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!

Finally photos!

Photo time! 

It's been a while.  I was finally able to upload a few photos!  :)  These three photos are from a lunch I talked about in the last blog from a town in Port Stewart.  Pretty right?

So, quite a bit has happened. 

I am trying to be slightly more sociable.  So, I went to lunch with more lab people in May to Bushmills hotel where I had some good food.  However, the most interesting part was it was Irish beef, and the hotel displayed an American and Canadian Flag.  I thought it was funny.  Nothing about my meal was American or Canadian...except maybe the gluten free bread?!  It was just odd and out of place.  It was nice stepping away from the lab for an hour. 

I also went to dinner in a small town called PortRush to say goodbye to one of the post-doc students.  It was at a Tapas bar, and I swear I had never seen such huge potatoes! 

I had 'chips', so called spicy meatballs, and bacon wrapped dates.  The dates were my favourite.  My mojito was good too, but not as good as the French Mojito in Dundee.   

So glad I can finally post photos.  I hope you are able to see them. 

I also had my ethics course and test, which I passed.  After several days of panic and tears in 2016 and trying to put this moment off, I passed and the test took a whole 15 minutes.  But the best part of the course was being told I had the quickest, cleanest, and best dissection the instructor has ever seen.  :)  (I would like to thank my Masters in Anatomy for that!)   I do not like to brag, but in this case, I will... Go me!  Speaking of dissection, one of the minions (AKA Placement students) was quite fascinated with how I was the girl in middle school who refused to dissect the frog.  He couldn't seem to grasp how much I refused to do it back then. 

To celebrate passing my ethics, I saw Beauty and the Beast in the cinema.  Now, some how I was the youngest person in this theatre, but yet when I went to see Finding Dory, I was one of the oldest.  Beauty and the Beast was good, but the original was better.  I wont spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it (or hasn't seen either one), but LaFou's song was my favourite. 

I have seen a few movies recently.  I joined the Biomed society, and we watched Back to the Future...and I was the oldest student there, not to mention, the only American.  It was odd that there were some that had never seen the movie.  Which I am finding out, the classic movies I grew up on, like Hocus Pocus, many people have not seen... (no names will be mentioned, but you know who you are).  I also watched Sing, which was way better than I expected and last night the lab people and I went to see The Mummy.  Honestly, do not go and waste your money on The Mummy.  The original was much better, but it was fun being out with all the international lab students. plus the one from England.  I have also been binge watching/listening to Hell's Kitchen.  After sitting in the dark room (AKA The red light district) or after killing my cells on accident, it is nice to have Gordon Ramsey take my frustrations out for me. 

I had my confirmation viva (presentation) this week so I was stressed and adding to the stress students decided to join the assessors and listen to the talks.  I just get nervous at public speaking.  However, I think I did much better at this presentation and question session than the first one.  It was still less questions and less people than the old project (and less questions than the last viva).  So, I guess I can only get better.  Luckily, only 2 more to go and the next one is a year away!  Now, I am just waiting on that official letter that says I passed.  I did get told I did very well and have a lot of data.  (I had about 26 graphs, so I guess that is good).  One supervisor said I had more data than a PhD submitted dissertation she read, so that is good. 

Besides my presentation, my lit review (Introduction chapter is done- will just have to proof read and update statistics), make edits to chapter 3 and 4 (Which should be done by December at  the latest), and continue adding to the materials chapter and start the cell chapters.  I think it is going well.  I kind of prefer working on the weekend in the lab as no one is really there so less people to get distracted with. 

The weather here has been awful, well awful by my standards, lol.  The hay fever here is like Spring back home times 100.  I feel like I have been rolled in grass and covered in cat fur.  And its hot.  Well, hot for here.  I miss the rain, and winter. 

Other than that, I started Pilates again, which has been a nice start to the morning.  I bought my first Pilates mat, and best part it was 50% off so that was even better.  I can proudly say I can do the roll-up with both legs straight on the ground. 

So all around, it has been a few good months, with passing my presentation, starting back with Pilates, and being a little more sociable.  Hopefully the next few months will be just as good. 

Enjoy the photos. 

In remembrance...

 

I have dreaded writting this blog entry.  It has been almost 2 months since my dear friend, Brett, passed away.  He received these blogs and the one I wrote while in Scotland.  My heart breaks.  Not a day has gone by where I have not thought about him.  When I moved to Scotland he challenged me to make 6 friends, and I did.  When I left to do my PhD I said I would make 6 new friends, just for him.  And I have.  We skyped as much as he was able to.  I was blessed to be his friend and considered one of the family.  He was like a father to me.  It was an amazing 6 years.   So here's to you Brett!  Thank you for your friendship, love, support, and memories.  I hope I am making your proud.  <3

One of the 6 friends I have made this past year and half invited me to spend the day with him and his family.  Brett would have been proud that I made a friend and that I went to spend the day with them. We spent a few hours catching up and talking about our projects.  He is in the faculty that I originally was in.  My friend made homemade soup with spices from his home country, Sudan.  It was a wonderful soup, one of the best I have ever had.  Then he and his family took me to the city center where he lives and showed me the seaside town of Bangor.  It has alot of boats and a savers.  :)  It was a nice day out. The day before going to Bangor, I had lunch with 2 friends in the biomedical department.  They took me to Portstewart, where we had lunch and milkshakes, and then walked along the cliff trail.  It is a beautiful seaside town.  Northern Ireland has alot of seaside towns.  Brett would have liked it here.  

Also, in these past 2 months, I had my first viva (presentation).  I did one at the old program and there were about 30+ people, followed by 20+ questions.  It was terrifying, but I passed.  This time around, I spoke in front of 10 people and had 8 questions.  I was told it was on the level of a second viva, which is good and I passed.  I should do the second viva in June/July.  I hate public speaking, but after the second one I will only have 2 more to go.  Luckily the last one only has 3-6 people listening.  This is where my introverted self shines... lol. 

I have no problem talking once I get to know the people.  When I first met Brett I sat on his sofa and hardly spoke unless I was asked questions... Of course within the 6 years, I talked his ears off about anything and everything.  I just need to channel this kind of speaking into my vivas.  :)  

Work is going well.  I finished the first full draft of my introduction, and I am about 3/4 of the way through two other chapters...just finalizing the results.  So all in all I think it is going well.  The two friends that I went to Portstewart just finished a long term study where I was asked to help dissect at the end.  I was told I was an expert dissector.  :)  Brett and I talked about dissections alot, and he was never grossed out with it, or at least he never showed it.  I think he would be proud of my dissecting reputation within this program. 

So there you have it.  Its been a crazy 2 months.  And the next month is also crazy busy for work, but I think its going to be good.  

 

I hope everyone is doing well.  

Until next time...