Biology Practicals

I know I have been a little quiet over the past couple of weeks and this is because I have been in Potchefstroom at the North-West University doing my biology practicals. While it was extremely nice not to be chained to my desk for 12 hours a day, I have to say that these practicals were not a walk in the park either. The drive there was not the nicest (sseing as I have yet to take delivery of my brand new car) and I did see a disturbing accident on the way (eek!!).

But, once I had arrived at my cheap (and not so nasty) guesthouse I was quite excited about being a student again for the first time in many years. I made a friend the first day and proceeded to meet some way awesome people throughout the two weeks. And I had to admit it was nice to speak 'geek' with these wonderful human beings. My fiance is not so fond of my 'geek' language and normally just responds with a 'hmmm' or a similar nondescript grunt when I get excited about the inner workings of plants or animals.

It was great to have teachers for a change. Teachers with a passion for their subject too. They are all highly qualified and their passion is truly infectious. By the end of my stay I was convinced I missed out a whole lot by dropping Biology in high school. I got over that thought quickly after I realised that if I continued with the subject, more innocent animals would have died for the sole purpose of me dissecting it. That and the fact that my drawings would make Picasso turn in his grave!

My tree-hugger-ness was also tested in a big way at these pracs, we had to dissect an earthworm and a rat!! I seemed to have weathered the rat dissection better than the earthworm but I think this was due to the fact that I was coming down from an anti-histamine jab the night before the earthworm dissection, this was not exactly an unbiased response to opening animals up. Thankfully, my awesome lab partner was just as dark and twisty as I am and take the dissection in his stride. Hooray for that!! In fact, the inserted picture of mi in my trendy lab coat with Patrica, our rat, was taken by said lab partner.

One of the best parts (probably second only to R14 Black Label draught) of the whole experience was the Student's Centre. Why get excited about a Student's Centre, I hear you ask? Because it is the most amazing Student's Centre I have ever come across ever!! Now, it's no secret I love food but the sheer variety alone makes this the absolute best! You can get anything from (in no particular order) russian and chips to pies, pizza, pasta, sushi (you read right, sushi) and buffet meals. And the list goes on. The cherry on top is that at the tillpoints they have great big beautiful energy cookies. yum yum! I was only introduced to them in my last few days in Potch so I feel I missed out (although I did buy one for the road home).

But enough of my rambling. All in all it was a great two weeks and now I am glad to be home in my own (less creaky and used) bed. Roll on my next set of practicals.