Here in Canberra!

After waking up at 5 AM (incidentally, the same time my roommates got back from partying) to catch the train, I am now in what will be my home for the next 7 weeks! I'm at the Mount Stromlo Observatory outside of Canberra, and I have to say it is lovely. To begin with, I got here on a gorgeous day-- beautiful blue skies and only a hint of chill in the air-- and, oh yeah, I'm surrounded by mountains. And kangaroos.

Here's my home sweet home:

I have a proper studio to myself-- such luxury! Not big, but they really nailed the layout so it doesn't feel cramped at all.

 I took most of these photos in the evening so you can't tell, but light comes in from both ends (front door is opaque) so it's quite airy!

Here's the very modest view from my porch (yes, I have a porch!)

And... the moment we've all been waiting for:

Notice the joey!!

Also, the birds are a wee bit different from what I see in Memphis

These were taken from my porch, in case anyone was wondering.

A couple PhD students were nice enough to take me into town to get dinner and some groceries, and on the way back we had to be careful to avoid hitting all the kangaroos on the road; I'm sure I will have thousands of kangaroo photos before I leave.

Final note: The skies are AMAZING! I can see both Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way-- for the first time in my life! If it weren't for the cold I'd just lie down outside for a couple hours...

PS: I'm going to try to catch up on all my missing posts, but they will be way out of order. Sorry.