Ow! My bloody, aching feet! And no, I haven't begun using Aussie slang this early on in the game, I mean I'm blistered to the point of hemorrhage. I decided to wear pumps to work today. I wore them on my first day of work, last Thursday, but was smart enough to keep them in my purse for the commute. I have a ten minute walk to the bus, followed by a ten minute bus ride, and completed with another ten minute walk to my office. Now I know that that is long enough to need to wear flipflops or some other comfy shoe for the walk. I have no idea how I'm going to wear shoes tomorrow, my feet are raw! Bleh!
Despite, today's distraction of constant foot pain, work is only getting better and better. My boss (Adam) is great; he's the kind of guy who jokes around with everyone and makes everyone feel important, all whilst having this air about him that makes it impossible not to respect and be slightly intimidated by him. He currently has five PhD students who are all working on super interesting research. Lucky for me, I get the opportunity to help with all of it if I want to, which I do. The first group I'll be assisting with is led by two doctors, Adam & Pat, and one of the PhD students, Nigel, and is focused on social anxiety disorder. I got to participate in the study as a control, I've been reading up on the topic, and today I spent the day organizing data. One of the last people working on the study, recorded a lot of data into the eye-tracker system, but it was all a mess. I have basically had to re-do everything, which is super tedious, but I'm excited to be able to basically start the project from the beginning.
My first, long weekend in Sydney was amazing! We all had Monday off for the Queen's birthday. :) Friday night, everyone in the house chipped in $7, and our house managers, Virginia & Dusan, cooked us an exquisite three course meal. We had goulash, which was the best soup I've ever had, an AMAZING chicken and rice, and a fruity dessert. It was my first time since being in Australia that I felt full and with a very happy, satisfied belly. I really enjoyed the time getting to know all my housemates too. And the next day, we went down to Bondi Beach and then did the cliff walk along all the other beaches in that area. It was a really long day and everyone was exhausted, but it was so worth it! It's been a long, long time since I've seen anything so beautiful. The pictures came out so well, but don't even come close to giving the real thing justice.
Sunday was a great day of site-seeing, with a trip to Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium. Wildlife World was swarming with all the local Australian creatures. The koalas surprised me with their adorableness, which I'd never previously agreed with. Conversely, the kangaroos were super boring, and appeared super mean. Funny enough, the majority of them sat around scratching their balls all day. The aquarium, after having swam on the great barrier reef a week before, was rather disappointing. All the aquariums I've been to in the States have been leaps and bounds more entertaining. Oh well!
Australia played Germany in the World Cup on Sunday at 4:30 AM local time...well, I guess technically 4:30 would mean it was Monday. After seven hours of galavanting around Sydney, I knew I'd never make it til 4:30 in the morning, so I took a nap from 6:30-11:30. I was so cozy, I didn't think I'd ever get out of bed. I finally forced myself to get up, and thank god, because I had an amazing...morning! haha! I rolled back into bed around 7:30-8, and slept almost all of Monday away.
Sorry, if this post totally sucks. I have a new obsession with Grey's Anatomy, thanks to Morgan, and I can't stop watching! Including while writing this post..haha Sorry! Oh, and there's a bunch of pictures up on Facebook, and those of you who don't have an account should still be able to see them. If you're in this boat, leave me a comment with your email address, and I'll send you the link.
No comments:
Post a Comment