Aurna Maitra

Aurna Maitra

Course: Molecular Bioengineering

From: UK

To apply, or not to apply, that is the question

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

In the summer before Year 13, my family decided to take me university hopping around the UK. We’d go to different cities, stay at a local hotel, attend an open day, explore for a day or two and then move swiftly on to the next. Sometimes we’d visit 3-4 unis back to back – no stops, just songs blasting from the car speakers and my dog jumping up at every red light. I felt like a traveller (minus the caravan).

Back then I had no clue what I was going to do. I’d always wanted to study medicine, but I just wasn’t sure if I was passionate enough to dedicate 5-6 years of my life to one subject.

Lockdown and COVID-19: An Update

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

For any regular readers of my blogs out there, you may have noticed my slightly long absence from writing. To say that I’d been struggling with ‘writer’s block’ would be a fairly accurate description. For weeks I kept thinking “What do I write about?” and even though I’d start the occasional blog, I could never finish anything and I’d end up ditching them as drafts. I spoke to a friend of mine who’d come across my blog and he said “Why don’t you write about not having anything to write about?” – so that’s exactly what I set out to do.

My Part-Time Job Story

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

When you hear students talk about how broke they are, I can 100% say they are probably not over exaggerating. For those of us who live in London, this statement is especially true.

Growing up, most of my friends’ older brothers and sisters worked part-time at the local McDonald’s or Subway to make that extra cash during their uni days. Naturally, I also thought I’d follow the tradition and began stressing over whether or not being a cashier at KFC was a respectable job. When I got to year 12 I started thinking bigger.

Tesco’s

I was smitten with myself. None of my other friends had come up with that idea.

Falling Behind

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

So this term started off pretty well.

For the first few weeks, I had a routine going – I got up an hour before my 9am classes (a huge change from waking up 20 minutes before), made myself a healthy lunch, actually managed to get some breakfast down and was up to date with deadlines. I had enough time to see friends and go on a fun night out and I also saved some time at the end of the day to read a little just before bed. Boy, was life going great.

Honestly, I don’t really know what happened after the third week.

Living at the Library

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

I’ve never really been much of a “library revision” kind of person. Something about how silent libraries are gives a chatterbox like me so much anxiety. To top it off, I’m also that annoying friend who constantly disturbs everyone else’s revision to show them memes because clearly quality memes are most appreciated when you’re nose deep in a textbook (to all my sixth form friends, I’m sorry guys!).

However, university has hit me differently. I might as well not be paying for accommodation at this point considering how I spend the majority of my time on the fourth floor of the library – and yes, for all those aunties out there, I swear I’m actually working!

5 Tips to Help You Get Through Post-Freshers Blues

Aurna Maitra

Molecular Bioengineering

Its the end of first term and with second term just around the corner, I find myself packing my suitcase with a slightly heavy heart. The last time I was packing for uni, I had no idea what was waiting for me but I knew it was going to be exciting. Fresher’s week came with new friends and experiences and, surprisingly, so did the weeks following it but sadly, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. The last few weeks of the term came with fewer lectures and a lot more exams and when the exams ended it was time to go home.

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