Well I've done 3 master summary sheets for chemistry. I've found a couple of very good chemistry books in the library (along with my physics book hehe) and thats really helping. At the moment we are doing complex charbohydrate chemistry which I am sort of getting (shock horror me getting chemistry!) I didn't know that there was so many isomers of carbohydrates. There is soooo much detail. The thing I learnt today is how to tell what area in a sugar is more likely to undergo nucleophilc attack - the area with free electrons! We also had a look at the chemical structure of DNA & RNA and I'm glad we done all that kerfuffle before hand because now I really understand the components of DNA. Before, I would look at a molecule of DNA and be able to say it was DNA but I had no idea what it was made up of or, how the cell manages to make it. However, the lecturer was going so fast that I have huge gaps on my notes that I should fill in now while I think about it.

and now I have the hiccups >_<

Also, there is a HSFY seminar tommrrow about what to do about next semester because if I fail chemistry and physics this year I'm going to drop out of HSFY and do something else. Because I can't get into any professional programmes with 2 fails and I can't get into BIOC192 when I failed the prequisiste CHEM191. They are speakers from all departments including Law. I though about Law you know but I'm not sure if I'd be any good at it. To me they seem like paper pushers. However, I can do Japanese (which I was quite good at in high school and I still remember quite a bit) and I could work for the Government. I still like Science though but because it draws on heaps of previous knowlege I feel I'm at bit of a disadvantage having not done much science at high school.

My friend Megan who studied NDS with me and who is currently in her 2nd year of Medical Lab Science at Massey wants to go back to UCOL and do nursing. Something that I too have been considering. Mum is a nurse after all and they get paid way more than a medical lab scientist and 20k less that a house surgon (something Doctors are  called just after they graduate) however, I want to graduate from a University. It seems ironic that Med Lab Sci is a selective 4 year degree and they get paid less than nurses. But I still like science...

I was also thinking about post graduate study. To go into research in science you normally need a PhD (something a certain someone well all know knows heaps about ) and since I will proberly be a C student (yeah I know Cs get degrees but thats not the point) I won't be able to get into Honours (thus go from honours to a PhD) & will have to go the long way. Ie Bachelors->Masters->doctorate. But I'm not even sure I want to go into research anymore.

I've been having huge pangs of home sickness lately. I miss my mum and I miss being in Feilding (never though I'd say that) and I miss comfterable surroundings. Maybe it's just because it's my first year and out lectures are sooo big (1864 students taking CELS191) that it's hard to get to know anyone. At UCOL there was 20 people doing NDS which was great because you knew everyone and they knew you. Same with your lecturers you knew them and they knew you. However, the lectures at UCOL were 2-3hours long so you could cover a weeks worth of work in 2days. Thats why I think I didn't want to finish it the lectures got boring in the end and I just stopped going.