Student blogs

First year through my eyes

As the end of the year has arrived, it is time to reflect on everything that has happened over the past nine months.

I have moved abroad, started a degree, started relationships with people from all different backgrounds, I’ve experienced the exciting and sometimes lonely London. I’ve spent more hours in the library this year alone than during all of my high school years combined. I’ve created a structure, been taught how flow behaves around aerofoils or how combustion allows us to move forward. I’ve learnt how to overcome drag, both theoretically and figuratively. I have grown, a scary amount.

Read Year one, checked! in full

There is nothing wrong about giving yourself a break. Lately, I’ve been thinking that we shouldn’t get angry with ourselves after realising we’ve spent time without apparently getting profit out of it.

Five minutes ago, I was forcing myself to “one last mechanics past paper before dinner”, while I was having a crazy headache.

After attempting the first question and failing greatly I told myself that this didn’t make any sense. It was evident that I could not concentrate anymore and that I should stop studying.

I now lay down in bed and stare at the window. It is 8 pm and it is still bright.

Read It is worth in full

“We, humans, are killing our planet” 

How many times have we heard someone saying that phrase? How many times has it appeared on the news? How many scientific articles have been published about it?

Yet I believe it is not entirely true. There are two keywords which I find to be a lie. Let me explain myself.

First of all, the term “our planet”. It is a huge mistake to consider the Earth as ours. It has never been a gift nor it has never been available for us to use as we wish. This planet is our home, indeed, but not our property. 

Read We are writing our own end in full

The other day, one of my classmates came up to me with a rather interesting question. He was wondering whether student bloggers were able to say bad things or criticize Imperial in any way. 

And the truth is that yes, we can. I guess we simply don’t do it because we want to spread positivity within our readers. However, he made me realize it was time to share our not-so-pink reality. After all, prospective students need to know what they are getting themselves into. 

The downside of Imperial’s internationality 

Although diversity is one of the qualities we are most proud of, it does drag along a small issue: background inequality.

Read Everything is not what it seems in full

As we all know, Imperial is one of the world’s top universities, with an internationally recognised reputation. Would you say that this reputation is obtained by having students chilling out? You guessed right, it isn’t.  

If you are a student here, you will already know what the overload of work is like. If you aren’t a student yet, do not worry, you will find out. 

So, when you have a computing exam coming up, three tutorial sheets to be done, a few lectures to Panopto, two labs to write and a life to live, you better organise yourself. 

Here are a few tips that may help you to be the most productive you can possibly be: 

Plan weekly 

Your whole year is already timetabled, the least you could do is check how does your week looks like.

Read How to increase your productivity in full

We have all experienced the pressure of sitting an exam but, oh dear, school has nothing to do with university. There are three main characteristics that differ school exams/A-levels to uni examinations: complexity, time consumption and uncertainty of performance.

First of all, the contents of the module to be examined are usually a whole new bunch of stuff you have never seen before. You only need to check out the names of the subjects: structural analysis, aerodynamics… where are my known physics, chemistry or biology?

Forget about being in a class where you revise previous years’ content, as this is very unlikely to happen in a lecture theatre at 9 am.

Read Our first exam period in full

5 things I was not expecting

Moving away from home is an experience which is talked about quite often, about its excitement or its sadness. On the other hand, no one really shares their feelings about coming back home.

On the last 14thof December, I flew back to Spain, where a few things surprised me.

1. Where is my room?

You open the door to your old house and you feel a bit out of place. You go to your room, but it seems odd, should I call this my room anymore? Or is it just a temporary place before I go back to my reality.

Read Coming back home for the first time in full