DAY 434/435/436

Nov 8, 9 & 10

1) Towards the end of the semester, there has been a greater emphasis on my studies, which unfortunately means less interesting activities to write about in my blog. Continuing on from the previous blog update, we had our JC3 Outbreak Quiz, which was rescheduled due to Hurricane Ophelia. It was an hour test, which required lots of calculations, and some critical thinking. We received our results that very day too!

2) After the quiz, it was time to prepare for our Card Signing - the (hopefully) last card signing we'll ever have. After this, it will just be our Anatomy Practical Finals that we will have to worry about. I say 'just' but that is 13.16% and 12.5% respectively right there, for the Neuroscience module. Anyway, Card Signing (for Group B) was today. As usual, we all filed into the Anatomy Room at sharp 2pm, and started shortly after. Our examiner was Mr. Blayney, retired Consultant ENT Surgeon.

3) To cut a long story short, I didn't quite manage an A. All those lapses in concentration started to take its toll on me, so that I felt I deserved what I got. To be honest, I'm just so very glad that it's over, because I can now concentrate on my next task - Quiz 2. This is the last major "Quiz" before our End of Semester Exams in early December. But it couldn't come at a worse time - a) three days after Card Signing, and b) my visit to UK will hinder my studying.

4) As I mentioned, I'll be flying to UK tomorrow for the UKEC's First Introductory Event of 2017/2018. Basically, we will have a side event in the form of Coffee and Conversations with UKEC - gathering student participants from the various universities to give their opinions on "What Constitutes a Constitution?" Also, the whole of Saturday and Sunday would be the first meeting with everyone, which will help us establish contacts and get to know who we'll be collaborating with. A lot to ruminate about, but also a lot of exciting new events to look forward to.

5) At the end of the day, we have less than a month to go before our exams begin. After that, I'm looking forward to a long and well-deserved break. More details on my holiday plans coming soon. Until then, thanks very much for tuning in, and have a great day. Cheers!

Christmas is coming ^^

As I was blissfully tucking into Boojum at the Dispensary...

Along came the Fire Alarm, sending everyone out of the New Academic Building...

As you can imagine, not everyone was happy to be chased out in the middle of their activities...

(but I definitely agree it is better to be safe than sorry)

DAY 412/413//414

Oct 17, 18 & 19

1) So much has happened these past few days. First, the nation was rocked with what was the worst tropical storm in 56 years - Hurricane Ophelia. On Sunday evening, Met Eireann issued a Red Warning (the highest warning available) for the whole country, effective from 6am on Monday ahead of Hurricane Ophelia hitting Irish shores. Apparently, the hurricane transitioned into a post-tropical storm when it hit Ireland early on Monday morning.

2) Violent and destructive gusts of 120 to 150km/h wreaked havoc nationwide, leaving plenty of damage, disruption, and death in their wake. Unfortunately, three deaths were reported; one in Waterford, Tipperary, and Louth respectively - due to the tropical storm. ESB Networks is beginning the massive task of restoring electricity supplies to 450,000 homes and businesses left without power in the wake of Storm Ophelia. The operation is likely to take several days. 

3) By the time the storm hit Dublin, it had lost much of its impact. As a result, many of my friends (myself included) were left wondering where the storm/ hurricane was. Sure - there were some really strong gusts of wind, but other than that, and a couple of fallen trees, the damage was minimal compared to some other counties. Thank our lucky stars then :) All schools, public transport (including LUAS and bus services) were down on Monday, and RCSI remained closed on Tuesday while they ascertained the safety of the premises. 

4) As a result, we missed our JC3 Outbreak Quiz, which was scheduled for Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, my friends and I were supposed to present our research poster at Beaumont (immediately after our Quiz), but that has since been postponed to next Tuesday. More time to study, I suppose. 

5) Today (Wed) was also my group's Heart Saver session. I had to be present at 8.00am, which meant waking up in the wee hours of the morning. And today was especially cold (~4 degrees Celsius) which made getting out of bed even harder... Anyway, we learnt some essential practical skills - CPR, using an AED, and the Heimlich manoeuvre (or abdominal thrusts) - in both adults and children. After four hours, we were done. Thankfully, we had only one more lesson after that - which was after lunch. Personally, I still had a small group tutorial at 4pm. Anyway, that has been a brief recap of the past couple of days, and hopefully you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for visiting, and as always, have a good one. Cheers! :D 

The irony of using UCD equipment in RCSI...

Buffet at Global Cuisine - Dundrum Town Centre

Rainbow on the same day as Hurricane Ophelia...

I suppose RCSI was on a shortage so they had to borrow UCD's XD

Adult dummies on which to practice our CPR/ first aid skills

Sports Direct trip was for nought as I couldn't find what I was looking for ):

The Spire

At least Butler's Chocolate more than made up for it :D