Nutrition Exam!

Whoo hoo. Woke up today dark and early again! Got up around 6:45 and started reviewing over everything one more time. I walked to the Aboriginal Studies building to take my exam. It wasn't too hard to find. This time is was a classroom with about 50-60 people in it. Not as intimidating as yesterday's exam room. The exam contained 10 short answer essay questions where we had to write a 3-4 sentences for each answer. Then there were 10 essay questions where we had to pick 3 to write 1 page essays for each. After the short answer my hand was starting to hurt. It apparently did not recover from yesterday. After the first 1 page essay my hand was really getting sore. After the second full essay my hand was really painful and my handwriting was not legible. During the third essay I had to keep stopping and rubbing my hand. I couldn't form letters with my fingers anymore. I had to write out the words by moving my entire arm. It was pretty bad.

At least I was able to do the "reading time" correctly this time around. I finished my essays and read back over them with about 5 minutes before the last 15 minutes where no one is allowed to leave.

After the exam I went and picked up my reflection journal assignment. I got a 21 out of 30. Apparently, that was really good. Most people got 16-18 points. Then Anna and I went over to Coles grocery store near Anna's flat. We bought some food to make lunch and went back to her place. After lunch Ariel came over and we made gluten free crepes. Ariel has celiac's disease where she can not eat gluten. So we made the crepes with rice flour. They turned out really well. I liked them better than the regular ones.

After crepes I headed back to my place and set up an appointment time for me to check out. That's where they come and inspect my room and see if I broke anything. I also did laundry! Much needed. My room was starting to smell from my clothes.

I'm currently getting ready to take off for a girl's night out with my roommates. Nicky, Kristen, Crystal, our friend Hayley, and I are dressing up, going out to dinner and then dancing afterword. No idea how late we will be out so I'm posting the blog now so I can go to bed once we get back.

Econ Exam!

So I woke up dark and early. About 7am. I know it is not that early but it is when you finally fall asleep around 2-2:30am. I had such a horrible stomach ache. So anyway, I got up and got ready and made chocolate chip pancakes for Syazrin, Sophie and I. I was going over practice problems as I was studying. I finished the pancakes around 7:45am. They weren't coming by until 8:15. So I didnt really plan that well. I finished the practice problems and called Matt.

The good news was that he got the job offer in Alabama. The bad news was that it was not as much money as he was hoping for. As far as I know he has not given them a definite answer.

Sophie and Syazrin came over and were very happy to eat chocolate chip pancakes! We then walked out into the brisk morning air to the Curtin Stadium. That is where our exam was being held. I never though Curtin had a stadium since they don't really have sport teams. Turns out Curtin Stadium is the gym. The just took down the dividers between the 3 basketball courts and lined the place with rows and rows of chairs.

At Purdue, you arrive to the exam location and you are allowed in. I would show up about 30 minutes early just to sit inside the nice quiet room and review until the exam. Here they keep you butt outside in the cold until 15 minutes prior. Then they unlock the doors and every grabs a seat. I filled out an ID card, the answer booklet, and the essay booklet with all of my information. Then they made an announcement that when the big clock at the front of the room turned to 9:00 the exam would start. We were instructed that we would have 2 hours for the exam and 10 minutes of "reading time". So the clock turned 9 and she spoke into the microphone that we could begin. So I read over the 5 essay questions and picked the 3 that I wanted to work on. So I started drawing my graph and explaining it. Then at 9:08 a lady tapped on my desk and said "you have started the exam!" I said "yes I did". Then she said "But it is reading time!" I said "I'm sorry, but I don't know what that means." So she took my booklet away and I panicked that I had just fail my exam for starting early. I assumed reading time was like when we took the ISTEPS through out school. After the time was up you were allowed time to darken and fill in the circles of your answers. You just were not allowed to open the booklet again. The lady did bring me back another booklet. By then it was 9:10 and reading time was over and we could actually start the exam. I however, got to fill in all of my information all over again.

During the exam no one is allowed to leave the room during the first hour or the last 15 minutes. Also, when you are done you raise your hand and someone comes and collects your answer booklets. At Purdue, you can leave when ever you want. So if you are a genius and finish in less than an hour you can leave and they don't lock you in for the last 15 minutes either.

Also people with the last names of A-Rh were at the Curtin Stadium (gym) and people Rh-Z were at another location. If you show up to the wrong location they do not tell you, they let you take the exam and then check afterwords and give you a $25 fine for being in the wrong place! If you cell phone rings, buzzes, or makes any noise at all it is a $100 fine. I think the cell phone thing should be implemented at Purdue. Maybe not such a high fine. But seriously I have taken and exam when over 4 phones went off. Really breaks your concentration. Especially when people don't pick them up and turn them off in the middle of the ring. Because if you touch your phone in an exam it is considered cheating and you fail automatically.

Anyway, so I finished the exam right before the 15 minute mark at the end. So I walked out as the lady was announcing that no one else could leave. I think I did really well on the exam. The multiple choice had a lot of the same questions as the practice problems. The essay questions were very very similar to the homework problems that did again the previous night.

After my exam I took a nice 2 hour break to clear my head. I also rubbed my hand for about 20 minutes because I have never taken and essay exam before and my hand was so sore. I wrote over 6 full length pages.

I then studied nutrition education material for the rest of the day. Syazrin came by around 3 to say good bye. He was heading back home to Malaysia. I wasn't best friends with Syazrin. We had class together and we hung out every Thursday night for pancakes. But it was still said to see him go. It was hard because it meant that this was the beginning of the end. He was the first to go and so many other people will leave as well. Eventually I will leave. I guess back home when ever I switched schools from Benton Central to the Academy it wasn't an issue because I knew I would come back home over the summers and breaks. Same thing for when I went to Michigan State. I could always come back. As well as Purdue. I could always drive up to Michigan State if need be. I will always have the opportunity to call and meet up with friends from these various places. But for here in Australia. Once I leave it will be very hard to come back. If I ever do come back everyone will be gone because I was friends with a lot of international students. It is hard to know that that is the last time I will ever see Syazrin again. Same for Sophie and Nicky and everyone.

So it took a while but I eventually got out of my bummed mood and started studying again. I made it to about 5pm when my stomach started hurting again. I ate some dinner and it only made it worse. I was able to lay down on my side and study for a while but since I didn't get much sleep the night before I started getting really sleepy really quickly.

Nicky came in and talked with me for awhile about a lot of different things. I think because my mind was not focused on my exam that is why my stomach ache went away. Nicky left and hour and a half later and I returned to studying and the stomach pain was back on. DANG! I went out and chatted with Rikke and Kristen. They wanted to know what to eat to loose weight. I then spent the next 30-40 minutes telling them that you dont eat anything to loose weight. You have to stop eating things like cake and ice cream. For Rikke I told to to stop drinking 5-9 beers 3-4 times a week. She didn't like that answer.

Went back to studying and around 1 am I decided to quit. My stomack hurt, my eyes hurt, and nothing was sinking into my brain. I then went to bed. I fell asleep rather quickly.

UUGGHHH!!!! EXAMS!!!

All I did was study econ today. I have studied so much that my eyes burn. I have so much more to study it is ridiculous. I am so nervous about it that I have given my self a tummy ache. I'll post more later. Going back to studying.

Ok so in more detail now. I woke up dark and early yesterday (6am) in hopes of hopefully finally being able to get a good nights sleep. I made it all the way to 8 am when I really could not stay awake any more. I did go to sleep about 1 am the previous night. So I decided to take a cat nap so I could rest enough to focus again. That nap turned into a 2.5 hour nap. I didn't get up until 10:30! I then got dressed and ready to start the day. I went out to the kitchen and made lunch (pumpkin soup and a chicken sandwich) I had never had pumpkin soup before but it is delicious!

Sophie came over around 1pm and we went over some questions that I had about economics. I went through all of the old homeworks and practice exams. Sophie had not even started. So it was slightly beneficial. Then Syazrin came over and he had not started studying at all either. So around 4 we all went our separate ways (bc when I'm the only one who has looked at the material and I don't know then answers, it is a bit counterproductive). So then at 4 I went back through the homeworks and practice problems. This lasted until 9pm. Syazrin came back over and we were then able to answer any questions we still had.

I made Syazrin a s'more last night. He had never had one before. Guess what? He liked it and wanted s'more :) Anyway. He took off around midnight. By then my stomach had set in. No I did not eat any smores. It was a stomach ache from nerves. I get it every finals week.

During our study session Syazrin had mentioned how he was sad that he missed out on pancake night last week because of exams and will miss it this week because he leaves tomorrow after the exam. He will return home to Malaysia for 6 weeks and them come back for the second semester. So I have decided that I will wake up tomorrow and make pancakes for Sophie, Syazrin and I while studying! That way when they come to pick me up I can greet them at the door with warm delicious pancakes.

Lycee Berries

I woke up and chatted with my sisters. They are having a sister's week in South Carolina at Myrtle Beach. I was bummed that I couldn't join in on their activities because I'm studying for finals. But then they told me that they were all reading books and getting ready for bed, at 10:30pm. So it turns out I wasn't missing out on much. I then finished studying econ. After lunch I started working on Nutrition all they way until 5:30pm. There were a few study breaks in between.

Last week sometime Anna had me buy some fruit called Lycee. I have no idea if we have it in the US or not. She told me it was common in China. So I bought some and put them in the fridge and forgot about them until yesterday. So I cut one open and tried it.

Its on a small plate, like the kind for toast. To give you an idea of size I placed a US quarter beside it. First you peel of the skin and then it is a white slimy hard berry. Like a tough boiled egg. Then you cut, bite, tear away the white flesh and eat it and are left with a very big brown seed. Lycee is very sweet and fruity. It was a very powerful flavor and I don't think I liked it. So I gave the other berries to my roommate Nicky. She said that she ate them all the time growing up in South Africa. So apparently it they grown in Africa as well.

She like them and ate the rest of them. I was not a fan. I then watched a short TV show as a study break. I took off and headed over to Anna's around 6:30pm for a study group. Ariel joined us as well. We went through the practice questions for our Nutrition exam. I'm glad we did because I apparently don't have as good of a grasp on the information as I though I had.

After we were done studying we had some nice girl talk about things. I then hitched a ride home and decided to go straight to bed and get up early in the morning. I need to start waking up early and going to bed early to get ready for my finals. So I decided to post my blog this morning and just get to sleep earlier.

Pictures of my house!

Today was a pretty good study day. I woke up and treated myself to breakfast in bed. It was chilly in the house and much warmer in the bed. It was only a piece of toast and a cup of juice but still a nice breakfast in bed. I did finally brave the world and got out of bed. I chatted online with people for a while and then suddenly realized that my time sheet was due at noon. I realized this at 11:30am. So I quickly dug one out, filled it out, ran to the far side of campus to get my boss to sign it, and then turned it in at 11:54am. I'm so good!

Came home and ate lunch and chatted with Nicky about leaving this place. I leave in 2 weeks. It is so depressing. I love it here! I guess it is one of those situations where I left home knowing that I would return, so I don't miss it much. But here, once I leave I'll never see these people again. Even after my internship, one year from now, if I return everyone will be gone because I am friends with mostly international students. So it was a sad hour or so while we talked about it.

I then made it to my room with hopes of studying. I decided to go out and take pictures of this place. Somehow I just never did. So here are a bunch of pictures of the unit I live in.

Here is my room!

The hallway to get to my room. It is lined with a 5 rooms on this side of the house. There is another hallway on the other side with only 3 rooms.

Bathroom with 4 sinks and 2 shower stalls.

Kitchen:

Dining room/ living room:

This is my unit! Number 10!

When I walk out the front door this is my view. There is a circle of houses, all like mine:

When I walk out of my house and turn left there is another courtyard:

If I turn right there is nothing because I live at the end of the complex.

After taking all of these pictures I did finally start studying. Economics round 2!! whoo hoo! I did make it all the way through the material and 2 of the 4 practice exams. Not too bad.

I did take a break for dinner. I decided that I wanted chicken parmesan. I had to make a trip to the IGA in order to get the ingredients I was missing. I also bought some more ingredients for smores for dessert!

My chicken parmesan turned out really well! It was great! and I have leftovers so I get some tomorrow for lunch as well! YAY!

During dinner Nicky and I decided that we needed to watch a movie. (I know, I'm catching up on all sorts of movies to last me until next year) We went to Crystal's room to see if we could barrow a movie. We narrowed it down to 2 and asked Crystal if she wanted to join us. Out of nowhere Suzies head pops out of her room (conveniently located beside Crystal's room) and scolded Crystal for being anti-social and how she needed to get out of her room. Yes Crystal has spent most of the year in her room. But when someone is leaning on the edge of being social you don't scold them. Crystal explained that she had and exam on Wed and another on Fri. Then Suzie looked at the movies in our hand and commanded that we watch "17 Again" and that we had better wait for her to finish her shower before starting it.

So we went out to the living room and popped it in and started it. Crystal did decided to join us and grabbed a chair. Kristen joined as well. The subtitles were on so Crystal got out of her chair to get rid of the subtitles. Suzie came out from the shower and yelled at us for being rude and not waiting for her. So I sternly told he to calm down and that we were still getting it set up. She then set her pillow and blanket in Crystal's chair. We all just looked at each other and shook our heads.

During the movie I made s'mores but was unable to share because I didn't have enough supplies for everyone. And I didn't want to share with Suzie at this point in time. (I know that makes me childish, but she always asks for seconds and thirds whenever you share anything. Remember the whole ice cream incident?) It was also $3.50 for the 1 milk chocolate bar that I bought.

After about 30 minutes there was a scene where the main boy of the movie was moving it to kiss the main girl of the movie and Suzie loudly professed to everyone that she (lesbian) could not stand the ooshy gooshy love stuff and got up stomped off to her room. Crystal took her original seat back and we continued to enjoy the rest of the movie on our own.

To recap Suzie budged in on a private conversation, yelled at Crystal, chose a movie for us, invited herself to watch the movie, demanded that we wait for her to take a shower (at 7pm), then called us rude for setting up the movie, and finally made a scene as she exited complaining about the mooshy stuff in the movie she picked out.

I know this drama is trivial but it gets really annoying having to deal with it all the time. I would love to tell Suzie off, but there are only 2 weeks left and I really do not want to deal with a huge fight in the middle of finals. Also, she has no idea that she acts this way. She has no clue that it pisses us all off.

Studying Econ Round 1

I woke up today and watched the World Cup game of England vs USA. It ended up as a tie. After the game I met up with Mike and did a kickboxing workout. It was his first time and he did really well. That was followed by a shower and a nice lamb steak sandwich for lunch! YUM!

It wasn't until about 3pm that I actually started studying. The subject of choice today was economics. My goal was half of the chapters. I did achieve my goal, slowly. It was just too nice outside today high of 24C around 80F. So eventually I found motivation by studying outside. Then dinner of peanut chicken and rice with frozen veggies thrown in. The veggies came with a packet of garlic flavoring. So that was added in as well. It turned out really well.

Then some TV mixed in with a little bit of studying. I watched a movie called My Super Ex-Girlfriend. It was good but a little weird.

Hopefully, I'll be more motivated to study economics tomorrow.

I also learned that a bonnet is the hood of the car.

Parachute Picnic Lunch

I woke up and got a bit of a late start on studying. It just seemed so much more important to go for a run before hitting the books. I ran the loop with some hills in it today. It was nice. Best of all, no side cramps!! Whoo Hoo! Then I showered and ate breakfast around 12:30pm.

I started studying at 1pm and then around 2pm I decided it was time for lunch. So a friend and I made our way to Subway. They have reduced their prices from a $10 footlong to $7 footlong. We came back and decided to eat a picnic lunch out on the yard on top of an old parachute.

While we were eating, 2 willy wag tails eyed us and started sneaking up on us. I would have shared some bread off of my sandwich, but I was too hungry and it was pricey. Once the ants started making their way onto the parachute we decided that the study break was over and made our way back inside and continued to study.

Around 5:30 I decided to go for a walk, mostly to get feeling back in my bum. I walked down to the river area and timed it beautifully to see the sun set. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera :( So no pictures. You will just have to take my word that it was breathtaking.

After my walk I came back and heated up some leftover soup for dinner. I forgot to mention that at lunchtime we went to a shop near Subway and bought a caramel slice. So I ate that for desert after my soup dinner. It was delicious. Not as good as the first one that I bought, but still delicious.

After dinner I studied a bit more while watching the South Korea vs. Greece world cup game. Greece lost. Not that I care, I just though I would report it.