Where's Holly?

I’ve been getting it in the neck from my family as to why I’ve not been keeping up with this blog and, to be honest, I don’t really know why I never kept up posting after coming back to Scotland. So, lets get back into the swing of things and start writing about what I’ve been getting up to – there’s no time like the present (and I am bored revising for exams…).

Upon returning home from Japan, I had just under two weeks to relax and get over my jet-lag before going back to university for the fourth year of my physics degree. During Freshers’ Week, I popped over to Glasgow one evening for a gathering of all the SaltireFoundation interns. It was really nice to swap stories with everyone.

This year, I signed up for evening classes in Japanese (I’ve just finished the first semester’s worth) as I really hope to go back to Japan one day soon, and having a better grasp of the language would certainly help!

Starting in the final week of September, I have been flying down to London to attend bi-monthly meetings as a member of the Science For Careers Expert Group. We meet to discuss the future of education, careers advice and careers available in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and then pass our results/findings onto Lord Mandelson for government to act on accordingly. The group (which is chaired by Diana Garnham and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) wrote a draft report on what we’d been getting up to at the end of December. I’ve got another meeting in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to hear how well it went down…

In November, I almost went to Paris for an Intel ISEF affiliated event but, unfortunately, the week before I was due to go, Intel got fined in excess of £1 billion, which meant they couldn’t afford to send me. Boo hoo. Hopefully I might get to go next year if they aren’t too poor.

I spent most of December filling in ridiculous numbers of application forms and updating my CV to try to bag myself an internship for summer 2010. Currently, I’ve applied for two completely different fields:

1) Particle Physics Research
I thought I’d try my hand at applying to CERN and Fermilab again this year, in the hope that they might say yes if I keep pestering them. On the other hand, if they keep saying no, I’ll take the hint…

2) Finance
I undertook the mammoth task of completing the online application forms for analyst (sales and trading with maybe a bit of structuring thrown in) positions with RBS, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan at their London or New York offices. I’ve got my assessment centre for RBS in London at the end of the month, so wish me luck! After speaking to the careers advisor in St Andrews, I also had my CV passed on to the London office of Promontory Finance, with the aim of working in Risk Management. I heard back from them this morning and, quite amazingly, they have offered me a summer internship! I’ve made plans to go to their office and say ‘hi’ whilst I’m down in London to find out what exactly working with them would entail.

In between all this gallivanting, I have, of course, been studying and trying to end up with a physics degree. I’ve just finished my first semester of fourth year classes (scary stuff, I know…) and am in the middle of revising for my exams that are on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. This semester hasn’t been as enjoyable as previous years’, and I can’t quite put my finger on why… It could be that it was a bit of a come-down getting back to studying after being in Tokyo, or the fact that the labs aren’t as interesting, or that some bits of my modules (non-linear optics & optoelectronics, laser physics, atomic physics) were a bit of a drag, or possibly all of the above. Regardless, I’ll stick it out and see what happens.

And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of the last 4(ish) months of my life.

Saltire blog part 8

The final instalment is here.

Saltire blog part 7

You've guessed it: part seven of my Saltire blog is up and running.

Saltire blog part 6

It's that time of week again... The sixth installment of my Saltire blog is now up.

Saltire blog part 5

I've just posted the most recent weekly round up on my SaltireFoundation blog.

I don't have much time to blog today as I really need to knuckle-down and get some work done for this exam. I just wish it would stop being so nice and sunny outside!

Saltire blog part 4

My round up of week four is now up on the Saltire site. Check it out here.

Saltire blog part 3

Oops! Totally forgot to put a link to my round up of week three on this blog yesterday...

So here is the third installment of my SaltireFoundation blog for you to peruse at your leisure.

Saltire blog part 2

My second weekly round-up can be found here. The formatting is a bit weird... Apologies.

Curiouser and curiouser

Saturday was so surreal. I went to the St Andrews Society's Summer BBQ and Ceilidh in the afternoon, not really knowing what to expect, and had a fantastic time. It was held in the embassy, which automatically made it feel like I was in the UK. Add to that multiple saltire and lion rampant flags, as well as guys wearing kilts, and it really didn't feel like I was still in Tokyo! The afternoon's entertainment kicked off with a performance from the embassy's taiko drummers:


I got involved in the action too:


This was the start of the weird series of events. The music and the drums were Japanese, but the majority of the players were British employees at the embassy. The next act was a pipe band - all Scottish events need at least one piper! Although the members of this pipe band were all Japanese!


It was very odd to be standing in Tokyo, listening to an (amazing!) all-Japanese pipe band playing Highland Cathedral, with the noise of cicadas in the background. It felt like I was at home and very far away at the same time.

Everyone there waas lovely and out to have a good time. This lead to a very succesful ceilidh! I wasn't so sure how it would work out, but every got the jist eventually! I also got to meet up with my guarantor, Stephen, and one of last year's Saltire Interns, Zach.


After the ceilidh finished, us three and some others headed off for karaoke - my first time ever! It was such a good laugh, I can't wait to do it again some time soon!




It was exactly like the karaoke shown in 'Lost In Transalation' - we got taken to our own little booth where we picked the songs and then sang along to the words on a big tv screen. Hilarious.

Saltire blog part 1

As part of my contract with the SaltireFoundation, I have to keep a weekly blog for them - it differs from this one as it focuses more on the work aspect of my internship. You can read my first weekly round-up here.

Tokyo, here I come....

Well exams are over and summer is here so I can officially let myself get massively excited about going to Japan now! I've been trying to learn some Japanese over the past few weeks (in between hoping back and forth from St Andrews to Edinburgh, clearing out my student flat) and it's really quite tricky. And that's without even trying to teach myself how to read/write it - I think I will stick to conversational Japanese just now...

I don't know a huge amount about exactly what I will be doing when I get there but I will be working within the Markets Division, hopefully with a different department each week. I recently found out where I'll be staying: I have a studio apartment (aka one room) in Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku. I've seen pictures and it looks perfect - and it's right in the centre of Tokyo! Fantastic! In fact, I think it's about two metro stops from RBS, which is in the Shin-Marunouchi Building, Chiyoda-ku. I wonder how long I'll have been there before I experience my first earthquake :S

What I'm going to try and do is keep a daily (or at least bi-daily) log of my experiences on here. Part of my contract with the Saltire Foundation is to keep a weekly blog on their website. This has to reflect mainly on the work aspect of the placement (for obvious reasons, really...) but I want to be able to let everyone at home know more about the social side of things and will also try to post photos. (I plan on buying a new camera in Akihabara!) Hopefully, by posting regularly on here, I'll be able to then use that to cobble together a more sensible post for the 'official' blog (and let my mum know I'm still alive :P). I'll put a link in the right-hand bar for my other blog when I get it started.

I leave on Saturday 11th July and cannot wait to go! All I need to learn now is how to say, "Can I get a free upgrade?" in Japanese.

YATTA!

I'm going to Tokyo this summer! I have never been so excited!

I got the eight-week internship with RBS in Japan! This means that I will get to go and live in Tokyo for two months and work in a different section of their business every week. And will also get to eat nothing but Japanese food and buy jeans that are the right length for me AND collect a ridiculous amount of Hello Kitty paraphernalia! :D I will try and write a slightly more sensible post once I have found out more and managed to calm down a bit. Oh, and once I have told Selex that I know won't be able to work there... Crap.

O genki desu ka?

I just made and then devoured a batch of tori kara age. I got the recipe from the Wagamama book (which I blatently stole from my mum...) and they were absolutely delicious. Went very well with rice and pak choi.

Tucking into some good Japanese food has got me super excited about the prospect of working in Tokyo over the summer. Still waiting to hear back from the Saltire Foundation - now I'm nervous!

On the plus side, I have an interview with SELEX now, so fingers crossed for that one.

I wonder what other Japanese food can I make with what's in the fridge?

Summer 09

I have now applied for:

An international student placement at Fermilab, Chicago
A summer student placement at CERN, Geneva
A summer placement in Systems Engineering at Selex Galileo, Edinburgh
An internship with RBS Securities, Tokyo (through the Saltire Foundation)

So far, have only heard back from Fermilab who said no, but recommended that I apply again next year. I'm starting to wonder what on Earth I'll end up doing. I do not want to have to work in a restaurant to make some money again...