Canteenless + Happy CNY :)

Moj projekt
Zdaj bi bil že čas, da napišem še kaj o svojem projektu :). Teden, ko sem prišla nazaj, sem pripravljala grafe, ocene parametrov (klirens in volumen porazdelitve), ki jih je NONMEM določil... vse to za izvleček, ki so ga hoteli napisati tisti, ki so mi dali podatke. Vse to je bilo treba narediti do ponedeljka. V petek pa sva z mentorjem ugotovila, da smo vzeli napačne podatke!! Ker so nam poslali nekoliko zmedene tabele, vse v različnem vrstnem redu...jaz sem pa napačno domnevala, da je povsod enak vrstni red podatkov... Tako je bilo vse, kar sem naredila v zadnjih 3 mesecih narobe! Jupi :) Joe na srečo ni bil nič jezen, rekel je samo:"Welcome to science." Potem sem v ponedeljek vstala ob pol 8 (zdelo se mi je kot ob pol 6ih!! še tema je bila zunaj), prišla na faks pred 9o (Joe je bil kar malo šokiran, hehh) in do popoldneva mi/nama je uspelo potem vse končati. Drugače se zdaj nekako že bližam končanju svojega projekta, saj so rezultati že kar lepi.. Čeprav sem pa ravno danes dobila podatke, ki so spet malo drugačni od prejšnjih, tako da bom mogoče morala kaj popraviti.

No Refectory
The week after that there was no refectory at the Uni. So, Elham and I had to eat in the park or in the nearby restaurants. Luckily I found quite a lot 2 for 1 vouchers, so it wasn't that expensive :). And there are some really nice restaurants just across the street: we eat in Italian, Japanese, Mexican/Chinese.

 

Sobotno nakupovanje
If you feel suicidal, you should really go shopping on a Saturday. Because it is suicide!! Especially if you choose Oxford Street and one of the stores, where there's a lot of people even during the week. Like Primark. But we (Roni and I) did exactly that. People were waiting almost 45mins just for the fitting rooms! (So just one look at the queue tells you who is probably not completely normal ;)..) How do I know that? Well...I was one of them :). I couldn't just buy boots without trying them on first :P. (Just in case some psychiatrists are reading this..I did try some clothes as well.). But the boots are really cute, so it was worth it. Just last week it was raining, so I could finally wear them. Honestly, it almost NEVER rains here. And if it does, it's just drizzle, light rain. In 4 months I only used my umbrella 3 times :)).

And I had a funny conversation about the boots with one of the Erasmus students
X: Did you buy them?
Me: Yes. (No, I stole them. / No, I would never pay money for something that ugly??)
X: Are they waterproof?
Me: Yes. (?? Hmm...they are RUBBER boots... Well, I hope they are waterproof ;). It wasn't raining heavily, so I don't really know... It would be funny (not really!) if they weren't...)

But I think X didn't really mean to ask this. Like all of us Erasmus, X probably has difficulties expressing Xself in English too. I think X wanted to ask (this was quite difficult to guess) "Do you have new boots?" and (this was a no-brainer) "They are really nice!" :).

protesters (Mubarak), Chinatown

CNY (=Chinese New Year)
Happy CNY = 恭喜發財 = Kung Hei Fat Choi (~ "Congratulations and be prosperous"; Mandarin)
San Nien Faii Lok (~ "Happy New Year"; in Cantonese?)
The CNY normally begins in late January or early February and is calculated according to the lunar calendar. The current Year of the Rabbit runs from 3 February 2011 to 22 January 2012.

Chinese Horoscope (ki sem ga sama naredila:) bjutiful..heh)

On Sunday we went to Trafalgar Square, where the main stage was. It was sooo crowded!! The celebrations started with firecrackers, quite loud. [They are suppose to scare away the mythical beast Nian. And the red colour has the same effect. That's why there's so many red lanterns..] It then continued with Dotting the Dragon's Eyes (some of the important people helped paint the Dragon's eyes, so he could then see...), the Dragon Dance, the Lion Dance (unfortunately we didn't see that. We went to another location (Hong Kong Stage): Shaftesbury Avenue in Chinatown), some speeches... We were really tired from walking so slowly and trying not to bump into somebody...that we decided to get some Chinese. But all the restaurants were full (surprise, surprise;)). We finally found one, but we had to wait more than an hour to get some food.. And by the time we finished eating, the shows almost ended...

Filmček (sicer je posnetek od lanskega leta, ampak vseeno)

Finally =)

Not writing for soooo long has some benefits for you: now you won't have to listen to (read about?) all that jibber-jabber, because I think I have already forgotten a lot. Hopefully not everything though.

[God, it seems ages ago...] Well, a day before I went home to Slovenia, we (Erasmus students) went to Icebar, literally the coolest bar in UK ;). The bar is completely made out of ice. Everything from walls, bar, tables...is made from ice. Even the glasses, which makes them really 100% recyclable ;). The crystal clear ice is harvested from the frozen Torne River in Jukkasjarvi, Northern Sweden. The bar is kept at minus 5 degrees, so 40 mins in it is totally enough :). You actually have a stopwatch on the wall, counting down the minutes and seconds till the end! They gave us thermal capes and gloves, so we could cope with the cold easier. In tako smo se spremenili v modre kapice ;).

International coffee week ;). Elham and my supervisor as well came back from their holidays and both brought coffee. So we had some Arabic and some Costa Rican coffee, both nice.

The next day I had to wake up early (luckily Andrea woke me up), having my flight to Slovenia that day. After just catching the bus (I arrived at the bus stop at 8.38, the bus left at 8.40, hehhe), I got to the airport in plenty of time. So, with two hours to kill, I had an expensive coffee, answered some questions for a (pretty boring) survey (why do they always find me??) and then it was time to leave London, first time after almost 4 months. It was nice travelling with almost no luggage. I was a bit worried about the weight of the suitcase, but then I found out that Easyjet doesn't have any weight limitations! How great is that? (I only wish I had known that earlier..but still, for the next time.) Well, the limitation is: you have to be able to lift it above your head (to put it on the shelf (?) in the plane). Hearing the safety announcements on the plane I started to wonder: why do they always tell you what do you have to do if you land in the water? Even on the inland flights. Just in case you manage to hit a river or a really huge lake when you crash? Hmm... And another thing, why do they let people with speaking disabilities speak to a large crowd of people? (And it wasn't the pilot or the flight attendants, it was a prerecorded Slovenian guy).

sunny in London, rainy and foggy in Ljubljana

It was really nice seeing my family and friends...:). And really funny sometimes - like when I started to talk about something and you knew all about it from the blog (made me so proud of you! heh Maybe I will do a quiz next time...giving prices for the best answers ;)...).

Well, I have to go now... I'm off to see an exhibition about the usage of medicine and drugs throughout the history... Hopefully I will continue with my writing soon :).

Really Soon.. ;)

Yup, soon I'm really going to write another post. :) I've already made all the collages...  But now I'm getting super sleepy, so I will continue...soon. Hehe

For now, just a sneak peek:

Soon...

...(maybe tomorrow?) I will write a new post :).

Last week my blog had his 2000th view! Pridni ste! :). Ob tej priložnosti še malo statistike..

 

I also had some pageviews from Spain, Australia, Russia, Germany...but I don't know why they don't count in the All-time stats. 

And because one has to joke:

Hehhhee :)

Bloody Day ;) in a Busy Week

Prejšnji teden je bil kar naporen, saj sem imela veliko dela na faksu. Vendar pa je bil tudi zelo produktiven :). Tako zaposlena sem bila, ker je danes prišel nazaj moj mentor, ki je bil prej odsoten 1 mesec. In pred odhodom mi je naročil kar precej stvari...in ker so bili prej prazniki...hehe...mi je vse ostalo za zadnji teden. Še za domov sem si morala v petek vzeti gradivo. In ker sem tak kronoptimist (op.a. oseba, ki vedno/večinoma oceni, da ji bodo opravila vzela zelo malo časa oz. da bo lahko naredila ogromno stvari v človeško nezmožni količini časa; ne vem, če (je) ta beseda res obstaja(la)...pač iz grške besede khronos, ki pomeni čas; in optimist = pozitivec) sem poleg vsega dela za faks seveda sprejela še (svoj prvi plačani!) prevod članka (skoraj 10 strani, kar sem "malo" napačno ocenila, da mi bo vzelo največ 2-3 urice časa). Tako sem bila v nedeljo zvečer res zmatrana... Ampak vseeno sem prišla na faks zelo (zame!) zgodaj. Nekaj čez 9. Ampak ni bilo nikogar tam! Ne mentorja, ne Elham...sama sem bila v pisarni in tudi skoraj na faksu. Tako da ni bilo nobenega aplavza... :( hheh. Joe tudi ni imel časa, da bi pogledal, kaj sem naredila v 1 mesecu časa...

On Thursday I decided to do something more interesting than just going to the Uni. [And I checked the blood stock for my type of blood and it was in the bottom two!] So I went to donate blood. But (again) I realised that this is not completely selfless act, because YOU feel better as well. Like you've done something that matters, helps other people. But it actually does, so it's OK. :)
Pa tudi zanimala me je primerjava s Slovenijo. [Ker sem v Sloveniji dala kri vedno na ZTMju (Zavod RS za transfuzijsko medicino) in v Veliki Britaniji le v West End Blood Donor Centre bom primerjala samo ta dva med sabo]. Angleški center je skoraj na Oxford Streetu, zelo majhen, kot neko družinsko podjetje ;), tako da mi slovenski center izgleda bolj profesionalen. Glavne razlike so drugače: tukaj ti ni treba pokazati nobenega osebnega dokumenta (tako da bi - ne vem, zakaj bi kdo to hotel, ampak vseeno - lahko nekdo dal kri namesto nekoga drugega??), ne zmerijo ti krvnega pritiska, tu je slabša hrana (skoraj samo piškotki in čips - v zdravstveni ustanovi! pa tudi sok je samo precej zanič sirup ali pa voda). Pa tudi hemoglobin/železo v krvi ti tu drugače zmerijo: pri nas dajo kapljo krvi na napravo, ki jim pove številčno vrednost hemoglobina; tu pa jo kapnejo v raztopino - sem sestro, ki mi je to delala, vprašala, kaj je noter, pa je rekla, da ne ve, da ve samo, da je modra za ženske in zelena za moške; sem pa potem seveda malo iskala in našla :) - je raztopina bakrovega sulfata. Ker je le-ta specifične gostote (za ženske ima raztopina manjšo specifično gostoto), lahko s tem, koliko časa kaplijica rabi, da potone (sestra je rekla, da mora v manj kot 20 sekundah), ocenimo hemoglobin. No, še ena razlika: tu ti na koncu roko povijejo s kompresijsko obvezo/obližem (me je, preden mi je dala obliž gor, vprašala, če sem alergična na obliže - čeprav sem imela že enega na prstu :)....mogoče je pa posebna alergija - samo na več kot enega na eni roki??).
So, if you want to do something that matters, do something amazing today: save a life, give blood! :)
[I read that only 5 % of people that can give blood actually does that!]

On  Saturday we became MPs (now that I know what it means - member of parliament). We went to visit Houses of Parliament. Parlament je zelo zanimiv in velik - smo se skoraj uro in pol sprehajali. Nekaj sob sicer ne uporabljajo - imajo jih samo, ko pride kraljica na obisk.. Drugače pa je gotskega stila, vendar pa je znotraj opremenljen skoraj v baročnem stilu. Veliko okraskov, zlatih predmetov.. (Na sliki se tega ne vidi, ker notri ne smeš slikati, razen v začetnem prostoru).

[Sem zaspala med pisanjem te objave :) Tako da verjetno ni preveč zanimiva..hehh]
Good morning! :) Have a lovely day!

Nice view :)

Until a few days ago the majority of (to be absolutely frank, I'm not Frank ;)...anyway not just the majority but ALL) responses (about me changing the language of my posts) were negative, so I was thinking of not pursuing with my English writing career ;) but then I got another feedback, which made it a tie --> 1:1. :)  I guess I will write in Slovene and English now...

Last Saturday we ("the Erasmus gang") went to Vertigo. It's a bar in Tower 42, the second highest skyscraper in the City of London (it's 183 m high; until 1990 it was the tallest building in the UK). You have to book your visit and spend at least 10 pounds per person. And you can spend only 1.5 hrs enjoying the view. When you get there you get a visitor's pass (which they take away from you after maybe 20 seconds?) and you go through not-as-strict-as-at-the-airport screening. The bar is in the top, 42nd floor, so the view is really nice :).

this is NOT the view from the Vertigo ;)

(because it was a sunny day I decided to go to the park before going to the Tower 42)

 

The next day Andrea and me went to the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. Fotografije so bile res odlične! Pod vsako je bil še kratek opis in komentar fotografa. Kar se mi je zdelo zelo zanimivo je, da je bila večina fotografij posneta slučajno. Npr. so čakali ne vem koliko časa na nekaj drugega, in potem se je nekaj zgodilo, pritekla je neka žival...in nastala je zmagovalna slika. :) Drugače pa moraš biti za fotografa očitno zelo potrpežljiv - eden je hodil v zelo oddaljene, težko dostopne gore 3 leta zaporedoma, vsakih nekaj mesecev; vse to, da je na koncu dobil dobro fotografijo! Drugače pa je ta muzej poln okostij dinozavrov, ki pa si jih na žalost še nisem uspela preveč dobro pogledati.

inside the Natural History Museum

Happy New Year 2011!

Well, finally a new post :). Yep, happy new year to all! [I do realize that it is 10th of January already, but that doesn't really matter, hehe]. Maybe you've noticed that I've started to write in English (If you haven't, don't worry...there just might be something wrong in your head ;)). I figured it's about time. Plus, it's an opportunity for me (and some of you) to revise my/our knowledge of English (although I don't know if reading my blog is the best thing for those eager to improve/revise their English...I'm actually pretty sure it's not :), but it IS a start).

As you know I had my first 2 guests last week (Nina and Mihaela). I really loved being their guide. It might be because I like bossing people around...:D.
Anyway, on Friday we first went shopping. Thank to the "after Christmas sale" the prices weren't that high :). Then it was time to get ready for NYE (new year's eve). After just an hour (or two? but who really counts) we went to Paolo's and had a really nice dinner there. Then we wanted to see the fireworks. And we told them that we don't mind standing in the cold for 3 hours (we had to exaggerate a "bit"), waiting for it to start... But they said that there's a better option. So we went to a hill... And couldn't see anything!!! :(. Well...some other year then :). Oh, but we did manage to get our shoes quite dirty :)). Yaaay...

Next day we got out of the house just at 3pm, so we already knew that we're not going to see much. However, we still saw some nearby lakes. Sadly they weren't as nice as I thought they would be. [Later on I found out that they weren't actually lakes but reservoirs, hehehh]

 

Sunday was the day for Hyde park and some museums (we just quickly went through them...but they were sooo interesting!! You could easily spend a few hours in every one of them): National History Museum, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum (we spent 2 hrs there, most of the time searching for an architecture exhibition!! but it was worth it). And because that wasn't enough for us...we went to Move - it's an contemporary art and dance exhibition. I think we all really liked it, especially because you are a part of it. For example, you can dress up as a gorilla :), spin a hula hoop, climb... After you've tried everything, you feel like you just got out of a gym!

On Monday we decided to be The Beatles :). [The guy on the picture is a Spanish guy, an innocent bystander we had to harass, because there were just 3 of us...hehh]

 

We then continued our way to Covent Garden, Leicester square, Trafalgar square. Nina and I learned that it's really hard to get on the lion!! :)
In the evening we went to listen to some blues :). And it was really nice!!

Trafalgar square...or we could actually call it "The Lion Square" ;)

Ain't Nothin But... (=famous blues bar)

On their last day in London we went to Camden Lock Market, Barbican centre (Mihaela's wish, but it was interesting for me and Nina as well), and then...some more jazz :).

 

Camden Lock

 

Then it was time for them to go home.. And for me to start going to Uni again!!