Just the past two weeks I feel I have accomplished so much. Last week I was given the chance to attend and observe animal surgeries, which I was quite apprehensive about beforehand. Thankfully, I found the experience to be very interesting and I was also told I was great because I did not feel faint or get queasy! It was a chance to see another puzzle piece of Genzyme that fits together to create the whole picture.

One not so enjoyable experience that Susie and Orla and myself had at the weekend was our whale watching trip. Saturday had been a horrible day, raining the whole time so we spent out time indoors, instead of going to the beach as previously planned. Sunday however, was the total opposite it was warm and sunny all day. So when we went to get our boat for the sunset whale watching cruise we imagined we would have the amazing trip that everybody had raved about. Unfortunately it was not…the journey out, which was about 1hr 20mins was so rough the boat was going up and down the entire time so we spent most of the time sat outside concentrating on the horizon to try and settle our stomachs. As we neared the area to find the whales we seemed to be sailing into thicker and colder fog, which just descended from nowhere. We circled around for about half an hour before they thankfully decided to turn back with the disappointment of not seeing anything. I was however, just happy to be heading back knowing that we were getting closer and closer to the land. It is quite a funny story now we look back, but at the time…it was definitely not enjoyable. We were given vouchers to go again, which I want to do, so I suppose it can’t have been so bad.

On Wednesday I had a presentation meeting with my supervisor, Li-Ping, department manager, Tom and Jeff who is also working on the project. It was my chance to give a full account of the work I have done the past 7 weeks and the results that I have obtained in order to figure out the direction for the project now. The experience was not a daunting as I had imagined it to be and they all seemed impressed with the work I have done. The results were not as we expected them to turn out and so there are now other areas that need to be investigated, but as Jeff told me…that’s life. Nothing happens the way you want it to, otherwise life would be boring and even though you may not be able to find a way around the issue to start with, just as long as you keep trying you will find the answer.

I feel that this is a very accurate description of how we live our lives. The only way to get anywhere in life is to be able to face your challenges and overcome them. And I feel that this is something that the Saltire Foundation has given us, the challenge of being placed in a foreign country, working for a very well established company, such as Genzyme, for 8 weeks. I have managed to overcome many hurdles and gained a sense of achievement throughout this placement, which I feel has made me a stronger and more readily prepared person for whatever the future holds.