A familiar face...

Hi-ya

It's been a long eventful week. Last week started out with a wicked head-cold and ended with getting pulled over by the Garda(Police). The weather finally cleared up and we have had several sunny days (40deg) in a row. The week started off with snow and slush. Lots of cold and very wet weather since the temperature hovers around freezing. Because of the snow and cold, the schools were still out until Thursday. Lots of the country was without water. The city lowered the water pressure and even my office was without water for two days. They went to the store and had to buy bottled water for people.
Monday I had a great day at Crossfit and hit a new pr in the deadlift. I am still getting confused trying to convert from kilograms to pounds and vice versa depending on which gym I'm talking to. I woke up Tuesday morning with an awful headcold. I couldn't breathe/talk/function very well. I stopped at Eurospar- the Irish convenience store hoping to find some relief. Unfortunately I didn't recognize what any of the APIs were but I bought something called Panadol b/c it was the only thing available. I got to work obviously in rough shape and started asking my boss. Luckily I work with multiple pharmacists/ commercial people pedaling the exact drugs I need but due to compliance issues I had to go to the local pharmacy. The pharmacy structure is much different in Ireland. You can't just walk into a walgreens/cvs/ grocery store and get things like cold medicine. You have to go to a pharmacy and talk to a pharmacist, tell them your symptoms and they will bring you something from behind the counter. Ibprofen mixed with psuedephedrine is amazing stuff. Don't believe you can buy it stateside but really amazing. I inadvertently had an interesting cultural experience b/c of a cold.
Our office was incredibly busy last week because all of the commercial directors from the various regions around the world were in town for meetings so I met people from incredibly different backgrounds. Even the people I work with/eat lunch with represent Ireland/Greece/South Africa/France/USA/England. It is a really cool experience getting to work with such a diverse mix of people.

I also spent a lot of time talking with my boss about careers in Regulatory and possible career paths. Abbott is making an effort to develop more entry level RA positions in an attempt to develop better RA organically instead of bringing subject matter experts from other areas into RA. There is an incredible amount of opportunity for the right individual. We also developed my goals and set milestones. My first project is helping develop all of the goals for our group. Right now we are looking at upwards of 115 projects/milestones to keep track of and file this year. Should keep me busy. My next project is going to be to perform a gap assessment for a drug we are trying to file in multiple countries in the EU. I need to go through and see what we are missing and identify risk areas for filing. Both projects should be a good way to start off my Reg experience.

Daliana drove up from Clonmel Friday. It was really good to see a familiar face. We met up with people I had played basketball with at a bar near my apartment. They were really nice and welcoming. It was fun to get to know some other Irish people outside of work. Daliana and I spent Saturday exploring downtown Dublin. We went to the Guiness Brewery on Saturday because it was a really clear day. Guiness brewery sits on the crest of a hill and has a 9000 year lease on the land. The Gravity Bar, the place where you get your "free" beer at the end is 7 stories and has 360 glass windows. It is probably one of the best places to view the city of Dublin. We also hit some of the other touristy stuff since it was Daliana's first time in Dublin. I even got my first Irish haircut. 10 Euro was a much better deal than the 45$ cut i got in Lake Forrest even with the brutal exchange rate. Saturday night was spent listening to live music in the Temple Bar district. Sunday was spent walking around Dublin and a miserable trip to Ikea. It was unbelievably busy and overwhelming. It was really good to see a familiar face though and have someone to experience Dublin with.

Today was fairly uneventful except for driving home from work. I would say 75% of the time if i'm not driving to/from work I am lost within 5 mins of starting to drive. No street is straight or keeps the same name for longer than 300meters. All of the main roads crazily interchange from 2 lanes to 1 lane to 1 line and a bike lane or 1 lane and a bus/taxi lane. Usually it isn't horrible b/c all I have to do is follow signs to the city centre and I can usually make it home. Most of the time I couldn't trace my route on a map but thats all part of the adventure. Where I got in trouble was trying to discover a new way home that might be faster if I actually go where I wanted to. I ended up in a real busy part of downtown and make a wrong turn onto a street that only taxis and buses are allowed to go down. I got pulled over right away by a cop standing on the street corner. He took my id and asked me a bunch of questions and turned out to be a real nice understanding guy, gave me some directions and sent me on my way. Definitely a huge Tourist moment but it was still good. I got to where I was going without too much added stress.

I am flying into Chicago this weekend to deal with my Visa. I am flying in Friday afternoon and out on Sunday night. Should be a whirlwind but Abbott was gracious enough to find me accommodation at the Marriott on Michigan Avenue so I think I'll survive...

***Paula gets the GoldenEye Award last week for spotting the washer/dryer in the kitchen. Common in Ireland to be able to butter your toast and wash your dirties at the same time.***

Dublin 1

This is my apartment and the view of Christchurch from it at night.
 
 
 
 

Cheers

I have finally settled down in the Dublin city centre. I made the move out of the hotel Friday after work and have spent the past several days getting acquainted with my new surroundings. This past week has been a bit hazy without really sleeping or eating until Thursday and adjusting to the new culture.

My first weekend (last weekend) was spent sleeping in the hotel and exploring the Wicklow Mountains just south of the city. I did a couple kilometers of hiking around a couple lakes and saw an old church settlement. People here don't do well with the weather. It was 35 and sunny and you would have thought it was well below zero with avalanch warnings the way people were dressed and the warning I received from the park ranger.


Luckily for work I only had about 2 hours of orientation. I actually learned about what MBO does. They basically take all of the drugs ex-US and evaluate opportunities for growth in new markets and expanding our portfolio in markets we are currently in. My regulatory group supports the commercial and supply chain groups by providing the necessary documentation to file with the new markets Regulatory (FDA-complement) Agency. MBO has annual sales of ~$3.9 billion.
Some interesting things I noted about our office:
-The workday doesn't start until 9 am and noone arrives before 8:45
-Ireland has a common 35 hour work week. 9-5 Mon-Fri
-They provide free fruit (apples/pears/kiwis/bannanas/oranges) for employees which is good for me because all food especially fruit is expensive in Ireland.
-Our office has an esspresso make for the employees to use and they give free Kellog cereal bars away
-I asked a girl I sit by if people usually eat at their desks or in the "canteen" and she laughed saying she never sees anyone eat at their desk- also very different than the US
-The canteen only has real coffee cups/plates/silverware. the cups are all various pint glass with the local brewery's on them. Recycling is huge here and our office recycles glass/aluminum/paper. No styrofoam to be found.


I joined Crossfit Ireland. They moved into a new building last week which happens to be a warehouse on the south side of the city. It could not be father away from where I work but Dublin is easy to get around in. The building literally is a warehouse that they are fixing up and doesn't have any heaters or insulation. Therefore the temperature inside tends to be equivalent to the temperature outside which has been hovering around 32F. Makes the bars real cold. www.crossfit.ie

The girl I sit next to at work is an Irish PDP. She has been really nice and invited to me to play on her friend's club basketball team. Due to weather they haven't had a chance to play yet but it should be a good way to meet some kids my age.

The apartment I moved into downtown is right across the street from Christchurch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin It is in a hotel/extended stay apartment. I am a ten minute walk from Guinness and a 10 min walk from Temple Bar. Driving has been an experience. It took until about Thursday before I walked to the correct driver's side of the car. The roundabouts are very abundant. The first time I approached one i wasn't sure if you drove clockwise or anit-clockwise around. It wouldn't have been an issue but there were several cars behind me. Luckily I guessed correctly. It is really nice to move downtown as opposed to being in the hotel 5 miles from dt. Dublin has a bustling city centre and there are always things going on in this area. I was even able to pick up a ready as you go (prepaid) mobile for 9.99 euro. 10 euro got me 100 mins of talk time too. Lots of things are different than the US. The hardest thing I've found so far is understanding people when they talk. It often takes me a few minutes to pick up what they are saying. It reminds me of being in Spain. By the time you understand what's being said the conversation has already moved on. Names are by far the hardest to understand and none are very familiar.

Sailing to St. Thomas

Since I don't have much to share from Ireland yet I thought I would upload a video I made of my recent sailing trip from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas.

Flying In

Hello everybody-

I thought I would try a blog forum to document my PDP assignment in Dublin for the next couple months. This way anyone can check it out and you don't have to go through facebook or anything.
The flight over went well. I arrived to -4C and a nice sheet of ice over everything. It really wasn't too bad compared to a Madison winter day but pretty brutal for people over here. The Crown Plaza I am staying in had trouble with the heat for my room so they gave me a free night in a Holiday in express. The hotel I'll be staying in until they finalize housing is conveniently <5 min from work/grocery store/ huge park.


My Rental Car and all of my worldly posessions...