Making Babies

April 15, 2014

Monday was a normal school day... homework and class. After class though, we had a girls trip into town! The May races are coming up soon and our house is going together. All of us girls went out to the op shops (thrift shops) to look for dresses. It was a lot of fun. We are all very excited to get dressed up and make headpieces for the races. It was also a great bonding time for the girls! I have never met a more genuine and kind group of girls. It really does feel like a family!

Tuesday

In the morning, Nick and I went out to town for a short while. When we got back I talked to Hillary and Eric on Skype. Hillary was giving me more ideas of what to do while I am in Perth and filling me in about Whitewater stuff. I can't imagine not having internet and traveling like this! 

This afternoon I had lab. Title of the lab "Sex in the Lab." Don't worry... it was algae. The goal of the lab was to have 4 samples of just Hormosira banksii eggs and 4 samples of zygotes. 

 A male 

 An egg

 The sperm

Mix it all together...

 Babies!!

Unfortunately, some how we got contamination... this was supposed to be our unfertilised egg sample but all of the eggs were fertilised. This happened to every group. In our zygote sample we didn't have any eggs on our slide. It was still pretty cool though. Now over the next few weeks we monitor their growth.

After lab, I went over to Alix's and talked about our plans for Perth. Many people have been telling me we should visit Rottnest Island (Island off the coast of Perth). Even my lecturer was excited about me going to Perth and insisted told me I had to visit the island. That sold me... plus they have great deals on Tuesdays. So Alix and I booked our mini day trip to the island. It has great snorkelling and has coral reefs! I will finally be able to swim in a coral reef! By the time we finished... we could see the lunar eclipse. 

I worked out with some of my friends for an hour or so and as we did we watched the moon slowly be unveiled again. The rest of the night I looked over some homework I need to do and went to bed early.