Schoolday

                I had another anatomy lab today!  This time we dissected spiny dogfish, which are like mini sharks!  I haven’t done a full dissection since sophomore year of high school, so it was awesome to nerd out like this!  The fish was injected with all kinds of brightly-colored dyes too, so it looked awesome.  I took some pictures, both for study reference and because I’m a nerd, so if you’re squeamish about fish body parts, maybe skip past the next 2 pictures.

                Okay, you're good, the fish guts are gone.  This dissection was actually really fun, especially since I have a great partner.  I randomly sat next to this Australian girl on the first day, and we partnered up again today to work on the dogfish. We work together really well, which makes this class so much easier.

                I also remembered to take pictures of my lab this time!  Believe it or not, I didn’t even cover every skeleton they have on display there.

                

                So all of my morning was spent in lab.  The 3 hours went by really fast, because what we're doing is actually interesting and fun!  After lab I was starving and so excited for lunch, until I saw what lunch was.

                Yes, this is real food.  It’s apparently taro cake that somehow had shrimp in it…?  I’m not sure.  It didn’t taste particularly awful, but the look and the squishy potatoey texture made it hard to stomach.  Only two people at my table finished the whole thing off of willpower, and with the use of a lot of ketchup and barbecue sauce.  I wasn't so brave, so after a few bites ended up having toast.

                Since toast is such a traditional Australian thing, I decided to be adventurous today and try a tiiiiny bit of vegemite.

                That's it.  That little brown streak at the top.  Yeah, I’m a baby, but you gotta start small with these things.  I’m also a white girl, so I took a selfie while eating it.

                I didn’t have much on the bread, but turns out it’s actually not that bad!  I couldn’t taste too much of it, but I might actually kind of like it!  Maybe I’ll try more next time.

                After a bunch of homework and video chatting with some nerds from home, there was also a little party in International House tonight!  My first friend I made here, Mayuko, had her birthday today!  We blew up a ton of balloons, threw them into her room (which is always open, because people trust each other that much here,) then hid in there and surprised her with cake and champagne!  The rest of the night was spent playing games, eating cake, and drinking bad boxed wine (called “goon” in Australia.)

                Then, of course, was the International House tradition of “ponding.”  Remember the pictures I posted of the inside of my building?  There’s a shallow, square pond in the middle of the courtyard with a couple fish and a lot of murky goo in it.  It’s a tradition at this house on someone’s birthday to dunk them in that pond.  Mayuko was really not keen on it at first, but we finally convinced her.

                She then chased everyone around giving them slimy hugs for the next half hour.

                So I had a pretty good day today.  Tomorrow I’ll be in class from 9am to 5pm, so that will be just great.  Please message me so I don’t die in class.

                Goodnight!