Schickle

Almost there.

2009-04-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's a lot of nurses. . . Imagine the nursing care if someone passed out.

Graduation is T-minus 5 days. Five days until I'm done with my undergraduate career. And even though the job market sucks, and finances could be better, I am definitely taken back to the last day of school scene from Dazed and Confused.

I mean what is better than the last day of school? I mean, other than this.

I'm also planning on living in downtown Portland in the beautiful Broadway PSU dorm. Could there be anything better than a Summer in the City? There is Saturday Market, Powell's, the Waterfront, food, shops, shows, Flugtag. All of these right outside my front door. I will finally experience downtown Portland without the hassle of coming from NoPo and the associated hassle of parking, meters, and traffic. One of the best things I've seen was the Gay Pride Parade, I had no plans of attending, just happened to be downtown. There were queens, fetishists, and bull dykes, and I can't wait to see even more. Oh, I will have my finger on your pulse Portland, I commit to fully exploring your oddities.

Also, I will finally have the time to deepen the relationships with people I love. I have come to realize spending so much time at UP, has me far too focused on my career. I've never had a problem focusing on my personal life, and its time to make that a priority. I guess that's a pretty Gen Y statement, but a job is a means to an end and a job will never compare to the joy of loading up the hippie bus for Country Fair, or the excitement of seeing a child's face on arriving at camp.

Can't sleep.

2009-03-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

It's 12:45 pm, and I can't sleep. I work at 7:30, which gives me roughly 6 hours of potential sleep time. Fortunately, I know what's keeping me up. As the last few drops of college come toward my sweet lips, I have never felt more overwhelmed in my entire life. I mean I credit myself as being the type to 'roll with the punches' and take it easy, but the end of this semester is really getting out of hand.

The problem comes from the simple number of times I will be evaluated on my performance in the next short few weeks.

The biggest challenge is in the form of the Comprehensive ATI. This is the culmination of every sub-specialty studied in nursing, combined into one juggernaut test. The goal is a score of 75.3% or better, which indicates a 95% predicted probability of passing NCLEX. The thing that is so difficult for this exam is after working in the 'real-world' in my capstone, it is very difficult to return to the black and white, textbook way of looking at every situation. If I don't pass the exam on the first shot, there is one retake, and if I still don't pass, then I must take an incomplete and take a Kaplan-type review course ($400, paid by yours truly).
The next hurdle is the oral comprehensive--- You are led into a room with a row of nursing school faculty, and you are seated in a lonely chair as they give you a clinical situation, and you are evaluated on your responses. Luckily, I have been blessed with the gift of gab, so I intend on wooing the socks off everyone listening.
Maternal/Child ATI exams- placed oh so conveniently directly before pub crawl. These tests matter much less, but they still have an impact on my final grade.
Clinical- If I can get through this rotation aneurysm-free from not being able to give medication or very few clinical skills, it WILL be a miracle.
Maternal/Child Final exam- meh.
NCLEX-yeah, I hear it sucks.
Life- Moving out of Portland, finding a job, and readjusting to a new chapter in life, no big deal, right?

All of this is going down at a time, when Senioritis is particularly strong, and I really want to be enjoying the last bit of time with all the people I have taken 4 years getting to know. I have been amazed simply in the number of people who have come/are planning to visit in the next few weeks. I hope to maintain my good-natured humor as I try and really savor the time I have with special people.

Ok, I'm feeling better now, thanks for listening Internet!

Unicorn Cafe

2009-03-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

For the first day of adventure Rachael and I got an ambitious start at 11am. When getting a late start to the day there is only one establishment I think of: Little Red Bike Cafe. But since we were in a new city, it was time to try new things, so we walked to the Unicorn Cafe. Now I have a serious case of the snotty Portland attitude that we have THE BEST coffee shops, so I wasn't expecting much. But take a look for yourself:
Looks pretty great, doesn't it?

I ordered a latte and a Turkey Sandwich with basil, cheddar, and mayo. In the meantime I scoped out the place and fell in love with this sign:

I really, really liked the Flagon of latte, I definitely felt like a medieval knight drinking from the glass, I guess that falls into the Unicorn theme. The only problem was that it made the drink go tepid faster. The coffee was surprisingly good and even had a touch of latte art, not the easiest thing to do with that tall, narrow vessel.

The cantaloupe needs its own paragraph. It was EXCELLENT; sweet, juicy, and a little tangy. (Who knew Chicago had good produce.)

The thing that really let me down? NO KETCHUP!?!?!? The shock and horror. Everyone knows that I am the condiment king. And while I can't expect every establishment to cater to my desires. I feel like ketchup is mainstream enough condiment (even for the mid-west) for grilled cheese sandwiches. I mean it would certainly have me coming back more, and it has natural mellowing agents.

But the real problem came with the sandwich. I was expecting to be shot to the moon and only got to low orbit. By no means was the sandwich bad, it just didn't "bring the thunder". The bread was dry, and added little to the experience, the turkey was tasteless and left me wanting and in the end I felt like I could reproduce this in a dorm room.

Chicago Musings

2009-03-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have never lived in a city where riding public transportation was much of a necessity. Then I visited Chicago, which is perhaps one of the most car-unfriendly cities I have ever been. There is the issue of difficult parking, difficult navigation, snow, rain, wind, and of course hyper-aggressive pedestrians. Don't worry, I have become one of those pedestrians. Although the journey does seem to take longer, riding the 'L' has been a pleasurable experience. I am able to see a cross-section of the Chicago population, and it gives me time to muse during my favorite pastime, people-watching.

Here are some of my musings that I happened to jot down during my journey today:

- In the Pacific NW there is a constellation of different outdoor apparel brands. In Chicago there are two choices, one can either go classy with a P-coat (with the obligatory scarf, of course) or one can wear The North Face. It seems that Chicagoans are less inclined to try brands with aggressive sounding names such as: Mountain Hardwear, Mountainsmith, or Outdoor Research. (I love that in Oregon, the more hardcore the image of a brand is, the more hipster points one gets.)

- I have been astounded by the number of deaf people, or rather the number of people using sign language on the L. I have seen no fewer than 10 couples signing away. This kills my ability to eavesdrop (a skill I have honed over many years) and I KNOW they are talking about me.

- I have seen what I would guess is an average number of gay men/couples in a major city. But where the hell are all the lesbians? My friend told me that I may have to have my Gay-Dar recalibrated after living in the bastion of lesbianism that is Portland. It also has forced me to reconsider how I evaluate an establishment. In Portland I know a place is cool based on the number of lesbians there.

Vignettes

2009-02-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

I have come to realize in my nursing practice that the shortest moments with a patient are often the things that require the most reflection. The shortest phrases seem to capture entirely the essence of a situation.

I often tell people the reason I went into nursing was the fact that it was a people-oriented field. While this is certainly true, I have witnessed myself change in response to the environment of the Emergency Department. The complaints are often so exaggerated or elusive that it undermines how a nurse interacts and judges patients. It is in these small moments, or vignettes, that I have found myself realizing the intelligence, honesty, and sense of humor in patients. After all, the ED primarily sees people who are usually quite normal people, they just happened to "feel weird" after THC exposure.

And what a wonderful position to be able to see a such a large cross-section of society. It is truly a people-watcher's dream. Not only can we watch a person, but we find out the most intimate details: major surgeries, favorite Dog the Bounty Hunter episode, bowel & bladder habits, even sexual history. The problem is that frequently this gets condensed to "a 78-year old female with complaints of chest pain".

I hope to recapture some of the dignity of the wonderful people I have met, and share their stories. (Names have been changed, re:HIPAA)

- Melanie was an unusual patient with atrial fibrillation, but this wasn't new for her as she was over 6 feet tall, with legs jutting out from the end of the bed. She came to the ED with her husband, who at just over 5'8" made the couple seem all the more disjointed. As the care for his wife grew more acute, he seemed not to notice, absorbed in his laptop. But this wasn't due to disinterest, rather he possessed a loving aura, gently recounting her past medical history and filling in Melanie's gaps in stories. I was completely stuck by the simple comfort they had in each others presence, and quiet confidence.

When I asked her about whether she played sports, she commented that she always loved playing with the boys and how in high school she dated the kicker for the football team. He had all the glory of being on the team, even though she could kick the ball farther. Her even-handed confidence was absolutely awesome to behold. She told a story of being tackled particularly hard during a pick-up game. She was on her period and blood got all over the place. The boys were worried that they had really hurt her, but once she got them calmed down she simply said, "Now, you boys with sisters explain it to the naive ones, while I go change."

And the stories never stopped, she was like a ball of string. As the time passed, she slowly unwound a lifetime of stories. Never for the purpose of boasting or bragging, but simply to fill the silences while I started an IV, or took her vital signs.

As I learned more about the relationship with her husband I couldn't help but guess the number of people who have tried to achieve the love that they had for one another. A love so pure, and mature that even the prospect of being put to sleep and being shocked (cardioverted) only garnered a simple kiss and "I'll see you soon, love."

DTV switchover- A Really BIG Deal!

2009-01-27T08:54:00.001-08:00

This morning I perused the headlines about meaningful(ok, some more than others) topics such as the continued violence in Israel, the continuing case of Blagojevich, and Sam Adams sex life, when something caught my eye: "Senate Ok's 4-month delay to DTV switchover". Some notable soundbites include:

"Monday's Senate vote is a big victory for the Obama administration and
Democrats in Congress, who have been pushing for a delay amid growing
concerns that too many Americans won't be ready for the currently scheduled
Feb. 17 changeover."

"Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do," said Senate
Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., author of the bill to
push back the deadline. "I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready
to make this transition at this time."

I understand that after the election of the first African-American President, and one that speaks with such grand rhetoric that we have been hearing such bold language, but does the transition to digital TELEVISION require it?

Perhaps I'm just bitter because the transition effects me very little, much of the media I consume is on the internet, and the TV I do watch is cable. Then there is the incessant ads for the transitions, mostly hocking the government coupon for analog converters. I was very much looking forward to the end of these ads especially because the airspace freed up from TV would go to meaningful services such as an interoperable emergency communications bandwidth, which to me is FAR more important than TV.
The only that makes me laugh harder than the image of what might happen if some Americans didn't have TV for a few days is the fact that it was passed by a unanimous vote, if only more issues were a bipartisan issue (healthcare anyone?).

God Forbid Americans be without Real Housewives of Orange County for just one second.

Agggg Traffic.

2008-11-26T15:48:00.001-08:00

I haven't seen traffic this bad on the I-5 for a while, should make the trip home a little than longer than usual, pray I make Happy Hour!

Yeah, I'm kinda a big deal.

2008-11-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

This is me in the new University of Portland Commercial. I love how cheesy it is, but at least I knocked Justus off for token Murse of the School of Nursing.

The guy who directed it was ridiculous.. . .. "Can we put some more stuff on the monitor?" "I don't feel enough compassion coming from you guys."
I'm just glad he didn't make us suit up in isolation gear, that would have been attractive.

Halloween

2008-10-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Every year I am forced to make a decision regarding my halloween costume. And every year I find myself vacillating between several options that I'm sure will put me into the upper-echelons of awesome costumes. But what usually happens is a costume that is thrown together moments before the event that ends up looking like a too-ripe cadaver.

However, this year will be different.....I'm determined to put some thought into a costume that will enjoy the praise and accolades of my Nursing cohorts.

Here it is...

I know what you're thinking. What the hell is that? Its called a Pyxis machine.......Probably my favorite machine in the hospital....I mean it does dispense the medications.. In this case alcohol (sorry it would take too much work to fill the bins with an assortment of recreational substances)

What do you think?

the long stalemate

2008-03-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

Goodmorning April, how's it?

So as the month change, so do the dominant feelings. No longer am I concentrated on trudging through the dark days of Spring term and concerning myself with making appointments, having commitments and surviving another rotation. My view has changed to enjoying what little time I have left with John before graduation and getting moved out of this House and into one with much better karma and personalities.

The house started as a dream. An impossibly palatial house for college students, and as the days wind down I am excited to leave a surround myself with new things. I think about what could have been and know this summer will be magical.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel and focus on spending time with the people here I love instead of simply making appointments with them. Forcing them out of normal communication into really talking about the soul. I grow so weary of the scant encounters and want people who put as much into me as I put into them.

SYDNEY!

2006-11-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

Well Hello,

I made it to Sydney, but I must say that the first 2 hours of being here has been more intense than all my time in FREO. Talk about exhilerating being here. The flight was great, I sat next to a guy who was flying into Sydney for a day to do paint business. I got off the plane and started looking for Dominique and Nora who said that they would be looking for me, but alas I couldn't find them, and the airport was really dead. So I followed the mass of people to the baggage claim, found both my bags. Yes, we are cooking with gas now. It was nice, Qantas didn't even charge me for the extra bag. But talk about ridiculous, with the amount of baggage I have it looks ridiculous when I walk around, and the bags were definitely at their breaking point carrying the laptop, even though I was under the weight limits by 20 pounds.

Then the problem was finding how to get to the hostel. Looked for all the shuttles, but nothing was running because it was too late (10:30). There was a HUGE line of people getting cabs, so I guess that being my only option, I relented knowing it would be expensive. In my 20 years I have never ridden cabs as much as we have down here. So I told the cab driver that I needed to go to the Wake up! hostel, this guy has absolutely no idea what he was doing, so I took a deep breath and hoped for the best. We made small talk and he was having trouble understanding me, citing my thick accent. The first time I have ever had to deal with someone saying I have a thick accent, mumbles yes but never accent. By now I was thinking it was a little ridiculous that a cab driver that works at the airport didn't know where a hostel was, I mean didn;t he drop of people there all the time. So he is toying around with this gadget in the car that is supposed to tell him where everything is and tells me there is no reason to have a dispatch because all the technology was right there. YEAH RIGHT.......So he is messing around there still, and I come to find out, he only has been on this job for TWO WEEKS. Thank god I looked at a map of where the hostel was located, I mean briefly, But doing that saved me a ton of time, as he dropped me off in the area that I thought it was, just as I had resigned myself to a long night of searching, I look to my left and see the Wake up! logo. AWESOME.

WOW what a hostel. THis thing is like 8 stories tall, I walk in the front door, and all I could hear was the pulsating bass of the side bar. And this place is booked to the roof, the receptionist was turning people away left and right. I guess $35 is a reealy good rate for Sydney. I finally got checked in, only to find that my roommates were sleeping so, that kind of sucked for getting settled, I guess I'll just have to wait for the morning. SO now I am in the common area where they have like 24 nicer computers with huge screens, and an awesome TV, not to mention a sweet couch. This is going to be amazing for the next five days.

Sydney has a completely different feel from Freo. The streets are packed with people, at this time in Freak mantle, the only people out would be the kids and the drunkards. I'm very excited to walk around tomorrow and see whats around. Talk about being in the heart of it all.

Photos-Rottnest Island

2006-09-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Contentment

2006-09-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well I finally feel as if my life has come to some sense of homeostasis now. I know what I want and I feel like my relationships with others in the house are starting to look up. But my what a road it has been to get here. The drama has been impressive...........But the problem is I don;t feel safe poating what has happened, because it is far to difficult to explain everything in generalities, and who knows who will read this.........

Before I felt as though most of my day was trying so hard to be fun while making sure to avoid awkward situations with some people, but now I finally fell like I am living life again on my own terms.........On the positive side I developed my first black and white roll from the SLR, the pictures of people are great, the problem is getting people to agree to take pictures, they always love the finished product, but they feel so weird about taking the pictures, I'm excited to have my prey in a confined space in Broome.

Annie shows up on Thursday, I am way excited

I'm broke..

BIG weekend

2006-09-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

It's monday and I don't want to write my ethics paper, even though I have a SA-WEET outline, and the tutorial leader liked it.

I guess I should start with last Wednesday. We decided that instead of having two community meals that week, it would be great just to have one big huge lavish event. The menu was pasta with pesto, salad, garlic bread..........and of course WINE. The silly thing down here is that it is legal to go out and drink, it is legal to come home drunk, but it is not ok to drink in the dorm(per Notre Dome rules).......that is unless it is approved. The girls wanted to make it a special night, so everyone was required to dress up. I think judging from the picture at right that Jenny and I pretty much win........so hot the robot

We also had several guests come over all the Resident Supervisors from the two other dorms. Can we say ridiculous?

So everyone had a lovely time and of course the wine was flowing (the red was much better than the white.....which wasn't chilled grrrrr I guess one can;t complain when it was pretty much the cheapest stuff). But it was nice because everyone stayed around and hung out instead of running off to do homework. So I was slightly buzzed and then Julianne tells me that we need to go do the History project that was due Friday, basically I was no help for the first 20 minutes as I was spooning her roommate Jenny, and Lauren on the floor.........But I made up for it later.

Friday we turned in the project and I was asked to go to a tea for the wife of the new US Ambassador to Western Australia. Oh how I love forced social situations. I mean we all stood around in our little groups and the adults would come over and talk for like 5 minutes and then they were off to other people. Basically all the college kids stood around and ate the super fancy food like a pack of animals. (but I really do love bagels with cream cheese and salmon, yum!)

After the tea was the briefing for the Broome trip, which I am officially SUPER-stoked for. Finally, a chance to go experince the Outback, after watching it on animal shows for years. Basically everything we see can kill us. From spiders, to snakes, to baby sharks, to stone fish. But it will be great to be out away from everything and actually be there with an aboriginal family, that basically knows EVERYTHING about how to survive out there. The guy who was leading the orientation was Simon Adams, the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, who has the most wonderful sense of bitter british humor, mixed with slapstick college-kid humor. My favorite passage goes like this, "Now, I've promised one of my former students to always say this before you go to Broome. If you think that you are of the more chesty type.......then it is wise to perhaps pack a sports bra for the 4-wheel drive to the campsite........................................STRAP THAT LOAD DOWN."

Friday night a big group of us went out to Caesar's and Italian food place that was gorgeous with ceilings that looked like the night sky and unique walls. We ate with the Port Lodge boys and it was really good food, except it seemed a little weird to be eating Chicken Parmesan with "chips" (French Fries). Its like a cross-cultural experiment gone wrong. The Italians were ambushed by McDonalds.

We came home and watched Shakespeare in Love......Basically every movie we watch down here is a chick flick, but its so rewarding to just feel the same things with all the girls and kick back, instead of runninng at mach 3.

Saturday we went to the Aquarium. Which was exciting to be up at 8 am on a weekend. We got to see sharks being fed and a ton of different poisonous fish, and the infamous poisonous Stingrays. Afterwards we came home and I took a 3 hour nap.

Wait for installment number two of the BIG weekend....

"In just seven days......and six long nights......I can make you a man"

2006-09-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of my favorite things about being away from America is the ability to consciously censor what sort of media I consume. Granted, there is a lot of information about America coming from Australian press, but its certainly not the same as being in the states.

I was looking around on the itunes (because its impossible to use any file-sharing programs) and I found a show called 30 days, done by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who did "Super-Size Me." The premise of the show is that they take two people who are diametrically opposed on a certain issue and force them to live together for 30 days. Some of the shows have been of a pro-choice woman living in a christian maternity home, a vigilante border patroler living with a family of illegal immigrants, and Morgan himself trying to live on minimum wage. Being a huge documentary film fan, I was pretty interested to see what he could do on the small screen. Would it be nearly as powerful as what he did for the movies? So I download an episode and .............BAM! Before I know it I was seriously hooked. There is nothing like finding TV with a brain. I mean we have become so accoustomed to dribble (Fox News anyone?) that when we do find good tv, it is that much more powerful.

After watching seasons 1 and 2 I am amazed at the brevity and power that these vignettes provide. My favorite technique that he uses is the animated voice-over clips that explain the issue more fully. But what is truly is amazing is the people that he finds for the show are the most talented and gorgeous humans. Of particular note is Armida in the illegal immigration episode in which she poignantly attacks the minuteman's view of illegal immigration, to the point that he barely has an argument when he leaves. I wish I could say that it did well in changing everyone's opinion. When I looked for the website that was created for her raising money to go to college, it had been taken down, and a google search returned the most bigoted hate sites calling for her deportation.

The itunes reviews of the show are usually good, but a good portion of the comments point out the liberal bias of the show, while others claim that it attacks traditionalism and by nature has a liberal slant. To me I don;t really care as I am liberal, and it is amazing to have some good liberal exposure of issues, without being propoganda.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/morganspurlock/
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/30days/main.html
PLEASE watch, I know you will enjoy it!

Love me tender

2006-09-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Let's see what has been going on down in the land of Australia. I guess the most fulfilling thing for me personally was when I went out to the Sail and Anchor with Patty (an environmental science major, with a quirky sense of humor, and life-long attendee of catholic school) and sarah (a biology major, more organized than mom, super religious to the point that she uses the word "crud" instead of crap) (PS> it is super funny to see a girl who has never touched a drop of alcohol, get buzzed off a glass of wine) anyway............we were sitting in the sail and anchor a bar with a second floor veranda that looks out on the cap strip (yeah, bars are pretty freaking nice here) We (patty and I) had been endeavoring to get this dark beer called "dogbater" or something to that nature...........but the bar stopped accepting overseas driver;s licenses, because they had been busted for underagers the week before, so we had to walk all the way back to the dorm to get our passports. Then we went and got our beer, which was pretty tasty (must be the NW blood, I just found out that Oregon has more microbreweries per capita than Germany, YAY go us) But we were chilling in the red room and these two girls came up and sat next to us.......Eventually we started talking, and they could tell we were americans (Damn the proper NW accent with out an accent) but we got into politics, and we all agreed that George W. and John Howard (the PM of Australia) were "dickheads" as they so elegantly put it. Needless to say we hit it off well. The thing about it down here is that not everyone goes to Uni, so the ones that do are rich, and have this certain air of I'm better than you. (generalization, I know) But its really off-putting, Like I seriously have had a major lacking of good conversations with australians. Which is annoying because that is why I came down here. So they were neat, and spunky and we exchanged numbers and have plans to go to Thai food on Tuesday.

Speaking of thai food, I think I am addicted.........why is curry so freaking good? Today I went out to lunch with Meghan (a fellow nursing major, and redhead, perhaps my favorite baptist, as in she never is brainwashed and is the most confident and determined person) It was a little cafe like 2 blocks away, and for $8 I can get a coconut curry soup with chicken, that is delightful. Fremantle has this culture of sidewalk eating, that is so european and beautiful.

Today we went to watch the Dockers (the local Australian Footy Team play) 41,000 people in attendance with Freo winning by something like 150 to 60. I sat in front of a family from Notre Dame US, doing an exchange over here, he is the accounting teacher and they all live in south Bend. It was quite a fn game to watch, and see the pride that these people have,. not to mention the outright skill that Footy players have, to be able to run for 2 hours.

Holy SHIT

2006-08-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (yes I know I need to update more) I was out shopping with Mia, Jenny, and Julianne, we were shopping for the Back to Uni party at the Harbourside, basically a big dance club and sports bar. As we were walking back from the shops to get ready we ran into Shannon, Courtney and Dominique, who ambivalently told us that a guy had fallen off our roof and impaled himself.

Needless to say we quickly returned to Cleo's to see what was going on. High Street was completely blocked off with a firetruck and police cars. Apparently what happened is that there were two guys on the roof on meth. The three boys were in their room and they heard to large booms, but didn;t think much of it as people had been working on our roof that week. So they had been jumping between the different buildings, when one of them slipped and fell off the roof. He impaled himself on the climb-proof fence, so that his thigh was on the fence. His friend tried to pull him off, but he had to wait for the firemen to come to get him off the fence.

F this proxy!

2006-08-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Sadly it does not seem as though I will be able to post pictures with any of my blogs. So far I have tried uploading to Facebook, myspace, and photobucket, and this blog. So far my success rate is about 6/100 attempts. ALL I have to say is f this proxy.

I mean the internet is great down here as far as raw transfer speeds, but other than that it really sucks with the uploading and trying to transfer anything like bittorrent etc. So I guess everyone will have to wait on the pictures.

Just so you understand...

2006-08-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

For some of you it has been nearly four months since I have talked to you. For others it has been much more recently. First off, I am living in a place called Hotel Cleopatra in Fremantle, Western Australia. This is a suburb of Perth, in the South Western corner of Australia. There are 20 people living here all from UP and over 50% are nursing students and I am the only male nurse ;-). There are three other boys living down here and its an interesting set up, as I have to walk through their room to get to mine, so far it has been fine, except sometimes when I open the door in the morning I am greeted by some man meat as the boys are changing.

It is a really good community, partly because we have to rely on everyone in the dorm to entertain us. Most of the Study Abroad kids stick to their own group and there are no dorms on campus so it isn't like we can hang out anywhere else. The designated hangout have been the Orient a bar right across the street Pizza on high street (lol) and Gloria Jean's a coffee shop several blocks away. Coffee is so weird here. The sizes are super small and they really don't like much milk in it, or as I discovered in one case liquor. Its so wonderful to be making our own food down here, and its HOT. There is a local market that we go to on Sunday when they are starting to lower prices. We can get a ton of produce for $5, maybe less if you flirt with the shop owners. As soon as they start to lower prices, it gets crazy. The aisles are filled with people and there is one notorious asian woman who screams “One dollar, one dollar, all produce one dollar!!!!!” Then we make the traditional run to Coles, which is the WinCO down here. But that can be an experience finding things as refried beans are in the gourmet aisle and none of the brands are the same. For example, Kraft makes just about everything, and there is no Campbell’s soup, its Heinz. And let’s not even talk about mayonnaise, they have the worst mayonnaise ever. It is amazing to cook food in the kitchen as everyone is in there. The kitchen isn’t half bad, we even have stainless countertops. Twice a week we have community dinners where a few people volunteer to make the meal. I made the first meal of yakisoba noodles, dim sums, and brownies with ice cream. Even though we had two huge pans of noodles left they were finished off the next day.

There are several other schools down here with study abroad programs. Notre Dame has a contingency of about 40 and St. John's / St. Ben's from Minnesota also have a large contingency of about 30 kids. And there are the occasional Sacred Heart or Iona kid. As a group we are definitely closest to the St. John's / St. Ben's crowd. They live about a block away in P&O hotel and sometimes we see them playing wine pong from our windows. Our play has definitely been decreased as Fr. Art ( the director of Study Abroad) is coming by this week. No one is excited to see him. Classes seem to be a lot easier here. Instead of going three times a week for one hour. We go to class for two hours and have a 1 hour tutorial. Many people have a day off a week. The workload is usually One big paper or two and a final exam. Grades are also really weird. 80%-100% is a high distinction, 70-80 is a distinction 60-70 Is a credit and lower than that is a fail. It creates a big problem in how the grades are changed back to UP. The friendliness from other students varies a lot. Some when you introduce yourself at the start of class just look at you like what are you doing, while others when they hear the American accent will jump at the chance to talk to you. In my ethics tutorial only like 3 other students had done the journal assignment, and in other classes I notice a huge malaise towards actually doing the work. It definitely reminds me a lot of Portland State as everyone is a commuter student. Some drive an hour to go to school, and many still live at home. But that isn’t to say that there isn’t a ton to do with the uni. There is the friendship bowl coming up which is a competition between study abroad kids and domestic students in a trifecta of touch American football, aussie rules footy, and soccer. They have pilates classes, trips to the zoo, and an outing to a Footy game. Footy is huge down here the paper has a section of ¼ of the paper committed to following the happenings and scandals involving the teams. This weekend we are having a back to uni party at one of the local bars (Harbourside) and there is free beer and pizza. Can you imagine a party like that at UP? The theme is pirates, so everyone is getting dressed up.

Cleo’s is in a great location we are two blocks away from the beach and walking distance from everything we need. There is a street known as the Café Strip about five blocks away that is where all the trendy restaurants are, the market and all the “good” night clubs. We went out last Saturday and the streets were FILLED with people. The lines to get into the bars were several blocks long and the aussies were out in their clubbing best. I can’t even describe what everyone wears. The girls are wearing next to nothing and the boys all look like metro’s. We have a great time going out. Everyone sticks together and we see all the other study abroad kids in the bars.

So much more to tell. But it won’t come in this form again, I set up a blog : http://cellardoor747.blogspot.com/ Go there and read about what is going on down here on a more personal level.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone especially Doug, and Krista as I don’t have their email handy.

Much Love,

Kyle

Hello

2006-08-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

There's more to come!