Student blogs

One of the things I love best about London is the flat that I share with my wife in Maida Vale. It’s small but it’s got enough room for the both of us with its loft design. It’s in a lovely area with amenities all around. And it’s a 7-minute bicycle ride to school. Can you blame me for liking it so much?

Finding the perfect place to rent, however, wasn’t exactly a cakewalk. I saw 18 different flats, trekked all over London, lost sleep and definitely grew a few white hairs over the two weeks I was house hunting. I learned a few things in the process and hopefully sharing them here will make the private renting process easier for you.

Read Finding private accommodation in London in full

Deadline successfully met on Friday, and how am I rewarding myself? Hmmm…

Ah! I had seen this trip to Stone Henge on the Imperial College website a few weeks earlier. Since I totally love stones (you can laugh, but it’s no joke), a trip to this epochal monument was on my bucketlist anyway. So I booked the excursion without delay!

Our group of students was picked up in the morning by a modern bus directly in front of the Sir Alexander Fleming Building. After about 1 1/2 hours of comfortable driving we arrived at the place of legend and mystery. However, there were more facts about the monument than I thought!

Read Stonehenge – a quick trip to UK’s history in full

What do Netballers really get up to?

I know it has been a long time since my last post, but I have been super busy with the end of the term and the end of the netball season, oh and of course keeping up with my degree, well kind of. Despite Varsity Fest 2018 being postponed, my calendar has been chock-a-block with all things netball! We’ve had some fun (and tough) last minute practices before our postponed varsity matches, including more sprints than I wish to remember but also the club AGM (annual general meeting) and the end of season dinner.

Read Off the court in full

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