Oh...Canada

Or, "Stop Hugging Me, I Don't Even Know You."

Vegan, allergy free American Thanksgiving in Canada

Being back at COA wasn't quite what I had expected.  This past term was the most hectic I've had, so it was quite a relief when it ended and I had sent my samples for my senior thesis to the lab and turned in all of my assignments.  I spent the first part of break on Prince Edward Island, an island about the size of MDI but in Canada which, as it turns out, makes all the difference.  There is something about Canadians stuck on an island, they're pretty much always happy, and everyone you pass on the street says hi.  Going to the store takes extra time because everyone has to stop and chat, people drop their kids off at hockey arenas for the evening because they know nothing bad is going to happen, and people that know a friend of a friend hug you even though you have no idea who they are.  And it's not bad, it is a bit strange, but I guess it's kind of what I expected MDI to be like, but the combination of tourists and hippies and families and scientists on MDI have a bit of friction.  Everything seems a bit simpler here, everything moves slower and the tension that hangs in the air, even in Maine, is absent.  So although I like to poke fun at our neighbors to the north as much as the next American, I do appreciate being able to escape to their country for a relaxing break once in a while.

"Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away." – Sarah Kay

"Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.'
Look what happens with a love like that, it lights up the whole sky."-Hafiz

The Place Where You Stop the Story

"Nothing looks the same, even when there's been no change,
Say that something's gonna give, and it's all giving out on you.
When it's all over now, it's all over now,
It's no longer fun and it's all been overdone, so it's all over now."

It's been only 5 1/2 short months but it seems like years since I've been in the States. Australia quickly and quietly engulfed me and seemlessly rebuilt a life around me that replaced the one which I had left in the States. Hot, sun-bleached days and clear, starry nights were filled with adventures and challenges that soon morphed into a daily routine. Much as Maine did over the two and a half years that I've spent there so far struggling through my undergraduate life, Australia became my home. Somehow it took much less time and yet it was just as genuine. I've had a lifetime of experiences and met some truely amazing people who I will never forget and for the majority of my trip I could not even imagine what it would be like when I was forced to re-enter this country. And yet here I sit in my parent's house where, it seems, almost nothing has changed.

And maybe nothing has, or maybe it all has. Luckily I only have to endure it for another week and a half before setting off to a marine lab in New Hampshire where I will be working for the remainder of the second of my two summers this year until heading back to Maine.

I still have no idea how I can possibly convey to anyone that wasn't there everything that happened to me, how I can cram five and a half months of stories into the simple one-sentence answer everyone is looking for when they ask, "How was Australia?"  But I definitely have enough stories and pictures to fill any amount of hours that anyone wants to listen to  :)

Winter Wonderland...Sort Of

Some mornings, after my alarm has gotten me out of bed at 5:30am and I’ve stuffed myself into my clothes, often still caked with sand, dirt and feed from the day before, the wind is so fast and fierce it whips through my clothes and sends shivers up my body.  I wish I could store some of this cold for a bit because by mid-morning I’m usually soaked with sweat and by the time the first ride heads out, the sun beats down so strongly that I can feel my skin burning beneath the first three layers of sun block I’ve already applied.  This weather right now means it is winter in Queensland. 

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I’ve chosen to spend part of the season working at a ranch on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville.  At the ranch we eat and sleep quite a bit between the long hours that we work feeding the horses, cleaning and saddling them, raking leaves just so the wind can blow the next minute and erase our work.  We have to teach people to ride and try to help people who speak little to no English and we have to keep the horses, who would all be excellent animals if it weren’t for the fact that they have people who don’t know what they’re doing riding them twice a day, from being ruined.  It’s funny, really, how horses respond to their riders, how when I, or another guide, ride them, they never try any tricks, but as soon as someone who has never ridden before is on them they try to run home or stick their heads in a bush and eat the whole time.  And really I think that’s one of the things that I love about horses, that and so many other things.  Because you can always count on them pulling some trick with some poor, unsuspecting rider who thought they were going to simply slap down some money and have a nice relaxing ride but actually they spend the whole time desperately clinging to the saddle while branches threaten to unseat them and give us guides a few laughs.  

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So even though it’s still hot as here, I can’t complain about getting to spend a few more weeks of Australia’s winter here.

Course Reviews

Australia has given me, amongst so many other things, the opportunity to take classes I would never be able to take at my uni in the states.  So to embrace this opportunity I spent this semester studying Australian History, Fisheries Science, Aquaculture and Marine Chemistry, all of which presented their own challenges and rewards.

Australian History was, at the very least, a history class and, at the very best, a history class.  Lectures were in-depth descriptions of the rather comical history of the founding and growth of the country.  Tutorials consisted of presentations and discussions of significant events that shaped the way Australia became what it is today.  The majority of the class was made up of Americans and the tutorials often became debates over American history.  Despite this, I did learn a great deal about a country whose history is greatly ignored in the States, but I do think it's my last history class for a while.

Fisheries Science was by far my favorite class.  It was full of case histories and equations and all of the information made sense.  Our lecturer arranged a series of really hands-on and effective labs which began with a field trip trawling for prawns in Cleveland Bay.  Subsequent labs included age determination, age vs length determination, gut content analysis and gonad measurement.  These labs culminated in a report on the effectiveness of the bycatch reduction device used on the trip.  The class was made all the better by the enthusiasm and knowledge of the lecturer.

Aquaculture was another good class with an awesome lecturer.  The majority of the semester was spent by raising cobia-monitoring water quality, feeding them and maintaining their tanks.  The final assessment in the class was a report examining the feed conversion ratios, standard growth rates and weight gains of the fish raised on different feeding regimes based on those we raised the cobia on.

Marine Chemistry and Chemical Ecology was the only class I regret taking.  It was one of the worst classes I've ever taken.  We had two lecturers, one of which made it very plain that he had no desire to be teaching us while the other talked so fast and assumed we knew so much that we didn't really ever learn anything.  The labs were simple but inconsequential to our learning.  Really the only good thing about the class was the awesome friends I made by bonding over our mutual dislike of the course.  I would not recommend anyone take this class as nobody seemed to enjoy any aspect of the course.

But I survived all of my exams and made some really great friends in all of my classes, so all in all I wouldn't trade my experience for anything in the world.

To find out more about studying abroad in Australia visit the website http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/northamerica.

Nice Wrasse-Diving the Moltke Wreck

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The Moltke Wreck prior to being fully submerged

My creative juices, along with my adrenaline, have been running a bit low as of late.  Even though I ended exams last Saturday, I've been going pretty consistently since, packing, planning my next moves in Australia, planning my travels and my internship for when I get back to the States and trying to spend time with everyone before they head off in separate directions.  A few days ago, I even began an Advanced Open Water SCUBA course on Magnetic Island.

Magnetic Island is a small island just off of Townsville, a quick 20 minute ferry ride away.  Most of the island is a national park, protected from fishing and other exploitative activities.  It being a national park makes for some really exceptional snorkeling and diving with good visibility, especially considering it's an island, and heaps of tropical fish to marvel at.

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To get Advanced SCUBA certified there are 5 required dives-a deep water dive, a boat dive, a navigation dive, a naturalist dive and a wreck dive-the last 3 of these I did off of Magnetic Island.  The first 2 (navigation and naturalist) were relatively uneventful, aside from the fact that I somehow managed to properly and successfully use a compass underwater for the first time in my life.  The third dive, however, exceeded my expectations by a long shot.  We dove on the wreck of the Moltke, a German ship brought over for the purpose of creating a break-water in the bay.  However, it was sunk prematurely when the captain and deckhand, being rather intoxicated, set off the booms before the ship was in its proper place.  Afterwards, the wreck was used for target practice by the military until nowadays it lies peacefully in the bay only minimally disturbed by passing boats and inquisitive divers.  The nooks and crannies make ideal homes for fish and inverts.  Huge schools of juvenile barracuda, wrasse, grunts and parrotfish can frequently be seen swimming in between the sunken masts.  Large angelfish and sweetlips, along with one humongous Humphead Wrasse also hang around the wreck and make it an amazing experience.  After my disappointing experience with the Great Barrier Reef, I was more than happy to see sprawling, unbleached coral colonies and fish as diverse as those found in Disney films and I can't wait to finish my certification and see what my next two dives have for me.

To find out more about studying abroad in Australia visit the website http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/northamerica.