Friday, May 25, 2012
rat whisperer
Day 3: im a rat whisperer.
Today was rat day. I came into this extremely timid.. OH WAIT i forgot to say that I got lost for 2 hours on my way to the lab this morning. I got off the train WAAYYY to early and so i started walking to the medical faculty. i thought id find it perfectly fine, until i couldnt. i literally walked around bratislava until 9:30. I left my dorm at 7:30..not like this..oh no..not like this. I asked a million people where the medical faculty was (they call each of their types of "colleges" faculties) and honest to god everyone pointed me in opposite directions. and when i said "hi, do you speak english" pretty much everyone gave me a disgusted face and said no and ran away. thank you slovak friends. but yeah one lady finally helped me about an hour 45 into my search and i was only an hour and a half late to work. good timez.
but anyways, today i had to mark my friends. excuse me i mean my rats.
PICTURE THIS: ratitouille. jumping out of a giant window that we are working next to. me, jumping after him. grabbing his tail so he doesn't make it out the window. he is literally hanging out the window by my hands. we need him. he makes good dishes. he is also essential to my experiemnt. but yeah thtat is what happened today. i essentially dove after one of my rats out a window. it was unbelievable.
but anyways. so today when i got to work i had to label my rats 1 to 50. and you probalby are thinking, "kat, how in the hell are you talking about these rats like its no big deal" because, i will tell you why,
PICTURE THIS: sweeney todd singing the song "my friends"
These are my friends,
(im your friend too mr. todd)
See how they glisten.
See this one shine,
How he smiles in the light,
My friends,
My faithful friends...
Speak to me, friend.
Whisper, I'll listen.......
These rats are my only friends now.. they don't try and bite me like the mice do. So if you picture me singing "these are my friends" you can picture the rats saying "im your friend tooo kathryn" you probably only understood this if you've ever seen sweeney todd. if not you should watch the video of this song..it'll help you understand how i feel at work working with my friends..
it took me like 2 hours to label and weigh them all and then i moved on to tagged 75 mice. aka we were giving them some bling. aka we were putting things in their ears with numbers so we knew which was which. this basically consumed my day.
also, the reason why i choose to tell you about my mice and my rats its because i spend the most time with them in my day. rats are truly nicer than mice. omg. what am i becoming. i hate rats. who am i. im a new woman. the rat whisperer. watch, im going to start sharing my problems with them. and imagining that they respond to me!
but today i made my first venture to the store to buy a towel. thank god because im starting to smell. i also bought my first pepsi. soooo yeah you can stop being impresed that i haven't bought a pop yet. HOWEVER, i have yet to drink coffee. thats a big deal too.
we're going out tonight so that should be interesting.
DEUCES!
dovi!
Today was rat day. I came into this extremely timid.. OH WAIT i forgot to say that I got lost for 2 hours on my way to the lab this morning. I got off the train WAAYYY to early and so i started walking to the medical faculty. i thought id find it perfectly fine, until i couldnt. i literally walked around bratislava until 9:30. I left my dorm at 7:30..not like this..oh no..not like this. I asked a million people where the medical faculty was (they call each of their types of "colleges" faculties) and honest to god everyone pointed me in opposite directions. and when i said "hi, do you speak english" pretty much everyone gave me a disgusted face and said no and ran away. thank you slovak friends. but yeah one lady finally helped me about an hour 45 into my search and i was only an hour and a half late to work. good timez.
but anyways, today i had to mark my friends. excuse me i mean my rats.
PICTURE THIS: ratitouille. jumping out of a giant window that we are working next to. me, jumping after him. grabbing his tail so he doesn't make it out the window. he is literally hanging out the window by my hands. we need him. he makes good dishes. he is also essential to my experiemnt. but yeah thtat is what happened today. i essentially dove after one of my rats out a window. it was unbelievable.
but anyways. so today when i got to work i had to label my rats 1 to 50. and you probalby are thinking, "kat, how in the hell are you talking about these rats like its no big deal" because, i will tell you why,
PICTURE THIS: sweeney todd singing the song "my friends"
These are my friends,
(im your friend too mr. todd)
See how they glisten.
See this one shine,
How he smiles in the light,
My friends,
My faithful friends...
Speak to me, friend.
Whisper, I'll listen.......
These rats are my only friends now.. they don't try and bite me like the mice do. So if you picture me singing "these are my friends" you can picture the rats saying "im your friend tooo kathryn" you probably only understood this if you've ever seen sweeney todd. if not you should watch the video of this song..it'll help you understand how i feel at work working with my friends..
it took me like 2 hours to label and weigh them all and then i moved on to tagged 75 mice. aka we were giving them some bling. aka we were putting things in their ears with numbers so we knew which was which. this basically consumed my day.
also, the reason why i choose to tell you about my mice and my rats its because i spend the most time with them in my day. rats are truly nicer than mice. omg. what am i becoming. i hate rats. who am i. im a new woman. the rat whisperer. watch, im going to start sharing my problems with them. and imagining that they respond to me!
but today i made my first venture to the store to buy a towel. thank god because im starting to smell. i also bought my first pepsi. soooo yeah you can stop being impresed that i haven't bought a pop yet. HOWEVER, i have yet to drink coffee. thats a big deal too.
we're going out tonight so that should be interesting.
DEUCES!
dovi!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Time of Death
Time of Death..... 1:22. We injected the saline, and his heart stopped beating. We did everything that we could. Injecting too much saline causes our red blood cells to rupture, which kills us. We tried to resuscitate....it was too late, we performed CPR. too late. I killed my first mouse today.RIP mousey.
but ok day 2. you kicked my ass. i was in the lab for 9 hours today, came home, skyped my parents and erin, and then fell asleep until 9 tonight. its 10 now and I thin I'll go back to bed...
I feel bad being anti social but i would seriously enjoy some sleep. One of my roommates, Mariajo, today, I said "nuts", and she said hmm, nuts..like balls? and i said yes! exactly like balls. Shes from spain and they are using me as their english tutor. Which I don't mind because if they only spoke spanish id be in some deep doo-doo.
I also rode the train for the first time today. Im pretty sure their public transportation is mainly used off of electricity... much more fuel efficient htan paying 10 dollars a gallon.
Tomorrow, no jokes, I have to learn how to work with rats the size of my calf. I will hold them, pet them, coddle them, kiss them, probably accidentally kill them. Those things r gross. Mice are one thing...they look like hamsters. Rats on the other hand...are like guinea pigs. sick with it. But seriously, working with tehse aniamls is kind of cool. It's a pain in the ass to try and pick them up because they are so squeemish, but i tell them whos boss. I asked why we can' t just sedate them... I dont think they liked that?
A girl i work with in the lab named Jardka came and got me this mornign ot show me how to use the train. I might be a lost little animal tomorrow without her. you could compare me to the mouse that we put in a tube and injected saline in a vein in its tail until it died liek 2 seconds later. No joke, Ramon was like pumping his chest. It was likea little premature baby. I htought that was kind of funny. I was like let the man go!
Still havne't gone to the store but for lunch today I ate in some sort of cafeteria that they called a "Bufet" But so how it works is, you choose your lunch for the day the day before. So today I chose what I was going to eat tomorrow, and then you hand them the ticket and htey plop some poo on your plate. Literally it looked like poo. And also, choosing my lunch for the next day is like the lottery because its all written in slovak..... i just chose a stamp and moved on. I love surprises! Maybe itll be the mouse I killed.
Also, I'd like to let everyone know that I havent had a pop in about 3 days now. If you know me you'll know thats a record. im going places. (also because im too scared to buy one)
I miss my family and friends, but i'm lucky that my roommates are so nice to me. I am also lucky that right when I get off work Erin is just waking up and ready to skype! ha. My roommates are Erasmus students which means they are from other parts of Europe, its like an exchange program, so they are only here for hte year, adn they know what it's like to be the new kid so they are reallly helping me out here. It's also hilaroius to hear what they think about me and my american ways. I think they are in awe by me as much as I am in awe that you flush the toilet by pulling a string above it. ALSO, they get PAID to come here. Apparently through this program, it pays them a certain amount a month to come here. Soooo They're making 1000$$ a montha nd I'm spending 1000$$ a month. somebody shoot me! or send me some money! jokes
I haven't gone out yet and im pretty pumped to go out tomorrow night. also a little concerned because I hope I make it home OK?
But for now, farewell!
chou?
but ok day 2. you kicked my ass. i was in the lab for 9 hours today, came home, skyped my parents and erin, and then fell asleep until 9 tonight. its 10 now and I thin I'll go back to bed...
I feel bad being anti social but i would seriously enjoy some sleep. One of my roommates, Mariajo, today, I said "nuts", and she said hmm, nuts..like balls? and i said yes! exactly like balls. Shes from spain and they are using me as their english tutor. Which I don't mind because if they only spoke spanish id be in some deep doo-doo.
I also rode the train for the first time today. Im pretty sure their public transportation is mainly used off of electricity... much more fuel efficient htan paying 10 dollars a gallon.
Tomorrow, no jokes, I have to learn how to work with rats the size of my calf. I will hold them, pet them, coddle them, kiss them, probably accidentally kill them. Those things r gross. Mice are one thing...they look like hamsters. Rats on the other hand...are like guinea pigs. sick with it. But seriously, working with tehse aniamls is kind of cool. It's a pain in the ass to try and pick them up because they are so squeemish, but i tell them whos boss. I asked why we can' t just sedate them... I dont think they liked that?
A girl i work with in the lab named Jardka came and got me this mornign ot show me how to use the train. I might be a lost little animal tomorrow without her. you could compare me to the mouse that we put in a tube and injected saline in a vein in its tail until it died liek 2 seconds later. No joke, Ramon was like pumping his chest. It was likea little premature baby. I htought that was kind of funny. I was like let the man go!
Still havne't gone to the store but for lunch today I ate in some sort of cafeteria that they called a "Bufet" But so how it works is, you choose your lunch for the day the day before. So today I chose what I was going to eat tomorrow, and then you hand them the ticket and htey plop some poo on your plate. Literally it looked like poo. And also, choosing my lunch for the next day is like the lottery because its all written in slovak..... i just chose a stamp and moved on. I love surprises! Maybe itll be the mouse I killed.
Also, I'd like to let everyone know that I havent had a pop in about 3 days now. If you know me you'll know thats a record. im going places. (also because im too scared to buy one)
I miss my family and friends, but i'm lucky that my roommates are so nice to me. I am also lucky that right when I get off work Erin is just waking up and ready to skype! ha. My roommates are Erasmus students which means they are from other parts of Europe, its like an exchange program, so they are only here for hte year, adn they know what it's like to be the new kid so they are reallly helping me out here. It's also hilaroius to hear what they think about me and my american ways. I think they are in awe by me as much as I am in awe that you flush the toilet by pulling a string above it. ALSO, they get PAID to come here. Apparently through this program, it pays them a certain amount a month to come here. Soooo They're making 1000$$ a montha nd I'm spending 1000$$ a month. somebody shoot me! or send me some money! jokes
I haven't gone out yet and im pretty pumped to go out tomorrow night. also a little concerned because I hope I make it home OK?
But for now, farewell!
chou?
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
ahoj!
Well my computer says its 2:28 pm but my watch says its 9:28 pm. I'm going to have to agree with the 9:28 considering i haven't slept in what seems like 12 days. even though i should be agreeing with the 2:28 i suppose..... the flight here was death. i was sweating so much that my chocolate luna bar literally slipped out of my hands because it was melting...lets keep in mind i was sitting on the plane.
when i arrived in vienna, i was thinking ok, there will be a guy standing with my name on a piece of paper ready to go... this was not the case. I came out, hopeful..excited... until I had no ride. obviously in a rush of panic i called erin and my mom to tell them i was stranded in vienna. thankfully, dr. hodosy found me mid-face time with my mom. so i got in this strangers car.
everyone has little tiny cars here. volkswagens. maybe that has to do with the fact that gas is about 9 dollars a gallon... exsqueeze me?
also, everyone smokes.. everywhere. people are smoking in my dorm hallway as we speak! do they not use smoke detectors here?
i have yet to unpack because i simply do not feel like it. i also have literally no food and have no idea where to buy food..so i haven't bothered trying. im living off the luna bars in my back pack. those will do.
getting to the research lab today to see what i would actually be doing for the rest of the summer was pretty cool. even though I ended up injecting some sort of solution in to a mouse vagina. that is real. however, i liked it.
im a littttlllee disappointed there is no wifi in my dorm room though. how am i supposed to face time or imessage? disappointemnt at its finest! also, i can't get my sim card out of my phone. so DONT CALL ME.
the bottom line is that im exhausted and share a bathroom with like 5 other people. im timid to move my stuff anywhere, don't want to expand it because i dont want to overstep.
Majority of my roommates are from spain, one from poland. They are prettttyyyy kewl and showed me around today. essentially they are taking me under their wing i also bought my first beer. and didn't even finish it. get off my back im tired.
last but not least, i didn't bring a towel with me. no showers for me until i somehow make it to a store. which honestly i have no idea when that will be. who needs showers anyway?
dirty kat!
dobre vece!
when i arrived in vienna, i was thinking ok, there will be a guy standing with my name on a piece of paper ready to go... this was not the case. I came out, hopeful..excited... until I had no ride. obviously in a rush of panic i called erin and my mom to tell them i was stranded in vienna. thankfully, dr. hodosy found me mid-face time with my mom. so i got in this strangers car.
everyone has little tiny cars here. volkswagens. maybe that has to do with the fact that gas is about 9 dollars a gallon... exsqueeze me?
also, everyone smokes.. everywhere. people are smoking in my dorm hallway as we speak! do they not use smoke detectors here?
i have yet to unpack because i simply do not feel like it. i also have literally no food and have no idea where to buy food..so i haven't bothered trying. im living off the luna bars in my back pack. those will do.
getting to the research lab today to see what i would actually be doing for the rest of the summer was pretty cool. even though I ended up injecting some sort of solution in to a mouse vagina. that is real. however, i liked it.
im a littttlllee disappointed there is no wifi in my dorm room though. how am i supposed to face time or imessage? disappointemnt at its finest! also, i can't get my sim card out of my phone. so DONT CALL ME.
the bottom line is that im exhausted and share a bathroom with like 5 other people. im timid to move my stuff anywhere, don't want to expand it because i dont want to overstep.
Majority of my roommates are from spain, one from poland. They are prettttyyyy kewl and showed me around today. essentially they are taking me under their wing i also bought my first beer. and didn't even finish it. get off my back im tired.
last but not least, i didn't bring a towel with me. no showers for me until i somehow make it to a store. which honestly i have no idea when that will be. who needs showers anyway?
dirty kat!
dobre vece!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
5 Months later...literally
Well. Hello friends. Here I am again. Except this time I'm here to share my endevours on my way to sLoVaKiA. you may be wondering..kat, where is that? i'll tell you. ill tell you to look it up on a map and f off!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Ahhhhh..yes
o, hello. Can't count on my fingers and toes how many days its been since I last posted. But lets just say since I last did, I bought a new boss camera and have baked a lot of stuff. So basically I'm just gonna put some pictures up and u can fill in all the gaps of what I could have possibly been doing in so much time....... feel free to exaggerate.
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| pumpkin seeds...... i look forward to this every year!!!! |
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| we made two types of pumpkin bread.... soo goood |
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| I made these from a healthy recipe for chocolate pumpkin pie brownies.... I'm not sure they turned out correctly.... they were a little slimy.. but hey im not the best cook |
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| now this is wehre things get serious. this is peanut butter cookie dough, I saw somewhere about cookie bowls and attempted to make them (the top) and the bottom ones will turn into.... |
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| these! love these cookies. |
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| OH MY GOD. this is what my "bowls" turned into. ahahahahahaha. oops. |
so thats my baking portion....and now let me tell u i was in Florida for thanksgiving to visit my family and run in the Space Coast Half Marathon!!!
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| my cousin on their beach..... wish i lived here |
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| this is my aunt's friends view from their dock..gorgeous |
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| more of Christine's backyard view |
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
excuse the photo bomb.
So today I just found out that I'll be going to florida over T break on Wednesday I'll leave and I am lucky enough to be working with kathrine switzer and run in the Space Coast Half Marathon. Am i in any shape to be running in this half? no, not really considering i've ran probably the farthest of 4 miles since the des moines half but oh well! Maybe i'll walk it with my aunt...that sounds easier......... Can't wait to be in the warm weather woot woot! although I am a little disappointed I don't get to spend Thanksgiving with my fam. It's cool though I get to see my cousins! :) ANNNDD I Just ordered my camear on Sat night sooooo its gonna be pretty boss when I get it in... gonna be lots of photo shoots with erin and robyn and annie. Just sayin. We also need to get our christmas card picture taken...and this is serious. WE WILL have a card. if i don't ill cry. but yeah since I should probably finish this chem lab instead of be on here I'm gonna get to that. O. Also, a) annie brought back some of the best tasting brownies i've ever eaten and some of hte best pumpkin muffin type things ive ever eaten omg. and since its holiday season that obvioulsy means were baking goodies at home. i need to make these pumpkin cream cheese filled muffins...... theyve been on my mind and until i make them itll drive me nuts. DEUCES!
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