Saturday, February 23, 2008

I’m starting to think that my blog might not be very interesting this year. I’ve just finished my first full week of school and don’t have much to report- at least not much that isn’t school related.

Tuesday was my first day at the hospital this year. All of my clinical days are on Tuesdays now- which I think I like a bit better than Mondays. As always- I really like my hospital days once I am there- but getting there is such a pain. 2 hours each way on the transit…plus now the fare has gone up to $14 return. I also seem to manage to get tons of blisters no matter what shoes I wear! Last week my heels were bleeding when I got home. Luckily, I don’t have to go there everyday. A few of my Canadian friends have bought cars this year, but unfortunately they don’t live close to me :(.

Luckily, the hospital was pretty interesting this week. I spent a lot of time talking with a man who was a tetraplegic (aka. quadriplegic). He had been ‘play fighting’ with his brother, fell backwards, hit his chin on the edge of a table and snapped his neck at C5. Seven years later, he has a whole slew of health problems (related to the injury mostly), his wife left him and his kids don’t talk to him anymore. He was in the hospital getting a giant pressure sore on his gluteus maximus treated (which takes about 3 months to heal). Needless to say, it was a very sad story- and I ended up talking to him for almost an hour.

Anyway, for the next 10 weeks, we will be studying neuroscience, vision and behavior. I think that it’s going to be very interesting, but also pretty challenging. We just finished our spinal cord injury problem (which was VERY interesting) and now we are moving on to epilepsy, hydrocephalus and spina bifida (all in this next week).

I have also recently joined a study group (which I NEVER thought I’d do). But, it actually seems like it might be a good idea. The people I joined are very studious and organized so it forces me to stay on top of things. I have also decided to apply for the honours program here- and do an honours project as part of my degree. I have found a supervisor, but right now I am working on my proposal so that I can get the project approved. I’ll write more about it when that happens!

My apartment is looking a little better these days. I’ve been trying to keep it as clean as I possibly can to avoid bugs- and it’s been working pretty well so far. I’m also pretty much set up without having to buy anything- except for a pot and a pan. Unfortunately, my fridge has been broken for over a week now and even though I bother reception about it everyday, they haven’t done anything about it yet. Back to a single bed... :( I have a few friends who are coming by (from Canada) to visit in the next few weeks. Jeremy, Tyler and Mike Landell (who all worked at the beach with me) are traveling in the South Pacific right now and are planning to be in Sydney sometime in the next month. I’m sure it will be nice to see them.I am also VERY happy and excited that Dad and Norma have booked tickets to come to Australia for a visit in May. :) After Bali, I have 15 weeks straight with no break- so I’m glad that I’ll have something to look forward to during that time.

This weekend has been really nice so far. Sunny and high 20’s all weekend- so I’ve been spending a lot of my time reading outside.

Happy Birthday to Mom also! (She’s in Oman right now, so hopefully she has a good birthday there!) Talk to you soon!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Well this past week has been a pretty big disaster- but at least things should only get better from here. Usually the worst part of the trip is saying goodbye to everyone- but this time it was all pretty bad.

It started with my flight from Toronto to LA being delayed by 4 hours because of a mechanical problem. For a while I thought that I was going to be able to stay in Toronto for the night, but they ended up making us go to LA because of the weather forecast the next day. I had only planned a 2 hour layover in LA, so I missed my connection to Sydney and was going to have to stay in LA for the day. Usually all flights going to Australia leave the west coast in the evening and get to Australia the next morning- but luckily, as we were landing in LA at about 3am, the captain announced that there happened to be a delay with a Qantas flight and that they might hold the plane for us. So, a few hours later, after some running and some more waiting, I was on my way to Sydney.

We got into Sydney about 5 hours later than scheduled, so my plans for the day were thrown off. I waited for my bags for about another hour before giving up (even though the Qantas agents in LA assured us that our bags would make it). We are 5 days later now and I STILL don’t have my bags. It’s been ‘interesting’ wearing the same clothes for almost a week now.

When I arrived I had my cell phone with me, and while I was waiting for my baggage Discount car rental called me to say that the one-tonne truck I had reserved for moving that day had been in a crash and that it was no longer available. An hour later my cell phone battery died (and my charger is in my lost bags), so I have been without a phone since then. Luckily, I had time to get in touch with Janice and Mark who helped me move some of my things that afternoon.

I’m living in SUV again- which is the same student complex that I lived in last year. But this year- for the small price of $50/week extra I have a kitchen sink, 2 hot plates and a bit of extra space. I was really disappointed with my new place when I first arrived because it was horribly dirty and there were spiders and cockroaches EVERYWHERE. It wasn’t really what I was hoping for after the trip I just had. Plus, my door opens outside and my room is on the ground floor- which means much less security and much more BUGS- so needless to say I wasn’t very happy about that either.

On Thursday morning, I went out and bought a whole BUNCH of cleaning supplies, bleach, bug sprays etc… and cleaned my entire place from top to bottom (what a nice way to spend Valentine’s Day, eh?). I also bought a broomstick for my sliding door (which I cut to size with a bread knife) for some extra security- which was Brent’s idea. Now I am feeling a little better about the place and I haven’t seen any bugs since (inside my apartment, at least) :). Brent also sent me a BIG bunch of flowers on Valentine’s Day, which was so nice. The lady at the front desk said it was the biggest box of flowers she had seen all day! :)

Friday was my first day of school for the year. I had a PBL session on spinal injuries (another motorcycle accident) and then a lecture for an hour from our sub-deans trying to scare us into studying really hard this year. Hopefully it worked. He he he. After class, Nick and I walked along King Street to get some groceries and on our way saw a really bad motorcycle accident (which was pretty ironic considering our PBL a few hours earlier). The girl looked like she was conscious and there was a mob of people who ran to help, so Nick and I didn’t stay too long. But on our way home, they were still cleaning up the scene and there were 4 ambulances still there!

Friday night we all went to a bar along King Street for some ‘Welcome back drinks’. I didn’t stay long because my jet-lag was catching up with me, but it was nice to see some of my friends.

I am halfway thru my weekend now and haven’t done much since I don’t want to have to wear my dirty clothes again and because I really want to be here if my bags actually EVER arrive. Luckily, it was 22 degrees and cloudy today (and is supposed to rain tomorrow), so I don’t feel like I’m missing much by not going to the beach.

Brent and I did spend a lot of today (on the phone of course) trying to plan our trip to Bali in March. Hopefully it will come FAST!Sorry I don’t have any pictures from this past week- but my camera is in my checked luggage which is still MIA.
I did have a really great last few weeks at home though- which made it a lot harder to leave. The surprise party for Dad was a success… even though it wasn’t a total surprise (since I’m sure he knew that I wasn’t going to see ‘Rambo’ with him for the fun of it). Tons of people came and I think Dad had an especially good time. He he he. ;) Jamie also discovered that his ‘drunk mannerisms’ are genetic. :) During the last few weeks, Brent and I also spent a few more days in Collingwood, went to the Scandinavian spa again, visited Betty and Floyd, and spent a lot of time looking at possible wedding venues for next January. We also had a lot of nice dinners before I left, but it was sad to have to say goodbye to everyone. This past weekend was a pretty busy one- so luckily I didn’t have much time to think about having to leave. On Saturday, Mom managed to get Jules, Matt, Brent and me some tickets for the Leafs vs. Detroit game at the ACC. We were all sporting our brand new MOORE jerseys too- which was pretty fun.Also, Brent got recruited to be in the ‘game-show’ in between the second and third periods. He didn’t win (the trip to Tampa Bay to see the Leafs play) but we both got to go down to the glass for about 20 minutes before he went on the ice. It was pretty exciting! After the game we met Mark and Steve down in the players lounge and waited for Dom to get changed. It was good to see them all.That night we had dinner at Mom’s house with Rob and Cindy and saw lots of Rob’s Africa pictures. They were amazing.

Well I guess that’s it for now! Hope everyone is enjoying the snow at home. I have to say I’m actually enjoying this Sydney weather right now. I was expecting it to be about 33 degrees, not 23… so it was a pleasant surprise. :)