Good news will come to you from far away

So much has happened in the past 2 days! I’ll try to summarize. Tuesday I woke up and went for a swim which was nice because I was super sore. Then I talked to my parents on skype which was grand! After marine lecture we had a field trip for the whole afternoon to the coast to Moreton Bay. We saw mangroves and walked through the slt marsh and mud flats where we got muddy and dug around for anything we found interesting. There were lots of big mussels and snails and stuff. My group tried to classify some species using our Moreton Bay Guide book but it was a challenge! One of the most interesting things I learned about was the cyanobacterial mat (delish) that is pretty much covers the salt marsh wherever there isn’t grasses and other plants. It doesn’t look like anything but some whiteish patches on the mud but it is so vital for the ecosystem for fixing nitrogen to ammonium so it’s usable and for photosynthesis. Another interesting fact is that in the mud flats there are undulations in the surface that fill with water and they look like they’d just be caused by the current during high tide but really they’re from sting rays burying themselves in the mud! Overall, it was beautiful weather and I was happy to spend the afternoon learning about ecosystems that I know nothing about while feeling the ocean breeze and sun on my skin. Even MORE importantly…

I’M GOING TO FIJI FOR MID-SEMESTER BREAK!

When I told Charlene, my friend in my marine class about what happened last weekend and how hard it is to plan with the people in my college and how I want to go to Fiji but I can’t get anyone to plan with me etc, she insisted that I try to join her and her 2 roommates for break. So I came home after the field trip and immediately checked fights and got cheap ones by leaving on Easter Sunday, which is the flight Charlene is on because she also saw how much cheaper it is than leaving on Friday or Saturday. I’m leaving Fiji on Friday afternoon, so it’s definitely shorter than I’d like but I’m saving about $500 by going for 1-2 days less! And Charlene is coming back early too. It should be really fun because she is really the only person (from the US, that is) that I’ve clicked with so well right from the start. Plus, she is thrilled I’m coming because we are both really adventurous and want to do as much as possible while her 2 roomies were planning on spending every day lying on the beach sunbathing. I still need their hostel information so I can book that, but other than that it’s just planning what activities/sites we want to do/see which is like heaven for me. Unfortunately I’ve spent more time researching traveling than I have studying! Oh and also she invited me to do whatever she’s doing this weekend, which she thinks is a wine tasting tour. Anyway I was exhausted last night and went to bed early because Wednesdays are LONG.

So today I had 7 hours of lectures and tutorials. It was not easy to concentrate for all of that time today but I did alright. I’m starting to get a lot more work—I had to sign up for presentations, sign up for research participation, got assigned readings and found out I need to choose an ethnography asap for an essay I have to write for anthropology. I go from 9-5 and at 5:00 I could not have been more relieved! I rushed home and got ready for the formal International dinner for Union that started at 6pm with drinks. I got all pretty and went down to the courtyard with Filipo, the only other international on my hall and the only guy from Italy at Union. It was a very fun dinner and they gave us so much wine and beer! There were 4 at my table and we got a choice of champagne or beer before the meal, and then 2 bottles of wine for the table! One person was chosen from each country to give a speech and they all did so well! I thought that at least one person would go over-the-top trying to be funny and that some would be dull but everyone was so unique and funny with their speaking! After the dinner which ended around 8:30 or so, I left and went to check my mail because I had gotten a phone message that I had a parcel. I assumed of course that it was my printer, but it was not. It was a big package from Mr. Mike Berilla!!! The receptionist handed me the package and I said “Wait. This is supposed to be a printer…but this is from my boyfriend..Oh wow...this must’ve cost a fortune!” Then a girl who was also there commented that he must really miss me and I said “Yea, I think so!" I was loving it. I ran up the stairs to my room everyone came from their rooms because I made a big commotion— all the girls got so excited! I waited to open it but I only lasted a few minutes! Basically no one would understand what Mike sent me, so I won’t go into detail, but he wrote 396438987654345 letters and, for the first time since I’ve left the US, I cried. It was a happy crying though—the letters were very, very funny at times. Anyway the package definitely made my day/week/month. I’m so exhausted and even though I have only one hour of lecture tomorrow I have a very full day. But full days are what I live for!