2/8/2012

Hey Happy Birthday Gillie and Rachel!!
Well I ate too much today. Other than that I had a really good day.  I almost have a schedule now.  I wake up at 5:30 to catch the 6:12 tram.  I want to bike into campus but I haven't been that brave yet.  So this morning my 7:20 exercise class was Pilates.  It was interesting.... I wouldn't have enjoyed it but the chairs in our lecture theatre are absolutely killer.  My back really hurt this morning so the Pilates kinda helped.  Then Library for an hour and on to class.  I was bored listening to the lecture so I had a rice crispy treat(they call them rice bubbles over here), a sesame bar, then my sandwich, and a coffee, by that time it was 11:30.  More class and at 1 we got a lunch break.  The older students put on a barbie for us on the south lawn so we ate swags(sausages) and signed up for projects.  I didn't have a sausage but I had a onion and ketchup sandwich.  Not as good as the ketchup in Pittsburgh.  They have heinz but it isn't nearly as much of a staple and they have a different Aussi recipe.  Then more class.  The afternoon lecture was a little more exciting the presenter's name is Gillian Webb.  She's kinda a big deal.  Plus her name is Gillian so I was happy.  We got done at 4:15.  Unfortunately, we seem to get out of class just in time for me to miss the tram.  The wait isn't too bad but they are much more punctual in the morning.  There was a concert at the capitol building on my way home.

It looked fun but I had homework.  I stopped a couple stops away to go to the bank and get ice cream.  Grown... I should have waited for dinner.  I did an hour of homework, took the dog for his one block jog and ate ANOTHER sandwich.  I finished my evening with more shoulder modules.  Man I live an exciting life :p

Australian Lesson of the day: It is actually really easy to speak Australian there are only 3 rules.  If you can think of a way to shorten a word(or if you can't) they shorten it. Mosquito=Mothy breakfast=breaky. If the last concenent of the word is "n" replace what ever ending the word has with "in" Melbourn, Brisbane, etc. If a word ends in "a" replace it with "er" but a soft er Louisa=lou-weezer.  That's all you have to know  You can all come visit and sound just like a native.  Although I still don't. The guy at the coffee shop doesn't understand my pronunciation of large:(

2/7/2012

I caught the right tram this morning.  Just barely.  So on the tram at 6:12a I wrote responses to my discussion board.  There was a lovely exercise class called body pump that I went to it's endurance exercises for all the major muscle groups.  Then I headed to the library to respond to more of the discussion board.  The library is quite nice in that there are standing computers.  It also kicks you off after 30 minutes so you really have to be productive.  Then I went to class from 10-12.  After class I went to victoria market.  It's a great place with fresh made almost everything you can imagine.



These were some of the more interesting things you could buy. I stopped taking pictures because my hands got too full. What you do at the market is start with $10 and buy 3 packs of strawberries, a pint of tomatoes, 1/4kg of mozzerella, hand made pasta and lunch.  Maybe next week I'll get bread.  It looked a little expensive and I didn't have enough hands to carry it.  I found my way back to the tram without a map or an app.  I was really impressed.  On my trip home I ran into the tram police for the first time.  5 of them boarded my almost empty bus and checked everyone's tickets.  When I got home I did 4 more hours of homework and then signed up for the melbourne marathon.  Both the dogs and I were getting restless so I took Toby for a walk.  He's really funny. He has enough energy to jump up and down on me for hours but a walk around the block and he's out for the night.  Katie is worried that I don't have friends.  I'm working on it.  There are a couple of social get-togethers coming up for the phisio students.  I'm not being anti-social.  I get along with my classmates but really if my new friends and I are just going to be sitting next to each other in the library I'd rather go on my own schedule. After dinner I studied the shoulder for a bit and then packed up for class tomorrow.  I hope I don't seem like a dud.  I had a small homesick moment today that had nothing to do with not liking it here, I just miss everybody.  Otherwise I think I'm enjoying my routine.  It's a large amount of work but I feel like I'm in control of my responsibilities while still having some fun.

2/6/2012

I finally have wifi again!!!! It's been a long 4 days relying on my phone for internet.  I got Katie's internet fixed but my computer stopped recognizing the University's wireless. Oh well maybe I'll figure it out tomorrow.  So, I woke up and scratched my bug bites, looked at the Pens/devils game on my phone and caught the 624 tram into campus.  I scratched, and wandered around lost for a bit until I found the gym.
On my travels I found this.

I'm only going if he promises to perform Jack Sparrow.

I went for a row, (attempted) isolated each of my shoulder muscles since we have a test monday, and tried out a ski erg.  It's kinda cool I don't think I was using it correctly because it didn't seem hard enough.  Then I scratched my bug bites, showered, and headed to class.  Sorry about all the scratching, at last count I had over 90 bug bits.  No exaggeration I counted.  They itch and swell and are a general pain.  :p In class we had 8 guest speakers and a work shop.  Class  today was from 9-4:15 but we get an hour for lunch.  They introduced us to several aspects of physical therapy each one more exciting than the next, except for pelvic floor.  Many of my classmates seemed interested in pelvic floor therapy and I thought, "yes please you go learn this stuff so I can refer patients to you."  In addition to the fantastic gym there are several other very nice features around campus.  I specifically like the filtered water fountains.

I broke down and bought nail polish on my lunch break since my mom has objections to sending it to me.  She objects because it isn't legal.  I don't think it's legal to sell me a $2 bottle of nail polish for $18!!! anyway dark blue was on sale for $4 so I gave in.  I like riding the tram because it gives me a solid 2 hours a day(1 in the morning 1 in the afternoon) to do homework.  I studied my shoulder a bit more on the tram. Then when I got home, wrote a paper on Biobehavioral health and finished my analysis of weather or not 3M should partner with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.  My position is yes, Jason's position is that he didn't read the assignment and thus answered the question incorrectly.  As I finished my homework Katie got home and we took the dogs for a walk in the park.

2/5/2012

Friday class was pretty light, just more introductions. After class I went out to lunch for $10 parma's with my classmates. It was really good. After that we coordinated and went to the train station. We took an hour and a half train ride into the rural outskirts of Melbourne. We stayed at a campsite on a lake. It really reminded me of crew spring break at camp bob. I was on team purple(the cross dressers) with 12 other people. Each team had a theme and we had to dress accordingly all weekend. I put on the biggest guys board shorts and singlet and drew on stubble. The highlight of the weekend was that my pants were constantly falling off. I had my own shorts underneath but it was quite funny and everyone tried to help me keep them up. We had food that was pretty gross but the lady serving us was 70's and insisted that we eat everything. We played a couple games and had a 5 legged race through flour and ketchup and a swim in the lake. Then they introduced us international students to goon it's like box wine without the box. They were very excited and used the claim that it's cheaper than petrol. It comes in a large variety of flavors and isn't as bad as you might think. That was pretty much the weekend organized games and eating contests, sports, bad food and goon. I applied sunscreen every two hours but that didn't seem to make a difference I still got a bit of color. I also got mosquito bites tons and tons of them. On my back, on my stomach, on my arms, on my legs, and on my feet. I itch so much. I don't have pictures because we were doing so many activities where we got covered in mud/water/goon/tomato sauce that I left my camera in my room to keep it safe. Some of the 3rd year students do so I'll put them up later if I get them. Sunday I relaxed and tried to get ready for the week. I did laundry and marketing homework. Unfortunately the wifi is down so my productivity was a little limited but I'm ready for the classes tomorrow.

Hey guys I'm away for the weekend. I'll try to blog and Skype if you don't see me, no worries I'll be back(your) Sunday morning

2/2/2012

First day of class!!! So I woke up and took the tram to uni. The tram ride is about an hour so I got a lot of homework done. My first class was very exciting. I met so many people today that I can't remember any names. We got a lecture for the first 2 hours then we had a break for morning tea. After that we went on a scavenger hunt with out cohorts. It was fun. I was mistaken when I said that there were only 20 people in a class. They've expanded the program and there is now double that. We had lunch out and came back for a presentation from the younger students? The 4th year students doing their bachelor's in pt came to talk to us about getting involved with the program. Then I had the most thrilling international student briefing ever. They grouped the dot students with the dental students and told us what is was going to be like to be away at college. We all rolled our eyes for 45 minutes; then when we had actual questions they told us that they didn't know the answers. What a pain. I learned today that we have a Phisio program this weekend so I have readjusted my busy schedule of laundry and lounging around to accommodate that necessity. They also told us to workout this weekend because starting Monday we an expect to spend 7 hours a day in your undies. I'm so embarrassed. Additionally a portion of our grades will be devoted to maintaining a model of physical fitness based on our current level. If we can't figure out what that means on our own they will meet with us during the semester. So I did more MBA work on the tram and went for a run when I got home. Then I went to dinner with a contact of someone that someone know's she had told me simply look nice. I thought I did but when I got there it was an orthodox Jewish household and I was wearing a sleeveless dress. Oops. It was a lovely dinner and I made a few more contacts but I was definitely getting the "we're better than you" vibe. I walked home feeling awkward. I packed for my weekend and that was my first day at melbourne uni.
Mistake of the day: I got my diary entries for next(remember this means class schedule) and because it's Australia the dates are backward. I looked at it three times and then concluded that it must be for the wrong semester because the dates seemed erratic and all in the summer-fall. I was reading something and it dawned on me. Day first THEN month....it all makes sense now

2/1/2012

Sorry guys no pictures today. I woke up and did some homework. I was gonna go for a bike ride and Katie said, "why don't you take the dog?" I quickly changed plans and took Toby on a run. We made it 3 sides of the block before he was done for. He's not that small just very chunky. I went to take Rosie the other dog out for a walk,I don't think she's up for running and she decided to throw a fit. She ran under Katie's bed. Half an hour later when I finally got her out I was annoyed and not in the mood so I put her back in her room and went for a bike ride. I had planned on doing the rest of the walking trail that I had started. It's actually much longer than i had realized and I live 8 kilometers away from the start. Anyway I biked to several more stops along the trail and got to where the bike path ended and the beach was blocked. I biked back to the start of the trail and got a lovely milkshake. I got home and mapped my bike ride. 40k not to shabby. I also got a tad of sun burn. When they say reapply sunscreen every 2 hours they aren't kidding. After I got clean I made pasta and prepared for class tomorrow. I'm so excited!