By Angelique Rosa-Marín and Keiko Wilkins The Beginning… Our last week in Lismore started off like any other. We had planned to finish up everything we needed to do in the lab, pack, and say goodbye to everyone who had helped us over the past two months. Monday and Tuesday of the week went as planned for us. However, the growing COVID-19 pandemic was causing a lot of anxiety. Every …
By Emmi Kurosawa I had been working on my research in the Centre for Coastal Biogeography (CCB), Southern Cross University, Lismore (SCU or Uni), NSW, in Australia through the LOREX program since Jan 22, 2020, with my cohort companions, Keiko, Angelique, and Rachel. As it got towards the end of our internship, the COVID-19 pandemic became much more serious than I anticipated. On March 10th, one of the staff at …
By Angelique Rosa-Marín I learned through all my LOREX experiences that you can make anything happen if you commit to yourself. Demanding, inconvenient, and odd positions made me maximize and explode myself to the point that I discovered a new part of me. I am a planning and organized person; sometimes, a control freak, not going to lie. I plan everything; usually, if something goes wrong on my plan, my …
By Angelique Rosa-Marin & Keiko Wilkins Their collaboration was an excellent example of networking and using their resources. Everything started with the usual getting-to-know-you questions, “What is your LOREX research project?, What are you going to be doing?” Who would have known that this would be the start of their great story? They talked about both of their LOREX projects, their future plans, and soon enough a collaboration began. Keiko …
By Keiko Wilkins After a few weeks of getting set-up at Southern Cross, my advisor and I have begun preparing for our experiment to explore the effects of increased temperature and high DMSP on coral feeding rates. To conduct the experiment, we have to travel to Coffs Harbour where the National Marine Science Centre (NMSC) is located. This centre has amazing laboratory and aquaculture facilities for researchers to conduct their …
By Angelique Rosa-Marín My experience has been very disappointing in terms of people being aware of the actual environment situation, but Australia surprised me! People around here seem concerned about our environmental issues in such a way that their daily practices reflect their awareness. Let’s start with their recycling system… They have a particular categorization method. The trash needs to be classified into three different bins: a yellow-lid bin is …
By Rachel Weisend In December 2018, I found out I was selected to be a part of the first LOREX cohort and would be conducting a two-month-long research exchange in Lismore, Australia in early 2020. At the time, this felt like a lifetime away. The next thing I knew a year filled with dissertation research, LOREX orientation, planning meetings, grant applications, and teaching flew by and it was time to …
The beginning of my LOREX Experience – 462 Days in the making Read More »
By Angelique Rosa-Marín Apparently, Australians do not believe in air conditioning. The majority of the places have air conditioning, but they don’t really use it-extremely different from United States-right? North Americans need air conditioning for EVERYTHING; we cannot work, eat, sleep without a chilly environment; however, Australians seem to do that really well with ambient temperature. Being honest here, in the beginning, I couldn’t stop wondering WHY I needed to …
By Keiko Wilkins I arrived in Australia with 3 other LOREX students a little over a week ago. It still feels a little unreal that I traveled over 9,000 miles, from winter (it was snowing when I left) to summer, and from the northern to the southern hemisphere. My first week in Australia was filled with lots of learning and site-seeing. My first 24 hours consisted of a half-day layover …
First Week at Southern Cross University (Lismore, NSW, Australia) Read More »
