Farewell Coleraine

Hi everyone, Lauren here signing in from rainy Coleraine for the last time. I can’t believe I am nearing the end of time here at University of Ulster. To start off I can’t say how much I recommend coming here if there is anyone reading this who is considering it. It is especially great if you have never lived away from home before like me. It still feels like home and the transition has been very easy and has taught me a lot for when I move further away for work next semester in January. The modules I took were very interesting and have given me an insight into a different aspect of the food industry. For example, I got to develop a healthy children’s snack product that uses other brands waste products in the ingredients. I loved this brief because food waste is such a big issue so it’s great that we could come up with some creative ways to use things that otherwise would have ended up in the bin. We had to do research into the children’s snack market and the plant base market as well as deciding how we would package and market it to appeal to both children and their parents. On Monday we are pitching our product idea to a panel who might take on our product and further develop it if they are interested. I am nervous but excited to see if they will take on our idea. Wish me luck please. We also got to work with the brand chef in a box doing product development for them as well. They came with the idea of 7 ready meals which they are marketing to elderly people. They had trialled some recipes and wanted us to further improve the appearance and taste of the meals. The main head of the project Niamh was coming from a food science degree rather than a culinary background so was very grateful for any tips we could share. All the lecturers here are so lovely and helpful you will never be stuck. Coleraine is a lovely place to spend your 3 months away. I think I would definitely come back. Its started to feel like home especially now with all the Christmas lights and decorations up around the town there is a lovely even friendlier feel to the town. Overall my experience here has been a 10/10. Until next time Lauren