Back in M-town

Just got back from backpacking queensland - not enough time to write about my whole trip but i'll leave a couple of pics for those of you who have been asking! will update soon :)

(more Fraser Island pics avail in "more trip pix")

Fraser Island trip - the largest sand island in the world! this is the safari 4WD we navigated the island with.

Fraser Island sand highway

Campsite on the beach

freedom - in the moment

Jungle surfing - my name was Gonzo

My favorite zipline - upside down

90 feet above ground, overlooking the World Heritage Listed Daintree Rainforest - the oldest rainforest on earth with unchanged climate...dinosaurs roamed here...right where i jungle surfed!

stories and more pics to follow...

.nostalgia.

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life...
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right

I hope you had the time of your life.

This song has been echoing in my head for the last little while...i almost feel like I'm the one graduating...it feels weird being all the way here, while everyone else back home has come to that fork in the road. Spain, Euro-trips, grad school, job offers--different provinces, different countries...everybody seems to be moving on...moving along. In a way a small part of me is glad that I am not back home...it would be heart wrenching to have to document that last walk from ginos, that last study sesh at dc, that last night at rev...

I've been having these crazy feelings of nostalgia lately, thinking about what it will be like when i leave Waterloo and take that next step into life...when all of a sudden you become that responsible adult...no more sleeping in, no more late, late random nights, no more making cookies at 3 in the morning, no more chasing mice around the house. Easy Mac? I cant give that up...what about the crazy landlord brawls, and trying to find change for the laundry machine? Nights at Phils, then louies, galaxy theatre, free pizza coupons, trips to the dollerama to pimp out our rooms, filthys, long line ups at rev always trying to get vip...exams you didnt think you'd get through, classes you just slept through, starting up the Survivor to drive to the Bomber in the winter, walking home in 6 feet of snow, setting off the fire alarm in Beck Hall, those pure chilled nights involving fabreeze, watching hours of Sex & the City, middle of the night breakdowns, saturday morning conversations...for what its worth it was really worth all the while.

Funny how years of uni wont change you but will grow you; how the people you meet are part of this mosaic that is life. How somehow you call this patchwork quilt your own as you walk through in your forever changing identity on this stage that is your existence. I think about who i was when i got to UW, and who I am now...and how the hell i got here, on the other side of the globe. It was something unpredictable, but in the end was right...

And I really had the time of my life.

A Day in the Life of a Monash Engineer

After many requests, I have finally decided to detail what it is like to be in school here. I actually went around with a camera today and documented what a typical day is like in pictures. I was trying to do it undercover so people wouldn't think I was completely nuts, and my plan was to go incognito with huge glasses and a big hat. Then i figured that "meena-style incognito" may not be the best idea - with my zebra print Billabong bag it just wouldnt work...

*NB: The day chosen is a hypothetical day combining schedules for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday units(course = unit, faculty = course).


I wake up in the morning after snoozing precisely 4 times. It is at this moment that I realize that uni is really cutting into my vacation time, and I really need to get my act together and start reading my textbooks! I make some brekky (toast/jam, dood/cereal, bagel/cream cheese - ozzies dont know what bagels are and they are really hard to find here so i only reward myself with a bagel if i really feel as though i deserve it). Then I get ready and set off from Farrer Hall, my residence.

I start walking towards an extra long path that passes by a pond with ducks and has tons of trees - really looking forward to autumn to see all the colors changing. It's pretty chilly in the morning - so they were right when they said Melbs gets cold...I need to buy a scarf soon.

9 minutes later, I cross the local footy field and see Engineering in the distance--I am already 7 minutes late. No matter how early I get up or how much extra time I leave myself in the morning, I am consistently 7 minutes late every single morning.

I enter the 4th Year Room for my CHE 4113: Management for Engineers course. All of my third year courses are held in one room--conveniently named the Third Year Room.

The Marketing course fully puts me to sleep without fail, so after an hour of it I need to go grab a coffee. But there is no decent coffee in Australia! So I am currently living off of Chai Lattes at my new favorite cafe called Fibonacci's. For those of you that are geeky you will know what a Fibonacci Sequence is-and if you look carefully you can see it on the counter (1,1,2,3,5,8...). Yup, you guessed right - this is the cafe in the Engineering Library. Its like some next level geek - i didnt think anyone could do it better than Waterloo but i was sadly mistaken!

After I grab my coffee, I am late for the second half of class (usually by approx 7 minutes) and I take a nice scenic walk back to class, passing a calming water fountain on the way.

When marketing class is finished, I head to the 3rd year room for CHE 3102: Heat and Mass Transfer. Are we learning Heat and Mass transfer today? I'm afraid not! This is really just a repeat of a Transport Process course I took in 2nd year (helllooo Chatzis). Its basically just in case I one day come across a feed stream concentrated with ammonia that i need to strip out using a solvent and the plant depends on my calculations but, oh look, we have no more analytical software so i have to analyze the process by drawing a graph by hand of the amount of theoretical distillation trays needed! Seriously - not impressed. Are we EVER going to use this stuff? You know, i wasnt always so cynical...oh ya but i got a sweet as (kiwi slang) Roxy pencil case that fits my assortment of stationary, chapstick, my 30 cm ruler AND also my TI-83. I am in LOVE with this pencil case!

After class, I take a picture by a fish tank which is really a distillation column with fishies in it. Just when you thought the Chemical Engineering Department couldn't get nerdier. But the sad part is that when i first realized it was a distilation column, i was actually impressed...

Anywho, moving right along, yes that is a chai latte in my hand, full of cinnaminny goodness!

After a long morning its time for lunch - I am immediately craving handrolls. Handrolls are yummy yummy sushi rolls that are long and only $2.20 - I eat them almost everyday. Its kind of scary. So we walk down the path to the Monash Meeting Point in the Campus Center (SLC/MAC Hall). Note how people walk on the "other" side of the path.

Before I got to Australia, I really thought that I wouldnt have to do much work here. But I now realize that the University of Waterloo and Monash are pretty comparable in the course load and teaching styles, however a hell of a lot more people fail here. In fact, about 50% of my class are fourth years doing their courses over again. As you can imagine, that is not very encouraging. I'm not sure if its the lecturers or the students...

When lunch is over, we walk back towards the engineering building for CHE 3108 - Process Operation and Design. This course is a 4th year UW course and basically covers process design, materials engineering, flowsheeting and all the other good stuff.

Then I have CHE 3101: Reaction Engineering. I can't even describe this course because I have absolutely no idea what is going on. I do know that it is about reaction rates and reaction kinetics and that my lecturer has a voice that seroiusly just lulls you to dreamland. Its one of those courses where the lectures are so useless but you still end up going - it's a trade off, of course, as the best naps usually happen during those times. And just when you think you can start skipping lectures...he starts taking attendence. What a guy.

Next stop - time to leave the engineering building! Bye, bye distillation columns, its off to the nicer and better looking part of campus - Arts! This course AUS 1060: Contemporary Australia is basically made for American exchange students and it covers Australian culture, history, underlying racism, aborigines, and the Howard Govt...basically Bush's little poochri. It is pretty interesting but I do think I now know more about Australia then actual Australians do...most australians are more concerned with footy and they "couldnt be bothered" (aussie slang) to learn about history. In real life, this unit conflicts with my CHE 3108 so I have to pick and choose which I want to go to depending on the week.

Then, finally, it is time for my trek back to Farrer Lords. Home sweet home!


Get home, cook dinns, watch endless amounts of tv on a laptop (LOST is my current fixation), go to sleep and do it all over again the next day!

The Mailbox - A post for Mr. T. Horton

I miss...my mailbox and everything it represents. I can close my eyes right now and repeat the motions in my head and feel like i'm actually in my little chevy cavalier with the very adolescent looking red/yellow/orange steering wheel cover and fluffy heart seat pillows (so i can see over the wheel). Pass Superstore, pass my pink elementary school, turn at the poo/pee house, turn again, drive up to my culd-e-sac, slow down/stop at my mailbox, depending on who's in my company...have those last peices of conversation for the evening, or a long drawn out discussion on the nature of human existance...spot a bunny or two racing away as my garage opens...

I miss...11:00 Timmy's sit-ins drinking French Vanillas and eating a plain toasted bagel with plain cream cheese and tomatoes...I miss playing hockey with pink hockey tape on 2 sticks in the gym...I miss Saturday morning drives to Airways with mandatory coffee stops...I miss watching useless tv like Flava Flav's Flava of Love, Blind Date, and Elimidate...I miss always being late and running out of the house profusely apologizing while simultaneously making up lame excuses holding an assortment of cut fruits in my hands (c/o my wonderful mother) for the road...I miss wearing Oxford sweatshirts way too big for me (still too big - even after a failed shrinking attempt)...and i really miss the lyrical battles - pop pop - bring in all of the masses! And although Australia is wonderful... I mean Melbourne is a beautiful city full of life and culture...i dont even have a mailbox here, much less a mail "slot" i have to share with other people that have surnames starting with "N". I cant have conversations by my mail slot, nor do i see white fluffers at the end of my evening. So For all of these reasons + Tim Horton, home is where my heart is!