Orientation

Hello!
Orientation began yesterday - it's a week long full of getting to know your school. It's unlike the frosh week's I experienced back at Brock in that there are no concerts, there is just a lot of seminars full of information and free stuff (i love free stuff - i got my agenda yesterday - yes, i am a super nerd). A lot of people found it pointless but i actually thought it was really helpful. i found out more information about who to talk to in terms of my student visa, my enrollment, the transit system, our health coverage, where to find a doctor, and how to make friends and influence people. the most interesting part of our 'welcome seminar' was how they acknowledge and pay respect to the aboriginals who first acquired these lands. they had a guest speaker who gave us some local history of his family and the aboriginal tribe that comes from this part of AUS. i hope that i am remembering the details correctly, the sunshine coast and some of the language here is derived from the Gubi Gubi tribe. Mooloolaba (pronounced: Moo (like a cow)loo (british washroom)la (a note to follow so) ba (think sheep) is named for the darkness found deep within the rainforests found in this part of the land. Maroochydore (pronounced Mareecheedoor) is named for black swans. Our guest speaker then played the didgeridoo, which in aboriginal culture is only ever played by males. It was amazing! Kyle bought me a digeridoo for my birthday but I can barely get it to make any sound.
Orientation continued today with seminars on referencing techniques (they use Harvard instead of APA, they're annoyingly similar) an IT wireless lesson and then a smartstart session for my program. It's been a long couple of days but very productive!
Tomorrow I am buying my textbooks and booking a day trip on Friday out to the rainforest where I hope to get a lot of amazing pictures.