Winter 2011, Round 2

Today is the first day of winter, and for me this means my second bout of winter this year...and it won't be my last.  It's funny because we had the wettest autumn that Melbourne's experienced in the last decade, yet now that it's winter, it's one of the nicest days, with a top of 19C (or as we would say at home, a high of 66F).  The sun is shining and taunting me because I'm inside studying.  So far, I've stuck to my study plan and have been doing well, but I don't know how much longer I can keep it up.  Finance makes me highly unmotivated...I can't tell you how happy I am that it's my first exam so that I can get it over and done with.  June 10th really can't come soon enough at this point.

Done, Part 1

Part 2 will come after final exams have been completed, but for now, there is a sense of accomplishment in the air.  Friday was the last day to have lectures and labs, but many professors have students turning in assignments throughout the next week.  Thanks to comments and corrections from a helpful editor I have fixed up my last paper and submitted it a couple of hours ago.  I am officially done with assignments for the first semester, and it's crazy to look back at everything that I've done in the last 12 weeks.  9 or 10 weeks ago, everything seemed so ominous...all the MatLab labs that I thought I had no idea how to do and the 3000 word term papers I was told I would need to complete.  And now that's all said and done and all that stands between me and my first set of marks (grades in American English) are the all-important final exams.  I have two weeks until my first one, and then from there it's four exams in 10 days.  After that, a month off until we start all over again.  So far so good, and hopefully things stay that way.

House Hunting

It's no secret that I have been unhappy with my current landlord, and recently I have been contemplating moving out.  I have been undergoing a house search, coming up mostly empty-handed until yesterday.  I finally heard back from one of the people I called and I was able to set up an appointment to meet her and check out the apartment she had advertised.  It's not too far away (1.5km) from where I am now, but the neighborhood feels completely different.  It also seemed as if it was meant to be because as I walked up, I found that the apartment sat right next to the Engineers Australia building.  I walked up the stairs to the top floor and was greeted by Liz, the girl I had previously spoken to.  The apartment was open and bright and the room that I would be taking over had a nice double-sized bed (an upgrade from the twin that I've been sleeping on), desk/desk chair, and closet.  I would have this room to myself, but would be sharing the bathroom with one of my roommates.  Two other girls live on the second floor of the unit, and each have their own rooms and another bathroom up there.  The kitchen is nice, with an actual stove and full size fridge, so I wouldn't have to continue to cook everything in the microwave.  And also, one of the best parts is that I would be saving almost $400 per month!!  And that includes having internet in my room, finally!  I am pretty sure that I'm going to end up taking the room, but I told Liz that I'd sleep on it until Monday and then give her a call.  The only concern I have is about getting out of my current lease.  With all that's been going on with the management of my current place, I'm sure that in some way it will become messy.  But with all the grief they've caused me, in the end, it will still probably be worth it.

Chicken Leg: 1, Carter's Hand: 0

So today was my last day in the classroom for semester one of grad school.  I only had one lecture, Cellular Biomechanics, and we presented our term projects to the class.  There was a wide range of projects topics, and one included using chicken legs to model fractures in the human leg.  The group presenting actually brought in some chicken legs so that we'd have the chance to see first hand what happens under different types of loading conditions.  Donned with safety goggles and winter coats, we went outside and began breaking the bones.  First we started with a torsional load, which we found resulted in a spiral fracture.  Then we grabbed hold of both ends of the leg and tried to snap it in half.  Well, the leg I broke ended up lodged in my hand.  One of the sharp edges found it's way under my skin and sliced it.  It was nothing too terrible, but lab protocol required me to get first-aid treatment.  A good washing/disinfecting and a few band-aids later and I was back in class, no worse for the wear.

Feels Good to be Free

After years of battling with my athletic trainer, I am now safely halfway around the world where she can't possibly catch me doing things I'm not "supposed" to do.  Now I know that she always had my best interests at heart, but we often times butted heads because of our differing opinions about what I should/should not be allowed to do in the gym.  And yes, I am now talking about the gymnastics gym, and yes I did find my way to one last night  :)
Gymnastics was my first true love and unfortunately in college I was not able to do it (physically) as much as I had hoped.  So when the opportunity found its way into my lap last week, I dove at it.  Even though I'm 22 and have dedicated the majority of my life to the sport, it still excites me and makes me happy when I get the chance to do it.  And last night, I got that chance.  It just so happens that last week I stumbled upon someone carrying around keys on a "Gymnastics Australia" lanyard and after asking him about it, I found out that a gym about 7km away offers adult gymnastics classes three times per week in the evening for a couple of hours.  I actually first attempted at going on Monday, but got very, very lost, so I ended up turning around and just heading home.  Last night, I was successful, though the journey didn't go flawlessly.  I almost gave up when I looked up and saw a ring tower through some glass doors, so I knew I had to be in the right place.
I walked through the doors and felt the chalk entering my lungs; it was a wonderful feeling.  I got acquainted with the coach of the class and met some of the members.  I wasn't expecting anything...I just wanted the opportunity to flip around and play.  But the class was actually pretty structured, with rotations and everything.  After moving through some basics, I found that things actually came back to me pretty quickly.  I didn't even really see too many stars.  The highlight of the night was pulling out some front tumbling.  The coach was great...not holding me back, but allowing me to do things even if no one else was doing it.  And I had the added bonus of not having to look over my shoulder every two seconds to make sure that no athletic trainer or coach would see me and cast me a stern "what do you think you're doing" look.
If I'm being honest, I have to say that my joints were feeling it by the end of the night (I don't think my ankle has been put through that much range of motion in about 15 months)...but after two surgeries and for my first time back, I think it went pretty well.

Autumn in Australia

Yesterday my friend Bahar and I (she's originally from Iran, but has been living in Canada for the last nine years) decided to enjoy the nice autumn day and get outside.  We hopped on the free tourist bus and rode into parts of town that we hadn't seen before.  It's really a cool system...there is a tape that runs, telling you about stuff you are looking at ("and on your right you will see...") and the driver fills in with little bits of trivia.  When we got to the Royal Botanical Gardens we decided to hop off and take a look around.  I'd run the track around the gardens before, but hadn't actually gone inside.  We were pleasantly surprised by the colors of the trees and the leaves on the ground.

We ended up missing the bus on the way home, but the weather was really nice so we didn't mind walking back.  We enjoyed a nice sunset over the city and the Yarra River, stopped at a coffee shop, and just watched all the people streaming by.

We eventually made it back, refreshed and ready to take on the weekend.  We are in three out of four classes together and we both have lots of work to do in this last week before finals.  I am in-between assignments right now, so I should probably get back to work.  Hopefully I'll get enough done to feel okay about taking the day off tomorrow.  We'll see  :)

Field Trip

Today we took a field trip for my cellular biomechanics class.  We've been talking a lot in lecture about car safety and what can happen in different types of crashes.  Today we met at our normal time and took two vans out to the Autoliv crash testing center, just 24km away from the university.  We spent about an hour there on a tour and learned all about how they rig up the cars to simulate different types of crashes.  We also went to the "dummy lab" where we talked and learned about the different crash test dummies.  They come in all shapes and sizes, and are specified for use in testing front end crashes, side impact, etc.  It was funny because they are all dressed in what we learned were "standard issue" clothes, including terry-cloth t-shirts and shorts, and navy issued shoes.  The baby ones were the cutest, but the fact that they didn't have faces kind of skewed their appearance a little bit.  Before leaving we also went to the seat belt testing center, where they test all different kinds of belts.  They are put through tension testing and are sprayed with different types of chemicals and stuff to see what they can withstand.  It was a fun morning and it was nice to get out of the classroom and into the real world to see how people apply some of the things we are learning about.

Williamstown

I decided to take a break from school today and get out of the city.  I spent some time last night in one of the local bookstores, looking at travel books.  I wanted to find something fun to do today because I just finished a two big papers and I was ready for a break before grinding through my last two weeks of instruction.  I found a couple of good options, but it wasn’t until this morning that I finally made a decision.  My destination was Williamstown, a 30-minute metro ride away.  I had to make a transfer near the end, which always makes me a little nervous, but there were no problems, and I arrived on time.  I stepped off the metro and had no idea where I was.  Everyone else around me of course had a destination in mind and were on their way.  I stumbled around for a few minutes before finding a street sign leading me to the historic district.  I was really lucky to have come today, because there is a street fair on the third Sunday of every month.  I enjoyed looking at all the crafts, and I found the town and surrounding area to be filled with little antique shops and very interesting looking restaurants.  We were also right by a pier, so there were boats docked all over, and to my surprise, I looked out and saw one with my mom’s name on it, which never happens.  

I was also able to see Melbourne from afar, which was pretty cool.  I took my time on the pier, before wandering around the other streets.

I found another street sign directing me to a beach, so I turned that way, not knowing where I was going to end up, but still very curious.  I knew I was getting close by the change in the style of the houses.  I was definitely in a beach town, and it was awesome.  It was also great to see all of the parks and everything around, which is not something that I get to see everyday in the city.  As much as I like where I live, I miss seeing kids running around, people taking a bike ride around the community, and dogs playing in open fields.  I think that’s something that will be important to me in the future when I’m looking for a community where I’d like to live.

I arrived at the water, and it was breezy and cold, but very refreshing.  I began walking on the promenade lining the beach, when I passed by an old man who made a comment about the weather.  For the next 20 minutes or so we walked together, and he began telling me about his past and how he ended up here.  He was originally from Lebanon and came to Australia 60 years ago.  He recently had a knee replacement and so was just trying to get out and walk around on it to keep things moving.  We talked about his family, the US, and life in Williamstown, among other things.  He was the nicest man and offered to have me over sometime so that I could meet his wife  :)

After he had had enough walking, he turned around to head home, and I decided to sit by the water and eat the lunch I had packed.  It was great to sit there and just listen to the water and watch the birds come in and out.  It was just what I needed to clear my head.  I sat there for a while before I just got too cold and decided that I had to move (the winter coats that I packed are getting lots of use and it might be time to invest in another good jacket because I really wasn’t anticipating this weather when I was packing).   

I walked around the botanical gardens before deciding that it was time to head back.  I still had other things to get done today, but spending time in this quaint town gave me the energy boost that I needed.

As I said before, two more weeks of school left, and then it’s a week off for studying before exams begin.  I have four tests, one each on June 10^th, 14^th, 17^th, and 20^th.  After that, it’ll be one semester down and I’ll be on break for a month.  Plans for that month are still under construction, but hopefully I’ll nail down something soon.

Happy...

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the world!

Happy Birthday Dad!  Don't worry, I won't tell everyone how old (I mean, young) you really are  :)

Back to the Grind

It's crazy how quickly you can get sucked back into routine.  After an amazing week off, it was back to the daily grind of lectures, labs, and coursework.  This week went by quickly though, and I really can't believe it's Friday already.  It's now nine weeks down, three to go.  My finals schedule should be released any time now, and hopefully the university will be kind to me and not force me to wait until the very last day to complete my first semester.

I now have to pose a pretty random question:  Why is it that elevators are so good at playing host to awkward situations?  This afternoon I walked into the elevator with another boy (who happened to be Asian) and after a few seconds of pause he said, "So where is it that you are from?"  I replied by saying the United States, and got, "Oh, you mean America?" as a response.  I confirmed that yes, they are the same thing, and then it was quiet before he spoke up again.  "Wait, so you're from Europe?"  I kind of looked at him before saying no.  Finally, the doors opened and he said, "Oh, ok, well see you later," paused, holding open the doors for a few seconds, and walked out, finally relieving me of the awkwardness and leaving me to enjoy the rest of the ride up to my room.