The Last Blog

So this is my last ever blog! Its coming to the end of our first semester , cant believe how fast the time went.
We did our presentation today which went well , absolutely delighted to have it over with I was really nervous about it.
The other presentations were really interesting , especially the rescue remedy one. Disappointed I didnt win a candy cane haha.
So our tests are starting this Friday and some serious cramming needs to be done :-P.
I cant wait for christmas , the mixture of the toy show , the freezing weather and listening to christmas songs when im at work have really got me in the mood. :-)
 Its brilliant that were finished on the 10th , plenty of time for shopping and just relaxing. Alot of my friends are'nt finished til the 20th!!
Well not much more to say I have to do a lab report now , so thanks for reading my blog and i'l leave ye with my favorite christmas song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXfd5ATIogc&feature=fvst

Aoife

Another Weekend Over

So another weekend over.. Friday I wrote up my lab report to get it done and over with and then went to see Harry Potter!!
It was pretty scary to be honest haha but really enjoyed it!!
I was working 12-7 on Saturday so was home in time to watch X Factor :-). Was kind of disappointed with Matt's performance though.
I was working on Sunday aswel. Exteremly stressful day!!
It was wayy busier than Saturday which wasnt expected and there was only 3 of us on the shift.
To make things worse when I covered myself in crepe mix accidently so my clothes were destroyed.
Cant wait to get paid :-P. So my weekend was fairly busy and I didnt have time to study.... starting to get a bit stressed, I might do a bit of chemistry tonight.
Our maths test is this Thursday, cant believe its so soon.Its on the same day as cit christmas day so looking forward to that , especially because we have no labs on Friday!!

A busy weekend

So on Friday we had our last chemistry lab. I tightened the retort stand a bit too much which caused the burette to break..... glass everywhere :-(. Oh well!! When I went home I felt exhausted and kind of sick .. I think it might have been from the hepatits shot I got on Thursday. I fell asleep from half 7- 10pm ..woke up , ate some dinner and fell asleep from 11 til 12 the next day!! I've never slept that much in my life. Then I had to get the bus into town to start my first day of work. I started at 2 and didnt get home til half 8. Work was fairly stressful I must say. I didnt get time to learn how to do the crepes doughnuts and coffee so I was in charge of the cash register and ice-cream for most of it. On Sunday I had to catch up on lab reports and I attemped to do the physics homework... it is impossible I spent an entire hour trying to do it and couldnt even get one question right!! So its a start to another week and I planned on starting studyin tomorrow, the tests are alot sooner than I thought. Just found out that im working this Friday, Saturday and Sunday!!! So probably wont get much study done.. Im absolutely gutted because I was hoping to see Harry Potter this weekend. Really looking forward to seeing it :-). Thats all my news.
Aoife

Bit of everything

Well we had our first chemistry lab assessment last week. It didnt start off too smoothly ..we had three titrations to do but in our first titration there was no colour change. So myself and Dylan replaced everything but it still didnt work so finally we figured out our indicator was contaminated ..Just our luck haha. Overall it went grand. I was delighted to hear that this Friday is our last chemistry lab for this semester :-) so we'l be finished at 1 every Friday!! I used the gym for the first time last week and lasted an entire 30mins. Im really unfit so I was kind of proud of myself. My legs were killing me after the treadmills!

I didnt get up to much for the weekend , just met up with a few friends , babysat and relaxed. Still havent started work but I think Oso ( the place il be working) is supposed to be opening this Thursday but I wont be getting trained in til the week after. Thats all my news for this week. Thanks for reading. Aoife

I did the interview for the newsletter yesterday with medical scientist Helen Keeffe. Shes my friends mom so I knew her previously . She was the person who got me interested in biomedical science. The interview went well and I found it really interesting. Helen even showed me around the labs afterwards so that was nice of her!! You can read the interview for yourself and hope ye like it.

Interview with Biomedical Scientist - Helen Keeffe

1) Why did you decide to become a biomedical scientist?
My career guidance counsellor thought I had all the right skills for it and that this job would suit me perfectly. I didn’t even no what it was.
2) What is your favourite aspect of the job?
I like the variety of work involved in histopathology - health and safety, training, quality etc. I love the bench work and the fact it’s a hands-on job.
3) What do you like least about the job?
Well first of all the current state of the country - lack of funding and budgeting. Also the introduction to extended working days . The whole career path has changed , there is an uncertainty for the future in the labs.
4) What are your working hours like?
Well in histology the hours vary. The core hours would be 9 to 5, but other days  I could be working 8 to 7. On average it’s a 35 hour week.
5)What is the most difficult thing you have examined?
The Air India disaster in 1985. It was an extremely difficult time in the hospital, 130 post mortems were carried out and at the time we only had basic facilities. The entire hospital was grief stricken by it.
6) What qualification did you receive?
I received a diploma in med lab in D.I.T and I did my dip in training and education in NUI Galway.
7)How relative is what you learnt in college to your everyday work?
I use about 50% of what I did. All the science subjects I did were completely relative but I also had to do French and maths…
8)What advise would you have for someone going into a career in Biomedical Science?
Go straight through and do your masters because it is so difficult to get a job at the moment.

A Hectic Week

Well the long weekend went really well .. definitely needed the break from all the lab  reports!! Went to my friends house on Sunday , we were having a surprise party for my friend cept she thought she was heading to town so when she arrived she was half drunk haha it was a great night!! I was absolutely shattered on Monday and I had to study for cell biology :-(. The test went well thank god ..passed it :). Not a fan of the mcq though!! I think the test went good aswell today ...I hope it did anyways. So thats all the assessments done for the next few weeks and a few of us are going to celebrate in town. Cork city limits is having a Halloween party and im looking forward to wearing my hippy costume!! Its going to be a late night so a 9-5 day at college tomorrow is not what we need :P .  Our newsletter is due in 2 weeks and I've scheduled the interview with the biomedical scientist for next Tuesday. Thats all my news for this week .... thanks for reading Aoife

Well the long weekend has finally arrived :) . Its been a long week .... Monday had our first lab assessments which went kind of okay ... I realised an hour into it that I was the only person not wearing gloves (woops). We had our chemistry test yesterday which I think went good enough , glad to have it done and over with.  Our class party was last night , only half the class went out because alot of people went home for the weekend and some people arent 18 yet ( Sorry Dylan ). We got 30 free jello shots and only 9 of us were there at the time haha we still drank them all . I had to leave at 12 o clock though because I was up at half 6 today and I am absolutely exhausted now haha. I got a job in a new place opening up in town soon ... Il be making doughnuts and crepes etc . Today I was practicing making all different types of coffees , there is wayyy too many of them it gets fairly confusing .. I was able to master a cappichino (cant spell it) by the end of the day. I have to start studying tomorrow ... cell biology and microbiology tests next week :(. But on the bright side cant wait for X Factor!! Its been a hectic day ...only arrived home an hour ago and im going babysitting in a while so il finish off with a link to a really catchy song I heard on the radio earlier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Gpul2E3pE.   Aoife

Well today wasnt the best... I got my hepatitis B vaccine. I have a bit of a phobia of injections so was fairly nervous in the waiting room. I must admit it wasnt too bad ....the waiting was the worst part. I was delighted to get it done and over with until the nurse reminded me that I have to get another one in a month :-( . We found out today that our chemistry test is in a week!!! We all thought it wasnt for another 2 weeks so not too thrilled about that. Our biomedical lab assessment is next Monday.... im beginning to feel the pressure a bit --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM ( Arent ye glad i didnt put up the Jedward version haha). I went to Captain Americas with a few friends last night for dinner and the food was unbelievable!! Got lasagne for dinner and all of us shared a volcanoe cake ..It was amazing...it was basically a mountain of ice-cream and then 4 brownies on the side!!! So thats all my news for this week . We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow 9-5.... cannot wait for the weekend!! A major sleep-in is needed and looking forward to X factor .....I suppose il squeeze in studying at some stage.    Aoife





                                                                         

Another Week Down!!

Well another week has passed and to be honest im still not sure how i feel about the course. It has its ups and downs. After an extremely stressful leaving cert I expected college to be alot easier (well 1st year of college anyway). The course is interesting but its so time-consuming ....im finding it really difficult balancing college life(28 hours a week and writing up lab reports),meeting up with my friends,family,clubs and societies and on top of that i need a job so I dont know how im going to fit that into my hectic schedule. I must admit i am enjoying the course itself and i've made alot of new friends, I just thought id have alot more time to myself. Its a bit confusing .

Alot of people have been asking me which college do I prefer C.I.T or U.C.C? Even though I enjoy going to U.C.C, I prefer C.I.T ... the lectures are alot better because the class is so much smaller. Its alot easier to find your way around and its alot nearer to where I live. I like the way our course is joint between the two colleges because we get the best of both worlds. Im looking forward to use my free membership at the maradyke even though im really unfit at the moment haha. I'l probably only last 10 minutes on the treadmill!! Well thats all for this week ....thanks for reading :)   Aoife

Hypnotist :-)

Well as I think back over the past week the highlight has to be seeing the hypnotist in C.I.T on Thursday!  It was absolutely hilarious and the entertainment lasted for two and a half hours. It started off with simple things like all the volunteers believing they were driving a motorbike or thinking they were at a partay and singing songs in a drunken state. It became a lot more interesting as time went on …. They believed they were martians and started speaking the “martian” language ….. One guy thought the room was slowly being filled with water and was shouting at everyone to leave the building , but once people starting laughing the guy thought his tongue was getting longer so by the end of it we couldn’t understand a word he was saying!!! I would tell you more about it but the rest is a bit inappropriate im afraid ha-ha. I had a good weekend …. I met up with friends on Friday night which I really enjoyed , I haven’t seen them in ages because we’ve all been caught up in college life. On Saturday I went to Waterford for a surprise party for my aunt and uncles 40th anniversary so that was good crack. Sunday was the day I caught up with X Factor ….I was a bit disgusted with Cheryl’s decision to put Katie through instead of Gamu . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yULsQIJKjyI&feature=channel. Thats all my news so thanks for reading :) . Aoife

Freshers Week :-)

As ye already know it’s Freshers Week in U.C.C so I decided to begin it with a trip to gorby’s uv part-ay J . I met up with a few girls from class and we had a few drinks beforehand in one of their apartments ( wayy cheaper ). We arrived at gorbys at half 10ish and were greeted with a massive queue!!! Eventually we got in and all the waiting was worth it ….. UV paint ( which always makes things fun ) and good music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjzEV7tqGTM ..JOKE . I danced for most of it but as the night wore on the club got really busy so the dance floor was jam-packed!! And it was absolutely boiling in there!!! The music stopped at half 2 and we got a taxi home ( using our 2 euros discount card ) at 3. I was thrilled when my alarm went off at half 7 the next morning ( im being sarcastic in case you didn’t realise ) . Had lectures from 9 til 12 in U.C.C and then got the bus to C.I.T to join some societies. I ended up joining family guy  , paintballing and badminton . I got free toast and nutella which I was delighted with…best freebee so far!! The U.C.C society day was today so I joined the science society and hot beverage society 
                  
( this is definitely the one im most excited about) . Well that’s all my news . Il be going to the Freshers Ball tomorrow night in gorbys so il tell ye about that next week.


Aoife

Freshers Fest

So.... this is my first blog, not really sure what to do but i'l give it a go. I went to the U.C.C today to go to the physics workshop. I didnt do physics for Leaving Cert so I thought the workshop might help me out a bit. Within 10 minutes of starting we were given a physics test ....... I got 2 out of 6 right which to tell you the truth I was happy with, haha. When that was finished I strolled around the campus for a while , there was a few societies there but I didnt join any.... I'l wait til society's day on Wednesday. I got some free food nd bumped into some old classmates and a few new ones. Didnt get to see Crystal Swing today....... that didnt bother me too much . There was a nice atmopshere around the place ... glad I went. Looking forward to all the nights out this week . Should be fun!!                Aoife.