Quite recently, I had to print off some lecture slides. I was slightly shocked when I discovered that I have over 30 pounds of printing credit available – and I’ve never ever topped it up. Of course, my department is gracious enough to provide us with printing credit, so we could print our lecture notes. I don’t print all of them – last year I noticed that the only thing I used during my revision were the powerpoint files, and a big file filled with paper notes was just standing on a shelf during the exam revision time. And I was not the only one with this problem. The record belongs to my friend, who has over £35 £45 at the moment. Surprisingly enough, many people still complain that we don’t get enough of printing credit…

How to spend that?

I tried spending some of the money by printing textbooks available in the internet (the library copy I got was requested by somebody else an hour after I collected it from the library – yes, it was a popular book). Still, no success – I had over 20 quid to spend on printing that will never happen.

One time, when I was standing in the queue to get some lunch in SAF cafe, a great idea came to my mind – why can’t this money be used for other stuff? For example, paying for food. Everything required for this system to work is already in use. Credit can be added online, and the CID cards already have the contactless chips, so when paying for your sandwich you could just touch in. Or, if that’s too expensive, all the outlets around campus read the college cards by swiping it anyway.

I can imagine that that would reduce the queuing time significantly. Queues in JCR during lunchtimes are terribly long (I swear they were much shorter last year). I suppose that the departments wouldn’t be pleased to know that their money is spent on buying baguettes and bananas instead of printing educational materials. But then, the two accounts can be separate. I’m quite sure a college card can handle an additional number. Any experts on RFIDs?

So, if any of the Imperial or the Union’s VIPs are reading this – can that be done? I am pretty sure that everyone would be happy, so I am looking forward to see this in use in near future. Hopefully before I finish my degree…

Finally, my exams are finished. And, finally, I had some sleep.

The most annoying thing that I always encounter before the exams is the number of people thinking they can learn their stuff 5 minutes before the actual exam. After I arrived at Charing Cross capus for my exam a couple of days ago, I immediately noticed 45 people (that’s 90% of my course), sitting in the corridor with their notes, textbooks, and laptops, panicking and trying to revise the whole material in 5 minutes. And of course, they had to do that loud, so I had no choice than to listen, and realise that I have no idea what they are talking about. They seemed to enjoy it so I guess I was in a minority.

Once I started my paper, I started to feel terrible. And no, it was not caused by the fact that I did not know any of the answers. I was just hungry. Well, I shouldn’t really be surprised – 2 litres of lucozade, 3 cans of Relentless (I prefer to call it “Taste of revision”) and several packs of crisps is certainly not enough for 2 days and 2 nights. After some time, I though my stomach was about to implode (I’m wondering, would that situation be ‘extenuating’ enough to reschedule my exam?), and had to prevent myself from writing “food” in my paper.

However, I was prepared. I took some chocolate with me. Eating during an exam is prohibited, so I hid it in my pocket. Bad idea. Bad, BAD, idea. I don’t have to tell you how my trousers looked after 3 hours. Why is there no air conditioning at Charing Cross? And, what’s even worse, I was still hungry… Side effects of the energy drinks also started to kick in, and since my organism is not used to high amounts of caffeine, they were slightly scary.

But let’s just forget that incident, exams are over. The sad thing is that I will probably repeat all my mistakes in June. That’s a long time away though. Now, I can concentrate on my blog again, so expect random updates from now on.

Now, since the New Year has begun, and my revision is coming to a sad climax, I can formally start blogging for Imperial. And the best way to do this is by introducing myself.

Well, my name is Maciej. It might seem a bit unpronounceable, but it’s pronounced very similarly to ‘Magic’ – hence the tagline of my blog. If you see it written as Maciek, have no fear, as it is just a diminutive of my name.

The weird name is caused by a fact that I come from Poland, and that’s where I live when I’m not at Imperial. For the past 5 years, I lived in UK, primarily for education. A series of unusual (both pleasant and unpleasant) events lead me to Imperial, and I’m here for my second year now. My course of choice is biomedical science – a mix between biology and medicine, for many people (including some lecturers) considered to be a perfect solution for medicine rejects. I am a living proof that this is wrong, as I never wanted to be a doctor, I just wanted to be a crazy, geeky scientist, that clones people and makes gorillas invisible. Fun, isn’t it?

Other than that, I am interested in media, and contributing to this blog is an example of this. I am also a member of stoictv, Imperial’s own TV station, so you could probably spot my name in the credits if you actually bother to watch it (and you should!). I also plan to produce and direct an independent action movie based at Imperial later this year, but currently it’s only a plan, and if it succeeds, I will definitely keep you informed.

The purpose of this blog is to present the life of an Imperial student. And in many ways, I am the stereotypical Imperial student. I am male, I am not from UK, I was rejected from Cambridge (and also accepted – long story), I’m not very good with the women, and most importantly – I am a geek. I enjoy reading random stuff on Wikipedia, listen to Weird Al Yankovic and know the Three Laws of Robotics. I really hope you’ll find this blog worth reading, no matter whether you’re a current student, prospective student, lecturer or a even the rector. See you next time!