Maccas

Abstract:
Epi. Study group. Epi quiz. Guest lecturer. Rohan time. Flatmate time.

I had epi this morning. Usually it is on Tuesdays, but it was switched to Monday this week because it is the intensive week for one of the other classes and we wouldn't be able to book the tute rooms on Tuesday. It's the same reason why we won't have epi next week because Monday is a public holiday so we can't do it then. Class was good. We talked about study designs, which I had already known about thanks to Professor Nemeth at Hope.

I also talked to Ann-Maree, the course convenor for MPH and the main lecturer from epi even though we've always had guest lecturers. I sent her an email last night asking for career advice for post graduation and that I was thinking about doing the Master of Applied Epidemiology (MAE). It's a research program, so it's partially funded, only partially because I'm international and have to pay tuition. I set up a meeting to talk to her about it on the 19th since the next two weeks are crazy for NCEPH (National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health; where our lecturers for epi-type classes work). Hopefully it will work out because it sounds like an awesome opportunity and really what I want to do. I have found a love in epi! (oh and if you remember this plan that I had before but wasn't telling anyway, well it was teaching. I decided that I don't want to do that any more. I really only like tutoring maths, so teaching would have been bad. I can thank Big Improvements for showing me that I don't want to teach!)

After the tute, a bunch of us went to union court together. We all grabbed lunch and then ate together in the field in front of Chifley Library. It was nice to get to know some of our new coursemates. Then we went inside to a room that Janice booked for us. We had an online quiz to complete today, so we were doing some studying together before we took it. I stayed for the review, but then I left because I didn't bring my laptop with me.

The quiz was horrible. Not because it was hard, but because there was not enough time. I made a really stupid error in one of my calculation questions. I would have caught it if I had time to go back and check my work, but the time was up just as I finished answering the last question. On our facebook group, a bunch of other people were complaining too. Some people didn't even get to finish at all. It's the first time that they are doing the online quizzes, so I think that they just didn't know how long we need. I made sure to email Ann-Maree and tell her about it when I was replying to her email about meeting.

Then I went to a guest lecture and walked there with Jodie. The lecture was part of the MAE and NCEPH. The lecturer was a recently retired epidemiologist from Florida. He talked about his career and the path that he took. It was funny because he kept talking about his failures. I thought that it was pretty interesting. Again, I love epi!

When I left the lecture, I texted Rohan. Mondays are our date nights, but I delayed it because of the lecture. Since it takes about the same amount of time for me to walk back to Davey from where the lecture was as it does for Rohan to take a bus to the city, I just told him to wait until I got out of the lecture.

We mostly walked around the city. I wasn't hungry, so we didn't really go to eat. I got a sprite at Supabarn and then we walked around some more. Rohan was trying to get me to say maccas because I didn't want to. Over the summer, he said that he met a Canadian and they said it really funny. At that point, his entire family turned to me and wanted me to say it. I didn't want Rohan to make fun of me since I always feel dumb saying it, but eventually I gave in. Rohan said it didn't sound weird, but then again I did listen to him say it about 500 times before I would say it.

Then Rohan was hungry so we went to Zambreros, which is kind of like Chipotle in America, and he got nachos. Then we walked around some more and ended up in the Davey lobby because I was cold. It was really nice weather during the day, but it dropped at night and it was really windy. When we were in the lobby, Benedict came in and so he met Rohan.

Then Rohan had to leave. I went upstairs to my flat and talked to my flatmates for a while. Somehow I talked about all of my previous health issues, both physical and mental. I'm not really sure how that all came up. Then I went to my room where I talked to my parents and Rohan about possibly doing the MAE and now I'm writing my blog and going to bed because I'm exhausted!