Mid Semester Week

It's official. I'm halfway through my classes here in Australia, not including the exam weeks. It's been marked with my first test, and my first big paper. I still have another test this week, and a big presentation and paper for next week. Now that I have a few things done, I feel a lot less nervous for the rest of it. My first test here was definitely scary and nerve racking. I hope I did okay!

My past weekend was fun, but not too eventful. We went to the local markets a lot, and I bought a lot of really cool, handmade Australian type things. Most souvenirs and trinkets. I really the markets though; so many people are out and about, and it's just a cool experience. I also went to the free public pools again, and on the walk back I caught a sighting of my favorite Australian bird (or one of them). It's the kookabura, and they are really cool looking. They have HUGE heads compared to their body. I love them.

Sunday I spent a good bit of the day on a field trip. My Biodiversity class went to Rowe's Bay to examine different types of habitats, and the number of species we could find. Pretty as this may look, it was walking around in huge fields of mud, in the hot sun. Surprisingly, I still really enjoyed it! This habitat was rocks that were submerged with high tide, and exposed at low tide. And this is a Mangrove tree. All the roots point upwards, so when it's covered in water, it can still breath. Pretty cool looking!