List of thingies

It's been a month now in Australia and I've noticed there are some things that make me smile like a mad hatter and others that make me frown. Here's a short list(oh, how I love making lists! :) ) and I have intentionally made the smile-list longer just to keep things on a good balance, the annoying things take up so much more room in a persons mind anyway.

Thingies that make Unni smile..

1. Encountering exotic birds in everyday life.

2. The option to cross busy roads diagonally. They even have their own traffic lights, how wonderful is this!

3. Cappuccinos. The possibility to get a cappuccino from almost every corner. The quality of cappuccinos. The feeling of buying yet another cappuccino. The efficiency of the baristas making cappuccinos. Going to a lecture with a cappuccino. Writing the word cappuuccino.

4. Spending time with myself. I came to realize I haven't really spent too much time alone before, and must say, I'm kind of liking it. I'm not too bad company after all.

5. Random conversations with random people. Must give an example of possibly the randomest conversation with an attractive young man at a bus stop last tuesday.

It went like this.
M(man): Hello.
U(Unni): Hello.
M: I just need to tell you something.
U: Yes.
M: I just need tell you that the bus 621 leaving from this stop runs until midnight 6 days a week. Until midnight!
U: Okay. (...????)
M: You must forgive me. I'm sorry. I'm a little nervous.
U: Don't worry. (...????)
M: I have been nervous a lot lately.
U: That's ok. (...???)
M: I'm so nervous. Please forgive me.
M & U: (handshake)
M: Thank you! Thank you for saving me!
M: (exit)
U: (...???)

Thingies that make Unni frown..

1. Prices.

2. Not beeing able to decide if I'd like the plural of a computer mouse being 'mouses' or 'mice'.

3. Realizing (yet again) that life is short.

Weekend in Sydney

Lazy saturday morning enjoying my coffee and a book on our terrace..





Got stuck on that bench for a couple of hours, being swallowed by my thoughts and the view

Dungog Rainforest -Terrestrial Ecology Field Course

Coming back from fieldwork





Spotting a Paradise Riflebird!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5PrzXOzPI&feature=related

Little Brown Antechinus in torpor



Plant identification

Sock-wrestling Aussie style..professors vs. students

Some insanely good jamming after a week of hard work!

A happy Canadian Phd-student with his new Viking hairdo

Trapping for possums

On our way to field, spotted some Lyre birds just behind that fence! They are actually quite common in these woods, heard them every day on the field, quite a soundtrack to be working in!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y



A Leaf Tailed Gecko

Hunter Valley

Just came back from "Red red wine"-orientation trip. Had a day with other international students going to the Australian Reptile park and then to Hunter Valley vineyards. We visited three vineyards and a traditional Australian country style pub. The vineyards, and especially their wines were amazing..could have spent all day there :) Met nice students as well, so all in all a good trip!




Tomorrow I'm off to a Terrestrial Ecology Field course for a week. The course is held in a University field station, Wangat Lodge in Dungog rainforest. So the studying and hard work starts tomorrow. Amazing how quickly the time flies..

First glimpse of Sydney University

On the way from home to uni

Campus park (the Victoria park) and a glimpse of Uni buildings at the back
Must say the Uni premises are quite impressive, very beautiful old buildings, surrounded by green lawns, nice little cafes.. But some of the stuff there seem a bit, well, over the top; like the fact that you can just make a quick call and you'll get an escort taking you home from the campus if you don't feel like walking home alone in the evening. It's good to know you're safe, but an escort? Well, this is Australia's top notch university, so I guess there are students (or parents) who require such services.

My department is part of the main campus, that actually consist of two campuses right next to each other. Managed to see only parts of the campus today as I visited an orientation info and got some paperwork sorted out; student card, email, bank account, timetable for the semester. Now it's time to get under some blankets and try and get rid of this annoying flu..

View to the city from the campus

Bye bye Indonesia, welcome Australia

Had such an awesome holiday in Indonesia, thanks to Päivi and "Gilinta's orange-bike-gang". Thank you! Was a bit sad to leave, and got a bit uneasy knowing that there is going to be a million new things to adjust to and get used to and find out about and realize and understand.. also caught a flu and was very tired in the evening going to the airport so was feeling a bit miserable. The overnight flight was quick, only 5 hours, from which I slept most of, even though the guy next to me was hilariously messed up. He explained that he has got a back injury and has just had some Valium to survive the flight and he wasn't sure if he had too much. :) Well, at least he passed out quite nicely.

So this is it, Sydney.

Arrived here thursday morning, the arrival was very easy, no questions asked at the airport, just a "Happy birthday" from passport control and then hopping on a shuttle bus and here I am, Lane Cove, NSW.

Eeva and Vesku were here for two days to help me to get started, their help has been so uselful and welcome! Now they left for Finland for a month so I'm staying at their room and keeping an eye for Lenni, the parrot :) But now I know where to go and buy my food, where to hop on a bus, I got a place to sleep and call my home..all the rest is secondary and I will find out about when needed.

I'm still a bit ill, just a regular flu I guess, so keeping it low for another day or two, but should be going to town on monday for some info at University and start taking care of stuff there.

All in all, everything's all right here, a bit (LOT!) colder than I imagined, but thanks to Eeva and Vesku, I got an electric heating matress and lots of blankets to keep me warm at night :)

More to come soon..

To new continents (and beyond)

It's my last day at Gili Trawangan tomorrow. Spent a day in Lombok yesterday. Drove a couple of hours up to the waterfalls in the north of the island with Päivi, Maman and Gogon who was kind enough to give me a ride on his scooter.
Drove up and down the mountainside, through fields and forests of palmtrees, down the beach, up again..

Went diving again today (now with a camera that I rented). Most possibly will do one more dive tomorrow. It's so expensive in Australia compared to here.

The underwater scenery and atmosphere is just something else. I feel like a dive is a small adventure with silent companions; the other divers, the fishes, turtles and other creatures of the sea silently drifting past. Other than that I find myself being very alone, in a good way, just the sound of my own breathing, just my thoughts, my eyes and what they capture. Diving, I think, is also good for nerves. Gotta keep calm, no matter what happens, it's a good lesson to learn and to hold on to, underwater or not.

the next blog post will most probably be from australia, but now I'm gonna continue with some sangria and the sunset on the beach. Let the pictures do rest of the talking..