It's all over in a flash..reflection on my module.

Well it really feels like only yesterday that i was lining up in registration in a nervous panic;didnt know anyone and found it very hard all together to get used to the college.But in what was really only a matter of weeks i have gone from feeling very much that i wasn't the college type to really enjoying my education for once.In secondary school you learn because you have to but in college you learn,maybe not necessarily because you want to,but because you you have a longing to;a longing to understand,and to ultimitly enjoy the course you have chosen.
I think i have achieved this in the last few months as ive really got stuck in to the course.I have made some very close firends already and really find that i have been blessed with an incredible class of people.As for my c.i.t. module i really did have a stroke of good luck to get put with the group i am with,they really are a great punch of people who i found it very easy to get along with.Sarah was of course a fantastic leader.With her we were able to do the work needed without feeling to much pressure or feel restrained by time.The whole group i found worked well together and i only hope others in my class had as good a time as i did with my group and i wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

reflection of CIT module

Its been a great first term, this module was a learning experience, first IT module without a computer class but it has given food for thought, a tough task given without any help along the way has helped forge some of us and dishearten others. On the whole though the "herbals" have all come out the other side with new skills that will stand to us in the future. finding time in the day for BLOG entrys, seting up mahara, researching for news letters, holding interviews and putting together group projects out of college hours wasn't easy especially with all the study time needed for our other "heavy" subjects. with all this heavy work load the snow was a nice sight last wednesday in clone (bit mad having a class that day wit the roads like ice), ended up havin snow ball fights, laughin and playing around, it was a welcome break in between exams which are finnishing this week (have to cut it short for an exam in 5 mins, goodbye BLOGGERS) 

Having a look to see whats inside

These weeks and months rolled by without being marred by angered confrontation or even a trace of ill-will, with any random assortment of students, such an outcome must be noted and appreciated. It took a part time project to get one step into the minds of  of 3 other people, to see what drives them and what, if left to their own devices, they would think and write about a shared experience. clonakilty every wednesday for a few hours, shared anxiety before and after exams. I found that the blog was an excellent outlet to stay in contact with the goings on in college day to day, having missed some time in college during this first semester. It was also very helpful to see what may be the future of education, with the use of online resources furthering my views on what may and may not be integral to tendering for employment and experience.

It will be great disappointment that this will see the end of this particular grouping, with excessive help from Jess Peter and of course team leader extraodinare Miss Sarah Fox. Without each of these folks i surely would have shaken and toppled under the strain, to see others excell encourages you to do all you can.

Through the looking glass....a reflection on the last 12 weeks....

So it began all those weeks ago...strangers with one thing in common..a long road of herbal science ahead. For the CIT module we got randomly assigned to groups of class mates to work with toward the common goal of blogging, researching and presenting and all together figuring out some "new fangled" technological advances in the form of blogspot, prezi, mahara and wallwisher.

To reflect on the CIT module as a whole I have to say that I learned a lot about different media resources available that I think will be beneficial to me in the future and I also learned a lot about team work.

The point, I suppose, of being assigned the group was to initially to get us to mingle and get to know each other and learn team work, and taking responsibility within the team. I definitely think that these aspects were achieved as I now feel like the people in my group are friends, people I can count on and people who I look up to for there vast range of skills and assets.
I could not be happier with the group I was assigned as they each brought very important qualities to each part of the module, the course itself and to my progression in the entire semester.
Peter, a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the sciences and always an interesting mind to pick when confusion arose in any subject, is a good guy to have nearby especially when scientific calculators are in danger of being smashed to pieces in anger. His blog entries were a great compilation of what we were learning and how to apply it to daily life and were a great read which I always looked forward to.
Tom, a quick witted genius, was a pleasure to work with and to blog with, as he absolutely cracks me up with wondering just what he'll come up with next. Toms approach to the presentation took a turn that I wouldn't have thought of when he took the topic of memory to it's futuristic outcome and it was both interesting and informative. His newsletter contributions were again informative and light-hearted at the same time, bringing in aspects of his great knowledge of science and his sense of humour.
Jess, all I can say is thank god for her computer skills when it came to the presentation..as prezi seemed to disappear every time I touched it she calmly and collectedly fixed and compiled everything and made, what, I think, was a pretty good presentation and her genius idea of the interactive audience participation with prizes went down really well with the rest of the class. Any time I needed some help with Botany I only had to look at her collection of blogs which showed fantastic study resources.
As for myself, as I got voted in as Team Leader I was initially scared as I didn't think my delegation skills were very good (I know Peter will laugh at this bit as it turned out that I was a master delegate, maybe one might say that the power went to my head! haha) and what I fell I learned about myself is that I think I am pretty much a control freak so I was delighted to have last editing preferences over the newsletters and prezi. As I said to the team in our last CIT module..."what'll I do now that you don't 'have' to do what I say anymore??!" hahaha. I'll miss the power! Wikipedia describes leadership as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." Yep..I think I nailed that one ;)


Teamwork is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary as "a joint action by a group of people, in which each person subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group." This does not mean that the individual is no longer important; however, it does mean that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments. The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonise their contributions and work towards a common goal. I think that my group are the epitome of this concept. As a whole I think that we reached every goal we set for ourselves in the module and worked really well as a team each instilling a different je ne sais quoi and produced some great work (in my opinion anyhow) and I think the whole module was really good fun, it definitely beats studying Inorganic Chemistry (which is what I'm off to do now.)

So to finish I want to really thank the rest of the team for being productive, interesting, and utterly brilliant and I hope that we get put together for projects in the future because I couldn't think of better folk to work with.

Team Leader Sarah, over and out!

Snow Balls and Ilex aquifolium

Well our last wednesday in Clonakilty came and went in a flash of plants names and snow.After a very nerve wrecking trip on the icy Bandon roads we made it to the college which was covered in an extra thick layer of blinding snow,the best thing to help calm the masses on a very stressful day.After a quick nip round the greenhouse(religiously naming the plants,Teraxicum officinalis,Phormium tenax,Lavendula,Mentha x spicata...)we got stuck in to the written part of the exam.Two years of learning that carbon dioxide and water under light/chlorophyll makes glucose and oxygen definately came in handy and made for a pretty good test.The flowers on the other hand were shall we say somewhat tongue tieing,even after a good study of the plants i found that under the pressure of a moving line of people and the exam situation it was difficult to recall the many flower names sprinting through my mind.Nevertheless the test could have gone a whole lot worse and i was happy to end the day with a snow ball fight and saying goodbye to the cows at the college:-)

disaster in the form of neck pain :-(

It seems the lecturers skipped a week and decided to give us our tests somewhat earlier than i would have thought,nevertheless we struggle forward as a team!Or so i thought, It seems an unfortunate bed related incident(or rather the getting out of the bed)lead to the pulling of a muscle in my neck that has rendered me near useless.This lead to a very long and painful Monday. As much as i hoped it would not hinder my work i fear it may have not helped in my physics lab exam and my presentation in c.i.t. I did as well as i possibly could with such a sore neck and i hope it was good enough...and i hope the candy canes idea helped :-)
As the pain is getting quite bad i decided why not look up more natualy ways to deal with it and came across this helpful site. I hope it helps you with your alements in this winter season :-)
http://health.discovery.com/

Let it snow let it snow let it snow :-)

The winter weather is slowly but surely making its way to cork and we've seen our first few speckles of snow on the cars,only,it has arrived at the wrong time all together!Just as all our tests begin,all our write ups reach their dead lines and all our projects near completion the snow begins to fall,blocking roads,closing schools and worst of all distracting my from studying!With a long week of tests ahead lets hope the snow waits just a week or two before blanketing ireland,because we all know study wont happen when theres a snow ball fight to be had :-)

Oh my god its christmas day!...kinda

From the buzz around campus you'd think that it was the last  day of the year, there's a  smile and and an anxious expectation from the vast majority of the students that i have had no choice in overhearing. from expected pints per hour (5-10) to whether or not a 'supernaggin!' was a suitable sink for your money instead of the despicable prices expected in bars for the day, todays events will be remembered. The cold snap that seems to have taken root here certainly seems timely and appropriate
Clonakilty was a success yesterday, but instead of a practical, another 2 hours of theory in lectures was administered by our buddy Joe. I think it is safe to say that interest in the subject matter disintegrated around 3 hours in, the longing for freedom palpable.
I missed over a week of college due to recent berevement, and the work is piling up around me, but with the incredible help offered to me by the people in the course around me i  feel like it will very much be possible to get it all done, without too much stress. I only hope that i can be of such help to them in the future.
no christmas drinking for me today

maybe next year

Presentation

Just spent some time in the computer room working on the Prezi with the team. I think our presentation is looking quite good. I love all the different aspects that each of the team has put in. I think the hardest part will be standing up in front of the room and actually presenting it but hey..that's what it's all about eh!
Our presentation is all about the memory and goes into different aspects of the memory and the brain, some ways to improve and maintain the memory and some fun games and trivia involving the memory. It's been good fun to do.
Can't believe that we are going in to the last few weeks of the semester now. I really think that the 4 years are going to FLY by. Need to get my butt in gear and study a bit harder...I've been a bit lazy of late.

Prezi is loacted at http://prezi.com/ if you want to make your own presentation...it's a handy auld tool!
This is our one...
http://prezi.com/f4wpy7-ztngw/copy-of-the-memory/

Sneaky study day

Today I took some time to recollect myself and try to catch up on lecture notes that seem to keep swamping in but not get looked over. I spent the entire day finding pictures of plants that need to be named in our practical botany exam and also learning tissues for our Anatomy practical exam. I thought I would have loads of time but the day seems to have passed so fast and I have just been sitting on the computer for so long that I think that my brain is melting.

I spent  a considerable amount of time trying to figure out Prezi yesterday for the presentation next week and have put up all the bits for my part. I think the hard part will be timing it right when each one of our groups information in uploaded. I may need to delegate some of the editing to the team as it is quite time consuming and we will all need to spend some time at it.

There's not too much left on the semester so I really need to get myself in gear, by the end of this week I want to have all my lab reports and botany project completed so all I need to do for the coming week is revise my notes.

These links were handy for Anatomy revision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYKjMfJfatc&feature=related

Information about the Bridging Course available for Medicinal Herbalists..

As I mentioned we learned a lot from our interview with Ciaran the the 4th year Herbal Science student, (check out the link to see our interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0CPLGCztmQ) so I said I'd pass on the info for anyone in the year interested.

As I also mentioned in a previous blog (rant) about Medicinal Herbalism a two year Masters in Clinical Studies was envisioned to follow our course, leading to practitioner status, but due to EU regulations at present HETAC is not validating courses in complementary therapies and it depends what happens with their consultation process which should be finished next spring what will happen. However the Irish College of Phytotherapy has been set up to administer and run a a "Bridging Training Programme in Western Medical Herbalism" being run for Graduates and Students of the BSc (Hons) in Herbal Sciences at Cork Institute of Technology.

The important thing about this course is the quality of training and that it enables you to join a professional organisation and practice. The Irish Register of Herbalists has agreed to accept those who successfully finish the training. Also, the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy have said that they will also accept applications of graduates, once they have suitable references.

The training programme consists of three elements:
Lecture/ Seminar blocks. These can be attended by students in the 3rd and 4th year of their degree programme as well as graduates.
This allows students to get the credits for this part of the training. Such students would be able to be signed off for those credits and to carry out the second and third elements either during college breaks or upon graduation. The lecture blocks will be held out of term time to enable such students to attend without detracting from their degree.
(Lecture blocks will also be open to herbal practitioners as CPD; this means that students gain additional exposure to practising herbalists during their training).

Self directed study following a carefully designed study plan to guide students through this element of learning. This will be assessed by continuous assessment consisting of a study portfolio and some long essays. It is felt that, by this stage of training, multiple examinations are not needed as a form of the assessment. Assessments will be designed to allow the student to display the ability to synthesise together the different strands of their learning to formulate a diagnosis and treatment plan. Students will be expected to include relevant elements of their undergraduate training such as nutrition, pathophysiology, materia medica etc with the information delivered in the lecture blocks.

Students in 3rd and 4th year of BSc in Herbal Science should note that the self-directed study element may be postponed to be completed out of semester time or after graduation; such students just need to notify the Course administrator of their intention to do so and indicate the time frame that they intend to follow.

I'll also set up a meeting with Nikki Darrell who is one of the course co-ordinators in the new year if anyone has questions.

I hope this is of some interest to the class :)

Another week on, another weak one

these early starts and late night lab reports are enough to make one daze vacantly at a lifeless blog textbox for upwards of an hour with but the hint of progress.
Our presentation for CIT will be about memory, it's function, how to improve it and for my end of things, the future of memory. I will be writing on how i think that within our lifetime we will see an ever-increasing symbiosis with technology, where it will be possible to store in virtual memory important information for longer than the biological user may be able to commit said information to long term memory. It may be said of us, the user, that it is our abilty to cross reference and make informed guesses on multiple different aspects, taking into account a  huge amount of instantly accessable memories in our own brains. my side of the project will be to explore the possibility of similarly large, and larger amounts of easily cross-referencable material, and the searchability of this data to be made easier and faster year on year. It is easily protracted that at some stage, according to moores law, that this sort of mass data reference becomes the stuff of daily use. Already you will hardly go a day without access to the entirity of the internets resources, with recent near-ubiquitious technology, eg the iphone and using 3g and 4g networks, it is prudent to expect that more and more of our heavy text files and refernce books be easily perused whenever, wherever, with all the speed and efficiency of just havin an auld think about it.

Praise photosynthesis!!

After weeks of confusion and dismay as to how i would learn so many plant names by this christmas,we finally meet a topic i know and love,Photosynthesis!There was nothing i loved more in the leaving cert than good old photosynthesis and Krebs cycle and all that jazz.The only reason i like it so much is because it took up so much of my time in 5th year trying to get that damn cycle into my head that it will never ever be able to escape!So as you can probably tell it turned out to be a good botany class today,especially the lovely conversation in the greenhouse about the goings on on Wistera Lane with the desperate housewives..it seems i have missed a great deal and must immeadiatly start back watching it:-)

Interview

I'm so glad that I accosted this particular Fourth Year Herbal Scientist in the street and "made" him agree to do the interview for our newsletter...this issue released today by the way! Ciaran was a fountain of knowledge and advice about our degree, what we might do after the degree and the different options that are available for work experience and post graduates. (You may think...whoa get through your test on Tuesday before you start worrying about your post-grad love but I'm a Sagittarius so I need to plan the future just to get through today! ;))
Maybe we should all just leave the Herb Science course and become Movie makers though...Jess had her Directorial Debut,  Peter was Executive Producer, Tom was the Anchor-man and I was Camera-woman and Key-Grip (I just looked that up 'cause I always see it on the credits of films..it means the chief stagehand or technician...yep..that was me!)
The link to the interview will be posted here shortly after some editing...stay tuned....

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!

Late...Really late..

After 7 days of horrible illness i finally have time to write up the blog..a bit late i agree but i would have hated to give you cyber flu by accident so really this was a selfless act :-) So ill try fit two wednesdays into the one blog.So we begin with Wednesday the 22nd and the first practical bottany class. Though the bus leaves way to early the lovely Clonakilty scenery makes up for it..just. After a lenthy class on plant characterictics we finally made it out to the green house to take a look around and being looking at plants properly. Although the plants latin names are quite daunting i've found them quite easy to remember. Maybe because they are so odd they're unforgettable,i hope anyway:-)
Today was more of the same,new and interesting plants and...well Sarah found a large shoe..so maybe just a little different :-) Bottany is by far my favorite class at the moment,where else would you find random giant shoes :-)

Science is fun!

So far in my Herbal Science modules I find Chemistry the most challenging but like all challenges I am sure that I will find it the most rewarding. I just need to put in the effort so that the penny will drop and it all will become clear. Even though many of us in the class seem to find it difficult, as we have not studied it in the past or maybe not for a long time, the general consensus is that we will all work together to get help from tutors, fellow class mates who know the score and we will have study groups.
I find youtube a valuable tool...I've spent my weekends scrolling through videos on Mass Spectrometry and Periodic Tables...here are some of my favourite video's so far..

 

 

It's all fascinating really...and hey..if Golden Retrievers know about Atoms then I can too!!

like atoms that bind, together we'v joined.

Having a great experience in CIT; the class-mates are some of the most intresting people I'v got to know in a very long time and the content of our course is getting more exciting daily as we delve into the workings of chemistry, physics, biology, botany and much, much more.
During week two we began our lab work after a laborious safety message from each member of staff, taking up half of each allocated lab class, Mmmm... health and safety regulations are important.
During chemistry we done an experiment to show us in a practicle way, how atomic mass can be applied which I found amazing. I'v been getting to know some of the fourth year herbal science students also, who have been very helpfull in showing me around CIT and reassuring me that the course gets better as the years roll on, I am sure that my love for the subject will grow as my knowlage of it does.

No one left behind

Beginning the second week it's clearly evident that this course will take work and interdependance between each and every member of the class. We're starting to find out about one anothers strengths and weaknesses, what could have, should have but will not stop us proceeding with a degree of comfort, through these next 4 years of Herbal Science.
I have found the lectures more than obliging when it comes to help inside and outside of the classroom, whenever necessary. There have even been whispering of a yoga class with the skilled tutilage of a fellow classmate, "the first one is for free". Great way to stir up some interest.
Last night i attended this years first meeting of the olympic weightlifting club, a talk from a former irish, european and world champion weightlifter, with tips and instruction throughout. A true gentleman, he led the session by example and it was a pleasure to see and hear such experience face to face.
Here's hoping for continuing comfort and procession through the college year.

Deathproof....

You need to be either mad or made of steel to cycle to CIT!
In one week I have had many near death experiences. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I am a careless cyclist, in fact I am the opposite, I go super-slow instead of zipping in and out of lanes like some of the other cyclists out there and I also wear safety gear from head to toe!!
My first brush with death was the scariest..a big black Mercedes pulled across a junction in front of me and I nearly ended up going over the bonnet of the car, THEN this morning I'm pretty sure a young man tried to push me into the curb, my pedal was scrapping off the pavement as I tried to cycle past the car.
I have no idea why they put a cycle lane for 100m to 200m and then stop it...it seems a tad pointless to me, and even when there is a cycle lane a lot of cars (well their drivers really) still pull in to them so that the wing mirror will be in the way of us poor cyclists.
Although I don't think that these incidents are just happening to me. I have seem lots of cars dangerously swapping lanes and nearly causing accidents. I think going anywhere at rush hour is just a matter of taking your life in your hands.
Nevertheless I will persevere because I love my bike (her name is Cindy and she is very pretty), it's good for my health (http://www.whycycle.co.uk/why_cycle/) and I get to 
college in 15 minutes.

Enjoying a great start to a great course.

One enjoyable and interesting week down, many more to come. Getting to know my class-mates aswell as the getting a deeper understanding of the course content has been an uplifting experience for me and given me a confidence in my chosen subject, that it will fullfill my expectations.
CIT itself runs quite smooth with a large and indept content thaught in an efficient and easy to follow manner, the teachers are eager to help us understand the content and give extra attention to a student if needed.
The canteen, gym and library are great facilitys, all other requierments are catered for in CIT, which gives a comforting feeling while studying here.

Getting into the swing of things

Following our fun in the sun Clonakilty(now home to my one and only copy of our timetable) its time to get down to the nitty gritty and the teeny tiny.
Late today, the irish bus service has held influence over my timekeeping once again, and dare i say it, not for the last time. It doesn't take 30 minutes to get from Patrick st. to dear Rossa Avenue, it takes one Irish Bus Time Unit or IBTU.Based loosely on the idea of a timetable, one IBTU in practice bears no resemblance to that of a system governed by minutes and hours. But i digress.
Our chemistry lecture has shot into action, essentially ripping asunder our views on space and physical structure. We are mostly space not substance. As a cannon ball through a wall can cause no damage, i become less angry at those busses.
especially when i saw this :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPlEj2cBats

Flower Power Wednesday!

After two manic days filled with scary subjects and words I don’t understand (like Cation... sounds like a robot kitty), we finally made it to botany, and the subject I was most looking forward to by far. Although I had an early start (Nobody should have to be up before 6 o’clock it’s not natural) I had high hopes for my day in Clonakilty.

It was a slow start it has to be said but we soon met with our botany teacher. Although he didn’t look like what I had imagined (which was of course the stereotypical hippy wearing a daisy chain and no shoes) he immediately made me feel comfortable and interested in the semesters work. After a slightly over whelming lecture we finished off the day with a quick look at some lichen and moss. I can tell I’ll definitely enjoy flower power Wednesdays.

Day Two (best said in the accent of the notorius Big Brother voice)

Early start..still trying to get used to these after a leisurely summer...first classes were Anatomy and Physiology which are both a bit daunting but the teachers are very nice and I am hopeful that it will all come together as the year progresses and I'm sure they will help if I get stuck.
Had a bit of an explore around the college during our 2 hour break and ate my first meal in the canteen...not so bad I have to say! I sat and talked with some of the other girls who are starting this Herbal Science adventure with me. Everyone has a different background and different reasons for starting the course so I find it very interesting to listen to everyone's stories.
At 2pm we had a orientation of the college with the Student Leaders (who get paid 12 bucks an hour...nice job!)  It was very informative and I did find out where a lot of stuff was that I hadn't previously seen, including the very fancy auditorium..I would happily watch a movie or two in there so I may join
the movie society next week to avail of that option.
At the end of the orientation we got free tea and coffee and a choccy bicky and soon after I legged it before we had to listen to the DJ play the chicken dance and make people dance on the tables...I feel that as a Mature Student I surely get away with not partaking in these antics..no?
Looking forward to Botany in Clonakilty tomorrow.