Today I headed to building 19 (this is a different angle - it looks pretty cool at night with the lights on - and yes, the buildings are just known by number...no names...), and met with my professors. Both are incredibly nice, and seemed to actually spend more time telling me about the area and places I should make sure I visit before I leave than they did talking about the actual project, etc. I picked up my student card, and we filled out the paperwork so that I should have my after-hours swipe card and building keys in the next couple of days.It seems that there have been a few things come about with my project that are pretty exciting. Originally we thought we would probably do it mostly in the lab. As it turns out, there is a community a little south of Joondalup that had implemented a constructed wetland to try and treat stormwater run-off that came from highways and roadways in the area. This is good, but they forgot that it may be useful to monitor the effectiveness of the wetland. Because there is a huge drought in Western Australia now, a bunch of acid is being released from the soils, and no one's really sure whether the wetland is properly treating the run-off or the acids. So we may be able to actually use the wetland and try to figure out how effective it is before trying to find ways to make it more effective. I'm probably going to be using somewhat of a large filter you put in the ground, because it hasn't been adequately researched before and there seems to be a lot of interest in the area (i.e. no one has actually tried to implement one to use in this type of way in Australia). So it's exciting that it's coming together...I have a bunch of articles that I'm reading before I start putting together my official proposal for review.
I spent some other time picking up a few more things from the mall so that I can officially actually make food and actually hang my clothes. The CAT bus service that I mentioned in Perth also is in Joondalup and there are two buses that pass right outside my door and basically do a circle between the campus and mall/train (running in opposite directions). It's really convenient having the buses there for free between the mall and campus - especially on days like today when it was about 41 Celsius (about 105 Fahrenheit I think). And that's not even really with humidity, since it's so dry! But tonight is supposed to be about 17, which is very welcome around here, I'm sure haha.
I also roamed the campus a little more, and found the library (and signed up for a library tour so that I actually know how to use their journal index system). Then I found out what all the wooden boards and screen are for:
Apparently Perth holds a large film festival annually, and my campus and the University of Western Australia both have large outdoor theatres that are open between December and April. The
is the Pines Picture Garden, which is right outside building 19 (where I'm studying) and about 2 minutes from my residence. Pretty cool! :) The theatre overlooks the campus' "lake" (which is really just a pond), which is in the middle of campus at the base of the main walkway and pretty much in front of my building.Well...I'm off to make dinner haha.
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