Tom in La Tasca - birthday boyo!

I’ve done a lot of Fresher’s related posts recently, and can only apologise for this. I thought I’d give some attention to those of you who follow me for stuff other than my thoughts on what it is to be new at this wonderful institution…

Last week, my personal blog decided that it was going to break-down and give up on life. This is probably my fault – I tried to add a widget that would allow my dear readers to see my Google Calendar…my tech support (ie, my brother) is far too busy enjoying life in the US of A to help me sort it out, and I don’t have any of the details to allow someone else (ie John/Ben) to help me fix it. That was probably the least exciting thing to happen all week, but it has been distressing me a lot, so excuse me if this becomes more rambly than the ones I’ve posted all summer.

Flat ready to partay!

So, why was my week so exciting?

Well, first of all, my dearest darling long-suffering Thomas had a birthday! This was on Monday; we’d driven to Devon over the weekend to see our families (we met in Devon, so live half an hour away from each other and can see both sets of parents in one go). Here, his parents and I had presented him with a Nintendo Wii, we’d picked up the lovely Toby, and headed back to the Lond for hours of fun-times at the TV, learning how to wiggle our bums correctly in order to hit the ball on Wii Baseball. Monday was spent celebrating (part of the reason I’ve had nothing to say about my internship on here has been because I’ve been on leave for ages – I still had Monday off). We made cupcakes, played hours of Wii Sports, and had a surprise dinner at La Tasca, which I had somehow managed to keep secret from him. More hours of Wii Sports followed, something that will undoubtedly be a recurring theme over the next few months…

My favourite people, all in one place at the same time? Yes!

Fast-forward to Friday (I can only apologise for the messed up chronologics of this blog), and our first house-party. We were relatively well-behaved, with no breakages, loud music that I stopped at midnight, and eight people sleeping over in a mess of air-beds that deflate halfway through the night and squashed up on sofas. It was rather excellent. Our families regularly say that we don’t live like students; this should have changed their minds, if just for one night.

OK, so back to Tuesday, my first day at work for just under two weeks. I got in to “Corrie, the office has been so quiet without you” and a load of literature reviews and things that I’d researched to write up. Prepared to take ages, I settled in for a lot of reading journals, just as my supervisor came up to me; “Corrie, would you like to have a go on the Redlux?”

Jeremy and I putting on some moves...

A chance to do some experimentation? YES PLEASE!!!

Thursday found me in the labs after-hours (the only time the R&D dept can use this machinery) trying to put latex gloves on over rings and long nails (you can tell I haven’t been in the lab for a long time) and figure out how to use the machine. I can’t go into too much detail (read “I can’t tell you anything”), but I discovered that even sitting waiting for a set of results for half an hour is a lot of excitement after two and a half months of sitting at a computer. It was awesome.

Additionally, the results of the test that someone at Southampton Uni did using a test-rig that I designed came back as ‘good’ – some improvement needed, which resulted in another happy few hours on SolidWorks.

The morning after, feeling sunny.

This week, I have a lot of work to be getting on with. We have a deadline on the 8th of October for an 8000 word (or more) piece of coursework, as well as finishing up the odds and ends I have to do for the company. Tomorrow and Thursday, I will be doing more stuff in the lab, and I’m currently working on some gifts for the friends I’ve made here (as my mum always said – “Home made is best!”).

Next week, I’ll give you a nice little summary of my time on the internship, that will hopefully be more informative than any of my blogs have been up to now (especially as by then I should have finished my coursework). I’ve had an amazing time, and a really good summer – but don’t think it’s over yet, as I still have Tour to Porto, a grandmotherly visit and writing up of tutorials to be doing. You’ve got a lot to look forward to (haha!)

Ciao for now,

Corrie

Twitch - just because he's so precious (and stuffing his cheek pouches to the point of getting stuck in his tubes!)

Who?

The Imperial College String Ensemble

Why?

The domain of strings players.

I was part of a string ensemble at school, thought this would be fun! Especially as their stall at Fresher’s Fair is normally incredible. Due to time commitments, I don’t actually play with them anymore, but some of my best friends from Imperial were found in this group of lovely people.

What and Where?

ICSE is a smallish group of string players who have fun with some of the repertoire that the orchestras can’t handle with their woodwind/brass/percussion. Rehearsals are in the Great Hall or Senior Common Room (depending on availability), on Friday nights from 6.15 pm to 8 pm. The conductor is Scott Wilson, a maestro from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has big plans for the ensemble, and they are moving in directions previously unexplored, promising an amazing year for 2010/2011.

They usually have three major concerts, but have expanded to four for this year:

Winter concert: 19th November – Tchaikovsky “Serenade for Strings”; Albinoni “Adagio”; Respighi “Ancient Airs and Dances”. This will be in the Holy Trinity Church on Prince Consort Road, the traditional place for an ICSE concert, and a magnificent venue.

A small selection of ensemble members.

Spring Charity Concert: a Mozart piano concerto with a professional pianist recruited by Scott, and other repertoire - 4th Feb (tbc)

Another Spring concert: Vivaldi “Spring” and “Summer” concertos; Williamson “Symphony No 7″ – 18th March

Their final concert will be in the summer term, details to be confirmed.

Social?

As ICSE rehearsals are on a Friday night, they have a social every week. This ranges from going out for ice-cream/a meal/heading off to the pub, to holding a major event at least once a term which in the past have included barn dances, an ICSE speciality.

Audition?

No auditions! Just turn up and have fun.

ICSE relaxing in the sun

Cost?

Membership for a whole year, including tea, crumpets and toast during breaks (ICSE are the only orchestra at IC that own a toaster), is just £15. This is a major bargain (the cost of just one riding lesson, in fact!).

It’s taken me a while to write my next blog post. You will all get over it, soon. Promise. (I’ve been insanely busy. I can’t even put photos up, which irritates me a lot, but I’m running out of time to get all the blogs out that I want to before term starts. Sorry.)

In the Corrie-news this week is the fact that I just spent six days at Towersey Village Festival. Due to the “what happens in Towersey stays in Towersey” rule, I can’t talk too much about it. You can probably guess what happens when a load of musicians get together and spend five days drinking, not sleeping very much, playing fiddle at 3 in the morning and sleeping in very not-waterproof tents. There was grumpiness, there was cheeriness, there was CHEERINESS, and I got home very tired.

After that, a friend from America came to stay for four days, then Tom and I went home for Tom’s birthday. We (his parents and me) gave him a Nintendo Wii, and we are enjoying that in our spare moments.

I’m now in the last eight days of my internship, finishing off writing up everything, finishing off my design project, working late to get some measurements on a Redlux….but nothing new, so on with Fresher’s Excitement!

I’ve had a lot of responses to my last blog. I’m very pleased! I received an email from someone accepted into Materials (hello!) asking more questions about Welcome Week – and a lot of “Oh my God, we have a maths test?” I thought I would do a brief rundown of what I did in my own Welcome Week. It’s very Materials specific, but might be an idea as to what happens in the rest of the University.

The first thing that happens is you meet people. Specifically, your tutor and head of year. You will meet so many people from the Materials Department, that you won’t have a clue about who is who for a long time. The most important person you will meet on the first day is your new tutor, who will also assign you a poster project in your tutor groups. In your year, there will be four people, give or take one, per tutor group. We had to make a poster about artifical heart-valves – our tutor is a Biomaterials God, which is the reason for that little gem. It will obviously depend on your tutor’s special subject. This is the main ‘work’ thing you will have to do in the department.

The other work thing is the dreaded maths test. I really scared one of the Fresher’s last year by going on about how difficult Maths is. He looked really scared and said he was going to transfer out of Materials – I saw him during exam week, sitting our exams, and am pleased that I didn’t actually scare him away. I’m really sorry about that, but I hate maths, and tend to get a bit over-exuberant when talking about it. Anyway, the test really isn’t that difficult. It’s multiple choice, and is just a way of them making sure you know what level you are expected to have. If you fail (yes, I did), you resit it two weeks later, and are expected to go to a refresher course in the meantime.

You will also do a lunch with your tutor, where you will meet all of their other tutees (mine is Prof Molly Stevens – if you have her, you are very lucky for two reasons! A), you get to meet me, and B), Molly is the most amazing academic you can ever wish to have assigned to look after you for 3/4 years. She is severely inspirational, and my personal hero.) In the Buddie’s Lunch, an older student gets assigned to you and answers any questions you may have. Of course, you won’t have any questions that haven’t been answered, because you have me. But, free lunch! (You might get assigned Coranda Berry as your Buddy. I’ll give you a clue: she is AWESOME)

You get given a LOT of information about how to access all the files you might require on the IC Servers, how to read your timetable, how to hand in coursework, how to write coursework. It’s hard to pay attention to everything, but it is important, so try do so. This year, there will be an added bonus, where one fourth year student will be teaching everyone how to use a referencing programme. (Hint: it’s me.)

Apart from anything else, this is a really good time to get to know people on the course before you have pressure. Second week is where the fun really starts – they don’t ease you in gently. It’s a bit of a baptism of fire. But Welcome Week is plenty of free lunch, lots of time to spare (even if the starter timetable doesn’t look like it) and a really good way to get used to the department.

If anybody has any more specific questions, please do ask. Like I say, I’m incredibly busy – a brief rundown of my life for the next month includes an 8,000 word piece of coursework, a 20 minute presentation to prepare for, hospital appointments (hayfever sucks), a week in Portugal, the end of my internship, a weekend-long celebration for Tom’s birthday, preparation for tutorials I’m giving…you get the picture!

I’m trying to get some more specific info about my clubs and societies up, I’m sorry it’s taking so long. I will try sit down tonight and do it. The good news for everyone is that I signed up for another year of blogging…so you all get to find out exactly how I’m going to juggle all my commitments while trying to find a PhD, earn some extra money, and enjoy my last year as well!

I don’t know when I will next blog. If you want to follow me on Twitter, you will get a slightly better idea of what I’m doing, and I’m generally very good at answering questions on there cos I get them on my phone and it’s a bit like a text message. So if you have urgent stuff, you know what to do. (And if you don’t have Twitter, get it. It will replace Facebook for you.)

Ciao for now!

AveryrushedCorrie