Any way, I followed the other geography student to the session and met some more students taking the class. I am comfortable learning material by myself, but I figured it was a good opportunity to meet some others whether or not I felt the need to go over the learned material again.
Right after the session ended I headed to my Environmental Chemistry class which was being done over the internet with the class in Launceston. Luckily we had the lecturer on our side as the videos never turned on and we were unable to hear or see the students in Launceston. However, after phoning them we found out they could see and hear us...so the lecture continued.
With an hour break before my Geography workshop, I decided to attend the Chemistry BBQ. Yup! Another BBQ, this time just for the 2nd and 3rd year Chemistry students. The menu was sausages and all sorts of drinks. I was a little disappointed that no one from my single Chemistry class decided to come. Instead I stood around for a bit, finally talking briefly to a Chemistry professor. After having my fill, and not recognizing anyone else, I headed on to my next activity.
This day's workshop activity involved us making a sketch map of the Sandy Bay coast. Thus a field trip to the local beach was necessary. We were to find our own way there, and as it's about a 20 minute walk from the University and I decided to walk. The day was a really nice sunny one, and perfect for a field trip. I was about 8 minutes away from the meeting point when a girl driving by stopped to give me a ride. She had recognized me from the PASS and was a little unsure of the exact meeting location. We ended up parking a bit away from the actual meeting point and had to walk along the beach to get there meaning we probably would have arrived about the same time I had just by walking all the way.
On my way to the beach and near where I was picked up
The activity took a while to actually get underway as we ended up pacing the beach and the lecturer pointed out signs of erosion, weathering and human prevention to these natural events. Finally with only about an hour left, we formed groups to individually make a small sketch map of a short stretch of the beach. Then I was treated to a ride back to Uni after quite an eventful day.
Really weird spotted clover....even the locals I asked had never seen anything like it
Wednesday, my weekday with no classes was my other busy day so far. I woke up earlier than necessary and made Kamloops Pancakes (I just found the identical recipe online in case anyone is interested). They are basically fluffy pancakes with apples and raisins in them and are super yummy! I even treated my Canadian roommate to some as she arrived just after I finished cooking the last ones.
As I have lots of free time, Wednesdays are the perfect day to do my grocery shopping. However, I wanted to finally deposit the rest of my travelers cheques as well. I had been waiting for my dollar to gain a bit on the Australian dollar, and although it had, I still loose money when cashing it in, not too mention the bank takes $8 when you deposit them as well.
Ahhh banks! Before leaving Canada the home owner here asked that I wire some money for my first two weeks of rent. No problem, just head to the bank, let them charge you around $30 dollars just to send the money, plus whatever the exchange rate is and away it goes. Well...it actually could take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours for the money to show up on the other end. Now wait one second... why hasn't all the money shown up? Well first the incoming bank wants a share of some of that money...still missing some? Thats because this intermediate bank also took some money but nobody bothers to tell you that when you decide to send the money in the first place.
So anyway, even though I was still losing money, the bank here has a good interest rate so I might as well be making something from the money I brought. I will eventually have to deposit a personal cheque and that could take over a month for the money to show up...so you can't leave that for the last minute! My other option is to withdraw money using my Canadian debit card...but as limits are in place to the amount one can withdraw, plus charges occur when using an ATM, this might actually cost me more in the long run.
After finally depositing my money, I head over to the first grocery store. Woolworths is actually the store of choice for most people I've met. I had checked what was on sale on their online catalogue and knew what I wanted. However, they of course had empty shelves which was rather disappointing. Instead I looked for sale items and ended only up purchasing a couple items. Things to note are just how expensive fruit is here. Mangoes can cost around $4 each, oranges work out to about $1 each, and Bananas tip the scales at a pricey $7 / kl. I think I'll be better off trying Salamanca Market (finally!!) on Saturday.
Although Coles is on my way back, as I was already carrying one bag, so I got my exercise in by going home and then coming back out again. Coles had the cheaper yogurt, and I could find some of the items I had missed at just about the same price as what they would have been at Woolies. I was hoping to spot some bagels in the bread section, but no luck. I'm told I might find them in a smaller grocer that sometimes carries some fruit flavoured ones. Also no chipotle sauce to go with my yam fries I planned to make for a snack. Instead I bought a discounted hot sauce which I can tamper with.
Back home I made my yam fries and then moved on to Orange Muffins using a recipe off the internet. Always risky, but they did turn out delicious so I was happy to share with my house-mates. Leftovers for dinner, a bit of reading for my only homework that week, and some tv watching ended my relaxed but busy day!
I think the "special" marked clover must be for St. Patrick's Day....The Tasmanian leprachauns did that!
ReplyDelete