Guden Tag.
I turned off my alarm this morning and had a nice sleep in (woke up at 8:40!!) and now i feel really refreshed and energised...to start on the reading material for the first week of lectures!!!! (yay to nerdiness).
It's odd not starting the Sunday off in Church because that's what i usually do. I haven't really been to night church before (following Coralie whom i met at Christian Union to her Baptist Church) and so that will be highly interesting. Supposedly, most uni students go to night church.
Yesterday, Jono, Linda, Amy, Manjri, Vince and I did a nice walk around the Strand (doing the awesome, touristy thing) and then went to Stockland to buy some stuff. It was really interesting going on the bus in an even group of first year meds and talking about the most random stuff. Linda and i were talking about Asian stuff whilst Vince was dissing us for being so asianised (and then he dissed me for using that word...i didn't make it up, did i?).
Amy led us down the Strand like a true local whilst Vince and Manjri were complaining about how they were melting (judging from the fact they come from Canada and New Zealand, that is TOTALLY understandable), although Jono LOOKED like he was melting more than Vince and Manjri seemed (which was rather funny...hehe).
We tooked somed touristy photos next to the Strand (which was meant to be the "Cleanest Beach in Australia", according the to sign on it). We also had a million stops after walking, as we are asian, spoilt and can't really stand long exposure to the sun. We talked about stuff like politics and the places where we come from whilst sitting down. Everyone was especially amused with Linda as she tried to French Braid my hair and kept failing (although she WAS highly determined).
We then stopped at Cold (or was it Ice?) Rock to have some ice cream and smoothies (that was the ultimate recharge) and we walked back to the Northern Queensland Museum and had a nice look around.
We then walked back to the busstop and headed to Stocklands where we had lunch at the foodcourt and went crazy with buying folders (all colourful, of course).
What was highly interesting was listening to Vince talk about Canada and how into Human Rights they are. They have legalised Gay Marriages and Marijuana (which i never knew) because of "Human Rights" and will pass about anything if it has anything to do with Legal Rights. For instance, in schools, they have to sing the national anthem. The national anthem has the word "God" in it, though, so some students are exempted from singing it if they are religious. Supposedly, Candaian politics are also much more interesting than Australian Politics. Oh, and buying stuff from Canada is a lot cheaper too.
Following our walkabout, it was evident that some people got sunburnt despite sunscreen. As to-be doctors, everyone started talking about if they'd get skin cancer before we finished our degree (supposedly, new doctors become really paranoid about their health, according to a doctor doing his phD here).
After dinner, we walked over to Vince's room coz i wanted to get some soil for Elliot (aka my loved potplant). Following this, i watched She's the Man with Amanda, a fellow christian who lives in St Marks (and who is really awesome. Plus, she shares the same love of rom coms with me and has like...EVERYTHING!!!!).
Showering involved another encounter with a frog. This is the second time that i've found a small frog in my showe cubicle (and this is a different frog to the last one). This frog was on the shower curtain when i was showering. As i didn't want it to burn to death as i shower in really hot water, despite the hot temperatures of Townsville, i gently pushed it out of the shower cubicle and it disappeared.
Amazing what happens up here in the tropics. A million mosquito bites, cane toads everywhere, wallabies on your front lawn and frogs in the shower cubicle. =P
As you can see, i have more free time on my hands than i thought AND i am really bored, thus the continued blogging. haha.
I forgot to bring my camera yesterday =( but i'll scab some photos from Linda and put them up here. =)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Pov Student and Loud Noises
I'm becoming extremely poor and i really feel like i need to get a job but 1) the med course is so packed and 2) transport is highly difficult as the only real way to get around here in Townsville is by car (which i obviously can't use) or bus (and the routes aren't that great).
There is absolutely so much to buy and everything is REALLY expensive =.=. It's like they WANT to squeeze every penny out of poor students like me. But i acknowledge that they give us heaps of support and discounts too...and freebees (like INDOMEE, rendung flavoured from, you'll never guess, the COMMONWEALTH BANK!!!).
I still need to buy my stethescope....(they say it's better to get a good one coz you'll be using it a lot. can't find a glow-in-the-dark one but the Raspberry colour looks quite nice).
I am still highly annoyed by the Firedrill being at such an annoying hour at night. I feel really tired right now and might have a short nap after i finish writing this. Not only that, but at 4am this morning, someone came knocking at all the Fresher doors, trying to wake everybody up to go for a morning run to Maccas (=.=). I was just like...huh? and then i tried to go back to sleep.
I am so lacking in sleep.
I should start doing the prereading for the lectures we have on Monday...
It's so good that everything is basically Biology and Chemistry. I pity those who didn't do both because you'll definitely be benefitted if you have done both Bio and Chem as there's parts of both integrated into our course.
So note to those who are planning to do med and are in yr10 - DO BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Who cares about scaling coz i still did really well in Biology and got a good uai. Biology and chem is definitely good for you in the longrun and, of course, you'd like to stay on top of your studies in uni.
Also learnt to notetake today in a Notetaking workshop...i discovered i'm on the borderline of writing transcripts. I am far too paranoid.
And as you can see from me writing again so soon, i'm rather bored too.
I might go and sleep now. And then maybe wake up to read some textbooks >.<
There is absolutely so much to buy and everything is REALLY expensive =.=. It's like they WANT to squeeze every penny out of poor students like me. But i acknowledge that they give us heaps of support and discounts too...and freebees (like INDOMEE, rendung flavoured from, you'll never guess, the COMMONWEALTH BANK!!!).
I still need to buy my stethescope....(they say it's better to get a good one coz you'll be using it a lot. can't find a glow-in-the-dark one but the Raspberry colour looks quite nice).
I am still highly annoyed by the Firedrill being at such an annoying hour at night. I feel really tired right now and might have a short nap after i finish writing this. Not only that, but at 4am this morning, someone came knocking at all the Fresher doors, trying to wake everybody up to go for a morning run to Maccas (=.=). I was just like...huh? and then i tried to go back to sleep.
I am so lacking in sleep.
I should start doing the prereading for the lectures we have on Monday...
It's so good that everything is basically Biology and Chemistry. I pity those who didn't do both because you'll definitely be benefitted if you have done both Bio and Chem as there's parts of both integrated into our course.
So note to those who are planning to do med and are in yr10 - DO BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Who cares about scaling coz i still did really well in Biology and got a good uai. Biology and chem is definitely good for you in the longrun and, of course, you'd like to stay on top of your studies in uni.
Also learnt to notetake today in a Notetaking workshop...i discovered i'm on the borderline of writing transcripts. I am far too paranoid.
And as you can see from me writing again so soon, i'm rather bored too.
I might go and sleep now. And then maybe wake up to read some textbooks >.<
Thursday, February 19, 2009
First Week in Townsville
Well, for starters, i think i should write about why i have this blog and what i'm going to write about here.
Firstly, why. I'm writing primarily to keep those who want to know how i'm going informed. It's so sweet how concerned (or interested) all of you are about me here and what i'm up to. As opposed to me repeating the same stories to individual people, i thought it'd be nice to keep everyone informed here. =)
I also hope to use this as a kind of "public" journal for myself. So that i can see my own journey through this college and university experience. It is said to be a blessing to be able to stay on campus and really experience the university life - and be able to really minister and bless people through my actions and words.
Secondly, what i'm going to write about is basically a log of my life here. What i've been doing, interesting stuff, photos and such. Some things may be downright boring (>.<) and i admire any who actually keep up with what i write. But i'll write it anyway because it would probably be a good thing. =)
So here we go, my first post for who knows how long (let's hope i keep up with this! I'm so lazy and my attention span is so short when it comes to blogs...especially when i press backspace my mistake and everything i write disappears just like that =.=). Anyway, i'm ranting.
Well...
Can you believe it? It's been almost, exactly one week since i've moved from Sydney to Townsville. One week of boiling hot weather and absolute humidity. It's basically like Singapore except a bit worse because the sun is really heavily shining up here.
I think that's the worst thing - the weather. The weather and the loud noises that have occurred sometimes when one is trying to have a peaceful night.
So, what have i actually done these past few days?
The first days involved shopping with my mum for moving into uni. That was pretty hectic as you don't realise how MUCH you need until you move in and go...oh crap...i totally forgot about blahblahblah. And the walls of my room are so WHITE...in fact, everything is so white (thus i dub it the mental assylum room) so i was compelling to fully decorate it. That in itself costed almost $50 to make the room homey. Throw rugs on the floor of red and brown colour, 4 posters (puppies, Happy Feet, HSM2 and HSM3) and a little canvas nature piece. Oh, i also got a plant which i should really repot into a bigger pot soon (need to also buy fertiliser for the poor baby on the weekend).
Now that i've made it homey, the room is rather nice. It's got everything one would really need and it's an escape from uni life for me. At least it's mostly quiet and no one really disturbs me =).
O-week has involved venturing around with Jono to various events (Market Day, Seminars, Movie Night) and just checking out the different clubs and what uni life is all about. I've done more walking than usual and now, my feet are absolutely dying from wearing my thongs everyday. Here, it is the norm to wear shorts, thongs and a top as it is always hot. I have also gotten so tanned, i look like a beach or tribal person.
The uni is lovely and i couldn't ask for a better campus to go to. Walking through the Student Mall to the Med School is like doing a nature walk through a lush rainforest. You cross the bridge above a running creek and through some dirt paths which pass the tall trees and grassy patches, running into some Bush Turkey on the way. There's the calls of birds and even a Kookaburra hoping on chair at the Rococo Cafe in the middle of campus.
If you stand, watching the sight of the uni with the towering, green mountains in the background for a little too long, you may even get stung by mosquitoes or a mega wasp.
Making friends itself has been really exciting. I've made a few friends in my college - a lovely girl from Cairns who is doing Biomedical Science and two girls doing med with me (one from Perth and one from Melbourne). I met a guy from Melbourne doing Vet Science and my neighbour is an American Student on a programme to do Environmental Sciences (she's really cool and i hung out with her in her room on the first day i came to college). She says that uni here is really different to in America.
I love my new med friends. It's really interesting how people seem to congregate in terms of cultural background. Currently, there's a group of us asians from different places - but nevertheless, we're all chinese. There's me and Jono from Sydney and then we have Linda who is my new, really good friend from Canberra (she's super nice and really funny), Amy from a country town who was like "it's just a Cane Toad" when i yelled in excitement when i saw my first ever Cane Toad, Vince from Toronto, Canada who told us the funniest stories about his driving around on the "wrong side of the road" and who shares the same birthday with me (go us!!) and Andrew, also from Toronto Canada.
There are a fair few really nice Indian girls who also congregate in their own circle, and then there's the caucasians who also generally congregate in different circles.
But we're all excited to do med together...we know that it's going to be a lot of hard work and the Eddie Mabo Library (that's the name of our uni Library) will definitely be our second home, but nevertheless, it's gonna be a lot of fun as well.
College life itself is kind of like in the movies, in a way. You get your small, individual rooms (or mental assylums) which are cleaned once a week by the lovely (and i mean, really lovely) cleaning ladies. You have a common room complete with couches, ironing board, TV with Austar (or Foxtel) and a backgammon board. There are communual toilets which are quite okay and, for some reason, always free. They use the term "Fresher" for new students and actually bully them, depending on the College you stay in (yes, from being the king in highschool, we're now the little kids again. Ahhh, the heirarchies in life).
I was standing in line, waiting to go to the toilets in the Library and i overheard a girl saying that the initiation process in one of the colleges involved the seniors banging into their rooms at 3 in the morning (the RAs have the master key, you see) and making all of them jog around campus, waking all the other colleges up by screaming really loudly. They then got them to stand at the college building, with their backs to the wall to take a picture. Instead of having a picture taken, there were seniors in the top level of the building who poured buckets of stale milk, anchovies and other disgusting things onto the Fresher's heads. The smell, according to this girl, was absolutely vile and made them all want to puke. So they all wanted to go to have a shower but someone had locked all the showers and they had to get a skinny guy to climb under every shower door to unlock them.
How vile and heartless >.<
So, as you can imagine, there is a fair amount of people getting drunk on campus.
What has been really comforting is hanging out with the Christian Union people tonight. We played some getting to know you games and listened to stuff that's happening this year. It was really awesome meeting brothers and sisters in Christ from...EVERYWHERE! Especially listening to the older med students. =)
As i was writing, we just had a FIREDRILL at this time. 11:40pm...who'd have thought it was the "ideal" time for a firedrill...how evil.
It's...interesting too. Doing stuff when you want to. Organising things on your own accord and time. But yeah...
I miss Sydney. I miss the cool weather. I miss my own bed and own room. I miss my family. I miss my dog. I miss my friends and the holidays. I miss hanging out on Sundays and feeling...at home.
But it's been an *adventure*, i guess. And we'll see where this goes. I already know God put me here for a reason. There are so many opportunities to help people and tell them about His love for them. I'm so excited and motivated by this. God is just so amazing and i can really see Him in action.
So it's a blessing. Whatever you do, if it brings you closer to God...it's a blessing.
Well, so i guess this ends my MEGAlong essay of a post. I have been spending my nights on msn, just catching up. It's been really good. I hope i can continue to stay on contact with all my lovely, loved friends in Sydney.
I'll continue taking cool pics of my uni and Townsville surroundings (need to do the touristy thing soon with my med friends).
Oh, and what has been especially handy is that i'm going through A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Yes, >.< i haven't read it yet. But it's been so good reading it. I've also been continuing my bible readings of John. I really feel God's presence with me, guiding me every step of the way and opening my eyes to just how BIG the world is and, more importantly, how BIG He is. Getting to know Him and His heartbeat better is something i'm EXTREMELY looking forward to.
So God bless. I'll post sometime soon...maybe next week on Saturday after first week of lectures!
<3
Firstly, why. I'm writing primarily to keep those who want to know how i'm going informed. It's so sweet how concerned (or interested) all of you are about me here and what i'm up to. As opposed to me repeating the same stories to individual people, i thought it'd be nice to keep everyone informed here. =)
I also hope to use this as a kind of "public" journal for myself. So that i can see my own journey through this college and university experience. It is said to be a blessing to be able to stay on campus and really experience the university life - and be able to really minister and bless people through my actions and words.
Secondly, what i'm going to write about is basically a log of my life here. What i've been doing, interesting stuff, photos and such. Some things may be downright boring (>.<) and i admire any who actually keep up with what i write. But i'll write it anyway because it would probably be a good thing. =)
So here we go, my first post for who knows how long (let's hope i keep up with this! I'm so lazy and my attention span is so short when it comes to blogs...especially when i press backspace my mistake and everything i write disappears just like that =.=). Anyway, i'm ranting.
Well...
Can you believe it? It's been almost, exactly one week since i've moved from Sydney to Townsville. One week of boiling hot weather and absolute humidity. It's basically like Singapore except a bit worse because the sun is really heavily shining up here.
I think that's the worst thing - the weather. The weather and the loud noises that have occurred sometimes when one is trying to have a peaceful night.
So, what have i actually done these past few days?
The first days involved shopping with my mum for moving into uni. That was pretty hectic as you don't realise how MUCH you need until you move in and go...oh crap...i totally forgot about blahblahblah. And the walls of my room are so WHITE...in fact, everything is so white (thus i dub it the mental assylum room) so i was compelling to fully decorate it. That in itself costed almost $50 to make the room homey. Throw rugs on the floor of red and brown colour, 4 posters (puppies, Happy Feet, HSM2 and HSM3) and a little canvas nature piece. Oh, i also got a plant which i should really repot into a bigger pot soon (need to also buy fertiliser for the poor baby on the weekend).
Now that i've made it homey, the room is rather nice. It's got everything one would really need and it's an escape from uni life for me. At least it's mostly quiet and no one really disturbs me =).
O-week has involved venturing around with Jono to various events (Market Day, Seminars, Movie Night) and just checking out the different clubs and what uni life is all about. I've done more walking than usual and now, my feet are absolutely dying from wearing my thongs everyday. Here, it is the norm to wear shorts, thongs and a top as it is always hot. I have also gotten so tanned, i look like a beach or tribal person.
The uni is lovely and i couldn't ask for a better campus to go to. Walking through the Student Mall to the Med School is like doing a nature walk through a lush rainforest. You cross the bridge above a running creek and through some dirt paths which pass the tall trees and grassy patches, running into some Bush Turkey on the way. There's the calls of birds and even a Kookaburra hoping on chair at the Rococo Cafe in the middle of campus.
If you stand, watching the sight of the uni with the towering, green mountains in the background for a little too long, you may even get stung by mosquitoes or a mega wasp.
Making friends itself has been really exciting. I've made a few friends in my college - a lovely girl from Cairns who is doing Biomedical Science and two girls doing med with me (one from Perth and one from Melbourne). I met a guy from Melbourne doing Vet Science and my neighbour is an American Student on a programme to do Environmental Sciences (she's really cool and i hung out with her in her room on the first day i came to college). She says that uni here is really different to in America.
I love my new med friends. It's really interesting how people seem to congregate in terms of cultural background. Currently, there's a group of us asians from different places - but nevertheless, we're all chinese. There's me and Jono from Sydney and then we have Linda who is my new, really good friend from Canberra (she's super nice and really funny), Amy from a country town who was like "it's just a Cane Toad" when i yelled in excitement when i saw my first ever Cane Toad, Vince from Toronto, Canada who told us the funniest stories about his driving around on the "wrong side of the road" and who shares the same birthday with me (go us!!) and Andrew, also from Toronto Canada.
There are a fair few really nice Indian girls who also congregate in their own circle, and then there's the caucasians who also generally congregate in different circles.
But we're all excited to do med together...we know that it's going to be a lot of hard work and the Eddie Mabo Library (that's the name of our uni Library) will definitely be our second home, but nevertheless, it's gonna be a lot of fun as well.
College life itself is kind of like in the movies, in a way. You get your small, individual rooms (or mental assylums) which are cleaned once a week by the lovely (and i mean, really lovely) cleaning ladies. You have a common room complete with couches, ironing board, TV with Austar (or Foxtel) and a backgammon board. There are communual toilets which are quite okay and, for some reason, always free. They use the term "Fresher" for new students and actually bully them, depending on the College you stay in (yes, from being the king in highschool, we're now the little kids again. Ahhh, the heirarchies in life).
I was standing in line, waiting to go to the toilets in the Library and i overheard a girl saying that the initiation process in one of the colleges involved the seniors banging into their rooms at 3 in the morning (the RAs have the master key, you see) and making all of them jog around campus, waking all the other colleges up by screaming really loudly. They then got them to stand at the college building, with their backs to the wall to take a picture. Instead of having a picture taken, there were seniors in the top level of the building who poured buckets of stale milk, anchovies and other disgusting things onto the Fresher's heads. The smell, according to this girl, was absolutely vile and made them all want to puke. So they all wanted to go to have a shower but someone had locked all the showers and they had to get a skinny guy to climb under every shower door to unlock them.
How vile and heartless >.<
So, as you can imagine, there is a fair amount of people getting drunk on campus.
What has been really comforting is hanging out with the Christian Union people tonight. We played some getting to know you games and listened to stuff that's happening this year. It was really awesome meeting brothers and sisters in Christ from...EVERYWHERE! Especially listening to the older med students. =)
As i was writing, we just had a FIREDRILL at this time. 11:40pm...who'd have thought it was the "ideal" time for a firedrill...how evil.
It's...interesting too. Doing stuff when you want to. Organising things on your own accord and time. But yeah...
I miss Sydney. I miss the cool weather. I miss my own bed and own room. I miss my family. I miss my dog. I miss my friends and the holidays. I miss hanging out on Sundays and feeling...at home.
But it's been an *adventure*, i guess. And we'll see where this goes. I already know God put me here for a reason. There are so many opportunities to help people and tell them about His love for them. I'm so excited and motivated by this. God is just so amazing and i can really see Him in action.
So it's a blessing. Whatever you do, if it brings you closer to God...it's a blessing.
Well, so i guess this ends my MEGAlong essay of a post. I have been spending my nights on msn, just catching up. It's been really good. I hope i can continue to stay on contact with all my lovely, loved friends in Sydney.
I'll continue taking cool pics of my uni and Townsville surroundings (need to do the touristy thing soon with my med friends).
Oh, and what has been especially handy is that i'm going through A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Yes, >.< i haven't read it yet. But it's been so good reading it. I've also been continuing my bible readings of John. I really feel God's presence with me, guiding me every step of the way and opening my eyes to just how BIG the world is and, more importantly, how BIG He is. Getting to know Him and His heartbeat better is something i'm EXTREMELY looking forward to.
So God bless. I'll post sometime soon...maybe next week on Saturday after first week of lectures!
<3
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