O Week

Hey everyone! It’s the middle of my second week here and I thought I’d give everyone an update on all of the UQ orientation stuff I’ve been doing. I made my way over to the St. Lucia campus on Monday for the official international student welcome session. It was held in a huge auditorium filled with all kinds of different people who were so excited to be there – it was a neat atmosphere to be in. We learned lots of little tidbits about UQ and Australia like the fact that it’s easier to get sunburned here not only because of the hole in the ozone layer, but also because there is less pollution in the atmosphere to soak up the UV rays. Australian currency is plastic so that it can stand getting wet. It’s compulsory to vote in Australian elections, and if you don’t you’ll be fined $50. Some of the development of the HPV vaccine now marketed as Gardasil happened at UQ, and in Australia it’s approved for use on boys as well as girls. Almost 90% of the entire Australian population can be found living in five of the major cities (Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane). There are over 2000 international students studying at UQ this semester, representing more than 117 countries! We went through a roll-call by country, and go to see how many students had traveled here from each place. There were countries I hadn’t even heard of like the Republic of Mauritius. The bulk of the students came from China and the US, but there were people from all over – Sweden, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, Mozambique, Iraq, Fiji, etc etc. It was really pretty impressive.

Tuesday was my orientation day at the SPH. For those of you who don’t know, I’m undertaking a Masters degree in Public Health, which is taught at the UQ School of Population Health based on the Herston campus. Herston is a small suburb of Brisbane and is about 15-20 minutes from the main St. Lucia campus by car. The University operates within the Royal Brisbane Hospital, Royal Children's Hospital, Royal Women's Hospital and Queensland Radium Institute, all located here within a few blocks span. It’s a lot like the UVa hospital complex! I met my incoming class of about 25 people, also from very different backgrounds. There are 3 physicians; two guys interested in indigenous health, and one younger guy, Caesar, who is from India. To my surprise (and excitement!) there are several young women here to do an MPH – one girl from Sydney, a girl from Canada, a dentist from India, a medical student from Denmark, and a 2007 UVa grad and Richmond native! There are also several health professionals with nursing and therapy backgrounds, and a few other international students that I didn’t have the chance to meet. Greg Fowler, the academic teaching programs manager, spoke to us for a few hours to start off. The program itself seems like a fantastic opportunity – Alan Lopez, the school’s head, is very well-respected in the field and is currently involved in several globally-based research projects. I am really excited about it! We met our Martha (UVa people will get this), a lady named Laurelle who is really amusing and knows the scoop on everything! Classes start on Monday and now I am really, really jazzed about starting up.

In other news, I’ve also secured myself some housing for the next six months. I was ready to jump off a cliff about it last week – on Valentine’s Day I viewed the most spectacular place! It was a 3 bedroom apartment owned by an Aussie who works in India and is frequently gone 3 weeks out of the month. The apartment was brand-new, furnished, and had a wrap-around terrace/patio that was almost the size of the apartment itself (and had two gas grills!). Ah! Along with him I’d be sharing it with his little brother and his little brother’s girlfriend. I jumped at it and was over the moon until he called to let me know that his little brother had decided that he wanted both of the free rooms, so I couldn’t have it. I was gutted about it for days! I’ve decided to move in with a guy named John, who is a 28 year old fellow from Seattle. His apartment was the first one I looked at, and is still the best option now that I can’t live in the palace of my dreams. He seems nice as can be (although I’ll find out the truth soon enough!), and has a great apartment. It’s right on the cliffs at Kangaroo Point facing the city (I’ll make sure I post pictures of my view), and is in a complex with a pool and tennis court. It’ll be about an hour to commute to my classes via bus, but the location is really perfect for me so I’m very happy. My new address will be:

236 River Terrace
Unit 41
Kangaroo Point
QLD 4196
Australia

All care packages, notes, and visitors will be accepted with pleasure!!!