Interns in Australia

2011 Group

2010-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend you guys start from the beginning and read it all. Obviously you won't have the same experiences, but you will get a feel for what to expect (in extreme cases). Familiarize yourself with places and names, they will come up quite often

AND
If you can, please bring me back Swartz's Beer from Macquerie Hotel:
1) Wild wheat
2) Bavarian Red
3) Diggers special

If you can't find them, consider James Squire Beer (Porter Especially)

And, visit all the breweries...It's worth it.

New Zealand

2010-03-10T08:03:00.001-08:00

Since it is so late writing this, I will only keep it brief, and simple just as a means of reading it later on and remembering/reminiscing.
Anyway
Christchurch = Dodgy

Arrived at 11 pm in Christchurch
Took shuttle to CBD and stayed at a bar called mickeys till 4:30
Lounged/slept around the CBD streets until 6:00 and grabbed a shuttle back to the Airport
50 minute plane ride to Queenstown
Queenstown is absolutely beautiful
Shopped for hostels, and found a hotel called Thomas hotel
Hiked a mountain
That night we went to Dux delux, Speites Ale House, Monteiths Ale house..Such success
Bought a 70$ case and got ridiculously ripped off, thanks Betty's bottle shop.
Passed out around 9:00...haha
Rented mountain bikes for the morning and biked around the lake. Found a great course and jumps.
Ate lunch at Monteiths
That night we bought beer and fudge and drank on the lawn by a creek. I went trecking barefoot down the creek and fell in a hole...soaked
Monday, it was raining. Britta, Brett, Elsa and I went bungy jumping...Incredible.
Cleared up at the end of the day and we bought more beer and drank it on the docks looking at the harbour, while Neil and I yelled at ducks.
Went to the bars and World bar night club that night. Got home around 2:30. Tried sleeping, with little luck. Still intoxicated I went for a run through the mountains with only the moonlight to light my way at 3:30 am. I love life. Got back and coincidentally found Neil outside the apartments. He had been sleeping on the street. haha.
Met a girl from Argentina who has residency in Italy and is backpacking in New Zealand working at a winery for a month...cool everything I want to do. talked to her for an hour at the breakfast table. Learned so much, I plan on doing the same thing after school. I hope. I forgot to get her name.
Decided to take the sky rail up to the mountain and go Luging. Fun stuff!
afterwards we came back down and bought ice cream cones and ate it at our dock spot.
Flew back to Christchurch
Booked the best Hostel in NZ for only $20 a night
I failed the bus system and took the group into bumble..
I cooked pasta and we had a nice dinner out on the patio
Went to the Twisted Hop ale house for drinks
We went to my first strip club! by the end of the night we were talking to two strippers about the ropes and tricks of the trade of stripping.
half the group missed their 6:00 a.m. flight. Bret Neil and I rode the free city bus around for an hour and then chilled at a park until our plane.

Amazing trip

The rest of Sydney was a great way to wind it down. Three wise on Wednesday night. I think and Thursday night we went to dinner (wine and a mushroom pork pizza), Then my friend David Sears from ASDM got us free drinks at his Hotel in Chattswood. Went to Bar 333 to wait for people. The nights plans had their aim on going to tank. but other circumstances disagreed, therefore 3 wise monkeys won the option to finish the night. Finally we hit up our favorite pizza place and walked home. The perfect night to wind out.(sorry for being so general and non-descript)

Morning we went to pancakes on the rocks and flew home at 3:00 and arrived in Chicago the same day at 6:30. I didn't sleep until 5 days later.

I will miss Sydney and NZ like no other.

2010-02-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

New Zealand is AWESOME!

It's a world paradise.

2010-02-24T16:30:00.000-08:00

Tuesday resulted in quite a busy day as I had to finish and perfect all my report sheets. I ended up having 9 total, but was told that I could potentially combine them into 1 big one a 4 small. I completed everything by 4:55 right in time. The reviews they gave me were amusing, one said for attendance: "runs an incredible amount of distance everyday to work, yet still manages to arrive on time." Anyway we all went out for drinks afterwards. Unfortunately I told them it takes only 4 drinks to get me in a state of moderate intoxication. Obviously they bought me 5....
I had the best burger at the place that I've ever had in my life! Anyway, leaving Matt who was driving ran over one of the other interns feet. HILARIOUS. Took the train home (I can't believe I wait until now to use trains!)
That night entailed a usual pre-game, followed by some Kilkenny's at an Irish pub on the rocks. That's some thick stuff! Wandered the rest of the night
Wednesday was my day off. I got up early (not really) and went to the library to see if Dan e-mailed me before he left. No dice. I also looked up the restaurant Guzman and Gomez, an apparently really good Mexican place. Did a quick workout before hand and Went there for lunch.
We decided to hit up every brewery in Sydney! with great success. We did Redoak first, then Lord nelsons, followed by James Squire and Macquarie for their happy hours. Afterwards CAPA took us out for dinner at a Lebanese place called Habibis. I was pretty trashed by this time, nevertheless it was phenomenal food. By the time we finished, I was too exhausted to even make it out.
I don't think Kingscross is going to happen this trip...

Cairns...

2010-02-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, since the last time I posted it was Wednesday perhaps?Initiated the festivities with some 40’s It was only a few of us that were going out (usually). We ended up taking a taxi to 3 wise monkeys, of which Britta payed for (thanks Britta!) immediately Jen and I went a separate way for pizza(the best kind by the way, next to scruffy murphy’s) Bought, ate, sat on steps, got “ sick”, taxi home and the rest is….
Thursday (this is from a not too sober memory) I had taken off from work (I think) the night we flew to Cairnes. TO DESCRIBE THE SITUATION, OF WHICH IS MORALLY DISINTIGRATING AND PRETTY MUCH ETERNALLY RELEVENT TO THE REST OF THE TRIP, I WAS WITH 10 OTHER GIRLS……………………………… ok. To say the least and in spite of the fact, traveling and staying with a conglomeration of such a group of women is ridiculously psychologically and physically debilitating. I discovered things that I would have never assumed to be applicable to social situations within this particular exemplary group. To revert back to the introductory incident of which I was unfortunately involved, I had signed up to participate in this trip to Caines without any knowledge into who was attending. I didn’t even care at the time. I was going to the GREAT BARRIER REEF! Who would!?

Too bad that was only a day of the trip. The good part was the only part that involved no social or verbal interaction aside from the A-OK sign and underwater sign language. Those/The (one) Who/whose Will Not Be Named (TWWNBN) made the trip extremely difficult, which could range from the sound of your voice, or the way you successfully manipulate and bitch about every situation you encounter. Nevertheless, as for the rest (you know who you are) you actually made the trip somewhat manageable by actually paying attention to what I wanted to do instead of strictly manipulating the situation and conforming to the shopping/MB group of evil. Which prevailed almost 99% of the time

OK. So aside from the rant, we begin by arriving at a back packer’s hostel around maybe 6:00 p.m.? It’s a place called Gilligan’s which is connected to quite the extravagant pool/bar/club etc. The girls remain inside for much of the night. After a brief trip to Woolworths (of which I found incredible granola bars and eventually would eat 11 over the trip). Everyone went home. Boring (I know). So I decided to explore. I discovered a pretty cool late night market place, went to a bar, talked to some locals, and scoped out all the bottle shops in the area. I also found that there was a Local Brewery in the area called “BlueSky Brewery.” I arrived back at the hostel to a cramped bunk-bed, girl riddled room. How exciting. That night we had signed up for our scuba trip ($250 for 2 dives and all the snorkeling you want! And Lunch). TO complement this activity they were offering free Champaign to all the women at the club (for a total of 5 glasses). Awesome right!?!!? NO because, really no one drank because they were afraid that it would affect their “Scuba Skills”…..RIGHT. I do not remember the rest of the night.
SCUBA DIVING WAS INCREDIBLE and actually made the trip. One of the few things. I was in group 3 with Britta and Ali, but she dropped out because she had asthma. We waited for groups 1 and 2 to go, and in the mean time Snorkeled. By the way, group china was there who ultimately aggravated me with their inconsideration while the scuba coach was giving his presentation to the group of 40 as they proceeded to get “tea” in the background. Anyway, the whole day was a incredible experience I was able to sift through caverns almost 40 ft deep, see giant clams, a ridiculous range of fish, cuttle fish, sea turtles , and many more. In fact I think I liked Snorkeling better because I was more in control, especially with minimal equipment. Nevertheless Scuba diving was an unparalleled experience. Almost Euphoric!

Lunch was great. I ultimately scuba dived twice and snorkeled 3 times. The Third time was when I saw the most. Interestingly enough, the reef isn’t as colorful as one may think. I found it rather grey, but that may be due to environmental factor of reef bleaching. The day was an incredible success, and I’ll admit I was thoroughly exhausted by the time wee reached land again
Being a guest of the Giligan’s Hostel, we were given free meal passes each night === shitty free food. But I manned up and ate it anyways. Reluctantly that night it was 2-4-1 drinks for much of the night, which would help me tune out. Being the minority, some were considerate enough to cater to the suggestion to check out the micro-brewery while others (TWWNBN) abruptly and selfishly opposed any association towards even appealing to my interests. Nevertheless, those of favorable status joined me to explore , and in fact it turned out alright. $10 pitcher and a sampler as well. Made Tim happy. TO follow was a bottle shop and more raging. It actually resulted in an enjoyable night 
The next day was shit. From what I thought was going to be a Jungle Hike resulted in a day of shopping in a tourist village in the jungle. I paid almost $100 for the day. Took the Sky rail over the jungle which was fun, then I arrived at the worst possible encounter a guy could possibly face. A SHOPPING TOURIST TRAP VILLAGE. Yeah, maybe there were fun parts like watching the candy be made or the honey store but aside from that it was a nightmare. I almost think it was a complete scam to get me to go. They knew I wanted the do a jungle hike, but deep down I think they knew it was a shopping mecca. FML. I luckily found refuge in a tourist paved trail that led Britta, Marissa and I on a 3k walk (So it wasn’t a total loss). We finished just in time to leave. Though the ride back wasn’t nearly as exciting as I thought. (Wow ok, I think I ramble toooo much) Let’s just get on with it and say it was a complete girl talk-fest. Not something any guy would want to be a part of. Following the “Antique train” ride I went for a run along the coast which resulted in a thoroughly enjoyable experience because it was raining and they had gym equipment along the coastal trail of which I definitely utilized, (such as pull-up bars). Did some intervals and whatever would prolong my a-wol-ness from the room.
I raged even harder that night. 2-4-1 Gilligan’s. Ate a kebab. Pizza. Went to a club called the Mad Cow, and almost got in a fight. It was a vacation from the vacation I had hoped for (my family reads this so I won’t mention the rest). But it was fun.
The following day we had to check out by 10. Did. Chilled by the pool till afternoon then made our way to the beach/lunch. One of the girls encouraged us to go to a certain restaurant, of which she had gone to the day we went to the brewery. She threw a tantrum when she discovered they had no fish and chips (after we ordered) and went to a place down the street. SWEEET. Food actually sucked. After I dipped to Woolworths and got a couple more of the granola bars (MY actual lunch) and met them at the beach. Got bored and went for a run. Decided to scale a mountain! Got sunburn and dehydrated but it was meditating nonetheless to get away. Got back to the coastal pool to find the girls talking about pregnancy and other stuff. I sufficiently think I got more immature on this trip by simply observing the interaction of the social agglomeration of 21 year old girls (no offense intended).
Ok. To skip a ton, the wait in the airport, the plane ride, and what not, I feel I learned too much than I would have wanted about women. If it weren’t for scuba/snorkeling the great barrier reef, or the night events that ensued I would think the trip would have permanently scarred me. Nevertheless there were positives and I fully and gratefully acknowledge them.
I got home hung out with the guys and cooked 3 IBS of meat to get my testosterone back…

I left out a ton, but it would only add irrelevant rambling drunken rage to the post of which may only get me into social tensions with the rest of the group.
I was supposed to meet people at Macquarie tonight. No one showed. I drank a lot. The batch this week sucked, and here I am now writing this…

Ok bye

Work Update, etc...

2010-02-15T19:40:00.000-08:00

Work has been going relatively the same. Currently I’m researching Extended Polytetraflouroethylen (ePTFE) tubing and it’s compatibility with blood as well as different coatings that can be applied to the material to reduce thrombosis and friction, increase blood compatibility, while keeping it from degrading when there is a chemical compound such as melphalan. I usually get here around 8:45 and shower and then down tons of tea. The morning is spent primarily checking e-mail and whatnot, but also getting stuff done. I notice I’m really getting this research thing down! And I feel I have developed quite the aptitude towards vascular anatomy and physiology. Usually by lunch time, one or two people have asked me what strange thing I have for lunch, but this week I can officially say “normal food.” I’ve also been helping the other interns in their experiments (they have been here since November). Run to the hardware store because I’m doing a strength test of the bonding materials used in the devices. Cool stuff. Though now my time here is starting to wind down. Tomorrow and the last few days next week are going to be spent refining and professionalizing the documents I have created. Aside from that I think I will actually miss this job. It’s just starting to get enjoyable talking to everyone, as well as being trusted with new jbs (though I was thrown into it right in the beginning)
Anyway, I’m still been running to and from work. Finally feeling a little running fit, but I’m starting to get really hungry. We have our presentations tomorrow which are going to be dumb. Ironically my subject is conflict.
Last night turned out to be a really awesome night. I had walked to Macquarie by myself to down a few quick drinks b/c either people were being boring and staying in or they weren’t back from work. Got there and had 2 Wild Wheat’s and a Bavarian. Then made it back to the Meriton by 8:30 and hung out in 704. I persuaded everyone to check out this bar called The Local Brewhouse. It’s a pub that on any given day has 20 beers on tap, from all over the world. They cycle through them on a 1-2 week basis and go through 200 different beers a year. THIS PLACE IS INCREDIBLE! I’m so happy I finally made it here. I tried Hefeweizens, Wit, Stouts, Red Ales, Lagers, ESBs, Pale ales, Pilsners, and many more. It was the most fluctuation in taste my palate has ever experienced! The atmosphere was relaxing and dim, and there weren’t many people there. They import their beer locally and globally, ranging from New Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, U.S. and more!
It was a very culturing experience and I hope to make it back once more before I leave.
Couple things I want to point out:
• I can go almost a week without seeing a single police car
• People here actively talk about their raging nights even at work
• Everyone runs with backpacks and it makes me angry
• People graduate high school at 16 and go to their specialty “college” right away. Not only do they go to college and get their degree, but there isn’t really such a thing as graduate school! Everyone enters the work force immediately. Not fair.
• The best conversations at work are what we would do if we won the lottery.
• People in Australia know more about America than Americans
• The best is watching the morning news and being able to talk about those issues at lunch.
• Not looking forward to leaving…
We plan on heading to kings cross tonight. Hopefully the weather is on our side and people aren’t indecisive and actually go out. Also Neil’s friend from high school is coming tonight, so we’ll have to show him a good time.

Rage on.

2010-02-14T21:53:00.001-08:00

Saturday night started with a feud between Neil and I over alcohol. Got over it and I headed to the Vine bottle shop and got 6 x 40oz. We ended up doing a power hour (which was Awesome) in Rm. 720. For those who don’t know (April?) it involves doing a shot of beer every minute for an hour. To spice it up we had a power hour play list where the song changed every minute! Made it through.
People couldn’t get their acts together so I went with Britta and 2 x Elise to the Tank Night club. The place was bumpin, but would have been better if there were more people. It had a gin Garden within a huge double foyer facility. My favorite was the projection of a girl dancing sexy on the wall. Was probably staring at it for a good ¼ of the time I was there. Then Britta and I went all the way down Elizabeth street to get Kebabs. And Pringles. Then we walked back and found part of the group who had apparently got kicked out of Bar 333 and were standing on the corner. We then headed to a 4 story bar right by the rocks called Jackson’s. Pretty cool place. I got a beer called ‘Bitch’ that wasn’t half bad. We raged. Drank beer and absinthe. Finally we headed to the main floor and chilled there till around 2:30 until we got kicked out because we were either Drunk (not so) OR we weren’t buying anymore drinks because we didn’t want to get toooo drunk. In either case the guy was an ass and we left.
Went to McDonalds (Macca’s) where Elise ordered a chicken wrap with no chicken? Haha, I understand vegetarians. They said no and laughed at here. I think she can potentially sue. Anyways the Girls dipped out and Ray and Ali took a cab. Leaving James, Neil and I, we walked to Scruffy Murphy’s then walked home, Getting back by 5:30.

Woke up the next morning to knocking. People were heading to Toronga zoo. I went. It was Amazing. Took the fairy there too. Found a new favorite, a BearCat. Interesting things they are. I also discovered I would love to work at a zoo in their endangered wildlife efforts to conserve species, specifically frogs. Made it home and made Kangaroo olive burgers and steak for the weeks meals. Hung out and bought an 18$ bottle of Semillon WITH ALL CHANGE….Yeah, I was that guy. Cool.
That’s about it. Kinda depressing this trip is winding down so fast. I could live here forever.

Hunter Valley Wineries

2010-02-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Thursday I found it pretty difficult to get up, but we got going on the bus by 8:15 for a 2 hour bus ride. Luckily I had the Max Tucker book, so that kept the ride amusing. We got to our first winery called Dayton family winery. It was cool because they had a whole room set for us to taste as a group. I found I enjoyed the Semillons, even though I don’t particularly like white wine. I also discovered I hate the ports and liqeuers. After the tasting we were allowed a few additional tastes in the buyers selection area. Then we had brats on the Barbie. I think I bought a new generation Shiraz there. Next we went to the Blue tongue brewery. They had a paddle of I thin 7 beers for 12$ and whichever one you liked you could have a stubbie for free. Many weren’t great, particularly because they were really light. They had premium light, lager, pilsner peroni, and then a dark and ginger. I think my favorites went Ginger, Dark, Peroni…respectively. Anyways when the group was already on the bus, who was last to get one? Me, I was busy buying another bottle of wine. Infact this one was an organic Chabernet Sauvengnon which had a hint of mint and chocolate! Next stop was another winery, that I regrettably forgot the name. The tasting there I think was the best. I even got to do my own individual tasting because I wanted to get a good Semillon, and I didn’t think the one I tried was that great. So I got a private tasting! And found one that had won some award the day before!
We then had a cheese tasting. I found I love Irish cheddar!
Finally we went to the Golden Valley Winery and had a range of spirits which were bad, and then something called dragons breath, which was mixed with spices and peppers…interesting.

The drive home was crappy because everyone was coming down from their buzz and the bus sucked from comfortability standards. We got home around 6:40 just in time for preparation of the nights festivities.

Night of Mahler

2010-02-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

Well let’s see. Friday turned out to be quite an amazing experience! I felt like I was in a whole different world, of class and raising ones little finger at the sip of a drink.
I finished work at 3:30 and made it back to the apartments by 4:15. We arrived at the Waterfront just in time for our 5:30 reservation. It was a 19th century sandstone brick building with outdoor seating sheltered by large ancient pasts and their sails used as the awning. We arrived when it wasn’t crowded, but by the time we left it was crowded. This place was EXPENSIVE. Bread was 9$ and a 12 oz beer was the same. Surprisingly, they had really crappy beer…I’m saying Carleton and Cascade, the bottom feeding, untouchables of the Australian beer selection. I’m talking shitty. I just had water. The BATHROOMS were awesome, particularly the sinks, as they were just slabs of granite tilted with a slight 15 degree angle towards the wall. That’s it, so the watter would simply be collected, mind boggling. Back to dinner, some ordered cocktails like fresh apple and kiwi. I wanted to try something really exquisite, so I found the Oysters rather appealing. I got 6 cold lemon and 6 cooked barbeque bacon (this sauce was ridiculous). Unfortunately they were pretty small compared to the ones I saw on Man vs. food in Massachusetts oyster food challenge. Nevertheless I think I was pretty satisfied. We finished, and had the usual bill disputes. By now it was raining, and it would for the rest of the night. We made it to the Opera house and were seated. I illegally got some pictures of the main hall, (but I was for sure not the only one). The concert started at 8:00 and it was of Mahler’s Symphony 1 with I believe 5 movements of the Odyssey. It was pretty incredible, though I did find myself bobbling my head in and out of bouts of light snoozing (this music does that to me). Concert ended at 10:10 and we went to the Opera Bar. I WAS POURING! I ordered the Redoak Opera bar Belgium ale which is brewed by Redoak for the Opera bar and the opera bar only. It was delicious! More of a sour lambic I thought though. I tried the other opera bar brew – the pale ale….It sucked.
We left and headed through the rain to the bus stop. After finding it was a 25 minute wait I dipped out and with my shoes in hand and dress pants cuffed walked home in the rain barefoot. I Loved it. And the funny thing was, no-one thinks anything of it.
I figured I might as well see if there was anyone at Bar Cleveland…There was. James, Brandon, Ray and Pat were there with 2 other girls from a different intern program. I had a couple and figured I’d better get back for sleep b/c we have the wine tours tomorrow.

Goin' Classy

2010-02-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight begins with a 5:30 reservation at the renowned Sydney harbor Waterfront restaurant (http://www.waterfrontrestaurant.com.au/)

Followed by an orchestral concert at the Sydney Opera House (http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/) at 7:15

Afterwards we head to the Opera House Bar (http://www.operabar.com.au/) for drinks

Ok Now I'm Pissed

2010-02-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

This is the hardest work day of my life.

But something tells me I may deserve this...

A Normal Wednesday Night? Not in the least.

2010-02-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning still drunk.
It’s interesting how fast money leaves your pocket when you can’t even recollect what you purchased. It makes sense though, by the Copernicus’ Law of eternal Raging.
Nevertheless I think these posts will help me “reflect” (Yes Karen, this is where reflection ultimately pays off) on the nights experiences and rediscover lost bits of information clouded by the thick haze of intoxication.
To continue…
The previous night began with the end of our PELA class. I had run home and Neil and I were chilling while drinking some beer. By the way I found another beer called Mad Abbot Tripel with 9.5% ALC. And rated it [91/100]. Anyway, we planned on heading to MPV, but word on the street was there was another deal at Side Bar. We walked to MPV only to get turned down from their ½ price bottle of wine night because we had to buy 2 meals beforehand (the last 2 times we got away with it). Took the bus to sidebar. It sucked, so we decided to walk to 3 wise, only then did we find Nick and Kevin and their girlfriends, ½ the group headed back to sidebar while we hit a bottle shop and got 40’s. drank at an outdoor table until the group came back. Went to 3 wise, Neil bought me a Pint of Guinness (officially ending his IUO). We talked to natives, then maybe around 1:00 headed to Scruffy Murphy’s. Jen introduced us to an incredible pizza place. While we ate Neil got belligerent and started yelling at people or asking for change like a bum. Danced the rest of the night, Jen and I took a cab home (3:30) Neil stayed as he attempted to spit game and perhaps smoke off another pack of cigarettes on the balcony. By the time I crashed it was 4:30.
Woke up at 7:20
RAN to WORK!
The hangover is now just setting in as I sit at my desk. I feel like someone made me drink a gallon of melted nalgene bottles while making me simultaneously impale crayola crayons in my ear while beating me over the head with a whiffle ball bat. Sweet.

Aside from that I would like to re-iterate the fact that I got less than 3 hours of sleep and still managed to run the 12k to work.

I’m truly a living specimen of awesome-ness…

More than Midway

2010-02-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went climbing a little bit. For perhaps about a half hour – no harness. I rented a bag of chalk and pretty much just scaled shit. They (the Climbers Pit) have an amazing piece of equipment. IT’S A CLIMBING TREADMILL!!! Basically it’s a vertical facet with a rubber base, with randomly placed colored rocks. You can adjust the settings so-as to adjust the speed. The treadmill is driven by ones own body weight. Pure genius. Anyways I did that for about 15 minutes, and then a few other things. By the way I left work early. By the time I finished I was pretty tired, luckily the run home is pretty easy. Got back avg. a pretty quick clip, and then showered. People had planned on meeting at Porter House at 7:30 for trivia night. It was 6:45 so I walked to Macquarie and downed 4 beers there by myself. The Bavarian seemed a little watery and less bodied than usual, but the Wild wheat could not have been better. I was pretty trashed after 4 beers (Thanks to being in moderately good shape). Then hit the bottle shop to buy the remaining beers in the store I hadn’t tried. By the way my journal is about 90% full! Then I walked the 2 blocks to Porter. I think like 12 people were there, and probably losing badly. I ordered a Guinness and got a little belligerent with the announcer and other groups. Left early and walked back.
This morning I woke up pretty damn sore from climbing. Got up later than usual and didn’t eat (which is good because I have the problem of eating too much before running and paying for it during). Actually felt good on the way to work which is a first because it’s usually the “up-hill” way.
Today is PELA class again. I dread it. The classes were switched so instead of being at 4:00 it’s now at 6:15 which sucks because THERE GOES MY NIGHT!
Several things I want to do before leaving:
• Swim at the Olympic pool across from the Australian Museum
• Go to the Australian Museum
• Go to KingsCross a couple times
• Spend a night in Newtown
• Spend a night at Irish pubs on the rocks (all night and then go to pancakes on the rocks at 5:00 a.m.
• Manly beach once more
• Surf a few more times
• Marry an Australian Girl and get citizenship
• Red oak and James Squire Brewery’s
• Take fighting lessons (boxing maybe?)
• Tammerama Beach
• Toranga Zoo
• Beach pub-crawl
•
Also, I discovered I can get 4 “Corney” kegs online for 125$. I’ll prolly buy them before I head home so then I can take them back to school and start kegging my beer for spring term. That and the 15 gallon Mash Tun.

Oh,

Try to interpret this excerpt which is in hard core Australian:

“Macca, Chooka and Wanger are driving to Surfers in their Torana. If they are travelling at 100 km/h while listening to Barnsey, Farnsey and Acca Dacca, how many slabs will each person on average consume between flashing a brown eye and taking a slash?”

Am I blogging too much, or am I just that interesting? Ha.

Weekend 5

2010-02-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend from a relative perspective had its fun points but the weather really was a bust. I think it rained every single day here except yesterday (Monday Feb 8th). Sunday was interesting I got up at 10 and pretty much sat and read the whole day. Neil slept till 5 p.m. and missed the uneventful day. One of the girls in our group got us tickets for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which was an agglomeration of military bands from all over the world (not the US though). It was really exciting even though it was partially raining for half of it while we sat in the soccer stadium. You’ll see pictures soon.
Monday We got up and went to Paddy McGuire’s to watch the Super bowl Live. Unfortunately the commercials don’t apply here so we ended up with pretty much a Monday night football game on a Monday morning. I’m currently reading Max Tucker’s book I hope they serve beer in hell, which is about this guy who is a Duke law graduate who is pretty much a player and a dirt bag, and all his adventures in his 20’s. Neil and I get in pretty big discussions about the shit he does. I guess it’s been the focal point of my weekend. Trips’ winding down, this weekend is dinner and concert at the Sydney Opera House, Hunter Valley Wine tours, then Cairns, Then New Zealand. THEN HOME! Yikes.
• I’m just about done with all my applications. Just need some revisions and I can send them off!
• Books are ridiculously expensive here and I can’t find anything on the 60’s to read for class.
• I’m starting to debate my fitness for track this season… a little worried.
• Still can’t figure out whether I’m supposed to hold the toilet flush button down or just quickly push it.
• Tried my first imperial Porter this weekend – tastes like a Hershey’s chocolate bar in a chocolate mocha with a shot of baileys Irish cream. Whoa.
• Everyone seems to be getting fed up with each other, I’m staying neutral but shit’s getting ridiculous.
• Neil hates Australia
• I hate PELA class
• Still yet to make it to Redoak for their sampler and James Squires Brewpub. People don’t cooperate, looks like I’m going there on my own.

Weekend week 4 or 5 (I forget)

2010-02-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Since so much has happened since I last blogged I figured I needed to get going on it before anything else is forgotten. So Thursday I ended up not running home because my backpack smelled of fish due to the fish stew spill incident that occurred earlier in the week. Anyways I met Neil and James at Macquarie at 6:30 for some drinks. Bought a couple rounds. I again attempted their Pilsner and Pale Ale. No luck. We got back to the Meriton and proceeded with our normal pre-game regime consisting of drinks, aboriginal beats and push-ups/keg lifts. The objective was to get going early because apparently the other CAPA group (like our group last year) had someone working at the backpacker club, wake-up. Therefore they were permitted free drinks for the night at the bar (sidebar)with a wristband. We got a group going, but unfortunately the bus was like 30 minutes late, so half the group split up and took a cab, another continued to wait. I walked.
We got to sidebar only to find that they were cancelled from the deal because they ran up a huge tab too early in the night. Pissed, we heard people were at 3 wise, but gradually the group dwindled. I walked there with Elsa and Tim and we found everyone there. They had 5$ pint night which was different because we have been used to scooners, which are considerably smaller glasses. We talked for a while at the bar. Then went dancing. The same singer was there from last time, which was great! I had bought a round, so upon finishing, Neil went to buy. He left. Sweet, dick. Anyways an hour or two later we left and found Neil again outside a convenience store talking to some Canadians, smoking. (I find out in the morning he had gone with them to Scruffy Murphy’s and smoked a pack of cigarettes) I ended up walking Jen home, when we got back we just sat in the hall until getting yelled at by a bunch of cops walking the halls? End of night (4:00 a.m.).
Friday, Expecting to go to the beach, I find out that the majority of the people are either working or doing the bridge climb. Elise, Neil and I decide to head to Bondi. It ends up raining so we settle on Bondi Junction. They had a market there which had a vast array of food, from chibata, to Irish soda bread to fresh fruits and veggies. I found a surf shop! We stayed there for about half an hour talking to the surf guy about the potential idea of buying a surf board. Ideas? Family? It’s about 475$ with all things included. It is a hybrid surf board so it’s an intermediate between the normal ones and the long board. Pretty legit I’d say. The rest of the day was spent in an out of stores at Bondi Junction’s Westfield mall.
That night was pretty aggravating because we didn’t even leave the Meriton till about 1:00 a.m!!! I bought another handle from Elise in an attempt to prolong the festivities of this trip while reducing costs. Before leaving we spent a good 2 hours at the front desk talking to the people there about Brothels and strip clubs and massage parlors with happy endings. I don’t think the girls liked that. Anyways we finally got the group our after we lost Kevin and Ray shaved his head into a Mohawk. On the way to Bar Cleveland we had the intelligent Idea to take our shirts off and run there. It was pouring! Enroot, I actually got pulled over by a police car where he asked what I was running from. I told him we were heading to a bar and didn’t want our shirts wet but we wanted to get there fast because we didn’t want to lose our buzz. Me, realizing my idiocy and him realizing my idiocy and my American accent told us to carry on. Awesome! We spent the rest of the night at the bar, Ray ran a tab. I got some Absinthe. (Apparently we are the only ones to drink that there and some guy who shows up on Sundays mornings and partakes in a few) Got home at 3:15.
Sunday I felt pretty shitty, but we had determined to leave by 10:30. Karen was taking us to the Aquarium! It was really fun and something out of the ordinary so I was happy to partake. I learned a lot. Following the aquarium, we went to a café/bar for lunch. I got lamb kebabs with Tdzaiki. Karen had ordered 6 plates of potato wedges I was pretty hungry, so while waiting for my meal, during and after I downed a good amount of these greasy fractions of Saturated heart attacks. This did not fare well the rest of the day, as I’ll explain later. After lunch everyone went their separate ways. I decided to go and check out the James Squire Brew house. After several attempts I finally found it right along the mouth of Darling Harbor. It looks like a pretty fantastic place. I will eventually attempt to get a group out there for dinner one of these nights. I walked home from there, while stopping at a bottle shop on Oxford where I found an imperial Porter of which I’m pretty excited to try. The whole while it was pouring. I got back and wanted to go running, but my stomach felt weird… I manned up and went anyway. I went searching for another bar called “the local”, one in which I had read about. Found it, and then ran back to centennial for some repeats. During this whole running thing, my stomach was really bothering me. I decided to do only a few repeats. After #3 I proceeded to throw up, A concoction of potato skin, salad and BLOOD. This freaked me out! I immediately walked back. I felt absolutely horrible, especially because I feared I could have a stomach ulcer. I took a shower and went to sleep. Woke up at about 7:00 p.m. feeing slightly better. I made sure to eat a bunch of yogurt in order to get something basic in. It helped.
The plan for the night was to go to the Ice Bar, a bar that is I think like -20 degrees mad of ice. That plan changed because of the continuous rain of which had hardly ceased in the last 2 days. After another early 40 minute wait at the bus stop we were on our way. I was not drinking. Got there and we faced several difficulties. Firs we were travelling in a large group, second people were pissy because of the rain, third people were drunk, and fourth we didn’t know where we were going, and Finally Neil thought it was a class act to wear running shoes to a fancy club. All said and done, we didn’t get in. Aggravated everyone had different Ideas of what could be done (go home? O to three wise monkeys? Try another club?) Luckily I think Ray-Charles-George asked a local what a good place was to go, and we eventually found a place called Bar 33 which was a semi-formal club/bar/restaurant decorated with dim red lights and carpet with mahogany tables and furniture while playing 90’s/present day club music. It was a pretty cool place in my opinion. Everyone finally could loosen up, and re-establish their intoxication. I was still not feeling the best so by 12:45 I left. It poured the whole way back, but I was ready for a FULL night of sleep. I got it. And Neil got back at 7:00 a.m. haha
Sunday looks to be a pretty chill day, It’s 1:30 p.m now and we haven’t had a knock at the door or a call. I’m guessing we may check out the Opera house bar this afternoon, but that as yet to be confirmed. Tomorrow I have off because we’re watching the super bowl LIVE at 10 a.m. at a place called paddy Mcguires. I feel really good today. I still want to go surfing a few times at Bondi or somewhere before I make the ultimate decision of whether or not to get the surf board. I’m hoping not to run out of cash before the trip because I’d like to get a couple batches going for spring term.
Anyway, this is The Sir reporting on weekend festivities and events in our 4th week in Sydney

PELA: The class from hell

2010-02-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Well, as of recent myself and the rest of us have been having difficulties with the PELA class we are taking. Not that it particularly matters, but the professor is of Asian descent. It is interesting to see how communicative difficulties arise especially having had a teacher similar to her last term in my ANTH-100 class. Recently adversities arose due to the workload, topics as well as the bull-shit “assessment quizzes” given on a weekly basis. This teacher gives little consideration to American style learning procedures, and then expects us to jump in full throttle into a pool of freezing specificity and irrelevant detail. Apart from that, I think that she believes we are here to take this class, rather than our primary objective: to experience Australia and gain invaluable knowledge through our internships. Her perception of learning is rambling off category after category, list after list of inapplicable terms and definitions which have little if any correlation to what I personally experience at the work place. How should we learn about the culture if we spend all this time listening to a teacher throwing useless jargon at us? I find this class almost a contradiction to the time that could be spent actually out on the streets getting to know or help the community!

Yesterday we had Debbie Shively, the program director came in because Elsa and I sent her e-mails as well as the numerous observations and opinions that were written by others on a recent survey. The pre class discussion looked to go well. I guess people look to me to get things going and speak what we want. Cool, maybe. Everything went great, yet I suspect everything talked about went in one ear of the professor and out the other. Little success was achieved. I’m just having an infuriating time dealing with the issues with this teacher. Even at one point this lady and I had a stare down!!! She doesn’t get it and I have made all the effort in the world to understand the perspective she is coming from, even in terms of the intercultural terms we learn from in class, and even then it seems contradictory.

I’m not one to complain or stir up a ruckus, but when my valuable time in a foreign country is jeopardized by meaningless issues and tensions when it could be spent learning about the people, culture, discussing other people’s internship experiences or even perhaps actively taking part in community service for damn sake… I will make the inexorable effort to make it known.

Rant complete….

Following class I went to a bottle shop on Miller street right by CAPA and got an assorted 6 pack of beers I have never seen before in Sydney, they were only in N. Sydney. Three of the were called Moo Brew (Dark Ale, Hefeweizen, American Ale) I got a Tasmanian Cascade Stout, and 2 more dark/stout beers. I talked to the guy at the register for about a half hour just about beer. I’ve noticed that no matter what, with cultural barriers, differences and whatnot, as long as you speak the same language, you can always find commonalities with individuals through beer. Universal unification drink. I got home and had a Porter and tried the Moo Brew Dark Ale [80/100]. Karen had asked to take us to dinner that night; I suggested a place called Wood and Stone Pizza. We decided to meet there at 8:30 after the other half of the group finished class. Tremendous pizza! I got the Mediterranean which included prawns (shrimp), feta rolled in paprika, eggplant, goat cheese, and sun dried tomatoes, onions and anchovies! Awesome. I tried several other pizzas too by means of the elementary school method “Up for grabs, Down for Keeps!” or “Wanna trade?” and surprisingly it still works!
It was Britta’s Birthday and she got a sparkler and chocolate cake. That was really good.
The place was supposed to close at 9:00 but they kept it open for us until 10:30.
Walked back and did some keg lifting and chilled in 727.
Ran to work today, I was pretty tired. I’m thinking of taking all my clothes back this weekend because they reek of fish stew. Sweet, Awesome, ok great.
Bye.

Updated Work Update

2010-02-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Many have been requesting an update on the work situation… So here it goes. The internship here at ASDM as gotten 100 times better. Perhaps this is due to my comfortability level adjusting, or maybe I’ve learned the ropes of the company, or simply the fact that I’ve gotten to know the individuals with whom I work with. In any case I can now say I enjoy what I do here. Different projects come my way daily, each incorporating an interesting element of biology and medicine whether it is researching Bovine Serum Albumin, Polyvinyl Chloride, Drug eluting Beads, different forms of chemotherapy, Silicones reaction to physiologically replicated solutions, Anastamosis, Organ preservatives like Phosphate Buffer Saline solutions, or Simply the morphological and structural components of Arteries and veins. All in all I’m learning a ridiculous amount of information which, I presume, will not only aid in my understanding and application of this material to a future career in the medical field, but I’m thoroughly developing my research skills. (I know I’ve done a ton of research when I return to a journal in the ScienceDirect database only to find that several of the linked articles appear to be highlighted in purple as apposed to blue, revealing previous visits). In any case I think the experiences I’m gaining here will inevitably aid in my development.
To top it off, I get to actively participate in Experimental protocols and designs. I’m gaining an understanding in re-creating physiological stresses in mechanical simulations in which to mimic different pressures of which ASDM’s devices may face upon their use and acceptance within the medical field. I’m learning the extensive processes and steps needed to get products on the market, of which usually takes years and hundreds of specifically designed tests. What I will acquire from this experience I could never have conceived possible at the very beginning of this internship when I even doubted my placement.
Aside from the technical stuff, people are really nice here. Though lunchtime is usually still at a minimum, I still find time to talk to everyone about a range of things from comparing American to Australia, to talking about beer and rugby, I find myself rather comfortable within this setting.
I still manage to down more than 5 cups of tea a day here, of which everyone finds astonishing. Luckily it’s free quality green tea, provided by the company. Recently I’ve started running to work which takes far less time than taking the bus. (To work, maybe not, it’s about 40-50 minutes, but getting home takes about an hour and a half!!) In either case it takes about 45-45 minutes to run here or back. The place has a shower, which appeals to convenience, and I have all the clothes (and soap) necessary for the work day. I decided that Mondays I’ll cook large amounts of food (usually a lentil soup/ or stew) and that will last me the week. Unfortunately a recent accident resulted in the fish/mussel stew spilling in my back pack…Nevertheless I notice everyone here runs with a back pack, I asked about it and apparently people often RUN TO WORK! (I fit in, Yay) But I doubt I’ll resort to running with a backpack…that’s just weird.
To top this experience off, around the corner is Sydneys largest rock climbing facility! ASDM employees get in free! (aside from the 2$ rental fee for the harness and the 2$ for the chalk bag). Yesterday I went for the first time after I got off from work at 5:00 with the other interns. I re-learned quickly how to Belay, and as soon as I knew it I was scaling wall after wall. I partnered up with the other intern, Nyan, and we just switched off belaying and scaling. Haah. I tried some pretty crazy stuff. One included what looked to be a rope ladder FOR GIANTS. If you can imagine it was about 5 ft between each log which were suspended by two ropes running parallel on each side. And it went all the way up to the ceiling. Pretty difficult…. Another included just a rope. I wanted to be a badass and climb just using my arms, like Riddick (Vin Diesel) in Chronicles of Riddick …Whoa that tired me out quick, Reached half way and did another method of getting up. Turns out I’m pretty good at this and I suspect I will for sure be back on numerous other occasions to take full opportunity of this valuable resource.
That’s it for now! We have class today at 4:00 and then Karen is taking us all out to eat tonight!

Stay Tuned!

Run Home

2010-02-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ran home from work! I had brought a back pack full of clothes because I decided that it’s probably time I need to begin thinking about a base for track. I figure for what my body/time will allow I’ll run the 12 km there and back each day Mon-Thurs and probably take the weekends off. Perhaps a hill workout or drills on Saturday. I’ll need to eat more too. So the run was very nice, I ran over the harbor bridge with the opera house and rocks in view. Gorgeous. Got back and had my last JS Porter and tried the Sinha Stout. Which was decent [85/100]. Then I made it to the store and bought supplies to make an Indian dish. I got red lentils, a jar of Indian curry spice and an array of other veggies along with kangaroo. I’m calling it Roo Dahl. It was delicious.
Had a tough night of sleep, but got up at 6:30 and watched the news like my normal routine, but this time I was out the door at 7:40 on the run to work. It was a pain dodging people especially on Elizabeth and George St. The way TO work is a lot more difficult than the way home. Showered when I got here, and for this afternoon will be Rock Climbing around the corner from ASDM with a couple of the other employees and then perhaps trivia night tonight at Porter house.

Surfing!

2010-01-31T16:46:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic weekend. The best ever! I got off work early on Friday (sort of an attempt to make-up missing Tuesday for AU-Day) So about 1:00 I left. Got home had a new beer I’ve never tried called a Saison which turned out to be really good [90/100]. Then I went running (10 x hills) That sucked. Got back and ate and relaxed. Then while everyone took the bus to the backpackers place called “wake-up” I walked. Bus ride wasn’t great. It ended up being about 8 hours! All the way up to a place called Crescent Head. On the way we stopped for food and then another stop at a bottle shop. I got a 6-er of a beer called Stear Stout and a 40 oz of XXXX Gold. Got to camp around 1:00 in the morning and got situated. Then a couple of us went out to the beach which turned out to be absolutely beautiful in the spotlight moonlight. Went back around 3:30 to sleep. Next morning we were up at 7:00 for breakfast. While there I invented an amazing sandwich, of which the European group that was in the other building were amazed with. I call it the PB-JAM which stands for Peanut-Butter and Jelly And Muesli. It is the best breakfast snack food ever. I must have made 20 of them over the course of 2 days. There was a gorgeous girl from Germany who was one of the counselors, but I didn’t really get to talk to here too much until to late in the camp.
We then had our surf orientation. Then by 9:00 we were surfing. I had a little difficulty just because I needed to work on where to be on the board when I stood up. Took the whole 2 hours to work that out. Afterwards my whole chest and nips were carved up and on the verge of bleeding….Excruciatingly painful! After we had 2 hours free while the other group went. I sat on some rocks for about 30 minutes making some sweet arrowheads out of flint. Then a couple of us went to explore some cliffs down at the end of the beach. I wore my Vibrams which turned out to be incredible useful for climbing. I found some great spots for diving into the water, but was reluctant to do so since the area was known to have sharks and rays… Anyways I went about scaling shit. In fact I think I’m pretty good at it, as I was able to scale a 30 ft wall without a harness and I lived to tell! But there was one point that I grabbed onto a surface and a while chunk of the wall came loose and fell 20 ft into the water…got a little freaked out there and decided to head back for lunch.
Our surf session in the afternoon went 157% better. Wore a wet suit this time in an attempt to deter the pain. I got the hang of it and was able to take on and stand for just about every wave! After that 2 hour session I was pretty dehydrated and still aching. I went on to explore some of the tide pools. Within minutes I found a decently large Octopus. I called everyone over and put it on land temporarily to get some pictures. The rest of the time before dinner was spent exploring and showing everyone the different animals, which included sea anemones, sea-stars, fish, crabs, and other divers forms of seashore wildlife. We then made it in for dinner which consisted of steak burgers and brots and an assortment of other barbecue delights. That night it unfortunately rained, the other camp decided not to come and we fond out we weren’t allowed to have a fir on the beach. We made the best of it though and played North America vs. Europe in a 40 person flippy cup tourney. The biggest I’ve ever been apart of. After we gathered our beer/alcohol (someone ended up stealing my 40oz) and headed to the beach. They had made a Subs/speaker system out of a garbage can which was really cool, so luckily we got some beats to rage to. We went streaking, and it ended up down pouring which was really cool. Unfortunately not too many girls did it. By the time we left the beach, around 2:30, Neil, who had bought a bottle of cooking wine, could hardly stand. To prove he wasn’t “pickled” he resorted to reciting American History and Math problems, of which only 50% were remotely correct. The rest of the night was a blurr. Sunday was awaken at 7:00 a.m. with many people looking like complete crap from the night before. Breakfast was again fulfilled with numerous PBJAM’s. Got out surfing at 8:00 and the waves/wind was treacherous. I was sore everywhere. Though I still managed to catch some good waves. Following that we ate Lunch (Mexican burritos!) and we got back on the bus and headed 7 hours home.
That night I cooked up a tuna/mussel stew to take to work, because I’m attempting to start running the 7.5 there and back in an effort to get into optimal shape before I take a week of in New Zealand and head full swing into outdoor track.
Karen took the bus with me to work today for her sight visit. Things went very well as we reflected on my learning objectives.

I love life.

2010-01-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

Went to Pancakes on the rocks for the first time last night! Karen Petersen treated, it was amazing!

Free keg

2010-01-26T22:12:00.001-08:00

Oh yeah....

Neil stole an empty keg from a brewery and walked it back to the apartment.

We use it to get jacked now.

Australia Day!

2010-01-26T20:56:00.001-08:00

After work I met Dan in front of the museum at around 5:50. We then walked to a local Italian place of which he often goes to during his lunch breaks. It was a really nice place right near Kingscross. We sat outside. We ordered some James Squire amber ales and talked about everything from Sydney, to his trips and stories, to Africa, Even about microbiology and a lot of his work. It was really enjoyable. I ordered a pizza called El Greco with peppers, onions, olives, feta and anchovies. Best pizza I've ever had! He got a seafood pizza that consisted of giant mussel shells being plopped down right onto the pizza along with the occasional scallop and prawn. We devoured both. Afterwards at around 8:15 we parted and I walked home down Riley/Crown Street (about 2 miles). Got back and immediately went out and did 9 x long hills in my Vibrams. That night consisted of going to a pub (bar Cleveland) and just chilling. Unfortunately their beer sucks. I did however find a 6 pack of James Squire Porter (my favourite) for pretty cheap by AU standards (18$). Early night and went home and watched Harry potter.

Tuesday (which was Australia's national Holiday) I had off from work. Got up early and made a pea soup pizza. Then the girls called and they made French toast, so I got in on that too. We left about 1:00 for Bar Cleveland. They had a special where if you bought a beer, you got a ticket for a barbeque meal. They had Kangaroo burgers, Crocodile squewers and Emu. I tried the Crocodile as well as kangaroo with macadamia curry sauce and mustard. AMAZING! They also had a crab race. Interesting....

We ended up waiting for the group for much of the day so it wasn't exciting. Made it to Hyde Park by 3:00 and walked around. Got to see a comedian in the central park. I learned from today that when travelling in big groups around the city, it is almost impossible to coordinate, and one half usually ends up waiting around. I found that by not relying on a cell phone that I don't need to be on other peoples time, and if we meet up, great. Otherwise I'm on my own to do whatever the hell I want. That morning I called Dan and he and Alyse we at Bondi and we decided to meet at the fountain in Hyde Park. Again it worked out perfectly. Met at 6:00 and we took the train to Kingscross. We went to a nice pasta place called Tropicana. They have a diverse array of pasta choices. I got a tuna, olive, artichoke tomato based pasta called nuchello. Best pasta I've ever had. 2-0 so far. Alyse reminds me a lot of what Aubrey looked like when she was little. She plays flute and is really into boogey boarding. Dinner centralized around the discussion of cricket. I still don't like it but at least now I understand it. There is talk of possibly heading up to their house on the way back from the hunter valley winery tours. I will have to work that out with him.

Anyways, after dinner we parted and I walked all they way back to darling harbour. Now for tha hard part....Finding people. I walked around half the harbour, and then walked back. AND I FOUND THE GROUP. Incredible, seriously.

The fireworks were almost mythical. Best I have seen. they had sail boats circulating darling harbour, with a floating stage with singers and dancers. Then the fireworks were accompanied with lights and music which were in perfect sync with the light display. I felt my adrenaline going the whole time.

Afterwards we walked home at around 10:00 for work in the morning.

Bros gettin' tired

2010-01-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

The week just kept getting better. Apparently there is a huge rock-climbing warehouse located right next to ASDM. and all the ASDM employees get to use it FREE! so I went to check it out, and it looks incredible. The place is enormous. I for sure plan on doing it after work a couple times. I forgot what happened much of last week, but Thursday we tried walking to New Town, but it failed because people didn't want to walk far. So Neil and I found the Dinner crew at Darling Harbor and we all got 40 oz. and sat under the bridge drinking. It was quite enjoyable. Then we made our way to the Home-bar (same as last Thursday) for hours of dancing.
Friday, everyone was working but A couple of the girls were heading to Coogee beach. I asked if they could take a bag with my swim suit and book and what not so I could run there. It was pretty damn hot, but I eventually found them. Did some reading, Scaled some rocks, and explored the coastal cliffs. Awesome. I forgot to eat, so by the time I ran home, it was already 5:00!
Made a pea-soup pizza (don't know if I mentioned it already) but it is absolutely mouthwatering. I layer the first level on top of a Mediterranean pita with a think layer of pea soup. next comes mozzarella cheese, then a thin layer of tomato sauce. DELICIOUS. and everyone else that's tried it loves it as well.
Friday was a blast. Pre-gamed in the apartments and played catch phrase. got to the gaff around 10:30, had 2 jager-bombs. then we walked to Scubar for dancing. Rest of the night is a blur.
Saturday, slept till 12:00. got up and went to a cafe down the street in another attempt to upload photos, with no luck. Got back and decided to check out the Duty free shop in the rocks. apparently we can't buy anything from there until the day before we leave. Oh well.
I also forgot to mention I'm fermenting/distilling Rum in an attempt to save some loot. Cost about 4$ for 2 gallons. we'll see what my yield is after the freeze crystallization.
Saturday night I took it easy and we went to the Trinity bar to chill. I got a white rabbit dark ale, which is very good. Then people wanted to go check out a strip club, I certainly did not object. but it ended up being a $25 entrance fee. Went to 3 wise monkeys next, where I ended up leaving 5 minutes later.
Sunday, Market day!
Went to the Market on the rocks. Fantastic place, I think Aubrey and April, you guys would love it. I taste tested all these jams, hot sauces, spices, teas, nuts, fruit and fudge. Very enjoyable Sunday experience.
Next was Paddy's market in China town. It was basically an over sized flea market with some really cheap stuff! I bought a collard shirt and a flask. Then I discovered their produce and sea food market! I found these amazing sesame/nut bars that are tremendous. bought a large head of coli-flower for 1.50$ and then about 50 mussels for $5! Successful day!
Got back took a nap, then went running/exploring around Sydney, and finally got to run around the Opera House. Got back, went swimming and to the sauna. Then a bunch of us wanted to hit up Macquerie brewery to get their happy hour deal. Made it there by 7:45 to find they don't do it on Sunday's. Bought a couple drinks at their regular price: I got 2 Bavarian reds (my favorite) and a cider (tastes like welches apple juice). I also bought a barley wine, that comes from Frances oldest brewery!

I'm at work now and it seems pretty low key, especially considering Australia Day tomorrow.

Beginning of Week 3

2010-01-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

I think I’m getting used to work! Everyday when going to work I still get a little nervous that I will miss the Red 20, as it comes spontaneously every 20 minutes. But I still end up at work 20 minutes early every day. I’m usually working 9-5 here with an hour to an hour and a half commute to and from work everyday. Usually I get on the bus and have to stand the first half because it is so crowded. The second half I can sit and read. I’m really glad I got this book: “The History of the World in 6 Glasses” which is incredibly interesting! Anyways Wednesdays (today) I leave early to go to class. We’re required to get in 200 hours before the end of the internship, and I think I’m scheduled to get 211, so there is some extra room.
Anyways I’m given projects to research such as the relationship compatibility between the Common Carotid Artery (Bovine) and the femoral artery. Other times they give me product assembly tasks. In fact, today I just completed my part in creating a product report sheet on one of ASDMs most recent developments. I GET MY NAME ON IT!
Alternatively it looks like I will be able to actively take-part/perform in the experimental tests of human Bovine arteries in the coming weeks. The protocol is underway.
Lately after work I’ve been going to Schultz’s brewery and meeting a couple people there for beer. Monday I got a free one, because the tap ran out and the brew master went home. Same went for Tuesday, but after we went to the White Horse hotel for dinner. I got a vegetarian pizza with zucchini, mushrooms, goat cheese and capsicum. It was just ok, considering it was pretty expensive. After we walked home and I got some bread from Coles. Haha the baguette loaf usually only lasts me 2 days unfortunately. I love just walking everywhere! It really makes me wonder why I don’t feel it necessary when I’m home, it’s rather enjoyable. That’s one thing I want to make sure I do upon returning to the U.S. Anyway, Tuesday we ended up just chilling on the balcony of Kevin, Taylor, Nick and Scott. Tonight we have class and perhaps we’ll go to ½ price wine night down the street from the Meriton. I think I’ll work Friday just because I’ll be missing Tuesday next week for Australia day!

Weekend # 2

2010-01-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

Weekend was lower key than it has been. Friday I did 5 x huge hill repeats which were hella intense, and got back and finished the rest of my “specialty” beers. We got a big group together but ended up splitting up. One group headed to Kingscross, while the other went to Bar Cleavland. Colleen and I split a bottle of wine there. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then left. I found a great place for Indian. I got a 3 mixed vegetarian serving for $5! We ended up taking a cab to 3 wise monkeys which I wasn’t happy with, I would have rather walked. It had live music with this gorgeous singer who I got front row just to look at, she sang some good songs. Finally we left, whereupon we saw Neil who had just run all the way from Kingscross in the hopes to find us somewhere in the CBD. As strange of an occurrence as it is, it often happens. Next we went to some corner just to talk to people. THEN a fire truck pulled up to a stop light and Ray and I proceeded to climb on it. Pictures WERE taken. Ahah. Finally Brandon and I walked back to Bar Cleveland and we talked with these Australian girls for a long time.
Then home.

Saturday we all went to Bronte Beach which was incredible. I ran there and got there in about 40 minutes. Everyone that took the bus got there in about 1.5 hour. Anyways, Topless girls, Huge waves and surfing. It was kind of over cast but it was still incredible. We tossed the Frisbee around, the rugby ball and then explored some of the tide pools. Apparently there are blue Octopus there and if you touch them you die. And if you touch the sea urchins, you die, and anything else colorful….you die. Sweet. About 4:30 I ran home to eat and shower (11miles total). That night we raged in Pat, Ray, Brandon and James’ room. Neil and I ate a whole chocolate cake. We left and had a pretty uneventful night. But I did get to have a Kebab with Tzdiaki Sauce.
Sunday I got up at 10, read and drank tea. A group went to Coogee beach so I decided again to run and meet them. But never found them (10 miles total). At 4:30 we all walked to the Stadium for the Soccer match between Melbourne and Sydney, who were ranked 1 and 2 irrespectively. It was really cool! Afterwards we got back and I made another pot of pea soup.

I’m thinking from now on I want to eat like an Italian: Bread, Yogurt, Fish, Vegetables, Olives, Beer and Wine….oh…and pea soup

By the way I did not buy 12 cans of sardines for $.65 each at Coles.

Yeah I did.

2010-01-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

Work has gotten better, yet it continues to consist of constant medical literature research. Anyways, Thursday night was quite the experience. We decided we were going to check out some of the bars and clubs around Darling harbor. I finished the rest of my variety 6 pack with two of the remaining ales which didn’t turn out to be that great. Anyways I ended up leading the way (at the same time no one trusted me on where I was going) but we arrived without any problems. We went to this really interesting “outdoor” bar and got a table to decide where we were going to go next. Finally we went to this raging bar that was a couple stories high right on the harbor. It was bumpin’ nevertheless it cost $5 to get in. There were mostly tourist/Euros there but it was fun! Night rolled on and I think we had a group of 13 on the dance floor. We danced for 3 hours straight….longest I ever have, by the end I think there were 8. It was an incredible night!!!!!
People wanted to get a taxi, so I decided I’d walk the 4 miles home. I love those late night walks home because you sober up and by the time you get back you are so exhausted that the night sleep is incredible.
Got home around 3:30 a.m.
Woke up at 11:00 Friday morning, just in time to make it over to CAPA for our bus tour of the city. Turns out there are some African restaurants in New Town. I will have to check them out. Anyways the bus tour was about 4 hours with many stops. It was a rather enjoyable experience. We saw the Rocks, Kings cross, Watsons bay, and the harbor entrance, plus many other land marks. The tour ended at the Australian Opal company tour. Interesting stuff, but I wasn’t as nearly as engulfed in the “rock” culture due to my extensive childhood being so involved in Rocks and gems.
I ended up walking off on my own. First I went to the ATM I like that doesn’t charge extra. Then I walked all the way down Clarance st. to another brewery I actually discovered on th bus ride on my way up to the CAPA bus tour. It’s called Red Oak brewery which is actually quite well know. I actually had tried their Organic Hefeweizen which was actually pretty good [82/100]. While there I looked though one of ter beer magazines which was really cool (I’d definitely like a subscription to the American version when I get home). I found they have a 4 beer sampler platter for $20 that is also served with a sample of food that complements the beer they are served with. I think that’s for another day. I ordered a half pint of Irish Red and sat at the bar for a while reading the Mag. I also got the bar tender to take my picture. From there I walked all the way back to Surry hills where I found a pretty cool Clothing store. I bought a shirt and board shorts for pretty cheap (they are usually like $100) Finally I walked back to Waterloo and bought another variety 6 pack of which I’m drinking right now.

2010-01-14T16:59:00.000-08:00

Well, work took a turn for the better I think. I now spend the majority of my time sifting through medical journals researching different chemotherapy techniques and port-catheter systems. Still only have ½ for lunch, so they day drags on, and on. Nevertheless I have an office, a nice chair and air conditioning. And at the end of the day I’m still pretty tired. Yesterday we had our first class. I am NOT looking forward to it. Much of it we already learned in COMM 330, and it’s basically busy work. Anyways I got back around 7:00 and went to Coles as I was planning on making another soup. Eventually resorted to another pea-soup. This time though I bought fresh onions, garlic green stems as well as asparagus, lentils and peas. I got green olives for fun and because they were pretty cheap. Turns out I ended putting the olives and the juice they were in into the soup. AND REVOLUTION! It was incredible! No need for broth or anything. Best pea soup I’ve ever had/ made!

To top it off I stayed in that night because it was raining and tried some of the beer I bought down the street in the assorted 6-pack. I tried a cooper’s stout (good!), Whale ale pale ale (not great). And Finally a James Squire Porter (AMAZING) in fact it got the best grade I’ve given to beer in my beer journal [91/100] higher than the Dark Force Barley wine! I guarantee I’ll be brining them home!

The other day I forgot to mention I met a Pro runner. I was doing a hill workout and he was doing the same. He invited me to do a couple with him. I was only doing half hills while he was hammering up the full way (I was doing 10 btw. He did like 4) Haha. Well I did and it was tough! But I managed. So he apparently is a distance runner (usually 5k-10k) who was training for a marathon. His mileage was a 210 kilometers/week and his marathon pr was 2:28 (he didn’t seem to impressed either). Nevertheless, he told me how 3 years ago he entered into a 1500 and won in 3:41 off no training! He then did it again 2 weeks later in 3:39!!! Anyways I didn’t get his name because of the accent, though he was short and looked like he was from the islands. He invited me to train with him but I reluctantly refused because I don’t think I could go about doing any structured/obligatory training at the moment. Well, he said bye and continued to hammer repeats on the field to complete his 20+ miles for the day….

I jogged home.

Oh yeah, and I noticed the toilet paper roles arent glued to the toilet paper that is wrapped around them...interesting.

Um Mistake? or experience?

2010-01-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday I arrived at work excited about what I was going to do. My tasks of this internship include research on Vascular Products, Testing Vascular Products, and report writing and protocol development. Unfortunately it didn’t go as well as I planned. I was under the impression I would begin my job engaging in menial tasks in order to qualify for more respectable jobs to do. But I found myself going head on into data collection and research whereupon I was placed down stairs in their manufacturing warehouse performing a closed loop arterial circulation experiment to test the effects pressure and temperature have on the valve outlets of their newly developed Peripheral Arterial Device. Not only that but data had to be collected every 10 minutes for an hour under 300 mmHg pressure at 37.2 ˚C, another hour for 600 mmHg and then every 5 minutes going up to 1000 mmHg. TWO AND A HALF HOURS (and I had to do 4 trials). I had to record temperature, pressure, and whether there were leaks. Not to mention it was about 100˚ F there too. AND I had to wear ear plugs because all their manufacturing machines were running I couldn’t even hear myself think. fml. So my whole day was just that. Sitting, record, sitting, record…sitting. And my lunch is apparently only 30 minutes, where I’ve heard everyone else’s amounts to an hour an a half. AND I don’t have any breaks during the day. Hell at it’s best. By the time I was done, I was hungry, exhausted, and could hardly stand. To top it off, my commute home is 1.5 hours…just on the bus, that’s aside from the 30 minutes of walking.

Luckily I made it to the oldest hotel in Sydney in the rocks to meet a few people. It’s a micro-brewery. That at least lifted my spirits a little.

Schwartzs' Brewery

2010-01-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

Monday night resulted in a total success; I took everyone to the Microbrewery on Macquarie Rd. and apparently everyone loved it. It’s called Schwartz's Brewery, and they have 6 different beers on tap. I got their sampler, as did many others and we had dinner and overall just a blast. Their happy hour was from 4-8 and a pint was 3$!!! Which is even ridiculous for the U.S. I talked with an Australian guy for about 2 hours all about beer. He gave me recommendation of types to try, and what to stay away from (every commercial beer) because apparently they brew it in under 3 days which is unnatural. To the English, they don’t even consider it beer…. They call it a “Malted beverage.” From now on I definitely see this place as an ideal meeting area for us as well as a crucial opportunity to meet the natives.

Interview

2010-01-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Found a cheap way to eat yesterday. Bought 2 bags of dried peas, bag of frozen onions, and a thing of chicken broth...AND MAD PEA SOUP! and a hell of a lot for 6 bucks!

Anyway, Got up at around 7 today and hung out til 8:30 whereupon I left for the Bus. I was lucky to make it as I was the last person allowed on, as the bus was already at person capacity. Got to work by 9:10, so about 40 minutes. from there I walked to ASDM and immediately was greeted by Matt, the mechanical engineer (my supervisor was still on holiday). We went into the conference room and went right into the "Interview" He told me that they will try to give me the medical experience I want, but the majority will be engineering and mechanical. He asked the questions I was expecting, as CAPA had thoroughly prepared us. Anyway, everything went great. We got into some good discussion about their different devices and potential techniques like the Peripheral Arterial Device (PAD) and it's probable use in Isolated chemotherapy and a range of other practices. From there we worked out my hours (8-4) or any other time I want. Then he gave me a tour of the facility and introduced me to people and my desk.
I would like to mention how incredibly interesting the extensive array of mechanical technology and techniques they have for re-creating and casting human body prosthetics. I was astounded by the inconceivable methods of cutting, drilling, polishing and molding their materials. Not only that but the substances and material used for creating their patents. Engineering wold have been a pretty cool field.

Afterwards we discussed our plans for the coming weeks, and it looks like I'll be using my Augustana account to access their databases for research, which ultimately is a useful skill in the long run. We discussed how I should probably do the train as it is more reliable and quicker to get to work.

I left and walked about 3 mile to the CAPA headquarters, where I am now writing this. Today's plan is to head back into Sydney and go find this supposed Chase bank and get some cash. otherwise I only have 50$ for the rest of the week. Hopefully tonight I'll make it to one of the microbreweries to finally have some good beer.

Out

Sydney Music Festival 2010

2010-01-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

After my blog from yesterday I went back to the room. From there Kevin, Scott, Taylor and Nick had us all over to have a few drinks on their balcony before heading to the festival. Things got fun and we made our way over. It was absolutely packed, yet I found it extremely enjoyable being around everyone in Sydney. We visited several venues. I made sure to bring a gallon jug of frozen water because it had already hit 102 degree, and it had hardly come down. Anyways We found a really good stage with a rapper where we stayed and danced a little. They were giving out free water bottles, condoms, and electric fans, so we made sure to get in on that. We decided after an hour or two to get some food. I met a mime. It got pretty difficult to keep everyone together so we eventually broke apart. I went with a couple girls to get kababs (which were incredible). then we had a tough time meeting back up with the other group. My group pretty much all went home (lame) but a few decided to wait with me until we found the other group, being as I didn't get a phone. We found them and watched a pretty cool acrobatic act. Finally the festival ended and we went to go check out a couple clubs in the CBD. No one would let us in though because we were wearing shorts. Finally we ended up at Bar Cleavland, right by our apartments before the night ended.
Early today I made it to Bronte beach, which was supposed to have the best waves, but I guess it was a slow day. Played some Frisbee, swam, and explored. I still think Manly was the best beach.

I begin my internship tomorrow at 10 a.m. with an interview!

Rounding down an Amazing week

2010-01-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

As this week draws to a close, I find it difficult to recollect all the amazing events that have occurred. Especially at night :) Nevertheless it has been hands down the best week of my life. I specifically have enjoyed interacting with all the native Australians at their pubs. We've found that primarily all the tourists, Asians and Euros. Therefore we tend to try to scope out where the true Aussies congregate. and thus far we are doing a good job. They tend to like to talk about our accents (which tends to take a central part of the conversations) sports like rugby and football, Hollywood and current events. They are extremely friendly.
Wednesday, we went to explore our internship sites. Turns out I simply have to take the Red 20 bus into north Sydney and then walk a couple blocks, which is extremely convenient. We then walked around the rocks searching for our group (we tend to have the amazing ability to find anyone in our group without any ahead of time planning. it's really weird). That night we went to a pretty nice bar that surprisingly had half off wine night and most people got $9 wine bottles, which is incredibly cheap. I didn't drink because I needed some recovery time.
Thursday we left at 8:00 for the Blue Mountains. We stopped at an animal park and got to pet koalas, kangaroos, and a lot more. Afterwards we went to the mountains which were disappointingly misty so we couldn't see anything. We did however get to ride the steepest railway ever made back up the mountain. We got back and I ran 13 miles to and from Bondi beach. I'm noticing I'm in pretty damn good shape. Aside from the fact I also do over 500 push-ups a day...That night we walked around darling harbour.
Friday we had our CAPA orientation and travel presentations. I'm going to a weekend surf camp option, and a winery/brewery/chocolate/cheese factory weekend option too. Afterwards we went to the rocks for our free CAPA lunch. Then we hit up Bondi for the rest of the day. That night, Everyone was being boring AND NOT GOING OUT ON A FRIDAY NIGHT!! so Neil and I ventured to an Australian pub and talked with the natives the whole night. It was awesome.

Today we go to the Sydney Music Festival for the day and night

Oh, and I'm regretting not bringing my running shoes because they cost 230$ here!!!

Times up....

more to come

Raging

2010-01-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

Manly beach, Sydney Opera House, and raging in the evening.

I know sydney now better than I know glenview.

2010-01-05T00:10:00.000-08:00

Oh, I will not be making any calls, so you can either contact me through here, or facebook, or e-mail. I'll try to check every several days.

What happend last night?

2010-01-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

Continuing on...

after our CAPA orientation we went to get food in North Sydney and then took the train back to Sydney. Found a great bar called Star Bar, and stopped for a couple drinks at 1 pm. Luckily found a a Frisbee and ended up waiting for a bus for an hour.
That night was quite the adventure. We went to a euro bar called Sidebar which was totally packed and had raging techno. Interestingly there is not "grinding" and everyone is awkwardly dancing far apart. I think I spent 50$ here on drinks alone....

from there we ventured to the streets and met some locals who ended up being very sketchy, and led us away into a some "dodgy" area, so we dipped fast once we got the drift. Then found a couple Augies in another bar downtown and we talked with a couple Serbians people. Walked home.

Today we had a tour of the Sydney Opera House which was awesome. Once that was over we took a ferry to Manly Beach and chilled there the res of of the day. The girls there are ridiculously gorgeous and it is just not fair.

Ate a meat pie on the ferry back.

only spent $3.00 today in an attempt to balance out the past two days of frivolous spending.

To be continued

Arrival

2010-01-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

Arrived in LAX and Neil and I immediately went to a bar and had a beer. I got a local from pyramid brewery ($7). Plane ride was terrible with the fact that I didn't sleep at all. Got into Sydney at around 8:30 a.m. and got a bus to the meriton. We then had to wait around for 2 hours to get our rooms, so we found this small Japanese place around the corner. I had seaweed salad.

We then had our residency meeting and got our rooms. They are awesome by the way and have everything I cold possibly want. We then got a tour of the area.

Shit, they are closing the lab right now so I gotta dip.

I wanted to mention I payed 13 dollars for a crappy lager yesterday in china town. I was pissed.

DEC 31 (1 more day!)

2009-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

So far I’m extremely excited, as I’m sure many of my fellow Aussie interns are. I actually just got back from Colorado Springs, so things have been a little hectic. I made sure to pack a duffel bag before I left just in case I had to take a plane back to Glenview in the instance there was a winter storm and we couldn’t drive home. Nevertheless I’m in a frenzy of trying to get my list of things done before I leave. This list includes: buying books for the plane, repairing and downloading music to my ipod, determining how many pairs of running shoes I will need, going sledding, and distributing the rest of my Christmas presents. So far I have found everything to go relatively smoothly, though some things have not gone the way I planned, but I was prepared for that. I’ve found I just need to be open minded for whatever comes so as to avoid too much stress.
I know right now there will be something I forget, I always do. I will make SURE that the necessities for the plane are all together in one pocket/folder. My goal is to travel rather minimalist, but I find that really hard because there is just so much stuff to consider. Do I take 3 shirts, or four? What about that long sleeve. This is where things fall apart and I end up packing too much and then I need to go through and repack several times until the point I think I’ve packed too little and then I start all over by adding stuff! I’ve never gone somewhere for so long. My longest trip away from home before this was Arusha, Tanzania and that was for 3 weeks and I still think I packed far more than I am for Australia. So ultimately there are a lot of conflicting packing thoughts going through my head.
I took some time over break to read about both Sydney and New Zealand, for which I have already purchased tickets for spring break. I can hardly tell you how excited I am. Everything seems to be coming together. As of yesterday I shadowed an Aortic valve replacement surgery, I get to intern for a fantastic company in Sydney and my summer looks very promising internship wise as well.

Though I will need to do the applications while I’m there, which I’m not looking forward to.

Australia Preparations

2009-12-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well, time draws near till when we leave the states into a whole new world of meat pies, individuality, and the Sydney transport system. I will be interning at the Advanced Surgical Design and Manufacture (ASDM), of which is one of the leading medical technology companies involved in prosthetics. Time has flown this term. I feel like I was worrying only yesterday about the two papers we needed to write for our COMM330 class, part of our learning community. Anyways, with those done I only have a final to go on Friday. Then I'm off to CO for Christmas, Brewery tours and hopefully skiing. Then I'll be back briefly to the burbs, and then Jan 1st at 4:40 p.m....on my way down under.