Halfway Through Semester 1

After a horribly hectic week, which included a fifteen minute presentation, a gruelling anatomy exam and a report-style paper, we have finally finished the first half of our first semester! And one eighth of the way done our Masters! Students get a week off over Easter and ANZAC Day so we're taking full advantage. A well-deserved vacation is taking us to the gorgeous Gold Coast and then beautiful Byron Bay. Eight of us Canadians are piling into a van for an eight-day roadtrip up and down the eastern Australian coast. We're spending five days in and around Surfer's Paradise and three days in Byron. The weather is supposed to be perfect... we couldn't be more excited! So as you already may have presumed, I won't be posting anything for at least ten days. And unfortunately there wasn't much to write about this time because my life has recently consisted of homework and studying and more homework. Oh, and did I mention more studying? I've honestly never had to study for a subject so much in my entire life! I thought Statistics in my undergrad was bad, but it's not even comparable to Anatomy. Not only do you have to be able to identify each muscle, you have to know all of their functions as well as their attachment sites. There are more muscles than I ever could've imagined! Wes isn't having much trouble because he had to take Anatomy in his undergrad, but for someone who has never done it before, it's nuts! The only thing I can be thankful for is the fact that OT students only have to learn upper limbs, leaving all of the lower limb stuff to the Physios. They're lucky that they don't have to stare at cadavers with faces staring back. I mentioned in a previous post that I hadn't had a cadaver with a face on it yet, but I got one the following week and every week thereafter! I have to admit, it can be difficult to eat lunch after lab sometimes. One of the girls has even stopped eating meat! The smell isn't pleasant either, and when you walk in the lab there are big containers labelled Heads, Necks, Shoulders, Arms, Backs, etc. If anyone has ever been to a BodyWorld exhibit, you have an idea of the types of things we're looking at.

Cool but creepy

In clear cases they look more fake than real, but when you're up close and personal you can't help knowing that they're part of a human who donated their body to science. It's really quite honourable, and I've been a donor ever since I could. However, it's still unsettling to think of how people will be peeling your skin off and then poking and prodding at your muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. without you even knowing. Anyway, I hope I haven't disturbed you all too much! I'm so glad I get to stop thinking about Anatomy for the next ten days, so why can't I? It must be the fact that the specimen's eyelids randomly open sometimes...

2 Months Down Under

Two months in a new city, new country, new life. It all seems kind of surreal. For some people things seem to stand still, but for others things seem to fly by. I'm definitely the latter, it doesn't feel like I've been away from Canada for nine weeks already. It doesn't feel like I've missed anything back home either. And I definitely haven't missed the weather! Even though the forecast is beginning to change in Sydney because winter is coming, it's not very noticeable. Although we're starting to get rain, it's only for a few minutes sporadically throughout the day. It reminds me of Thailand actually, in the so-called "wet season" when it downpours for a short time but it's still hot out. We haven't seen the thermometer drop below 25 degrees yet during the day, and at night it's still almost 20. Sweaters have stayed in their spots and pants have rarely been worn. However, the Aussies are pretty wimpy when it comes to the weather, complaining easily and covering up quickly. I have a feeling us Canadians will rarely feel cold while we're here, but only time will tell. We've heard mixed information on the winter conditions, so all we can accept for certain is that we're better off Down Under!

Bondi in all it's glory

Another thing I wanted to touch on is the fact that Australians don't use near as much lingo as you would think. There have only been a handful of instances when I needed to get a word clarified. What I can tell you though is that they love to say 'heaps' in place of 'lots/tons/much', McDonalds is 'Mackas', they call ketchup 'tomato sauce' and the most annoying of all is how they ask you 'how ya goin'?' instead of 'how are you doing?' It just doesn't make sense! It makes me want to answer them literally, like 'I'm walking' or 'Taking the train'. Also, I still forget to ask for tomato sauce at restaurants because I'm not asking for pasta sauce or pizza sauce with my fries, I want ketchup! But complaining aside, I do like a few things they do differently: tax is included in the final price, EVERYWHERE, the drinking cut-off at bars is 3am, liquor stores are called bottle shops (making you feel like less of an alcoholic) and our campus rents out bean bag chairs for free to students on break between class! The only downside to that is the fact that it's hard to get up when you have to go to lecture, especially after basking in the sun (laziness sets in hardcore). And that's a bad thing for Aussies because it just contributes to their already present laziness. They don't think twice about taking the elevator when you have class on the fourth floor, whereas us Canadians gladly walk up a few flights before sitting for an hour or two. We also don't mind walking for twenty minutes to a half hour to get anywhere, but the locals would never. I know I'm generalising here, but don't we all! We've heard countless stereotypes about Canadians and Americans, most of which are remarkably accurate. Unfortunately the Aussies have difficulty differentiating us from each other; understandable but offensive. But don't worry, we always clear the air, sometimes throwing in a little Kiwi vs. Aussie banter (they hate being mistaken for New Zealanders more than we hate being called Americans!) So there's your lesson for the day!

University of Sydney main campus courtyard