December 8, 2014
If you ask my Mum what life was like with me as a teenager, one of the things she’ll likely mention was her critical role as the ‘No Police’ as she liked to call it. She spent a fair bit of time helping me to say ‘no’ to the plethora of opportunities I managed to drum up for myself… and mopping up the proverbial mess when I still managed to overcommit when she wasn’t looking.
I don’t think I’m alone in the fact that I’m more than minorly addicted to overcommitting myself and biting off more than I can chew.
And occasionally it all comes to a head and it’s time to prioritize.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | 
Courses directed by LSHTM, Public Health | Tagged: Distance Learning, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, Lucy O’Donoghue, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, priorities, public health, self-discipline, Thailand, time management, University of London, University of London International Programmes | 
Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
October 24, 2014
Oh, did the academic year start again already?! Yikes… I must have missed the memo… or it could have something to do with my mushy postpartum brain.
A week before the school year began again, our little boy made his entrance into the world and he’s now a month old. We’re vaguely ‘emerging’ from that postpartum haze and hubby has been waiting on me hand and foot, becoming quite the Jamie Oliver, and being a total star champ A+ support.
I’ve spoken before on this blog about how much I appreciate the flexibility of the UoL programme, and that couldn’t be more so the case than now. Now that I’m a brand new Mum, with all the uncertainty that entails, to know that I can just chip away at whatever I can manage, and defer whatever I can’t, is a real relief!
Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Courses directed by LSHTM, Public Health | Tagged: Distance Learning, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, Lucy O’Donoghue, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, public health, self-discipline, study tips, study tools, Thailand, time management, University of London, University of London International Programmes | Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
June 20, 2014
It’s 4.37pm the day after I sat my fourth of six exams. I’ve been studiously at work most of the day on my Health Services and Health Policy in anticipation of their exams dawning in about a week’s time.
I’m feeling like I’ve worked pretty hard (not just today, but over the last few weeks…as all those first year Public Healthers doing the core modules will appreciate…exam blast Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday…phew…). Instead of covering another Policy chapter, I think I’ll write a blog post…since it’s overdue by my timetable and, I believe, still a productive use of my time. 🙂
One of the things that has made the exams immeasurably more bearable (apart from the protein bars I had special dispensation to bring into exams, as my pregnant belly could now be likened to a bowling ball), was to have a fellow student to ‘post-mortem’ with.
This is the first time I’ve sat exams like this where there was a possibility that I’d turn up on my own and have no one else to talk to about the exam after it finished. Lo and behold (and gosh, I wish I’d known earlier!), I turn up to Basic Epidemiology last Monday and discover there is a lovely other young woman, Leah from Seattle, sitting the same exam.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Courses directed by LSHTM, Public Health | Tagged: exam centres, Exams, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, Lucy O’Donoghue, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, public health, Thailand, University of London, University of London International Programmes | Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
May 7, 2014
Over this weekend I was musing to my husband about my days studying for my final exams at high school. My high school years had prepared me reasonably well in terms of instilling study habits and an ability to just sit and concentrate, get away to a space that would ensure I wasn’t distracted etc. I’m not sure how well I would have done at school were I studying these days. Between Facebook and emails… and having the screen right there (“Well, I need it for webinars and the rest…”)… it’s no wonder ‘young people these days’ (and older people… and well, loads of us, I suspect) struggle to concentrate like we used to. With absolutely no solid evidence beyond anecdote to back up my claim (because I’m too lazy to go hunting for it right now!), I really do think my capacity to concentrate and put aside distractions is much more tested these days, and perhaps weaker than all those years ago when I ploughed my way through for those final exams. Granted, back then I had a mother lovingly cooking me dinner each night (thanks Mum!) and I wasn’t growing a baby (more protein?! Already?! We just ate…) but I’m not sure that’s a the whole story when it comes to my relative self-discipline.
Read the rest of this entry »
0.000000
0.000000
3 Comments | Courses directed by LSHTM, Public Health | Tagged: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, Lucy O’Donoghue, mac, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, Procrastination, public health, self-discipline, study tips, Thailand, time management, University of London, University of London International Programmes | Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
April 15, 2014
The other night I was Skyping with my husband as he sat in Kabul and I sat back at home in Bangkok (did I mention, we moved? Yep…hello Bangkok). I was telling him about a book that just arrived in the mail…a book called ‘Oh Baby! Birth, Babies and Motherhood, uncensored‘ (ah, did I also mention, I’m 16 weeks pregnant?! Yahoo! Yup, I’ll be the one looking like a beached whale on exam day…replete with snacks and special dispensation to have more toilet breaks than all the rest of you non-pregnant suckers, muahaha!)…and I leaned across the table to grab the book, knocking over my glass of water in the process.
Read the rest of this entry »
0.000000
0.000000
1 Comment | Public Health | Tagged: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, Lucy O’Donoghue, mac, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, online back-up, public health, study tips, Thailand, University of London, University of London International Programmes | Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
March 13, 2014
From what I’ve gathered so far about life in the academic world, the aim of the game – let’s be honest – is to get published, as many times as you darn well can. To publish your little heart out… oh, and to make sure, I guess, within reason, that what you publish is sound evidence, keep neutral and keep the policy makers happy (there shouldn’t be an ‘and’ between those phrases, right?) and, ya know, advance the cause of humanity and all…yada yada…
So, to that end, I thought I may as well skip all the exams, assignments, the blithe textbook reading and the rest…and just GET PUBLISHED! As of International Woman’s Day last weekend, myself and a couple dozen other women around the world officially became authors as ‘Chasing Misery: An Anthology of Essays by Women in Humanitarian Responses’ hit the proverbial ‘shelves’ on Kindle, Amazon and other online literary outlets and spammed itself all over Facebook and Twitter (@chasing_misery).
Read the rest of this entry »
0.000000
0.000000
Leave a Comment » | Courses directed by LSHTM, Public Health | Tagged: Chasing Misery: An Anthology of Essays by Women in Humanitarian Work, humanitarian, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, Lucy O’Donoghue, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, Pakistan, public health, University of London, University of London International Programmes | Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
February 3, 2014
I get a fair few questions from people about studying at the University of London. And it’s always a bit of a mouthful to explain that I’m studying at ‘the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine through the University of London’s distancing learning programme’…
But, it does give me ample opportunity to remind myself why I chose this path to begin with. More on that in a moment.
While having a good break back in New Zealand, stumbled upon this great road sign.
To start with, I have to echo several of the other UoL Student bloggers. To say that my own study plans got mildly side tracked in the latter part of 2013 would be an understatement. My work with St. Joseph’s Hospice really took over but a new year, a fresh new perspective, and a month back home in New Zealand have helped me figure out how to find the balance.
It also means it’s really time to knuckle down!
But surprisingly, I think it gets a whole lot easier when I can really knuckle down, or get ‘get in the groove’ as another blogger alluded to.
Having almost got through an initial read of all the course materials, a little bit like reading the recipe right through and prepping your ingredients before getting cooking, I can now get stuck in to mixing, stretching and testing (in a proverbial cooking sense!). Perhaps a stretch to make a cooking metaphor out of exam prep, but hey, whatever gets you through!
Read the rest of this entry »
0.000000
0.000000
Leave a Comment » | Courses directed by LSHTM, Public Health | Tagged: Distance Learning, exam preparation, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LSHTM, MSc Public Health, New Zealand, Pakistan, public health, St. Joseph’s Hospice in Rawalpindi, study plan, University of London, University of London International Programmes, UoL | Permalink
Posted by lucyodonoghue
