School in Canada!

The University of Sydney encourages International Students to do some training in our ‘home country’ (primarily to gain experience) if we plan to move back after graduation. I was lucky enough to be able to plan both my rotations in Ontario- which meant 8 weeks straight of ‘school’ at home!
My family rotations were amazing, but both were incredibly busy! By the end of the rotations, I had over 75 pages of typed assignments and papers that I’d written on top of my clinical time.

My first/“urban” rotation was in Toronto with Dr. Kee. Her office was about a 5 minute drive from Beech Ave which was very convenient. Her patients were really nice, I learned a lot and got to do a LOT of procedures and physical examinations. She also took me to some fancy dinners put on by various drug companies.Brent's last meal-break as a Paramedic :)My second/ “rural” rotation was in Collingwood with Dr. Moran. Brent took the month off work and we ‘moved’ up to Dad’s place in Collingwood for the month. Brent played hockey with Dr. Moran twice/week and also spent some time biking with Dr. Moran’s son. They took us out to a few drug company lobster dinners (where Brent had to pretend to be a med student)!In between all the assignments and office work, Brent and I managed to get to Montreal, Windsor, Sudbury and Honey Harbour to visit family and enjoy some weekends away.

Just before heading back to Australia, we spent the weekend in Toronto for another family wedding at the Hunt Club. Congratulations to Dad and Norma on the wedding.



My trip back to Australia this time round was a very different experience! I have been back and forth to Australia 10 times by myself… but this time got to travel with Brent, Jules and George! Plus, the plane to Sydney was half empty for the first time EVER, so we got a whole row of seats to ourselves!

Back to School -Third Year

I don’t have much to say about my 10 weeks back in Australia, post-wedding, without Brent. I was living out of boxes and subletting a room in Penrith from a fourth-year student which ended up being a bit of a nightmare. It was regularly 45 degrees Celsius, my room was on the second floor of a house and there was no air-conditioning. To top it off, I was rooming with a 18-year old “westie” who was a total disaster.Luckily, the guys I was renting from left me their car, which made it pretty convenient to go into the city and visit with friends on the weekends. Janice, Amy and I also had a chance to see the famous annual Mardis Gras Parade held in March. I’ve never been to the Gay Pride Parade in Toronto, but I imagine that it’d be much the same. One of our dentistry friends has an apartment across from Hyde Park which overlooks the parade route, so we were also able to avoid the crowds! It was actually a pretty neat parade, and I was glad I got to see it at least once during my time here.


School was also pretty interesting for those two months. I was doing my Critical Care Rotation (which consisted of 4 weeks in emergency, 2 weeks in anesthetics and 2 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit). Because of my living situation, I ended up spending as much time as possible at the hospital (even including some weekends in the air-conditioned common room working on our wedding photo album). Needless to say, I was VERY happy for the rotation to be over and to get back to Ontario for my Family Medicine Rotations.

January 3, 2009: Our Wedding (and our Honeymoon)!

Thanks to everyone who came to the wedding (and to our of family and friends who helped make it a success!). We hope everyone had a good time… we definitely did! … BUT we’re also very relieved that all the planning is finally done! :)

We thought we’d post a few pictures on here, but there are lots more on facebook or on our picasa website: http://picasaweb.google.ca/january.3.09 Thanks to everyone who posted their pictures on the site! As for our honeymoon....It was just perfect! It was 5 days full of horseback riding, dog sledding, cross country skiing in Algonquin park, snowmobiling and snowshoeing! The resort was absolutely amazing. Four course dinners, breakfast in bed, chocolate wraps and massages (all included)! We also had free on-demand movies, our own outdoor hot tub, a fire place and a steam room in our bathroom. We can’t wait to go back there for some of our anniversaries. :)

End of Second Year

I am so horribly far behind on my blog, but am going to try to write some quick updates about what has been happening since last November! I’ve been living out of boxes and suitcases since then (for the past 6 months), so it is REALLY nice to be settled in with Brent at our new unit in Penrith, Australia. My practical exams at the end of November last year went really well. Mom arrived in Australia on the day of my last exam and helped me move all my stuff from my apartment on campus to Penrith (50km west of the CBD).

We spent the next four days in Hobart, Tasmania touring around. We spent a day in Port Arthur, a day climbing Mount Wellington, and a day on a boat to the southern tip of Bruny Island in the Southern Ocean. We saw lots of seals, visited a sheep farm, toured around Hobart, and saw some spectacular views along the Tasmanian coast. We also had time for some nice seafood dinners at the harbour in Hobart.Half-way up Mount Wellington.Bruny Island Cruise into the Southern Ocean.Post-cruise on Bruny Island. Port Arthur, Tasmania.Southeastern coastline of Tasmania.Our view of the harbour from our hotel room.We had a day or two back in Sydney before heading back to Canada at the end of our Tasmanian adventure, so we ended up going for a tour of the Opera house, for a kangaroo steak dinner in Darling Harbour with mom and some off my classmates, and even had a chance to go and see the Whitlams (my favourite Australian band) play in Newtown. The rest of the month of December was a bit of a blur. Christmas time, visiting family and friends, and wedding planning made for a very busy month. Our only bit of down-time was probably our weekend away at the “Engaged Encounter Weekend” in Mississauga. Brent and I weren’t expecting much of it- but were forced to do it if we wanted to be married in the Catholic Church. It ended up being a GREAT weekend tho… we met lots of people, got some good advice and got to spend some together.