Week 1

7.30.10

Well,

The first week of classes is finally done. I have met all of my professors but am not sure where my tutors are for the classes; I will find out in week 3. My official classes are: World Religions, Australia’s Marine Environment, History of the Supernatural, and Wind Symphony.

In World Religions, all we pretty much did was the general “welcome to this course” and then had mini discussions and group discussions about religion. I found out that religion is taught in more schools than I thought. This part of the discussion I could not put in any input. One of the requirements is that I go study three different religious worship services. One of those will be to the Hillsong church. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a mega church (from what I have been told) with a group call Hillsong. The peeps from the church I play at were bugging me that I have to go meet them while I was here. Thus, I will try!

In Australia’s Marine Environment, I got another general “welcome to the course.” This was followed by explanations of the two field trip options. The first one is to the Moreton Bay Research Station on North Stradbroke Island. This is a three day trip. This is the trip I will be going on. The second one is to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. This is a five day trip. Both trips will include a small research project and then some fun things. If you are wondering, “Brian, Why aren’t’ you going on the one to the Great Barrier Reef?” well, it’s because it is twice as expensive, I already have plans to check out Sydney during that trip, and I will be going to the Great Barrier Reef anyway. We also learned about the scientific method…oh joy!

In the history of the Supernatural, we once again we had a “welcome to this course.” Then the professor started making us think differently about words like just (i.e. “oh, that is JUST a myth”) and how words like “History” can be put in the title of a course and it count for credit but if the course is called, “Angels, Ghosts, and Vampires,” will get rejected.

In Wind Symphony, since this is basically a year long course, we dove right into playing. We are playing ‘Four Scottish Dance’ and ‘Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.’ And then we played through some other pieces. This is where I met quite a few people. This ensemble seems like it is going to be a blast.

Other events that happened this week include: QUMS, Market Day, and the Williams Dinner. I will start with QUMS, the Queensland University Musical Society. It is a non-auditioned, mixed choir. They are singing Handel’s Solomon. I did not get the greatest vibe from the group and I doubt I will be joining for reasons stated later. Now on to Market Day. Market Day is the day when all of the clubs and sports and everything set up booths around the Great Court and get people to sign up and get e-mails and such. Similar to the one DU has during Discoveries Week; I can’t remember what it is called. I signed up for the Club Golf team, we’ll see how that works since my clubs are at my house in Denver; an international group called QUEST; and the Ultimate Frisbee team. I am hoping that I do not injure myself again at the first practice like I did at DU. This is the conflict with QUMS. Both Ultimate and QUMS meet on Wednesday nights. Since I would rather do Ultimate Frisbee, I must forego QUMS. Now to the Williams Dinner. This is annual formal dinner at King’s. We all were given Harry Potter Gowns for the dinner and had to wear shirt and tie under it. At this dinner, the high table had the Governor of Queensland, The chancellor and Vice Chancellor of UQ, the Head Master of King’s, and a few other people along with significant others. At the dinner we were served spicy carrot soup, rotisserie chicken and polenta, and lemon-lime cheesecake. This was one of the most delicious dinners I have had while here. This also was the time for the Williams speech in honor of Dr. Williams, hence the name of the dinner. This lecture was given by the Chancellor and since 2010 is the Centenary for UQ, it was about UQ’s past 100 years and looking forward to the next 100 years.

That was my first week of school. I am hoping that the folowing weeks are just as exciting!