Study, Study, Date, Exam, Study, Study!

So my week of studying was WAY to short, but it paid off. I got an 82% on my Biochem exam! I am sooo excited! :) Now its on to cramming for my anatomy exam which is next week! AHH So many exams and not enough time to cram things into my brain!!

Despite all this Brian was able to convince me to go down to Freo this past Sunday, swim in the ocean (WHICH WAS FREEZING) but only because it was soo windy! Then he took me out to dinner and since it was a Sunday in Freo, we picked the first restaurant that didn't look over crowded and it was the Mexican Kitchen! AMAZING!!! I loooove that our first real date was to a Mexican restaurant! hahahahahaha I just had to have a taste of home! I however cannot  get over how the jalapenos here are more sweet than burning! I have never liked jalapenos in the states and it would be a miracle if you could get me to eat them outside of a jalapeno pepper! haha BUT here I had like 30 on my nachos on campus and my BLACK BEAN enchilada was smothered in jalapeno sauce! It was delicious! And this really helped my black bean dilemma :D

Alright, Alright I have to go back to studying! :) Enjoy some of our pictures of the beach! :)

 Garden Island from South Beach

 South Beach

 Trail behind South Beach so the dunes can stay intact

 First entrance to the very first part of South Beach

 Tour Helicopter

 It was really bright s ignore the weird squinty eyeball!

 AHHH I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAIN TRACKS!!

 Coolest bus stops on the Blue CAT bus route

 FREO!

 FREO

 FREO

 Pretty Church

 Coolest band

 Black swans at Bibra Lake

 Old School fire truck that gives little kid tours around the lake. It had the cutest little fire bell haha

 OLD Freo Water Fountain

 Bibra lake black swans

 I AM ON THE TRAIN!!!!!!

 THERE IS THE TINY CITY CENTER!! the view from our bus ride to freo! I will get there one day! haha But for now I am enjoying life "South of the River"

All "Study" and No "break"

This past week I have been on a Study Break! Thank you Australian uni!!! We have 4 weeks of intense class, one week to try and revise everything we have learned and study for exams, back to another 4 weeks of class. Study Break 2 for a week. 4 more weeks of class and then a final study break before Assessment period which is over 2 weeks at the beginning of June. This study break has been literally ALL study!!

I have a biochem exam on Monday afternoon and I have been spending as MUCH time as possible on that subject. I also have an anatomy exam coming up the week after and I am SOOO behind on all my insertions and origins and joints. Bleh! I know I know - I said I was excited for Vet school.. but the first four weeks of school hit me like a brick wall. I am pretty much over the intensity shock of the course, but reality is I need to step up my game! I have been pretty quiet on here and that is due to that said stepping it up! Studying a MIN of 3 hours every night after class is going to be mandatory to keep up with the information overload! I GOT THIS!!

 I did pass my first Physiology/Histology exam last week and I am very happy!! And I guess its time to explain the grading system for anyone who wishes to attend school year. Thankfully I did my research before coming here and getting a 65 on my exam was a GOOD thing and not devastating like it would have been in the states. So in the US every student starts out at 100percent and is docked points as the test is graded. The problem with this approach is that it ASSUMES every student knows and understands 100percent of the material that was presented to them and they lose points for what they didn't retain. This gives an artificial bell curve and does not spread out students based on how much they actually know. Meaning all students who wish to go on to medical school are ALL lumped near the top with barely ANY way to distinguish each individual for admission purposes - hence all the emphasis on extracurricular experience for US Vet schools. (YES you still need good experience to get into Australian Vet Schools too). AU schools do NOT assume that every student knows the material and you start out at a 0 and have to earn every point! This is reflected nicely in the grading scale. Knowing 80-100 percent of the material fluently gets you a High distinction 70-79 gets you a distinction. 60-69 gets you credit and 50-59 gets you a pass and below 50 is a fail. In Australian terms it is BLOODY hard to get high distinction in vet school with the volume of information you are given plus they want you to NOT spend all your time studying and instead getting active in clubs to enhance social skills. Social skills are becoming more and more important in securing a veterinary career and most vets actually do NOT want to hire people who achieved HD in Vet school because it USUALLY indicates a lack of interaction with society in general! haha BOOK WORM!! :) I am not saying I would LOOOVE to get an HD in class, but at this point in my career just passing my courses and getting all the hands-on experience I can will be the most beneficial in the long run. Needless to say. I scored above average on my Physio exam and I got in the credit range and I will take that! :)

Now I have group projects to worry about on top of my exams and I need more than a WEEK to catch up!! ehhh only one more day of break and its back to the grind!

The only exciting thing I have done on break was RIDE THE TRAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! I was soo giggly!! Coming from a place where public transportation has SOOO much to be desired that it is basically non-existent. I LOVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT HERE!! Brian and I rode the train down to Rockingham! GORGEOUS place!! I can't wait to go back and visit Penguin Island! yes that is its name! :) Anywhoo we took the train down there to meet with a lady who is the main organizer for rehoming racing greyhounds. Well infact most of them have been bred and never even seen the track and just need good homes! She has 2 dogs of her own and 3 fosters at the moment, and we met with her for an interview to pet sit her animals for 5 weeks from april-may. She is going back to her home country of Ireland for a vacation because she hasn't been back in about 5 years and has been in AU for over 20. Sooo needless to say I REALLY hope we get the job and can play with animals for so many weeks. I am on the edge of a emotional cliff being without my kitties who have slept with me for YEARS!! I know they are being treated AMAZINGLY and I couldn't ask for better grandparents for them than my parents and I know they are being spoiled and getting fat. So knowing they are happy is getting me through, but being selfish - I want them here with me... I need them. At least in a few years we will see where life is taking me and hopefully we can be reunited! They are soo young that I can't imagine living the next 10-12 years of their lives without them! With that being said, hopefully we will get the job of pet sitting and I can be distracted from missing my babies for a little while longer! :)

Other than the kitties, I think we are adjusting quite well. I MISS CANNED BLACK BEANS!! I cannot find them anywhere. I found a package of pre-cooked black beans only to find out they were SMOTHERED in soysauce as a preservative and it was NASTY!!!! and we rinsed them a BUNCH!! So I guess I have to get the dried black beans from the little asian farmers market and do the whole pre-soak, and cook for hours thing! haha At least that way I know I will make enough to freeze bags of beans and wont have to recycle cans! I just miss the convenience! Also it blows my mind that they don't have canned black beans but every other kind of bean you can think of and CRAZY flavors of TUNA!! yes that's right! They have flavored tuna here!! Like mexican spiced tuna, chili flavored tuna, and the list goes on and on! It is quite disturbing! I RARELY eat fish or any meat for that matter, but for convenience Brian and I got some canned SMOKED tuna and Blackened salmon cans for tuna salad sandwiches in a pinch and those turned out tasty, but I can NOT get myself to try flavored tuna! hahahaha. OOO I also found Jackfruit at a different oriental store and now I can make my pulled "pork" bbq sandwiches ! YAY!! Yes I fed fruit that peels apart just like pork coated in homemade BBQ sauce to multiple people now and they had NO idea that it wasn't meat! I can't wait till the study abroad people move out so I can mooch all their kitchen stuff they can't ship home and I can be a real cook again!! :) Most people find cooking a pain, I just hate the dishes! :) I find it very relaxing to read through blogs and recipe website for plant-based recipes and imagine how I can tweak it to my liking or just finding combinations of foods I would have never thought of on my own. Whoever thinks a veggie lifestyle is boring is just plain wrong! :) ITs a blasty blast!! ALSO, I have to say I am SUPER annoyed with the labels and the prejudice on both sides of this food debate! WHO CARES WHAT PEOPLE CHOOSE TO EAT!! If people want to cook and eat meat GO for it. If people want to nibble on a carrot! LET THEM!! There is absolutely NO need for people to be so judgemental! Do whatever fits into your lifestyle and be happy with the choices YOU are making for YOUR own body. End of story! I will never judge people for hunting or choosing a juicy delicious steak because YES I do think meat TASTE wonderful, but after not eating it for so long I have a HUGE immune response to dairy and meat and I feel feverish and sick after eating it. I also do not agree with the intensive farming practices. So everyone has to find what is right for them and their decision behind what they eat may be a very complex emotional decision or it could simply be what they are used to - it really does not matter! Also, I am not the type of person who will be grossed out because someone is eating meat next to me, I do not care if your meat utensils touched my veggies, If someone has put the effort to make dinner for me and it has meat in it I will NOT turn it down because I was raised that that is RUDE!! Never bite the hand that feeds you as my mommy always said!! :) So that is the end of my rant! :) With that being said if people want to learn more about why I have chosen a plant-based diet (and not diet as in fad diet - diet as in habitual nourishment! Daily food rations) I will not hesitate to share the documentaries (most on netflix) that have changed my way of thinking. Some are on farming practices, but most are actually on the vast amount of Nutritional data that is available today. But in the end do not judge me because I am not judging you. Just Live and Be Happy with who you are because in the end its how you view yourself and the choices you make that will make you happy - other peoples perceptions of you will not.

I guess I will go back to studying and stop day-dreaming about going to the beach!! :) Enjoy your snow wisconsin!! :) I still do not miss it :P  and YES I did have to wear jeans and a really thin fleece for my nightly walk last night!!! hahah not that it was COLD in any sense of the word, just saying its not in the 100s (F) anymore! :) I know you wanted me to rub that in once again! :)

Where are we now???

If you wanted photos here is a MILLION of our supposedly short journey through what we like to call "The Jungle"; however, we ended up taking the longest trail and ventured to a place we have never been "The other half of the jungle" but planned to go a different day!! No time like the present to explore at random hahaha Now reality sinks in that I have a lot more studying to do!!

The view from the bottom of my stairs (Facing North)

With my back to the stairs of my apartment - this is to the right (east)! YAY LAUNDRY SO CLOSE!

To the left (west) of my stairs

My stairs on the left and underneath my stairs and beyond

Right behind our apartment

To the West when walking behind my apartment

TO the east from behind my apartment

Still heading south - TV room to the right (West) and another apartment to the left (east)

Courtyard to TV room and study room

South Carpark

SAND PATCH!

a path to "Narnia" - The small patch of woods that I take to campus, that trail is for another post! :)

Towards campus - Discovery Way. Chiropractic building is the one you can see. Carpark 7 is off to the right of the photo

West part of Discovery Drive

Driveway to the carpark (which is now on the left of the picture)

Thats the Chiropractic building again

cool car!! :)

East view of the road right before "The Jungle" - which is to the right of this picture

West direction of the road - "The Jungle" is to the left of the photo

The campus farm is straight ahead (I'm facing east)

directly behind the last photo

Left back to Carpark just further down from where I entered. Straight to Farm. Left to go deeper into "The Jungle"

Left back to carpark (again)

To the right (more south) where we are headed

Paths for restoration vehicles or farm vehicles

Farm path if needed

Entering "The Deep Jungle" :)

A Banksia pod (those green and orange plants I showed in earlier posts) The seeds open the most after a fire event. "The Jungle" has a huge burnt section from 2010. It is also trying to recover but invasive species have thrived since the fire and there is Dieback - a soil-born water mold that attracts roots towards it and then it steals vital nutrients from the plants. Must always were clean shoes when entering "The Jungle" and do not deviate from the path to try and reduce spread of the mold

some other pods still on the tree

Short Yellow and Purple trail to the West

We headed East on the purple and yellow trail (there should be a map near the end to explain the trails)

Cool burnt tree from 2010 fire

They bloom in April/May sooo you can bet you will get photos!

The pods from earlier are from those plants

straight hidden path to the farm

to the south/ right where the trail is supposed to go

To the North/left is the farm road

through the hidden path to find the animals!

back north to the farm road

we turned back to the south to find SHEEP!

SOO many of these growing on vines and after we broke it open it looked like a tomato! we didn't eat it! don't worry!

back towards the way we came from

a path that follows the edge of the farm farther south. we kept on going west

Road that leads back to the carpark, but this time we went straight to find a whole new area instead of going back home

down the road and where we came out of "The Jungle"

COOLEST WILDLIFE CROSSING EVER!! Go Quendas (related to bandicoots)

So we started above that You are here red mark at the Yellow and purple paths. Took that to the right/east then stayed on the purple path next to the farm till we started going west. On this trip we stayed on the purple and white trail all the way west instead of taking the yellow and white through the middle like we have done before. I just back tracked down the white trail to get a picture of this sign before we went straight at the murdoch university sign

The campus fields we had no idea existed!

THIS FIELD WAS SOOOOO FLAT THAT IT BLEW MY MIND

Nature reserve on the other side of the street, trying to find a way in!

FAVORITE TREE!!

Cool cottage/ Hanzel and Gretel looking house

CRAZY ASS SPIDER!!!! It was HUGE and had pincer feet!! pretty sure it was poisonous

WE FOUND AN ENTRANCE!

North Lake Reserve!

The street lights look green on my ipad and I love it! haha we are finally heading back towards dorms and SOOOO thankful to be on concrete and not sand anymore!!

 

Cute little siting area! :)

SO MUCH SAND!!! that is all I can say for our adventure!! Soo much sand!! my ankles and calves have NEVER been so tired than after almost a 3 hours hike through DEEEP DEEEP sand!!