27th September 2012 - My first week in college

I survived my first week in college and so far I really enjoy it. The class is very mixed, with about 40 people. We are about 8 or 9 girls, the rest is blokes - and most seem to be married. Such a pity, some of them are really nice and good looking. And they have the right age. But, well, will keep searching :-). But at least I am meeting some new people, everyone with their own personal background. I found out that is has become easier to talk to people - at least I find it easier.

Our first lecture didn't take place. The lecturer is external and messed up on the weeks. According to another lecturer Trinity only recently changed the timetable. It used to be eight weeks before Christmas which puts the start date to the middle of October. Now we have eleven weeks before Christmas which gives us a better change to get through the curriculum.

On Wednesday we had our first lecture in Visual Basic, using Visual Studio 2010. We were asked to download the Express application from the Microsoft webpage which I still have to do. Hope to be able to do that tomorrow or sometime during the weekend. We received a lecture on the basics and went to the computer lab afterwards. I really enjoyed the lecture and was able to do some basic programming by creating a form with buttons and some basic commands. It's a pity everybody in work is telling me that it would be better if we were taught C# (Sharp) instead. I decided to ignore their words because I like VB - at the moment. I seem to be a person that thinks she can conquer the world of programming after only one lecture.

I worked up my notes after the class on my netbook while going home on the train and I loved it. Got everything done by the time I reached Skerries. This morning I converted my notes into PDF and put them on my MicroSD for my tablet. And again, I love it and it's working perfectly!

Tonight we had the first lecture on Web Design and Development. The speaker is very good and easy to listen to, despite the fact that it took him ages to get the technology working - not his fault though and he knows the IT Crowd series. He had a lot of stories to tell that somehow always had something to do with his class - either web-related or a principle demonstrated with a real life experience. I found that very good. He also handed out his keynotes which he gave as a PowerPoint presentation. Saves me the writing! He also loves our online blackboard. It gets us into using it too, I figure.
Afterwards we got a task that we needed to solve in groups, looking for "gatherer" and "hunter" groups that are not addressed by either Google or Ryanair. It really got our brains working and we ended up finishing as the last group. We have the slight feeling that we put too much thought into it, in instead of coming up with ideas.

Once I am home and have the time I need to complete a brain test which will determine the dominant side of our brain. Really curious about that now. Have no idea what I am, only assuming I have a good balance between them with the analytical side (apparently left) and my creative side (which is supposed to be the right side of the brain). I then have to submit the result to my lecturer and according to the results we will be put into a group consisting of two people - to make sure both the artistic and the analytical criteria are met for the design work. Will post the results here too.
A colleague is retiring tomorrow and we are having a celebration in the office with cake and a speech. After work, we will go out for a few drinks.

Hope to be in Skerries soon. I am exhausted. But at least my cold is almost gone. Hate being sick.