Scitech! Microbio round 2

Today I woke up around 7:30am and got up and ready for a long day of studying. I made it until 11:30 when I caught a bus and a train to Scitech. The closest thing I can compare it to is a mix between Imagination Station in Lafayette and the Children's Museum in Indy, only with less museum type stuff. It is place of all very interactive science experiments.

My friend Andrew works there. He conducts the High Voltage shows. Nicky and I have always wanted to go and check it out. Since I am leaving tomorrow after my exam to go rock climbing and then returning on Saturday night, cleaning and packing on Sunday and last minute souvenir shopping and checking out and going home on Monday, I figured today was my last chance to go see Scitech. Unfortunately, when I came to this conclusion Nicky was at work for the day and was unable to join me. So I went by myself.

I got there and there were about 15 different school groups. It was very crowded busy. I walked around and looked at the different displays. Then at 12:30 I made my way to the theater and watched the High Voltage show. Andrew did a great job. All the kids were very excited. When this generator is turned on the girls hair stands up on end.

This is Nicola Tesla's generator invented to distribute electricity to everything everywhere so that no one would have to plug in anything. It would just be able to pick up the electrical signals and work. As you can see though it was a little dangerous and the invention didn't quite make it into everyone's home.

Afterword I went to the Astro Cafe and ate (of all things) a toasted ham and cheese sandwich ON A BAGEL!!!! This was my first time finding a bagel here!!! I really looked for a few weeks and could not find them anywhere! I was so excited. It was delicious. After lunch it seemed that all of the school groups left at the same time and there were only a handful of people left at Scitech. So then I got to go around and play with all of the stuff.

Andrew found me a bit later and let me go for a ride on the Segway! I had never been on one before and it was pretty cool.

I was going to hop on the train to go home, but Andrew was going to be off of work in one hour so I just hungout in a corner area and studied microbiology some more. It actually worked out really well. I got through a lot of my notes and was able to really focus on them. I should have gone to Scitech everyday during finals to study. Andrew then gave me a ride home so I didn't have to deal with the public transport :)

Then more studying, dinner, studying, dessert, studying, snack, studying, blog entry, and will go back to studying. My exam is at 1pm tomorrow. So at least I don't have to get up really early. And no stomach ache! (knock on wood).

Studying Food Microbiology round 1

Monday! Woke up early and set straight to studying. I had 10 chapters to cover and around 4pm I had covered 7. Not too bad :) So then Andrew came over and picked me up and we went grocery shopping for out big rock climbing trip. We will head out right after my exam on Wednesday and go rock climbing for 3 days. We also went over to Blake and Vivian's place to get the gear and to learn how to use some gear I wasn't familiar with.

After that I came back home and cleaned the bathroom because we have have a cleaning inspection tomorrow morning.

I made pizzas using whole wheat pita bread, spaghetti sauce, cheese, and a ton of vegetables. They turned out really well. I have never made a homemade pizza before. I then watched the Switzerland vs Chile soccer game while studying the last 3 chapters. I went to bed befreo the game ended.

Day after camping

We woke up early in the morning 6am because Josh had to leave and therefore take our bed with him. So he kicked us out and Anna and I went over to Hamish's "swag" (an outdoor heavy duty sleeping back with a built in mattress and canvas covering. All 3 of us crammed in there and warmed up a bit. It was still pretty chilly this morning.

As everyone one else woke up some people got creative on how to stay warm. Such as using the emergency blanket our of the first aid kit.

Also this morning there was a kangaroo that hopped through the pasture near our bon fire!!!! I was able to get my camera out and snap one picture before he was off into the woods.

Because Hamish's parents owned the resort they had to feed the guest breakfast until 9:30am.

So in the mean time we packed up camp and got into the trucks and drove towards the resort. But before we left the pasture everyone had to do doughnuts in the grass.

After that we were allowed to come in (because breakfast was closed) and get some bacon and eggs. It was really nice. The day was beautiful too! We ate outside by the lake.

Hamish has a dog named "V" She is a great dane. This is Anna dancing with her.

It was about 11 when Dave gave Anna and I a ride to Pauly's house. Then at noon Pauly gave us a ride 3 hours back to Perth. I arrived home about 5 because we had so many freakin stops along the way. I then unpacked, ate dinner, took a shower, and am getting ready to head to bed.

Camping at Merribrook Resort

So to catch up; Friday night I went out with my roommates. We were supposed to leave at 6:30pm. I was the only one ready on time. I was hungry too. Kristen woke up from her nap at 6pm. Nicky and Crystal didn't get home until 6:30pm. Everyone took showers and did their hair and got ready. Hayley showed up around 7pm and realized she forgot her passport. So she took a taxi back to her place to get it. While waiting for her everyone else started taking shots and drinking wine. When Hayley returned we took some group photos and were finally able to leave the house and arrived at the bus station at 7:55pm.

We had missed the bus by 5 minutes. The next one wasn't due until 8:25pm. So we sat outside in the rain and cold for a while. The bus came and dropped us off at the Murry St. mall. We went to a nice Italian cafe place and got some amazing and well awaited food. I was finally able to eat my dinner at 9:30pm. My stomach was still in knots from stress and then hunger pains on top of that. Then I ate my food very quickly and I ate too much. It was not a good combination.

We then went to Carnegies. It is a bar for people about our age.

The 5 of us were dancing and having a great time when 2 boys came and started dancing with us. We let them dance for a while and then we got annoyed. They were drunk, not good looking, and were a little too touchy feely. The fat one kept squatting down and humping our legs like a dog. I kicked him off and he just rotated around to all of us. The other one of them pulled me aside and started telling me how much he like me and yada yada yada.... I told him I was not interested, I was engaged, I was leaving in 9 days to go to the US, I was out with my roommates for our last night out together. He would not let go of me and instead held me tighter. I pushed him away a couple of times and then started getting very loud and blunt. The girls came up and grabbed me and we all took off to go to another bar. Stupid boys!

Traveling in the rain to our next destination.

We walked from downtown Perth to an area of the city called Northbridge. Once in Northbridge we went to a dance club called Paramount. There was a live band playing. They were really good. We had a great time dancing until about 11:30pm when it got really crowded.

The good news is that I bumped into Ariel and Alyssa there with a bunch of their friends.

We had a great time until a group of guys started dancing with us and pushing us up against the stage and speakers. Super loud!!! Once the boys started dancing inappropriately we got out of there. We were going to head to another club when Haley started complainging about her feet. She was in pain from her new heals that she decided to break in tonight. So at midnight we hailed a cab and went back home. We stayed up in the kitchen talking and reminiscing about the evening until 1am. We then went and got ready for bed and crashed.

Saturday: I slept in the next morning and had an egg ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. I was supposed to be picked up at 1pm to go camping for the evening. I then received a call from Anna and was informed that I needed to meet at her place. So I had to carry all of my stuff for 20 minutes across campus to Anna's apartment.

We met up with Josh and loaded up and headed on our way around 2pm. We stopped in at a fruit stand place and bought and tried an emu/ kangaroo meat pie. It was pretty good and a bit spicy. Josh and Ned unloaded a few crates of oranges for the 88 year old man who ran the place and were rewarded for their kindness with a bag of mandarin oranges.

We did stop and get dinner at a place called Switch Charcoal Chicken. Anna and I got Chicken Rolls. It is literally a bread roll with diced chicken and gravy in it. Apparently it is a pretty common meal.

With a few more stops we eventually made it to Merribrook Resort. Hamish is a friend of Josh's who's parents own the resort. There is 160 acres. A small fraction of it is a Lake with a few cottages and nice garden areas. The rest of it is just land as is. So we were out in a back pasture and camped there. The style of camping was a giant bon fire and everyone pulls up their trucks and puts mattresses in the back.

At some point in time the bon fire had only burnt in the middle and the wood on the edges needed to get pushed in. So Hamish went and got the tractor and pushed in the wood.

While that was going on a kid named JP (Runcle) decided to start cooking the snags (sausages). He did a terrible job and cut them all up in the process so they burst out and looked like intestines on the barbie.

After the snags were eaten someone busted out a bunch of Tim Tams!!! They were so good. No s'mores at the campfire like back home but the tim tams were really good.

This is Josh playing the guitar and Hamish singing along. Everyone went to bed around midnight. I stayed up late with Ned and Hamish. Around 2am I finally went to Josh's car and shared the back with Josh and Anna. It was supposed to be Anna and I and josh outside on the ground, but Josh didn't want to move so we just slept there really crowded all night long.

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.