Holy snowman, it’s February already! There’s a lot of f-words we’re throwing out here today on our blog – February, four, follow, Friday, fudge…Speaking of fudge, have you got plans with your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day? Actually, that’s a Four for Friday topic, so how about we just get started already.

1. Happy V Day, ya’ll. February 14 can go one of four ways: You have the most romantic day EVER with your partner; you have expectations to have the most romantic day ever with your partner, but expectations have not been communicated and it then becomes the worst day EVER; you are single and express your distaste for the day of love on Twitter; and lastly, you are single and gather all your friends together and go out and eat garlic bread and drink mojitos. We love the last idea, no matter what day it is. If you’re in Australia and trying to think of a good way to spend Valentine’s Day, we’ve got some good news for you: It’s warm there. Unlike the snowy conditions we experience each V-Day in Canada, you can take your partner or your garlic bread-eating friends to the beach. Romantically or platonically, you’re guaranteed to have a memorable day by the water! Tweet that!

2. #FF. You know what #ff means, don’t you? We admit, we did have to Google it at one point, but we now know it’s a Twitter hashtag for Follow Friday. It’s a chance for Tweeps to suggest each Friday, via Twitter, who their followers should follow.  OzTREKK is into following our Australian university partners because we can keep tabs on all the good things happening on campus. But we also want to Twitter stalk our students. We know a lot of our students are currently on Twitter, and if you’re one of them, give us a shout out on Twitter because we’d love to hear from you. Especially if you’re offering garlic bread. With cheese.

3. Sydney Law School brings in Queen’s. Do you ever go to a party and try to make connections with the people there? ‘Oh, your cousin Sal went to UofT? So did my sister-in-law Nancy!’ We’re kind of adopting that same approach from a campus to campus point of view. We recently heard that the Sydney Law School has invited a Queen’s University Law Professor to speak at its speaker’s series. Professor Nicholas Bala of Kingston’s Queen’s University will deliver the first lecture as part of the Sydney Law School Distinguished Speakers Program 2012. Nicholas Bala is a leading Canadian expert on issues related to children, youth and families in the justice system, and has been published extensively in journals in law, medicine, psychology and social work. His work is often quoted by all levels of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and has also been cited by courts in the United States and Britain. Professor Bala’s lecture takes place on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 from 6-7pm at the Sydney Law School. So if you’re studying in Sydney and if this interests you, make sure you check it out. And maybe you can ask him if he knows your Aunt Linda, who lives in Napanee.

4. More on the JCU Kitesurfing President. We know that since we posted a blog about the World Kitesurfing Competition, you’ve wanted to learn more about the James Cook University Kitesurfing president, Marvin Baumeister. Well, good news! We actually heard from one of our former students, Melinda MacKenzie, who studied at the James Cook University Teachers College. She said she was friends with Marvin while studying at James Cook University. She told us how he was just starting out his record label, promoting some high school musicians and that’s really taken off for him since! “He was also really into the kitesurfing then and always looking for recruits,” she explains. “He’s a great guy!” We love how closely connected people become at James Cook University. That said, make sure you check out our blog next week for a feature on Melinda’s experience at the James Cook University Teachers College!