Another Postcard from a Chimpanzee

Greetings from over seas!! My roommates and I wish to send you warm wishes from snowed in Oxford!
So my first week on the job:
1.Infectious Diseases is the dept. where I am doing my elective. I am loving the learning. I have run into almost all the microbiology pathogens I studied as a second year in medical school. The list is long but includes: HIV, PCP pneumonia, camphylobactor enteritis, TB, tuberculoma, H1N1, cellulitis of the legs, head, and some tropical medicine diseases we had to consider because of some of the traveling my patients have done. Its awesome!! They are internal medicine doctors, so rounds can last from 9am until 3pm. we get pages and interruptions a lot, but really we spend a lot of time considering all the possibilities. that part is hard for me. I am like, done- treat them, next patient. this is good to teach me patience and consider all possibilities, I just dont want to think about them when there is still more work that needs to be done. otherwise I am having a Fantastic time!
2. My roommates, one is from Ireland, the other is from New Zealand. I bet you can guess the Irish red head? and the Korean islander? We are getting along great with one another. I think as I am typing another roommate has moved in, but have not met that person yet. First my roommates brought in a cute minature snow man. He lives in the freezer. Then we had a snowball fight last night, my two roommates were outside of a pub and when I stuck my head out they nailed me in the face with snowball. The group of us in the pub were asked not to bring the snow in, so we left and we were like, "game on..." and it was fun!!
3. Speaking of the snow, did you know it is blizzard like conditions here? we have gotten close to a foot of snow. This is impressive for a city that does not really own snow plows, cut the budget for sanding the streets- b/c it is not really a priority, and no one really owns shovels. I saw a lady clearing her front porch with a garden hoe... just her porch, she stopped right at the sidewalk. Apparently no sidewalk ordinances exist here, because my tennis shoes and I (not snow boots, b/c in England it rains, not snows) trudged the whole mile and half in it this morning to go go work.
4. I am getting a bike, so more adventures to come!! I have mapped out a few rides so I will be able to explore all of oxford and maybe oxfordshire while here. the snow should clear up by next week so I will let you know how that all goes!!
goodnight, blessings, and peace to you all!!!