Sydney!

I made it to Sydney! I have been here for almost a week now. It's not a bad city. The place I am living in is called Jack's Place. It is pretty much like living in a dorm full of loud college kids.....again. The sign says clean up after yourself, but every morning when I walk down to get my breakfast I seriously don't want to set foot in the kitchen and wish I didn't have too. ( I have yet to smell the odor of bleach :-( )  There's also no central heat in this building so it is a little chilly here.

The people here are very nice. I just have one complaint though....they give horrible directions. The streets here are basically lined with little coffee shops/food shops, chemists (pharmacy), strip clubs, brothels, and upscale clothing stores. And you can usually find them in consecutive order repeating down the street. People seem to dress up here every day, all day so I am sure I look odd to them in my hoodie, jeans and sneakers. It's also gotten quite cold here and I didn't think that it would be.  I might actually have to buy a coat since it gets very chilly when I walk back and forth to the train stations.

My job is pretty nice.  It's weird being a tech or "veterinary nurse" here. They are basically assistants. They don't do the same things as we do in the US.  I was told it is sort of illegal to intubate a patient here unless you're a vet. Techs can only do that if there is an emergency and airway needs to be established. They also don't get to do much of what I learned in tech school. I do a lot of observing here. They also seem to rely on machines for monitoring during anesthesia which now makes me nervous because of what I now have learned.      The vets and vet nurses that work at the clinic are all extremely nice and really love what they do. I would also say that there is much less of the "cattiness" and backstabbing that you find in the US clinics which is DEFINITELY a nicer environment to work in.  Here in Australia everyone is considered equal. It doesn't matter what degree or initials you have attached to your name - you are no better than anyone else.  Doctors are not greeted with Dr. so and so.  You simply call them by their first name. It's something that I am getting used to. I come from the "respectful" background so I find it hard to speak to a doctor without placing "Dr." in front of their name. It's pretty cool though. The place I work at is also not as busy as the other animal clinics so I have to get used to the slow pace or learn how to stretch tasks out. So far I've watched dentals (which techs don't do) and a cruciate surgery (no biggie - saw tons of them at the other clinics), but the coolest had to have been surgery on a HUGE Australian bat. A tiny piece of bone in its wing was removed, but it was cool to see a huge bat up close. I also got to see some ultrasound and heart echoes. I look forward to seeing more procedures as they come in!

So that is pretty much Sydney...so far.  I'm not a partier like my fellow interns. They are all still in undergrad so going out to bars and getting drunk is their thing right now. I think I am the oldest of the interns. It's alright. I know how to get around and go places on my own and hey, I'll actually remember doing it. :-)  I saw the Vivid Sydney light show and that was pretty cool. Not sure what I'll get to see next since I only have 2 day weekends while everyone else has 3, but I am sure I'll see some other places at some point! It may not be New Zealand, Bali, or Thailand, but I'll get somewhere. :-)

That's all for now!