1. “How you going?” – how are you? Similarly, Aussies also like to say “how’d you go last night?” meaning, how was it last night? Or how were you last night?
2. Brekky – short for breakfast. I initially thought this was a sms/text-message generation thing but apparently not. Many restaurants will advertise “BREKKY 5AM”. Including Hungry Jacks. For those of you that don’t know, Burger King is called Hungry Jacks here in Australia. It’s the same menu with the same fries but just called Hungry Jacks. I can differentiate the major fast-food restaurant solely from their fries. Probably not something to boast about. >_<
3. You’re alright – used often in response to an apology. For example, as I pass through the aisles to get to my seat I’ll say “pardon me” or “I’m sorry” and the Aussie that’s sitting will say “you’re alright!”
4. Tomato sauce. Tomato sauce refers to ketchup here. No such thing as ketchup. And you know how back home we can say to(MA)to or to(mae)to? Here it’s all to(MA)to. “You want some toMAto sauce with your fries?”
5. Take-away – no not subtractions. It refers to take-out food. “What’d you have for dinner last night?” “Oh, just some Chinese take-away”. Funny how one little word makes such a huge difference. And if you think about it “take-away” makes sense too. But it just doesn’t seem right.
6. Pike – to bail, to let-down, or to be a no-show. If someone is absent from a party… “where’s Emma?” “Oh, I think she’s piking.” “Why is she being such a piker?” … “I’m sorry I piked last Friday guys, I just had way too much work!”
7. Prank – to call and hang up. This is just the same as back home but used in slightly different circumstances. Let’s say I’ve met a new friend and want to exchange phone numbers. I’ll recite my number as she punches it into her phone. Once she’s done, she’ll offer to prank me. She’ll call me and then hang up so that I can get her number off of my call display. Make sense? We do that in Canada too but we don’t call that “pranking”.
8. Sausage sizzles – these are sausages or hot dogs served not in hot dog buns but rather just in plain ol’ white sliced bread. It’s got to be white. It can’t be whole wheat. I kid you not. Condiments? Just ketchup. *shakes head* i mean... toMAto sauce. I’ll put up a pic of a sausage sizzler the next time I have one.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Warning: funny yet potentially offensive post ahead. Read at your own discretion.
Some people will tell you that med school is all about memorizing. And one way of memorizing lists and groups of information is to make up mnemonics. I came across this mnemonic the other day.
So the mnemonic is on the left side. The right is the 12 pairs of cranial nerves. In order of course!
Ooh → Olfactory
Ooh → Optic
Ooh → Oculomotor
To → Trocochlear
Touch → Trigeminal
And → Abducens
Feel → Facial
Virgin → Vestibulocochlear
Girls’ → Glossopharyngeal
Vaginas → Vagus
And → Accessory
Hymen → Hypoglossal
Now, how are you going to remember whether each cranial nerve is that of a sensory or motor (or both) nerve?
With another lewd mnemonic of course! S = sensory, M = motor, B = both, sensory and motor
Some
Say
Money
Matters
But
My
Brother
Says
Big
Boobs
Matter
Most!
hahaha!
So the mnemonic is on the left side. The right is the 12 pairs of cranial nerves. In order of course!
Ooh → Olfactory
Ooh → Optic
Ooh → Oculomotor
To → Trocochlear
Touch → Trigeminal
And → Abducens
Feel → Facial
Virgin → Vestibulocochlear
Girls’ → Glossopharyngeal
Vaginas → Vagus
And → Accessory
Hymen → Hypoglossal
Now, how are you going to remember whether each cranial nerve is that of a sensory or motor (or both) nerve?
With another lewd mnemonic of course! S = sensory, M = motor, B = both, sensory and motor
Some
Say
Money
Matters
But
My
Brother
Says
Big
Boobs
Matter
Most!
hahaha!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Day well spent.
So Friday was a day-off for us. Don’t ask why. It just was. After our arduous but highly refreshing journey out to surfers’ last week, we decided that we needed to take another trip out to the coast. But this time we’d do it right. So we rented a car…
A pearly white Nissan Tida.
And yes. The steering wheel was indeed on the right side!
And guess who drove… none other than yours truly! It was a little awkward at first but I got the hang of it quite quickly. sure I turned the windshield wipers on a few times instead of the signal and was extra cautious of losing my side-view mirrors, but I think I did alright. By the end of the day, the Toronto driver in me was out in full strength and honking at other drivers that couldn’t stay in their lane. Darn tourists!
We had a fantastic little time. the sun was shining and the water was so incredibly warm.
The beach we went to was called Mooloolaba (pronounced: moo-lu-lu-ba). Apparently it’s derived from the Aboriginal word ‘mulu’ which means snapper fish. We were also told that this particular beach has the highest rate of spinal injuries in all of queensland (? or was it all of australia?). And I could see why. The waves are so strong and the water is not terribly deep. Just perfect for the waves to pick you up and then slam you into the ground!
all along the beach there are these little wholes in the sand with balls of sand all over the place. anyone want to venture a guess as to what they are?
they're crab holes!
For lunch we had ice cream and timtams. Ah, the diet of champions.
(matt stuffing his face with timtams).
As the sun went down, we decided to take some pictures…
Back to work!
A pearly white Nissan Tida.
And yes. The steering wheel was indeed on the right side!
And guess who drove… none other than yours truly! It was a little awkward at first but I got the hang of it quite quickly. sure I turned the windshield wipers on a few times instead of the signal and was extra cautious of losing my side-view mirrors, but I think I did alright. By the end of the day, the Toronto driver in me was out in full strength and honking at other drivers that couldn’t stay in their lane. Darn tourists!
We had a fantastic little time. the sun was shining and the water was so incredibly warm.
The beach we went to was called Mooloolaba (pronounced: moo-lu-lu-ba). Apparently it’s derived from the Aboriginal word ‘mulu’ which means snapper fish. We were also told that this particular beach has the highest rate of spinal injuries in all of queensland (? or was it all of australia?). And I could see why. The waves are so strong and the water is not terribly deep. Just perfect for the waves to pick you up and then slam you into the ground!
all along the beach there are these little wholes in the sand with balls of sand all over the place. anyone want to venture a guess as to what they are?
they're crab holes!
For lunch we had ice cream and timtams. Ah, the diet of champions.
(matt stuffing his face with timtams).
As the sun went down, we decided to take some pictures…
Back to work!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A lesson in how NOT to go to the gold coast.
So with a fairly light week behind us and a lighter week ahead of us, we decided to head to the beach.
We decided that we’d take public transit out to surfers’ as it should only take us about 1.5 hours. Boy, were we ever wrong.
We started boarding the bus from uni at 9am. As the bus made its way to the city it picked up all of our friends along the way. Well, at least it was SUPPOSED to pick everyone up. The bus was so packed by the time it got to the bus stop where 2 of our friends were waiting, it just kept driving. So we continued into the city and decided we’d meet the other 2 at the train station. When everyone finally got to the train station it was just after 10am. We had missed the express train to the gold coast. it left at 9:57am. The next one was at 10:27.
So we get on the 10:27 train. We’re about ¼ of the way there when the speakers over our heads crackle and come to life: “due to track work between station X and station Y, this train will be out of service at the next stop. Please board buses are outside of station X to connect to station Y. thank you.”
“What?!?!?”
So we get off the train, and board the bus.
We then get off the bus and back on the train.
The rest of the journey went along quite smoothly. We took the train into the gold coast and then took one last bus ride into surfers. We finally got there just before 1pm. What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour ride turned into one just under 4 hours!
But we were all in good spirits. The sun was out, the sand was soft and the surf was roaring.
After about 4 hours of roasting in the sun mixed in with some swimming and some surfing… That’s right! SURFING! ...
We decided to grab a bite to eat and then head home. We knew we had a long way to go. So we go back to where we got off the bus thinking that we’d just cross the street and catch the bus in the opposite direction to get back to the station. *shakes head* you didn’t think it’d be THAT easy did you???
After lots of walking and some seriously confused faces we found the bus that took us back to the train. Little did we know that this bus would be the longest bus ride EVER! I think we made about 12 right turns and about 47 left turns. lets just say that, it was not the express/direct bus to the station!
We get to the station and we jump on the train.
We get off the train at station Y and jump on the bus.
We take the bus from station Y to station X.
Jump off the bus and get back on the train at station X.
But wait, the bus driver drove too slow! So we missed the train from station X into the city and had to wait until the NEXT train.
We finally get into the city just after 9pm and catch the bus home. I finally got home just before 10pm. What was supposed to be a quick day at the beach turned out into a 13 hour affair. Whew!
But it wasn’t all bad though.
We had a great time at the beach, learned a few things and made some good friends...
1. next time, rent a car. It’s only about $39 to rent a car here in oz. split that 5 ways and you get $8/person. Round trip on public transit cost us $7.40. I think it’s definitely worth the extra 60 cents!
2. surfing is definitely not as easy as it seems.
3. despite the long unexpected delays and the frustration, at the end of the day, everyone had a smile on their faces and took it all in stride. Surprise, surprise… they were all Canadians!
We decided that we’d take public transit out to surfers’ as it should only take us about 1.5 hours. Boy, were we ever wrong.
We started boarding the bus from uni at 9am. As the bus made its way to the city it picked up all of our friends along the way. Well, at least it was SUPPOSED to pick everyone up. The bus was so packed by the time it got to the bus stop where 2 of our friends were waiting, it just kept driving. So we continued into the city and decided we’d meet the other 2 at the train station. When everyone finally got to the train station it was just after 10am. We had missed the express train to the gold coast. it left at 9:57am. The next one was at 10:27.
So we get on the 10:27 train. We’re about ¼ of the way there when the speakers over our heads crackle and come to life: “due to track work between station X and station Y, this train will be out of service at the next stop. Please board buses are outside of station X to connect to station Y. thank you.”
“What?!?!?”
So we get off the train, and board the bus.
We then get off the bus and back on the train.
The rest of the journey went along quite smoothly. We took the train into the gold coast and then took one last bus ride into surfers. We finally got there just before 1pm. What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour ride turned into one just under 4 hours!
But we were all in good spirits. The sun was out, the sand was soft and the surf was roaring.
After about 4 hours of roasting in the sun mixed in with some swimming and some surfing… That’s right! SURFING! ...
We decided to grab a bite to eat and then head home. We knew we had a long way to go. So we go back to where we got off the bus thinking that we’d just cross the street and catch the bus in the opposite direction to get back to the station. *shakes head* you didn’t think it’d be THAT easy did you???
After lots of walking and some seriously confused faces we found the bus that took us back to the train. Little did we know that this bus would be the longest bus ride EVER! I think we made about 12 right turns and about 47 left turns. lets just say that, it was not the express/direct bus to the station!
We get to the station and we jump on the train.
We get off the train at station Y and jump on the bus.
We take the bus from station Y to station X.
Jump off the bus and get back on the train at station X.
But wait, the bus driver drove too slow! So we missed the train from station X into the city and had to wait until the NEXT train.
We finally get into the city just after 9pm and catch the bus home. I finally got home just before 10pm. What was supposed to be a quick day at the beach turned out into a 13 hour affair. Whew!
But it wasn’t all bad though.
We had a great time at the beach, learned a few things and made some good friends...
1. next time, rent a car. It’s only about $39 to rent a car here in oz. split that 5 ways and you get $8/person. Round trip on public transit cost us $7.40. I think it’s definitely worth the extra 60 cents!
2. surfing is definitely not as easy as it seems.
3. despite the long unexpected delays and the frustration, at the end of the day, everyone had a smile on their faces and took it all in stride. Surprise, surprise… they were all Canadians!
Friday, March 2, 2007
give me my campus back!
Can you believe it’s march already? Wow. We’re already wrapping up the 6th week of the program… so far, I’m enjoying the program immensely. I love the PBL (problem-based learning) style of teaching and find it much easier to understand and grasp concepts this way. My PBL group is made up of 5 guys and 5 gals. Fortunately for us, we don’t seem to have a slacker in our group. Everyone is pretty hard working and each pull their own weight. Hmm… let’s see, it’s also a pretty good mix. There are 2 girls from Brunei studying here on scholarships from their local government; there is a former radiographer, a former nurse, one finished his masters in… in something. I can’t remember. 3 are recent grads from the Brisbane area and then of course you have the 2 canadians.
The other day we had a really great lecture. It was actually more of a symposium. This woman came in to share with us her experiences (& her initial reaction) of raising her son who has downs syndrome. Every now and then we have an amazing lecture like this buried among dozens of seemingly useless lectures. It was quite amazing. The lecture hall of 400 students went dead silent and you could easily hear a pin drop – the lecture hall is actually carpeted but you know what I mean!
Speaking of which… yes, the UQ Med 2010 cohort is a size of 400. FOUR HUNDRED. It is the single biggest class that has ever enrolled into a medical school in Australia. I would be very surprised is there was a bigger class anywhere else in the world. When I tell people this, the first response I get is shock. Next comes the question about the quality of teaching. I’m sure that from an administrative perspective it’s probably a HUGE nightmare. However, (so far anyway) I don’t feel that I’m missing out on anything because the class size is too big. The only times that we are together as a group of 400 is during lectures. In my opinion, it really doesn’t matter how big the size of a lecture is. once you get past about 50 students, you lose that closeness anyway. So to me a lecture of 150 or 200 students really isn’t that different from 400. Secondly, all of our most important stuff is done in our small PBL groups of 10. As a matter of fact, for our clinical coaching sessions (perhaps the most interesting/useful/important – this is where we’re matched up with a GP that takes us around the wards of the hospital. We learn how to interview patients, conduct physical examinations and really learn to apply our textbook knowledge to the ‘real world’) our PBL group is divided yet again to groups of 5. And this way, we get way more attention than we could possibly want/need.
Campus has just been a zoo this week. The undergrads started their semester as of Monday morning. The student population jumped from like 5,000 to about 35,000. There are line-ups everywhere. And it’s not just restricted to the campus… I went to go do some grocery shopping at the local supermarket and these undergrads had basically ransacked everything. There was only expensive brown bread with all sorts of fiber and what-not left, the brocolli was swept clean, there were no 3L jugs of 2% milk (I had to settle for the 2L jug – when I run out of milk this week, I’m not going to be such a happy camper and I’m going to blame it on these undergrads), and the mushrooms that were left were either tiny or squished… I’m going to have to figure out when coles (the name of the supermarket) gets their weekly shipments… I need to get there before all these 17 year olds do!
Anatomy labs are getting better. My head still goes blank when i see a whole cadaver but when looking at different sections of the body individually (like just the liver or just the heart) I can slowly feel my brain starting to work again. I’m getting better. I even held the liver during the last anatomy lab. It was a lot heavier than expected! Did you know that the liver accounts for roughly 2.5% of your body weight?
for those of you in north america, buried in snow: stay warm!
for the rest of yous, stay cool!
The other day we had a really great lecture. It was actually more of a symposium. This woman came in to share with us her experiences (& her initial reaction) of raising her son who has downs syndrome. Every now and then we have an amazing lecture like this buried among dozens of seemingly useless lectures. It was quite amazing. The lecture hall of 400 students went dead silent and you could easily hear a pin drop – the lecture hall is actually carpeted but you know what I mean!
Speaking of which… yes, the UQ Med 2010 cohort is a size of 400. FOUR HUNDRED. It is the single biggest class that has ever enrolled into a medical school in Australia. I would be very surprised is there was a bigger class anywhere else in the world. When I tell people this, the first response I get is shock. Next comes the question about the quality of teaching. I’m sure that from an administrative perspective it’s probably a HUGE nightmare. However, (so far anyway) I don’t feel that I’m missing out on anything because the class size is too big. The only times that we are together as a group of 400 is during lectures. In my opinion, it really doesn’t matter how big the size of a lecture is. once you get past about 50 students, you lose that closeness anyway. So to me a lecture of 150 or 200 students really isn’t that different from 400. Secondly, all of our most important stuff is done in our small PBL groups of 10. As a matter of fact, for our clinical coaching sessions (perhaps the most interesting/useful/important – this is where we’re matched up with a GP that takes us around the wards of the hospital. We learn how to interview patients, conduct physical examinations and really learn to apply our textbook knowledge to the ‘real world’) our PBL group is divided yet again to groups of 5. And this way, we get way more attention than we could possibly want/need.
Campus has just been a zoo this week. The undergrads started their semester as of Monday morning. The student population jumped from like 5,000 to about 35,000. There are line-ups everywhere. And it’s not just restricted to the campus… I went to go do some grocery shopping at the local supermarket and these undergrads had basically ransacked everything. There was only expensive brown bread with all sorts of fiber and what-not left, the brocolli was swept clean, there were no 3L jugs of 2% milk (I had to settle for the 2L jug – when I run out of milk this week, I’m not going to be such a happy camper and I’m going to blame it on these undergrads), and the mushrooms that were left were either tiny or squished… I’m going to have to figure out when coles (the name of the supermarket) gets their weekly shipments… I need to get there before all these 17 year olds do!
Anatomy labs are getting better. My head still goes blank when i see a whole cadaver but when looking at different sections of the body individually (like just the liver or just the heart) I can slowly feel my brain starting to work again. I’m getting better. I even held the liver during the last anatomy lab. It was a lot heavier than expected! Did you know that the liver accounts for roughly 2.5% of your body weight?
for those of you in north america, buried in snow: stay warm!
for the rest of yous, stay cool!
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