Where Have You Gone?!?!?!

As I mentioned on Twitter last week I have not done a blog post in a while, mainly due to college work/study and being away for the past few weekends.

College is ramping up now with 2 assessments due and exams only 3 weeks away too. What is also ridiculous is the fact that lectures are running up to a week before the exams which blows my mind as anything you learn in the last week before exams is rarely studied as you have prepared yourself on the rest of the course. The exams that I will be dealing with are:

- Cell and Molecular Biology
- Genetic Engineering
- Modern Methods in Analytical Chemistry
- Functional Foods for Health
- Advanced Molecular Microbial Biotechnology
- Biopharmaceuticals; Formulation Design, Secondary Processing and Regulatory Compliance
- Bioprocess Engineering
- Plant Genetic Engineering

Not only is saying the name of some of these modules are hard but learning them is a lot more so. But not to worry I am not stressed at all over them (*Lie*) as I have been taking time off away in Achill and Tralee over the last two weekends ^_^

The trip to Achill was to reminisce the last time we had made the trip which we realized was not even 3 years ago which we felt was a lot longer ago. But we had a great time of drinking, chatting and having the craic, and lets not forget the total driving time of 11 hours.

The trip to Tralee was for my Great Aunt’s Anniversary mass of one year. This was a great weekend of staying in Tralee, like I did during my childhood. 40 Brosnans took on Tralee with drinking, eating and more drinking. While we were in Tralee, I managed to capture this in a pub down there.

It was great to see my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and 2nd Cousins all enjoying the time together. It was great also with getting my own room at the Manor West Hotel in Tralee which was at a bargain of  €40 B&B which was because there was so many of us there with a possibility of many more. It seems that we will be going down each year and not because it was the first anniversary which would be great.

Pursuit of…

To say that we never strive to be best at anything, is an understatement. We all want to be top of the class, shout from the mountain top and say we are number one. We don’t say it too loud on the way up that you will be the top is in case that we stumble and fall on the way and never achieve it. Then again you will always achieve your potential which seems to be like, “Well done, you did your best” and you come in second place.

For our MSc Biotechnology course, there is a prize of €2,000 for the student who gets the top marks in the class. Though you would love to get it, everyone knows whom will get this as its evident already so there is no reason to put that pressure on you but only to get a highest grade possible. I just hope that as I climb this mountain over the next 5 weeks of study that I won’t fall or trip and that I surpass the points that I have achieved over the past 4 years.

New Season, New Month, New Week!

Spring has arrived which means a lot of cleaning is to occur over the next few days as we seriously get rid of the old and in with the new. Many of us will have lost our battle with new resolutions and put them to bed saying ‘Will do better next year’. But today is a day that allows us a new month, new week and a new season of discovery. It is not very often that it comes around with all three being lined up to start anew.

This month is also the beginning of my study month due to the fact that exams are next month and as UCC Students normally get a month off to study, I am not that privaliged this year with lectures and assignements happening all this month but hopefully will get a two week break before the exams start. I don’t know how to feel about them yet but they are looking fairly daunting though I am still off in the distance.

Yet, with all this college work and study trumbling toward me, I still have watched great moves, The Lovely Bones and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Skins also resumed on e4 but was disappointed. Seems that it has been getting worse every season but could pick up which is doubtful with only 8 episodes being filmed. I will be finally going to see Avatar tonight and will have the full experience by seeing it in 3D, which will mean I will be taking off my glasses, putting on contacts and putting another pair of glasses back on, will be strange!!! ^_^

Later Days!!!

The Year That Was…2009

I know it is up a bit late but found it difficult to upload over the past few weeks as I kept closing the window and stopping the upload >_< Yes you will see a lot of photos of me in America but that is where I took most photos this year but it is still enjoyable to watch with some photos not being in any other photo montage done this year…Enjoy ^_^

Procrastination…at its best!!!

Been procrastinating a lot recently now with the thought of the impending exams closer than normal as undergraduate exams were in May. I have been enjoying the return of all the TV series: Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, House and cannot wait for Lost to come back on to figure out what it all meant but I know they will leave us with so many questions to toy with us. Skins will also be coming up on e4 in the next month so will have many procrastinating options ahead of me.

Not only do I enjoy watching movies too. Over the holidays and the last few weeks I have watched too many but do pick only good ones to watch. 500 Days of Summer, Taking Woodstock, Sherlock Holmes, The Road, Brothers, Invictus, Harry Brown and probably a few more. All of those films are definite worth seeing and good way to burn a few hours.

You may say how do I get to watch all these things and continue on relativity well in college is because I normally do study/write up notes while watching the movie/TV on the laptop.  I do however, need to watch so many more movies and cannot wait for the summer when I get a chance to relax more and not study but then again will have my thesis nagging at me. Seems to be no rest for the wicked….

Thoughts

Last week I titled the post Thoughts, Emotions and Ideas, which will be a topic for each of the blog posts, this week being thoughts, as we move out of 2009 and knock on the door of 2010. My thoughts are those that have been of 2009 and what my recap of the year that was.

Yes, the past year has had its ups and downs but that is no different from any other of the 23 years being on the planet. 2009 had started out with the thoughts of failing exams, getting projects done and what was on the horizon after graduation if I made it that far. It also held the prospect of a J1 Summer which would allow freedom and experience but the hurdle of exams was always there looming. The time leading up to the exams was going so slow and I thought it would never come.

America had opened my world to getting to know people, to interact with people differently and experience a new culture and change my thoughts for the future that was ahead of me, of where to go, what to do, what to see and espically what I am missing out in. My thoughts of the J1 summer is that everyone should do it and experience a whole new level of freedom (I would say individuality but I do so ligthly). My thoughts of what to do when I returned to Ireland were tested and had to once again make a decision pretty much independtly away from parents and friends with little or no contact from them which did make it harder. My thoughts on what I would do on my return and being a fully graduated student had been altered due to the doom and gloom of the recession and the effects of what I thought I wanted to do. I had the plan to either take a year out and travel and come back to work and “settle” back and look forward then to what to do for my life or to work for 6 months and then travel for 6 months and then return. However, that was changed by the lack of jobs, money and prospects. The change was pushed by the fact that it would involve too much effort to do all that and instead to take the easy option and head back to college for another year and to postpone the inevitable. The Americas did come and go by so quickly that as I look back I cannot believe I was there for so long and I didn’t take the oppertunity to do as much as I would have liked.

Starting of my new college Masters life meant the giving up/passing on the responsibilities of the UCC SVdP Society which I had been involved in since 1st year and never waivered from though at time there were confrontations but these were overcome. I knew it was time to give it up without being sure that I was coming back to college and as a Postgrad, it was up to Undergrads to take it on and proceed with it as they would get more involved being around in college longer than a few months like I was. It was before this I knew though that it was coming to the end. The college course was a lot more intense than I first imagined, maybe due to the fact that it was crammed all in 6 weeks unlike most modules which would be 12 weeks long so that made people think twice of the course which has led to 6-7 people already drop out of the course with only 6 weeks worth of lectures being done. But with 4 years under my belt and I have never failed an exam yet, I don’t intend to start.

This year has led me through thoughts of am I gonna finish the race of college and survive the torments that have been nagging away at me. Yes I have slipped for longer periods than I had thought but I rise to the challenge and not on my own. It has been during these hard times of college, exams and projects that going into these things my thoughts like always turn to Him and ask Him to help me and direct me, to make all the answers to be correct as I seal the papers closed and not fail. This is not the only time I think of Him but throughout the day but mainly at night as I think and go through my head I know that He is listening to me and He drops words into my mind and allows me to grow and have new thoughts, emotions and ideas.

As you can see these thoughts are those of the past with ideas in the coming weeks will be the plans for the year of 2010.

Now with so much free time it has allowed me to think more of what is going on with my thoughts, emotions and ideas which I will continue to blog on… This does not mean that I am not doing any college work, which I am but there is only so much information a brain can handle.

MSc Biotechnology, UCC

I am now in my first week of what you could say is a study month with only 2 hours a week which are labs being my college attendance from now till christmas holidays in 6 weeks. This is due to the fact that this year my lectures took place in September and October rather than November and Decemeber which occured in previous years.

This means we get to go over our college material in the last 6 weeks for the 5 out of 8 modules we have to do in MSc Biotechnology. This is very helpful but its more organization rather than study as we will forget it come March when we have our exams (Mar. 29 till Apr. 9) with exams every second day. This means with it being easy now, will lead stress in Jan to Mar. with 3 modules (along with their assessments) and study for Spring Exams

 

Here I am again…

Spent the last 4 years in College with the aim of getting my degree (a piece of paper) and running as quick as possible out the college gates and out into the world of work but no. I am back in college for another piece of paper (Masters in Biotechnology). Yes the work will be more intense as I found out today with 50 credits of Lecture which are shorter than normal and a research work 40 credits that will take place from April till September.

Coming back from the States has meant that I am put back into a box with my freedom and independence taken away during it. However with the prospect of  doing the 6 month placement away from UCC with opportunities in Belfast and Spain and even further a field, it looks inviting (commitments will be the deciding point in where I go.) Yes, I do miss the States along with the people who I met there but that is inevitable after staying and working with people for 3 months.

Another upside of the course is that for the months of November and December I will have no college at all but with exams at the end of March and no study period to watch my favorite episodes of House it levels out the college time.

Having A Break…

Thankfully I have a break now for the next few days from exams with having 6 in the last two weeks has taken a lot out of me and really tired. I am a bit worried with the first 3 exams but the last three have gone a bit better. These finals of which there are only 8 are tough but at least it is not like the last two years where I used to have a sicking 12 exams which perplexes me sometimes how I survived through them all. With a certain percentage out of 20% from 3rd Year in the bank leaving 4th Year being worth 80% of my degree which is a lot

With two more exams which are both essay based exams the stress factor has eased but I cannot be too lax as I will stop studying but there may be no fear of that Also there is only 16 days left before I jet off to New York for the Summer which I cannot wait for and just hoping that I will not be returning this Autumn to repeat

124th Post in 124 Words

What do you post for your 124th? I have wanted to be able to blog everyday about what is happening in my life but at the moment I am on study month which means all I would blog about is…studying and I don’t think you want to read about that. I do have 8 exams in May and gladly none of them are at Neptune Stadium which saves a lot of time  and less worry about finding a car space. Though the exams are only 22 days away, the fact that I will be heading to New York for the summer is only 49 days away is very exciting. When I am there I will be able to let you know of my escapades every single day