Blog posts

How to Survive Freshers Week

Mathematics and Statistics

Welcome to Imperial!

For all of you freshers settling into life at Imperial, it’s a very important and busy few weeks! First of all congratulations on getting here and I hope you have enjoyed your first 24 hours in halls! Starting at Imperial can be a very exciting time, filled with so many different emotions. Fear of the unknown, excitement for the adventures to come and nervousness about meeting so many new people, followed by a touch of homesickness too perhaps. Having been in your shoes two years ago, it’s fair to say I know a thing or two about negotiating Freshers week, which I hope to share with you!

I SURVIVED MY FIRST YEAR AT IMPERIAL — here is the ups and the downs

MEng Civil Engineering

Coming to Imperial was honestly surreal for me, it felt like a dream, and when I woke up it was exam time, and I had to fought tooth and nail to survive. Until I was actually in London, there was always a possibility at the back of my mind to back out. I wanted the easy path, the “I know I can ace every single class”, which was why Imperial was sort of my second choice. Yes, you heard me, it was my second choice, despite the fact that tons of people are dying to get in.

I know from the beginning, that Imperial would be hard, so I lost hope since the beginning.

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful term…

MSc Science Communication

And just like that third term is over! In keeping with my previous end of term blogs I thought I’d stick to tradition, but this time use songs from some of the best-loved Disney films to round up my final term at Imperial.

Reflection (Mulan)

We finally reached the practical option term of the masters course and I chose to take courses in radio and documentary. For radio, I produced a short piece about cultured meat and together with some course mates, produced a short documentary called ‘the sun shines for everyone’. It was an incredibly busy term with not much time for reflection as it progressed, but looking back on it now I learnt so much and gained experience to aid me in the future.

Awards Time

Mathematics and Statistics

Maths Wins big at Union Awards

Sitting in the study room one Wednesday evening, typing away at my Python code, I was delighted to receive an email saying I was shortlisted for two union awards, the first being the Maths Wellbeing Team shortlisted for Wellbeing Team of the year, and getting shortlisted for Union Colours. Union Colours are awards are given to about 30 students a year who have made large contributions to the union through service to the community. This could be in a society, as a departmental representative or through a project.

The Maths Wellbeing Team

Over the year the Maths Wellbeing Team has done some big things to try and foster a better sense of community within the department whilst representing students’ issues and making sure the department makes constant efforts to improve.

Having a Ball

MSc Science Communication

This Saturday the South Kensington campus was host to the Imperial Summer Ball. An annual celebration to help students unwind after a long year, there was plenty to keep everyone entertained all night long. Here is a snapshot of my evening with course-mates at the ball… 

Student Performances

In the SCR lots of acts from hip-hop dancers to a capella singers took to the stage in front of a crowd of onlookers. As ever, Dance Company was part of the action and I performed with them in a Disney Medley!

Funfair

One of the main attractions of the evening were the fairground rides.

Year one, checked!

MEng Aeronautical Engineering

First year through my eyes

As the end of the year has arrived, it is time to reflect on everything that has happened over the past nine months.

I have moved abroad, started a degree, started relationships with people from all different backgrounds, I’ve experienced the exciting and sometimes lonely London. I’ve spent more hours in the library this year alone than during all of my high school years combined. I’ve created a structure, been taught how flow behaves around aerofoils or how combustion allows us to move forward. I’ve learnt how to overcome drag, both theoretically and figuratively. I have grown, a scary amount.

Leave Me Alone | The Exam Life #3

MEng Civil Engineering

3 exams down, 6 to go.

You know how they said studying with a friend makes you less stress, yeah well, at this point its not anymore. I mean he made me laugh, he stalked someone (on my behalf-ish), he made fun of the way I’m typing up this very blog, he warned me when there was a secret sales, went to get coffee with me, He made me have fewer mental breakdowns. But being seriously tense and unease, having five mini mental breakdowns a day, all I want is to be left alone.

27 May 2019

You know what I did on Bank Holiday.

10 Cups of Coffee A Day | The Exam Life #2

MEng Civil Engineering

22 May 2019 Constantly in denial that I was sleep deprived, sleeping an average of 3 hours a day and surviving on ten cups of coffee a day. The perfectionism, the need for constantly being right and accurate at the same time, led me to this day. The lack of sleep simply put me somewhere between constantly making small mistakes that frustrates me and the paranoia that the one thing that I didn’t perfectly understood was the one thing that would fail me.

Structural Mechanics, a subject that in my opinion requires focus on details, something I admitted lack in this circumstances.

36 Hours at Imperial College | The Exam Life #1

MEng Civil Engineering

The first day I came to Imperial as a student I vividly remember being told not to spend 24 hours in the library, and yet I spent 36 hours in the library.

20 May 2019 Seconds after finishing my maths exam, I rushed myself to the third floor computer room in Skempton. After feeling like I just failed Maths, I can only fail one other subject, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t Computational Methods (the exam I had 2 days after Maths).

Somewhere between overdosing on caffeine and bankrupting over deliveroos, I was at the computer, frustrated and enraged that the codes didn’t made sense to me.

Part-time work

MSc Science Communication

Studying in one of the most expensive cities in the world is one factor that affects people’s decision to study at Imperial College. Rest assured it can be done, but particularly for students like myself who are undertaking a one year master’s course, the different funding options means that money can sometimes get tight. An upside of the course though, is its flexibility in allowing its students to have part-time jobs. Indeed, most students from the Science Communication Unit have part-time jobs, myself included.

I have previously mentioned my job as an Observatory Explainer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, but have not delved into many details.

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