Oct
4
My first entrance exam in Law!
Filed Under Daily
I had an exam yesterday and it was not too bad. I fully answered the case part and I think I did very good understanding the case and analyzing it. The other part about general knowledge was not good but I can easily fix that in the future. Law is not hard. It is about understanding the rules and applying them to your specific case. A good lawyer will try to interpret the words from the past and applying them to his case for the better. I do not know if I like law yet, it seems rather boring at first but the more you learn about law, the more you know and maybe with time I can be a good patent attorney. I think it is a good, stable job for the future…We shall see!
I have another Hike tomorrow. The weather seems correct.
Oct
3
10000 Euros to change my life!
Filed Under Daily
After two weeks and half in Manchester I can say I am fully installed, a quick financial summary:
1. 9 Months tuition: 3390 GBP
2. 40 weeks housing fee: 4110 GBP
3. 12 Months Swim membership: 120 GBP
4. Hiking: 150 GBP
Total: 7770 GBP (9950 Euros)
I have not estimated my food and other extra activities (cinema, restaurant, social events, etc…). I would like to buy either the new Nikon D700 or a laptop. With two expensive cameras, I will need to sell the Nikon D200. Maybe I should wait until I get a job because so far no other camera can seriously beat the Nikon D200. Normally with these calculations, everything falls into my previous estimations and I do not need a part time job. The Home/UK tuition fee did help a lot and also the underestimation of my Australian Supperannuation gave me a better margin even!
ALL IS GOOD!
Oct
1
An Expensive Call!
Filed Under Daily
I was so worried about this supperannuation cheque that was supposed to be posted to my Irish address a month ago that I called Unisuper this morning. The cheque was sent to an Australian bank that was supposed to convert it into Euro. Because of the international turbulence, it took a bit longer. I am happy because I could at the same time update my information. I am hoping the conversion is in my favor but I seriously doubt about it. AUD dollar follows the same trend as US dollar which is inverse to the Euro.
In the end: 18 GBP for a long distance call. What is also sad is that I no longer need Euros :(. It will have to stay in my french ING bank then.
Sep
30
The Spleen!
Filed Under Daily
After the first week of discovery and adaptation, I go then into a boring relaxing phase and then right after that I endure what I call the Spleen. The Spleen is this feeling of nostalgia and sadness induced by the regrets of things I was used to and left behind, in this case, Dublin. I was used to my comfortable high tech pool, the swimmers there who knew me and who would always say something, and also my ex-flatmates. Here I am nobody, everybody is so cold and so rude. They behave like barbarians. I do not enjoy their company. I felt the same thing every time.
Well, I do not want to move anymore, I am very very tired. I want life to be easier. I do not want a new Spleen anymore!
Sep
29
Physically Tired!
Filed Under Daily
Of course I am paying the price for 2 long days hiking! My legs are really sore. I have not used them like this for a while. It is a good exercise and even though I am tired I am feeling relaxed and happy.
It seems that my superannuation fund has sent the cheque on August the 29th, that is what they said but it has not arrived yet so I am a bit worried. Nobody can endorse it. The only thing is it will add some delays and I rather have the money sit nicely in my ING bank. I underestimated the amount of money by almost 5k AUD so I will be extremely happy when it will be here.
I have received another email from my Australian boss. I know it is not really him asking but the other post-doc. I do not mind explaining what was wrong. I knew the second email would come because of the nature of the question. *sigh* The postdoc is still looking for a “trick”. There is sadly no easy way and of course no hidden “trick”.
This morning I had a good lecture given by a true professor. Very kind and very nice! Funny but many lectures in Law are given by people who are not academic professors but lawyers meaning they do not even have a Phd. They are indeed less ranked then myself in academia. So they only have a Mister or Miss in front of their name.
Sep
28
I went Hiking with a group of students in Manchester. Keswick on Saturday was really nice and I had lots of fun, Snowdon on Sunday was quite impressive but quite boring. The pictures are great though and I am loving more and more my Nikon D200. Photography was a good way to socialize also, taking others’ pictures and making them feel important. Nowadays, all I am looking for is the perfect exposure and I can make everyone look like a top model. Most people on my pictures are quite ordinary but they do look much better through my lens. I need someone who can handle my Nikon d200 without shaking. Many of my own pictures are bad because of that newbie shaking :(!
Sep
26
My first bad lecture!
Filed Under Daily
It’s very easy to spot a bad lecturer with few signs:
1. Very little on board notes and ugly schemes
2. Continuous reading of his own simplistic notes
3. Continuous Bullshits with very stupid analogies
4. Lots of acting and stupid jokes
These signs are very revealing of a bad lecturer. All the poor kids in the theater thought they were dealing with a great mind, all I saw was a lecturer who just threw quick last minute concepts he picked up on the board. Since I left the science area, I have lost all faith in lecturers. A very good teacher once told me something that is very true and I have not so far witnessed a counter example. He said that the best lecturers are the most boring ones. The best teachers I have ever had are french ones. They are so well prepared that they just write on the board continuous lines of knowledge. All I really want out of this course is the diploma and the job because society is based on these rules so I play by them.
Anyway I met Raffiq, Amaryllis, Kat, Andrea, Jayendra and Mike. I was very lonely in Dublin and I enjoy having contact with people again. I think these people are nice and it would be good to hang out with them.
Sep
25
Life is really boring!
Filed Under Daily
After a week of discovery and acclimation to Manchester, I am again bored. Everything is over and I am enduring the afterward effect of high level adrenaline. The relaxation time is dead boring!
I had a surprise this morning, my boss from Australia wrote to me and asked for some forcefield parameters. The postdoc who was supposed to take over is still struggling with the system. I doubt he will ever go far because he is not a computational chemist. I, of course, sent him all the documentation and my own personnal notes because my ex-Australian boss was extremely nice to me when I was there. He was the only person I could work with in peace. He knew the political game in academia very well but he also recognised my hard work. I almost wanted to propose him to pay me part time so that I can continue working for him while doing my IP course here in Manchester. That would be cool! I never wrote back to anyone there, in my old australian lab. I never looked back and I never regretted anything. I am sure someday I will pay for my pretention but, at this time of my life, my past has always given me pain. I prefer to ignore it and look for hope in the future.
Sep
23
Bed time most of the day to make the cold go away! I cut myself deeply yesterday with my new knife. My left thumb lost a big chunk of my own skin. The swim is better now that got used to the pool. Only 4 days of swimming per week though…O well that should be enough!
I need to check my bank account to see if the money has been transferred to pay the tuition and the room. I cannot get my student swipe card as long as the financial part is not solved.
Sep
22
Phone SIM card
Filed Under Daily
Because of the existing competition between phone providers, every time you get a new SIM card, you pay 10 GPB for it and you get 10 GBP extra as reward. If I keep on changing provider every time I am done with my units with one company, I can get another cheap SIM card from another one. I am thinking about doing it. The only inconvenience is my number that will change.
I bought some Strepsils for my cold. It was a very relaxing weekend. No Sport at all. My body was completely broken due to the luggage carrying and the viruses. I am also glad I have a very clear schedule for next week. Nothing important but at least I know what to do.
Postgrads here can be of any age. It is quite nice. I do not look old for my age and I fit in easily.
« go back — keep looking »