So people have been asking “where is my
next blog” and I guess it has been a while since I last updated you all with
what I’ve been doing, which isn’t that exciting compared to the last blogs from
mum and dad’s visit. I can’t believe that was over a month ago now that they
were here and that I am one month closer to returning home, which I know some
of you are pretty pleased about! So seeing as it has been so long since my last
post, I apologise in advanced because this may be a long one!
The departure of mum and dad meant the end
of my hols too and time to go back to work. I’ve actually been fairly busy
since being back and found myself quite a few things to do (hence why there has
been a lack of blog posts). For the first couple of weeks I was helping Cian
out with a lot of data entry of blood results onto the computer, which was
fairly time consuming with scrolls and scrolls of paper everywhere, but pretty
easy. I then had a week where I was able to get into the lab and help out Mel
with her testing. This was a good experience because Mel’s from the
biomechanics side of the department which gave me the opportunity to go down
into the dungeon of the biomechanics lab and get some experience to see and use
the amazing facilities and equipment they have in there. Mel was looking at the
technique and accuracy of females hitting a hockey ball and her testing
required players to be marked up with reflective dots which are picked up by
vicon motion analysis cameras to allow 3D analysis of the movement, which
essentially means the person can be remodelled and rebuilt on the screen to
scale to allow precise, 3D calculations of the movement, such as joint angles.
Just a little bit of extra information for those interested, this same equipment
is actually used to make video games and 3D animation movies. Her testing
mostly involved club players however a few VIS athletes were tested during the
week where they were also filmed using the high speed video camera and it was
good to see this equipment also in use and see the feedback of the super slow
mo footage it provides. For the last few weeks I have been doing some more data
analysis for Briar on excel, gathering information from the cybex output to
produce a force velocity profile for each individual, which again has kept me
busy. The students have been back at uni for the last 3 weeks now which has
provided a bit more of a buzz about the campus and I have also used this
opportunity to go through some of their lectures to refresh and catch up on
some of my knowledge in prep for final year.
So this last month I haven’t just been busy
with work I have been up to some other fun stuff and planning some more trips.....
Pretty much in the week after getting back
from Sydney, I booked another trip to return to Sydney in May but this time
with Darcy and with the main purpose of running the Sydney half marathon! I had
decided before Christmas I was going to run this race and when entry went live
I thought I would give Darc a challenge and get him to enter it aswell, which I
think he is a little concerned about currently, but also looking forward to as
he hasn’t been to Sydney before! We had another little spend up again in the
last couple of weeks booking, after much deliberation, to go to Fiji in June
for 12 nights of sun, sea, sand, snorkelling and paradise which I am ultraly
excited about, plus I cannot return to England without a tan now!!!
Anyway back to what I’ve been actually
getting up to.....
On the 9th February it was St
Kilda festival, which is a free festival that takes place across the whole of
St Kilda. This is an event where there are a few different stages where Aussie
bands play and loads of other things are going on such as market stalls,
fairground rides and even a salsa band where people joined in by salsa dancing.
I went to this with Robyn (a girl from Bath in Melbourne on placement) and her
flat mates and it was one of Melbourne’s classic sunny days which made it a
lovely afternoon to be outside and soaking up the weather and great atmosphere,
especially as the whole of Melbourne had flocked to St Kilda for the day!
In the following week (11th
Feb), me and Darc had a little date night for Valentine ’s Day (a little early
I know but he was home in Shep working on the actual day). We made a picnic and
went to the moonlight cinema (an outdoor cinema in the Botanical gardens) to
watch Are We Officially Dating? It was so cool and I loved sitting outside on a
warm summers evening, in the middle of the beautiful Botanical gardens,
watching a film with the Melbourne skyline in the background. It was something
I had wanted to do for a while now and was so glad I experienced it, especially
as the likelihood of being able to enjoy something like that in England is very
minimal due to our great British weather!!! (Little clip for those who can't picture it Moonlight Cinema). On Valentine’s Day, Darcy still
spoilt me with 2 boxes of my favourite Lindtt chocolates (trying to make me fat
I’m sure) and some beautiful roses which he delivered to work (yes I did turn
the same colour as the roses!) and that evening I cycled over to Sue’s and
spend the night with my Aussie family, which was really nice especially as I
hadn’t seen them both in a while.
On the 19th February, me, Darc,
Campbell, Ben and Bec went to see Eminem at the Etihad stadium. It was sort of
like a small festival because we also saw 360 – an Australian artist, Action
Bronson – the worst thing I have ever seen in my life, J Cole – obviously one
of my favourite and best things I have seen, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem. It was
really good afternoon/evening with all of the acts barring one being really
good! After standing from such a long time though I was aching like mad by the
time it was over and was so happy to get into bed. I was a tad disappointed
with Eminem’s set list and the fact he sang a lot of his old stuff and hardly
any of his tracks off his new album, but it was still good.
A couple of days
after (21st Feb) it was Jack, one of Darcy’s housemates, 21st
birthday and we had a little house party to celebrate, which was a good night
and a little messy on some people’s parts. The following day was spent
recovering and cleaning up as it was a little messy to say the least and then
in the evening me and Darc headed back to the city where we enjoyed a nice
Chinese before heading into the city for White Night. This is a night where the
streets of Melbourne are rammed from 7pm to 7am, where people enjoy the artwork
and light projections made onto city buildings. I can’t say I am a massive
artwork lover or really understand the majority of it, however the light
projections of art onto the buildings looked really cool and made Melbourne
look really pretty. The fact the streets were so busy and it took 10 minutes
just to move 10 metres meant after an hour and a half, me and Darc were very
much over the mass of people and ready for a good night’s sleep!
Are you bored yet?! See I told you this has
been a busy month!!!!!!
So finally the ANZ Championship Netball has
started up again and luckily enough (and thanks to the new Melbourne Vixens and
Vic Uni partnership) I got free tickets for the first Melbourne Vixens home
game against the Northern Mystics. So on the 2nd March, I asked the
only person in contention, Sue if she wanted to come with me. It was a good
game to watch with the Vixens taking a win and it was good to also make the
comparison against the English Super League, which is on a much smaller scale
in terms of the venues they play in, the spectators, people who even know and
take an interest in the league and status of the game and players. It will
definitely be something I will regularly be attending with the Vixens being the
team to back! Talking about netball, I have just started playing again on a
weekly basis for one of Sue’s teams. We’ve only had 3 games so far, of which I
have played 2 and we have 3 good wins under our belt! I have been playing again
like last year in defence, which I must admit I am actually quite enjoying and
even think I am getting better at and it looks like this is the position I will
be playing for the season due to the lack of defensive players in the team.
On the 6th March it was time to
join Darcy and his housemates in being a student again on the VUSSS pub golf
around the city! We went to about 8 different pubs and bars around the city and
got cheap drinks at each before finishing the night at Randy Dragon. It was
great group and a lot of fun, especially because I get along with Darc’s
housemates well and I will definitely be a student with them again for future
events!!!
Last Sunday (9th March) Darc
took me out for one of the Australian experiences they call Gold Class! Most of
you reading this will never have heard this before and wondering what it is so basically
Gold Class is a 5* cinema experience where you watch a film in ultra comfy
chairs which reclines to a lounge position and are waited on throughout the
film. It was great and again so cool! We went to watch Wolf of Wall Street
which was a great film and I was glad to be in such comfy chairs as the film
was so long. It was a great experience and one that I must admit, I would quite
like to do again before I leave!
So nearly there!! This last week the Grand
Prix has been on and living in an apartment that overlooks Albert Park (the track
where they drive round), I have pretty much been able to soak most of it up,
even the 7.20am practices which have been waking me up most mornings. In the
weeks running up to the Grand Prix, I was able to cycle round the actual track
which was pretty cool and got to cycle down the home straight and past all the
garages which were labelled for all the drivers. On Thursday (13th
March) they had a community day which was a free event allowing you access to
the grounds with track activity also occurring throughout the day. I went over
with Darc in the morning and there were loads of the old Shannon cars to look
at, along with V8 cars, Porsche Carreras and other old classic cars. It was
pretty cool! Darc unfortunately had to leave just after an hour and a half for
uni, but I stayed in the grounds and had a good walk round, going behind the V8
pit stop garages and finishing by sitting on a hill around the track watching
the V8’s and Carreras being raced around the track. My favourite track activity
of the day was the speed comparison race where individually a road car, V8 and
2011 F1 car –driven by David Coulthard, completed a time trial to get a lap
time, before later in the afternoon being set off at a stagger according to the
lap time with the aim of all 3 cars crossing the finish line at the same time,
showing just how fast F1 cars are. The road car, as expected set off first, 20
seconds after the V8 went and 20 seconds following that the F1 car went. By the
time they reached the home straight, the F1 car had caught and overtaken both
the V8 and road car, crossing the finishing line at least 50 metres in front of
the V8 which was ahead of the road car. It was pretty unbelievable and showed
just how fast the F1 car goes. I was so glad I got to see and hear the F1 car
going round the track as it very much is “blink and you miss it” and it was my
only chance to see it up close over the weekend. It was a great day, which I
was glad I went to and it was topped off by nice weather which gave me rosy
cheeks. For the actual Grand Prix race on the Sunday, I just watched and
listened from my apartment.
So for those of you that are still with me
and have made it to the end of this blog, congratulations, I hope you’re not
too bored! I did warn you this would be a long one and I will try not to leave
it as long next time, but I can’t make any promises!!!
So until then my friends,
xoxo
For pictures from other things I've done recently Click Here - Melbourne Here & There
