So I was at the RCSI open day this morning as the title will suggest:) Although I will probably be biased as I haven’t been to any other open day I will be very honest! I thought it was a great day,there were quite a few people, considering the road conditions, around 500+ I’d say…It ran from 10am to 2pm. We were brought into a lecture theater and were spoken to by RCSI staff, present and past students of school of med, pharmacy and physiotherapy. The admissions office also spoke to us about the HPAT, general admissions to the college, the point system and the random selection process..we were then brought up to an exhibition upstairs that included workshops and info on different subjects in RCSI. These included; biology, pharmacy,GP,pathology,anatomy and much much more, lecturers and staff members were there on hand as were pupils to answer any questions we had. We then returned to the lecture theatre to get more talks and a junior doctor’s perspective and also an idea of his time in RCSI.

Overall I thought the day lived up to my expectations. I thought the lectures were really well done, kept us interested whilst at the same time informed, the students’ attitudes were just brilliant, they were probably the NICEST people I will ever have met, they were so enthusiastic about the school and remained realistic about the whole experience, outlining the pros and cons, these students really put it into perspective,a lot of them first did different courses and then decided on medicine, their opinions really gave me at least, an insight into what the school really has done for them…I’ll always remember those students if nothing else, they were just…it’s like unnatural how nice they were!!! ha:) A 6th year med student and 4th year med student highlighted the different clubs and societies the school offers, wow…there’s such a variety of crazy, funny and basically any and everything known to man…there’s clubs for it…the latest: The friendship club, the gourmet food club and much more, RCSI is competitive in sports too, having a current student represent Ireland in the winter Olympics is something alright!

Something everyone seemed to mention was the fact that the school was very inter-cultural (and extremely proud of it),as in they have students from all over the world, the 6th year med student stating that he was of Indian descent, from Austria and spoke french,another student was from Finland and said that approx 19% of students are not from Ireland..one student commented “You see? You’re all white!!” his fellow classmate replied “Uhhh yeah, were in the minority guys…but that’s the beauty of it..” There was defo a lot of positive energy in the room.The junior doctor’s talk was really informative, gave us a realistic idea of his actual job, he strongly said that it’s nothing like Grey’s Anatomy or ER (some ppl seriously think you get to work with amazingly handsome(P.Dempsey *cough*) doctors whilst keeping interesting relationships with different people etc, etc, he works on average 65-100 hours/week. The students actually continued to commend their teachers, saying they are the best in Europe and they are insanely talented and in general very nice:) I also loved how the school was quite small,apparantly everyone knows each other and its really tight unlike a campus in UCD/TCD etc, that stood out to me i think:)

I was sitting in the theatre with 500 other people wanting the same thing as me, we all thought the same! So as you can prob guess, man were we motivated, hearing people next to me whisper to their neighbours “I’m gonna go home and study now”, “year right” were the replies..it  felt as though i was thinking aloud..over 3000 people apply for med every year, less than 40 places are available for undergrads in RCSI and its random selection…so,like I usually do, I got really nervous and started predicting the future, “omg I’ll have to repeat..how am I gonna get in…seriously though..me? I don’t study! ahh God!!!!”, I gave up though, there was no point having such a negative attitude, I can only do my best right?

We then got a tour of the college, I loved the little community-like facilities and lounge rooms, but my favourite part was the anatomy room…omg…the smell of formaldehyde was just unreal! Bodies were covered in thick white plastic and laid out in a linear pattern on metal tables, there was over 30 bodies I think….just being there was so cool..ha..i get amused way to easily:(

Anyway, I thought the day was great, I really recommend going next year if you want to do any of the following: RC001 Medicine,RC101 Graduate Medicine,RC004 Physiotherapy,RC005 Pharmacy..They like to have an idea of numbers so around about September 14th 2011 make sure to get a ticket (just check out their website and follow links). I’m more than 100% sure this is the college for me and its #1 on my CAO right now..if anything I’m motivated to study more, really am:) Hope i haven’t bored you to death at this stage, if you couldn’t make it iIhope you got an idea of how it went down, most people enjoyed it too, not only was the school of medicine well presented the other school of Physio and Pharmacy were also well introduced.

It was funny,we were eating lunch in St. Stephen’s green shopping centre and I was telling my mum about the day, she got really enthusiastic! Ha, it was funny, I was just like “Hmm,yeah pathology and forensics seemed really interesting, but then again, Dr. Hugh didn’t like it, now he’s in Psych now!”, she replied by going into detail how pathology is lab based and kind of boring if you prefer more interactions with patients and then started talking about how she loved doing the forensics module and seeing if it was animal/human blood, which way the knife went in of how the bullet cracked this and that…it went on for a while and I just sat there, listening, eating my soup and brown bread, nodded every now and then, looked up too actually…she was just so happy, so I let her proceed, recalling her time in the good ole days. Good stuff:)

Anyways, Bonne chance for now, I shall and will see you all soon =)

Omg. I don’t know what happened but once I saw the timetable I got really excited haha.

Maybe it’s because I’ve 4 days study before my evil Spanish exam .

I’ve the last of my christmas tests tomorrow, spanish and english.

Spanish is going to have an opinion piece, dialogue and comprehensions. I’m really not very into that language, but I’m learning off useful vocabulary so fingers crossed it comes in…useful!

English is just King Lear and a Vision and Viewpoint Question. A lot of people don’t seem to like Vision and Viewpoint, I don’t mind it, it’s more Cultural Context I can’t do.

Economics, Biology and History today and oh dear god. I studied 3 essays for history, hoping to god Spain came up as an essay instead of France. But no, French wars of religion was an essay, and not even the bit of the French Wars that I understood. The end of them, I haven’t the faintiest why they ended, but in the words of this leaving cert student: “The main figure heads for the Huguenot religion and Catholicism died. And the country was not in the finanical state to continue the wars,”

…attempt marks there somewhere…please? lol. Biology went much better, my crazy studying at 5 this morning must have helped. Ditto with Economics but I drew the wrong curve…hopefully I won’t lose too many marks cos I studied so hard over the weekend.

Anyways, I was only posting because I haven’t done so in so long. I’m about to go off and learn my opening paragraph for the Vision and Viewpoint question I’m doing tomorrow.

Love from

Aims

xxx (Merry Xmas to everyone if I don’t post again until after )

Hey guys!

I can’t actually remember the last time I blogged. I’m terrible! I’ve become so lazy these days…I’m barely making it into school! But that’s been put a stop to since…..THE XMAS REPORT. I wasn’t really planning on letting my parents see it but they insisted that I give it to them. I always hated school reports. There’s always some comment or result I figure is safer not to let them see. But the results weren’t too bad…English 68, French 60, Biology 75, History 70, Business 86…fairly alright results for me but do you think the teachers could leave it at that…hmmm….no!

There had to be remarks about my high absenteeism from school. I had my father convinced that I didn’t actually have to go to school the full week and only really had to go for three days tops. Everyone was happy out with this arrangement..especially me! But now it’s been ruined. The teachers couldn’t just write good result or whatever, they had to point out the bad also. Is it really only me that understands that I can work far better at my own pace at home with my kettle at hand?? Now, my father is insisting that I go in…Everyday! That’d be fine except…I have 25 free classes a week! I don’t want to spend all that time sitting in a cold hall. And I get so much done at home….I really want to quit school…..

But on the plus side Joe won the X Factor!! He is actually sex on legs! Though my friend thinks he possibly bats for the other side…not my opinion though…himself and Mrs. Cole have deffo got something going on! And The Apprentice Final is on tonight….bets to whos gonna win?? Steve Rayner ftw!!

So, asides from the whole ‘I have to go to school thing’, Life is good!  Btw, does anyone know where I can watch Il Postino on the ‘net??

They watched it in English but….I wasn’t in….ok, maybe they do have a point….I also do have a lot of homework to catch up on….Oh shit!Gotta go!

Hey hey!!

It’s midterm!!! Wish I could be as excited about it as everyone else is but it’s not happening! I’ve spent the majority of my bank holiday weekend trying to figure out WTF I am oing to do for my history research topic (How cool am I??). But yeah, I still have no clue. Last year, I did the Magdalene Laundries..I got it done so fast and I was delighted with it. And then this year, I find out I can’t use it again! I have to say that that’s a pretty stupid rule. I’ve already done the project so why can’t I submit it again, it’s still MY work, no difference really.

I suppose though, that would be making things too simple! I’ve got a good bit of study planned for this week. My main focus is history and Biology. I am so determined to get them from D3s to B2s. Oh, and of course King Lear….I really don’t get that play. Nothing happens in it. The daughters are bitches, Lear is a senile old git, Edmund is a socio path and Kent is most likely gay…where’s the plot Shakespeare?

Is anyone else watching The Apprentice?? My mother got me into it and it’s actually quite good. That Bill Cullen guy is class, he makes everyone feel like crap. Well, that’s the craic people. Not a lot I know but what can you do!

Happy Halloween!