Lausanne: Take 2!

Hello and happy new year 2013!

I've now been back in Lausanne for a week and finished my first exam on Tuesday. I think it went well, and am now working hard for my next one which is not until next Friday. I can honestly say though, that I am getting very sick of exams in general-- the amount of time I spend in my room, inside, working through masses of reading and memorizing, is really a lot, and I cannot wait for this time in two weeks when I'm off on holiday! It will be so nice to get some proper time off without the itchy feeling in the back of my head telling me to study if I have any inclination to do something fun. 2 weeks of skiing should cure whichever feeling of study-overload I will have acquired by then ;)

Lausanne presented cold and snowy when I got back, a very nice change from the dreary grey weather in Belgium. My flatmate and I are spending all our time inside, though, each studying, and emerging at random intervals to complain about the amount we have to do. All in a days work :)

I also learned something practical about refrigerators that I did not know. If you turn your fridge off to go away on holiday, having cleaned out the food and (seemingly) gotten rid of any crumbs, you have to leave the door OPEN. Otherwise, you get the result that I have now experienced, where the fridge was a very unhealthy shade of fuzzy green/grey, with a rather unpleasant smell. Yup- the mold had taken over!! EEEEK!  I therefore got the fun task of mixing a nice concoction of bleach and water, to then set to work and scrub down the entire thing. It now looks very nice and shiny, and has been supplied with new food and vegetables. So yes, there's a nice tip for anyone who wants to save some electricity over the holidays...

Some nice pictures from yesterday's "clear my head"-lunchtime walk . The Sauvabelin lake is completely frozen!

I am now going back to my neuroscience and immunology, trying to memorize that T-cells are activated by macrophages and B-cells by antigens but need help from the T-cells.. you know, the usual.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and have gotten a good start to the new year!