The last post was a bit of a bomb-shell. It’s been really difficult deciding to publish the news. The whole thing has been a bit difficult, really. I have spent three and a half long and hard years working towards this summer, and now it has been put off for another year. The decision wasn’t made lightly, and I got a lot of support from everyone – the people who were more brilliant that I expected them to be were my personal tutor and senior tutor. As someone who is “going to get a first”, in the words of my tutor, going up to them and saying “I can’t do it this year” feels like a massive failure.

That said, if anybody is in the position I was in back in February – where getting up to go to lectures felt too difficult, in fact, getting up at all was quite a mission, and my project was just going nowhere – then I would thoroughly recommend looking at what I did. I realise you don’t actually know what happened, so cliff-notes version.

The stress of final year, combined with other, more personal stuff, started getting to me. I went to the doctor after a solid month of not wanting to get up in the morning (very unusual for me, I am usually up at the crack of dawn) and told them I thought I needed help. A few things were tried out, and in the end they recommended that I take an interruption of studies. In typical Corrie style, I hadn’t told my parents that I was having so much trouble, so after a very quick intervention, a couple of months living in a room in Tizard Hall, and a lot of advice from various people, the steps were taken and it was all confirmed at the beginning of May.

I’m now working as a temp, doing administration, filling my days and trying to get my head to a good place again. I’m also getting impromptu folk lessons from my flatmate, which is really cool. Quartet stuff is going very well, and I have a few posts about things I’ve done with my friends that have been incredible over the last few months still to write. For now, have some cake.

Mmmm, yummy potatoes.

1. You don’t have to measure out ingredients to the fourth decimal place. In fact, sometimes, the more rough you are, the better the result.

2. You don’t have to wear safety gear; you don’t run the risk of killing your lungs with silica vapour, or accidentally inhaling too many fumes from the acetone dried samples. The worst thing you could do is burn yourself, or cut your finger – and let’s face it, I’ve done that and it wasn’t too bad.

3. You don’t have to lock other people out of your kitchen. You can socialise and listen to music. You don’t end up in the place that time forgot.

4. You don’t have to wash dishes five times – first with detergent, then with water, then with acid, then with water, then with de-ionised water. You don’t have to rewash something which has a watermark on it.

5. You don’t have to record every little step you took while you were cooking.

6. It doesn’t take four weeks to cook a meal. Once the meal is made, no further effort – apart from mastication – is required.

7. The fruits of your labours are edible, hopefully delicious, and don’t have to be stored in little sample containers that take over your life.

8. If you don’t want to add a certain ingredient, you don’t have to.

9. Your future success does not depend on the outcome of each meal, and your ability to critically analyse the results.

10. You don’t have to have specialised equipment to make good food.

Combining art and revision (Carlos bought coloured chalk. That was a BAD idea.)

I had my first exam of the year this morning. It was Systems Physiology – a module that Carlos, Saj and I took with the bioengineering department, as part of our efforts to biology it up this year. Basically, we had to learn the anatomy and basic operating processes of the brain, heart, lungs, musculoskeletal system, and genetics. The exam was OK – I did some maths, which I was very happy about (the Nernst Equation – like, the easiest equation in the world), and blagged my way through answering some bits where I knew the information but wasn’t exactly sure what was being asked. We shall see. Four exams away from the end of my time at Imperial. Yes!

I’ve started a new tutoring thing with a lovely little girl in Knightsbridge. I’m to teach her piano and help her with maths, so I started that on Monday, and it was good. She’s very lively and bright, and I can only see myself enjoying it. It does mean I’ve spent ages trying to think of ways to play games with maths – and also looking up the syllabus for the Key Stages 2 and 3. My next step is going to Hamley’s, to see what educational toys they have.

Revision or play-time, you decide.

Well, it’s a good excuse, right?

I made a stew in the slow cooker the other night, which I was very proud of cos it had dumplings in it. I didn’t know what dumplings were – I’d never eaten them let alone made them, and I have to say, they were horrible. Even the picture looks horrible. Yuck.

Knitting is going strong. I’ve completed one glove, received 600 beads and 800 buttons for some scarf projects (I’m doing 11 in ’11 – knitting 11 scarves this year, pretty self-explanatory. If you care, I’ve started a crafty blog so that I can talk about CREATING to the internet, and stop annoying all my friends.) Tom’s parents bought us Wii Fit for Christmas, and it has told me I need to lose quite a substantial amount of weight. (Yuck). After studying the Systems Physiology course and learning about atherosclerosis, and knowing that since I stopped riding regularly (stupid project, getting in the way of my leisure time…I jest…) I’ve put on some weight, this is all going to combine into a massive plan for the next six months. Leave notes in college, run to and from college and home (the Oyster fare just went up, which is largely responsible for that little one), get a first and lose the weight that the annoying voice on the TV is telling me I need to.

Mmmmm, delicious...NOT.

I’m going to the pub tonight, then back to work tomorrow. I’m actually feeling really inspired, and am looking forward to blasting through the last six months of my degree with as much debauchery, studying and jollity as possible. I start Advanced Biomaterials, and Tissue Engineering next week, and I can’t wait.

Ciao for now!

Corrie