What a way to make a living

Well, I realise I've been a little quiet on here recently, but I've just had nothing interesting to blog about really! The workload here at The Gong is pretty excessive compared to Sheffield, for example, back at home I would have to do one pre/post lab per week, and last year only three of the post labs were full formal write ups. Out here, I have two or three post labs or assessments due every week, and every post lab is a formal write up. The reason for this is because each subject has its own lab over here (instead of a big lab module back home) and there is no communication between the subjects because people can take whatever combination of classes they want... On top of this, I have mid-session exams coming up this week, which we don't have in Sheffield, so I'm having to revise on top of everything else. All in all, the work required for one semester is...

17 lab reports
2 spectroscopy assignments
1 literature review
1 presentation based on literature review
3 mid-session exams and...
9 hours of lecture content every week

So I've not really been able to experience Australia as I'd like to during term time, but don't worry, I still jump at any chance of getting my groove on and partying. Even managed to go see a band last week called Architecture in Helsinki, so if you haven't heard of them I'd recommend them! They're an Australian band and have been around for a while - no idea if they ever made it to the UK, I thought I'd heard of them but all of their music sounded new to me so who knows :p

In other news, Spring is finally here, and I can definitely feel it getting warmer (especially because of that gaping hole in the ozone layer). Beginning to spend more and more days lazing in the sun and not getting much else done, but I'm completely okay with that (I'm also okay with getting a hefty tan)! I also got round to booking my flights to New Zealand, and I'll be there between the 20th November and 20th December! Getting pretty excited, hoping to do some WWOOFing while I'm over there (Willing Workers on Organic Farms - work on a farm in exchange for food and shelter), so I'm in the process of picking out a farm to do it on!

Summer in the southern hemisphere is going to be awesome, and I can't wait to enjoy every second of it!