WAAAAHHHHHHHH

Does anyone hear the WHAAAAMMMMMBULANCE??

 because I do!

I've been sick with this horrible cold for exactly a week now and its awfully obnoxious! I haven't been able to go to the gym since last wednesday, and it also makes me less motivated to do my assignments!

I think the worst is over though, and now I'm to the point of the annoying running nose and cough. I had to leave a lecture 3 times today to blow my nose! So bothersome.

Good news today though is my Criminal Profiling book FINALLY came in to the bookstore today after 6 weeks! Boy do I have some catch up reading to do!! Since it is such an interesting subject I don't mind, but I sure wish I had it since the beginning of the semester.

I have so much to talk about once I get some of my assignments done.

Miss and Love everyone!

PRETTY WALK

It was really nice out on Saturday and I wanted to get a smoothie (as it sounded super good to my sick self) and so I walked to the mall and back to get a smoothie. It was a tiring walk since I was sick but it was so beautiful out! Here are some pictures: (That I am proud to say are not altered in any way, it really is this beautiful and colorful here!)

One angle of the "spiky building"

Panorama

The sky was so awesome!

Entrance to the school

Spiky Building

SO AWESOME

This is the police academy campus that is next to my dorm

Police marching area...

This is what I walk through to get to the mall when the buses aren't running.

Weekend Shenanigans

As some of you may know... I get a 4 day weekend, every weekend! (Thank you Australia's UNI system *fist pump*)

My last class is Offender Profiling on Wednesday mornings from 8:30-11:30. This week by pure coincidence we went over personality disorders in Counselling & Managing Conflict, (tuesday 2:30-5:30) and then we went over them AGAIN in offender profiling the following morning.

"Personality disorders are the most important component when creating a profile on a serial offender"

and after learning the same thing two days in a row for 6 hours I now consider myself WELL educated in the personality disorder department.

For a change the weather was really nice on Wednesday and we all laid on the grass outside our dorm and tanned. (I stayed in my pants and a tank top) but the rest of the girls were in bikins and the boys in tanks and shorts. It was nice to just lay out and relax and enjoy the nice weather. It wasn't hot, but for once it wasn't raining so we soaked up the winter sun!

This is how you study in Aussieland ;)

Then I went to the gym for 2 hours. I took a class and did an hour of cardio on my own. It felt good!

Ree had a date that night so Joey & I hung out with her while she was getting ready, and then after we dropped her off, we hung out watching Pitch Perfect together. I LOVE that movie it is so freaking hilarious. Once Ree got home (date wasn't that great) all the girls hung out in Steph's unit talking until I was tired and decided to go to bed.

Thursday I woke up not feeling too great. I had a congested nose and my head was starting to hurt. (EVERYONE has been sick so I knew it was only a matter of time) I stayed in bed until almost noon and once I got up I didn't do anything but watch tv and movies. You know how nice it is to just be lazy when you don't feel good! I went to the store at 4 to go get some food, and when I came back I started my assignment that is due Monday.

That night one of Aimee's friends came over and cooked us Kangaroo steak and it was good! The meat was very lean, no fat at all, and I had a few pieces even though I felt sick. I was happy to try it!

Raw Kanga meat. Its so red!

On Friday I slept in again and spent the whole day doing research and writing for my assignment.

(Which I clearly wasn't enjoying....)

I made a lot of progress but I still had a lot to accomplish also. My roommate Chenè is running a 12K race on sunday, and she had to go into Perth to get her racing bib, so Aimee, Chenè, Andrew (from Sac State) and I went into the city with her just to go into the city and walk around. We had a lot of fun! Andrew and I got soaked in a water maze, we walked around the city, rode the train, and all just had fun hanging out. By the time we made it back to Joondalup I was exhausted with all that walking around while being sick. We went to dinner at KulCha this really popular Chinese place that everyone loves. It was the best food I have had here so far that I haven't made myself (besides the Kanga Steak) Once I got home I passed out from exhaustion.

Perth Trip Pictures

Andrew, me, Aimee

One of the first schools in Perth

Chenè, me, Aimee

Chenè Walking into the water maze

(You don't ge wet if you move at correct times,

so you can go through the whole thing and remain dry...

just not if you're me!)

I got soaked! If you zoom in you can tell.

Cool coffe cafe decorations

Kulcha Chinese Food

Saturday I hung out with my roommates, talked to Ryan, and worked on my paper. Stayed home the entire day. The sickness really got gnarly this day. But the good news was I completed my paper, I just had to finish finding my references and relating them to my claims. As I started to fall asleep, I was awoken by Chenè and Aimee screaming and laughing. I figured they were drunk. I had no idea what was really happening until I heard Aimee start crying and the unmistakable sound of puke splattering all down the hallway....

Yay its done!

Aimee is only 17 (18 next month -legal drinking age) and she is less than 100 pounds so she shouldn't drink a lot... Needless to say she got wasted and Chenè was trying to take care of her on her own but she got to the point where she needed my help. Chenè had gotten up at 4 that morning for work, worked all day, studied at night, and then was forced to take care of Aimee when she had a race to run in the morning (poor girl!) she ended up only sleeping 3 hours before her race.

Anyway, Chenè came home to Aimee being a drunken mess and put her to bed. She left Aimee's door open so she could check on her and sure enough a half hour later Aimee was puking in her bed and crying for Chenè (Meanwhile I am listening to all this go down while watching modern family in my room with my door shut laughing to myself... we've all been there...Well, most of us) Chenè cleaned up the puke on the floor and in Aimee's bed and stripped the bed, got Aimee out of her puke clothes and put her in the shower. The she couldn't get Aimee's body from the shower to her room (where she has a spare mattress and blankets set up for Aimee) She got halfway there and just yelled "KAYLA COME HELP ME!!" At that point I finally got out of bed and went to see what was going on. Chenè was attempting to drag an unresponsive Aimee to her room on a towel while she's naked. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Aimee woke up and yelled "BUCKET!" and thank god Chenè has good reflexes cause she got the bucket to Aimee's face just in time. She puked in the hallway for a while before we were able to carry her into Chenè's room.

No need to worry everyone... Aimee is fine now, just shed a lot of tears, laughed, and puked tons haha. I got lots of funny pictures and video's but I won't be posting those! It was a night to remember for sure.

Lastly, today on Sunday I finished my paper and turned it in online. I am super nervous about it since it is my first assignment that I've turned in and it's just a whole new system of rules and expectations. I hung out with the girls for a while and then we all went to Trivia Night at the Rec Room with Red Frog which is an organization that puts on events for UNI students.

They fed us all free pizza and then we played Trivia for an hour. It was all sorts of trivia and also some brain teasers. I am HAPPY to say that my NERDINESS paid off and MY TEAM WON!!!! WOOO! We won trivia AND the brain teasers... It's just not fair for all the Australian's... THE AMERICAN REIGNS SUPREME WOOOO! Ok, just joking, but it was exciting to win! We won $150 gift card to the grocery store and a few bags of starbursts, and movie tickets! I was stoked!! My team was Me, Ree, and Chenè.

That was my weekend! It's been pouring rain again yesterday and today (it's funny how it never sprinkles here it just POURS on and off) and I am so exhausted and sick of this cold! I am going to bed now and hoping I will sleep soundly! Love you all!

Ok, I couldn't resist... LOVE YOU AIMEE! :D

HOLY MOSES BATMAN!

I JUST SUBMITTED MY FIRST AUSTRALIAN ASSIGNMENT. 

Relived and crazy nervous at the same time.

A.D.H.D.

In my counselling class this week we were talking about the DSM-IV, personality disorders, and the way that different disorders are classified. 

We got to A.D.H.D. and all the HYPE (I couldn't help myself *smirk*) currently surrounding it and my teacher brought up a really valid point.

Yes, ADHD has existed for decades now, but why the current hype? Well my teacher attributes the ride of ADHD awareness to the change of society and role of technology in our lives today. It made so much sense!

A few decades ago, technology did not play as much as a central role in our lives as it does today. Today we have phones on us every second of the day, doing every possible task we need them to do. Kids learn from tv, tablets, and video games, and hardly play outside (since it's not as safe as it used to be). We, as a people group, (mainly younger generations) have been programmed for technology dependency. I know I feel naked and helpless without my phone (It's been a wake-up call being here without any cell service) and I can't get anything done without my computer. (Homework, blog assignments, e-mails, keeping in touch with family and friends, social media) Therefore, we need technology in our hands at all times. 

I don't know about anyone else, but I watch tv, with my computer on my lap, and my phone in my hand, with an open textbook nearby. Talk about stimulation overload! I will text, facebook, research, watch tv, read out of my book, and write things down simultaneously. Kids are being treated the same way. When I worked serving tables I would watch kids color, and also play on their parents ipad. 

Our generations are bred to be multi-taskers. So is it possible then, that these kids DO NOT have ADHD but rather, are being conditioned and bred to function in a world where multi-tasking is a necessity, and are not hyper-active or have attention-deficit, but are ahead of the game learning how to manage multiple stimuli all at once? 

It's quite an intriguing argument and I believe it could have merit and value. I have been thinking about it since my class ended and it's a smart idea. Instead of slapping a negative and possibly outdated label on our children, and medicating them (sometimes unnecessarily) why not explore the idea that our society as a whole has changed, and attention to multiple stimuli is now required in order to evolve and learn at a proper curve?

I thought it was an interesting argument and wanted to see what you guys' thought about it. I'm not saying that ADHD doesn't exist, I just thought it was an interesting idea.

All good things come with a cost...

As much as I seriously love my new unit, and the people in it... being in the first room of the hallway SUCKS.

I get ALL the noise from the Kitchen AND the family room. My roommates never ever turn off the TV. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't exploded. Any time I turn it off its literally back on in 20 mins or less.

THIS IS WHY I CAN NEVER SLEEP.

Blog Writing

I know you guys are irritated that I don't write as often but believe it or not... writing for the blog is very time consuming! I always put a lot of effort into it.

I promise I write as much as I can.

On that note, the weather is supposed to clear up this week so I have plans to go to the beach on Friday with Joey and then the city on Saturday with Steph!

I am excited to explore! :)

Bed time! Love you all, good night.

ERIC!!!!

I was going to text you but I am on the blog so I figured I would just say it here...

I watched that movie Chronicle and it was amazing! I loved it.

Good call.

ECU commercial

This isn' the one I was talking about... but it's close. It is such an accurate representation of my UNI.

The buildings in the video are actual buildings on campus. (the spiky one is what we are famous for!)

Here's the video:

Or if that doesn't work, Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlIZSBTUs2g

My Teachers ROCK

Tuesdays (today) are my longest days.
Family Law from 830-1130
Three hour break
Counselling and Managing Conflict from 230-530
Then I go to the gym
By the time I get showered and eat dinner its usually 830
Then I relax until bed at 10 (or later) to get up at 8 again Wed for Offender Profiling!

Needless to say spending six hours in class is a long time and pretty exhausting when you are learning so much information, but you know what makes it bearable???

OREOS.

Just kidding! AWESOME TEACHERS! (Although oreos would help)

I have such great teachers! I am so impressed by all of them. Forensic science because he is so knowledgeable and introduces us to experts (Like Fiona) and experiences we would only get through him and his class. Family Law because she is witty and funny, but takes pride in learning all her students names and truly caring about their education while still being stern. Counselling because she is so sincere and endearing when she talks that you can't help but listen and absorb everything she says, and Offender Profiling... well she's not that great but the class is fun!

After Family Law concluded I went up to my teacher to talk to her about our Workbook (our main assignment with multiple tasks) because I was unclear on how to tackle some of the tasks and they went over them in the classes I missed when I was still in poopy International Human Rights (groan)
When I walked up to her she remember my name, asked me "How ya goin?!"(typical australian greeting) and had small talk with me before we got down to business. I was so impressed that she remembered my name from our meeting and that she took the time to honestly see how I was doing. Asked me how I was liking Australia and how I was adjusting. It was really sweet, I was so impressed. She helped answer my questions of course, and then proceeded to tell me that I can e-mail her anytime, or stop by her office for help. It's the small things that make a teacher awesome and your learning experience so much better.

On my break I got to talk to Ryan. I miss him so much! (34 days til we see each other!) Then I went back to school for Counselling (Still weird to spell that with two lls)

During this class session we talked about different disorders covered in the DSM-IV and how you would assess & treat people with certain disorders. It was very interesting. I usually talk to my teacher for a minute or two after class because she was the one that I opened up to on the day when I was really depressed about being lonely an having a hard time adjusting. I mean, I know she is a therapist, but she still didn't have to go that extra mile for me. So I try to chat with her for a few minutes after class each week because se genuinely cares about me and i appreciate that so much.

Today after class I was asking her questions about an assignment we have (its hard to learn new writing and research styles) and afterwards she of course asked how I was doing and if I was adjusting better now that I moved rooms etc... WE TALKED FOR ALMOST AN HOUR.

About everything! Traveling, politics, disorders, moving, growing up, learning styles, parenting, relationships. It was so amazing. We just sat there and talked and talked and talked. I couldn't believe the time once I saw it! Who knows if she had important plans or not, regardless... she stayed there and talked with me. She is such an amazing person and so easy to talk to. Very soft-spoken but you can tell she is interested in everything you say and truly cares about you. It is just so sweet! I know being a therapist it is probably in her nature, but still... I appreciate it.

Like I said.. my teachers rock! I am so blessed to have them!

I saw a commercial for ECU (my UNI) the other day and it talked about having teachers who truly care, and a balance of practical knowledge with theoretical knowledge to set you up for your future, and I am so proud to say that that is so true! (For once advertising is true!!) I am proud to be an ECU student. :)

Just call me Dexter

Time to talk about my favorite class again! Forensic Science!

The week I have been eagerly anticipating is finally here! Bloodstain Pattern Analysis.

The Dexter in me was smiling with an evil grin :)

Our class was taught by the BPA expert in Western Australia: Fiona McQuisten.

She’s been working for the police department for 18 years, and in Forensics (BPA) for 16 years. She holds the rank of Senior Sergeant, and is an ‘acting’ Inspector. (A rank slightly above Senior Sergeant)

She gave us about an hour long presentation (slide show) of different blood stains and explained the techniques that they use to analyze the blood. It seems complicated at first, but then as you go on and keep learning it really is all common sense. I won’t go into super detail but it was absolutely fascinating and amazingly simple at the same time. I am also one of the few people that read the chapter in our textbook about BPA and it was so informative and interesting!

After the crash course in identification of different blood spatter patterns and drops, she gave us a worksheet to do. We had to look at pictures and identify what type of patterns they were (arterial, wipe, swipe, pooling, etc.) and then based on the pattern and direction of the blood speculate possible scenarios about what happened. It was a fascinating exercise! (I know I keep using that word but it’s the word that keeps coming to mind!) The crash course, and then the matching/labeling activity took up the first two hours and after that Fiona told us that she had two real cases that she worked on with her, and anyone who wished to examine them could stay, but otherwise the class was dismissed.

As you can guess, nobody left. Everyone was entranced.

So Fiona presented to us two REAL cases that she worked on. She made sure first that no one in the class knew the victims, the she proceeded to explain the cases and show us the real pictures from the scene and we “worked through” the case with her, based solely on the blood evidence to figure out what happened, and then after our hypotheses she walked us through the case with the OTHER details from detectives and told us exactly what happened. IT WAS AMAZING.

Yes seeing the crime scene photos were very gory, but Fiona put black bars covering the bodies on the slides because she said it isn’t necessary to see that gore in order to learn about BPA. The only times we saw photos of the body was if it had specific information relating to the determination of what exactly happened in the crime. For example, in one of the pictures we saw the lower portion of a body (mainly the feet) because there was blood covering the tops of the feet, but not the bottom. What does this indicate? It was quite the smoking gun in the case because the attacker alleged that the victim was attacking him through multiple rooms of the house, but if that were true she would have blood on the bottoms of her feet from walking through the blood and allegedly chasing the attacker. But because she only had blood on the top of her feet, it was indicative of the victim being dragged through blood, not walking. (There was blood covering the whole house, it would be impossible to walk around and NOT get it on the bottoms of your feet).

ISN’T THAT SO COOL?!

Obviously you can tell how much I loved this week’s class, but I still don’t think BPA or any forensic science would be a good career for me. Mainly because I am not too keen on science and the mountains of paperwork you have to do, and the amount of documentation you have to do at a crime scene (video, pictures, sketches, lists, reports, etc.) Plus, if you miss a piece of evidence, or document it incorrectly, or interpret it incorrectly, it can be catastrophic and I don’t want that kind of pressure on my back! Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience that Fiona provided to us. I graciously thanked her for speaking to our class after it was over.

Here are some notes I took that I thought I’d share with you guys:

*BPA tells you HOW something happened. It can tell you about the victim, weapon, actions, severity of attack, the sequencing of multiple “bloodshed events,” positioning of persons, directionality, angle of impact, objects used, force, and if a person attempted a clean up (along with many other things)

*The absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence.

*Hemastix are test strips used to confirm if a substance is truly blood. Nail polish, rust, paint, sauces, and other things can sometimes be mistaken for blood and hemastix can detect if it is blood or not. Hemastix can yield false positive for a number of reasons and some items that create false positives are: rust, beetroot, horseradish, copper, cabbage, bleach, and plant material. Also if the hemastix is exposed to air for too long before the test, or past its expiration date it can tamper with the validity of the test. (So many variables to consider!) (Hemastix are usually just a quick test done at the scene and much more thorough testing is done later at the lab)

*Context must always be considered when determining what the blood tells you.

*Different surfaces affect bloodstain shape/size (Think of a drop of blood hitting tile verses hitting carpet)

*In order to sequence bloodstains it is important to attend the crime scene yourself to establish context because it is very hard to speak in absolute positives when you cannot see the scene as a whole.

*Chemical detection of blood is high in sensitivity, and low in specificity.

*When speaking in legal situations and with detectives BPA experts must use terms such as “blood shed event” (stabbing, shooting, etc) “blood source” (victim) and “penetrating injuries” (stab wounds)

*If flies are present at the scene they will eat and excrete blood. (gross) In effect, “fly spots” are sometimes mistaken for blood spatter when in reality its bloody fly poop! Crazy! These things you would never think about you know?

Here are some categories of bloodstain patterns:

*Wipe

*Swipe

*Transfer/contact

*Drip

*Flow

*Pools

*Saturation stains

*Impact

*Splashes

*Cast-off

*Arterial spurt/gush

*Expirated

*Void (What the ABSENCE of blood in an area can tell you)

*Fly spot

*Bubble rings

*Perimeter/skeletonized

Hope this didn’t upset you guys and you weren’t eating lunch or something! Haha.

SATURDAY NIGHT DRIVE

That wasn't supposed to be all caps but I'm too lazy to change it.

Saturday I spent the whole day relaxing and reading. After a restless night of sleep on Emily's couch, and finally getting someone to let me in my room at 9 am I was tired. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't.

Luckily I was able to talk to Krystal & Greg, and also Ryan to take up a few hours of my time. I also hung out with Ree and Joey. Some of the girl and guys decided to go out again on Saturday night to a onesie party (I miss my onesies so bad!!) but I didn't feel like dealing with that train wreck again so I told them that I was staying home to watch movies and study.

By a happy surprise Joey text me and asked me if I was free and invited me to go for a drive with her! I was really excited. Joey and I are the most alike in that she's 20, doesn't like to party, is focused on school, and has a long distance relationship. He lives here in Perth but he travels for work often so they have to skype to keep in touch. We had fun as she drove us into the city and we just looked around and went to King's Park. Which is a really nice park that overlooks the city and you're able to see all the lights. It was beautiful but it started to rain so we came home but I was thankful and happy for the adventure! She cooked dinner and we continued to chat (She lives with Ree in the apartment right across from me) and then she told me she has a bunch of movies and tv shows on her hard drive that she can put on my computer (including all the Harry Potter movies!) and I got a bunch of stuff to watch for when I am bored or cant fall asleep.  The picture is blurry because it was dark and the guy wasn't very good at taking pictures but here you go!

Swan River out there (I think)

Joey!

With flash

B&W Action

Hippie Happy Hour!

Say that five times fast!

Because I am the oldest of the girls here (everyone is 17-19 the drinking age is 18) I have taken the role of Mama bear. Which I gladly embrace, considering that clubbing isn't really my thing, and I don't have tons of money to spend on alcohol.

Friday we decided to have girls night! We went to Anthea's school (One of emily's childhood friends) She goes to UWA (University of Western Australia) and the bar on campus there has happy hour on fridays from 4-5pm. You can get a pitcher of any beer/cider for $12. Now that is a deal! I was in for that! The group of us girls was composed of Emily, Anthea, Renae, Steph, Reearna, Caley, Zoey, and me!

UWA was a beautiful UNI... old brick buildings, beautiful architecture, and lots of trees. It was really fun for me to see another UNI and a new part of Perth city. The bar was a typical college bar... dim and dirty but endearing in its atmosphere with old wooden tables, two floors, and little cafe, lots of "kids" and a small stage where bands performed. We stayed for a few hours drinking our pitchers (JUGS in australia haha) and then we headed back to Anthea's to put on our hippie tie-dye dresses that we made. Then we all got on a big party bus and headed to the bar/club for the "Hippie and Hipsters" party.

Well.... some of us were more prepared to party than others...I got in and spend a whopping 3 minutes inside the club before I noticed some of the girls were...distressed outside.

Steph lost her ID and couldn't gain entry, Anthea wasn't admitted because they said she was too drunk already, Renae was busy yelling at the bouncer defending Anthea's "sober" honor... it was quite a scene to behold. and all of us wearing matching tie dye dresses. I tried to calm down Renae and Anthea when I see Ree struggling with someone... Emily.

Emily had been puking in the bathroom and some random girl grabbed Caley and said "Hey theres a girl puking in the bathroom and I'm assuming she's your friend because you're wearing matching dresses... you might want to check up on her..." By the time that Caley got there the bouncer's were kicking Emily out and I looked up in time to see her stumble out of the club and collapse in the gutter. Ree was struggling to help her and she was drunk also... and then of course it started to pour rain.

Mama Bear to the rescue! I got us a ride from a nice young lady who worked at the bar we got kicked out of and she took us to the train station. Ree called her friend Dan and he picked us up at the train station. I carried Emily in the pouring rain to his car. He got us back to the Village (our dorm) but we had a problem...

All of our stuff was at Anthea's in Perth at UWA. Wallets, money, keys to our rooms... everything. Luckily a RA let us in to Emily's apartment (She couldn't even walk) and Ree and I spent the night on the couch taking care of her. So we didn't even make it to the actual main Hippie event but I still had a really fun time! It was definitely an interesting night!

Sadly, my cash and credit card was in Steph's purse and was lost/stolen along with her ID which was a super bummer. Luckily my passport and bus pass was not lost/stolen cause that would have been a real drag! Emily is fine now and everyone nursed quite the hang over! (Except me :) )

Ree, Steph, Me

JUGS

CALEY

REE

RENAE

ME RENAE EMILY ANTHEA

ANTHEA

ALL OF US

REE

ME, ZOEY & CALEY

REE STEPH ME