Garvan Institute of Medical Research

I just finished my first three days of internship at Garvan Institute and I already like it so much! I have my own desk, computer, lab bench and even my own mug. The people at the institute are all really friendly and I get along perfectly with my supervisor. She’s a funny, goofy woman who likes to laugh, is laid-back and she knows what she’s doing. I also met the Prof. Dr. Jonathan Sprent, head of the Immunology department at Garvan, with a huge reputation on that particular field with many high impact publications in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature. I felt like meeting a celebrity! I also got to read medical articles as background information for my project and I felt like I was in my comfort zone. Who would have thought that reading medical articles would make me feel comfortable and secure. I mean, everything here down under is different: scent of Sydney, cheese, bread, people, milk, thickness of rain drops, ducks (really, they’re weird with long beaks!), etc. But medical articles will always be medical articles. I am so happy that my internship started, because it puts so much more meaning to my stay here.

The project is really awesome and I feel like I am going to contribute something useful, which makes me feel useful. Consequently, all my uncertainties prior to my stay here are swept aside now that I enjoy being present at Garvan Institute. Medical research is all about solving puzzles. Once you throw yourself in the matter and start reading background information you become more and more intrigued by the research question that you’re trying to address. Everyone who says: ‘’I don’t want to do medical research because I don’t want to keep pipetting for the rest of my life’’ don’t really get what research is all about. Once you understand the research problem and you’d manage to set up experiments in order to approach it, your pipet becomes your best friend. Okay, for the sake of maintaining my high blog readers count I am gonna stop blogging nerdy.

( I’ll call Lianne later on for some more geeky talk, as our similar Australian mobile provider allows us to make free phone calls! ). I’ll treat the uninterested-in-medical-research audience (shame on you!) with some exciting hot stuff, as an attempt to maintain my loyal readers. ..

Just when I finished my working hours I grabbed my bike to head back home like any other day. I arrived at Centential Park, when suddenly out of nowhere huge, dark clouds speeded up above me with roaring thunder! It was insane! Rain drops in the size of Ping-Pong balls attacked my body and made my bicycle movements S-shaped. I reached a complete state of wetness saturation within 10 seconds. Upon the alarming sounds of thunder I squeaked a girly scream and kicked the bike pedals with maximal force. (Although all the other Australian citizens remained strangely enough calm) Everywhere I looked at lightning bolts were being evoked, and the ground was shaking like a maximal routs per minute centrifuge mode of a dryer machine gone wild.

Mother Nature went mental! I am used to some rain as I am from the Netherlands, where it tends to fall down from the sky in a more chronically fashion. But this was nothing like bad Dutch weather; it was an Australian tropical storm!

I shouldn’t be alive…

Weird duck with long beak

Bondi Beach Bitch

Today I hung out with one of my housemates called Georgina. We decided to chill out at Bondi Beach, the most famous beach of Sydney. From here it is like an hour walk to that particular beach, twenty minutes by bike, or ten minutes by bus. However, as that particular route is an entire descent it costs much more energy to get back, which can be very betraying after lying in the sun all day. Sydney has for that matter many hills and riding a bike here is a full body work-out. (Luckily I took some spinning lessons in the Netherlands, and the muscles required for taming hills were, however severely under recognized, still present in my body somewhere). I’ve been biking here for only a few days now and I already feel shaped up.

Nevertheless, Georgina is not the sporty type and we took a taxi on her costs to Bondi, which I didn’t mind at all. I believe we all need a little luxury in our lives from time to time. I felt like I really got to know her today and we really get along well. She is not the girly girl kind; consequently she mainly has male friends and likes to listen to metal music. I’d say she’s a strong, independent woman who is always in for a good laughter and used to be a huge party animal who straightened herself up. She used to live in Bondi, and we went for a beer at a terrace which overviewed the beach.
Bondi Beach is hot and happening. The blokes (= Australian for guys) are muscular and tanned. The gals (= Australian for girls) are all fabulously dressed. People do not merely go to Bondi Beach for relaxation, but they go there to see and to be seen.
As if they spend their entire free time in the gym and shops for their moments to shine at Bondi Beach. What else was shining was the sun. Temperatures here now reached the 30 degrees and the UV-index is insanely high! They only sell sunscreen starting from protection 30 to upwards, and it is advisable to stay out of the sun during noon time. Though, I had a very pleasant time with Georgina down at Bondi Beach in the heat.Tomorrow my free days are over and I will be starting with my internship at Garvan Institute of Medical Research. I am really looking forward to that! Also, at the moment I still do not have internet at my house. However, I expect to be online here within the coming two weeks.

Cheers.

SCAM: naive boy goes to the big city

Unfortunately, just when I thought I pulled myself together and started feeling comfortable in Sydney, I had reached the bottom. I became a victim of an accommodation fraud which cost me 1200 AUD (=1000 euro). A mixture of my naivety, need for cheap accommodation and time pressure with a professional set-up made me walk impulsively straight into a trap. Based on false documents which included the landlord’s ID, identification of property and signed lease contract, I decided to hand over one month rent and one month deposit cash through a money-transfer service called: Western Union, upon which I should have had received my keys. Though, the keys had never arrived. I know I have been very stupid and too trusting, and it was a very expensive lesson to learn. I went down to the police-station, but they had said that this was not a police matter, as I voluntarily gave her the money. They had recommended me to take a lawyer if I wanted to continue with the process. But I don’t have the money or time for a lawyer, and I have not much ground to stand on as the documents were highly likely to be false. Also the insurance company couldn’t do anything for me because it concerned a risk I took myself. Many tears had fallen, within a crowded internet café and inside the hostel, but I could not let this put me down for much longer.

Because I was thinking – philosophy alert – that we were all probably born naïve. And as time passes by and life happens to you, bits and bits of that naivety erodes away from our self. Sometimes upon experiencing something nasty, like that accommodation scam bitch, chunks of naivety can be taken away from us. So that leaves me wondering – What will be the end product of this process? What will distinguish happy old people from bitter old people?

Wisdom?

Attitude, perhaps?

I caught myself not smiling, nor singing or whistling the couple few days. I don´t want to end up bitter by society. So I left this scam behind me and came down back to earth with a new found positivity. After all, I came here to chase my dreams and in order to do so I had to take some risks. Sure I could sit on the sofa at my parent's place for the rest of my life: nice and safe. But I didn’t; I took my chances. Back to earth!

I still needed to find an accommodation, and valuable time was slipping by. Luckily, Sean, the landlord of my first found accommodation still had the room available for me. So my wandering days were over and I had left the hostel to move into my new room! (Pictures will follow). I felt such a relief by having my own space here in Sydney (and not sharing a dorm with 5 other loudly snoring men). Finally I could start buying things I need for my stay here. I bought a second-hand mountain bike and I really enjoy riding a bike here, which is a lot cheaper compared with the expensive bus rides. As you may recall from the maps picture of my first accommodation; there’s a huge park separating my house from the Garvan Institute. I tried out the route today and it was such a pleasant bike ride, although I do must bear in mind that I need to stay on the left side of the road. Apparently many foreign students tend to get run over here. I bought a second-hand guitar which I am really happy about since it has great therapeutic effect on me. And I purchased running shoes! I noticed that Sydney is a very athletic city. Everywhere you look at you see people working out, with the coinciding hot, sharpened, and muscular, tanned bodies. I can look right? Sport gear is also very cheap in Australia. I bought qualitative running shoes for only 30 AUD (= 25 euro)!

Therefore, today was a very sporty day: I ran in the park, cycled to the beach and for the first time swam in the ocean! I love the sea here! It is so clear, and blue, and wavy. I must say I kept looking out for sharks and I didn’t dare to go further than only a half meter deep. But maybe next time I can build it up with a few inches and see how it goes (read: not getting bitten by sharks) I am going to try to keep on doing this triathlon for every weekend!

Fortunately, Leiden University gave me reasons to smile again as I have received great news! The two courses I followed in September and October at LUMC, Clinical Research in Practice (statistics e.a.) and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation and immunomodulation were both graded with a nine! Moreover, my Leiden Universiteit Fonds application has been nominated for the Janneke Fruin-Helb beurs; excellent LUF application grant of 2,250 euro. The results will be announced at November the 15^th. Exciting!

p.s. thanks for all the supportive emails I received. I really appreciate it. Much love. Vincent

Change of Plans

Well, I found a better accommodation!! Haha. I realize I can be a bit impulsive in making big decisions sometimes. So don't be surprised when I say that I have found a NEW accommodation!

The reason why I changed cribs is because a better offer was presented to me, basically. The offer was especially a lot cheaper (600 AUD/month (= 520 EURO) compared with 880 AUD/month (= 765 EURO), which is really a catch in Sydney! Not only can I LIVE in Sydney, but now I can also EAT in Sydney. The location is very central, walkable to City Center and the Garvan Institute. Two girls will become my house mates. And I will be receiving the keys tomorrow. Yee! Accommodation, check. Next: Social Life.

Here are also some nice pictures of my first impressions in Sydney:

Reading a book while watching the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in between pages....

Accommodation!!

Second day in Sydney and I have found myself a room!! I love the location! It is 15 minutes by bus to Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and 20 minutes to city center. It is at a walk-able distance to Bondi Beach! (I am gonna be a Bondi Beach Bitch after all, Sofie ;) ) Also, there is a huge park at my front door (definitely gonna buy running shoes; no worries Onno, I won't get fat here)!

I also have an Australian phone number nowadays: +61 (0)435 648 790

And you can e-mail me if you want to receive my address (I do like post :D )

Now I can finally ease my mind and start being the tourist for my remaining 8 days till the start of my internship!!

P.s. Jet lag is quite a burden for me to be honest. I made the terrible mistake to sleep from 10:00 to 15:00 on my arrival day, because I could not sleep in my overnight flight from Hong Kong. I was wide-awake at 4 A.M and started writing my lab report of previous course till 7 A.M, that was when breakfast was being served.

Hong Kong: Lantau Island

Today was a really fun day. I must admit that on my first day of arrival here in Hong Kong I was rather skeptical about this stop-over. I was tired, jet-lagged, inexperienced in backpacking and feeling a bit alone. However, after a good night of sleep I became a changed person and felt like doing some fun! So I started my day by eating breakfast in a typically Chinese restaurant and ordered Dim Sum.

Luckily I practiced earlier with using chop sticks, because Western cutlery was absent. After this experience, I went to Kowloon Park where I was witnessing Chinese people searching for inner peace by making movements as if they were being possessed, very interesting. I think that if they were to perform those same moves in Vondelpark at Amsterdam they would be arrested for drugs abuse. Then I made my way to Mong Kok, the so-called Time Square of Hong Kong. I thought it was a bit over-rated and decided to take the metro back to the south to get on a ferry. God, at first I did not understand a thing about the metro in Hong Kong. But after a good body language session with the Chinese

locals I managed to work it. I’ve been told that I should take a

ferry to Lantau Island to observe the largest Buddha in the world: Giant Buddha. So I did. The ferry trip was very nice and it took around 45 minutes t get there. The Chinese sea had something

peculiar to me. It had a scent typically of what I expected China to smell like. Also the colour had something different to it: more light blue, whitish, with a green touch, and the waves were rather thick.

Is this my bus stop?

Finally, I arrived at Lantau Island and there I took the bus to Ngong Ping Village. The bus ride was rather wild and it took me high up in the mountains, as I could feel by the nausea in my stomach and by the pressure in my ears. Upon arrival, I could see where Giant Buddha got its name from. It was enormous! Besides this huge statue, Ngong Ping Village had more to offer. I followed a route called Wisdom Path which guided you through the mountains and took you to herbal tea plants. The entire route had a smell of Chinese tea and that was magical and relaxing. I wanted to get back to Hong Kong City Centre and therefore I had to take the cable car ride, as that was the only way of traveling to reach the metro. That was not a punishment at all! It gave me a gorgeous view of the Chinese mountains and nature.

The terminal of the cable car happened to be a large clothing outlet store! I had some pleasant window shopping, but suddenly I had a reality-check, as I realized the weight of my backpack. I did what no other self-respecting gay guy could do: I left the outlet shopping mall without a clothing bag.

It was starting to get dawn and I hustled to reach

Victoria Bay to see the Symphony of Lights.

No, it’s not a concert. Every night at 8 P.M, Hong Kong Island produces a show of lights projected from skyscrapers on the rhythm of music. That was awesome!

I am now at Hong Kong Airport waiting for my plane to Sydney! xxx

Hong Kong: Lost in Translation

Overwhelmed by nerves I caught myself sitting at gate G7 asking myself why on earth I wanted to DO this. As I

am writing this blog my plane quietly (read: earplugs) finds its way through the clouds up in the
air away from the Netherlands. The flight went really smoothly, mainly due to the fact that I had a private screen filled with hundreds of movies and series. Hong Kong is my first destination and I will be wandering down the Chinese streets for three days. Luckily, my housemate Danielle taught me some essential Chinese lines to enlighten my stay there by anticipating appropriately on the Chinese culture. Armed with the sentences: ''Give me beer, quickly!'' and ''No picture, please!'' made me confident that I came well prepared for this trip. I arrived in Hong Kong at 07:20 local time (01:20

Netherlands) and was

feeling quite energetic. I took the train and airshuttle bus to my hostel. It was only a 50 meter walk from the bus stop to my hostel and yet many newly made Indian friends offered me special offers. After I checked-in I had to keep myself busy for 1.5 hours in order for my room to be cleaned. So I went for a walk downtown in Hong Kong. It is a very chaotic city with many, many, MANY Chinese people. Let's say I did not blend in AT ALL with the crowd. When I just sat on a bench to rest, random Chinese people set next to me to take my picture. Usually I am rather fond of the spotlights; but not when I'm freshly air-plane-traveled messed up! I had a lovely siesta for three hours and then I went out to go and visit the Peak in H.K. The Peak tram brings you steep over a hill to the highest point of Hong Kong, and then you are majorly rewarded with a KILLER VIEW. The huge, trendy, flashy sky scrapers made Hong Kong a dynamic and a very hip city to me. It's time for me to rest. Next update: Sydney!