I wrote on my previous blog that this day was the day I fell absolutely in love with Imperial. It was the day I remembered when I was completely unmotivated to revise for my A level. The day I looked back when I was excruciatingly and patiently waiting for my A-level results.

The day started with getting a coffee, I mean obviously, duh. I went to the Skempton building, slightly nervous, but I convinced myself that if it wasn’t meant to be, it wasn’t meant to be. I was directed to a room, where the magic happens. (By magic I mean the interview, if you don’t know it already).

Read Recruitment Day/Interview for MEng Civil Engineering in full

Easter break is normally one of the best holiday for me. After horrible winter weather and what feels like the longest term ever, I look forward to Easter. Not this time, and not at Imperial.

Easter break means its getting much closer to exam. You heard it right, exam. And that might or might not be stress you sense. Being a first year, people kept telling me that what I do as a first year won’t matter. That I can do whatever I want, get drunk, skip lectures. But what I do matters, I realise it now as it is nearly the execution time.

Read Surviving Imperial one Espresso at a time 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

Choosing a PhD supervisor is one of the most important decisions you must make before you start grad school. A bad one can turn three or four years of your life into a nightmare, while a good one will make the experience bearable, if not enjoyable (at times). 

I often get asked for advice on how to approach this decision. Today I’ll share what I did and what factors mattered to me most. However, bear in mind that everyone has different needs and deal-breakers, so please don’t blindly apply all my advice! 

I started looking for a supervisor quite early, over half a year before beginning my PhD.

Read Will you supervise me? 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

Leake Street Tunnel is a hidden celebration of urban art in Central London.

Located just off the bustling Southbank, under Waterloo station is perhaps the most colourful tunnel in the UK. Spray painting is normally something that is shunned, but down in Leake Street it’s encouraged. The tunnel was last open to traffic when the Eurostar was located in Waterloo. But now, it’s a pedestrian only area, full of magnificent art.

In May 2008, the Bristolian artist Banksy curated the “Cans” Festival in Leake Street. The festival extended an open invitation to urban artists to come turn a dark forgetful tunnel into a vibrant, modern art exhibition.

Read Legal Graffiti in full