Leaves & Sesame (18/11/13)
Today was the best day EVER. Sure, it was pretty windy and all, but the leaves were all golden and yellow, falling off the trees. It was raining leaves! I loved it! It was gorgeous! I only wish I had the whole day to just take autumn pictures. Either way, the day started off beautifully.
After being in ‘cold’ weather for a while, I’ve officially adopted braids as my ‘everyday hairstyle’ instead of my typical ponytail. Then, I went to my first class of the day, the last class before our final. The whole class (those who showed up) sat there for 10 minutes but she didn’t show up. Typically, when she lectures, she shows up a 7 minutes late to set up and starts the lecture 10 minutes past 9am. However, today, she didn’t show up at 10 minutes, so half of the students left. Then, the rest of us waited an extra 20 minutes for her before we left. She didn’t show.
So, we spent the rest of the class period just hanging out by the lake, talking about life and random things that have gone/are going on. It was pretty interesting. One of my classmates bought sesame snaps from the student store to munch on. She highly recommended it. I’m not sure how I feel about it, maybe I’ll try one it one.
Future Possibilities (19/11/13)
Today, I learned, yet again, how limitless the world seems. I originally went to talk to my professor today to talk about the exam, as I wanted to understand how the whole “essay exam” thing goes. However, he somehow managed to shift the focus into what I want to do for a career.
My professor suggested that I think about a Master’s in Imaging and Microscopy or Science Communication. Apparently, Imaging and Microscopy is a program offered here at UCD. How exciting! Now I’m contemplating it. I question the success of graduates though. He told me that plenty of people have graduated from the program and been successful in finding a job in the field. It’s promising, but thought still needs to be put into it. As for Science Communication, I’ve thought about doing that, but I’m not really sure what it entails, I guess I’ll have to delve into more research doing that.
Best part about talking to this professor was that he never really talked down to me, not pushed me towards a certain goal. He never said things that most advisors I’ve encountered would say, such as, ‘This field is REALLY in’ or ‘This way you’d get more funding for your degree’ and things like that. He seems to really understand that success and happiness in your career comes from passion about the job. Not only that, he had so many stories to tell about other students he’s encountered and how they got where they were, it was nice to hear and be reminded that anything is possible.
The Lost Sock Theory (20/11/13)
I took my first final today. It was an 18-question multiple choice exam worth 20+% of the course grade. Of the 35+ people in my class, I was the last person to leave 40 minutes into the exam. WHAT?! I’m not sure how to take that.
I did laundry with my flatmate today and she told me the Lost Sock Theory. Our washing machines in our housing complex have these plastic flaps that socks can get lodged in. So she thinks that other people’s sock(s) tend to get stuck in these little crevices and then re-emerge in the next load(s) of laundry. Good theory. If only there was a way to resolve this issue.
Technology Smarts (22/11/13)
So, I had a poster presentation today. It didn’t need to be printed on a FULL poster paper, instead I was told I should print it on individual A4 (regular printer paper size) sheets and put them together. Being the savvy person I am, I figured out that the school printers have a ‘poster printing’ function. So I used it to print by A0 sized poster (16-A4 sheets). Just to be safe, I wanted to check with the printing office to see how it works. The office simply said to me ‘we don’t do that’. I printed it and proved them wrong. It was just a pain to cut the margins off, as is always the problem with printing this way. My poster presentation made me feel good about myself and my abilities to make a poster, that’s for sure. It was a good ending to a stressful week.
Later on in the day, it really made me happy when a student form Syracuse, New York decided to contact me to inquire about studying in Ireland, as she’s coming to study here next semester. She had posted on our Facebook group (created by a student at the beginning of this semester), and asked to get people’s opinions about anything and everything. I offered, and I feel happy that she is as curious to know as I am to tell.
Strange Coupons & A Play (23/11/13)
For the first time, my flatmate and I decided to go shopping in the morning. We went grocery shopping at Tesco and ended up with coupons from Tesco for 19 cents and 50 cents, what the store prints to say “here’s a coupon for difference of spending your money here instead of at our competitor’s stores”. It was a little ridiculous but oh well.
In the evening, I was invited to go watch the play put on by UCD’s Musical Society, which I’m a part of. It was a lovely play. I can’t say it was my favorite, but it was quite an interesting spin and definitely something I would recommend other people to go watch. For those of you who live alternative perspectives, this play is full of them. It’s one of the reasons why I liked it, other than the ‘alternative fairytale’ style.
Ice Skating & A Diner (24/11/13)
Today was the day I had been waiting for. I had been so excited to go ice skating since I found out there are ice rinks in and around Dublin. So, I ordered early bird tickets to go ice skating at the Dundrum Town Centre for today. We had a pretty good turnout of people. The group consisted of my flatmate, my Brazilian friend, his best friend, the girl his best friend is seeing, my French friend and an American friend of my French friend. We had a blast ice skating, even though it was only a 50 minute session.
My Brazilian friend’s best friend and his girl didn’t know how to skate AT ALL, so I had a pretty great time trying to teach them how to skate. Then, there was my Italian flatmate who hadn’t been on ice in a while and my Brazilian friend who’s only been on roller blades. They did pretty well on the ice. The two Americans, we were pretty comfortable on the ice, it was a little strange skating with so many little kids around holding on to some ‘learning penguins’. Then, my French friend was too good at skating. He just glided on the ice like there were no cares in the world and the ice was not rough or difficult to navigate at all.
After our skating session, we all decided to have lunch together. We went to Eddie Rockets. It reminded me a lot of the diners back home like Ruby’s or Johnny Rockets. It was a lot of the same food: delicious. My Italian flatmate pointed out this interesting fact about the way we ordered our drinks. All the Brazilians ordered orange juice, the Americans ordered root beers (from Australia) and the Europeans ordered Coke. It was quite strange, but we all had a great time, I think.
Thing I learned “today”
- It is illegal to own snow chains in Ireland.
- America has 25% of world’s prisoners.
- For the essay exams here, at least for the science students, we are held to graduate level standards. You are expected to research papers on your own, to read them and to learn from them for your exams. Lecture notes and what is said in class are no longer enough to pass a course with anything higher than a C.
- ‘Student advisers’ are actual adult professionals, not students unlike back home.
- United Colors of Benetton and Sisley are owned by the same company.
Words/Phrase of the Day
Pissing rain = raining cats and dogs = heavy rain
Diverse Shades of Green 