Agro

"Agro": Australian slang for "aggressive."

"Sometimes the boys at this bar get a little agro, so watch out," (what an Australian friend said to me during one of my nights out).

I had my first Australian Wildlife Biology lab practical on Wednesday, and let me tell you, that was an experience. First of all, I arrived to lab five minutes late because I just came in from the city from trying to open up a HSBC bank account (transferring money from the States is amazingly hard. Come on, bank people, "it's my money and I want it now!") Upon entering the room, I was suddenly surrounded by creatures floating in jars and mummified animals. It was kind of unpleasant, actually, because some of these animals had been taken out of their containers and were soaking in open tubs of formaldehyde (I now despise that smell). What ensued was a three hour-long process of examining the animals, drawing and labeling parts of them in our sketchbooks, and then inferring what genus and type of species they were. Ordinarily, I wouldn't really mind doing all of this, but I did mind the fact that we really had no direction as to what parts of the animal should we sketch. It was essentially just the professor saying, "Okay class, sketch whatever animals you think are important." -_- Camille is definitely not used to independent learning.

Another one of my intriguing classes is Indigenous Culture and Learning, taught by an Aborigine himself. His name is Gary Foley, and apparently he was quite the rabble-rouser. Don't believe me? Google his name and see what comes up. My professor is amazing.

I realized that I'm burning money like no other because I'm over-booking myself. It stems from the fear that I'll never be able to repeat this experience again, so I'm going to do everything that is financially possible (never mind safety... mere trifles). Starting from this weekend, every one of my weekends is filled with field-trips and excursions until the end of May, which is when first Semester ends. I may be committing academic suicide. Hmm.... Also, in an attempt to garner more moolah to feed my traveling habits, I've been tram-hopping instead of paying for the tickets. I figured that I've saved at least $20 AUD, but I finally caved yesterday and bought a weekly pass. The reason: one of my friends got caught and fined $100 + by an undercover tram policeman. Yikes.

I'm going to run out to buy groceries now, but I'll try to update my facebook albums soon with some pictures. Oh, and I almost forgot! A few nights ago, a fruit bat fell off the fig tree next to my window! I was just sitting in front of my computer, minding my business, when suddenly I heard a thump and the sound of frantic flapping. I ran outside with a flashlight and Yuri in tow, just in time to see an enormous flying fox struggling amongst the ivy. It saw me and started to desperately scrabble up one of the poles of the house, but since it's made out of metal, the bat kept slipping back down. I dashed back into the house to grab my camera and document its pathetic floundering. I did feel sorry for it though, but I hesitated in helping it because bats are notorious for carrying all sorts of diseases. Luckily, it managed to climb up the rosemary bush and take off right before Hero arrived at the scene. I'll post the photos up soon, along with pictures of my newly-decorated room. Look forward to seeing them!