Oh dear. It’s February. Somebody, please, tell me where all that time has gone?!

Maybe it was the myriad of exams, assignments, and group projects that kept me off the radar for a while, but I feel awake again. An embarrassingly large amount of time has gone by since my last blog post, so it’s time for an update. I’m not going to lie - Ireland’s excruciating 6 Nations defeat at the hands of Wales (a bitter reminder of our World Cup woes) made all the more painful by the hoards of Welsh fans at my local pub (it’s Welsh – should’ve seen it coming), crippled my spirits over the weekend. I did, however, have a bucketload of fun in the snow that we had on Saturday night – I’ll tack on a picture of our “Aislinn-sized” snowman once I’ve robbed it off my housemate’s camera.

Tommy Bowe with a moment of triumph, but victory was not meant to be.

So we’re about halfway through the year now, and with a few exams safely under my belt, it’s time to start thinking about what to do over the summer. My plans are still a bit vague, but these are my general thoughts at the moment:

Last year, I took part in a three-week paid teaching programme called the Student Associate Scheme, run by Exscitec (who have links with Imperial). I was an assistant teacher in a secondary school in London for GCSE science and maths, and it was a really great experience – I got to try my hand at teaching and spend my weekends visiting friends in the English countryside. I’m not the type to do the same thing every year but if anyone is interested in Exscitec’s programmes, check it out here: http://www.exscitec.com/schemes/index.asp.

Before the Christmas holidays I registered my interest in the IAESTE scheme, the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience. My dad, ever the over-enthusiastic academic, told me about it – he got an internship through IASETE back in the days of Fleetwood Mac and and excessive sideburn culture.  It’s an international company that organises work placements for university students overseas. It works on an exchange basis – the IAESTE division in the UK raises placements here to offer in exchange for placements in other IAESTE countries. Unfortunately, you can’t apply for any of the interships unless you’ve registered interest, but applications will be opening up again in October for those of you thinking about work for 2013. Check out more info here at the UK-based website: http://www.iaeste.org.uk/index.html.

Another possibility, especially for those local to London or anyone who can’t enough of the Bigger Smoke (the Big Smoke being Dublin, sorry, old habits die hard!), is UROP, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme. It’s a placement scheme right here at Imperial aimed at the research-inclined. Info here: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/urop.

Finally, a page for laughs – find out what Imperial is like here: http://www.facebook.com/ImperialMemes. Absolute gold.