Maja (ESR1) did her secondment from 30/04/18 to 18/05/18. She left Dijon in France to Cork in Ireland.

Doing a secondment at UCC in Cork, Ireland, was very instructive in regards to laboratory techniques and skills. Experiencing how things work and are done in a different lab in a different country is always interesting and puts everything into perspective.
The main experiment during my secondment included working with murine cells, something completely new to me, and very exciting. I can now add these new skills to my resume as I have expanded my reservoir of knowledge and practical techniques to extend beyond the small scope of microbiology. Furthermore, I have once again worked with RNA, origin from a difficult environment, making me more of an expert in the field of extracting RNA.
On a more personal level, living in Ireland for only a short time, was the first time I really experienced a cultural shock. As they were in the middle of a vote on the rights to abortion, I realized the differences that could exist between countries even within the EU. Despite this, my experience is that the Irish is a very talkative and pleasant people. Furthermore, the Irish nature is quite beautiful, with the rain a part of its charm. I especially enjoyed the Old Library of Trinity College Dublin, which is an impressive old library.

 

 

 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska Curie grant agreement n° 641984