It’s taken me a long time to think about how to write what will become my first official post. By definition is should be all about me, my background, my likes and dislikes and my thoughts on Imperial; a general indication to whoever sees the blog of whether they will find me interesting or not. Unfortunately, after many hours of scribbling lines and many incidences of falling asleep pen in hand and ink on face, I can’t seem to write anything that doesn’t sound like my CV being read out by a train driver on a chilly monday morning. So until I can get around to writing up something remotely acceptable, I leave you with a small snack to sample.
Becoming an Imperial Student Blogger was a lovely experience. It involved submitting a piece containing 600 words about “Life at Imperial”. Something interesting and dynamic to leave the judging panel wanting more. This being the case, I chose to avoid talking about myself and talk about Imperial College from an observer’s perspective. Enjoy!!
Life at Imperial is very similar to that of a safari. It’s busy, buzzing with various mammals, many of the nocturnal variety, and many creatures that can only be described as reptilian. Go into any habitat and you find a lot of pleasurable progress in the form of studying and deep thinking done for the same reasons cats lick their own testicles: because they can and they’re very good at it. Anyone still unconvinced by my metaphor should stop by the JCR any given feeding time to see exactly what I mean.
Like most “places of work” society on campus boils down to a predictable and regular routine. It is of course an interesting blog-worthy routine, but still finely scheduled and ordered. Every morning we are woken by an alarm, seemingly set 30 mins too early, and proceed to throw said alarm violently against the wall to switch it off. A brief hour later we emerge in a most probably hung-over, caveman-like state (be that from booze, studying or a strange combination of the two) and scramble together a selection of clothes adequate enough for campus standards, which are fortunately low. Upon late arrival to your first lecture or early arrival to your second lecture of the day, you greet those bizarre people, who always manage to be on time and fresh every morning, with a tired smile, feeling slightly envious but mostly irritated.
The minute hand slowly creeps across the clock-face, as you gaze and wish somehow the geniuses in Physics would mess with time and speed it up a little bit. I always find in particularly boring lectures the clock seems to jump backwards, which may mean they can mess with time, but use this ability to piss the rest of us off. Either way, lectures are used as times of learning, contemplating why you chose this subject in the first place and catching up on the sleep your, now shattered, alarm clock stole from you.
Lunch is always the most interesting point in my day. Walking across the Sherfield building during any busy lunchtime, you get a real sense of what Imperial stands for. You hear everything from “dude, I got so wasted” to “this nanorobot can circumnavigate your arm” and plenty of Mandarin which I’m sure translates to “circumnavigate your arm”. Though busy and bustling, I always feel integrated in the swift-paced moving towards the closest hot meal and energy drink. It’s also good to find some familiar faces, and argue about who just had the worst lecturer, or has the most work to do tonight.
This is the point of the day where all university students experience the great divide. Half of us go home, get some work done, snuggle up with some Horlicks and get to bed early enough for our 9 o clock lectures the next day. The other half go out to a nice club, and enjoy Hor-licks of a very different sense.
It’s a fascinating place, Imperial. It’s a safe-haven for the geekish type that excelled at A Level with a handful of biologists dotted around for good measure. In my opinion the perfect theme for a blog. The people I meet daily and the things I see inspire me to be insightful, blitheringly intelligent or just plain bizarre. Mix that with the stress from extreme workloads and the expectations we face from the outside world and life can quite easily turn into a poorly directed soap opera.
Thanks for Reading
Chris
xx
That was beautiful!
“Anyone still unconvinced by my metaphor should stop by the JCR any given feeding time to see exactly what I mean.”
That’s great!