Goodbye Australia!

So my time in Australia is officially over! Today has just been packing and last minute things. Now tonight we are all sitting around and its so bittersweet! We are talking about what we are excited to get back too, what we are going to miss the most, and just reflecting on how much this summer has meant to all of us.

My favorite sayings have been:
Give it a go: give it a try
Your shout: buy the next drink
good on ya: good for you
hey?: repeat yourself please
you keen?: wanna go?
how you goin?: how are you
G'day: good day
Cheers: thank you
you reckon?: what do you think
bloke: a guy
a piss up: getting drunk
brissie: brisbane
and so so so many more!!

So, America, see you in 24 hours (or something like that!)

ME IN SURGERY!! WOOO!!

Bye Bye Bulimba

Today was my last day of work!

Quick background: One of my daily jobs is to take a picture of each dog that has stayed the day at Bulimba Vet Surgery. Then I print the photos and put them in these little booklet things that say "My Day at the Vet".

Well, today I did surgery!!!!

It was a neuter (called a castrate here) on a big 4 year old Boxer/Rottweiler mix. And I got to do everything from premed to recover! After given the pre-med the doctor and I take him in and she holds while I induce and then intibate (put them to sleep and then put the tube down their throat) I've done all this before but things got so strange and backward feeling when the doctor starts shaving and scrubbing the dog, and I go to scrub in! It was so weird telling the doctor what to do as if she was my nurse! haha instead of asking for the blade, I would be like "do you think I need the blade now" hahaha.

Neutering takes strength!! haha I won't be too graphic but I was just not expecting to have to use that much errr force? haha After castrating I did the subcutaneous sutures and the skin sutures then we were done! We carry him to his kennel and I sit with my first surgery patient while he wakes up!

After going back to the main room all the staff is standing there and they bring out cheesecake and a picture of me doing surgery in one of those "My Day at the Vets" packets! With more pictures during surgery inside and they had all written nice notes to me! Of course I get all teary but then we all eat cake and sit around for a minute until I head off and say goodbye to Bulimba Vet Surgery for good!

Bulimba Vet Surgery taught me so much! And I learned by doing which is the best way! Of course in the mornings I was always like "I dont wanna go to work!!" and if we were slow I'd be itching to leave early but when I look back on the summer I could not have asked for a better internship. The doctors would quiz me on surgical techniques while I was monitoring anesthesia or during consultations with clients would make me suggest diagnosis and treatment options, which would be sooo frustrating but I'm glad they did it!

Now all that is left is packing, shopping and traveling!

Two Kidneys are better than one

Work on Friday was my last full day! We were really slow and since they had just gotten a new ultrasound machine we decide to test it out! We didn't have any dogs that we could shave for an ultrasound so I became the patient! I laid there while the doctor ultrasounded me! Woo! I got to see my spleen, liver, intestines and right kidney! She couldn't find my left kidney though, so while she went to do an appointment she left me to look for it, no luck there either! So she came back with the other doctor and she couldn't find my kidney either! We looked for this kidney for at least an hour laying in all sorts of positions. I decided my parents must have sold it when I was young. We'll take an xray though just to prove that I do have two kidneys on Monday!

The other Americans I live with are out of town this weekend and I have really liked being alone this weekend! I really do enjoy doing things by myself so Saturday I walked to the markets. Its a little over a mile and I just listened to my music and meandered around the shops for the most of the morning getting fresh fruit and veggies and people watching! It was such a great morning! Then I spent the rest of the day baking for my work dinner party!

We had a work dinner party where everyone brought their own dish and I took s'mores and dessert pizza! yumm! Our staff is only of about 8 people so the staff is all really close and I loved sitting around the table hearing them all tell stories about past christmas parties, going on trips together, etc. It was tons of fun and nothing like any work party I had been to at home! I absolutely love my work at home but its a huge staff with a lot of turnover so you only get close to a few people really. And what happened next would never happen at a CPH function! We got on the topic of tequila, and I said in America you drink tequila shots with salt and lime. Wellllll here they take it with lemon. So then the entire staff does tequila shots, even the vets! Haha I really hope you are reading this Dr's at CPH! Just picturing all the doctors that I work for at home sitting around taking shots makes me laugh out loud every single time!

Then the neighbors house catches on fire. The back porch just goes up in flames! Crazy! So we all run over right as one of the girls who lives there is running out of the house. She calls the firemen and of course she has an entire vet staff asking "are there any pets inside?!" Yeah we asked if pets were inside before inquiring about people. We push one of the cars out from the carport since it was fairly close to the fire. And wait with her while the firemen show up and start putting the fire out! I have never seen a house on fire and the firemen doing their job so close before! It was crazy. But they got everyone out and the fire put out fairly quickly so thats good!

So over all my last weekend in Australia was a good one! I am sooooo so sad to be leaving but sooo excited to be home all at the same time! Talk about emotion overload! Now that my summer is almost over I can admit to how terrified I was before coming here! Oh my goodness I was so scared, I was excited too though. On the way to the airport my dad said that that was the quietest he had ever seen me be! Its weird looking back and thinking how nervous I was because the entire summer just went so smoothly!

I leave Australia before my carton of milk expires

true fact. how crazy is that?

also, there is a season in Australia when birds start swooping out of their trees to attack the nearest human. another fun fact, that season started today! I now stare at the trees and jump anytime I hear a bird!

This past weekend I went up to the sunshine coast with Ian and his family. It was such an amazing time!! We drove on coastal roads up there and anytime we saw a starbucks we stopped! haha I went to dinner with their family that night at this beautiful restaurant that overlooked the mountains. This family lives on a mountain right off of the coast so the view from their veranda was just tons of rolling hills with the beach on the other side! They have three little kids ages 6,7, and 8. The 6 year old girl and I became best friends immediately while the boys just called me "the american" and laughed anytime I said anything with an american accent.

Saturday morning we woke up early and went to one of the boys rugby game then shopping at some markets. Afterwards me and the parents sat on some of their land and just watched the cattle, horses, and chickens running around while drinking a beer and talking about the differences of life in American verse Australia. We all turned in pretty early Saturday night then Sunday we had a breakfast of pancakes and ice cream while sitting on the veranda! Then a bit more shopping before it was time for me to return to Brisbane!

I had a big bed that I couldn't feel all the springs poking me, and big fluffy towels, and a real heater!!! I was so spoiled this weekend and it was wonderful!

I am thinking about when I get home a lot more often now! Its almost here! I think the very first thing I want to do when I get home is lay flat on my back and just lay there for at least ten minutes to try to wrap my mind around this summer. I should probably not do that at the Memphis airport, so it will just have to wait a while! Then I want to eat my dad's chicken and drink a margarita :)

Sydney Weekend!

Sydney was this past weekend! We stayed in Kings Cross, the wonderful red light district of Sydney. So walking around at night sure was interesting! It was really rainy and reallllyy cold most of the weekend but luckily it cleared up right as we did the bridge climb!

The bridge climb is where you climb this big bridge in Sydney Harbour and at the top is a beautiful view, including the Sydney Opera House right behind you! I will include a picture! SO that was amazing! Sydney is a huge city though and its nice being back in Brisbane!

We also went to an Australia vs. South Africa rugby game, which we won! So that was fun! It was really bittersweet seeing all the other interns again. Of course we had fun going out with them but at the same time we said bye for the last time too. The Cairns, Brisbane, and Sydney people aren't all getting back together and most of us don't live even relatively close to each other in the states so there were some sad faces when those goodbyes happened!

The last night we had to be at the airport at 5 am for our flight. So me and three others decided not to go out but it was still an awesome time! We walked around the cross and got some kebabs and McDonald's flurries around 1 am. Then we sat in the hallways of our apartment complex and ate and just talked and were so tired that we found the silliest things to be outrageously hilarious. Taylor and I wore our matching "The future is wild" tshirts that we got at the aquarium and danced around to some Justin Bieber. Around 2:30 we made the trek to the airport thinking we should just sleep at our gate. Welllll problem. The airport was closed! Please keep in mind it is still cold and rainy! We finally get a maintenance man to let us in and we sleep on some lovely wooden benches until 4 am when the airport officially opened. We went through security to our gate and hung out until we boarded and headed back to Brisbane!

This summer is almost over, wow!

Ralph

So I take the same bus to work every week and the same bus home in the evening. Four days a week. You would think that I would notice patterns. Like the same people waiting at the stop with me, or certain people on the bus. Well I haven't! And this bothers me!! I am always expecting it, so far all I have noticed is one woman running in the park every evening who is having a tough time with it.

Well today my Australian bus journeys came full circle. My first day on the bus I had no idea when to push the 'stop' button so I asked this nice old man who looks just like my UHON Theatre class teacher! He helped me figure out when to stop and even told me which bus to take home. Today on my bus ride home, who gets on other than my theatre class teacher twin! The bus was packed and one of the only open seats left was next to me! So he sits down, and my awkwardness comes out! I have my headphones on so conversation was out of the question. But I kept wondering "does he recognize me?" "does he realize I am taking a different bus than he told me to?" "should I say something?!" So I clearly decide the best thing to do is to not make eye contact but rather awkwardly look away the whole time! But I still found it neat that he ended up sitting next to me.

Now onto Ralph.

At work yesterday I come in and see that we have a blood transfusion and a spleen removal on the board. It was an adorable Jack Russell Terrier named Ralph! The doctor didn't think he would even be able to undergo surgery but that we would try keeping him on oxygen all morning and the blood transfusion. At this point the dog's body temperature is so low that the thermometer won't even read that he has a temperature! So I made Ralph my project. I held his oxygen mask all morning, all the employees worked through lunch to keep him warm and do the blood transfusion from the donor dog to ralph. Well in the afternoon the vet decided he was strong enough so we begin the operation! The tumor in this dog's abdomen was massive! The dog weighed 12 pounds and the tumor weighed 2 of those 12 pounds! But the dog was doing well during surgery and everyone was happy with the way it was going! Both surgeons were scrubbed in and I was assigned to take pictures because it was the biggest tumor either of them had seen on a dog this small. They had trouble figuring out where the tumor was attached. And because of the massive internal bleeding we had to do a lot of suctioning and literally just tipping the dog sideways to let all the blood out. We originally thought spleen but we pulled the spleen through the drape and saw that it was tumor free so then they just had to cut around the tumor until they found an attachment. Turn out it was intestinal but easy enough to remove. Things are still going fine and now just the one surgeon is beginning the stitches.

Suddenly Ralph starts gasping and seizing. The doctor described them as "agonal breaths" so I ask, "what do you mean by agonal breaths?" Her response: He's dying.

All of a sudden this operating room kicks into high gear! I am so glad they made me learn what to do in a dog dying in operation situation because I would have had no idea! I get the adrenaline ready while the other nurse starts manually ventilating Ralph. I start injecting doses of adrenaline through the IV drip while listening to the heart beat. I have never seen a surgeon stitch up an entire abdomen this fast! She flew through those stitches and gets all the surgical drapes off in a matter of a few minutes. She flips Ralph on his side, we give him another dose of blood, but it was too late and Ralph died. The other nurse was really upset and refused to cut off his oxygen for a few moments. Now this is a clinic of all girls, and all the nurses and vets are crying as the doctor was informing the owner. This is one of those moments when I wished I cried at normal times. haha. But in all seriousness, Ralph was an adorable dog and it was a tough day with a not so happy ending. But I got to be involved in my first blood transfusion, and see an amazing surgery! And if it helps, Ralph was 14 years old (that is very old in dog years), and the tumor we later found out had metastasized to his entire body. It was good to see a tough day and an intense surgery, good to know that even after a day like that there is still nothing I would rather be that a veterinarian!

Now I head to Sydney! Should be a stupendous weekend! :)

Where I'm From.

Our first intern left to head back home today! How crazy is that? He was on the 6 week program and after he left the rest of us ten weekers were sitting around the table and it was so weird! We all started to try to figure out how its gonna feel when it is us leaving. I only have three more weekends in Australia! Its definitely time to buckle down and make sure I do every single thing that I want to before time is up!

Tomorrow morning a housemate and I are doing a yoga class on the river. If you know me and my lack of coordination, balance, and general serenity then you know this will undoubtedly be entertaining!

Nothing too exciting happened this week in good ole Brissie. I had some good conversations with coworkers about prejudices/races/and socioeconomic views in the states. It was so interesting to try to explain such a vast topic and answer their questions like "is racism really bad in America". I mean that is just so different person to person. They were shocked that I went to a predominately black high school, and that gangs actually do exist. And they were genuinely surprised that blacks/whites/indians/etc. all hang out together and its completely normal. UHON this is your shout out: They absolutely did not believe me when I told them that it is very normal for me as a white person to be the minority in a group of my UHON friends. They didn't grasp that your skin color doesn't define you. Because here, you are either white, asian, a refugee, or an aboriginal. (aboriginal sort of being the equivalent of native american). I don't know where I am going with all this, it was just interesting! (Ronald Nelson, I told them about you eating scrambled eggs with my dad, at my house, during a tornado, and I wasn't even there. Haha good times!)

Next two weekends I am traveling so hopefully more action packed blogs to come! Cheers!

Right Now

The last few days have been simply incredible! On Wednesday night, Queensland beat New South Wales in the rugby State of Origin. Which is a three game series playoff so that was fun. Then on Thursday night, other interns from Cairns, Perth and Sydney flew into Brisbane. The craziest thing about this group is we don't actually know each other very well. We only spent three days in Cairns together but we were all so excited to see everyone! We go out Thursday night, then on Friday we spend a lazy day before catching a train that evening to the Gold Coast.

Friday night we went to SCREAMWORLD together. Its an amusement park and I love roller coasters! It was so much fun and the wait in lines was cool because we all got to talk to each other and catch up on everything and really just get to know each other better. That night we go to Surfers Paradise in the Gold Coast and get a hostel. This one roomed hostel with 14 beds was so much fun! The 12 of us all stayed up talking so late into the night from our perspective bunk beds, haha it felt like a night at summer camp or something. Saturday morning we went and laid out on the beach until our surfing lessons that afternoon!

Surfing is so much fun! We get a lesson on the beach practicing the "paddle, chicken wing, stand up:knee, foot, foot" pattern and then out to the water we go! For two hours we tried to surf. I think everyone at least did it once, the instructors were out in the water with you offering advice and help. I totally wiped out about a thousand times but even that was fun! Because we were all just laughing about it and whenever someone did actually stand up and ride the wave in we would all cheer! My body today is so bruised!! haha both knees, elbows, and hips! Not too mention how sore I am! But it was so worth it.

We caught a seafood dinner. (I ate fish!!) and then a train back to Brisbane. Last night we went out on the town and after catching brunch this morning put everyone in cabs and officially ended the Brisbane weekend! The nap I am about to take is going to be epic.

Its crazy being on the second half of my summer here, now that there are only a few weeks left it seems to be flying by! I had a good conversation with my future sister in law since she has tons of experience with living in another country and the coming home part! Don't get me wrong, there are several things about home that I can not wait to be back for! The people I miss like crazy, mexican food, my car, and my own house to just name a few. But I am also getting really nervous about coming home! I just know how different its going to be and how quickly I have to jump back into the swing of sorority stuff, school, and just life at home, which when compared to life here seems so hectic, busy and rushed all the time! It seems so overwhelming, but like Katie told me, I won't be bitter about being home I will just have to treasure this summer for everything it taught me and how its helping shape me :) Good thing I have like a thirty hour trip home to start processing this entire summer!

Best Bike Ride Story, WORST Bike Ride

Background: I get lost a lot! This is not an exaggeration at all! And usually I enjoy getting lost, you know you're in your car driving around listening to good music or having good a chat until you find out where you are, or you pull out the GPS. Problem solved right? This does not apply to bike rides.

I decided to bike to work today, its so convenient because its good exercise and I would save money on my bus pass everyday! This is a 10 mile ride, so about thirty minutes, right? Not unless you are Kim Swift and you are the champion of getting lost! I leave my house at 8:30, by 9 I have no idea where I am and call work saying "I got a little turned around on my ride but I will be there shortly" At this point where I made this phone call at 9:00 am I was only two miles from my work but I turn one street to soon and it is another HOUR AND A HALF before I return to that same point. OH but I didn't return to this point on my own. I finally cave in and call my dad! He google maps my location and tells me how to get to work. At 11:00 I finally arrive. TWO AND A HALF HOURS! At this point, I am physically exhausted but still laughing about it all with my coworkers and make sure I know which way I am headed when I have to leave work that evening.

4:45 pm. Time to go home. I hop on my bike, go about a mile. FLAT FREAKING TIRE! It gets so flat that it comes off the rim. I don't know my bike anatomy enough to thoroughly explain this to you but basically the tire is off its rim, so I can't even push my bike along, I have to carry it. Don't forget I have only gone about 1 mile. So I am now carrying this bike, thinking that I am about to carry it 9 miles. This was almost my breaking point. I so very much wanted to stomp my feet, pout, and sit down indian style and just cry. But I didn't and then some nice man tried to fix my bike but there was a tear so it was unfixable. He tried though, so he gets good karma points. He does get it back to where it rolls, so I roll my bike along the rest of the way home! That took an hour and a half.

Four hours of my day were spent trying to get around. But on the bright side I now feel like I have seen the entire city of Brisbane, and since my muscles are already aching and shaky I know I got a workout!!

Another brightside, I feel like if I was ever going to hit that phase 2 freak out phase of "I hate Australia" it would have been today and I didn't. When most people get frustrated I feel like they lash out or cuss every inanimate object or human around them, well I just cry. Its soooo annoying because I'm not one of those super emotional cryers, but if I get mad its like the freaking flood gates opened! And I didn't want to do that, so I laughed. Also, dad this is where you get a shout out for being the worlds best dad! If it hadn't been for him, I might be in the outback being chased by a dingo.

While at work, I did my first euthanasia. I've assisted in hundreds, like hold the dog for the vet and shindigs but today he was like "Kim I'm just gonna let you take care of this while I go see the patient in room 1" I totally thought he was joking, he wasn't! I don't know if this is blog appropriate but I have always wondered how I would feel when I actually did it. Also, it wasn't a sick dog, just an aggressive biter. But I mean it was sad, of course I don't like to see dogs die but I just really wasn't very bothered by it, just part of the job? Okay, okay, maybe I'm morbid and heartless :) haha

Tonight the interns from Perth, Cairns, and Sydney are all coming into Brisbane so the next couple of days should be exciting!

OH and will I try biking to work again? YES because if I don't then the bike has won. And another fact about me is I'm stubborn and really like to win, So I will be biking to work again. Just not tomorrow!

Biscuits and Grits please

Today was fourth of July!

To celebrate this week my housemate and I are taking American goodies into work for our coworkers.

The feast includes:
Biscuits
Cheese Grits
Puppy Chow
Cheezeits
Hershey Chocolate
Quaker instant oatmeal
Cheeseburgers with a fried egg

My housemates mom sent her all these foods, or the ingredients necessary to make them, since they aren't sold here!
And to think my parents won't even send me a pair of shoes. (hint hint)

I missed America a lot today.

I say awkward things

Happy almost fourth of july!

I have two fun stories for you today. One involving bus police, the other jumping out of an airplane.

1. Bus Police
Riding to work one morning two police looking officers hop on. They go through with a scanner and scan everyone's card (I passed with flying colors!) Two people weren't as lucky though. One had a student card, without being able to present a form of student id. And the other a pension card (the equivalent of being on social security) without her proof either. They both got tickets. I was being incredibly nosy and turning around in my seat to watch it all play it! Some people hopped off the bus as soon as the police got on, apparently scamming the public transportation system is frowned upon here.

2. Jumping out of an airplane
Bright and early this morning we catch a bus up to Redcliffe. A beachy area about an hour north. We check in at the skydiving place then have four hours to kill until our jump time. So we go catch a nice breakfast and lay around on the beach all morning! Not too shabby of a way to start the day! Then at 12:00 we get suited up, a quick coaching on how to do this, sign all the paperwork about how they aren't responsible if we die, etc. and by 12:30 we are flying! All seven of us, plus our instructors, plus a camera man pile into this tiny plane and climb 14,000 feet into the air!

ohmygosh. I thought we were there when my instructor, Toby, was like no we are only at about 4000 feet. OH this is also where my title comes in. I am a nervous rambler and in my ramblings I said many awkward things that all came out in the worst possible way. But it was hilarious! Well next thing I know, I am front flipping out of this plane and free falling towards earth. I can't describe this experience to you, I am not even going to try. Just go do it. PLEASE!

When the parachute opens we just coast around, he lets me steer but I am too weak to actually turn the thing! He points out Brisbane, the islands, the Glass House mountains, oh and yes a few sharks in the ocean. The jump was over the ocean btw! Then we steer to the beach and land! Easy as pie and worth every penny! The DVD is being loaded to my facebook, so if you are so interested you can see it all for yourself!

I am approaching the halfway point of my summer! Oh goodness, it flies by but goes by so slow all at the same time! This upcoming weekend all the AustraLearn interns are coming into Brisbane for our own 4th of July celebrations, we are going surfing in the Gold Coast! So I will surely be posting about how I failed to stand up for more than ehhh maybe two seconds!

OH hows work huh? Yeah the "real" reason I am over here! haha currently I am rehabilitating a type of pigeon. He came in and won't fly but we can't find any reason why he wouldn't be able to. I spent a good hour trying to get him to fly in which all ended with him flopping to the ground. I might have made the situation worse?! haha I'm new to birds! But I'll see how he is on Monday!

Also, I am missing the fourth of July. I am so upset about this! It is my favorite holiday, besides Thanksgiving! And fireworks are totally illegal here, even sparklers. So please celebrate the fourth big time for me!

We can walk without a plan

Today I had a realization. I am so unbelievably lucky and could ask for nothing more! As I was sitting on the ferry on our way back from the island to the mainland, I was completely blown away by this thought. I probably should have realized this before now, and I have, but just not to this extent! I have the most amazing people in my life, people who made this summer happen, encouraged me to do this, are supporting me while i'm here, and will be waiting for me when I get back! From all the crazy trips I've taken to finally ending up in Australia I really am so fortunate! And all of you are the best! From the vets and techs who taught me everything I know so that I could even do this internship to the people who everytime I almost backed out, said no way! So to all the outrageously wonderful people out there, thank you!!

This weekend was mind blowing! Friday I went to work and got to work on a blue tongued lizard who although had a nasty run in with a car will be okay! And from there Ian (my boyfriend's dads friend who lives here..yeah its difficult to keep explaining to people!) picked me up from work and I went to his apartment where his wife and a few of their friends were popping a bottle of champagne and celebrating his wife's birthday! This was such a fun group of people and we did the whole wine and cheese thing and it ended up being two married couples and me! HA! I was a fifth wheel but I had a great time and I think they enjoyed themselves as well! They were so unbelievably nice to me and bought me dinner and even paid for my cab home! I had some fabulous conversations about business owning, the legal system here, the politics, the history of Australia! Gosh, I am such a nerd. I took notes! ah! How embarrassing of me :)

So they got me home around midnight and 5:30 am we are up again and catching a cab! Today we caught a ferry to Morton Island and wow this was an amazing day! We started the day hiring (renting) our snorkel gear, wetsuits, and kayaks. We kayaked through some intense aussie waves to a site with tons of shipwrecks. We docked the kayaks and swam out to the shipwrecks and snorkeled around them, and it was sooo spooky! I am a thrill seeker to the max but this was a bit creepy! Snorkeling around these rusty old ships with fish everywhere. My mind of course went to finding nemo when the sharks hang out around a wrecked ship! haha So after we got our fill of that we swam back to shore and kayaked back! This kayak trip was against the current and super intense.. my arms are very sore!

After that we hired paddleboards. Which is like a surf board and you take it out in the water and stand on it and use a paddle to get around. This required a lot of balance, therefore I clearly sucked at it! But I turned it into a version of knee boarding and had a blast! Finally, we went sand tobogganing! Which is sand boarding at the third largest sand island in the world! You had to climb up the sand mountain which was exhausting!! but then you basically just sled down this huge sand mountain and hike back up to do it again! But it was tons of fun! Then we caught the ferry back to Brisbane and rode along while the sun set and are all now settling in for a comfy night at home!

This has been a really long blog. Sorry! Pictures will be on facebook of this day soon!

Come Sail Away

I don't like thinking of titles and will very often name them the song currently playing on my itunes. now you know.

Today I go to work already knowing it was going to be a slow down but I was not prepared for this slow! Within the first hour of being there one of the vets was like "Kim, Oxford street isn't a far walk from here and its a great little place to walk around and shop if you want to go explore!" So I was like sure! I set off walking and chatting on the phone with my brother and all was wonderful!

ATTN: this paragraph might be a bit graphic, if you are eating this might gross you out :) haha I don't get grossed out very easily so I see no problem with posting this on my blog!
So I am walking and I see a cat lying on its side and here is how I can best capture my thought process: CAT! HEAD TRAUMA! ITS BREATHING (there was a deceptive gust of wind at this moment)! ITS EYE BALLS ARE POPPING OUT! IT HAS A COLLAR! I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! EUTHANASIA! GET A PULSE! ITS DEAD! ITS EYE BALLS ARE NOT IN ITS HEAD! I STILL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!

yes friends and family, there was a dead cat whose eyeballs while still attached, were hanging out of the sockets. I told you there was head trauma! Well I am now like, I work at a pet hospital, I want to be a vet, I can't just exactly walk away. So I get off the phone with my dear brother who listened to my entire not fluid thought process and call my pet hospital and they come with towels and we collect this poor kitty!

So naturally, I continue on my walk. I explore Oxford street which has nice shops and find a bookstore! I really enjoy bookstores. So I go in and peruse for an hour or so almost getting sucked into a few good books! Then I get a smoothie and head back to work! The aforementioned cat had a microchip so we contact the owner, who wants to come pick it up which we STRONGLY advise against but I didn't see how the rest of that dilemma played out. Quick side note: this is exactly why you should have your pets microchipped :)

After being back at work an hour so they suggest I go catch a movie. (There was literally nothing for anyone to do, two workers had already gone home. I just feel the need to include this so it doesn't sound like my coworkers just didn't want me around! haha) At this point, I was like if I can go catch a movie can I just go home? To which they say is okay and off I go! As soon as I step on my bus and say an enthusiastic HI to the driver, he turns around and goes "you said one word and I can tell you are not from around here" geeeeeeeeeez just when I thought I was getting better at fitting in!

But he was from Brazil and we had an interesting conversation about travels and instruments for the duration of the ride! The long talk about playing music made me realize, and I hate to admit this, but mom you were right I wish I hadn't quit the piano after 9 years!

So now I am home! I had big plans for a productive afternoon but now I am thinking a nap sounds mighty fine as well :)

Once In Your Life

So before I left for Australia , so many people told me how much of an experience this summer would be, how much I would "grow" and learn my "independence". Today on my run, I reflected on these statements. Am I growing? Learning independence? I don't really think so, I was pretty independent before this summer started but I do think I am learning about myself! Maybe freshman year of college was the ideal time to learn more about Kim but I was way too caught up in...well everything that your first year of college can be to learn about me! And then I got in a routine filled with the same people and the same things for three years. But now I am living in Australia with only the people I met in the LAX airport before boarding the plane! And I have learned a lot about myself!

I am a morning person (okay dad I know how much you don't believe me but trust me :) )
I really prefer to do things by myself
I see nothing wrong with sitting at home on a saturday night.
I am more creative in the kitchen than I ever thought possible.
I hate public transportation
I have had a blog with a group of friends for awhile now, and I realized by having this blog I neglected my own journaling, and now that I am journaling again I am realizing how much I enjoy that!
And so so much more!

I would like to touch on the cooking thing just because I am so proud and want to brag :) for the first week I was all about chicken nuggets and mac and cheese but with this new eat healthy be healthy kick I have been on I decided to start cooking more! I made homemade apples and cinnamon oatmeal. I added hot milk to granola and oatmeal, then diced and squeezed the juices out of a couple of apples and added cinnamon! SO DELICIOUS! And tonight I made homemade tsatzki (i so butchered that spelling) but its a cucumber dressing from Greece and made chicken wraps with baby spinach and tsatzki for dinner!

At work I did SKIN SUTURES!!! ahhhhh! okay I am slightly excited about this! The day started with me successfully placing three catheters on the first try! Then the doctor was like so kim wanna give stitches a go?! I scrubbed up with the surgeon and did the tissue layer and skin stitches after a spay! At first I was a little bit nervous and had a major adrenaline rush going but after a little bit I got super comfortable! I was laughing with the other nurses and surgeon in the room while doing a double throw, single throw interrupted stitch (haha I just had to throw in some lingo to emphasize my bragging) The surgeon approved and I got to talk to the owners at the end of the day about how the operation went and post op instructions!

tonight we are going to the ferris wheel :) There's a ferris wheel right on the river that is huge and we are hoping for great pictures then we are going to try our luck at a casino! Haha don't worry mom and dad I am only taking thirty dollars into that casino and leaving when it is gone! Then tomorrow morning after skype with the rentals a few of us are making a couple hour journey to the Steve Irwin Australian Zoo! Woo!! Should be a great time!

If you haven't been watching Miss TN you should watch the final night, this Saturday and cheer on the beautiful Chandler Lawson!

Cheers!

The 4 stages of Culture Shock.

During orientation we went through the four stages of culture shock so that we would be prepared when it happened to us, and how to handle it. I found this amusing and thought you might as well

Stage 1: "The Honeymoon Phase" the phase where you love everything and nothing could be better! This is the phase where you book future adventures for later in the summer so that when the less unpleasant phases hit, you have something positive to look forward to.

Stage 2: "The Freak Out" this phase can creep up on you or hit fast and hard. Usually a bad day or frustrating series of events set this phase off. This is where you all of a sudden hate everything Australian. The thing to do here is vent your head off to a fellow American. And not one who will try to say things like "you really just need to be patient" because that will only make you more angry. You want someone that will be like "yeah that sucks, etc" and let you just get it all out! This is also the time to treat yourself to something nice, like a shopping splurge or a sporting event!

Stage 3: "Acceptance" this is where you realize I am here for a while and you get a determination to essentially suck it up and get through this.

Stage 4: "Acclimation" where you have finally learned the differences of your culture verse this new one and accepted them and are so used to them that you are now fond of them and don't want to leave them .

We're all sitting around booking our trips for July so we are clearly still in a good phase, not that I would ever be honest on here if I was in the freak out phase anyways :) I'll save those rants for skype! haha



Today was a rough day at work, I handled more dead animals than live ones, if that says anything! But I came home and its one of our housemates 21st birthday so we had a big feast of Kangaroo meat and cake, so things are looking up already!

Here are more Aussie observations:
Potato, Banana, Tomato are all pronounced differently here.

My favorite pronunciation difference is aluminum. you know like the thing you might use when you are roasting veggies in your oven. Well here it is pronounced, (and this is my best attempt at phonetically spelling it): owl-u-min-eum. a lot of emphasis on that "u"

short skirt. long jacket.

My mom got onto me for almost going a week without blogging, I am glad I have such avid readers (cough cough Katie Strickland)

So I have officially been in Australia for two weeks! I feel like it has been so much longer though just because I have learned so much and gotten adjusted to this culture so quickly and thoroughly. But that is how Australia is, like aussies really want outsiders to "have a go" at everything Aussie! Also since I am actually working and not just doing touristy things everyday feeling like a part of the culture is a lot easier.

This weekend we had our first go with Brisbane night life and it is completely different than anything I have seen in America! We haven't really found pub type places yet so we have mostly been at clubs. The most entertaining thing is how the aussies dance! Picture someone doing dance dance revolution, but on the dance floor and speed it up by about 100%!! Also since the drinking age is 18 and up the other American girls I am with always have to first find out how old a guy is that they meet since we are all 21 and 22! I however, am a wonderful wing woman and find this just as amusing as watching my friends run away from the 18 year old boys! (sadly my wing woman skills dont include knowing how old the guy is)

Tomorrow is the Queen's birthday so we get the day off! woo!! I plan on going into the mall, maybe getting my silly leg checked out by a doctor! If you don't know the back story there, just know that I am a klutz but it will be ok :)

There is a lot going on at home this week, friends going through some pretty crazy stuff, birthdays, Lakeshore staff is three weeks in (I'm hearing GREAT things about yall btw) and things of that nature so I wish you all the best of luck with all that!! In Australia however this week is the Queensland vs. New South Wales rugby state of origin match (I am living in Queensland for those of you lacking in Aussie geography) so it will be pretty crazy to go out and watch that! Maybe I'll blog about it :)

until next time..

Dogs don't change

Wow where to even begin?!

Okay so on Saturday I caught a short flight now to Brisbane and Sarah, Chloe and myself found our bus and headed to the Minto Student House in Highgate Hill! We got all moved in and set up in our new home for the next ten weeks!

This house is sort of like a hostel but definitely nicer than the one in Cairns, we all have our own room for starters and there is a kitchen! But there are guests who come and go, not everyone stays as long term as we are. For this week we have some really friendly aussies who have showed us how to make coffee here (vital) and even cooked us a spaghetti and veal meal! But saturday night we caught some thai food then crashed early.

Sunday we decided to tackle the bus situation. We walked to the market where we got our bus passes and groceries! While trying to figure out which bus would get us the closest to Minto a friendly Aussie helps us out. We end up riding the bus with her for awhile since she lives on the same street as us! She's our age and lives in a house of about four other aussies and one french girls who is studying here. They had us over for a delicious dinner last night and then we went to the park on the river where they attempted to teach us how to skateboard! It was SO much fun, and good to start meeting people. We already have plans to hang out with them again :)

Today was our first day of work! After a rushed morning mostly due to all of our nerves finally exploding I caught my bus to the complete other side of town and made it to work ten minutes early! woot woot!

I had a great day at work!!! Within the first thirty minutes we are prepping dogs for surgery and placing catheters and one of the nurses was like well Kim, you want to have a go? Thats something I had to work at the pet hospital at home forever before I got to try after begging and pestering! haha We also had a baby ringtail possum brought in that I got to hold whenever I got bored! Pretty awesome. In the second part of the day things got really slow so I was helping stuff envelopes and as I was sitting there listening to the post op dogs wake up and seeing two techs try to wrestle a particularly wiggly dog into a hold for blood work I can't help but laugh. Because all day I had been stressing about how different everything was! The procedures, machines, techniques, etc. But the dogs don't change and that in itself was comforting and I really think I am going to like my job just based on that if nothing else!

I got slightly lost on the way home, took the wrong bus and got off at the wrong stop but I am here now! Time for the housemates to all catch up on our days!

Cheers

Finding Nemo

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" my room just had an explosion over our first australian critter! There are five of us in this room at the hostel and we are all just getting ready for bed and packing when one of the girls screams bloody murder (see above) we all think that something epically horrible has occurred and well it was a really gross cockroach crawling up her neck!

haha it was orange and striped so another roommate (shes from hawaii shes a trooper with the bugs) wraps it up in a towel to go throw it over the balcony. To top the evening off a british backpacker asked us to be quiet because he "was trying to party"?? hahaha oh how i love living in a hostel!

The last two days have been amazing!

First we went to the Rainforestation and there were just kangaroos and wallabees jumping around, no big deal?! We got to feed them and pet them and then go and hold a koala bear!!! Afterwards we went and saw an aboriginal show with dancing and then an aborigini man taught us spear throwing, didgeredoo playing, and best of all a lesson in how to throw a boomerang, I think I need some practice in that field though! Then after a brief tour of the rainforest in one of those trucks that can also be boats (chattanoogans you know what I am talking about!) we headed back to the hostel for a free afternoon.

Today we woke up super early and headed out to sea! We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef!! First we snorkeled around and words will never adequately describe the beauty of the reef. I don't know what was more amazing, the reef or the fish! I think I saw every fish that lives in the fish tank in Finding Nemo, and Dori as well! Things got real crazy when we did an introductory scuba diving course! After about ten minutes of training in the water one on one with an instructor they put the weights on you and let you go! We got to scuba around the reef for thirty minutes and not only is scuba diving super awesome and I would love to get certified but seeing even more of the reef and getting so close and swimming through its crevices was unbelievable, I mean as I am typing about it now I can't believe it! We then sailed to an island and snorkeled around some more reefs before sailing back to shore!

This Orientation program has been awesome! I feel a lot like its freshman year of college all over again and I just got done with an orientation weekend. Everyone is trying to meet everyone and random hangouts are always happening whether its a trip for some gelato or a pick up ultimate game! And now we are all about to head to our cities and start the real reason we are here, our internships!

I am so excited to go to Brisbane tomorrow! It will be nice to move into my actual residence so I can stop living out of a suitcase and then to explore the town that will house me for the next ten weeks!

Some neat observations about Australians thus far: they really do say "no worries mate" all the time! they love to see Americans trying typical aussie things and they call this "have a go". They have the best chinese and japanese food because it doesn't have to be imported as far but their american beers are super expensive! Who knew a Budweiser could cost so much?! They only work about four days a week and believe in a lot of vacation time, at least four weeks a year.

Also, I am learning to like seafood. I never thought I would see the day!

Tuesday? No thanks

Well I am here in Australia!!

The trek to get here began in Memphis with a little over an hour flight to Dallas. I love sitting by random people, actually I really don't like it at all but I love the stories that almost always come out of it. Memphis to Dallas was this super southern Mississippi girl who wanted to be an archeologist without going to College. So I just went to sleep instead of talking to her! Oh and also on this flight was another Germantown High 2008 grad that I hadn't seen since ummmm probably graduation day? So that was cool!

Dallas to LA 3 hours and 15 minutes. I was sitting next to this cool architect grad student from Hawaii. She cracked me up, but also sharing this row was this old Asian lady who talked us through the ENTIRE "six steps to salvation" and no matter how many times we told her yes we are Christians and yes I already own a bible she was very persistent! But nonetheless she was sweet and now I laugh about it.

In LA all the AustraLearn students met up in our obnoxiously orange tshirts and then endured the 17 hour flight to Sydney. Yes ladies and gentlemen it took 17 hours.. Talk about a bonding experience? Then we flew another three hours to Cairns (pronounced cans) and on those flights I was just next to fellow interns.

So the title of this blog. yeah I skipped Tuesday May 31st of the year 2011. Completely was never in it because of the time zone changes and the travel direction. Weird??? I thought so too. Try to wrap your mind around that one :)

I am going to LOVE Australia though! The lingo is just awesome and the culture and atmosphere is just that much better. Aussies work to live not live to work and think Americans are fools for always working so damn much (in their own words) Here, if you have a doctorate or PhD you still go by your first name even to strangers, no formal titles because that would put you above everyone else. Slightly communistic? maybe. but still I love it!

Tomorrow we go rainforesting then the next day scuba diving at the coral then fly out to each of our intern sites so it might be awhile before you all hear from me again. The scuba diving is an extra cost, but hey go big or go home right? :) Other than that this three day tourist extravaganza is all the interns just getting to tourist to the max before dividing up to really jumping into aussie culture!

G'day mates (bahahahaha i have a loooooong way to go before I can master the accent but I am working on it!)

I really just want to tell you about this crepe

So now we are in Crete but the journey that got us here is definitely blog worthy! four days in Athens and a group of twenty weary travelers was doomed to have its issues and it did!

Athens is a huge city, and not a very pretty city either. So we had our hotel drama to start off our time there and the shuttle system dictated what we could do everyday. Add on top of that that the people in Athens are just very busy, fast paced and not really even slightly interested in being friendly... People just got frustrated! But today the trip made a 180 degree change for the better!

We took the "fast ferry XII" to Crete and it really was like a mini cruise ship!! For seven hours at sea we played games, drank wine, took naps, and ate a delicious dinner! when we docked a tour guide picked us up and she was young and fun! Completely opposite of our last one. Tonight I learned that cheers in Greek is yamas! We are staying at galaxy hotel and I get wifi in the room instead of having to go to the lobby :) I really wish we had more than one day to explore this island!

I got to go to the national botanical garden of Greece and was on cloud nine! It was so beautiful with such unique flora, my plant taxonomy teacher would have been so proud!

On our exploring of Crete tonight we found a local crepe place and I got a nutella and strawberry one yumm!

Such a tourist

Hello all!

I can't believe it's been a week since I left Chattanooga! The rest of our stay in Delphi was outstanding. We found a European techno club which always provides a good laugh! The next day we went to the Delphi acropolis (yes there is more than one acropolis) and here was the temple of Apollo and Athena and the views were breathtaking! Greece is so mountainous! This one point in the trail we climbed down into an old original passageway that the Greeks would take to visit the oracle. It was a little claustrophobic but so neat to be climbing through the exact same tunnels! I also learned more about the actual life of an oracle, and it would absolutely suck to be an oracle!

Then back on the bus and to Athens we go! Here we hit a couple road bumps. A physicians conference bought out our rooms at the hotel we were supposed to be staying at so the travel agency "upgraded" us to a five star hotel. Now this sounds fine, but this new hotel is an hour's walk from downtown Athens instead of our original five minute walk and the shuttle stops at 430 pm. So after that time we are kinda stuck at the hotel. Taxis at night have a flat rate of 6 euro per person that then climbs and is supposedly mega expensive. But were making the best of it, I mean it is Greece! And when all else fails there is a pool on the roof of our hotel!!

Haha also seeing this group of College kids here is funny, we are so out of place! One coke costs 5 euros (that's about 7 American dollars) and breakfast isn't free either! So sorry dad im spending more than planned :)

We have three free days here to explore! Today we went to THE Acropolis! The one with the Parthenon!! Wow! Mind blowing! There was also the theatre of Dionysus (god of wine) so I was a fan of that one! Athens is a very dirty city, which kind of surprised me. A ton of graffiti and surprisingly Istanbul seemed to be a much more peaceful major city, if that oxymoron makes sense!

Random fact about Greek culture : meals are eaten late! Breakfast is served until ten lunch is at 130 or 2 and dinner not till like 9. Just a tid bit of Grecian culture for you!

Flea market tomorrow morning!! Sorry I haven't learned how to say bye in Greek yet, this language is difficult!

Greece 101

So I was delayed in posting! I know you all have been anxiously checking the blog but there were some technical difficulties, but I worked through them and alas!

So I am in Greece! It was quite the journey getting here, my favorite part being how some of our feet swelled up so much on the plane our sandals literally no longer fit! I already have cankles

So this just made them that much worse! Hahah anyways we spent our first three days in Nepflion which is just a small sea side town! From there we visited ancient Corinth, Sparta, and an old Byzantine community, or what remained of the ruins! I have really enjoyed seeing all the correlations between the ottoman empire from the Greek point of view and what I learned about the Turkish point of view while I was in turkey! Two completely different stories by the way!

We have a crazy tour guide! When we drive on the bus she never stops talking! Haha today we all sang Disney songs so she wouldn't talk, but she eventually won and told us her life story on a four hour bus ride, totally a loss for us!

I've learned that the Greeks are very proud people! It can be a little unfortunate because they do not want to mention any fault in their society. Exhibit a: there are strikes still happening and we even saw a protest but our tour guide doesn't want to talk about it, nor does she want to talk about the huge economic crisis of Greece last year and it would be interesting to ask a Greek how it affected everyone! But our bartender last night was really friendly and talked with us about life in Greece and that was really cool!

Also the Greeks are not very hospitable. Not that im complaining or expecting them to serve me hand and foot it's just surprising because any other country I have visited has been surprisingly hospitable. Over lunch today a group of us decided this must be because since this economy thrives off of tourism it it always swamped with tourists then there is really no need for hospitality because people will continue to visit just for the country's beauty? Maybe? Plus the people here are probably sick of tourists, I would be! I also had an interesting conversation with a Greek about how the Americans are not proud people because we have no history in comparison to the world, and the he asked me who is truly American? It was an intriguing conversation indeed!

Of course there is a lot of mythology everywhere we go! Which I enjoy a lot! We visited one place, Agamemnon's palace, which was super neat because we read about him in the Iliad my freshman year! I also tried to explain "Greek life" to a Greek. Now that was hilarious! He had seen shows like "Greek" on abc family and was super curious as to why americans would make a community called greek life. It was fun trying to explain it to him, which was difficult with all the secrets and such. So he just laughed and said we were dumb! Sounds like my brother..

Well we just got to Delphi so I might go exploring soon, but there is really nothing here it's just a pit stop on our way to Athens! I hope everyone is doing well!!