Aug 19: Genome lab was halfway interesting today, though I did have to crack open a gel for the first time, which was fun! After the lab, I chatted a bit with the group I'm in the same line with and walked home together for a bit. Guess what, it rained again. I took the long bus to Marrickville for part two of my guitar project: an amplifier. I tested it right away at home to see if it works, and everything works fine! I worked on my pharmacology presentation a bit more; it's starting to look like something.
August 20: The neuro tutorial wasn't very useful. I got some lunch at Carslaw (a feta and fries wrap, a bit of a strange concept, but tasty) and worked on my presentation. In the afternoon, chem lab, the first real experiment day! I wasn't used to the third-year/USYD concept where you just log in to a computer, walk into the lab, choose a fume hood, and get started. No introductory talk, just gather chemicals and glassware and start working on your own, weird. I semi-collaborated with a few people (Ryse and Caleb) because we were struggling with very basic calculations, haha; we were all overthinking things. I did appreciate not being completely alone in the lab and being able to ask each other for advice. Still not used to always wearing gloves, by the way. And I still had to search for everything in this lab, so I had to walk around in circles every now and then because I really couldn't find what I needed. A small blunder in the experiment: they have automatic pH meters here, and none of us realized the thing has a cap you have to remove first... We only figured it out after 20 minutes, when we were convinced they simply weren't working properly. By then, we'd made our solutions far too acidic, so we had to start over... Luckily, we managed to finish it before the end of the day. After the lab, I went to the nearest music store for strings, but no, it was closed today for a wedding. Walked home, finally managed to take off my wet shoes/socks, ate something, and headed back to SUMS rehearsal. Walked back with someone from there and had a nice chat. Worked on my presentation at home, woohoo :( .
Aug 21: Today was the presentation for pharmacology. I was second in line, which I liked, as it means I don't have to rush myself so much during the other presentations. It really went well! The Q&A afterwards (you were assessed on your presentation and Q&A skills) also went well! I simply knew the answers and could articulate them clearly, yeey. Relieved and satisfied, we watched the other presentations. We walked home with Ryen and talked about the presentations. Some people used cards with word for word what they were going to say?! We did some shopping and walked back in the lovely rain... In the evening we went to the gym with Sunny, Cailene and Angela (they have a free gym in their building) and Sunny nicely told us what to do. Once home, we quickly showered and went to Cynthia's (Cailene and Sunny arrived too), where we went to see XO Kitty in the theater and quickly called it a day, which a few of us didn't mind, because it wasn't that great. We put on some music and everyone danced/sang along (the people outside the venue in the pool table area got a great show, haha). We had a great evening, and afterward, Cailene and Sunny walked me home, sweet!
August 22: In the afternoon I had lab, which was fine today, a fairly quiet experiment. I worked a bit on uni stuff at home and did some laundry and such. We went to Malay Malay (Malaysian food) for dinner with the lobotomies; it was delicious. The restaurant was a bit crowded, so I couldn't hear everyone's conversations because of the noise. We went elsewhere for a Thai dessert; I had banana chocolate roti. We ate extra slowly, hoping the rain would ease up, but eventually we gave up and went home soaking wet. I called my parents at home; they were trying to figure out when it would be convenient to visit me.
