Phil moves from Scotland, to explore a hotter dryer existence in Adelaide, whilst studying Electrical Power Engineering at the University of South Australia. Lots of pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/thetopping

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Summer Holidays

Oh that's right, I have a blog. I'd nearly forgotten about it in the last few months of constant work.

I'm not really finished yet, I still have one exam and one report to finish, but I finally have some time to breathe, blog, and maybe play some computer games.

I'm not going to go through what's happened, there were many assignments, some went well, some not so well. The mechatronics robot, for example, wasn't quite finished. No team managed a flawless lap of the course, but a few were way ahead of us. Advanced Power Electronics was... well... advanced, and Electromagnetic Compatibility has been more like an art than a science. My Power Systems presentation on fuel cells went very well: almost everyone else talked about very basic concepts (“Sometimes terrorists break into power stations, so they need to have good security”), but David and I went into mathematical modelling and control systems, which the lecturer liked.

Unfortunately given that I've been tied up with Uni work, not much else has happened. I haven't had the chance to appreciate the glorious weather we've started getting. I did notice that I haven't been caught in the rain for a while, I used my air conditioner for the first time a few weeks ago, and I'm starting to get sunburnt around my neck. Looking forward to spending Christmas on the beach.

The increased heat hasn't stopped me cooking big hearty meals however. I never did learn how to make light summer salads, so I've been continuing with Cottage and Steak & Ale pies, roast pork and roast beef with roast potatoes, Lasagne (which translates into Chinese as 'thousand layer,' so Jonny and Sara were unimpressed when it only had 7), and tonight I'm making Curry. The shops are full of summer fruits and I'm still hunting down root vegetables.

Should be getting a car before the end of the month, so I can drive around more and get some good pictures to send back. The real road trip will take place in January, when I'm planning to drive up the east coast until I hit jungle. Summer holidays here are long, and after my last exam next week I'll have more than 3 months to get very sunburnt...

...or stay indoors playing computer games...

2 comments:

  1. Sunburn, Frostbite, whatever, it keeps us indoors playing Fallout :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hurrah for a new blog posting! Looking forward to the sunshine you mention in 12 days time, to needing air conditioning and sunscreen. None of that here; it's a bracing 8C today.

    ReplyDelete

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