Student blogs

One of the best things about being at St Mary’s campus is that it’s a unique crossroads of both the healthcare community and the people who live and work in the Paddington area. All at once, the campus is a graduate school, historical landmark, fully functioning hospital and community resource.

That’s why it’s really cool when the different communities here unite for a common cause.

From March till May, St Mary’s folks are taking the plunge and swimming 22 miles in support of Diabetes UK. That’s the width of the English Channel and helping us get there are an awesome band of postgrad students, medics, diabetes researchers and the ICSM water polo team!

Read Uniting St Mary’s campus against diabetes in full

Although London is a world in itself, England has a lot more to offer. Getting away from the streetlights and the bright night sky is exactly what you need every now and then.

That’s what I did for a weekend. There were four of us, we hopped in the car with one thought in our minds: Hello Kent, bye work!

Read Around England in full

Twitter: @malamawks | Instagram: @malamawkin

In 5th year we are all given a compulsory one week of teaching skills. It is hard to imagine why we need to learn how to teach- surely everyone knows the basics?! But actually, what I found over the week was how little I actually knew about teaching and how vital it is for being a good doctor- whether you are training medical students, teaching colleagues about cases or even presenting at a conference.

We learnt the basis on teaching skills and theory behind practical methods on the Monday, which lead us to be split into teams to design and teach each other how to make a paper airplane (very competitive!).

Read Learning how to teach at medical school in full

What are the options for mature students in their fifties to stay fit? There are plenty of time, resources and facilities dedicated to help with lectures, tutorials, reading, research, coursework and so on. What about other essential components of daily life: exercise, sport, fitness? Rest assured: it turns out there are also plenty of facilities to help you when you want to do anything other than rest.

I headed over to the Ethos Sports Centre, right next door to the main Imperial site in South Kensington, to check it out. From old-fashioned circuits, currently fashionable yoga, Pilates and Zumba, to rather more esoteric sounding Vinyasa flow yoga or Kondi – Ethos appears to have it all.

Read 50 shades of fitness… in full

Hi guys,

So it’s been snowing on and off here since yesterday. When I woke up yesterday to see fluffy white stuff floating outside, I literally jumped out of bed and rushed to the window. Where I saw a view of the grass in Princes Gardens dusted with fine, soft snow!!! and got so excited, I immediately called my friend to tell her about it 

Well, can’t blame me… that’s the most snow I’ve seen in Central London. I did manage to play with some (aka snowball fights and made a snowman) when I was in Harpenden last November, but this is Central London.

Read Snowing in London in full

Read Once again, London in full

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.

Read What’s the difference? (2/2) in full

I can’t believe we’re now already 5 weeks into term (6 if you count exam week)! So far I can say that I’m somewhat enjoying my degree (the lecture part at least, not so much for the exam/ assignment part) but there are times when I feel like I am so done with Geology and *flips table, throws papers/ notes everywhere*

When those times come, I know that I need a short break from all the rocks/ reports/ looking through polarising microscopes/ lectures and just take a breather. So what else can you do when you’re not going in and out of lectures?

Read What an Imperial student does outside of lectures in full