Huong Quach Thi Thu - PhD in Molecular Medicine
- Why University of Galway?
"1st: Galway is a peaceful, beautiful and clean city. People are lovely.
2nd: Being known that here is strong at biomedical science and many talent researchers graduated from University of Galway , then I chose this University. Until now, I still think it was a good choice
3rd: I like molecular medicine and have a scholarship for the course"
"I had a good impression on my first day. There was a big hall for student registration and while queuing, I started to… chat with an Irish student. People were really friendly and easy to talk with. Then I found that for visiting all of the university, I might spend a whole day, so I gave up. I have tried to find the cantine and found a Starbucks shop in there (I like it). The first meal I tried was Shepherd’s pie, a traditional dish I think, and it was amazingly good. The only trouble was that I was lost. I needed several days to be familiar with the roads and maps in here.
I have 1 year of taught courses, laboratory placements, clinical visits and industry placement. It was a good experience, as I learned many new things from actual working environment. My other 3 years have been a challenge as I started my PhD project with a minor knowledge about that and students seem to be competitive. However, I think it was good, as I had to improve myself as quick as possible, either my techniques or my knowledge. I had chance to give talk, to present my data as a poster, to defend my ideas with colleagues and supervisor. Sometimes I was stressful due to the pressure of having a good result for publication. However, I recognized that I was supported and encouraged by many people, then I’m happy to continue with my research in this school."
— Huong Quach Thi Thu, PhD in Molecular Medicine, from Hanoi, Vietnam