3/06/2007 - update!
Week 17 – 18 – I miss baseball, Papa Johns, my roommates, NASCAR and everything else that's good about the USA, well maybe not NASCAR…
I would like to say that I have had an exciting, and thrilling week 17 and 18, but I have spent them being constantly intimidated with Uni. The last week of lecture! My last week of undergraduate courses! Exciting, but that means with in the next few weeks I have projects due and final exams to take. My functional anatomy final is worth 50%, and my Musculoskeletal Rehab exam is 40%. Almost all final exams in Australia are cumulative. Those two tests explain me being intimidated. Very short this week, but I promise the weeks before this are much more interesting.
Week 16 - It's true, I go to school.
It took a while to get my midterms back.
ADN 100 Project 1- High Distinction - (yes! i love photographs)
Musculoskeletal Rehab exam – Distinction ( buh ya rehab!)
Functional Anatomy exam – Pass (???….)
Quick translation:
A - High Distinction
B – Distinction
C – Credit
D – Pass
F – Fail
I reckon Australia's grading scale is much more efficient. Receiving a High Distinction felt very nice. Receiving a pass felt horrible, but not as bad as a D would. Receiving grades here brings me back to my youth when all instructors had to use full words to show how I did, making it much more personal. I think America could even move to this scale, using Australian slang:
A – Crickey! You little ripper!
B – Brilliant mate!
C – Can't be bothered.
D – Pick up your socks!
F – Australians seem pretty casual about profanity, so I'll leave this one to your imagination.
Random question. On our scale, why do we leave out E (A, B, C, D, E, F). what's with that?
Week 15 - Mike Ball Diving live aboard, the rainforest, family… my Eutopia Vs. graduating with my best friends.
This is a tough one. I wish I could do both… but living on the great barrier reef in a monster of a boat (in a good way), with my dad is the coolest thing I have ever done. I will never graduate from MSUM again…. But, I did see a range of sea life from the deadliest snake on earth to the cutest fish I saw heaps (including a dozen sharks), and I got the T-shirt. However, I doubt that getting within feet of a shark, or inches from a poisonous lionfish will never be as exciting as walking through commencement and shaking president Barden's hand, with nothing on under my cap and gown. Enough said, check out the photo's in my album and all the crazy creatures from the life aquatic.
Week 14 - Spearfishing, My Birthday, and the tropical city of Cairns.
Not quite the adrenaline rush as week 13 but still very exciting. Using a primitive Hawaiian sling (google it, its hard to explain) I speared my first fish! In hindsight, the most exciting point of going spear fishing was immediately after I speared my fish. I looked up not to see my mates, but a meter long white tip shark, crickey! I was out of there quick, and I'll never forget my first attempts at spear fishing. Birthdays – I'm 22, good times! We celebrated with friends early because I flew up to Cairns the day before my birthday. On my birthday (may 5th) I went out for a scuba and a snorkel on the charter boat "passions of paradise", and then met up with my family later that night. We went out to a place to eat called Oegers, and we had alligator, emu, and kangaroo. Alligator was my favourite, it tasted like tough fish.
Week 13 – Mt. Beerwah – "in the best way possible, I feared for my life!"
Together with some good friends (Mike-virginia tech, David – Central Missouri, Claire- aussie local, Courtney) I went for a hike up Mt. Beerwah. "Going for a hike" with an Australian roughly translates to scaling a steep mountain. This made week 13 a rush. At some inclines the rock was almost entirely smooth making our "hike" quite intense. We made it up and back down, all in one piece and we had spectacular views of the Glass-House Mountains (photo album). After we calmed down over some fish and chips in the small hinterland town of Maleny, we drove to the lankuganawa waterfall (cannot remember the actual name), and did some cliff jumping. If that wasn't enough we joined the locals and swung from a rope, flying through the air (like Tarzan) and the releasing high over the water, making a big splash. Week 13 was crazy!
!