Chock-a-Block

Hi all! This week has been full of fun things, so I’m going to have to be a bit brief about them if I’m going to include them in this post and still get to bed at a decent hour.

Due to the fact that my supervisor was writing a huge grant until last Wednesday, I didn’t have to start work until then. Thus, I spent Monday and Tuesday of last week both battling a really bad cold and exploring Melbourne as best as I could. I visited the Melbourne Museum again to see their exhibit about the history of the city. I found it quite interesting, especially some of the old news reels they played about Melbourne in the 40’s and 50’s. There is also this really huge taxidermy racehorse called Pharr Lap who was a Melbourne champion who went to the US to compete in the big races there but ended up being poisoned. It’s a bit weird, this huge stuffed thing, but it’s apparently an important Melbourne exhibit. I also went shopping downtown (since winter sales are going on right now) at some of the cool stores there, but I hesitated to buy anything because I didn’t really have a good handle yet on what my budget is going to be like.

I also met my future housemate Katrina (Kat) at a really cool restaurant on Tuesday night. It’s called “Lentil As Anything,” and it’s a very hippie/funky place near where I’m going to be living in Brunswick. The idea of the restaurant is that there are no prices on any of the dishes—you pay what you feel like the meal is worth at the end and just deposit the money in a little box on the way out. Neat concept, and the food was quite good—lots of curries and Asian dishes.

On Wednesday, I started work. Apparently I’m one of 4 guys and 13 girls in my lab. Makes for nice tea breaks, because someone is always baking something and bringing it to work to share! I spent all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday reading papers. Routine starting-up-in-a-new-lab stuff. Wednesday night I went out with Alice (see post below) to Trivia Night at a local pub. I we got 2^nd place, and I helped to answer a few questions (what sport was invented at a YMCA in the 1800’s; what has a longer wavelength, red or violet light; and what is the capitol of Chile?). There was also a question where a man sang the lyrics to a popular song in operatic style (not to the tune of the song), and I got it! Clocks by Coldplay.

Thursday I went to a lunch at the Victorian Harvard Club in the PriceWaterhouseCoopers skyscraper where my big boss Peter Doherty gave a speech about “living in an evidence-based world” to a bunch of people. It was a very nice lunch, and I met some cool people there. The view from the building was fantastic.

That night I went to an ok wine tasting in Federation Square and tried to go see a movie at the Melbourne Film Festival, but it was sold out. I saw Mamma Mia instead (the only thing playing). Let’s just say that I’m glad that I had the wine beforehand.

On Friday I went out to lunch with my lab to a Yum Cha (Dim Sum) place in Chinatown to say goodbye to a lady who is leaving our lab to work at an institute across the street. It was very good, and I tried tripe for the first time (not bad… won’t be doing it again anytime soon). I also learned that my first research project will be about micro RNA expression in CD8+ T cells. After work, I went to a pub with some people from work and met some other people in the department in which I'm working. Everyone here is so nice; I’m very lucky.

Saturday I slept in, went to lunch in South Yarra (posh area) with a Wake Forest alumnus that works here in Melbourne (Andy), walked around the city, did some laundry, and went out to a bar called Cookie with some people from the lab to celebrate one of their birthdays. The place was really crowded, but it was fun.

Sunday I saw a final movie at the Melbourne Film Festival called Wendy and Lucy with Michelle Williams. It’s not a bad film if you are in a slow movie mood (lost in translation slow), and it takes place in Oregon! Afterwards I went out to dinner with Melbourne Ben and Andy and a friend of theirs and had the quintessential Australian pub dinner: Chicken parmesan. Apparently it’s really big here. It was good, although they serve it with French fries rather than pasta.

Yesterday and today have been really kind of slow, but I’m sure that things will kick into gear later in the week. I’m making a pecan pie for an international baking contest that our department is having Thursday (pecan pie is “exotic” and “international” here). I was going to do cornbread, but they don’t have cornmeal… just polenta… and I didn’t know how that would work out. Also, I’m also going to be moving into my house Saturday, so I’ll be purchasing a few essential items (such as a bed) and dealing with that later in the week. I might also go salsa dancing this weekend. Who knows? The adventures will continue…