chemistry

Application form for credit standing from previous study

I love chemistry. Yes, you heard me right. Chemistry is interesting to me.

But attending chemistry lecture, tutorial and laboratory is not.

So far the chemistry lecturer has taught me nothing new. The subject itself has taken so much of my time. The official workload includes an one hour tutorial class starting at 0800, a 3 hour laboratory work every week, an average of 3 hours lecture per week and a group project involving the production of a poster. And then there are numerous pre-lab quizzes and tutorial worksheets. It is draining too much of my energy and time.

I tried to get exemption from this subject using my environmental engineering and waste water engineering modules which I took for my first degree. Unfortunately, I was told the course syllabus did not match.

ARRRRRGH.

32 cm long ice cream

It has been freaking hot these few days in Sydney. My eyes popped out when I saw this 32 cm long ice cream while walking down the street.

There is a trick eating this ice cream though. I need to keep the ice cream vertical and not shake it while licking it, or else it will topple into a big mess.

nice quote

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway. We might as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

by Earl Nightingale

CatCat

After 30 days of quarantine at Easter Creek Quarantine Station, catcat can finally reunite with me again.

The only sad thing was that when I flipped through her medical notes, catcat was classified as obese and overweight by the quarantine station's resident vet. Hmmm... Fat is such an ugly word.

free time

Postal Office

Redfern Police Station

One thing good about not needing to be in the office from 9 to 5 is the amount of free time I have during office hour.

For some personal reasons, I needed to get my finger prints done with qualified professional and sent registered overseas post. Hence I travelled to Redfern to get all these done on a Friday morning when I had no class.

It feels good to have so much free time on hand, occasionally. However, I do feel underemployed most of the times.

mail order

Just got my online purchase for my vet study related stuff. Inside the cardboard box are my overalls, lab coat, eye protection gear, wellies, safety boots and dissection kit. They are not cheap but they are necessities for my study and so I bought them.

On the other hand, I am not getting any textbooks or reference books yet. I learnt this trick from my favourite tutor. He once told us that it is far more important to choose a book that "talks" to us, a book we will read and use, than to get a recommended book that is boring and dry. And then there is always the library. I think this is the best advice. Usually when I search for the recommended text in the library, I end up looking at other books lying on the same shelf with colourful pictures and written in comprehensible English instead.

my notes

This picture only captures a portion of my notes for my first semester. Modules I am taking are cell biology, animal husbandry, veterinary anatomy and physiology, and chemistry.

This is a far cry from the modules I took for my last degree - which consisted of mainly structural analysis, steel design and concrete technology. Therefore it is a completely new learning curve for me and right now, I am facing the steepest slope. I feel like a turtle looking at a gigantic mountain.

Well, if there's a will, there's a way. All I need is courage, wisdom, perseverance and physical strength. Lugging around all these notes in the uni campus is no easy task, especially for a 30 yo woman, I can assure you.

I survived my first week in Sydney University

In my first week in Sydney, I managed to find a place to stay, opened 2 bank accounts, visited the cat at the Eastern Creek Quarantine Station, got my wireless Internet connection, purchased my new blackberry Bold 9700 plus the relevant plan and, most importantly, survived the first week of orientation, lectures and tutorials.

It is refreshing to be a student again. Mixing with a bunch of 19 yo school leavers is fun. Of course I am not the only mature age student in the faculty. In fact, there is a PhD student in our class.

Just a note as I would like to reassure my readers that I would update more frequently from this week onwards as last week was pretty hectic for me. Please stay tune.