Through the eyes of a geologist

Since university has finished, I've had a much needed rest. I no longer blog for the department and so I thought it would be a good time to bring this blog back to life! I'm not the most creative of people, but I'm trying! It's 2:30pm, I'm in my dressing gown, and it may have taken me a few hours longer than what I wanted to, but I've finally found a background to my blog I'm in love with. I came across the image on flickr and decided to tile it. It's more than meets the eye and that's what I love. It's from the talented Linden Tea . It's a thin section kaleidoscope! When you first click on the blog, like me, you don't quite understand the background and what relevance it has. But dig a little deeper, and you appreciate it much more - it is the very basis of geology, a slice of a rock! I had a gander through Google, and was surprised to find how easy it was to make such an image. There's many app's to try! I might post a few o

I hope everyone is enjoying the sun, and those of you who attended the Summer Social Weekender have fully recovered. This weekend, was our last ever Shabang as Leicester undergraduates. It’s sad to be leaving but it’s exciting to be moving towards the next chapter of our lives. Since finishing our Masters project presentation, we have continually reminisced over our time together. Remembering back to the time in Freshers when I first met people on my course who I now call my best friends. It’s been a phenomenal experience and the best decision of my life so far. 4th year MGeol students The graduation attire has been ordered and my next job is to find the perfect shoes! It’s strange waking up in the morning and realising you have no work to do and your biggest challenge of the day is browsing websites for shoes. I’ve been advised by many to take a well deserved rest over summer before the hard work that accompanies a PhD begins! I’m enjoying catching up on Netflix (who

The idea of undertaking a PhD application never sounded too scary. I had been toying with the idea for six months or so… A PhD or straight into industry? For me the deciding moment happened when I presented my ongoing MGeol Masters Research Project at MDSG (Mineral Deposits Study Group) back in January this year. Since the majority of NERC DTP application deadlines were January, it was quite a late confirmation. Attending the conference made me realise just how much I’m enjoying my project and the prospect of continuing in research is really exciting! Providing I found the right project, I’d love every minute of it. For me, the best website was FindaPhD.com – it had all the information you needed in one place. There were hundreds of projects to choose from which really allowed you to consider the vast range of topics. I was very keen to find a project that was fully funded, either privately or through NERC DTPs. What’s a NERC DTP I hear you ask? NERC (Natural Environment R

Fourth-years are beginning to reach the final hurdle of their undergraduate degree. Some are nearing completion of their Masters Research Projects, whilst the majority (me included) run around like headless chickens trying to complete a to-do list that seems to have no finish. I’m going to share with you a normal day of data collection. This insight is aimed at early geology undergraduates as well as outsiders. Hopefully, everything explained in this post is as if you’ve never had the pleasure of SEM analysis! But let me know if you have questions. Lab facilities tend to be fully booked as other students begin to realise the deadline is looming and panic begins to set in. So when your designated lab day finally comes around, it really is precious. You need to set yourself deadlines otherwise you might run out of time and have to wait another three weeks until you can re-visit a sample. One facility many of us having been using for our Masters Research Project is the SEM. T

Since joining LinkedIn a few years ago, I have been inundated with regular emails tempting me to join LinkedIn Premium. I read the first email where it looked tempting and then I looked at the price, and ever since, sent it straight to my deleted folder. However, since graduation is looming, it has made me think: will I ever find my perfect job? As a geology student, one thing that I have always found difficult is finding companies that I could potentially pester about an internship or a job. There are many jobs available, but they are so difficult to find since many jobs are filled internally, I can’t imagine many students ever come across them on the internet. I’ve had many rejections in the past, offering my spare hands freely, to shadow and gain what it really is like to be a geologist in industry. I remember phoning a company in my home town, to be told I couldn’t work shadow someone since I had no family members working for the firm. Sometimes it really is who you know a

Hello 2016! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. Mine was the usual, but still great to spend so much time with family, eating, catching up with Netflix favourites and watching awful tele, but that’s what Christmas is about right? Now that the New Year has arrived, and so have exams, for the first time ever (!) I’ve had a Christmas break which actually consisted of a break! Lucky me, I have no exams this January (sorry, but not sorry). Having a week or so off from studying, was surprisingly really hard to switch off. I’m always on the go, with a constant growing to-do list. My 2016 has started off pretty good. I attended the  MDSG  (Mineral Deposits Study Group) Winter Conference held at the  University College Dublin , where five friends and myself were lucky enough to present our MGeol research projects to fellow students, academics and industry professionals. The Monday to Wednesday was jam-packed with talks and coffee, occasionally some cheese and wine! Since w