Category: Uncategorized

How To Enjoy West End Musicals With A Budget

Yee Tong Siow

MEng Mechanical Engineering

One of the biggest highlights in London is its abundance of musicals and shows in the West End. From classics such as The Phantom of the Opera to new musicals such as Dear Evan Hansen, everyone is certain to find something that they can enjoy. However, musical tickets can get pretty pricey too, and as a student on a budget, it can sometimes be hard to enjoy these privileges. I hope to use this blog to show some tricks and insights on how to get cheaper show tickets!

  1. Buy tickets for preview shows Preview periods often last between a week and a month depending on the size of the production.

5 Best Places to Study (on campus and in London)

MEng Mechanical Engineering

Staying in one room to sleep, study and live in can be difficult. Studying elsewhere can help maintain a healthy separation between work and rest. Here are five of the best places on our South Kensington Campus and around London to study.

1. British Library

The British Library was founded in 1753 and contains one of the largest collections of literature in the world.

Beyond being a tourist sight in itself, it also offers many ‘reading rooms’ where (if you register and have a ‘reader’s pass’) you can study in for free.

The many exhibitions and general array of literature available also provide a welcome break, whilst the large capacity means there’s ample opportunity to change your settings as and when you need to.

Train Poetry

Medicine

I love commuting on the Tube. I didn’t really use the trains before going to university because everything was either within walking distance from my house or the bus was quicker. Getting on the train made me feel more adult, watching people in suits travel to work in big offices or people working on their laptops if they got a seat.

Poetry on the Underground is a charming public art project to introduce more poetry to the general public. I don’t read poetry very often, probably because the depth to which we studied a particular anthology for English GCSE was frankly traumatising.

Four activities to do at Christmas in London

MEng Mechanical Engineering

London is exciting at any time of year but there’s always a little extra magic as Christmas approaches. Here are four (student-budget friendly!) activities to do in London

1. Oxford/Regent Street Lights

Journey Time: a 20 minute journey by tube (from South Kensington)

Christmas light displays take over every high street in Britain as December begins, and the central London displays are no exception. The stunning light displays provide the perfect backdrop for a shopping (or window-shopping) trip, are free to see, and adorn a lot of the main shopping districts. Similar lighting can be found at Regent Street, Covent Garden and even Kensington High Street.

How Many Doctors Do You Think Patients See In Hospital?

Medicine

In this term, one of the assignments we had was to create a Quality Improvement Project on a subject of our choice to present to our clinical fellows. This includes identifying a problem that we notice on the wards or in surgical theatres and designing a research to find out more about the problem and an intervention to implement to improve this problem. My team were stumped for quite a while on what to choose before we settled on continuity of care. Every day we came to our surgical placement and it was difficult to keep track of who was in and remember all the doctors, so how difficult must that be for patients that may be uncomfortable, in pain or confused?

Craving For A New Study Environment?

Yee Tong Siow

MEng Mechanical Engineering

Having gone through more than a year of online learning, I’m sure all of us are tired of staring intently into our computer screens in our dingy little rooms, and all crave for a new atmosphere or environment to work in. However, with everyone flocking back into campus as it reopens, it can be difficult to find study spaces in the library too during the day. I find that my mood is significantly dependant on the atmosphere around me, and have thus been going around searching for study spaces around the vicinity. I thought that this could be useful for some of you reading this as well, especially for days when you just crave for a short adventure/trip.

A Trip to Wembley Boxpark

Medicine

I have been thriving after the end of lukewarm exam season and finally for the love of God, wrapping up my last summative assessment which went well, I think. I finally met up with some friends I have not seen since last year and have missed immensely. We walked to the Boxpark in Wembley and we had a great time. It is basically a huge street food style building with stalls for all the vendors and lots of seating with plants and fairy lights strung up around railings and staircases. The vibes are excellent, but do not forget to bring some ID if you are visiting after 8pm.

Flying Solo

Bianca Khor

MSc Management

They always said that my university days are meant to be the best moments of my life back then, and I held on to that belief throughout my years in high school and college because it gave me one simple yet powerful thing – hope. Though the catch was that they never really warned me about the initial shock that I might experience once I landed at London Heathrow Airport for the first time.

Put simply, I was told:

“You are on your own now. Take care and be smart about it.”

Fly away home

I would say that I am in a relatively privileged position where living with my family at home meant that I was occasionally spared from certain household duties.

Welcome Back To The World

Medicine

It is strange seeing familiar faces in my grocery store. The lady who works there on Tuesdays lives on my street and I haven’t seen her at the till in months. I met my best friend for her birthday, after having to postpone two of my other friends’ as they were during stricter periods of lockdown. I see people sitting with their dogs outside cafes, drinking lattes and reading books. Everyone shyly coming out of cocoons to visit the world again. There is traffic and train delays and everything is slowly coming back to normal.

I just finished my last summative exam for the academic year (but still one last summer assessment left ☹), and I am feeling a little listless before the summer term starts up.

What it’s like to move to London from the North

Anya Nanchahal

Medicine

I’ve been studying in London for some time now, but if you were to ask me where I’m from I’d tell you ‘the North’ in a heartbeat. Despite having visited London numerous times before joining Imperial, I hadn’t appreciated how different living here would be. Culture shock would be too superfluous a term, however, there certainly are subtle differences between life in the good old North-West and the capital. In case there are any curious Northerners out there thinking of making the move, I thought I’d pen out a few of the contrasts here.

1. Diversity It would be unfair to group the whole of the North into one bubble when discussing diversity, so here I’m referring to my home in Cheshire.

Learn more about life at Imperial

London skyline silhouette London skyline silhouette