User:Alices

I'm Irish (originally from Dublin) but am currently living in Tokyo with my partner. I'm learning Japanese and working as a freelance science rewriter.

Academic interests
Although I left college long ago, I still follow various academic subjects as an interested amateur.
 * Chemistry (which was my major at Trinity College, Dublin)
 * Materials science
 * Biology
 * Microbiology
 * Epidemiology
 * Biochemistry
 * Physiology
 * Genetics
 * Linguistics

Two of my main obsessions are languages and language use. As to the former, I'm currently devoting what seems like about half my life to learning Japanese, to little effect. I do like kanji though. My French is a pretty rusty but I'm intending to brush up on it some time soon. Future language-learning projects include Arabic and Russian. I'm a nitpicky type when it comes to grammar and so on - which is one reason my current job is editing.

Other interests include:
 * Reading, especially non-fiction
 * Transport
 * Cycling
 * Rail transport, especially metro systems
 * Commercial aviation
 * Names
 * Historical disasters, especially epidemics
 * Manners and etiquette