Just remember zygotes are like babies...

Time for our mid-semester tests and of course i have done a little below the right amount of study for..every exam!Mainly Botany, theres something about the word sporeophyte that for some reaon will not stick in my brain for long enough for me to learn it,that is until my mother uttered the phrase 'remember:The diploid zygote is like a baby,now all you need to know is what makes a baby.' For some reason that one sentence fixed a fair bit of what was giving me difficulty and thankfully the test went fine:-) I'm over the moon that the majority of the exams are over for now and i can focus on the inportant stuff,watching scary movies and eating all the halloween sweet before the kids come to the door.Oh and just for future reference,never ever ever watch paranormal activity two especially if you enjoy sleeping:-)Oh and also for anyone having issues with alternation of generations this picture helped me!

does it always feel like this?

Exams down, more work than ever, and i would have thought that pacing oneself was the way to get through such a lump of work. It poured today, not like that summer shower of yore but more of a winter duvet of  dishevelled discomfort. at least it put an interesting spin on the college cycle! even our first lecturer was late, speiling off excuses so like our own. may the novelty of such a day stay just that.
Had my most dreaded of exams yesterday, physics 101. little did i know that a little extra focussed work 5 mins before the exam leads to a sense of satisfaction which is diffficult to match. whodaa thunk it hah?
We're drawing ever closer towards.......HALLOWEEN! wahey, its time to ditch the gladrags and don the hagbags, costumes to be minimal, spartan even..

 but my favourite--->


simple, effective, discrete and ingenious

Examinations...

So two exams down, one of which I feel I completely let my nerves get the better of me, and the other I think went pretty well (I hope!). I definately feel I couldn't have gotten through the Cell Anatomy without the help of this wonderful video above. ;)
At the moment I am in a state of procrastination while I should be desperately studying my Botany and Physics notes but I am doing anything but! As usual!
I definitely feel that I've learned from the experience of the Chemistry exam and I now know how to approach an exams better and more productively...in theory!
Right I'm going to make this a short one because I really do need to study...

Herbal and Horticultural Soc.

Today was the first meeting of the Herbal and Horticultural Soc. which has been set up by the second year Herbal Science students. It was a really fun meeting and I got to know our mentors. As part of the society we're going Ice Skating at Christmas, having dinner in a few weeks time and going to Ballymaloe House to see the herb garden and have lunch at some stage as well.
I found talking to the second years very uplifting...apparently EVERYONE struggles at Chemistry in the first semester. They are a very cool bunch of folk and I'll be very happy to get to know them better and pick their brains as the time goes by.
We, as a society, also plan to do some fun fund raising activities like making herbal concoctions, and having some very interesting guest speakers in.
I'm definitely going to convince more of the class to get involved. 

rapid study now,

Starting to apply my physical and chemical formuli to everyday events; calculating the total wattage used to boil a pot of soup on a cooker. then applying the thoery; the chemical reactions and enzymes used to digest the soup once swallowed, how these enzymes are controlled by other chemicals (which activate or inhibit), how that soup will give the chemicals needed to build enzymes (much needed builing blocks; carbon and other elements like hydrogen). the energy gained from the hearty soup in wattage as an SI unit of course and so on.
This course has been a great stepping stone to a bright future in the widening field of herbal science and also a great oppertunity to stop and smell the rosses, examine them and classify them and learn from and utilise the herbs and other plants around us.

time management?

the weeks are flying past at this stage, worp nine I'd say. exams are starting soon so I'v been hitting the books heavy and testing myself but once I realised the info had accualy stuck I stopped freaking out and went to my first party since joining the herbal science course. student life had "kicked in" without me even noticing so the wi party was more than welcome, feeling much more relaxed now about the content and have a chance to build confidence in my own ability to achieve my goals again, speaking of goals... my avid support of soccer has fadded into darkness wit my new found responsability of student life, roll on the mid-terms so I can become me again and yell at a T.V. screen as if it will make a difference to the form of my team.

Time is busy

Its time for tests!A month has been ripped out from under our feet. Lab reports due, a balanced daily work schedule is, for me at least, on the cards. I reckon as successful as cramming can be the information seems to just be filed away into that short term in-out memory bank. But as our physics lecturer advised, 'if you keep throwing mud at the wall more and more is bound to stick eventually'. bless her cotton socks!

Our small nuclear CIT group, the authors of such publications as Saint John's Worth and this blog met to discuss any and all questions that we will be meeting our 'mentor' with. Abruptly approached by one of our group members, this final year herbal science student stood no chance in denying us an all access interview at a later date. The questions to be posed to be for our interest, and indeed to our further understanding of our future in this course. Outcomes to follow soon.
I think it will take the combined efforts of everyone in our course to keep these 4 years comfortable, productive and dare i say it, fun!

The hills are alive with the sounds of...Mooing!

Another fun filled day in Farmville (alliteration just adds to the fun). We had a much more practical based botany class today, drawing flowers, observing plants and laughing at cows for the majority of the lesson. The topic of cork slang came up and it came to my attention that the cork dialect is not something to be feared but something to be embraced, it takes great imagination and above all skill to add like to every sentence you say and to make a statement like 'It's over there' to 'There la':-)If you need help brushing up on you cork slang here should help: http://www.corkslang.com/ Time to get the head down and start studying as the next time we will be in botany we will be examined...positive thinking...Small...Far away!

Aye Masters...or not...Herbal Medicine controversies...

We had a very interesting talk about the issue of European regulations on Complimentary and Alternative Medicine and whether they can outlaw it in the future to make way for the Pharmaceutical industries to take over the world (is that my own opinion or a fact? hmmm..we'll see!)
As it stands due to the regulations, or lack thereof, a stall has been put on the Postgraduate MSc course in Medicinal Herbalism...which isn't good news to a first year student in a Herbal Science degree with aspirations to a lovely little Herbal Medicine Clinic and Yoga Centre!!
Long story short, the Irish Institute of Medical Herbalists have taken on themselves to create a Post Graduate Diploma that will have the same standards that are outlined in HETAC Scientific Level 9 standards for qualifications (as seen here http://www.hetac.ie/docs/Science%20-%20Award%20Standards.pdf) and that will hopefully be able to be upgraded to a MSc when "Europe" get their act together and set a guideline for CAM that will allow us to practice at the same recognition as Traditional Medicine. I've been doing some research and these guys are quite interesting and have been funded to do the research on Complimentary and Alternative Medicine that will hopefully lead to a brighter more educated outlook for us all..http://www.cambrella.eu/home.php?
Also I found some interesting reading on the European Directive Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Directive_on_Traditional_Herbal_Medicinal_Products
A point on this directive that angers me SO MUCH is that  "Herbal medicine products manufactured using isolated active ingredients from plants will not be regarded as herbal medicines and will not receive an authorisation under this scheme" because this gives pharmaceuticals preferential treatment over whole herb products that have more benefits as the compounds in whole herb medicines tend to work synergistically rather than using isolated components that will probably need to be added to something synthesised to work. (http://www.suite101.com/content/standardized-herbs-new-twist-on-herbal-therapy-a155307)
Although I do think that regulation is essential in the sector, because it is very important to have a framework set up for the Health Sciences, I feel that the research needs to get under way quickly so that Herbalism can be seen to be the Science that it is and not some form of ancient quackery!!
Ok..rant over...(sorry this subject gets me wired up!)

You wouldnt want to be missing out on any lectures!

Things are certainly heating up in this beloved course of hours, lab report deadlines sneaking ever closer ever sooner, the onset of the first exams, physics and botany coming up in less than a month. Time wains, effort must not. I find myself ever closer to the point of nightly study, though the prospect of hibernation hangs attractively from the veils of every  'morning'. Morning being a relative term as no shard of sun nor sky can be seen, continuing this darkening cycle of daylight college hours,  dark by the end.
On a lighter note, college is going very well, the subjects while delving deeper into conceptual difficulty, seem to come full cirle back all the way to comprehension. This for me is the marvel of education. Even more impressive is this-------------

Marchantia polymorpha....thingy...

Another lovely day in Clon with all the farmers (im not farmerist or anything they really are farmers!) I gave the early moring a miss today and got a lift with a few of the herbie girls,had a lovely chat about how everyone always cries at the notebook and how Kristen Stewart is a really bad actress:-)We were much more hands on with the plants today as we had to go galavanting with the cows to get them.Much more fun than actual class,although i did get soil under my newly painted nails..not a good look!Nevertheless it was quite an experience and with our ferns in hand we learned the proper way to draw them which also showed my very bad drawing skills.All in all a really fun day day in Clon,with a few confusing latin names thrown in for good measure :-)

sniffle...

Little bit sick today...finally got the flu that I thought I had so sneakily managed to avoid. Massively dosing myself with such wondrous herbs as Echinacea, Cat's Claw, Citrus Seed Extract and Garlic.In fact I think I'll share my recipe for my cure all tea...
Into a big pot of water squeeze the juice of 3 lemons, grate some ginger, add 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped,  a chopped up chilli or two or add a teaspoon of dried chilli powder, big dash of Apple Cider Vinegar, dash of Cayenne Pepper and a spoon or two of honey (Manuka is best)...simmer gently for about 10 mins (and you can reheat it as much as you need to) and drink as much as you can every hour or two. Ok..you may lose friends due to reeking of Garlic but it tends to warm your bones, fix a sore throat and kill off infection. I can handle that. (And I think it might make a nice Pasta sauce..hmmm)
On a more collegey note. Delighted with how the newsletter is turning out. We've all put in a good effort and it's actually quite interesting. When we met to delegate different parts to each member of the group I think we made good choices, due to Peter's addiction to reading National Geographic anyway and Tom's love for looking up not so useless information and the like.
Also I am looking forward to meeting with the new mentors from second year that our class rep Amy has organised a meeting with. It'll be nice to see how they found first year and get some tips.
See..when I started writing this I was grumpy and sick, I had some of my cure tea and I've gotten all upbeat all of a sudden...yay! haha.

PS: if anyone wants some Echinacea seeds then I have some to pass on

one step closer

Starting to feel the pressure, late nights with uncertain write-ups and early mornings with suspect bus times however I am enjoying the content which delves deeper and deeper into the complexaties of atomic-structure and taxonamy and the other various subjects within subjects that we are being taught.
Experienced the Clonakillty dinner on wednesday, good grub is vital when you leave home at 7:15am, travel on two busses (each for an hour) and start a four hour class at 1:30pm then travel home by the same means at 5:45, this day usualy takes me from dawn to dusk before I get home for some study and more write-ups.
Over all its been another good week in an enjoyable course wit an interesting group.

Up and at them! UP AND AT-THEM

Friday, weeks down, weeks to go. Between orbits and orbitals, angiosperms and angiospermae, everyone is doing their solemn best to stay above water. As such it has been decided that an effort must be made to drown ourselves as a group tonight, the first of what i hope to be many beerings.  It may very well be the right time to break into the darker side of eachothers personality, yet to be seen :-)
I have found myself trawling cyberspace for new information, breaking science news, seeking invention innovation and trying for the most part to understand why MY FUTURE HAS BEEN SOLD TO ANGLO IRISH BANK! I now owe 10 000euro to Anglo, as do you, and you, and every other member of this gloriously deficit economy. Heres to the hard slog to bring us back to zero, and the hope that those who were involved with the bottom trawling of our countries riches, come up with a plan to to save us from what will otherwise be generations of strife.
So we're going to the pub

a bit of study over the weekend is very rewarding, especially if you consider the pretty 3d animations made to help us visualise some of the more  conceptually involved aspects of our course

DNA transcription
look at these S P D orbitals!