Weeks 3/4 and Easter Break

Hello again!

Ahhh, where to begin?! I have so much to tell you all! Classes are going well, as I'm sure you all know! ;-) Anyway, I am enjoying them very much. My reef fish class is great. My Professor, Dave, is absolutely hilarious. He's from Scotland, so he has a great accent. Anyway, he makes my class very interesting. We have been discussing the fossil record/phylogeny of modern day "reef fish." Reef fish, by the way, according to Dave...they do not exist. There are fish that live on reefs, but not reef fish for the fish do not need the reef, but the reef needs the fish! Interesting concept eh? Anyway, the class should be very fun. My partner Mary and I will be dissecting a "reef" fish head in order to identify all of the muscles in the skull and how the head of a reef fish works. We will then be boiling all of the tissue off of the bones and reconstructing the skull! Sounds way cool right?! I know! I'm going to be taking pictures throughout the progression of this process, so don't worry...you will all get to see the journey! My favorite thing that Dave does is...alright so let me set the story up properly. We spend a lot of lectures discussing the "family trees" so to speak (phylogenetic trees to be scientific), and while doing this, Dave goes through and attempts to tell us the important families (i.e. translating from scientific names to general common names). My favorite line he used the other day..."and this group here, the aldkfjakldfja (too much for me to spell out), you might have seen these guys...they're the silver little jobbies you see out on the reefs at times." how funny is that? I literally wrote on my paper "the silver little jobbies." hahaha.

Alright, next topic...my corals class is going well too. For this class I have a partner as well. Her name is Jess. She and I picked out a species of coral on which we will be collecting data at Orpheus Island (the field trip in May). In lab yesterday we cut a piece of coral that had been stored in alcohol and put it in formic acid. We are decalcifying it in order to look at just the tissue of the coral. Another super cool thing huh? So unlike the fish head...we are eating the bone away in order to keep the fleshy party to observe.

My conservation class...there's not much to tell you there. we're just trudging along discussing different ways in which people collect data on marine wildlife. things like aerial surveys and catch-release methods...etc etc....interesting, but not worth writing about here.

My Aussie wildlife class is getting very interesting as well. Yesterday we spent the day talking about and why Australia has so many of them. Then we discussed different families from skinks to goanas (I'm sure I butchered the spelling!). We talked about how evolution has developed so much diversity....such as the legless lizards. We learned how to tell the difference between a legless lizard and a snake...it's quite cool actually. Anyway...then we started the subject of...snakes! yes!!! snakes!! Today's lecture (in about an hour), we will finish discussing snakes and those found here in Australia. Each lecture she shows us photos of different species and tells us where they are found within Australia and whether or not we will see them while on our field trip to Moorinya National Park. I'm very excited for that trip! I can't wait to see some dangerous snakes! hehehe....don't fret mom! or dad...I know you are secretly! xoxo

Anyway....now on to my Fraser Island trip. I have so much to write here, I hope I don't take up too much space or time! I've got class to attend! Anyway...I have posted photos on my photo page, which I have just added a link to at the top of my blog page. If you look on the top left corner you will see a link to Krissy's Photos. Click it and check them out. I have added some more to my Hawaii photos, and if there is time today I will add an album for New Zealand.

So Fraser...Brendon and I took a 15 hour bus ride from Townsville to Hervey Bay where we met up with everyone else going on the self drive tour to Fraser Island. There were 44 people in total going on the trip in 4 different vehicles...this meant 11 of us per group. At first I was a little leery of my group because they were all talking about how much alcohol to buy before the trip. All in all, everything turned out for the best, and I think we had the best group overall. Anyway, so Brendon and I were sent to do the shopping for 11 people for the weekend. Yes, that meant 2 Breakfasts, 2 Dinners, and 3 lunches for 11 people!! That's a lot of food! Anyway, we got back and packed up the 4 x 4, all piled in, and headed off to the ferry to get to Fraser Island. If you can imagine, my worry at this point continued for it was 930 in the morning and my group had already whipped out the goon bags! Our group consisted of 6 Americans, 2 Swedes, and 1 Brit, and 2 Scots. Two Americans were from LA and two were from DC. So anyway, we are driving down the road drinking out of the goon bag (all but the driver anyway)...I'm not sure if this is legal here or not, but it happened none the less.

So like I said, our trip was a self drive tour...meaning we were given the equipment and an itinerary and had to drive ourselves around the island to see everything. Our first stop was Lake Wabby. Make sure to look at the photos either before or after reading about it...you can't even begin to imagine how magical Fraser is without the photos. Anyway, Lake Wabby was this beautiful green color with trees all around it except on one side...there was a massive sand dune. I walked up the sand dune only to come across what appeared to me to look almost desert like. There was just sand almost as far as you could see...the wind blowing it around. The further I walked, the more I could see trees in the distance. At the top of one of the miniature hills in the desert, you could see the ocean and forest up ahead. In order to get to Lake Wabby, we had to walk 2.3 km (approx 1.5 miles) along a trail through the forest. Here I came across some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen (check out the orb spiders on my photos). We also saw quite a few lizards (goanas to be exact), but they were all too fast for me to get my camera out and snap a photo. I hope to get some photos from other people later in order to show you. So, around 215...four of my group members are completely trashed...they've managed to drink 2 entire goon bags...that's 8 litres or 2 gallons!

We all walk back to the car and grab some lunch while heading up to Eli Creek. Unfortunately I did not get very many photos here, for I was too busy participating in the beauty of Eli Creek. Three of us girls (the 2 from the UK...the swedes were too drunk) walked up the winding creek. the current was fairly strong and the water crystal clear. We walked up as far as we were allowed, turned around, laid down, and crawled on our hands/drifted the whole way back down to the beach where the creek ends. It was loads of fun.

From here we went on to see the shipwreck on the beach...The Maheno wreck. There are lots of photos for you to see...not much to say. It was very cool to see this massive thing just sitting in the middle of the beach. From here we went on to see the Pinnacles. A big hilly/mountainous formation made from different colors of sand...again check out the photos. very cool. Since I haven't mentioned it yet in this blog, this whole time we're going from stop to stop, we are driving on the only highway the island has to offer...the beach. Yes, the 75 mile beach is the highway on Fraser Island. Very cool...photos of this as well.

Our first night as Base Camp, yes we were camping...we cooked burgers on the grill...yum. We set up our tents...my tent managed to leak the first night during the 4 hour monsoonal rain shower we had. No worries...only the sleeping bag and my jacket got wet...all else stayed dry. On Our second day we drove to Indian Head. I can't even describe to you the magic of this place...the pictures don't do it justice either. This is where I mentioned in my last post that you stand looking over the ocean trying to see the marine life. Unfortunately for us, I think we came at the wrong time of day because there was no wildlife to be seen.

From here we walked down the cliff to the other side, where we had to walk to the Champagne Pools. We were not allowed to take the 4 x 4 any farther north than indian head. It was alright...only about a 30 minute walk. The Champagne Pools were great fun! Again...this is the last I will say it...be sure to look at the photos! =D They are called this because the waves crash over the rocks into the massive tide pools creating all sorts of tiny fizzy bubbles...just like the ones you would find in a newly opened bottle of champagne. there were some neat smaller tide pools here that had tons of fish in them.

After visiting the Champagne Pools for a while, we headed back across the beach, over Indian Head and back to the car. When we got tot he other side, there was a Dingo hanging around! Way cool! We got some really neat photos of them. If you check out the photos, don't feel bad for the dingo thinking he looks too skinny. That is their natural body shape. We stayed here and had some lunch with the dingo lurking overhead.

We then went on to Lake Allom to see the freshwater turtles. Apparently the population of turtles here is very high...as we found out when we got there. There were about 30 turtles in this little area...I got a great photo of three of them sticking their heads above water all together! hehe...so cute!

Then it was time to call it a day and head back to camp where we cooked pasta for dinner and played a little Thumper (drinking game). I managed to make it to be at 9 oclock both nights. I was feeling sorry for those staying up and drinking so late on the second night, for we had to get up at 430 am in order to be packed up and on the road at 6 am. While it is cool to say you've driven on the beach as a highway...the highway is closed certain times of day due to high tide. If we hadn't have left by 6 am, we would have had to wait until 11 am to leave.

So our first stop of the day was Lake Boomanjin, the "tea" lake. It's this beautiful deep red red/orange color. We hung out here for a little while and ate some breakfast. After finishing here we headed to Lake Birrabeen, one of the blue lakes. This lake is very similar to Lake Mackenzie (which I will tell you about in a minute), but it is much quieter. There weren't very many people there at all. The only people we saw here were others on the self drive tour. The sun wasn't shining very high for most of the day, so the photos aren't as good as they could have been. Oh well, you can't expect perfect weather all the time. It sprinkled a little, but there weren't any more monsoonal type rains! So anyway, we stayed here for a bit and then headed on to our next stop: Central Station.

Central Station is sort of the gateway to most of the trails through the rainforest on Fraser. Here is where the settlers had their lodge when they first came to Fraser. You will see the building in some of the photos. We walked along one of the paths which ran along side Wanggoolba Creek. This creek was absolutely gorgeous. Crystal Clear. The sand bed was white with various areas of green sand...very cool. The rainforest was beautiful as well. Up by the lodge, there were trees that had these massive plants growing on them. I heard they were called staghorns. Very cool looking plants...they almost look like half of a lettuce head stuck on a tree.

From here we went on to Lake Mackenzie, another crystal clear lake. This one was where we spent the majority of our last day...as did apparently half the people that were on Fraser Island for the weekend! hah! It was very busy. But we made a good time out of it. About this time the sun finally started to come out. It did sprinkle on us a couple of times while here. Three of us (Brendon, Andrew and I) decided it would be a good idea to swim across the lake. If you look in the photos....I've described where we swam to. I think that was the most I've ever swam in my entire life. Once we made it, we felt so accomplished of course. It was really neat, the area we swam to had a sand bar that extended out into the lake a fair ways. Lake Mackenzie is at its deepest point 8 m so about 24ft deep. No worries...there's nothing in there that's harmful...at least not that we knew about! hah! Then we walked back along the beach enjoying the scenery and rest from swimming all that way! On our way back we ran into this massive goana...at least 4 or 5 ft long. It was just hanging out walking along side of us. We didn't seem to bother him one bit! haha. Once we made it back to the beach area where everyone was, it started raining pretty hard. At this point we thought it would be a good idea to pack up and head back to the car in order to organize things for the trip home.

We did that, made it back to the hostel where Brendon and I hung out for about two hours (with a shower) before heading for the 15 hour bus ride back home to Townsville! Overall, it was an amazing trip. I still can't believe how much diversity of landscape there is on that one island.

I am not about to embark on another adventure for this weekend. I am finally going to be scuba diving in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). You would think after being here for a month and a half I already would have accomplished this, but no, I haven't. I leave in about 3 hours to head onto the Kalinda (a dive boat) where I will be spending the next two nights out on the GBR. I promise to write as soon as I get back from my trip and post some more photos!

I hope you all are doing well! Miss you!

Krissy

xoxo

Another Week of Uni

Hey hey everyone!

For those of you who just finished up Spring Break, I hope it was a good time! Just another week of classes here! I have unfortunately not motivated myself to start any work yet. I have no textbooks for any classes, so it makes it really hard. I don't have weekly assignments. My first assignment is due a week from Wednesday. It is very hard to motivate myself to start it now!

Anyway, no worries. I will start it this evening. Classes have been going well. I'm enjoying them very much. I actually missed my first class this week if you can believe that. I know what you are all thinking, but it was completely accidental. I attempted to attend the class...I only arrived at 3 instead of 2. I have the class at 2 on Thursday and 3 on Friday. I confused myself and went on Thursday at 3 thinking it was class time, but showed up as everyone was leaving. Oh well. The good thing is that the lectures are podcasted onto our class homepage. whew! Anyway, there's really not much to tell you about this week. It has been pretty uneventful. I will try to think of more and write it soon. I am uploading more photos onto the photo page so be sure to check those out. I'm posting my photos from Hawaii and New Zealand.

Wishing you all well!

Krissy

Classes have begun!!

Hello hello,

So here I am again....finally (as I'm sure you are whispering under your breath or thinking to yourself). I believe I left you all last time with a lovely picture of what my O-week here at Uni Hall was like. I hope you all enjoyed it. Don't worry...my life is not all party and fun and games while I'm here. The real work has begun! ...well sort of.

Last week was my first week of class. You know, I find it amazing that I am able to take some of the classes I am taking. Let me just run them by you quickly.

I am taking MB3160: Evolution and Ecology of Reef Fishes. Today was my first real day of lecture as my professor was talking with the Emporer of Japan about gobies. For those of you who are wondering, gobies are these great little fish that live on various reefs throughout the world. My professor seems like a great guy. The first lecture today was very interesting so that helps a lot. He made sure to tell us that the Emporer is a great guy! hah! Anyway, I think that the class will be very interesting. For those of you who think it sounds like a blow off class...think again. It will be challenging. He told us this today. We are going to be learning about variations in skull structures of different families of reef fish and their ecological significance. So when I come home, I should be able to name you each and every bone that makes up the skull of reef fish (with slight variations in each family). But yes, as I said before, my professor seems like a very interesting man. I found myself intrigued throughout the entire class. I think my favorite line he said today was, "If you think this is going to be a class about commercially important fish, fish that we eat, think again. I don't give a damn about commercially important fish. This class is about reef fish and reef fish only!" It was quite comical I must say. He said it much better than I can express to you. So anyway...we will be discussing these kinds of things in lecture. For this class we will also be taking a field trip over our lecture recess (I suppose the equivalent of a spring break back home...only it's not spring here...it will be the beginning of fall at that point in time). Our field trip will take us to a place by the name of Orpheus Island. It is a major research facility for JCU. We will spend 3 days and 2 nights on the island snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and observing reef fish in their natural environment. Of course all field trips are not fun and games...there will be a paper to write about the trip! So anyway...enough about this class...let's move on...I have three more to tell you about.

The next class is MB3210: Evolution and Life History of Reef Corals. Sounds great doesn't it? So in this class we will be learning all about different species of morphologies (somewhat like families) of corals. We will learn about their physiology...why they are here...how they work, grow, etc. Why certain corals grow in certain environments and others don't...etc, etc...you get the point. I thought it was so great...we spent an entire lecture discussing the 6 basic growth patterns/morphologies of corals. AN ENTIRE CLASS ABOUT CORAL!!! haha...So anyway...this class also has a 3 day 2 night trip to Orpheus Island. However, for those of us who can SCUBA dive, we will be diving instead of snorkeling on this particular field trip. Those who do not dive have the option to snorkel or just walk the reef flats. So the class caters to all individuals. Anyway...this class will also have a write up about the field trip and the observations we made. I believe we will be working in pairs and picking a particular kind of coral to observe. So this is Reef Corals.

Next on the list is EV3203: Conserving Marine Wildlife: Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles. Sounds great huh? This is the only class I have that does not have a field trip involved. For this class we will discuss the families mentions above so animals such as whales, dolphins, manatees, dugongs, sea turtles, sea birds of various sorts. If there is time, we might discuss sea snakes a bit. So anyway...I thought this was pretty cool too...more only "real" lecture so far in this class discussed the grazing habits of turtles, dugongs, and manatees! hah! Great fun isn't it? So yes...this class will be about these animals, their habits, and how we can go about finding the right conservation methods.

The 4th and final class I am taking is ZL3203: The Australian Vertebrate Fauna. This should be a very interesting class as well. I will be taking yet another field trip over lecture recess for this class. It is a 4 day 3 night trip to the Outback to a place called Moorinya National Park. I believe it's about a 5 hour drive from Townsville. The only way to get their is by big 4WD vehicles. While out there we will be trapping rodents, bats, birds, reptiles...Now I know what you all are thinking about the reptiles...yes Australia is home to the greatest population of deadly snakes. NOT to worry...for we have expert snake handlers that will be with us. They are the only ones allowed to touch the snakes we encounter. So anyway...while on this trip we will learn how to classify and handle the animals as well as collect data through surveying. I have a feeling that this will be a great field trip and class. It is a video lecture with the Cairns campus. So sometimes the lecturer is standing in our classroom and other times he standing infront of the Cairns campus speaking to us through video. This is because this class consists of so many different subjects. The experts for all of the different animals are spread out between the two campuses, so we have class together. Anyway, we are going to discuss how some animals came to live in Australia while others did not. We have to write an argumentative paper answering one of four questions he has given us. An example of this is: Why are there not elephants in Australia? We must answer this question in a persuasive manner. So anyway...this will be a great class. I can't wait for the field trip. One of the lecturers showed us some photos from the trip of various animals they had caught in traps. One of them was an Eastern Brown Snake. For those of you who don't know what this is...it is one of the most if not the most deadly snakes in the world. ooo...soooo cool!

Hah! So moving on...I think my classes are going to be really great this semester. I don't think I will be slacking off, but there will be a lot more free time here than at home. Here there are about 1 or 2 assignments for each class throughout the semester and then the final exam. In most of my classes the final is worth at least 50% of my final grade. Sounds scary right? It should be okay though. I think I will learn a lot and study hard while I'm here because these are all things in which I am interested.

So, try not to worry too much. I realize some of you were probably worried after seeing my photos and reading about what has been going on around here lately. Yes, I will do some partying, but I will be responsible and work hard too! =D

There are a couple of other things to tell you about before I go to dinner...yes it is 5:15 pm here on Monday and 3:14 am on Monday for you all. I am currently 14 hours ahead of you all! Anyway...

This morning I booked myself a ticket to the Davis Cup. It is a tennis tournament in which a tie break between Australia and Thailand is being played here in Townsville. I bought a three day pass to the event. It should be a great experience...when will I ever get another chance to say I went to the Davis Cup? I'm stoked!

More exciting news...as you all know Easter is fast approaching...only two weeks away! I have decided to take a trip to Fraser Island. This place is going to be amazing. I'll tell you a little bit about it and you all can look up some photos and be jealous! Fraser Island is off of Hervey Bay, just north of Brisbane (so quite a ways away from Townsville). I will be taking a bus down and back...about a 15 hour bus ride each way...ouch! Which is crazy when you look at the Australian map...that tells you how big Australia is! Anyway...Fraser Island is the biggest sand island not only in Australia, but in the world. My adventure begins at 6 am on Friday the 21st and ends at 6 pm on Sunday the 23rd, where I will catch the bus back to Townsville. While on Fraser Island we will be visiting three of the freshwater lakes that it is famous for. Lake Wabby, Lake Mackenzie, and Lake Birrabeen. Make sure to look up Lake Makenzie...it has the most crystal clear blue water I've seen in photos. It looks like the ocean on a south pacific island. So we will be visiting these three lakes, Eli Creek (check it out). It is a winding river/stream that you float down...clear water here as well. We will also go to Maheno Wreck. It is a big rusty skeleton of a ship sitting in the middle of the beach. Very cool! Check out photos. We will visit Champagne Pools. Here the waves crash over rock pools which are like natural spas. I think this should be pretty cool as well. I've saved the best for last (actually I don't really know since I've never been...but you'll understand when I tell you). We will visit Indian Head. Here you climb up a cliff/mountain and look down over the water/shoreline. The water is supposedly so clear here that you can see all the marine life including manta rays and wait for it...sharks...especially TIGER SHARKS!!! I guess the reason the freshwater lakes are so popular on Fraser Island is because it is highly advised against to go into the ocean due to the high population of Tiger Sharks that frequent the shores around Fraser Island. I hope to see some while I'm there! Anyway...these are some of the places we will visit while camping on Fraser Island.

I hope I have given you all a little bit to read for now. I need to go for it is almost dinner time. I hope all is well at home (wherever you may be). I miss you all, but I am having the time of my life here. It is so great!

Love,

Krissy

xoxo

Townsville, JCU, O-week

Hey all,

How you going? (Aussie greeting)

So I suppose after keeping you all in waiting for almost two weeks, I should probably write a little bit to you about Townsville so that way I don’t have heaps to write…at least not more than I already do!! Hah! Anyway, so I arrived in Townsville on Wednesday, the 20^th of Feb in the middle of the afternoon.

University Hall (aka Uni Hall) is where I am living on campus. Here the dorms are called colleges. So that’s like Cary Quad on Purdue’s campus…that would be considered a college. Anyway, my room is fairly nice. It is a little bigger than half of a Purdue dorm room. I have my own room with a desk, bed, shelves, etc…all the usual. I have two dressers which sit inside of my closet (aka cupboard). I also have a massive window that runs floor to ceiling. The windows push all the way up and I can open my shudders which lead out to my balcony. Outside of my window are palm trees and all sorts of pretty things.

I think Uni Hall is the best place to live on campus. The people here are great. What’s really nice is that everyone has their own room, and it’s a co-ed dorm. Next to me is Max, across we have James and Catie (aka Doddsy). How funny is it that two of my neighbors are Max and James? (two of my best friends back home)…

Anyway, so we have an open door policy around here. Most people (the social ones anyway) leave their doors open if they are home. This means it is quite easy to wander the halls and walk into anyone’s room for a random chat. It is quite fun. So moving on…

My first day here I met several people, an Aussie by the name of Xavier…really nice guy. He introduced me to Brendon, an American, from where else…PURDUE!! How funny is that? I thought that before I left Purdue I had met all the people coming here…apparently I was wrong. Brendon is from Chicago and is majoring in Sales and Marketing ( I believe). I also met a gal by the name of Lidia (great girl). In a way she is my Vanessa (another best Purdue bud) here in Oz. Lidia is originally from Moldova (a Russian state…used to be), lived in South Africa for 5 years, and now Australia for the last almost 5. She is a citizen in all three countries! Crazy! But anyway…the four of us, Xavier, Brendon, Lidia and myself spent the first four days or so together. I arrived on Wednesday and most people hadn’t yet arrived. We went to the Strand (the beach area) on Thursday and Friday which was good fun. The only unfortunate thing is that you can’t swim on the beaches right now. It’s stinger season (aka Box jellyfish and its small cousin the Irukanji). Both are potentially fatal if stung. There are netted areas designated for swimming, but they are not 100% fool proof.

So finally people began arriving on Saturday. Sunday was the beginning of all of the massiveness. O-week officially started on Sunday the 24^th. We started at the Riverside Tavern…great place. It sits on the river (obviously) right by the damn. It is a heavily wooded area around the tavern…very beautiful. I would say about 70-100 people from Uni Hall attended the festivities. There was live music and drinking…lots of drinking. It was a good time…everyone got to meet each other. Oh, and as I forgot to tell you, all of the freshers (aka those new to JCU and Uni Hall) has to wear bibs (yes that’s right…bibs) with their names all week.

Monday was a little less crazy. We had a pool party in the afternoon and that was the only major event for the day. JCU is a wet campus…meaning alcohol is allowed on school grounds and in the colleges. However, the campus was dry until Tuesday evening at 7 pm so that everyone could get settled in “quietly.” Monday night about 30 people from Uni Hall (including the RA’s…gotta love it) went down to the cricket fields around 11 o’clock. Security showed up so we moved down to the tennis sheds before finally heading back to Uni Hall and having a few “sneaky quiet ones.” Not to worry…I am not a crazy partier…all is alright. I realize that this all sounds crazy, but you have to know about O-week! Tuesday night was Toga night. Everyone dressed up in Toga attire and went to the Uni Club (only bar on campus). That was good fun as well. Wednesday night was Fresher/Fossil (if you haven’t figured it out…a returning student) Meet and Greet. More drinking took place here. Thursday night was club night, Friday night was bludgers night (meaning a few relaxing drinks over live music at UniClub).

Ah, so I forgot about this…Wednesday night was massive…everyone came home pretty late and went to bed later. At 4 am Thursday morning, we were all woken up to loud banging, music, and people shouting. Everyone from Uni Hall was woken up and sent downstairs. For an hour and a half, we all walked around from college to college screaming at the tops of our lungs the Uni Hall War Cry. Unfortunately, I am unable to type it out to you all, for it is slightly offensive in nature. Quite funny the same…but yes, so then everyone went back to bed about 6 am.

Saturday was the greatest of all of O-week. Kegs on the Lawn. From 2 to 6 pm on Saturday was $10 for all you can drink and eat. There were drum barrels full of Goon (basically everything you can possible throw together… boxed potent wine, champagne, etc, etc) and as much beer as needed. There was backyard cricket, a little rugby (without the tackle), blow up pools, slip n’ slide. The best of all of these was the accidental mud hole. There were some massive mud-fighting competitions going. It took me two days to clean my swimsuit from this! I finally just got it clean today! Anyway, it was tons of fun. I will post some photos so be sure to check out the photo page.

That about sums things up to today. I will fill you in as time goes on on the wonderful people here at Uni Hall. There are so many of them that I couldn’t possibly list them all and explain who they are and their significance in one sitting. I will wait until I have funny stories for you all. I hope this helps with what I’ve been up to! The last week and a half has been socializing and meeting as many people as possible. I hope all is well at home for all of you.

Townsville and its people are amazing. JCU is great. Uni Hall kids are great. I have a feeling it is going to be very difficult to leave at the end of the semester. I’ll write more again soon! Kim…if you are reading this…I will reply to your email soon! I promise! =D

Love you all!

Krissy

xoxo