November in Ghent!

Hi there! Long time no chat! Sorry for the lack of posts over the last month but I'm back!

There will be a post about my week with James but we are writing that together and due to exams and busy schedules, you'll have to wait a bit longer for that one. BUT! I will update you on what I've been to since that!

Overall, my life hasn't been all that exciting. School has gotten very busy, I'm finishing up more courses, studying for exams, and preparing to move to Norway, all while trying not to go crazy stressing about these things. So really most things in my life right now fit into 2 categories;

1. things that are driving me towards insanity

2. preventative measures against insanity.

The stressful things aren't all that fun to talk about so here are the fun things I've been up to since we last talked:)

1. I went bouldering. This was super fun and a good arm workout! And even more fun, I rode an electric bike there and back so I'm practicing my biking skills too!!

2. Kimmy & Kenny sent me a Belgian beer advent calendar! Christmas spirit in Ghent is kind of lacking so every little tradition makes me happy! I've tried some of the beers and they're pretty good! Some are not so good but I've given away some that don't look too promising hehe!

3. Speaking of Christmas spirit, it finally snowed in Ghent! It didn't last long, but it was magical :)

4. Even feeling a bit more like home, we had a faculty event at a skating rink where I got to teach a bunch of classmates how to skate!

5. Some fun things have been happening at school too, apart from the countless hours in class and studying. First, we had a multicultural dinner! We all made a dish from our home country and got to enjoy a lot of yummy food! I made pancakes and served it with the famous Napanee maple syrup! It was a hit!

6. On a more academic note, we had a virology demonstration at the veterinary campus where we got to look at horse cells infected with a herpesvirus, a hemagglutination test, infected embryonated eggs, and fluorescence tests of infected shrimp cells! It was super cool!

7. More cool lab stuff, we were learning all about Artemia (AKA sea monkeys) as a live feed for fish larvae so we got to look at their various life stages under the microscope.

Alright! Those have been the highlights, I will really try to update more often! I am on a hunt for more Christmas spirit so I am going to a German Christmas market this weekend and I have a busy week in the lab coming up so I'll post again soon!