If you follow the startup sequence in Firebug you should see,
- getmetadata (the part of the domain model this user has access to)
- active_modules (optionally followed by modules such as reporting and templating)
- get_translations (various translated strings)
- retrieve_menus (the navigation structure)
- retrieve_idlist (the current User)
- retrieve_xpath (the roles the current User has)
- trigger_ startup (2.5) or get_startmicroflow (2.4)
You should see all of them, regardless of the application you've modeled.