Emma Tipton

Course: Enviromental Technology

From: USA

Reflections from my year as a postgrad student

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

We have reached the end of what I’m told is summer term (it’s different for PG students, since we keep working through to September) and with it, the end of this blog. It’s been quite the journey, even before the disruption brought on by the coronavirus, and so I have some final thoughts to share.

On London

There is no doubt in my mind that coming to London was the right decision for my master’s degree. Beyond the practical reasons to leave the US—program length, cost, not having to take the GREs—London in particular has been a special place to me.

Thesis dispatch – my experience so far

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

I have completed my share of long-term projects before, but I still felt nervous when deciding to apply for my course and seeing the research project at the end. Now, a month in, I am still a little apprehensive about the final result but also feel fairly capable of producing a decent work. For those curious about what the research process entails, I offer a few tips below:

Actively build new skills

Four months is a long time to be working on one thing and boredom can start to set in, so choose a topic that lets you learn something new.

4 Unexpected Challenges of Remote Thesis-ing

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

Since time hasn’t existed since March, it feels utterly unreal to be actually working on my thesis right now. Nevertheless, from now until September you can expect to find me knee-deep in air quality reports and R scripts. My project is desk-based so fortunately the overall research process hasn’t been impacted too much by the pandemic. Still, remote thesis work has required its share of adjustments:

4 Things to Cook in Lockdown

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

Pre-coronavirus, I generally enjoyed cooking every night as a way to destress (and save money). Then, during the “spring break” portion of the lockdown when time was at its most unreal and grocery store shelves at their emptiest, I lost interest. Meals during this time tended towards digestive biscuits, large quantities of oatmeal, and raw carrots eaten despondently at my desk. But now that summer term has picked up, I’ve gone back to cooking as a welcome distraction from everything. I find it a bit more of a challenge now that I only buy groceries once a week since I like to make whatever I’m feeling at the time instead of planning meals in advance, but I’m making it work. 

Developing a Pandemic Routine

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

I know I’m not the only one for which time since mid-March hasn’t felt quite real. The Easter break passed in a dissociative blur and now it’s apparently summer term? It’s been challenging to get back into the headspace of academic work since I‘m still stuck in the same physical space that I’ve been in for a month. But since deadlines don’t stop even though time isn’t real, I’ve been slowly clawing my lockdown life into something of a routine.  

Morning 

I start most mornings with a run in my local park. Running has never been my preferred form of exercise but being able to get outside and burn off some pent-up energy helps me cope with spending the rest of the day in my room. 

5 (dubiously advisable) Ways to Pass Time in Lockdown

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

Animal Crossing, Tiger King, spending time with family…there are no shortage of ways in which people are occupying themselves while waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic. But Netflix gets stale and many other activities are untenable for a student like myself who is far from the comforts of home. So how does a postgrad stuck in a tiny student flat in London pass time while in lockdown?  

Lessons from the end of the world: climate change and COVID-19

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

Studying Environmental Technology has been, more often than not, a bleak undertaking. My classmates and I have made a whole lot of jokes about each lecture being a new existential crisis. It feels like climate change is a train wreck in slow motion: a present danger with the potential for utter catastrophe and an increasing number of people frantically waving their hands about trying to warn others. Its most immediate effects are often played down or ignored, not helped by the fact that it can be hard to definitively say which events have been caused or exacerbated by climate change. It’s far easier for those in positions of power to continue with “business as usual”, kicking responsibility down the line until the situation inevitably reaches a point of no return. 

Tuition Talk

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

After paying the second half of my tuition fees, it’s fair to say that money has been on my mind a lot this week. One of the reasons that I chose to come to the UK for grad school was the cost. Higher education in the US is infamously expensive and, unlike my undergrad degree, I would be taking on the price of grad school entirely myself. Even factoring in the exchange rates, the cost of a UK MSc was still far less than one from back home. Pretty much a no-brainer to study here, right? However, as an international student, choosing to pursue a master’s degree at Imperial rather than another UK university has been its own financial challenge.

The thesis idea hamster wheel

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

The option term is going by at light speed, which means that it is nearly thesis time. And while the course conveners have been quick to tell us that we have plenty of time to sort out projects and not to get too stressed out, I have, in fact, been stressing out about it. In particular, the process of choosing a project idea has been intensely frustrating for me. I would describe it as running on a sort of hamster wheel that cycles through several stages. 

Getting out of London: 3 Trips

Emma Tipton

Enviromental Technology

As an international student, I feel the need to see as much as I can while I’m here in the UK. And although I love living in London, I will readily admit that sometimes it’s nice to get out of the city. Fortunately, this island is well-connected by rail, which I’ve found allows for a variety of inexpensive day or weekend trips. And, perhaps less fortunately, I get to indulge my amateur travel-blogger side here on this site.  

Dover 

My first daytrip upon arriving to the UK was to Dover, an hour or so to the southeast. I didn’t know much about Dover beyond some vague notion of white cliffs, but that was enough for me. 

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