockbed along the coast of one side of the small island and performed an abundance and distribution survey of snails in the area (yes, snails again). A nice, laid-back project for a laid-back island. Our tutor was a stats god, so she whimsically helped us through that portion of our project. After the ten days on the island, we had to spend the rest of our time in Brisbane writing up our research paper. The program just ended quickly after that, which is kind of a bummer, but Heron Island was still too amazing for words.

Waking up at five in the morning to watch the sunrise and then going for a morning snorkel, being in a secluded part of the ocean in water warm enough to be a private pool and just laying there, laying out under the stars on the beach, riding back to the island from a boat snorkel with the wind blowing and the sun reflecting off of the waves... There was definitely one specific moment when I was laying on the beach looking off at the water thinking that that instant was one of the best moments of my life. I can't think of another time when I was able to say that IN THE MOMENT. I was living it. I was completely happy. Just a crazy thought. Still can't believe I've had such the great opportunity to come out here for a study abroad.

Anyway, that's enough babble. If those weren't words enough, here are some awesome pictures! Some will be mine that I took using a borrowed underwater camera, but the others were taken by various people. The really good quality ones specifically are probably by Hayley N. lol. There are also those by Ali M., Brittany U., and other students using the underwater cameras. Enjoy!

First exposure

Sunrise over the ocean

Hard at work

Maggie and our seafood feast

Boat snorkel

Black-tipped shark!

Hayley's awesome nudibranch shot

and giant lobster

How pretty is that turtle?

All the fish!

Giant clam

Guitar ray!

I loved how this shipwreck looked.

Britt :)

"No Diving or Jumping from Jetty"

Goodbye, Paradise.

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Also, a big Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back in the States!!!! Missing you all, wish I could be home to eat some of that turkey right now.

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etiphany-downunder · 11 years

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Off to the GBR!

Hey everyone!

We're leaving tonight en route to Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef for more research shtuffs! Will have limited internet access until I get back. Lacking posts on Carnarvon Gorge and finals week, I know. :/ But those will have to wait since I'm cramming for another final before the bus! Ahhhhh, it's been a busy/crazy week. Hope everyone's doing well back home! :)

In honor of lectures being over at the University of Queensland, here are some pictures of campus:

Pretty, huh?

This was our packed car to the hostel today... lol.

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P.S. Since we weren't able to be in the states for Halloween, we had our own party out here. A picture from the night...

(Photo by: Brittany U.)

#great barrier reef #gbr #uq #University of Queensland #gilman scholarship #australia #aussie #kangaroo #koala #travel #study abroad #ucsb #heron island #amazing #brisbane #beauty #beach

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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Straddie Follow-up and Brisbane Riverfire

The lapse between posts seems to keep increasing with each new one... merp.

Anyway, hello everyone! So, we returned from the research station on Tuesday the 9th, after a night of shenanigans and a day of beach fun. The rest of the week consisted of classes and finishing up our reports on the projects we conducted out at Straddie. My research experience at Straddie is going to be hard to top at our next field trip out at Heron Island, because I had a great group this time around and the best tutor we could've asked for! She was amazingly helpful and really knew what she was talking about. I hope my report can do our project justice. It was fun. :D

Okay, now let's rewind back. Our midterms (death) were the week before we left for Stradbroke, and that Saturday, our NSF reports were due. I spent all day on it, in hopes of finishing before the final night of the three week Brisbane Festival, which consisted of a firework show over the river. It looked like I was going to have miss out, but at the last minute I decided I was going to regret not going. In the end, I'm really happy I decided to go!! The show was appropriately titled, "Riverfire," as the fireworks seemed to set the river on fire. (They began to play Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" while the red fireworks were going off, and then it started raining... Totally coincidental lol.) Really fun, really hectic, and I got home in time to finish my report and turn it in. (Thanks in part to my loooovely roommate! :3)

Can't believe the program's almost done! Have to prepare to write my final reports and get ready for finals. IT'S NOT JUST PLAYTIME OVER HERE, PEOPLE. Miss you all, hope things are going well over on that side of the world! Here are some supplementary pictures:

More Straddie:

Working during tea time = not happy campers... This was probably later in the week. (Photo by Brittany U.)

Fieldwork. (Photo by Derek S.)

Damaged leaves under the microscope.

Our experiment was housed in the station's "Mangrove House". (Photo by Brittany U.)

Lunch and gelato by the beach. This is Alyssa. She's alright...

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Riverfire:

The mass of people is coming...

The ferris wheel at night.

People in the manmade beach pool......

Random fact: my favorite Aussie slang term is "brekky," referring to breakfast.

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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Straddie, Pt. 2

(WOOPS, meant to post this about two weeks ago . . . .)

Starting Day 6 out here at the research station. We stayed up late last night to take pictures and to prepare the analysis of the first half of our experiment. Got to sleep in today though, YAY! :) Had scones, cake, and ANZACS at tea time, because we slept passed breakfast haha. I'll spare any details about our project, unless anyone wants to hear them... but basically, we are looking at three different snail grazers over two different seagrasses. One snail gets as large as 2mm. Yes, 2 MILLIMETERS. Stuck our seagrass samples in the oven last night, and gonna do some photo analysis now.

This past weekend, before our research began, we camped out on the other side of the island. It poured rain most of the time sadly, but it was still beautiful. My first time camping on the beach! Couldn't go whale watching, kayaking, camel back riding or swimming like we were planning to, though. :( Oh, well! Still a lot of fun. Some pictures before I head out:

Ferry ride to North Stradbroke Island.

Sunset over Point Lookout.

Camping.

Haminoea willisi

Lookin' hard, preparing to go snorkeling.

Mama koala and her baby!

"The Most Amazing Shop," indeed.

Crazy beetle I saw outside the lab.

Rainbow lorikeet.

Happy birthday Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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Straddie, Pt. 1

Sorry it's been so hectic since my last post -- I've been putting off updating everyone! Since Sydney, I've had two midterms, a paper due, went to Brisbane's annual Riverfire, and visited the research station once.

Currently, I'm back on North Stradbroke Island at the Moreton Bay Research Center. My team is investigating 3 types of sea snails and 2 types of seagrasses in the area. We've set up a research project observing preference, and we have a week to finish it all. Sadly, one of our projects failed today............................. So we have to start it all over again tomorrow. UGH. Have to wake up at 5:45am to catch low tide in the morning, so I'll have to cut this post short. On a lighter note, it feels so good to actually start doing research! :)

I'll for sure update once I get a chance though!! I always say that. Good night everybodayyyy!

Science!

#stradbroke #straddie #australia #brisbane #stradbroke island #research #smaragdia #halophila #zostera #capricornia #snails #koalas #study abroad #gilman scholarship #kangaroo #sleepy #moreton bay #ucsb

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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Rainforest Adventures in Lamington

Just wanted to give a quick summary of my trip to Lamington (to make up for not doing one for Girraween National Park).

First of all, Lamington National Park is actually located in the caldera of an ancient, eroded volcano that used to span over the state of Queensland. The views were beautiful over the cliffs, and we saw some pretty spectacular waterfalls. The trees were huge, and many of them had buttress roots - big, outstretched roots at the base of large trees. Our second morning there, my group had to wake up and be out of our bunkhouses by 5am. We hiked by headlamp to a dark view over the cliff and counted bird calls. As the sun slowly rose, the birds grew louder and louder. It was awesome. We then went to breakfast and did our hike of the day. John (our professor) led us through a long trail, stopping to inform us about the different ecosystem transitions we were walking through, like from rainforest to heathland to wet sclerophyll forest. We hiked all day, had lunch over a secluded cliff, and hiked back in the dark to see some glow worms. They lit the walls of the cliffs like stars in the sky.

Our longest hike was 17km (about 10.5 miles). We saw countless number of waterfalls. I talked to my TA about traveling after my trip... so many decisions to make. :) On our final night, we bushdanced! A local squaredance-like tradition, it was really fun haha. We ended our week in the rainforest at another park. This littoral rainforest was beachside. It was beautiful, and the waves at the beach were sooo strong! Such a great trip. I had a great, GREAT time. :) We came home on Friday night and woke up at 5am on Saturday to catch our flight to Sydney! Brittany and I tried McDonald's here for the first time - really expensive, except for the DELICIOUS 30 cent cones!!!!!!!!!!! eep, I've had one a day ever since ahahaha. OH YEAH, I had a tick on my neck after one of our hikes that had to be removed by tweezers. It was a fatty!

Such an eventful week; I'll put up another post just for my Sydney adventure soon. As usual, here are some more photos from Lamington! Happy Tuesday, everyone! :)

On our way, we saw some hanggliders!

Cute little pademelon marsupial.

Birdlistenin'.

Under the canopy

Burleigh Head National Park (littoral rainforest!)

Jellyfish!!!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the first half of my group got to see a live koala and joey in the eucalyptus!!! Too bad I didn't get to see it in person.

(Photo cred: Hayley N.)

At least I got to see a red-bellied black snake though! :)

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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From Lamington to Brisbane to Sydney!

Just got back from Lamington National Park, and it was amazing!!!!!!!!!! So much to possibly say about my first experience in a rainforest, but I'm exhausted and need to pack for my flight out to Sydney in the morning. I'll leave with a couple of photos from the week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Morning view from our cabins.

Eating Lamington cake in Lamington Park! (delicious-ness.)

Ballunjui Falls.

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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Sydney Flight Booked!

One more post tonight, because I am so excited:

After our week out at Lamington, a group of us are going to fly out to Sydney for our three-day weekend! Woo! I've heard the zoo down there is something to see... But yay!! :)

Have a good week everyone!

(I forgot I never actually posted much about our field trip to Girraween... Well, here's the Omega team on top of the steep Pyramid Hike. So awesome.)

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etiphany-downunder · 12 years

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Beach Side and Bus Rides

Yesterday, a group of us traveled out to the Gold Coast. Gold Coast is known for its beautiful beaches and the tons of shops right across the street from the beach. The beach we went to was called "Surfer's Paradise", and it was beautiful! The sand was really fine and soft, so that our feet sank in really deep as we walked through it. The water was clear and blue. The oddest thing, though, was that there were towering skyscrapers built around the area, blocking the sun from the beach from time to time. In the shade, it was so cold! (It's still winter here.) We still had fun, nevertheless. We could only swim in designated areas on the beach, of course, to protect us from rip tides and dangerous animals. Oh, Australia.

We ended the day with a little shopping, before a long bus/train ride home. Brittany (my roommate) and I stopped for "Brisbane's best Mexican food", just to try it... Meh, it made me miss Mexican food even more, but it was worth a try! Kinda sweet and random tasting nachos, haha; maybe I'll try a burrito next time.

Today, Britney and I are trying to get through part of our load of schoolwork before packing to leave for the rainforest! Tomorrow morning, we leave for Lamington National Park. Should be fun! I'll end with some pictures from yesterday. So long!

Those damn skyscrapers.

Surfer's Paradise

They have these etiquette signs all over. (Photo cred: Brittany U.)

Our stinky nachos.

<3

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