Primary visual cortex and some good old beer in a tube

Hi! :)
It's been an extremely busy month. November has zoomed by so fast I don't know where on earth it went. The forest has now done its transformation into solid copper, and in today's wind we're getting leaves blowing everywhere. For the past two weeks it's been raining almost constantly with fog and about 8 degrees. From today, however, temperatures are supposed to plummet and we're supposed to get some snow tomorrow!!

After my sisters visited at the beginning of the month, it's been pretty much all school work here. The bad weather hasn't let me do much outside, but that might be a good thing seeing all the studying I have to do. We finished our module on the immune system and infections, and have now moved on to neuroscience, the study of the nervous system (aka BRAIN). It's been really interesting so far-- the anatomy of the head is complicated and complex, but I find it pretty fascinating all the same how evolution has come up with some pretty intricate ways for us to function the way we do. This week it's all focus on the eye and its connection with the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the brain. It's quite an impressive system and it's fun to learn, even though I'm getting that fun panicky feeling telling me I (once again) am about a month and a half away from exams (they're in January).

Diagram of the general anatomy of the brain I'm quite proud of :) 

The month's been pretty regular otherwise....
- Every Monday I'm still striving my way through an intense 1h30mins of discofit, which is proving to be an amazing workout-- I'm always completely dead after, but it's great as Mondays are not my favorite day and a bit of physical activity brightens the day significantly.
- My newest food discovery (or obsession) is COTTAGE CHEESE. The stuff is soooo good and I can eat it with almost anything-- just as good on bread as it is in a spinach and salmon pasta sauce.
- I went out for a friends birthday last night and we went to the bar "Les Brasseurs" at Flon, which is great for both food and for their highly recommended beer (We were told by the waiter that the "Ambree" beer had gotten an award at an international beer convention this year... :P ). They serve beer in really big "tubes" put on the table, and you order 3 or 5 litre ones-- and there's plenty to share for everyone. Highly recommended if anyone's ever visiting Lausanne :).
http://www.les-brasseurs.ch/f/lausanne/index.htm 
And fun fact since we're talking about the brain: Which part of the brain gets intoxicated by alcohol consumption? The cerebellum (also called the "little brain") situated at the back of the head. It's involved in coordination of movement and speech. Hence the not walking in a straight line and being unable to pronounce the word acrocephalosyndactyly (early closure of the sutures between the bones of the skull).


It's coming into Christmas and advent season, and I'm starting to get really excited to see my family. You don't really realize you miss them until you've been away for a while- and I'd say 3 months is a good while.

Things I miss most about home right now:
- Food.. and someone else making dinner!
- Dishwasher.
- Access to a washing machine more than once every THREE weeks.
- The Saturday nights in front of the TV with candy and chocolate and the family just chilling around watching some random movie or show.
- My dog <3 I didn't realize I would miss taking her out after studying or her just sleeping next to me and snoring loudly so I can't concentrate when studying.

Christmas lights have come up in town now too, and I'm finally giving in to looking at them (normally I don't accept Christmas arriving before December)-- and there are little stalls serving hot wine popping up and I think December is going to be really nice here. I am proud of myself as I am trying to hold onto some advent traditions from home-- I have bought advent candles and I plan on lighting one every Sunday like we do at home.. otherwise I miss my little Christmas tree that I normally put up in my room.. but I guess I wouldn't really have anywhere to put it here. I'll just have to wait till I get home.

So there's a little update from me, hope everyone's having a good week! I'm going back to studying and some lunch. Hoping for some snow tomorrow- promise I will take pictures if that happens! Bisous x