Sunday 2 October 2016

Review: September 2016

Hey guys! September has been pretty busy, mostly with talks, my antibiotic resistance project, scholarships and starting college.

1. Did a photoshoot as a speaker for TY Expo. 

Image result for elle loughran ty expo

2. Was officially announced as a speaker for TEDxDrogheda.

3. Finished the excellent (and heartbreaking) Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. 

4. It was confirmed that I'd be representing CTYI and Ireland in Budapest in late October for a meeting of the European Council of High Ability. Big thanks to both for sponsoring my trip!

Also, the accommodation I'd had planned for a year fell through at the last second (SCREAM).

5. Looked at a place to rent. Turned out they didn't want first years, the deposit was €600 (3 months rent) and they wanted me to recruit someone else to rent as well to get the room so ... no thanks. At this time all I had was my SUSI grant money of €330 a month so. 

8. Received a phone call around 9 pm informing me that I'd won the Naughton Scholarship for Co. Louth! Screamed a lot as soon as I got off the phone. It was such a relief and an honour. Now I could look to rent non-shared rooms in Dublin, like bloody royalty. 

9. Tested 70 kids on antibiotic resistance to see how much they knew in case I had to make adjustments to my presentation to reach them at their level.

10. Viewed a room in digs in Skerries. It was beautiful and one of the final two I chose between, though I did end up going with the other one in Citywest.

11. Viewed aforementioned room in Citywest. 

12. Hung out with Ben, who helped me get through my mountains of work instead of just stressing out over it. Ben is great, be like Ben. Corrected 70 tests on antibiotic resistance with his help.

Also, in a weird turn of events, clicked on a Tweet by the British Science Association because they're cool, and saw a picture of me speaking being used as the background for the event?! Weird seeing my face pop up around the place lately. The event was to inspire girls into STEM.





13. Spoke at TY Expo about how to make the most of TY. Pretty cool. Hung out with Catrina. Taxis are nice and so much less stressful than public transport. Also, my first paid speaking gig (although others have had expenses paid). And I know, great face I'm making there.



14. Taught two 6th class groups about antibiotic resistance, tested both groups.

Also, was told that I'd been selected for the Emerging Talent Fund and would be attending Think Digital conference Manchester in mid-October. Yay!

15. Taught a 5th class group about antibiotic resistance, gave test. Finalised my TEDx talk The curious path to opportunity and practised it. 

16. TEDxDrogheda rehearsal.

17. Spoke at TEDxDrogheda! Was a fantastic experience, I've blogged about it here.



18. Moved out of the family home and up to my family home 2.0, aka my friend Alice's house, for a week before moving into digs.

19. Started college in Trinity! Attended orientation things and joined lots of societies including SciSoc, Physoc, Mathsoc, Q Soc, The Hist (for Prof Brian Cox), Lawsoc (Buzz Aldrin is visiting!) and probably a few others. Went to Q Soc's film screening on the first night.

20-23. The remainder of Fresher's Week. Attended more orientation things, and went to some events including a Mathsoc mixer and a Mathsoc talk and wow, lots of Mathsoc. Also stuff by The Hist and Lawsoc. 

24. Naughton Scholarship Awards ceremony! This was a really great afternoon, I've blogged about it here.


25. Moved out of Alice's and into my digs for the year. I really like the freedom of being moved out. And having to pay rent as a substitute for doing chores is fine by me.

26. Started my first week of actual lectures in college. My timetable turned out to be pretty intense (damn science) but I have most of Friday off, which is nice. The lectures are challenging but my friends in the course and I work through them, it's pretty cool.

27. Lectures, and then went with William to PolSoc & SOFIA's screening of the first Clinton-Trump debate. She absolutely demolished him, it was a very fun watch.

28. Lectures.

29. Lectures, then studying in the library with Grainne, then went to PhySoc's Quiz which was great fun. I wanted to run for 1st Year Rep to the PhySoc Committee so when we were told to give an impromptu speech about why we should be elected I gave it my best shot and I was indeed elected! That was awesome. First meeting is tomorrow, October 3rd, and I'm excited. 

30. Lectures, then hung out with William in the city centre, then visited Ben.

Busy month! Fun though.


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