Labs, Tuts, and Birthdays

The second week went by pretty quickly if you ask me. There is a lot of information I have to ingrain in my head, and a lot of new concepts I need to understand.

For starters, I had my first lab in human physiology. The lab itself had so many students than what I am use to. For the first part of our lab, we needed to learn how to use LabTutor (a website for our subject) and use these finger devices in order to measure heart rate. Needless to say I have a healthy heart rate. After, we learned how to use the pipettes, which was easy since I learned this in Cell Biology back at Elon. For our final task, we had to use a glucose index to measure blood glucose levels. Yes I had to prick my finger in order to do this, which was not bad and now I am the volunteer for our next lab which involves fasting for 3 hours then eating jelly beans. For my biology/exercise science friends back home, I will let you guess what that lab will be about!

For my first tutorial in social psychology, we did an icebreaker activity in order to apply the concepts we learned this week. It was interesting talking to some of the people in my tutorial session because I found people who like a lot of the same things I do. It is always great to meet those people in your class. For my tutorial in abnormal psychology, there were only me and two students who showed up so my professor told us to try and find another tutorial session. So much for no Friday classes L. I already have 2 papers coming up in my psychology classes so it is time to get my writing skills to work.

For interesting things that happened during the week, Thursday after class, Dorthea and I went to Alexandria beach to catch some waves. That was the first time in a long time I felt like a professional on the board! The waves were perfect, the barrels were on point, and I caught about ten waves and rode in the barrels. Eventually Dorthea and I went back to Uni and I decided to go to Johanna’s place for a party. Once midnight hit, I had finally turned 21 in Australia!

Friday I took Dorthea to the sunshine plaza to get my nose pierced (don’t worry its really tiny) and a blue extension in my hair. My reason for that: because I wanted to do something different for turning 21. It is not like drinking alcohol means anything in Australia since the legal drinking age is 18. Also I had always wanted to get a nose piercing and since I was to afraid to actually dye my hair blue, I thought I would do something temporary instead by getting an extension. Needless to say, I love this look! After the Plaza, I went back to my room to clean up and start making some food and sangria for my guests. I made homemade bruschetta and this really interesting cob loaf dip. Basically you get a cob loaf and cut off the top, take out the bread inside, then mix together bacon, cheese, cream and cream cheese before putting it in the cob loaf and cooking it in the oven for 30 minutes. Anyone wants something easy to make for guests, I highly suggest the cob loaf dip! Daniel came over to set up the speakers then the guests started to arrive! It was so great to celebrate this birthday with a small group for friends. This was the first time spending my birthday without the family but I was able to speak with them that morning. Though I was not with family, I had an amazing time with my USC friends! I got some chocolate, a crown and birthday pin, an Australian flag, some chocolate protein powder, a clutch, and some sweet birthday cards! We finished the night with a fun birthday game, and then everyone cleared out.

When I woke up it was 12 in the afternoon which is a first since I haven’t slept that long since I arrived here. Funny enough it was also Tyler’s 20^th birthday! It was a big birthday weekend for our

group. So instead of a big party, we all met at Augello’s in Maloolaba to celebrate. Right after we sang happy birthday and ate all of our delicious Italian food, we headed to O’Malley’s, an Irish Pub, to listen to some live music. Sadly by the time they started to set up the live music, everyone was so tired and wanted to catch the last bus to Uni. Either way, the night was a lot of fun as long as you get to hang with friends.

Week three is here and now our assignments and quizzes are starting to come in. Bring it on!