Monday, September 18, 2017

The group and new adventures


 

 

Hello all.  Not much to post, but I thought I would quickly share some stuff that has been going on.  It mainly involves new food/coffee places or being in the lab every day.

The first two photos are from a trip to Port Rush with one of the minions.  :)  (AKA: Placement student).  It was a great stress reliever as I had been in the lab since 5am with 2 hours of sleep and an experiment that didn't work.  So, he took me to Portrush as they have an amusement park every summer called Barrys.   I played some skee-ball, or ice ball as it is called here.  I also played 3 rounds of air hockey, which if anyone knows me, I get very defensive and hardly lose, but I lost 2 of the rounds to the minion who claims he has never lost a game.  He said I get very aggressive and defensive while playing.  I sure do love air hockey.  We finished off the night with me trying some well known Northern Irish ice cream.  I had Prosecco and Watermelon flavored, which was really good.  It was a nice stress free night after a long and exhausting day. 

The third photo was from a lunch with 2 other girls from the lab.  Besides the buy one get one free pizza, this was by far the best food and coffee (No picture of coffee) I have had in this little town.  It was some gluten free bread, brie, bacon, lettuce, and cranberry sauce.  Not only was it good, it was very cheap.  We finished the day off with some quick shopping. 

The fourth photo was from lunch with a friend/flatmate from my first year here.  We always have a good time just talking and enjoying coffee.  This place that we went actually had alot of gluten free choices which is always good.  I ended up having chicken and potatoes.  Next time I think I will try the gf fish and chips and hope it is better than the one in Dublin.  She and I finished our day by browsing in TK Maxx. 

I went out for a lab persons birthday.  I think people eat dinner really late here, as we didnt leave till 8:45pm.  It was an ok place, but the company was good. 

So alot of trying new places and being more sociable.  And a few skype sessions with friends and family back home, so that is always good!  I am always open for more skype sessions!  :P 

Work wise, we had to move to a new building which I don't think many of us like.  I think we are all a little anti-social and before we were in a building basically to ourselves which we loved.  There were sofas outside the lab that we all gathered around to basically look at our phones...and sometimes talk.  The kitchen/break room was small but we all gathered there to have tea/coffee/lunch.  This new building, the sofas are out in a common area where professors claim their territory so we don't get to sit there till after 5pm.  The kitchn is big, which is nice, but because we are such a close group we tend to cling together and take over the tables.  The other biomed group on our floor welcomed us to the building with tea/coffee/and food.  I am one of the only GF students so I was really excited when they provided me with lunch and breakfast for the next few days!  :)  Our group also had a pizza lunch in the new building, and even though they forgot my pizza, it was a good lunch.  This is definitely one of the best research groups I have exerienced.  We may be anti-social at times, but they are good people and always willing to help.  My one experiment has not been working for a few months, but some of the guys in the group have been trying to get it to work with me for the past few months...even getting there at 7am with me. As a group we also have breakfast every Wednesday and Friday and usually go to the discount Tuesday movies together.  We recently saw, Dunkirk, Atomic Blonde, and American Made.  I was the only one who liked Dunkirk, and didn't like the other 2 movies... I was also one of 3 girls in the theatre for Atomic Blonde.  We all belong to the gym and 2-3 of us go 3-5 days a week together and then we sit in the sauna. This is the smallest gym I have ever seen and doesn't have much to do there, so my pilates still gets done.  :)   We may be the group who constantly look at phones vs. talking to one another but we do have alot of fun together.  Writing it all, we sure do a lot of things together. 

Work wise, all is going well.  My comparative anatomy textbook that I ordered 2 months ago should finally be here in a week which will allow me to complete my chapter 1/lit review!  Ch 2 is ongoing,  3 should be done by the end of October, and ch 4 is done, just need to fix the numbering.  Chapter 5 will be started soon and hopefully finished by November, and once the experiment works (the one from above) ch 8 will be done!  I think work wise all is going pretty well.  So if anyone is interested in reading and editing, please let me know!  I pay in postcards. 

In other news, mom comes in 76 days!  I am so ready for her to come and very ready to go back and visit Dundee! 

It has been a relaxing few days recently with fixing my results and a Saturday off for the first time in forever, but now it is time to get back down to business to get all of this done and finished before mom comes!   Hopefully at least one more update before mom comes, so until next time... 

Cheers!








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