Flexing Her Brains and Touring Australia
Ramya Chitters | July 13, 2009
Ramya Chitters on the Puffing Billy train.
After nearly two weeks of being scared that I wouldn’t be able to go to Australia for the PRIME research program due to visa issues, I finally boarded the plane at San Francisco International Airport on the last day of June (Australian time), trading a hot summer for a cold winter down under. However, after being here for less than a week, I can quiet honestly say that Melbourne is a quite welcoming town.
Coming in a week later than the others, I definitely was a little flustered about the workings of the place, especially since I was still reeling from the effects of jet lag. Nonetheless, with the help of the other PRIME students and the people at Monash University, I am fairly happy to say I have mastered the art of working in the Australian way.
For my project, I am working on determining the parameters that are affected the most due to small changes in the endocardium, the innermost layer of tissue lining the heart’s chambers. To do so, I am using NIMROD/E, one of Monash University’s computational systems . I was introduced to it the day I got here and am excited about the prospect of finally being able to apply all the knowledge I have accumulated over spring quarter back at UC San Diego.
Getting to work is definitely convenient, a few minutes of a train ride from our charmingly quaint hotel to the university. The five of us usually have breakfast at the hotel itself, get on the train and get to the campus by 9 a.m.. After that we usually work on our projects and when in need of a break, try to find information about other touristic locations that we might want to explore.
The highlight of the day is definitely lunch time. The whole group at Level 7 of the university (where we work) gets together to go and have meals that are over an hour long. The funny part is that we definitely flex our brains during these lunches doing cryptic crosswords and quiz questions in the daily paper. Never would I have imagined that to be fun, but who knew!
Chitters and fellow PRIME students on the Puffing Billy train.
The oddest thing of it all is the fact that after lunch, everyone heads out to the little café next door to get coffee, even though there are countless coffee and tea dispensers around the lab! What can I say? Australians do have an interesting way of doing lunch.
After this tradition, it is not unusual for us to come back and dive right back into work and finish up around 5 p.m. to head back to the hotel. After a little bit of freshening up, if weather permits, we go out to check out the nook and cranny locations of Australia, which, I have to say, have some really interesting spots to visit.
In the past four days, not only have I had the opportunity to go and check out Australia, but I also had the chance to visit my cousin whom I haven’t seen since last year! So, in between all the work, sightseeing and catching up on sleep, I managed to squish in a visit and am mighty glad I did because it was an awesome reunion so far away from home. Not to forget the fact that it was July 4 during our weekend here, so as a celebration, we headed to a little American diner to eat burgers and fries. What can beat that? In addition, being absolutely entertained by the dance put on by our waitresses, it was definitely a way to remember the American Independence Day!
After catching up on sleep, I, along with the other PRIME students, went on the “Puffing Billy” train yesterday to see the bush land areas of Australia. The views are absolutely gorgeous. Following the trails around the area, we wound up at a wishing well and I seriously hope the wishes do come true! Finally after a long day, we wound up curling up in our really thick comforters to catch whatever shows come on our six-channel directory.
All in all, I have had a fun experience learning about a new place where I am going to be for another seven weeks. I miss home and the familiarity of Cupertino (my hometown) and San Diego, but the exciting new things I learn here are calming my nerves to a great degree and keep me looking forward to the other experiences waiting around the corner.
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