In the Land of the Irish
So I'm here. Still alive. Having a blast on the Emerald Isle. :)
The program I'm doing is brilliant. National University of Ireland - the place I'm at - is gorgeous, and the city it's in - Galway - is really cool. And there's tons to do here. The people who are in the program with me are really cool too. There are 6 Irish (3 from NUI Galway, 2 from Cork, 1 from Dublin), 2 Americans (me and the kid from UGA), 1 Estonian, and a Polish girl. We get along really well for being so diverse. There are a few other research programs going on here (one for biomedical engineering and one for physics), so there are a few more Americans, a Canadian, some Indians, and an Irish or two to add to the mix. It's really a lot of fun.
I'm doing my research with the Department of Bacteriology, which is actually based in the Hospital here. Looks like I might be able to tour some of their facilities, so maybe the infectious disease one! One of the professors I'm working under is also the hospital's consultant for microbiology. I'll have to ask him if he has a medical degree. For some reason...the combo of the two jobs seems really appealing to me. Hm. But my project itself will be really cool. I'm going to look for antibiotic resistance genes in E. coli isolated from water samples around Galway using PCR and other things. It should be cool. I'm looking forward to it, especially since I know a few of the methods already (Thank you LSU). I'll have to write about the differences in Irish and US education at some point...remind me if I forget to.
I'll try to keep a regular update of things that I'm here. And I want to keep a weekly (or so) database of Irish slang words that I find pretty cool. The first is "cultchie", the equivalent of a hick. "Country folk", as they say. I love it.
As cheesy as it sounds, I really start to feel somewhat at home here. I'm part Irish, so that's some of it, but Galway is on the coast. We walked near the sea yesterday, and I could smell the salt air and hear the waves...and I felt so at ease. I love it. We're supposed to go to Salthill and the beach there sometime soon, so I'll have to post pictures of that.
Well, time for me to get ready to go into town. One of the girls has her boyfriend here and we're going pubbing/clubbing tonight. Plus, I have to get my Irish cellphone (the number which I will share with everyone). Woo hoo!
Cheers!
The program I'm doing is brilliant. National University of Ireland - the place I'm at - is gorgeous, and the city it's in - Galway - is really cool. And there's tons to do here. The people who are in the program with me are really cool too. There are 6 Irish (3 from NUI Galway, 2 from Cork, 1 from Dublin), 2 Americans (me and the kid from UGA), 1 Estonian, and a Polish girl. We get along really well for being so diverse. There are a few other research programs going on here (one for biomedical engineering and one for physics), so there are a few more Americans, a Canadian, some Indians, and an Irish or two to add to the mix. It's really a lot of fun.
I'm doing my research with the Department of Bacteriology, which is actually based in the Hospital here. Looks like I might be able to tour some of their facilities, so maybe the infectious disease one! One of the professors I'm working under is also the hospital's consultant for microbiology. I'll have to ask him if he has a medical degree. For some reason...the combo of the two jobs seems really appealing to me. Hm. But my project itself will be really cool. I'm going to look for antibiotic resistance genes in E. coli isolated from water samples around Galway using PCR and other things. It should be cool. I'm looking forward to it, especially since I know a few of the methods already (Thank you LSU). I'll have to write about the differences in Irish and US education at some point...remind me if I forget to.
I'll try to keep a regular update of things that I'm here. And I want to keep a weekly (or so) database of Irish slang words that I find pretty cool. The first is "cultchie", the equivalent of a hick. "Country folk", as they say. I love it.
As cheesy as it sounds, I really start to feel somewhat at home here. I'm part Irish, so that's some of it, but Galway is on the coast. We walked near the sea yesterday, and I could smell the salt air and hear the waves...and I felt so at ease. I love it. We're supposed to go to Salthill and the beach there sometime soon, so I'll have to post pictures of that.
Well, time for me to get ready to go into town. One of the girls has her boyfriend here and we're going pubbing/clubbing tonight. Plus, I have to get my Irish cellphone (the number which I will share with everyone). Woo hoo!
Cheers!