May 21

So it's about 8:30pm right now and this is probably my first blog post ever so I've been pretty excited to write this all day. I had some technical difficulty so I actually typing this out on my phone with only about 23% battery left so here's hoping my thumbs are fast. So I thought by today my body would be adjusted to the time change but I'm still getting used to it. I got up around 7:30am today and even then felt guilty since the rest of the gang was already awake. Mornings here are great, we fix up our own breakfast so this morning consisted of some fruit, one of which were grapes and I have to say the grapes here are way better than the U.S. At 9am we had another lecture, presented by Simon Prior, who I observed yesterday at the Physiotherpist clinic downtown with Emily. He talked about groin pain and told us about his study where he used an EMG to study the activity in in the thigh muscles in a single leg stance. He showed us some tests, including the squeeze test and the bent knee fall out test. The squeeze test uses a blood pressure cuff and you place it between the patients knees as they are bent at different angles. The point is to record the pressure at which they begin to feel discomfort. The bent knee fall out test is used to test flexibility in the adductors so the patient simply lays supine with their knees in a bent position with their feet touching each other. You then check how far their knees drop out to their side. Simon also brought his dynamometer, which I have never used before but it simply measures force. Pictured below is myself performing a test for external rotation. Unfortunately it was found I am pretty weak!!

After that lecture some of the group and I headed to the beach for a quick swim. It was cloudy today but we like to take full advantage of everything here so we jumped right in while all the locals watched as they walked with their dogs. It's amazing how many dogs are on the beach throughout the day. They're so friendly too. After that the Athletic Training group went about 10 minutes away from our place to Maz's house, who has a pool for hydrotherapy.

 She's an exercise physiologist and has a great personality. We all loved her. She opened up her home to us and taught us some exercises that she uses in the pool for her clients. She works with a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Before coming to Australia I have not heard of these people and I've learned they are the indigenous people of Australia. She taught us some history on that and it was really informative. She did a great job at relating that back to health issues and you could just feel the passion in the room when she spoke about it. It was a great feeling to be in her presence. Below is a picture of myself in front of her sign in the front of her driveway. I was quite cold but luckily found time to change before our bus driver, Wayne, came to get us. 

After that we headed back and set some plans up for the night which included a pizza spot downtown. I really enjoy our walks into town but today it was a little more chilly and rainy but still nice enough to not complain. Who could be mad in Australia? Anyway, dinner was great and it's taking us Americans a while to get uses to the slow pace around here. All I have to say is don't expect your check as soon as you finish eating. I saw a sign on the roads today that read, "Late or Sorry? Don't rush." Of course that applies to speeding on the roads but it really stuck out to me since they would rather go slower... in everything. I can definitely get used to that since it's less stress. 

So, to wrap this up I would just like to say that I'm having the time of my life in Lennox Head, NSW and I couldn't be more grateful each day when I wake up here. Missing home comes and goes in (short)waves and my parents will probably cringe at reading this but I wouldn't mind living here when I am older. Sorry dad. I could go on and on so I might post more later on n our trip but now that it's about 9pm I think it's a great time for bed. Good luck to the rest of my group going on a 5am hike to see the sunrise!! 

-Carolyn Biedron