Week 3- Classes and a new bike!

I''m finally starting to settle into a routine here in Australia- classes have started, I've moved into my new house, and today I finally got a bike! My classes have been really good so far- I ended up having to switch out of Coral Reef Geomorphology but instead I am now taking Conserving Marine Wildlife: Sea Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles which has been really interesting. The lecturer has spent 20 years working on sea turtle conservation so he knows a lot about the subject and we are also going to have a number of guest lecturers, namely other professors who have specialized in other marine wildlife including humpback whales, dolphins, and dugongs! Dugongs are sortof like manatees, in case you didn't know (I had never heard of them until last week). It's been hard remembering which classes I have on which days because their schedule here is very random... rather than having MWF or T/TR classes at the same time in the same room each day, the classes here are on totally random days, in different rooms, sometimes on the other side of campus. For example my Australian Vertebrate Fauna class is on Thursday at 2:00pm and Friday at 3:00pm in completely different buildings. Needless to say I spent a good deal of time walking around the campus quite lost. Luckily they have maps posted every couple hundred meters but I still felt freshman all over again. I have at least one St. Mary's student in each of my classes which is kindof funny, but it also makes sense given that 4/5 study abroad students come to JCU for marine biology... I mean there's really no better place in the world for it. In fact in my Marine Conservation class I think nearly half the students are American exchange students. 

My new house is also pretty cool- I live 5 minutes from campus and in a really nice neighborhood right next to a park with a path along the river for running and biking. I am living with an Australian student but he is a bit older and has a 5 year old daughter who sometimes spends the night. The third roommate is a pre-med student from India named Tanya. Both of them are really nice but Adam is a Dad and Tanya is very religious so I think it will be a very different living environment from the one I initially hoped for (a house full of friends my age). Most of my friends don't live too far away, however, although getting around here has definitely been the most frustrating thing in my 3 weeks here. The bus system is not great, especially after dark and on weekends, and taxis are insanely expensive so it is very difficult to hang out with people because figuring out transportation is never simple. Hopefully the bike will help and I also got a job this week!! So that way I will have some extra cash for taxis and whatnot. I will be working at the cafe on campus which I think will be pretty easy and a good way to keep me busy on Wednesday because I don't have any classes that day as well make more friends, especially Australian friends because I am definitely mostly still hanging out with other study abroad students. I also signed up for volleyball which meets every Tuesday, and Ultimate Frisbee, which meets every Wednesday. Many of my St. Mary's friends laughed when I told them that because I am the last person they would have ever expected to play SMUT, but everyone here has says the Ultimate Frisbee club is the best way to have fun and meet new people so I figured I'd give it a try :)