Tis a glorious season at Imperial, as lectures end; the chocolate-filled Easter holiday begins; and the sun shines brightly each morning, filling you with an optimistic view of life, the universe and everything. The irritating early birdsong that once indicated your “all-nighter” was nearing completion, is now a pleasant greeting welcoming you to the day.

My Progress Bars

After an amazing 8 seconds of indulging in this lovely Spring feeling, I remembered I have bucket loads of work to do towards exams and resumed the hermit-like state that I’ve spent most of the year in. Revision is a very stressful time, but it is slowly something I begin to enjoy. I am an incredibly misleading example of an Imperial student, in that I don’t work particularly hard on anything that doesn’t spark my interest, and have an attention span that goldfish would judge me for. Nevertheless, having the fight or flight adrenaline rush of an impending exam goes a long way to converge my attention onto this one, gargantuan task and approach the modules at my own pace. I like that for the majority of my subjects I begin to see the beauty and relevance of what is going on, even if it does take 17 stressed-out hours to make this discovery. There are, of course, notable exceptions for every course at Imperial, but we all have our ways of dealing with those (I opt for chocolate, Red Bull and self-deprecation on my blog).

I will do my best to keep blogging as much as I can during this period. This year, I’ve found myself more stressed than most years, mainly due to the increased consequence of failure thanks to my application to study in Singapore next year. With that in mind, my next plan for blogging is to do a detailed description of the year abroad scheme here at Imperial as I go through the application process. If that is something you would like sooner, rather than later, keep on commenting and reminding me to get writing!!

Very sorry for my absence from the blogosphere, I promise I will try harder from this point on

Thanks for reading,
Chris xx

We upgraded our Air Guitars

Thursday was gorgeous. It all began in the morning, when the sun finally conquered the high peak of my neighbours rooftop and I was woken by its satisfied glow. I went outside and was able to rip off my jacket and jumper with minimal discomfort as the winter season finally made the exit all of us had been hinting towards it, since it’s expected arrival last year. The most effective way I can describe a day like this to students is to say it was: far too nice to revise. Instead, I decided the only way I could effectively use my time would be to call some old friends and interrupt their busy revision schedules as well.

Ela enjoying something I said

Much to my disbelief I successfully managed to get the attendance of three of my dearest friends from sixth form (who, for simplicities sake, we will refer to as Ela, Rachel and Rysiek).

It was a usual meeting between old friends, we discussed old times and the current goings on in each others lives, but the warmth outside permitted us all to grab the kitchen chairs and move the conversation to the front of my house.

Moreover my, usually quiet, road was even more mute, as one side of it had been blocked off due to engineering works on the connecting road, leading to a few inevitable badminton rallies. Had we any Pimms, it would have been a perfectly stereotypical summer television advertisement.

Rachel looking rather professional

After a lovely afternoon admiring the sight of my previously scattered friends all in the same place and smiling at the awkward glances from pedestrians as they made there way past our re-located dining room. I spent the rest of the day on an absolute high, which I am convinced was not due to the Skittles and Schloer consumed earlier. I tidied up, when back to my room and proceeded to get enough work done to keep me from complaining the next day (my immensely good mood deemed this to be one problem sheet).

After an early night I woke up to an unusually enthusiastic alarm, which was ready to see me struggle through another full day of mind-blending revision. If mathematics were a person, it spent all of Friday reducing me to a lifeless pulp. 9 exams and just over a month to go. Let the moaning begin!!

Off to Italy

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx

It’s been a while since my last post, simply because I haven’t been up to anything substantially interesting. On Monday I made the long trek from Hammersmith to my home in Greenford. Much unlike the travel woes of other Imperial students, who need to book plane journeys to places like China, my excursion involved waiting for a train for 7 mins, and then remaining in a stationary position for a further 23 mins. Once home I immediately made my way to the fully stocked fridge, via two loving parents who were thrilled to see me home and still fully functional.

From that point I sat in my slightly empty room and stared at the bulky pile of folders on the desk in front of me, a similar start to my days in Hammersmith. The problem with doing this in Greenford is that my room has never really had a working feel. In most student digs your room is filled with folders, pages of lecture notes, problem sheets, post-it notes with bits of information and housemates who are complaining about Pharmacology and MCD; all amounting to productivity. At home, I am surrounded by hand-me-downs and things that the other members of my family no longer want. Subsequently I have three guitars, two TVs, a sofa and a cupboard full of nostalgic enhancements like Gameboys, poker sets and Pokémon cards; all amounting to me forgetting that I am a university student, or even that I am no longer a child. My week was spent doing the little things I’ve been meaning to do all term, like assigning contact pictures on my phone and improving my Mario Kart skills from good to l33t. I also put my education to good use by fixing my Grandmothers computer and my sister’s laptop (which she broke once more almost and hour after I returned it to her). The joys of doing ISE!!

After a plentiful Easter with the family, I set off back to Hammersmith with a bag full of groceries and a near-mint set of lecture notes and problem sheets. The weather was surprisingly pleasant, so Alex and I took and hour out of our busy studying schedules to get a few things from Kings Street and enjoy the sun. I then unpacked all the clean laundry my mum had kindly returned to me and made sure my room was in a tidy and revision-provoking state. I also installed a whiteboard that will serve as my means of writing angry expletives, directed towards my exams, lecturers and anyone who has done more revision than me.

From this point on, revision mode begins. On bad days I’ll be chained to my desk drowning in a sea of empty Red Bull cans and on sunny days I’ll be in the Central Library constantly debating whether I should go home. But do not fear, my one and only method of procrastination will be to update my treasured blog. So expect posts by the bucketload!!

Chris xx