July 2nd - 8th

Day one of a new job, a new term and a new team.

The morning started quite funnily with me knocking on the Welfare Office door looking for Rachel, before realising that she was two doors down in the president's office. Old habits die hard!

Once we settled in and made our offices our own all 5 of the sabbats had a 10am meeting in the boardroom, outlining what we're going to be doing this week. In the course of the meeting we decided that we'd all do a daily blog, each of us doing a different day of the week.

It was a day full of meetings over finances, budgets, and deciding policies (mixed in with a few photos taken for the Fresher's Guide to UCD). I'm not really used to office work, all my previous jobs have been active and always on my feet like waitering and construction work, so to make up for it I went for a walk for my lunch break. On my walk I couldn't help but notice that the Engineering building has big construction in front of it and word on the street is that it's going to be a new lake! Brings UCD's grand total of lakes to three...

When I got back to my office I finished nailing down some of the events for Mental Health Week ( 8th - 12th October) I'm not going to give any events away, but I'm bringing in SAFE (Suicide Alertness For Everyone) talk during that week, a seminar I've found infinitely helpful in my time in UCD. I'll also have a few fun events, getting very excited for the year already!

In the evening as we were all finishing up for the day we did a Students' Union corridor clean up, getting rid of some of the mess that accumulated during the USI Funding Vote campaign.

My day ended on a poor note, with my bike being stolen from outside the office. My laptop died yesterday so it's been a frustrating 2 days. However, I find when I'm feeling annoyed or frustrated it always helps to talk about it, similar to pleasetalks.org‘s message. I take comfort with the fact that I have two B.SocSc social work students in my house who are always going to be there in the evening to listen to me rant about stolen bicycles and the likes! It's like having my own personal counseling service.

Well that was Monday of my first day as UCDSU Welfare Officer!