Hello,

Revising hard for comprehensive paper

Rather unconventional title, perhaps. That’s what I’ve been doing the last few days. Monday found me heading to college to meet Carlos, who FAILED and didn’t come in. I spent the day doing calculations, trying to work out how much Silica my samples for my final project will have in them. I got incredibly, incredibly confused, and even Chemistry Boy couldn’t work out what my problem was. I headed home, went to bed, got up to repeat my actions on Tuesday. Had lectures Tuesday as well, which were really interesting. Nanomaterials II, where we learned about opal and quantum computers. Tom and I had lamb steak for dinner, which was really nice.

On Wednesday I met the PhD student who is helping me and she explained where I was going wrong in the calculations (as so often happens in these things, it was a totally silly mistake that I’d made because I didn’t fully understand the system). I also met a load of my Materials buddies to go over some revision for the comprehensive paper we have to do in May. It didn’t go so well for me, a lot more revision required.

Lunch on Friday at the SCR

Today has been lectures on neurones, synapses and why you will go deaf if you listen to your MP3 player too loud, and a meeting with the research group. KnitSock was interrupted by a fire alarm (you’ve never seen anyone so reluctant to leave a building as a bunch of students in a bar) and I’ve made my way home to veg in front of the TV, ready for a 7.45 AM start in the lab tomorrow.

Anyway, that’s all from me. Might have a lot to say in the next few weeks about job/PhD applications, so you can look forward to that!

Benjy eats sorbet with his broken spoon

I’ve just read Jaimie and Chris‘ blogs - commendations, guys, you make me feel like mine is a pile of useless rubbish - what use is this going on about my day to day life when you are doing exciting things like meeting Steve Jobs and being useful in life?

I’m going to continue anyway, simply because I had such a good few days. Yay me!

Thursday - KnitSock. It. Was. Awesome. Sitting in a room with people who know what it’s like to be stared at on public transport while you transform a ball of wool into a scarf/glove/hat? Perfect. Ben, Simon, Hannah G and Nikita came round to eat the sorbet Ben made on Tuesday (if you remember, it failed miserably). He broke a spoon in the process, and we stayed up till 3 am playing Mario Kart and a game called “Bang!” or something. The hilarity coming from “I’m going to Bang *insert name here*” was so immature that it was Allowed. 

BIRTHDAY CAKES

Friday, Tom and I went to Finsbury for a dinner. This was insane. Five course buffet - we were full by the end of the second course, but powered through. My dairy allergy went out of the window (“in for a penny, in for a pound”) and I ate four slices of cake. We drove back home feeling slightly sick, getting lost as a result of the stupid GPS on Tom’s phone. I’m surprised I didn’t wake up obese on Saturday.

I spent the whole of Saturday making cake, eating cake, then recovering from cake. This was all in honour of Simon’s 21st, which was awesome! Tom and I went home and to bed early, as a result of all the late nights during the week. John turned up at 8 am on Sunday morning, made us Eggs Benedict for breakfast, and spent a happy day with us preparing some stuff for the new members of the Berry-Budden clan (as shown in photos, I’m not pregnant, Toby).

I’m feeling really positive about life, which makes a nice change for this time of year - even though I looked at my calendar yesterday, trying to work out a time to go see Tom’s sister, and realised the only free weekend I have is the last weekend of term. That’s right, December. I discovered today that I could possibly be eligible for a type of immunotherapy that will ‘cure’ my hayfever (although it involves injections every week for four months, and pills every day for three years), which will make exam season awesome - just in time to have no more exams. Woot.

Getting ready for a "hats and ties" party

Piper and Phoebe, two of three new little ones.

The Dwarves are coming round for dinner tonight (except Matt, who was a retard and forgot to order his graduation gown), so it looks to be another late night. Yay!

Hey guys,

I’m mega excited about results tomorrow. I’m going to be spamming Twitter and Facebook like anything when I get home from work, so if you’re talking about it chances are you might get a message from me! To celebrate the upcoming Welcome Week, I’ve done another feature for a club – KnitSock!

You can check these guys out at the Fresher’s Fair (I’m not sure if this is still what it’s called, but they will be at the C&S fair anyway), or if you leave comments below I will pass them on to the clubs chair. (Many thanks for giving me all the info!)

Who?

Imperial College Knitting Society

Why?

Yes, I did knit these.

You can make stuff! Why not? I’ve said you should take advantage of being a student at IC, and use the clubs and societies, which are numerous! I’ve known to knit for as long as I can remember, and Tom and I were walking past a stall on North End Road one day. I saw the knitting needles and wool, decided to buy them, and have been totally obsessed (again) since.

I’ve also taught Lucia, Luisa and a girl from my internship to knit. We are the epitome of cool.

What and Where?

The club owns needles and wool, textbooks with patterns in them, and a variety of accessories. They meet up at the bar on a Tuesday evening at 5 pm, eat cake, drink stuff, and knit!

Social?

In addition to their weekly gatherings, KnitSock embarks on journeys to attend some of the wider knitting events, outside of the bounds of Imperial.

Cost?

Membership for the year will set you back a measly £5 in exchange for access to your own set of needles, however much wool you’d like to use, and a good deal of cake.