Alexander Kwiatkowski

Former blog contributor

Course: ERASMUS+ exchange student

From: Germany

My name is Alex, I'm 23 years old and I have the great chance to complete an ERASMUS+ exchange at Imperial College! :-) When I'm not studying for my subject, mechanical engineering, I do a lot of physical training (boxing and weightlifting) in my spare time. I also like to write - especially about things that move me (not the tube :-D ;-)).

What I’ve learned as a Hall Senior

ERASMUS+ exchange student

In a rather abstract way, I became Hall senior for my year abroad. After the previously-selected senior jumped off for private reasons, I was asked by the subwarden whether I could be up for the job. Since I always like to organize things and had some leadership experience, I thought to myself: why not. The following things are an excerpt of the things I’ve learned during many many events throughout the year.

People seldom thank you for the organization

Somehow organization has always been there, everything seems to run by itself, everything seems to fit together by magical forces. But no, behind these magical powers are people doing the work, sometimes less, sometimes more.

Exams at Imperial

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Why would we expect it be any different, during the exam phase everything revolves around exams. I have now finished all exams at Imperial and it went quite well. Most of the exams were fairly constructed, but personally it felt more difficult to reach 100%. The fact that I have written exams in both the Chemical Department and the Mechanical Department allows me to make an interesting interdisciplinary comparison of my observations.

Ban on eating

Fortunately, I was allowed to bring food on the latter, so that I could fill up my sugar reserves after 2 hours of concentration. Unfortunately, this was forbidden in the Chemical Department.

How to roast an imperial steak

ERASMUS+ exchange student

A good, moist steak is one of the purest pleasures in my lifes. Today I will be advising you based on my years of experiementation, in my preferred methods of Steak preparation, so that you can also participate in this pleasure.

Preparation

Of course, the first thing you have to do is arrange for a piece of meat. Here you can find various cuts from different supermarkets in all price ranges. But there is also something for small budgets. Tesco has excellent test objects for 3.24, not too thin, not too expensive. When buying meat, however, be sure to pay attention to the grain: the finer the small fatty veins are that run through the meat, the better!

A love declaration to books

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Sometimes it catches you, a book, an author, his or her view of various things.

I love books that enrich my perspective or increase my level of understanding. The more you learn, read and think your way into different topics, the more you realize how little you actually know. Furthermore there are books on almost every topic, its incredible!

From the application of algorithms to the philosophy of a virtuous life, how to short stocks on the financial markets, how to eat properly according to your blood group, there are dozens of sometimes contradictory treatises on everything. But exactly in this contradiction emerges the germ for one’s own thinking, for the explorative discovery of one’s interests, for the expansion of one’s own horizon, for picking out the right piece of the puzzle fitting into YOUR life.

Rocking your exam phase

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Summer term’s just around the corner, and what does that mean? That’s right! Endless episodes of exams. Over the years as a student at the RWTH Aachen, I have collected various tips on how to survive the intensive studying phases – all without jungle hair and mental suffering.

First, schedule your free time

Even if you plan to study 8 hours a day, I always take the time to plan my private things first in my weekly schedule. Fitness and relaxation times are a must, and there are even studies that recommend such a planning. In the critical phase time naturally gets a bit tight and sometimes your exercise suffers, but one should always strive for a balance.

Stonehenge – a quick trip to UK’s history

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Deadline successfully met on Friday, and how am I rewarding myself? Hmmm…

Ah! I had seen this trip to Stone Henge on the Imperial College website a few weeks earlier. Since I totally love stones (you can laugh, but it’s no joke), a trip to this epochal monument was on my bucketlist anyway. So I booked the excursion without delay!

Our group of students was picked up in the morning by a modern bus directly in front of the Sir Alexander Fleming Building. After about 1 1/2 hours of comfortable driving we arrived at the place of legend and mystery. However, there were more facts about the monument than I thought!

What’s the difference? (2/2)

ERASMUS+ exchange student

I‘m still walking around the Imperial College every day and keeping a keen eye on every deviation from the German university system. In my last blogpost I gave my opinion of the professors, the learning atmosphere and the general concept. Today some other aspects follow 🙂

Exams

In London, the “you have to pass everything in this year” puts much greater pressure on students compared to at my university. If you don’t pass a subject at my university or you want to drop out by yourself (yes, that’s possible!), you can do the exam either in the same or the following semester.

What’s the difference? (1/2)

ERASMUS+ exchange student

In this blog entry I would like to start by briefly comparing my previous impressions of the educational systems in Germany & UK. It’s not that easy, it’s actually like comparing croissants with Berliners. Both quite tasty, but fundamentally differently conceived. I would like to emphasize at first that these are only my personal impressions. Of course, the factors outlined beneath cannot be generalized to whole systems. Hence, no system should be put in a bad light.

Concept

The concept at the Imperial College is fundamentally different from my educational institution. We have lectures and examinations over a period of six months.

Train at any cost. Stay persistent

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Eating healthier, becoming more athletic and so on can be found every year again among the Top 5 New Year’s resolutions. However, several studies show sobering results. Already after 2 weeks (roughly now) the first ones will start dieing off again, in March 75 % of the resolutions are supposed to be forgotten.

Every one of us knows this: sometimes you are sporty, sometimes you are not. The causes are as diverse as the cultural diversity of the Imperial College. Exam phase stress, social projects or permanent events such as weddings, birthday etc. We live in a busy world.

Nonetheless, it is essential to constantly re-evaluate oneself and at least return to basic forms of exercise.

Laptop Performance Tricks

ERASMUS+ exchange student

In the last blog entry, I showed you how to optimize your laptop hardware. Now I’d like to show you my three favorite tips for making a quantum leap on the performance side itself.

Learn shortkeys

When you think about what amount of mouse movements we daily do across the screen, you could realize that there is a huge loss of time. Fortunately, there is a free shortcut for most common programs: Shortkeys! Personally speaking, I’m always happy when someone shows me a useful shortkey.

In the meantime, there are also many websites that list the most common shortkeys of e.

Learn more about life at Imperial

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