On sixteen hours

Sixteen hours of hazy sleep and moments of lucidity allow me to arrive in Taiwan.

Sixteen hours allows me to wake up without an alarm at 4 am.

Sixteen hours allows me to watch my fill of BPL on a big screen TV, possibly live, with Chinese commentary. And also reruns of any Yankees game from the last few years where the winning pitcher was Chien-Ming Wang. Kind of entertaining sometimes.

Sixteen hours affords me a 180 NT ($6 US) steak meal in one of the nicest food courts ever. And Mos Burger and GOOD stinky tofu and all that good stuff you can only get in Asia.

Sixteen hours gives me tons and tons of my favourite fruit, the likes of which I have not yet seen on the North American continent, nor have I even managed to figure out its proper English name. (Wikipedia informs me that it has many common names, the most notable being "wax apple" while I do recognise its French name, "jamalac")

Sixteen hours has more than doubled the number of plaid/flannel shirts I own. This may or may not be an obsession. Lina, I think I miss shopping with you.

Sixteen hours lets me see how my cousins have grown (almost taller than me now!) since last summer, how my grandparents have aged, and my family for the first time since Thanksgiving.

Sixteen hours means I am sitting at the airport, waiting for my plane on New Year's Day after a night of watching fireworks, and the West Coast has not yet counted down.

I am sad today because for the first time, I am the first to leave (usually my dad leaves first for work). Thanks a lot, school. I get to miss watching my little cousin compete in the Taipei citywide track meet, miss seeing my cousins from Australia, who arrive in two days, and a whole bunch of other stuff. In less than sixteen hours (in fact, -4 hours if you factor in the time difference), I will be at home in California again.

And so those sixteen hours, that is my winter break.

On knowing my velocity

If you didn't get it, the title is a reference to the Dave Eggers book, You Shall Know Our Velocity!

December is here, mini-block has started, and my few blissful days at home have slipped away so quickly. Meanwhile, we are trudging on with Genetics and Pharmacology, and while class technically ends at 12 every day, I have been home at 4 both Monday and today. Four hours of lecture have never gone by so slowly.

But it's only three weeks. In three weeks, I will be flying in a plane at the speed of...goodness knows what, all the way to Taipei where I will spend two blissful weeks before coming back and starting all over again.

My velocity? Something between a snail's pace and the speed of a jet plane. Instead of studying today, I decided that today was chilly enough to get a cup of hot tea, curl up in bed, and read a good book. And then, go work out for an hour and half, something that I haven't done since I got here. Variable velocity, then.

On 5 things that peeve me

Disclaimer: I am in no way saying that I am above any of these things, simply that they peeve me. Hypocrisy is an innate trait in most human beings.

In no particular order:

05. Squished groceries. Thank you, bagger person, but if you don't mind, I'll take the extra few minutes to bag my own groceries so that my bread and fruit aren't smushed by those canned goods you are so delicately tossing onto them.

04. People who are too nice. Not those who are genuinely nice, but those people who are overly nice in an attempt to...goodness knows what, but generally people can tell if you're being fake nice, so just stop it!

03. Drunk homeless people in the ER. One of the main deterrents for me to ever become an ER doc. Watching those doctors deal with the same drunks with the patience that they can show (in front of the patient at least) is amazing. Same thing goes for the crazies.

02. Overly lovey-dovey pictures/albums or drunk/high pictures/albums on facebook. No problems with what you're doing, but what are you trying to accomplish by posting these pictures on facebook? Lina will laugh and we will call each other cynics, but seriously!

01. Nomenclature about most scientific things. Not that I could come up with a better system, but seriously, CD28, CD44, CD-goodness-knows-what is the best you could come up with? I'd rather memorise the LFAs and the ICAMs. Life was so much easier back in O-chem when there was an actual system and logical reasoning behind the names!

This was originally going to be a list of 10, but I ran out of things to hate on! How is that possible?

On things that make me happy

10 things that always make me smile, in no particular order:

10. Getting letters in the mail (except bills, although I don't usually get any of those in the mail anymore)

09. Random dance sessions in class, in the car, in my room, wherever

08. Saturday morning Skype dates with Mickis and Sina

07. Bad chick flicks/rom coms that I love and fall asleep to

06. A book (good or trashy novel), a hot cup of tea, and comfortable place to curl up

05. Long conversations (phone or otherwise) with friends that I may or may not remember the content of the next time (the conversations, not the friends)

04. Good music that makes me think of certain scenes in movies or TV shows or what not

03. Dreaming about all the food I want to eat

02. Little kids that are happy or are hurt but still smile (not whiny or annoying or crying or bratty little kids; those give me a headache)

01. Knowing that no matter what, I still have someone to turn to or family to fall back on

I think I like lists of things like this. They are also rather handy procrastination tools.

On being one year older, but none the wiser

So, I have turned 22. I honestly believe, that age is just a number (for now, at least). I don't know how old I feel because I don't know what I'm supposed to feel at any given age.

I just wanted to say here how thankful I am for all the friends, family, and classmates that helped me celebrate today. You guys are so awesome!

And one last note: I got some candy from a "birthday fairy" this year. Last year, I got a box of chocolates from "Obama". How very odd. I'd like to know who this mythical creature is, please! Not Obama of course, he's not mythical. In any case, thank you!

And if I didn't get around to thanking you personally for making my birthday a better day, I'm thanking you here. Thanks, guys! :)

On 10 things I think

10. It's test day tomorrow, yet again. It seems I will be taking tests for the rest of my life.

09. Vertical Horizon's Everything You Want has got to be one of the most depressing and yet most soothing songs to listen to. Ever.

08. 10 thoughts are seriously much too few. My mind is racing, no thanks to that test.

07. Why didn't I pay more attention in MCB 130? It would probably make my life so much easier right now. Thanks a lot, undergraduate me.

06. Last night's SNL was much better than any of the others this season to date. TheRock Obama was entertaining, if not a little crass.

05. Still on last night's SNL, Shakira is one freakily flexible person. No matter how she sings, what comparisons you want to draw to Beyonce, she is an amazing dancer. Or contortionist. However you want to view it.

04. I'm so glad the Bears won yesterday, and I was there to see it. And the Yankees won last night. If only the Giants had won today, that would have been one of the most satisfying sports weekends in a while.

03. Am I supposed to be this unhappy with medical school? Or at least be this burnt out already? Should I be satisfied with just passing? Shouldn't I strive to be the best, always? I feel so un-motivated. Horrible.

02. Please don't make fun of me when I freak out. It's just what I do to get whatever it is out of my system. I will be fine and happy and normal in a few minutes.

01. Oh, this weather is just ridiculous. It's so fickle. Would it kill the sky to just give me a little rain? If it's going to be this gloomy, it might as well be pouring.

On being a horrible child

My parents are having the house remodelled. Or whatever it is they are doing to the house. My one concern is whether or not it will be done in time for Thanksgiving. Not because I'm worried about where I am to stay for those few days. Not because I'm worried about the weather and the possible myriad of problems of remodelling a house in bad weather. Not because of the financial problems that could possibly arise.

No. My worry is that my mother will not have full command over a kitchen. Because I need good food when I go home. What's more, I'm hoping that she will have had time to make me an enormous amount of food to bring back to San Diego. Yes, my concern is over whether or not I will be fed, and whether or not I will be able to bring enough food back to feed me for another few weeks.

I am a horrible child.

On a crappy week

So, Cal loses twice, I do horribly (yes, I still passed, but still horrible) on that one BHD exam, I am slightly sick, and my arm is still horribly sore from the dumb flu shot. Who needs flu shots anyway? It's been two days!

Oh, but I'm just being melodramatic, it wasn't actually that crappy. I went to shadow at a 911 dispatch call centre, which was cool, and I attended the vascular symposium today. Most of it went over my head, but it was still kind of cool.

Oh, and tomorrow I have a paramedic ride-along. For 12 hours. Yipee?

On my super awesome class

The very first exam of my medical school career is tomorrow. And once again, instead of studying, I am blogging. It seems that the best way to make sure I update my blog is to make sure that I have studying from which to divert myself.

What prompted this particular diversion was a quick glance at my calendar, which is very colourful and cluttered full of different things. What stuck out today was my 911 dispatch observation shift, which is why I plan to tell you about my super awesome class.

Yes, my super awesome class. We have electives at school, and one of my electives is emergency medicine. We have suture labs, go on paramedic ride-alongs, observe 911 dispatch centres, and of course shadow and try to do the basic vital sign check-ups on people who come into the ER.

So now that I'm in med school...

I'm busy and important. Well, just the former, not the latter. In fact, I am pretty much a nobody, the bottom of the totem pole, the little minnow (are minnows smaller? or guppies?). But yes, busy. And here I am, writing a blog entry while I sit with Bora and Carolyn, "studying" in the library. Basically, I have very little time to do anything. And this is not Berkeley, nor is it Sydney, where I can run errands on my feet, and know that no matter where I have to go, it's a matter of a few minutes. Here, no matter where I go, it is to be a project. I have to drive, and even if things are "close," they are not really that close.

That doesn't bother me too much, because I guess my whole class is in the same boat as I am. It's very nice to be here, though, to be surrounded by people who are in all the same classes, doing all the same kinds of studying as you are. Not that it wasn't great to be exposed to all sorts of other stuff at Berkeley and in Sydney, but it's just different. For example, when I was looking at the elective courses that were being offered--everything just looked so interesting and intriguing, not like in undergrad where you had to take some of everything and there were just classes that you knew you wouldn't be able to stand. I guess this means I'm in the right place, if not intelligence-wise, at least interest-wise.

My apartment is nice and new, everything is very white (including all my furniture, which is how I want it to be) and very IKEA (shoutout here to my favourite Swede, Mickis!). Only my room feels like home, the rest of my apartment feels somewhat foreign, but I presume I'll get used to it soon. Meanwhile, I'm starting to eat much healthier than I used to, which is weird but not really. I still buy all the junk food that I like to eat, but for the most part it sits in an unopened pantry, probably because I'm running around all the time and am barely at home enough to just sit and snack. I forsee days where I sit at home and just gorge myself on these foods. Potentially dangerous.

But, onto med school itself. It's really different here, as I assumed it would be, from undergrad. My class has just 125? 126? people, and I can pretty honestly say that I haven't been in a class that small since...elementary school? Even our middle school classes were bigger than this, no? Not to mention high school classes, or just the MCB class at Cal.

So that in itself is quite odd. The other thing is that the class structure is also kind of like elementary school. Weird to compare it in this way, but it's true. Very rarely since the end of elementary school have I sat in the same classroom for more than three hours at a time. Well, here we do. We get different professors to come in and lecture (and they are amazing, but I'll get to that later), but we sit in our chairs and hang out in the same lecture hall for most of the day until lunch time, and then some days we come back and sit for more lectures, or we have electives or labs or something of the sort.

Plus, they super-coddle you. Not in a bad way, of course, but the staff here is so involved in making sure that everything is okay and you're all right that it's actually a little unnerving. I'm just really not used to it, after the impersonal-ness that is Berkeley. Of course, I love Berkeley and I feel it wasn't a bad thing for me then, but this is kind of awesome. Everything is there for me if I need it, and if I don't, well, it's there anyway.

And the professors and deans are amazing. They really love what they're doing and you can tell. Plus, they really know their stuff. Lectures are just...different. There's also a difference in lecture style. Of course, we're still learning all the basics of biochemistry and molecular bio and stuff, but there's a different focus, I think. In undergrad we were pounded with the facts, what is and what isn't, the details of everything. The facts and details are important here, too, but we're also presented with a slightly different focus - on what goes wrong in a disease state versus a normal functional state. It kind of puts things in perspective.

Anyways, just chillin' in the library. Should probably get back to the books, seeing as our first test, just 2 short weeks into the quarter is coming up (gosh, quarters are just so much shorter than semesters).

Been on hiatus...

...if it wasn't apparent already.

Will start posting again when I actually do noteworthy things, aside from the mundane moving-to-San-Diego business and starting-medical-school line of stuff.

Just kidding. I'll start posting in a week or two, it's just that I've just been home and lazy. The two tend to go together.

Obviously, am missing Australia and my girls. But, looking forward to starting over in San Diego! Anxious-excited (a la Parent Trap), of course.

On Lazy Summer Days

I've been home from Australia for just over a week now, and I'm just now getting over my jetlag. It isn't that I haven't been doing anything or seeing anyone, it's just that when it's time to go to bed, I stay awake and stump around in my room (or clean until 4 in the morning, which has happened...twice), watch movies, and then fall asleep two hours before everyone else is getting up. And then I remain in bed for another five hours and get up around 11 or noon.

And then I try and be normal for the rest of the day before having trouble falling asleep again.

For the most part, though, this last week and a half has been very pleasant. I've seen lots of movies, hung out with friends, spent time with the family and extended family, and been productive in terms of cleaning up the war zone that was my room after emptying two suitcases of stuff from Australia into what was already somewhat problematic from my half-moved-back-in state after moving out of Berkeley.

So now what am I doing?

On the Road

The title of this post is courtesy of Jack Kerouac. And, more specifically, we're on the road up the East Coast to Cairns, where I will leave the rest of the group, and fly back to Sydney, and then home!

Tonight, it is the Fourth of July here in Australia, and I am just a little too tired to do a full-out celebration of any sort, but I will wish everyone here a "Happy Fourth of July"! In the meantime, I'll just quickly list what we've been doing for the past seven days since we left Sydney.

Mickis, Sina, Jente, and I left Sydney last Friday, flying into Hervey Bay, where we spent a day before going to Fraser Island. Home of the dingoes and 4WD's. We camped there for two nights before coming back to the mainland, and another day at Hervey Bay. Then, we continued on a night bus up to Airlie Beach, where I am at the moment.

We spent two hours, literally, in Airlie Beach, at a hostel using their shower to wash the overnight bus off before jumping on a boat to go around the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsunday Islands were absolutely GORGEOUS, and the stars, moon, and sun are absolutely glorious from here. Along with all that, I saw a whale, turtles, and went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Three times. Yeah!

And we got back yesterday, with a little party last night, and then lazily enjoyed Airlie Beach today. Very lazily.

As for tomorrow, we're leaving for Cairns on a bus, and then we shall see what to do when we get there.

Until I come home, then!

On My Last Week(end) in Sydney

So, rewind just a bit, and we have the last few days in Sydney. First, though, I'm going to say "Hi!" to Mickis's mom :).Ahem, so we played squash for the first time, instructed by our resident squash pro Miss Mikaela Annerling, who looks oh-so-professional with those long "walking but running" strides. Squash is super fun, and if I can make myself do it, I would certainly like to try playing again in San Diego or something. Maybe they have squash instructors or something.

The squash pro, the clumsy tennis head jerk

The tennis pro-turned squash player, the all-around rookie

Then, we went to watch a play at the Sydney Opera House. This particular one was called "When the Rain Stops Falling," and it was kind of awkward because there was this very long monologue at the beginning, and at one point, I just didn't know if it would ever end. It ended up being a very interesting play, but yeah, for a few moments, I was just really scared. Either way, we finally watched something at the Opera House, and that's one more thing we can cross off the list.

We took the bus home, but before we could, we had a mini cry-session because the fact that we're going to be leaving Sydney and everyone soon was a bit overwhelming. As you can see, though, we got it together enough at the end to get a nice picture in.

On Friday night, we went to ivy for the last time! We finally made it up to the pool-level lounge, which was super fancy and all, but of course, we made it back to the regular dance floor at the end of the night. And even made a Macca's run across the street at the end, just like old times :). I will forever associate Kings of Leon with this trip in Australia.

Poolside at ivy, and the pool at ivy itself!

Saturday night, we had dinner with Jente and Marco at Jente's place, with a delicious prawn pasta dish before going out with Mickis's friends from class. An interesting/awkward night for several reasons we will not go into here, but fun nevertheless.

And then, one day, I cut Mickis's hair. In the midst of an afternoon of eating and reading gossip magazines and then making a shake-and-bake mud cake and eating almost the whole thing. Yum, yay, and yum.

Mickis's hair cut, and our mud cake leftovers...

Thus endeth my time in Sydney. Of course, after a few more goodbyes and a final and what not. But I'll have to write about those when I'm home home for good.

On News from New Zealand

We'll fast forward a bit and then jump back to the last days in Sydney in a few days, since I have yet to compile all the pictures from those outings...

So, I went to New Zealand! Christchurch and the Canterbury region for the most part. This here is the aptly named Cathedral Square, and I lived across the street from this very nice and quaint centre of town. I arrived in the afternoon and proceeded to climb to the top of the tour there, where you can see the whole of the city centre and get a nice glimpse of some of the mountains around it, along with large amounts of green.

Christchurch is a relatively new city, some 150 years old or so, so the city planning was really extensive, including lots of "green areas," this being the time when the British were really keen on parks and what not (I'm trying to remember my Brit history class, but I can't really - sorry Professor Vernon!). They took it to an extreme--there are over 900 parks in Christchurch, and one of them, Hagley Park, is the same size as the entire CBD (Central Business District)!

Anyways, Cathedral Square itself has a large chess board, some interesting "sculptures," and is the basis of the "cultural precinct." There's an art gallery nearby (also part of this cultural precinct), but it wasn't that impressive. I did like the water installation outside, though, with the city lights being reflected. As much as we try, I feel like the "newer" countries can't really compete with Old Europe in terms of art culture. I am biased, of course, because I can't really seem to appreciate modern art, with only a few exceptions.

But I digress. The second day, I went skiing on Mt. Hutt, which is a good hour away from Christchurch, and then about another 45 minutes up a very scary unpaved access road to the actual base of the ski field. But, this was one of the first (not from a car) glimpses of the Southern Alps! Quite pretty, no?

Southern Alps of New Zealand, Trail map at the summit of Mt. Hutt

Mt. Hutt itself is not a very big skifield, and I didn't think the summit felt as high as it does at home in Lake Tahoe, and if you look at the trail map, it looks super extensive, but only a few runs (3 from the summit) were open, and only the centre area was open. The conditions were okay (I like them kind of icy), but they had the snow making machines on, so there would be patches with large amounts of power that made it inconsistent, and it would make me slow down too much or whatever.

Anyways, a few views from the summit. The sign, I just found really funny. I don't know why, but there were a bunch of these posted everywhere, with the little rocket-thingys in different colours. And more of the Southern Alps.

As for this, I think some car might've driven off the access road when we were leaving the ski field in the afternoon. They stopped everyone and told them the conditions were extremely icy, and then on the way down the mountain, there were a bunch of ambulances and a rescue helicopter, along with a bunch of people in rescue gear looking down the side of the mountain. I hope everyone was okay!

The next day, I went on a Lord of the Rings Tour! Laugh all you want, I like those movies (The Return of the King in particular), and so I wanted to see some sights! On the way there, we ran into a traffic jam--New Zealand style! Look at the onslaught of cows being herded by men in orange on these mini-tractors! They were next to us, in front of us, beside us, so many cows! Then again, New Zealand is the land of the cows/sheep, right? Oh, and kiwis, of course. I didn't get to see any, though.

New Zealand traffic jam!

A nice view from the Rakaia Gorge, looking up at the Southern Alps. We stopped for morning tea at this little town called Staveley, which is literally just a general store and a school for all I could see, and then a few farms scattered here and there. I tried this "World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago" drink called Lemon & Paeroa, which was actually pretty darned good, much better than your normal Sprite or 7up. I think I'll crave it every once in a while when I get home.

Rakaia Gorge, L & P mmmm

Then, we drove into the mountains, stopping at this place called Lake Clearwater. There are a bunch of vacation homes up there (196 or something), built years and years ago when this guy donated the land up in the mountains for people to build their vacation homes, on a few conditions: 1) you can't live in it year-round, 2) you must generate your own power, and 3) you must have your own water tank. These vacation homes were pretty small, and pretty old. Apparently they're passed down in families, and since you can't build anymore, they're very hard to come by. But look at that view! I wouldn't mind spending a few weekends up in the mountains with that view, even if it's freezing cold. Notice how part of the lake has frozen, so you can't see all the reflection of the mountains anymore.

And then, there we were! Our first glimpse at the "rocky knoll, surrounded by mountains, with a silver river winding by," which is a paraphrase of the Tolkien description of Edoras. The red arrow indicates Mt. Sunday, which is where the Golden Hall was built. Unfortunately, because of the terms of the Tolkien Estate, no movie locations still have the buildings, with the exception of the Shire, I think. So we'll use our imagination, and screenshots from the movie?

Closer to Mt. Sunday, I am wielding the sword of Isildor, a la Viggo Mortensen. Tehehe. It's a beautiful place, no?

In front of Mt. Sunday, wielding the sword, and Mt. Sunday in all its glory

We hiked to the top of Mt. Sunday ("hiked" is an extreme term, it was more like 20 minutes of vigorous walking), where we could see a rusty old nail sticking out of a stone. And that was all that was left of the Golden Hall. That pile of stones, incidentally, was where the guard tower where they had to light that big signal fire to see if they could get the other kingdoms of man to join in the war. And the top of the mountain had this old surveyor's marker, that was pre-graffitied for me. How kind of them.

Site of the signal fire, graffiti for me!

To get to Mt. Sunday and to get back to the other side of the river, we had to drive through shallow rivers and some frozen little ponds. A four wheel drive experience, for sure. Made me feel like I was going to fly out of my chair, and very thankful for seat belts.

I went skiing again on Saturday, and then prepared to leave on Sunday. In order to give a proper farewell to Christchurch, I got up super early, before the sun rose, and went out to take fun pictures. Here I am running around on the chess board; it was so early that they hadn't let the pieces be taken out yet.

Running around like a little kid, how juvenile.

If Stockholm is so depressing that their cars commit suicide, then what does this mean for Christchurch? I don't know about you, but it looks like that car is trying to dance and getting its legs/wheels tangled together. Perhaps Christchurch is such a happy city that its cars try to dance? Or what about this one? That bike doesn't seem happy. Yeah, I would make a horrible comedian, I should leave the jokes to Jon Stewart.

Dancing cars? Murderous bikes?

This is the Arts Centre, which is the original site of a Christchurch College or something like that. Now they have a market where you can pick up some crafts, a theatre, and some museums and stuff. Oh, and a Fudge Cottage. Good thing I was there early so they hadn't opened yet.

Arts Centre

Then I took a walk through the Christchurch Botanical Garden, which is rather gloomy, seeing as it's winter and all. So I used my camera to "warm" it up a bit. Doesn't it look so much more inviting and all? It's the Avon River, another homage to the good ol' Brits.

The Avon River, "Warming it up"

And then, there was Victoria Square, which had this very interesting water fountain, and this Maori totem pole-ish thing.

Cool water fountain, Totem Pole

All in all, a very nice trip. A bit cold, but then again, it's winter, no?

'Til next time!

On Vivid, Birthdays, and Walks

I have just spent my final weekend in Sydney, and the countdown begins! One weekend in New Zealand, and then two travelling up the East Coast, one more day in Sydney, and then I'll be home. It's really rather scary to think how much time has already passed, and how little time I have left.

This picture is of a Toblerone bar I saw at Target. I have never seen one of these Toblerone & on & on & on & on...'s at home, so I had to take a picture. Imagine eating one of those...yum...

As for this last weekend, due to the bulk of my camera, when going out in these situations, I very rarely bring my camera, so I will get those pictures from my wonderful friends and put up a post about it later.

Therefore, here is the first week of June. We went to see Vivid (or rather, viv[d], as they promote it), which is a huge light show they put up on the Opera House and other locations throughout the Rocks around Circular Quay. A nice walk around Circular Quay took us from the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Side) to the Opera House. My camera isn't the best, and I don't have the steadiest of hands for long exposure times, so forgive the blur.

There are lots of pictures of Viv[d] online, so if you would like to see more (better) pictures, look them up on Google! Still, I have mixed feelings about this whole light-show-on-the-opera-house business. It looks really cool, but it seems to take away from the pristine-ness of the white Opera House. That being said, the Opera House isn't really that white anyways, so I guess it's just an image I have in my head. I suppose a valid comparison would be the light show on the Eiffel Tower; I understand people have mixed feelings on that, too. It just makes it look a little...cheap, I guess. Whatever, you don't care what I think about Vivid anyway.

Then, it was Marco's birthday! We had a great night at the Bank Hotel in Newtown, where Mr. Fancy-pants Marco had a VIP section :) There was this delicious strawberry and pear caipiroska that was just like candy. Yum yum.

Sina pre-partying, in my shirt; The birthday boy and I, Mickis on the phone with Oscar outside (aww!)

Then, over the next few days, Mickis and I took a couple of morning walks. The first day we walked to the Harbour Bridge and over it, then back, and the second day we went to Sydney Park. I don't have pictures from the second day, but here are some pictures from the Harbour Bridge. See how we are walking across it, so the angle of the Opera House changes? :)

Like how Mickis is wearing her scarf around her waist? It's going to be a new fashion trend. On the other hand, the bridge is eating my head.

And then, the Swedish Meatballs! Köttbullar is the proper term, I believe, but is pronounced something like "schottbulla". Mickis made them for us and her whole house. Delicious :) I actually don't remember what IKEA's taste like, but these were super tasty, and we ate them with some kind of gravy, jam, and potatoes.

So, the last week and this week have been spent: watching a play at the Opera House, saying goodbye to Ivy, our favourite Friday night place, hanging out with friends, and studying for my single final. I actually do have to study because I went to a grand total of 4 of those lectures. Thanks, archaeology. I am leaving for New Zealand tomorrow, for a few days of skiing and other assorted fun, so I will post when I get back!