Anyway, the more exciting news is that Dad and Norma are on their way to Australia as we speak! I am meeting them in Melbourne tomorrow morning for the weekend, so I’m pretty excited about that! I’ll be writing about the trip in my next blog for sure. :)My last few weeks have been a bit of a blur- but I’ve got lots done. During our Anzac Day holidays, three of the girls in my class (Amy, Janice and Heather- all Canadians) took me out to look for wedding dresses. I didn’t think I’d find one- but I did and I really love it! Mom, Jules and George also approve (I sent them a picture)- so I was happy about that too. After the dress shopping, the girls and I went down to Darling Harbour, sampled some beer and had the BEST kangaroo steaks I’d ever had!!
We also played some foosball before going home. It was a pretty funny ‘girls day out’: dress shopping, beer, steaks and foosball. He he he.
On the actual ANZAC day holiday, an Australian friend of mine (Andrew) invited me and Janice over to his family BBQ for some Australian food and some ‘Two- Up’/gambling. ANZAC day is the only day of the year in Australia where you can legally gamble anywhere- so everyone plays a game called ‘Two-up’ with old Australian pennies. It is basically a glorified version of ‘heads or tails’- but they love it here… and it is actually pretty fun. I only lost $1.50, so I wasn’t too upset about it. He he he.
I also found out that Andrew’s dad is actually a doctor at the University hospital and will be giving us a bunch of lectures on diabetes this block!! Anyway, it was a fun day and I was feeling very ‘Australian’ by the end of it.This past Wednesday I went to an ‘Electives’ night held by the faculty- where a bunch of 4th year students talk about their elective experiences. (The ‘elective’ is a 8 week period (or 2 x 4 weeks) where you are allowed to go anywhere in the world and learn about any kind of medicine you want. It is usually done in between 3rd and 4th year- so for me won’t happen until the end of 2009.) We heard from students who went to South Africa, Costa Rica, New York, Swaziland, Siberia, Thailand, Vietnam, Kenya and lots more. It was so interesting and I can’t wait to start planning mine! We’ve also been getting some information about our schedule next year and it sounds like I will be able to spend quite a lot of time doing rotations in Canada- so that is exciting too! I’m starting to understand why Sydney University has such a reputation for being an ‘international’ medical program since they really encourage us to go overseas for a good part our clinical years.
I’ve also been working on my honours project quite a bit these past few weeks. I have an amazing supervisor (she is a GP and the sub-dean of our medical program) who is helping me with the project and I’m really excited about it. The main part of the project will involve conducting a survey of the Canadian graduates of University of Sydney’s Medical Program (for the past 10 years) to see where they have all ended up. My supervisor thinks that I might be able to get funding from the faculty (since it could be used as a recruiting tool, etc…) and maybe even publish a paper at the end of it. :)
It sounds like Nana and Nono’s 60th anniversary party a few weeks ago was a success and I was so sad to have missed it. Brent took the evening off work so that he could go in my place- which was very brave- I thought! :) He also took lots of pictures for me so I could see what I was missing.
One of my friends here (who saw the picture of Nana and Nono with the cake) asked if it was my Nana’s 60th birthday?!?!? (before she realized that it would have been nearly impossible for that to be the case). He he he. 
Anyway, I thought everyone looked so nice! I’m also sad I missed Rob and Cindy’s wedding in Jamaica last week- but I am hoping that someone will put some pictures of it up on facebook VERY soon! (hint hint).Anyway, I better run. I have to do some work before my weekend away! Hope everyone is doing well. Miss you lots!! xoxo
Oh also- Brent and I got some FREE engagement photos taken when I was home in January, so thought I would post a few for you to see. Pretty sweet deal! :)
