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Apologies, Game Hunting, and Politics

It’s been too too long! I have tons of blog material and no time to write it all up, but posts will come soon.

There are two things I wanted to get down. 

First, I had the pleasure of making friends with a South African, who gave me the inside scoop on hunting big game in Africa. Remember the outrage with the Texan girl Kendall Jones? Here’s why hunters like her are actually helping conservationists:

Big game like lions, giraffes, rhinos, etc. are super valuable to poachers. That’s why they’re kept on these “hunting safaris”; the safaris are patrolled and the animals are kept safe. Without this protection, there’s a high chance they’d go extinct. When an animal in the safari gets old and becomes a burden to its herd, the safari keepers have two options: hire a vet to put the animal down, OR charge a foreigner thousands of dollars to come shoot it. The safaris need upkeep, and they have to pay the guys who patrol the land to keep poachers away. Hence big game hunting.  

Also, I just finished a Fulbright State Day Presentation and dinner, where I met Johnny Manziel’s freshman roommate (who is a brother of an Aussie scholar)! Can I get a whoop? A Fulbright Distinguished Chair also presented on why American politics are becoming increasingly polarized. This polarization began in the 80′s with Reagan and has gotten worse since, but the only reason this polarization wasn't as drastic prior to 1980 was because the North and South struck a deal. The south would let its conservative Democrats go to the Senate & House and keep the Republicans at home, if the Democratic party didn’t push desegregation laws in the south. That led to an overlap between the parties: conservative Democrats were more conservative than liberal Republicans, and bipartisanship was common. Now that the deal is gone, each party has completely split away from the other’s ideology. But contrary to common belief, the polarization did not start on Capitol Hill, rather it followed from a polarization of voters in the states. 

Another interesting fact, Democrats have the greatest favorability and “people power” in the states, and it’s increasing due to the rising minority population. The only reason they don’t have the electoral power is because a majority of Democrats are packed in heavy-populated cities. Because they aren’t spread out like Republicans, they can’t hold as many seats in government. Also, Democrats have the biggest challenge in mobilizing the minority population to vote (as seen in 2014). It isn’t a surprise Democrats lost in 2014, they won an uncharacteristically high number of seats in the previous midterm due to Obama’s coattails and the blame of the economic downturn on Republicans. The Democrats had a few swing states to lose.

A mandatory vote, as used in Australia, would fix the voter turnout in the Democrat’s favor, but you risk losing voters instead to other (3rd) parties. This is happening in OZ: the Labor party is slowly losing power to the Greens.

Also, polarization doesn’t necessarily mean gridlock. If a single party controls both the executive offices and the House and Senate, there is a once-in-a-decade period of legislative advancements (Obama’s first term).

That’s all for now! Who knew I’d be schooled in American politics in Australia.

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Sunrise beach and markets at Eumundi! Those are cigar box guitars :D #travel #australianlife #surf (at Noosa Heads)

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Great weekend at Noosa!

Sunshine Beach

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My lovely friends Kai, Ellie, and Jo came from Brisbane to catch some QuickPro two weeks ago, but the ocean was as flat as the Texas panhandle. We ended up swimming at the beach, then going to a rock pool at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary for the afternoon. 

On Tuesday I got to test my luck at the Jupiter Casino in Broadbeach, where I sadly discovered I had more luck playing Pokies (Aussie term for slot machines) than blackjack. 

Wednesday- checked out the Bavarian Bier Cafe in Broadbeach with another friend from Brissie. This was the greatest meal. I felt like I was back in Germany and it made me so incredibly happy. I had schnitzel, schnapps, a Franziskaner, and ice cream. Side note- getting ice cream is a big deal here. It’s about 5 bucks for a single scoop, so I haven’t had it since I left the States. 

Thursday& Friday- Jo came back to visit! Sushi and beer on the beach. Took Friday morning off to catch the QuickPro semifinals, then went to Crank indoor climbing gym in the evening with a few grad students! This was my first climb indoors, and thanks to a few coaches from below, I got through some climbs I never would’ve thought I could do. It was exhausting. We cut open a watermelon and cantaloupe in the parking garage afterwards, and set out to find big, glorious plates of Chinese food. 

Saturday- took a sand volleyball course in the morning, then had my first surf lesson with some Brazilian friends at Snapper! The waves were terrifyingly huge… it’s fun when a wave decides to crash 6 feet above your head. You just stare at it, curse under your breath, dive under, and hope for the best. I managed to ride one wave in on my elbows, so I have some work to do. Ocean:1, Shelby:0.

After a quick nap, Laura and Dylan showed up for our hike to Mt. Warning! We left Gold Coast at 1 am with Majid and Ben, and drove inland to start the 2.5 hour ascent. The hike was nice and cool, pitch black, and well marked at the base of the mountain, and as you ascended the trail got a bit rockier. Finally, for the last 10-15 minutes, you literally use a chain to pull yourself up this 75 degree incline of solid rock. With a flashlight in one hand. We made it to the summit just before the sunrise, and ate breakfast at a lookout over the ocean and Byron Bay as we watched the sun creep up. It was gorgeous… there really aren’t words to describe it. 

Sunday- I’d like to say I hibernated after the hike (we got back to GC around 11 after a meat pie and iced coffee), but I can’t take naps to save my life. I went to the beach and read instead, and Kai came down from Brissie for some Iranian food, beach time, and longboarding!

That’s all for now! xoxo

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70% of the population in Pakistan is in their 20's and 30's. We have the chance to make a huge difference. The younger generation sees humans as humans...not as Christians, Muslims, gays, etc. We are evolving.

Majid, Pakistani, Electrical Engineer, party animal :)

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I'm in there somewhere! These are all the brilliant people I got to meet in Perth.

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My goal in life isn't to get rich. It's to make enough money that I don't have to question my decision to get guacamole with my burritos. When someone asks if I want guac, I want to be able to say yes every time without batting an eye.

Kai, German, Adventurer, Scientist

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The way I see it, the generations are playing musical chairs. The music is our renewable resources, climate, etc... eventually the music will stop and the last generation standing will be left to face the mess we've left them. We're all hoping we're not alive when someone pushes "stop".

Scott, Aussie, Explorer

I'll be collecting people's ideas from conversations I have in OZ! 

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Attack of the Leech

Tuesday I went on a hike with the Meetup Outdoors Group and my roomie, Jody. We hiked 11 km, climbing Nightcap Bluff (where we got these awesome shots), then hiking along the Historic Nightcap Track. 

The rainforest was beautiful, but FULL of leeches. The trail was wet, and the leeches would constantly latch on and crawl into our shoes. After the first few, we were pulling them off with our hands. Those suckers were disgusting. Six hours later, we grabbed a beer in Numinbah Valley and headed back to GC! 

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QuickPro

Last weekend was full of surf, sunburn, and kangaroos! 

My lovely roommates and I grabbed a train at 5 am Saturday to Coolangatta to watch the first WSL competition of 2015! We grabbed coffee and brekky at Bellakai and watched the insane amount of fit people who bike the streets at 6 am. 

After trying Vegemite (really salty, doesn't have much going for it), we walked to Snapper Rocks for the first day of the Quicksilver Pro! Some highlights were watching Kelly Slater, Gabriel Medina, and Mick Fannin carve up some waves while we hung out on the beach.

^^Current world champ, Gabriel Medina. The Brazilian girls went nuts when he walked out.

Because watching pro surfers isn't enough adventure for one day, we caught a ride with Fernando to Natural Bridge @ Springbrook National Park to see a waterfall!

And because we weren't quite tired, we went kangaroo spotting at a park in Gold Coast!

All in a day's work :)

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Brissie

Thursday I caught the train at 5 am to Brissie for a National Instruments seminar. Suffice it to say I doubled up on the fancy espresso at the hotel. The seminar actually turned out to be a great refresher on the program I'll be using to run my test rig. Afterwards, I managed to catch a ride with a super generous cyber security engineer from Iran to the Ecosciences Precinct for lunch with some fellow Fulbrighters. I got a tour of the facility, took a lichen to a few invasive plant experiments, and set out on a fabulous tour of the city with Dylan. We walked through the City Botanical Gardens, saw some sugar cane waste on its way to becoming biofuel at Queensland University of Technology, and ventured to Embassy Bar for a Hop Hog Hefeweizen. We saw Japanese and Aboriginal art at the Queensland Art Gallery and drank a few more beers at Archive and The End (which had the best coffee stout I've ever tasted and a hawt band that sounded like Kimbra). To top it all off, we had a big ole pulled pork, coleslaw, and cajun sausage pizza at a little joint called The Burrow. All was accompanied by a healthy dose of convo including the difference between rednecks and bogans, mathematics, The American Dream, extraterrestrials, and language. That, ladies and gents, was a full day. 

Also I caught the wrong train coming home at 10 pm and had to backtrack. Google maps is great, y'all.

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Brisbane from a bridge over the river and from the rooftop of a pizza joint. Highlights include a coffee stout from The End, a live jazz band with a standing bass, and cajun sausage on a pizza. It was a great day.

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Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane. That’s a taxidermy? Taxidermied? deer covered in glass spheres and a tiny carved tree out of a paper shopping bag. Saw an awesome exibit of Aboriginal art too!

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This is a one minute walk from my apartment. This is a reminder that the world is beautiful, and that the Bieritz drinks of the day were so, so good. (at Eileen Peters Park)

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First Week in the Land Down Under

I've had an extremely tiring but rewarding seven days in Australia! I had a 17 hour flight into Sydney last Monday, on which I managed to sleep, have a half-anxiety attack about leaving, and read 180 pages of Yes Please by Amy Poehler.

After a quick transfer to Brisbane, my friend Jo picked me up and let me crash on an air mattress for 2 days (thanks Jo!!). In return I flew guitar cables and strings over to OZ for him from Texas. I was also supposed to get some duty free booze for him... I'll make good on that. I promise. 

So Brisbane is great. It comes across as a very modern city, the buildings all feel like they've been built in the last decade, and downtown is an awesome mix of concrete and vine-covered bike paths. The parks are all well-manicured in OZ. I felt like I was in an arboretum, or some fancy estate in Vermont with fountains and statues. There's also a beach downtown (!) with sand (!) that buts up to the river, but it has it's own water so you don't get eaten by bull sharks. How nice! I had a great BBQ with Couchsurfers and some colleagues, and we grilled kale and prawns and drank wine. In short, I felt super classy but really missed ribs.

Then I flew to Perth Wednesday for a phenomenal 3 day welcome by the Fulbright Commission! When I won a Fulbright, I knew it was a big deal, but I didn't realize exactly how lucky I am to be a part of something so meaningful and full of such driven, passionate scholars. The whole purpose of the award was to share ideas rather than drop bombs. It was one of the few good things that came out of WWII, and was a result of Senator Fulbright's vision that both empathy and revolutionary collaboration are a direct result of living in new countries and exchanging ideas. So naturally, the Commission has a plethora of amazing people in its alumni network, and they all love to collaborate and talk about how we can change the world. 

I don't think I can convey how impactful this conference was. 

Let's just say that now I know 50 scholars who all nerded out with me as we discussed how we could use pieces of each other's eye-opening projects for our own research. We also got to see how everyone ticked... what drove all the coffee-filled tireless hours of work that each person had devoted to their field. Everyone was filled to the brim with adventure and passion, and it was incredible. I walked away from that conference with friends in every Australian city, and they have a place to crash in Texas. I realized I can use this award as a stage for raising awareness for congenital heart defects and the struggle families go through when faced with such a terrifying diagnosis. I am allowed to contact media, speak at events, tell kids how great it is to be an engineer and to have a shot at making a difference. I can ask to meet with science and health policy makers here in Australia and see what problems they face when trying to fund research for niche diseases. 

I get to do all these things. 

And I can't wait.

Also, living 2 blocks away from a beach is pretty sweet.

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Rinking with really smart people is so much fun. Just a few of the geniuses. #downunder (at Hyatt Regency Perth)

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We had a huge awards ceremony with ambassadors and aboriginal dancers and this was the coolest picture I got… whoops