Aislinn's blog

After a rather lazy few weeks at home, I’ve finally managed to get back into my working routine. Admittedly a little later than I had planned, but let’s be realistic. Three months without any Aislinn at home means I’ve got some social catching up to do, right? That’s my excuse, and I’m rollin’ with it.

Bioengineers taking a break from a last-minute coursework session at the end of term!

Now, I already wrote a bit about studying on this blog last year, just a bit of general info about morale and how high you should set your standards. I still stand by my previous advice, but I’m here to add a bit more:

Sleeping – I’ll be the first to admit I’ve overdosed on this one this Easter. Yesterday I woke up at 3pm, and the day before I fell asleep in the middle of revising. But no more! I got up at a respectable hour this morning (10 am, don’t you dare judge me) and got some solid work done at my dad’s gentle nudging. Do I regret my hours of staying up late and sleeping all day? Not at all. But I made a promise to myself to get back into the serious study for at least the last two weeks of the holidays, a goal I set at the beginning of the break, and anyone that shares my love for the duvet should do the same.

Applications – Now is the time, if you haven’t done so already, to get those job applications in, for the summer or otherwise. You won’t have any time during the Summer Term and it will almost certainly be too late by then. For those who haven’t managed to find anything yet, keep an eye on Imperial’s Jobslive service, and remember, you can almost always find yourself a UROP research position right here at Imperial. This summer in particular, if you grab yourself an unpaid position there’s always part-time work to be found to supplement your instant noodle diet at JobsForTheGames, the 2012 Olympic recruiting site.

Stay on Track – Keep clean, exercise, and do as much work as you can without sacrificing your entire holiday. Bioengineering’s exam period is going to be spanned over 6 weeks, so take the break now while you still can!

Despite the massive Friends/Gilmore Girls-shaped hole in my TV viewing life (E4, how could you desert me so?), I’ve managed to keep myself entertained outside of my studying hours. Click here for endless fun, I promise. Substitute “shufflin’” with “studyin’” and you’ve got a good idea of my life these days.

My sentiments exactly: From http://numerousobsessions.tumblr.com/

We’ve all seen the posters, heard the speeches, and, on my part, largely dismissed the insistent vote-for-me Facebook messages. But don’t let their slightly annoying persistence deter you – get voting!!

Imperial’s Student Union represents us, and this time of year is our chance to make sure that we elect the right people for the year ahead. I can tell you know, having some agreeable faces at the top makes life much easier for the rest of us, especially those involved in clubs&socs. 

I’m not going to endorse any of the candidates for any position – a) because I appreciate that everyone should form their own unbiased opinion from reading the manifestos and b) as an official Imperial blogger and indeed, the current president of one of our media societies, IC Radio, I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed!

So for info on all the candidates, the positions they’re running for,  and some nifty real-time stats and tweets about the elections, click here: http://union.ic.ac.uk/marketing/elections/

And now, a tribute to my favourite activist of the Disney generation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvk1NZDFvZU

Well done, sister. Well done.

Oh dear. It’s February. Somebody, please, tell me where all that time has gone?!

Maybe it was the myriad of exams, assignments, and group projects that kept me off the radar for a while, but I feel awake again. An embarrassingly large amount of time has gone by since my last blog post, so it’s time for an update. I’m not going to lie - Ireland’s excruciating 6 Nations defeat at the hands of Wales (a bitter reminder of our World Cup woes) made all the more painful by the hoards of Welsh fans at my local pub (it’s Welsh – should’ve seen it coming), crippled my spirits over the weekend. I did, however, have a bucketload of fun in the snow that we had on Saturday night – I’ll tack on a picture of our “Aislinn-sized” snowman once I’ve robbed it off my housemate’s camera.

Tommy Bowe with a moment of triumph, but victory was not meant to be.

So we’re about halfway through the year now, and with a few exams safely under my belt, it’s time to start thinking about what to do over the summer. My plans are still a bit vague, but these are my general thoughts at the moment:

Last year, I took part in a three-week paid teaching programme called the Student Associate Scheme, run by Exscitec (who have links with Imperial). I was an assistant teacher in a secondary school in London for GCSE science and maths, and it was a really great experience – I got to try my hand at teaching and spend my weekends visiting friends in the English countryside. I’m not the type to do the same thing every year but if anyone is interested in Exscitec’s programmes, check it out here: http://www.exscitec.com/schemes/index.asp.

Before the Christmas holidays I registered my interest in the IAESTE scheme, the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience. My dad, ever the over-enthusiastic academic, told me about it – he got an internship through IASETE back in the days of Fleetwood Mac and and excessive sideburn culture.  It’s an international company that organises work placements for university students overseas. It works on an exchange basis – the IAESTE division in the UK raises placements here to offer in exchange for placements in other IAESTE countries. Unfortunately, you can’t apply for any of the interships unless you’ve registered interest, but applications will be opening up again in October for those of you thinking about work for 2013. Check out more info here at the UK-based website: http://www.iaeste.org.uk/index.html.

Another possibility, especially for those local to London or anyone who can’t enough of the Bigger Smoke (the Big Smoke being Dublin, sorry, old habits die hard!), is UROP, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme. It’s a placement scheme right here at Imperial aimed at the research-inclined. Info here: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/urop.

Finally, a page for laughs – find out what Imperial is like here: http://www.facebook.com/ImperialMemes. Absolute gold.

Wow, it’s already been a month since my last post!! Time is flying past us here at Imperial – it’s been insane. Between lectures and labs, coursework, running the radio station, and the general effort of keeping myself well fed, clean, and moderately healthy, I’ve been absolutely swamped.

Anyway, I’m not here to complain or whinge about the work – we all knew when we signed up for Imperial that it wasn’t going to be easy all the time, and 2nd year is especially tough across all courses it seems!

Some news since I last updated the blogosphere – I finally got a double duvet for my bed when my parents came to visit, turned 20 and pierced my nose in sheer panic, invested in some Corona glasses and boom-boom-pow speakers… And I managed to get a Student Radio Award on behalf of our very own student radio station IC Radio! Also, I got my radiator fixed. Happy times all around!

The various assortment of presents I got for my birthday - new UFO-like speakers, a popcorn maker, recycled Corona glasses, a Lego Jack Sparrow keyring, a slightly inappropriate mouse mat, a new monitor, and an M&M glass. (I had no drinking glasses, hence the funky glasses craze...)

But it’s not all homely goodies and awards, oh no. This year actually counts towards my REAL DEGREE, and believe me, the work is definitely being piled on without mercy.

So anyway, to give you a good idea of what to expect from 2nd year, I’ll run through my average day for you…

7.15am - Wake up to a ferocious alarm and stumble out of bed after hitting the second snooze button

8.40am - Leave for 9am labs/lectures/workshops, feeling slightly more awake after a shower and triple dose of Weetabix

12pm - Break for lunch / Attend radio or group project meeting / Work on problem sheets and/or sleep in the Bioeng study room / Go to the bank or post office or get a haircut because your unkempt student appearance is getting just a tad frightening

2pm - Hit up more lectures/labs/workshops, try to pay attention and not think about all the work that you have yet to “catch up on”

5pm - Tell yourself that you’re still going to go to the gym after all that, get strange looks on the tube because your sweaty post-workout appearance is quite frankly terrifying / Failing that, go to Tesco for the weekly shop and try to convince housemates that they owe you 10 quid for toilet paper

7pm - Get into pajamas, make dinner and watch that mindless guilty pleasure tv show you secretly love (insert Glee/90210/Pretty Little Liars/Made in Chelsea here), attempt to work on assignments, have a Skype session with mates back home about the first shot you’re going to do when you hit the pub after homecoming, have Skype session with the mother about what BBC Jane Austen adaptation you’re going to watch after homecoming, have a Skype session with your housemate downstairs about whose turn it is to do the washing up

Any time between 10pm and 1am - Fall into bed with life satisfaction directly related to amount of work done/Skype-ing quality/fitness of opposite gender in the gym that day.

Amazingly, that’s a pretty standard day. Sometimes we start at 10 and finish at 6, sometimes we get one hour for lunch instead of two, sometimes we have a rare afternoon or a morning off (not often enough sadly). At the beginning of term getting everyone sorted for a new year at IC Radio had me pretty busy, but coursework has taken centre stage these days.

Bioengineering seems to have one of the heavier timetables here at IC, but even with that, I’m much more at ease here now than I was at this time last year. With the experience of last year’s exams under my belt I know what I have to do to make sure I don’t have too much a study scramble over the Easter holidays, but knowing what I have to do and actually doing it are two very different things…

So there you have it! A day in the life indeed. All I can say now is, expect me to be shamelessly listening to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” on repeat for the next few weeks… Hang in there lads, HOLIDAYS A’ COMIN’!

Fervently hoping to see it like this come December!

P.S. – Fellow blogger Dawn just posted an excellent blog about interviews here at Imperial. I’ve seen a few prospective students around the place looking fancy, and I never did an interview (international student wahey!) so if you’re looking for tips, go check it out!