Friday was an incredibly long day!!! I got up at around 8am to get ready for my first class at around 10am and to pack for the camping trip. I thought I was going to have to lug around all my camping stuff with me to my classes, but luckily Len called me at 9:30 to tell me we could pick it up later!!
Today was the first day of real lectures and I thought they were great! We had a lecture on cell death and cell adaptation (cell biology), an introduction to anatomy lecture (which was pretty detailed and boring) and then a ‘doctor in the community’ lecture all before our lunch break (at 1:30pm). I wasn’t sure what to expect from the community doctor lectures, but I really think they are going to be great! Half of the 1.5 hour lecture was spent on learning about Iodine deficiency disorders, goiters, cretinism, etc. (mainly in Tibet) and the other half was about public health and smoking (including some incredibly graphic pictures of mouth cancers and patients with emphysema). It was a really interesting lecture!!
We had lunch in a little courtyard near our lecture theatre and then had two more lectures in the afternoon. The first lecture was a science based lecture on arteries, atherosclerosis, and heart attacks and the second one was about how to take a medical history from a patient. Again, they were both good lectures! We have to start taking medical histories right away at my hospital, so I’m glad we’ve learned the basics already. I’m also glad that I have a science background and that I remember a bit of what I learned at McGill. Nothing has been too advanced yet or anything, but I can imagine that those without a science background would be feeling very overwhelmed after the lectures today.
The lectures ended at 4:30 and I rushed back home to grab my things. A girl named Elaine (from Brisbane) has a car here in Sydney, so she offered to drive Len, Jacqui, and me down to the Med Camp at a place (south west of the city) called Appin.
Before we left the city, we stopped at Len’s place so he could grab his things. I can not believe how nice his place is!! He doesn’t have much furniture yet, but the layout of the apartment and the view of the city is amazing. He is actually only paying about $460/week for the place – which I think is a great deal considering how nice it is- and in comparison to some other places I’ve seen for almost as much. Once his girlfriend is here and paying half of the rent, it actually will be quite affordable (as far as Sydney standards go). I’m excited to find a real apartment when Brent gets here- cause it is much easier to find a nice place if you’re willing to pay over about $350/week. They say the key to surviving the rent/living costs in Sydney is to live with a partner! Here are a few pictures of Len's apartment (and his view).
Anyway, it took us about 2 hours to get to Appin since we didn’t really know where we were going and there was a lot of rush hour traffic. The highways in the city are streets like Eglinton Avenue at home, so you can’t get anywhere very fast. But, apparently, our car (full of Canadians and the Brisbane girl) was one of the only cars not to get lost- so we ended up being the first car there!
The campsite/area was pretty sketchy and the bugs started biting as soon as we got there. We all changed into our pants and shoes right away. The camping party had a theme- “anything scholastic”- but I didn’t pack my high school uniform in my bags, so I wasn’t able to come up with a good costume. I don’t think any of the Canadians really dressed up- with the exception of Stuart, I guess, who wore his sweater vest from the other day. He he he. This is a picture of Stuart and me.
The rest of the night was ok, but not amazing. They served us spaghetti for dinner and then had a trivia game (with mostly Australian pop culture questions) for us. After that they had a limbo contest, a giant twister game and some beer pong. I played one game of beer pong with the other Canadians, but I just watched the other games. A lot of the Australians are much younger than the international students, so I think they were at the camp for “different reasons” (I won’t elaborate) than we were. A lot of them were drinking way too much and were horribly annoying. I was also starting to understand Dad’s concern about me picking up an Australian accent while I was here. It is fun to listen to sometimes, and on some people it can be charming, but a lot of the time, it does get quite hard to listen to.
Janice and I spent a lot of the night comparing words and the way we say things with some of the Australians. Some things they say are just plain weird. They don’t pronounce their “r”s at all and they have such weird words for some things. Plus, they don’t know anything about “ice” hockey and they can’t stop talking about Cricket.
This is a picture of Len, Elaine, Jacqui, Sadiq/Stuart, and me when we first got to the camp.
At about 4:30am, Janice and I decided that we needed to try to find a place to sleep. There were a few big metal sheds on the campsite- full of bunk beds covered in thick plastic. Most of the beds were taken already and the sheds were full of mosquitoes since the lights had been on earlier and there were no doors or anything! Janice and I were also worried that we weren’t going to wake up in time to catch our ride back to the city (leaving at 7am). So- we decided that the best thing to do was to sleep in the car we were riding in. It was a VERY small compact car, and Stuart managed to find us as we were getting into the car, so he came along. Janice and Stuart sat in the back and I sat in the passenger seat. It was squished and a little cold- but at least we escaped the mosquitoes in the sheds! We found out later that A LOT of other people had slept in their cars as well.
We left the campsite by about 7am the next morning (or a few hours later). Some people hadn’t even gone to bed yet. The traffic was light on the way home (and we got a ride with a guy from Sydney), so it was a much faster drive and only took about 1.25 hours. We got dropped off in the middle of campus and walked home from there. I hadn’t been that tired in a very long time.
Today was the first day of real lectures and I thought they were great! We had a lecture on cell death and cell adaptation (cell biology), an introduction to anatomy lecture (which was pretty detailed and boring) and then a ‘doctor in the community’ lecture all before our lunch break (at 1:30pm). I wasn’t sure what to expect from the community doctor lectures, but I really think they are going to be great! Half of the 1.5 hour lecture was spent on learning about Iodine deficiency disorders, goiters, cretinism, etc. (mainly in Tibet) and the other half was about public health and smoking (including some incredibly graphic pictures of mouth cancers and patients with emphysema). It was a really interesting lecture!!
We had lunch in a little courtyard near our lecture theatre and then had two more lectures in the afternoon. The first lecture was a science based lecture on arteries, atherosclerosis, and heart attacks and the second one was about how to take a medical history from a patient. Again, they were both good lectures! We have to start taking medical histories right away at my hospital, so I’m glad we’ve learned the basics already. I’m also glad that I have a science background and that I remember a bit of what I learned at McGill. Nothing has been too advanced yet or anything, but I can imagine that those without a science background would be feeling very overwhelmed after the lectures today.
The lectures ended at 4:30 and I rushed back home to grab my things. A girl named Elaine (from Brisbane) has a car here in Sydney, so she offered to drive Len, Jacqui, and me down to the Med Camp at a place (south west of the city) called Appin.
Before we left the city, we stopped at Len’s place so he could grab his things. I can not believe how nice his place is!! He doesn’t have much furniture yet, but the layout of the apartment and the view of the city is amazing. He is actually only paying about $460/week for the place – which I think is a great deal considering how nice it is- and in comparison to some other places I’ve seen for almost as much. Once his girlfriend is here and paying half of the rent, it actually will be quite affordable (as far as Sydney standards go). I’m excited to find a real apartment when Brent gets here- cause it is much easier to find a nice place if you’re willing to pay over about $350/week. They say the key to surviving the rent/living costs in Sydney is to live with a partner! Here are a few pictures of Len's apartment (and his view).
Anyway, it took us about 2 hours to get to Appin since we didn’t really know where we were going and there was a lot of rush hour traffic. The highways in the city are streets like Eglinton Avenue at home, so you can’t get anywhere very fast. But, apparently, our car (full of Canadians and the Brisbane girl) was one of the only cars not to get lost- so we ended up being the first car there!
The campsite/area was pretty sketchy and the bugs started biting as soon as we got there. We all changed into our pants and shoes right away. The camping party had a theme- “anything scholastic”- but I didn’t pack my high school uniform in my bags, so I wasn’t able to come up with a good costume. I don’t think any of the Canadians really dressed up- with the exception of Stuart, I guess, who wore his sweater vest from the other day. He he he. This is a picture of Stuart and me.
The rest of the night was ok, but not amazing. They served us spaghetti for dinner and then had a trivia game (with mostly Australian pop culture questions) for us. After that they had a limbo contest, a giant twister game and some beer pong. I played one game of beer pong with the other Canadians, but I just watched the other games. A lot of the Australians are much younger than the international students, so I think they were at the camp for “different reasons” (I won’t elaborate) than we were. A lot of them were drinking way too much and were horribly annoying. I was also starting to understand Dad’s concern about me picking up an Australian accent while I was here. It is fun to listen to sometimes, and on some people it can be charming, but a lot of the time, it does get quite hard to listen to.
Janice and I spent a lot of the night comparing words and the way we say things with some of the Australians. Some things they say are just plain weird. They don’t pronounce their “r”s at all and they have such weird words for some things. Plus, they don’t know anything about “ice” hockey and they can’t stop talking about Cricket.
This is a picture of Len, Elaine, Jacqui, Sadiq/Stuart, and me when we first got to the camp.
At about 4:30am, Janice and I decided that we needed to try to find a place to sleep. There were a few big metal sheds on the campsite- full of bunk beds covered in thick plastic. Most of the beds were taken already and the sheds were full of mosquitoes since the lights had been on earlier and there were no doors or anything! Janice and I were also worried that we weren’t going to wake up in time to catch our ride back to the city (leaving at 7am). So- we decided that the best thing to do was to sleep in the car we were riding in. It was a VERY small compact car, and Stuart managed to find us as we were getting into the car, so he came along. Janice and Stuart sat in the back and I sat in the passenger seat. It was squished and a little cold- but at least we escaped the mosquitoes in the sheds! We found out later that A LOT of other people had slept in their cars as well.
This is Janice with one of the Aussies- named Mic.
We left the campsite by about 7am the next morning (or a few hours later). Some people hadn’t even gone to bed yet. The traffic was light on the way home (and we got a ride with a guy from Sydney), so it was a much faster drive and only took about 1.25 hours. We got dropped off in the middle of campus and walked home from there. I hadn’t been that tired in a very long time.
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