Week 4

Week 4 was a pretty busy week. Time zoomed by with us working 9am to 6pm every day on our projects. I did quite a number of procedures. Some did not work that well, nevertheless, I did a few tweaks and got everything running smoothly.

On Wednesday, a UBC marketing staff, Justin Ohata, came in and did a filming session with the three of us. He asked us about our projects and our time here in UBC and Vancouver. The filming went well. I did a demonstration on one of my procedures. Chee and Chui Ting demonstrated their computer work.

Finally, the weekend has arrived. We went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge on Saturday. The view from the bridge was breathtaking. We also did the Cliffwalk and Treewalk. There were a lot of tourists and we joined the crowd. We had an enjoyable time at the park. In the evening, we headed to Chee's aunty's house for a barbecue dinner. Chui Ting and I celebrated our birthdays there. They surprised us with a birthday cake and dinner was amazing.

The famous suspension bridge

Cliffwalk

Treewalk

Garden barbecue

Birthday girls!

On Sunday, we had brunch at Denny's. I got a free meal for my birthday!! Then, we took the Seabus to North Vancouver and back. After that, we went souvenir shopping in Gastown. We got to witness the famous steam clock in Gastown too. It was a great day with the sun out and shining brightly. For dinner, we went to The Keg Steakhouse. We had some amazing steak and cocktails. Such a great way to end my birthday.

Steam clock

Monday has arrived and we are back in the lab trying our best to proceed with our projects. It's Chui Ting's big day today and we'll probably have a delicious birthday dinner with her.

Cheers to another great week ahead!

Week 3

Week 3 was an eventful week. We proceeded with our projects and adapted well to the lab environment. I started on my mutagenesis where I did my first PCR (polymerase chain reaction). All my PCRs were successful. The weekdays went by quickly as we did our work. We found a new favourite spot for lunch, Tim Hortons. They served cheap and filling sandwiches and not to mention delicious doughnuts and specialty drinks.

Chui Ting on her computer work

Me doing PCR

Tim Horton's chicken salad sandwich

On Wednesday, Fairview Crescent organised a movie night. We watched Zootopia and enjoyed ice-creams and snacks.

On Saturday, we joined a one-day trip to Victoria in Vancouver Island. We took a ferry to the island. The ride was fantastic and we got to enjoy scenic views throughout the 90 minute journey. We went Downtown and to the Butchart Gardens.

On the ferry

Butchart Gardens

Italian Garden at the Butchart Gardens

On Sunday, we went to White Rock and took a long walk by the beach. It was a very relaxing day and we had a heavenly plate of fish and chips for dinner and not to forget gelato.

White Rock

Huge plate of fish and chips at Moby Dick's

Till the next week!! Cheers!

Week 2

Week 2 was pretty productive. All three of us proceeded with our projects. I did a lot of lab work such as culturing cells and plasmid isolation. Our colleagues are very helpful. My mentor, Arnab guided me through all the necessary steps and protocols for my project.

On Friday, we visited the Beaty Biodiversity Museum after work. We made it just in time for the tour. We had a private tour as they did not have many visitors that day. Lucky us!! We were fascinated by the large blue whale skeleton that they hung from the roof. We even watched a documentary on how they found the skeleton and brought it to the museum.

The blue whale

On Saturday, we explored the campus. The day started off with a Starbucks breakfast. We then proceeded to the Museum of Anthropology at the north of campus. We joined the tour and it was really informative. Our tour guide, Sheila, told us a lot about the stories of the natives in British Columbia and not to mention the various artifacts on display. After a scrumptious lunch at the museum cafe, we visited the rose garden. The scenery was breathtaking. Later on, we made our way to the Nitobe Memorial Garden. The environment was so calming and relaxing. To kill time before dinner, we headed to the infamous Wreck Beach. The beach was not overpopulated that evening and we got to lie down and unwind after a day of walking. The weather on that day made our visit so much more memorable and our day ended with a delectable dinner at Point Grill.

Museum of Anthropology

Rose garden

Nitobe Memorial Garden

Wreck Beach

Old Library

New Library

On Sunday, we went to Downtown Vancouver. We did some high street shopping and coincidentally, many shops were having their semi-annual sales. We also ate numerous good food. We had 6 meals! Cactus Club Cafe served extremely good steak. We had all sorts of food from Asian to Mexican to mains to starters to desserts and many more! We got lost at some point, but thankfully the locals are so nice to help us out.

Restaurants visited

Vancouver Public Library

Our legs were so sore and tired after two full days of walking. Hoping for a relaxing week ahead and for our projects to go smoothly and eventfully.

Cheers!!

Week 1

On Monday, our supervisor, Dr Tara Klassen and her colleague, Dr Alex Smith, greeted us with open arms and we did a small tour around the lab and the campus. We were given student cards to have access to the labs. We were then introduced to other students working in the lab for numerous reasons and from a diverse background. 

The front of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (We had a fire accident on Tuesday and everyone had to gather here)

The lobby

Our student cards and parts of the building

The autoclave machine (We were given a demonstration by Dr Alex)

On Tuesday, we were assigned different papers to read and review. From these papers, we got to know more on our topics and develop our research question. 

On Thursday, we discussed our topics with Dr Klassen and clarified some doubts before the long weekend.

We were really lucky as our visit coincided with Canada Day, which was on Friday. We started the day with a parade at Steveston and had some salmon. Then, we headed to Burnaby Village, where they had another celebration. Later that day, we went to Granville Island, but our visit was cut short as it was too crowded to do anything. After that, we went for dinner at ChinaTown at a Vietnamese restaurant, Phnom Penh. Their signature fried chicken was scrumptious and it was worth the hour wait. For dessert, we went to Rain or Shine where we had some delicious homemade ice-cream. That sums up our first Canada Day.

Canada Day Parade at Steveston

Wild salmon bake

A picture with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

The fried chicken at Phnom Penh

Rain or Shine ice-cream!

On Saturday, we went to the UBC Botanical Garden. We went for a guided tour around the main garden. Our tour guide is Isabella and she brought us around the garden explaining about the plants. They have an Asian section and also a native section. They also have a food garden and medicinal garden. After that, we went for the Greenheart Tree Walk. It was exhilarating. I was terrified at first because I did not expect that we would be that high up on a suspension bridge. After a while, I adapted and I managed to finish the walk. What an accomplishment!

Eagle Perching Tree (If you look closely, there's a bird on the top)

Greenheart Tree Walk

On Sunday, we attended a service at Tenth Church in Mount Pleasant. Then, we went shopping at Metropolis at Metrotown. We were lucky as the Canada Day sales were still going on. We got many things on discount.

 

That is all for our first week in Vancouver. Hoping to have another great week ahead :)