I did attempt to nap before the late drive to Boston but found myself running some last minute errands...like buying a new camera charger since mine was nowhere to be found! For now I'm using my phone as an alternative but I'm hoping to get my new charger soonish from home. We'll see. Anyways the drive was relatively good, there was that one last fight with my dad about being as safe as possible and we smoothed it over pretty quickly. We also had a cheery talk about what happens if the airplane crashes for some reason, which none of them did obviously, but just so everyone knows I was prepared to do absolutely nothing. It reminded me of a Sean Locke moment that I failed to find so here's this bit instead:
My dad was also amazing enough to have breakfast with me until he left at about 2 in the morning and I did a lot of waiting after that for my first few flights. But the views were absolutely amazing when I decided to stop trying to sleep and look out the window. My camera did not due the view justice but here's the best I could do:
And that was from my ride to Cali!
(California by Never Shout Never)
And after the 6-8 hour ride from Maine I landed in LA which was quite warm so it was easy to fall asleep literally anywhere. And when we finally boarded our plane to Sydney I felt kinda like...
(On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons)
As we lifted off it finally seemed acceptable to get excited about my trip and to really let myself accept that it was happening. But it was all really scary as it was happening too, I mean I was going somewhere completely new to live with people I had only met via the internet+Skype, so there were many personal doubts I had about this whole thing along with doubts from multiple family members. My confidence level was, at best, shaky in the whole of humanity so I'm sure you're all relieved to know that I am absolutely fine. Yay!
I also sat next to an Australian gal (Nerida) who was going to Melbourne as well and she offered a place to stay if anything went awry with my first homestay, so I already had a mini-support system for my stay because people can also be amazing.
I did stay in Sydney for an hour but I didn't see that much, and I was able to sleep on both trips, LA to Sydney and Sydney to Melbourne. Plus the flights were actually early, which was a pleasant surprise. :)
And the couple I'm staying with, Karlyn and Michael were incredibly welcoming. I really do enjoy staying with them so far even though I have to cook my own meals, which have consisted of pasta and salad; inspired by my stay with Jess at Mystic (JessIloveyouuuu). My first day though Michael and Karlyn treated me to a few meals and showed me around the city where there was a protest! That was exciting
So, if you didn't check out the link this protest was in response to some budget cuts made (proposed?) by the Australian government and those cuts included funding to health care and education, in fact there were other adjustments made so that universities could potentially charge as much as they wish for tuition. It was a pretty impressive display and I would totally be a part of it if I were an Australian citizen and were not exhausted. But that's just me, and I am in no way an expert in politics and economics so take this with a grain of salt!
I have also been to work for a couple days now which has been wonderful and frustrating. Mostly because I keep getting lost. Oh! Here is a picture of the tram!
Surprisingly enough I did not get lost in the city...that actually has yet to happen haha! I did get lost on Melbourne's campus looking for the actual building my internship is taking place, which made me about half an hour late BUT my supervisor, Terence, was really understanding. Plus that day was really boring because I just had to learn all of the basic health and safety guidelines of the lab. So it's some of the stuff I've covered just by taking courses requiring a lab and some new stuff like wear a lab coat! That got me excited, they even gave me some goggles...that I promptly lost haha. Of course I brought along a pair of my own guys, so don't worry.
After the health and safety training I got to leave and just explore the city. Yeah I was all by myself, and no, I didn't even get lost or accosted by creeps. I did get lost on Wednesday just trying to get home to the apartment, that has a roof with this kind of view by the way...
But no worries, clearly I found my way home after getting lost. Sorry for any blurriness, I have JUST discovered the panorama mode on my phone and I really, really like using it. I will try to get pictures of the lab and apartment up soon. The room is small but has more than enough storage space for my clothes and such so it's a pretty sweet deal. I'm not complaining...but it's small haha.
So anytime I have gotten lost it's been pretty educational so I (hopefully) don't get lost again....even though I did get lost today but it's because I keep taking the wrong tram so I just get off the tram and get onto the right one. It's actually quite thrilling. I also feel lost in lab all the time and feel incredibly dense because I just end up following my supervisor around like a puppy. It's been humbling, this experience because I feel so inadequate and also like a child. Mainly because I have little to do and because I'm being trained so it is pretty laid back, plus I have only just arrived so it's good that I just get to settle in and not hit the ground running. I literally have to tell myself this every few hours so I don't get too frustrated with myself or with my supervisor. I'm sure I'll have enough to do in another week or so, so I appreciate the down time so far.
Along with following my supervisor around I have watched them dissect mice, I had reservations at first but I do believe it's for a good cause so I got over killing them pretty quickly. So the way they kill the mice, if your curious (if not, skip this sentence/paragraph), is by breaking the neck. You take a pair of scissors or something lateral and rigid to place behind the ears on the neck and hold it there while simultaneously pulling the mice up by the tail.
Along with dissections I learned about how they measure the presence of RNA in solution using chips that look a little like this:
Tomorrow (Friday!) I will hopefully be learning the anatomy of the mice brains and that could possibly lead to me actually dissecting the mice myself (if I'm good enough). I'll make sure to let ya'll know how it goes! Until next time:)
All the love to you,
Syd
