Blog posts

Should you do Horizons in First Year?

MBBS/BSc Medicine

Dieses Jahr habe ich Deutsch gelernt! I successfully completed my German Horizons course last week!

Imperial’s Horizons programme provides optional, free of charge, extra-curricular courses for undergrad students. The classes for all courses are two-hours long and take place once a week on campus. Mine were on Tuesdays from 4 to 6PM in the School of Medicine (SAF) building- I’m still grateful I didn’t have to trek my lazy butt half way across campus for them.

The course is split between two terms (Autumn and Spring term); some options last one term in duration whereas others, like languages, last two. The different courses on offer fall under the following categories: Business and Professional Skills; Global Challenges; Languages and Global Citizenship; and Science, Culture and Society.

Dad, people teach online for free – learning more with online videos

MSc Business Analytics

One of my learning rituals is to look for online videos to better understand the concepts that I’ve covered in class.

Lectures nowadays are taught with slides. This often lead us to go through mathematical formulas and other complicated concepts at a quicker speed than our brain (at least mine) can handle. Moreover, you might still need to some ‘refresh’ on topics you’ve learned time ago. You may also need to learn from scratch topics you might had not seen before.

I started by undergraduate degree back in 2009 when MOOC courses and online learning were in their early days. Looking for information came usually in written form.

Finding private accommodation in London

Master of Public Health (MPH)

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.

My Year in Industry/Research Experience – Part 1

Biological Sciences with year in industry

Since this is quite a long blog post, with lots of content, I decided to split it into parts. The first part (this post) will explain the trials and tribulations of applying for an internship and the highs and lows of the process. The second part will give you a glimpse of what my year was like and what it was like coming back to university in final year. Enjoy!

Last year, 2016-17 as part of my degree, I decided to do a year in industry/research. In short, it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life so far.

Stonehenge – a quick trip to UK’s history

ERASMUS+ exchange student

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!

Off the court

Mathematics and Statistics

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.

“Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny”

Mathematics of Planet Earth

My plan for today was to publish an article about π, to celebrate the International Pi Day (check out my last year’s post). Unfortunately we all woke up to hear very sad news: Stephen Hawking has died.

Only yesterday I and my office mate J. had an interesting conversation about the importance of social skills in academia. We came to the conclusion that while the stereotypical maths or physics professor is, for lack of a better word, a weirdo, such scientists are more likely than not to lose the battle for academic jobs. Research is all about collaboration and nobody wants to have rude or antisocial colleagues.

Uniting St Mary’s campus against diabetes

Master of Public Health (MPH)

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!

Nobels, cats and some pseudo-profound bull****

Mathematics of Planet Earth

Watching cat videos can give you a Nobel Prize.

Well, Ig Nobel, to be precise, but still sounds impressive. That’s what I learned thanks to our Graduate School.

I just came back from the Ig Nobel Award Tour Show 2018 hosted annually by Imperial. Ig Nobels are awarded every year at Harvard University by actual Nobel laureates. The only criterion is: the research first makes us laugh, and than think.

Having attended the show last year, I suffered from a stomach pain after laughing too much. The “goat man”, Ig Nobel prize winner in Biology who decided to become a goat for a few days, still makes me giggle.

Drama at Imperial: Act II

MBBS/BSc Medicine

Coming to you from mid-way through play week.

Picking up where I left off in the last blog post; as the Autumn Play was happening, Freshers’ Play was also a thing! So each year, older years in drama get together to direct (and sometimes even write) 3 short plays featuring the freshers. I remember genuinely freaking out because one of the plays were improv meaning the audition would be too. Honestly ended up having an absolute blast- and got one of the leads. I played a (largely-drunken) drama fresher who was couch-surfing because she had been kicked out of halls. Good times. 

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