News from Nicole (Down Under)

So, eagerly awaiting my (our) own international trip in March, I've been living vicariously through our friend and classmate Nicole, who is currently on another different continent, Australia, for the month using her Hoffman trip. Nicole definitely wins the award for swinging the most-time-away-from-Rochester-during-medical-school. I thought I did pretty well, doing several away rotations and taking lots of vacation time this year. Erin also comes close with semi-living out in Cali. But Nicole definitely takes the cake.

If you're depressed about the cold here, maybe you shouldn't read these snippets from various e-mails she's sent me. But there are pics at the end!!! From Nicole....

Well, it's still HOT down under. I'm living out in the country, so other than it being hot (does this hotness seem emphasized at all to anyone else??!), it's quiet and natural (I'm trying to avoid the word "boring"). Last night we had a fairly large spider (ICK!!!!!!) in the house that I noticed while walking back to my room. I brought it to the attention of my house dad and he was like, "Well, it's not venomous, so we'll leave it...". Leave it! Great, so it can crawl into bed with me tonight and scare me out of my wits! Then I remembered what Thabele told me a few weeks ago about when I come to visit southern Africa. He reminded me of how many and what kind of critters would be around and told me that if I freaked out about them his parents would fine me very strange. Considering the fact that my house family is FROM southern Africa and is very good friends with his parents, I decided to play it cool last night. I very calmly retired to my room and blocked the little space underneath my door with some leggings. Just in case.

I remember being totally freaked out by a tarantula at our jungle lodge in Peru, earning me the nickname "Tara Tarantula". They better not have them in Nigeria or South Africa as, according to JB, I am capable of screaming quite loudly! I am totally arachnophobic. Anyway, back to Aussieland from Nicole...

Today we went to a farmer's market in town. A small one, but cute. I bought some fruit and a cheese board for a couple of bucks. Oh, I also bought some Thai fisherman pants. You can google them to take a look (and I did-- here's a pic. VERY CUTE, Nicole!!).

Continued...
It's Sunday evening here (I'm 15 hours ahead of you), so we've just been lazing around. We had cheese and bread for lunch. Expect me to barely be able to stand when I return to the Roch (secondary to emaciation).

Here are some pics she sent; in her words:

The first is of me with the family I'm staying with in a town called Bendigo (2 hours north of Melbourne).
The second is of some kangaroos I spotted while bike riding along this path in the bush. (Nicole-- you rode a bike??! :) Can I eat my breadsticks in peace, please?! :) )

The third is of me driving on the LEFT side of the street for the first time ever (this photo was taken moments after almost colliding with a taxi cab). This weekend I'm off to the St. Kilda festival in Melbourne. It's a lovely 80-something degrees over here. Just thought I would rub that in for ya....

Stay warm (if that's possible),
Nicole

Fun, huh? I think she's actually working at the hospital too, but I haven't heard a whole lot about that.... ;). I get the vague impression that it's a bit warmer there than it is here. What a lucky girl.