First Day in School

WE MADE IT ON TIME!!!

We woke up at 6.30am. Very early but we took our time and stuff and left at 7.20am and catch the bus, at a bus stop about 5 mins walking distance. The frequency of the busses is a lot because there were a number of busses that passes through the bus stop that we were on.

It’s a quick journey to Wellington Bus Station and then we took another bus to UWA. It was our first time getting there, so we weren’t sure where to stop, but we stopped at the correct station after all. For the first time as well, we saw the famous Swan River. It was beautiful!

The total journey from the Wellington Bus Station to the UWA is about 20 mins I garnered. It was a crowded bus, packed with students. The worst thing, is that this week is term break. So I dunno how crowded it can be when school starts again.

Cold morning too, there is a cold front coming towards Perth, so it was raining with strong winds in the morning. Really cold. Its gonna be cold for the next few days as well.

So we reached there, and we entered the university.

Our impression: FREAKINGLY HUGELY JAWDROPPINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!!

The campus is soooo big!!! We got lost for awhile, but we asked directions and made it to our building. It was way at the back of the campus. But it’s a really new building. Really high tech looking too, compared to the old architecture of one of the oldest University in Australia. But with that being said, its is really really beautiful! Its like you are being transported back in time!

We got into the building, the molecular and biochemical sciences building. Its really new. We reached there at around 8.50am. We were early. Approached the receptionist (really helpful and lively at this hour too) and told us that the professor wasn’t here yet. He was late actually, by 15 minutes. But it was alright

We were introduced to other students and professors. They were really friendly. Wei wei, I think that’s the spelling, is our mentor. So she was the one who told us about the school, about the faculty, the research that we are under and she also kindly gave us a tour of the university itself. Telling us a little about the school itself and showing us the cafeterias, facilities, the different schools and the library itself.

She’s a great mentor. I think we can work with her really well.

I cant really tell you the details of what our research is all about, but suffice to say its very biochemistry heavy (Alvin Eun will be proud!!) Our project consists of preparing assays to analyse different components of breastmilk using the spectrometer. The samples are from Stamford University, but we cant use that yet, because the sample is small, and there mustn’t be room for error. So my guess would be for the next few weeks, we need to practice a lot on how to prepare the different assays ACCURATELY. Yes accurately. Precision is key, and that is what im worried about. Im not a meticulous person, or a person who pays attention to detail. But I must take on the challenge to learn on how to prepare different solutions accurately.

The first day was basically nothing much. But we then decided to prepare our first components of the assay. But I doubt is not gonna work at all LOL! The preparation of the assay is quite difficult and you need to get used to the routine of preparing it. Thinking about the sheer accuracy requirements, sigh… got a lot of work to do.

We finished our preparation at around 5.30pm. Then we went back home.