Day 4

No work today. Beate has a meeting so she didn’t see the point in driving back for a small amount of time. She showed me where the Commonwealth Bank was in West End so that I could set up a bank account. It was pretty easy! My other bank at home’s online so I’ve never done this before. I just had to show my passport and sign a sheet of paper. They seemed to get a lot of students setting up temporary accounts since while I was leaving, there was a girl from France doing the same.

In the afternoon we went grocery shopping at Coles. I notice on the way there was a Domino’s here too! They have a lot of different types of fruits and vegetables here that I’ve never seen before, like pamellos(sp?), they look a like a type of melon. The food prices seemed more expensive here than in the States, but there were some similar brand names, like Mountain Dew! Cereal was completely different; most of the cereals were a type of granola mix. The store and the selections were a lot smaller than what I’m used too.

I helped decorate the table and set up for the dinner party. People started arriving at six and one of Beate’s colleagues Ben, brought home brew, beer he made himself. The drinking age is eighteen here, by the way. We chatted a bit and the dinner itself was delicious. For dessert some guests brought fruit salad and apfel strudel, an apple type of cake. I noticed while eating that all the Europeans ate with their fork and knife, the fork in their left hand even though they were right handed, where the Chinese girl and I only picked up our knife when we needed it. Just an interesting tidbit of culture information for you.

The soccer game started at 9:30, Germany against Serbia, I believe. I went to bed at eleven because I was still jet-lagged and it’s tiring staying up late.

Day 3

Again, I woke up sometime early due to jet-lag, but fell back asleep to wake up at seven. It’s cool that I can wake up automatically this early with jet-lag. This morning before having some chocolate cheerios for breakfast, I called my parents and chatted for a bit. Then I ate, packed my lunch, and my bag. I left with Beate, and Isabel, her daughter. We dropped off Isabel at school since she was late before driving to work. When we entered the carpark aka parking lot of the Forensic Scientific Services, FSS, complex which is run in partnership with the University of Queensland, Beate pointed out the different buildings. Next to EnTox, the centre for environmental toxicology where I’d be working was the mortuary sciences building with the morgue. All of Queensland’s forensics needs are met here. The section we’d be in has lesser security. Beate used her keycard to gain entry through the back way and then we headed to the security office to get me a guest pass until I get a real one.

The guard there didn’t even recognize Beate even though she’s been working there for a year and a half and is the deputy director of EnTox! We headed up to her area, down some halls, and through a lab, into an office area where I was introduced to everyone. They were all super friendly. One guy asked me how I pronounce iron, Fe. At first I didn’t understand him because he said it like “ion”. Apparently the Australians don’t pronounce the “r” and it was a bit of an argument between him and Beate who says the “r”. Needless to say, I made Beate happy, and it was a funny encounter.

I met Hanne who was currently the youngest person there; she had already finished her masters so that should show you the age gap. She is from Norway, and is going to show me around. I’ll be shadowing her, and asking her a bunch of questions. The others were British, Danish, and Chinese. Beate took me in her office and showed me some powerpoints on what they do at EnTox, and the projects they’re working on. Basically they’re using a variety of bioassays for different things. After a couple weeks, I’ll be working on my own project dealing with E. Coli. and also learn how to do some bioluminescence tests. She also gave me a research article to read.

Then a little later, I underwent training with two other girls from Hong Kong. This friendly lady explained the procedures and rules of FSS, and we had to fill out a worksheet. She told us that in the summer, they have snakes lying around on the sidewalks and that some birds will swoop out of the sky and attack your head. Thank goodness it’s not summer! I also had to do fire procedure training on a computer and answer a quiz to make sure I knew my safety information.

Afterwards, I went and ate lunch with the other girls that work in Beate’s group in the cantina. Then Hanne showed me a bit around the lab, their HPLC machine, etc. We then went in the PC2 lab which you need special entry to since they work with breast cancer cells in one and salmonella in the other. I observed Hanne do an E-Screen test on a sample. She was performing the test to see if there was any estrogen present. Adding the cancer cells would react with the hormone to multiply the cells. It was interesting. She worked in this special hood and everything had to be sprayed with ethanol first to make sure it was clean and uncontaminated. I got to see a multi-pipettor being used for the first time.

I was pretty tired at this time since it was about two o’clock, and around this afternoon time is when jet lag hits me the most. Beate had to leave early for her dentist appointment so we headed home a little bit later.

Beate had to start prepping dinner for tomorrow night since she was having a good-bye party for one of her research assistants. She decided to make kaese-spaetzle, a noodle-type German dish. I got to help make some of the noodles, it was fun.

Day 2

I walked away, rolling my two suitcases, exiting into the main area where Beate, my god mother, was waiting for me. It feels good to be speaking German again. I kept looking around like crazy, everything so different and new. The plants were completely different, spiky, and trees too. If you’ve ever seen an Australian exhibit at the zoo before or at botanical gardens, that’s what it really looks like. Getting in the car was really bizarre. I had forgotten by this time that they drive on the left here! It’s so weird! Their license plates are thinner and longer, and say what state (aka Queensland, and the slogan The Sunshine State, just like Florida!).

We drove through the city, past the river to her house. They have 7 Elevens here too!

For breakfast, I had my first real passion fruit. They grow wild here! After eating breakfast, Beate gave me some maps and a cell phone. I unpacked and then after everyone had left for school and work, I set out to view the city. The birds I’ve seen are crazy different. Sure, the pigeons and morning doves are the same, but the bird calls in the sky are dominated by these harsh sounds made by birds similar to crows, but larger in size.

I walked to this park along the river, all the while taking pictures. I walked under this arch covered with a pink blooming vine and saw this crazy bird. Two Asians walking behind me shouted excitedly and started chasing after it with a camera. It was the type of bird I would imagine in a zoo.

I continue walking along the path, past the big Ferris wheel, and across the Victoria bridge into the pedestrian zone.

There was a market, tons of expensive clothing stores and food for sale. I crossed over into King George's square in front of the City Hall. Absolutely gorgeous building.

Then I stopped by the Transportation Info Centre and picked up a bus line map for the way into work. I also stopped at the Tourist info center to get an updated map of the city. I leisurely walked back a different route through South Bank, past the museums and performing arts centre, and then through West End, to the townhouse. I love hearing all the Australian accents around me and could not stop admiring the trees.

I read this book throughout the afternoon about kangaroos and learned some fascinating bits of info. Dinner was delish and very funny. Beate and her family love to laugh, they’re a fun group to be around. I was pretty exhausted at this time, but I had to check my email, and then I caught up on fanfic. It was 7:45 am old time by the time I hit the sack.

My Aussie Adventures Begin

The flight to Dallas passed uneventfully. The pilot was definitely good at his job; both the landing and take-off were done smoothly. This was the smallest plane I’ve ever flown on. One seat, an aisle, and two more seats. Most carry on items were added to the baggage compartment because there was no room aboard. I couldn’t even stand up straight. Flying has changed since I last flew, two years ago. Now on short flight, such as this one, you get a complementary beverage, but if you want a snack you have to purchase it. No more free bags of peanuts.

We left late from Cincinnati so we arrived about fifteen minutes late in Dallas. Not that good for me since that left with me a half hour to catch my connecting flight. To my surprise the connecting flight’s gate number was not on the ticket. The pilot read off a list of them so I hoped that I’d heard him correctly. Luckily, the way to the SkyRail was clearly marked and I made it to the next terminal easily. The airport was huge! Walking would not have ended well. I made it to my gate along with a few fellow stragglers and boarded. A three seats, aisle, three seats plane.

We were delayed about 40 min because of the traffic on the runway, there were 10 planes waiting to take off before us! After what felt like forever, we were off. This pilot was really good too! I had the window seat so when darkness fell, the ground lights looked like stars and made beautiful patterns. At a cruising altitude of 360,000 ft I looked upwards out the window to see the actual stars. They were gorgeous, I could see so many. As we approached LA, I went from seeing occasional lights on the ground, clumps, to seeing one huge area lit up. Sadly I could not recognize any landmarks.

The airport was deserted at this hour except for our flight to Brisbane. I had to only walk two terminals further down, before finding myself a seat. This plane was huge! It had 75 rows of 3, 4, 3 seating with a partial second floor that included even more business class! I would highly recommend flying with Qantas at any chance you get (‘cept they only do Australian flights…so you’d have to be going to Australia). They’re now my new favorite airline, sorry Lufthansa, you got bumped.

To begin with, everyone had their own individual monitor, you could pick from tons of different shows and movies like CSI, Mentalist, How I Met Your Mother, Good Wife, and every newish movie including Avatar or play games. I ended up watching Valentine’s Day at the very end. They handed out these amazing menus letting you know that you could ask for snacks anytime that you were hungry. And by snack, you could even request fresh fruit. They had separate vegetarian trays for people, and even offered a hot breakfast (never had that happen). The food was pretty good, I liked it a lot. After dinner, they handed everyone a little snack bag with water, cookies, trail mix, and M&Ms. Also every passenger got not just a blanket, headphones and pillow (which by the way, was a fantastic pillow. It actually had a cover on it and was rather hard instead of being this soft polyester ball), but also a little kit that had a sleeping mask, and toothbrush.

I had an empty seat next to me so I could stretch out a bit, thank goodness. This flight part was 14 hours long. After eating, I must have spent about seven hours drifting in and out of sleep since the next time I checked the time left till destination, only 4 hours were left. I ate breakfast, watched a movie, plus some tv, listened to music, and then it was time to land. Another good flight! Some turbulence, but nothing major. So I only took Dramamine for at the beginning and it wears off, I must be over flight motion sickness!

I’ve missing flying so much. There’s nothing like the feeling of taking off and landing in a plane, watching the ground fly by. I filled out my yellow customs form on the plane and headed to passport control. We had to walk a long distance to get there, the airport was deserted save for those from my flight. I kept staring out of the window. The trees and foliage looked so different. There were palm trees! Made it through easily to baggage claim. That took awhile. My bags finally showed up, right in a row to, so I was scrambling to grab the heavy things off the belt. At least they didn’t go missing with all the transfer flights! Next stop, customs. I put my baggage through an x-ray machine, and apparently there was something suspicious about my blue suitcase, he thought it was some type of medicine. The only thing I had with me was tums though. The customs guy was really friendly and nice though (a bonus of looking young and travelling alone, airport officials are always nicer). I opened it up for him, and he looked through carefully, not to mess up my stuff. Apparently it was my contacts that he couldn’t identify. Huh.

My Story

I am currently writing a story for fanfiction, and that's the link in case anyone is interested in reading it.