Yet another milestone

This morning, after crawling from bed to laptop, I was in the process of informing Lindy of my third sick day with trembling hands when I noticed an email from a University of Bath address in my inbox. It was entitled "Placement at the University of Western Australia" and I knew instantly what it would entail. Sure enough, it was a request for information and advice from a second year Biochemistry student, hoping to land my placement for the next academic year. This brought on a huge wave of nostalgia; it's officially one whole year since I was applying to work here!

I thought back to this time last year and, remembering all the wonderful advice I received from past and present UWA placement students, tried to be as helpful as possible. Matt and Charis, who came out here two years before me and were back in Bath finishing their degrees by the time I applied, met me for lunch on campus and gave me loads of useful information on what the work side of my placement would actually consist of, as well as putting together this awesome and very comprehensive guide to living in Perth, using their experience. It gave me a heads-up on things to look out for, such as getting my Visa application sorted in plenty of time, setting up a bank account and finding a place to live, but also much more important things (i.e. the best beaches and drinking spots). Upon arrival in Australia, I used the "attractions" guide for ideas for touristy things to do and it definitely helped me find my feet in Perth. Secondly, I got in contact with Richard in the year above me, who was here directly before me. He advised me on things like budgeting and stressed the importance of saving before I got here, which proved invaluable as Perth is extremely expensive. Thanks to them, I appear to have survived so far!

This threw into perspective how, although I sometimes feel as though I'm the only "pom" to step foot in the EaRN office, the majority of my colleagues have seen several Bath students pass through the system during their time here. Andy alone could name 8, and that's just during the duration of his Honours and PhD, so god knows how many Lindy or Carole have seen! As much as I'm looking forward to going home, I'm not entirely sure I like the thought of a shiny new placement student taking over my job in September and getting friendly with my favourite Aussies, but I suppose it's a notion everyone who's done this has had to come to terms with.