And they start.

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore: Getting up, showering, putting on a bikini, and then doing laundry, cooking and just wandering around the house without changing or adding layers seems perfectly reasonable and natural, even in the middle of November.

I'm in Badham library. I finished my first exam an hour ago. Paper 1 of Cells and Development, on the Westmead component of the course. I can't believe how nonstressful this whole thing has been. Two weeks to do nothing but study and procrastinate was actually gloriously effective, despite the dominance of procrastination. Some understandable jitters last night and this morning were pretty much the worst of it. I would have liked to have done all the options from the last question and ignored a couple of the compulsory questions, but you can't win them all. Paper 2 is tomorrow morning, covering campus material. In theory, it will be easier based on the lecture content and amount of material.

It really isn't fair that everyone I know (except for those in Marine Science) is finsihed by this Wednesday. Some might say I have no right to complain because I had two weeks off to study for three exams, but there's not a whole lot of fun to be had when everyone else is locked away cramming. Now, people are going to be free and I'm going to be stuck studying Marine Science, because I didn't really look at it over the past couple of weeks because I was too freaked out over Cells and Development to study anything else and that's a 12 credit course where Marine Science is only 4. Considering that I somehow managed to cram Biochemistry, Mythology and Evolution into my head over 3 days last semester, I ought to be able to get Marine Science in there ten times over in the same amount of time, which is what I will have after finishing my exam tomorrow morning.

I make it sound like I haven't had any fun though. That's not quite true. I took Saturday off to see the sculpture exhibition along the path from Tamarama Beach to Bondi Beach. Ching finished her exams Saturday morning, so I met her and we hopped a bus to Coogee, walked along the coast to Tamarama where the exhibit started, walked with a huge crowd of people while marvelling at the sculptures, and then spent an hour or so at Bondi Beach before heading to Newtown for dinner at the North Indian Diner.

The sculpture walk was spectacular. Pictures may or may not make it online before I leave for Cairns, but picture the coastline on a beautiful, warm, sunny day, with sculptures lining the path and out on the rocks at the bottom of cliffs. Ching, being an art freak (I mean that in the absolute most positive way possible), bought the guidebook. We passed one sculpture which had me going "gee, that looks an awful lot like a foraminiferan, and that truly looks like filopodia, and that there is clearly a diatom". I asked Ching what the sculpture was called. It was called "Planktos". I was right. Not crazy with a one track mind, but actually right! I think my favourite sculpture had to be "Leda and the Seagull". By the time we were there, the seagull was missing (probably due to the recent storms), but I was entirely tickled at the idea of Zeus visiting Leda as a SEAGULL. Australian classical mythology at its finest.

I don't know what the fuss is about Bondi Beach. It's just a beach. Bigger than most in Sydney, but the flags marking where it's safe to swim were about 2 feet apart so what's the point? And Bondi has some pretty strong rips too. I'm a little bit sore from constantly having to fight the current that was trying to shift us away from those little flags and into a pile of seaweed. But it was nice to have a dip in the ocean after a long, sweaty afternoon, and then sunbath on the grass (not the beach, the wind was blowing and sand STINGS when it hits you) to dry off. We wandered the street and passed an Indian diner, and I decided I absolutely HAD to have Indian food for dinner. Tamana's North Indian Diner was the first place Ching and I ate in Australia, and the food there is wonderful, so rather than eat at that little random place in Bondi that was empty, we headed to Newtown to neatly close the circle of our time in Sydney. It was worth it.

Sunday morning I got up to study, and after my shower it was straight into my bikini and sunscreen. Ching and I put in a few loads of laundry and lay in the backyard, her with the Lonely Planet and me with Cells and Development notes. Laura joined us and then there was the three of us sunbathing in the backyard all morning. Ching and I only got properly dressed to do some important shopping at Paddy's in the afternoon once the laundry finished. We had a clear intention at the markets, but somehow ended up at the wig shops we've been meaning to stop at, trying out different hairstyles while the ladies tried to convince us that the "special price" was just for us while they said the same thing to everyone else. Actually, even knowing that, it's probably a good thing we didn't have any extra cash on us. I've always wanted long, properly wavy hair (my hair is not actually totally straight, despite what you may think - it's just not wavy enough to look like anything other than messy). We did accomplish what we went for, it just took some extra time. It didn't help that the little stall I wanted to go back to completely disappeared off the face of the earth, as did the giant one that would have led us to it. That's the problem with Paddy's! At 5:00 when the markets close, we went to cruise to fresh fruit and veggie stalls and take advantage of the "everything $1/kilo" offers that spring up when farmers want to get rid of the produce. When apples cost upwards of $5/kilo in the grocery store, even not so perfect apples are more than worth it at that price. We know how to pick and choose and use a knife to remove small imperfections!

We returned home more than a little exhausted and I pulled out my notes for one final review before the exam. Australian Idol, the final 2, was on and I honestly don't know who should or will win it. They're very different singers and performers. Anything could happen. But with those two, the runner-up is guaranteed a contract anyway, just not under the "Idol" title. When the show finished, I made sure the TV was off so I wouldn't be tempted to watch whatever was on. This worked for a while. Then Laura came home with Tom in tow and they'd rented Godsend and Supersize Me. I almost cried. Ching commented that Godsend had to do with genetics and stuff. I debated concluding that that made the movie a useful review tool, resisted crying because I couldn't join the mini party, and went and hid in Ching's room since the bulb in mine burned out. I truly, truly hope that it was those last three hours that made a difference this morning!

Guess what's on tonight? A WORLD premier episode of Queer Eye! Advertised as "so new it hasn't even been shown in the US yet!" It's a litte bit sad how absolutely, totally, incredibly excited this makes us.

I'm starving so I'm going to head home, eat, and force myself to review the campus component at least once more before tomorrow morning, even though I'm no longer in the least bit stressed about it after coming out of the Westmead paper breathing and with dry eyes.