Settling Down at Stromlo

Well, it's officially been two weeks since I arrived at Stromlo. While it's hard to believe that my time here is a third over, I feel like I've settled in quite nicely. Being on top of a mountain with not much around is wonderful for relaxation, as a weekend spent curled up with a book is the epitome of productivity for me these day. However, that doesn't mean I don't have anything to say about my time here!

To begin with, the weather has not been nearly the arctic blizzard I was warned about by friendly Sydneysiders: just chilly enough that a warm fireplace (or radiator, as the case may be) and a cup of hot coffee can never go amiss, but not cold to the point of pain. But the other morning, after falling asleep to a truly incredible gale, I woke up to find snow on the ground!

The mountains were beautiful in the mist

Of course, it didn't last past lunchtime.

By the way, here's the view from my office window:

 ...and this is my walk home:

I don't ever want to leave the mountains.

The work atmosphere here is great, and extremely social. I've had to set an alarm on my phone for morning tea at 10:30, so I don't forget and work through it! The week is packed with all kinds of astronomy colloquia and group meetings that go way over my head, but that's ok. This Friday was our fortnightly BBQ lunch, which I helped out with-- lots of fun!

By far the best part of my experience (aside from maybe kangaroos) has been the people. Everyone has continued to be very welcoming and made an effort to include me things. Here's an (incomplete) list of the people I've gotten to know so far:

Tiantian: A postdoc from China originally, though she worked for Dave (my research adviser) in Hawaii for grad school. She's super nice and very honest about everything, which makes for entertaining conversations! She runs marathons, so training takes up a lot of her spare time and she loves to debate advantages and disadvantages of various diets. Also, Tiantian recently took a course in coffeemaking and would love to work as a barista-- which means that everyone else gets free and delicious coffee while she practices her skills! Also, she hates onions. With a passion.

I-Ting: Just graduated from his PhD program and left with his girlfriend for Germany a couple of days ago. Though I won't be seeing them again, they were great people! Unfortunately, I don't remember the girlfriend's name, as I paid more attention to the pronunciation (which they said I nailed) than remembering it! They're from Taiwan, and we had some really interesting conversations about Taiwanese politics-- I learned tons. Last weekend we had a BBQ at Faulkner Court (where I live) in his honor, and since apparently everyone is moving away they dumped all their food on me so I'm eating free for a week!

Melanie: A masters student, born in Munich, but she's lived in Brisbane most of her life. She's really sweet.

Dipanjan: Just met him today! He's from Kolkata and just got back from Paris. He and Tiantian and I got lunch and then went on a hike around Stromlo today.

Our hike was awesome. There are loads of trails around Stromlo, and people come up here frequently for hiking, biking, and-- now-- Pokemon Go. We walked for about an hour, getting back right as it started cooling down from the mid-60s. 

It started, as one might expect, with kangaroos

Hello, kangaroos

Hello, lying-down kangaroo. You look like Faith.

Sorry, I really like kangaroos.

A lot of the paths were actually fire trails

One more kangaroo picture, sorry

You can still see remnants of past fires

Eucalyptus trees are actually pretty hardy though, so there are a lot around!

Not kangaroos!! They're wallabies

Although they belong to the same family as kangaroos, they're smaller and have different markings

Random sunset picture from my room

Look at how pretty the birds are!

That's all for now! Tonight if it's still clear I'm going to go stargazing with the binoculars Tiantian was kind enough to lend me. Loving it here!