Category: undergraduate student life

Bubble tea in London

Qinyi Wang

MEng Biomedical Engineering

One of the biggest concerns I had after coming to London was to find a good bubble tea shop. My worries were, fortunately, unnecessary as it turned out that people in the UK are pretty crazy about bubble tea, too.

So without further ado, let me introduce some of the bubble tea shops you can find around London! They are not listed in any particular order, and I recommend you visit all of them once lockdown ends to see which one(s) suit you the most.

T4

This was the first bubble tea shop I visited in London. Since I lived in Woodward in first year, the quick trip down to Westfield made visiting T4 very convenient.

Maintaining motivation at medical school

Laura Amarin

Medicine

I am currently in my third year of medical school and the road has definitely been up and down in terms of enthusiasm for the course. In all honesty I at times envy those who seem to have this consistent and unbreakable passion for Medicine and its extracurriculars. There have been times I’m in love with it; I see this being what I need to do. I meet patients and I just can’t imagine doing anything else with my days from the conversations had and the gratitude received. The way we navigate conversations with individuals opening a side many people maybe rarely ever see.

How Art saves my mind

Laura Amarin

Medicine

During this pandemic specifically I think it’s important we all recognise a certain practice we can do to free up our mind when we become too emotional or overwhelmed. That practice will work differently between people but to have something to take you very much out of a stressful situation is so important – for anyone. If we consider some ideas, some of my friends like reading, working out, watching Netflix, going on Instagram (careful here haha), dancing, prayer… for me, it’s to make art.

Making art does several things for me. To start with, it’s physically a very soothing practice when I’m overthinking a situation.

How Remote Working Changed my University Experience

Anya Nanchahal

Medicine

Since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, forcing the country to a standstill, remote working has become a feature of my degree to varying extents. My third term of first year was purely online (including what should have been my first hospital placement) which I undertook from my family home. Since the start of second year, the college has adopted a ‘multi-mode’ learning strategy encompassing elements of remote and face to face learning. Needless to say, it looks likely that remote learning will be here to stay for the foreseeable future so I thought I’d share a few of my reflections in this blog post.

A Small Fish in a Big Pond

Anya Nanchahal

Medicine

Moving to university can be overwhelming. Usually, by the time you’ve reached year 13, your position in the fabric of the school is quite well established. You probably have a reputation, a core group of friends and you may even have started being on first name terms with some of your teachers. Then, all of a sudden, you get parachuted out of that familiar environment into Imperial- one of the best universities in the world, in a city like London, with thousands of new faces. Nobody knows who you are. It’s a clean slate. For some of you this may feel liberating, but for others it can be disorientating.

Imperial Horizons – A Side Quest Walkthrough for You

Bianca Khor

MSc Management

For prospective undergraduates, you might have come across an opportunity for you to get a taste of non-science-related topics such as humanities, social sciences, or languages. In essence, this programme is called Imperial Horizons, and I would like to dedicate this article to talking about one of the Horizons courses that I’ve taken and the unexpected enjoyment that I had from it.

A crash course on psychology

To begin with, I had to take a Horizons course back when I was in my second year of university as it just so happened to be counted towards my degree credits (they are usually taken for extra credits).

2020 and Mental Health

Qinyi Wang

MEng Biomedical Engineering

The transition from 2020 to 2021 has been a quiet one. Although I did spend it with my flatmates, there were sadly no fireworks by the Thames, no countdown at Trafalgar square, no free bus/tube rides at 2 AM, no meeting up with friends who live far away… It almost doesn’t feel real that a whole year has passed since the pandemic began.

And what a year it has been. The sudden social-distancing rules, the ever-changing lockdown tiers, the closing of national and international borders, the fear of viral infection and the overload on NHS services have all taken a toll on everyone.

Navigating Imperial College London

Qinyi Wang

MEng Biomedical Engineering

Universities can be classified into two major categories: campus universities and city universities. Campus universities are those where all students and facilities are located on-site, whilst city universities have their students, facilities and campuses spread out across the city. Imperial definitely falls into the latter category. When you study in a metropolis like London, it is a bit difficult, logistically, to build large all-encompassing campuses in the city centre. This post will give you some information on Imperial’s 8 major campuses and facilities, focusing on the main South Kensington campus.

Imperial campuses

Most undergraduate students will be located at the main campus in South Kensington.

Getting into Medicine without straight As

Laura Amarin

Medicine

My name is Laura and I am currently a third year student on the Graduate Medicine course at Imperial College London. I believe if being a doctor is really what you envision for yourself, no number of rejections will stop you – take it from me! I’m enjoying this process and wish all medical students out there the courage and wisdom to finish the course and remember why you started in the first place.

Unfortunately, to practice in the field of Medicine, good grades are a must. But for those of us who didn’t quite get there the first time, it’s not something to give up on.

The search for second year accommodation

Qinyi Wang

MEng Biomedical Engineering

Even after starting Year 3, it seems like it was just yesterday when I dragged all my luggage into my room at the Woodward Buildings. Unfortunately for the majority of us, the end of Year 1 meant moving out of student halls and finding a new home elsewhere. It isn’t an easy process, since London is an expensive city and Imperial just so happens to be located in one of the poshest areas. Looking back at my flat-hunting experiences, I have compiled a list of tips (that would have made my life so much easier) to share with you!

Who and when?

Learn more about life at Imperial

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