Blog posts

How to roast an imperial steak

ERASMUS+ exchange student

A good, moist steak is one of the purest pleasures in my lifes. Today I will be advising you based on my years of experiementation, in my preferred methods of Steak preparation, so that you can also participate in this pleasure.

Preparation

Of course, the first thing you have to do is arrange for a piece of meat. Here you can find various cuts from different supermarkets in all price ranges. But there is also something for small budgets. Tesco has excellent test objects for 3.24, not too thin, not too expensive. When buying meat, however, be sure to pay attention to the grain: the finer the small fatty veins are that run through the meat, the better!

180 seconds

Mathematics of Planet Earth

Years of research squeezed into three minutes? That was the task I and eighteen other participants of Imperial College Three Minute Thesis competition had to face on Tuesday 24th April 2018.

The rules are very simple. Contestants get exactly three minutes to describe their research to general audience, using only one static slide. Sounds easy, but trust me, it’s extremely difficult. How do you introduce your narrow topic, explain what your research involves and persuade the audience that they should care in the first place?

All nineteen of us managed to do that. I learned a lot about a variety of research areas, from planting forests in Brazil, to optimal mixing of coffee and milk, to gravitational waves.

Launching a start-up at Imperial

MSc Business Analytics

Earlier this year, I met Christian, a student of Service at The Royal College of Art. What it started as a conversation of business ideas, is now becoming a start-up.

We’re launching GoalBowl. This is a breakfast mix subscription, tailor-made to your personal health and wellbeing goals. We match healthy ingredients to your goals based on their key nutrients and health benefits. This results in a tasty bowl made specially for you.

We’re working following the lean start-up approach. We make sure that we work close to customers and their needs. With this in mind and with the support of the Enterprise lab at Imperial, we set our first booth at Sherfield building.

A love declaration to books

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Sometimes it catches you, a book, an author, his or her view of various things.

I love books that enrich my perspective or increase my level of understanding. The more you learn, read and think your way into different topics, the more you realize how little you actually know. Furthermore there are books on almost every topic, its incredible!

From the application of algorithms to the philosophy of a virtuous life, how to short stocks on the financial markets, how to eat properly according to your blood group, there are dozens of sometimes contradictory treatises on everything. But exactly in this contradiction emerges the germ for one’s own thinking, for the explorative discovery of one’s interests, for the expansion of one’s own horizon, for picking out the right piece of the puzzle fitting into YOUR life.

I think I found my Dream Job

Mathematics and Statistics

The work that wasn’t revision during the holidays

During the Easter holidays, aside from catching up with friends, going home for a few weeks, and of course revision, I had some time to do some other cool stuff in and around the college and even got paid for some of it!

Work Shadowing:

A couple of weeks before Easter break, I attended a careers talk in the maths department which was all about how to approach companies in search of jobs and internships but also advertising the services we have access to as students at Imperial, such as CV checking. One such service that was advertised was the First year work shadowing scheme.

Hungry in South Kensington?

Electronic and Information Engineering

Many students are tired of the renowned library cafe and the free baked potatoes you can get with yoyo points. However, there’s plenty of options nearby that will definitely satisfy the most innate hunger.

For Lunch:

  • Bosphorus Kebab: The most amazing kebabs in the world for a cheap price too! (6 – 8 pounds per meal)
  • Go(Vietnamese): 8 pounds for the lunch deal. Best things are the chargrilled lemongrass chicken or the curry
  • Dozo(Japanese): Usually quite full, but the lunch deals range from (8-10 pounds)
  • Pret – sandwiches, hot-food ( 4- 7 pounds)
  • Wasabi – (6 – 9 pounds)

For dinner: 

  • Honest burgers: Fries are amazing ( 8-12 pounds) – simply one of the best burgers
  • Oriental canteen(Asian): (6 – 10 pounds) – south-east Asian cuisine
  • Jia(Chinese): (10-12 pounds) – this one has dumplings and stuff

Usually, for lunch, it’s either Go or Dozo.

2 for 1 cinema tickets in LONDON?

Electronic and Information Engineering

Just thought I would share this tip that’s been saving me 40 pounds – checkout meerkat movies.

It requires you to buy insurance from compare the market.com (Google it/checkout a guide) but the caveat is that you can actually buy the cheapest insurance (roughly 1 pound) – 1 day in the UK without cars. There’s plenty of guides out there and I’d suggest you check them out. Its completely legal and free, and you may have seen it in cinemas anyway.

It works for the popular cinemas (tried and tested personally) such as VUE, Odeon, Cineworld, etc, and for that 1 pound you’ll get 2 tickets for the price of 1 (usually comes around to 5 pounds each person for a standard 2D).

LinkedIn – just how useful is it?

Electronic and Information Engineering

Most people have an incredible facebook account. 500+ friends, tons of photos and videos. However, I’ve stopped using Facebook as a social media platform – there are many reasons why but I won’t go into them here. That said, Facebook is definitely good for communicating with everyone, but beyond I just feel aimlessly scrolling through the posts on Facebook just isn’t healthy.

Instead, I’ve started using LinkedIn and have never looked back since. Students are worried about getting internships. Most of us are anyway. Do not underestimate the power of LinkedIn here. I’ve gotten a fully fledged summer internship at one the largest banks in the world through a simple message from a recruiter, and almost 20 messages flooding my inbox throughout the year.

TeachFirst Insight Programme

Electronic and Information Engineering

You may have seen a company called TeachFirst around Imperial during the year. They are a charity that helps schools combat educational inequality due to different backgrounds, (i.e. children from homes with lesser financial background). So why am I talking about them?

For students, they offer 2 programs, an insight program and a graduate scheme. Last April, I got into their insight scheme which consisted of 2 weeks:

  • One week training
  • One week placement in a school

This was, without doubt, one of the greatest experiences of my life. I understand that many at Imperial/elsewhere look down upon teaching, but hear me out. 

The International Experience

Electronic and Information Engineering

For many of us international students, coming overseas is definitely a daunting experience – leaving all you’ve known and loved only to arrive somewhere you know nothing of. Compounded by the fact that we are apparently adults because we have graduated high school, the sense of protection and belonging is no longer there. We are all very much on our own.

Personally, I was very lost when starting the first year at university – arriving at a new place knowing no one. However, since then I’ve grown incredibly through friendships, failures and successes. I’ve become the president of the table tennis club, managed to secure some internships and met my girlfriend in the testosterone-filled world that is Imperial.

Learn more about life at Imperial

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