As Imperial students, I am sure most of you are aware of the Science Challenge. Organized by RCSU, it’s objective is to write an 800-word essay for a given topic. For the rest of background info, google it 
I actually took part in the competition – and I did it in style. As you probably know, I like to leave things to last minute. The deadline for the essay was 23:59 on 7th of March. I decided to write an essay at 21:00 of that day, chose the topic at 22:00, developed an idea at 23:00, and “finished” writing at 23:50. My idea was great, but I didn’t have enough time and only wrote 600 words. I really had a feeling that was the worst essay of my life.
You must imagine how surprised I was when I received an email saying my entry was shortlisted. Apparently, only 10% of essays got to that stage. Pretty amazing, huh? Unfortunately, I did not get to the grand final, but I’m still pretty satisfied.
So, encouraged by my minor success I decided to attend the Grand Final. It was held in the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall, a pretty awesome venue. I generally love any black-tie event, and this one was no different.
Another surprise of the night was that I managed to get a seat at a table with 6 rather pretty girls, and 2 guys. Anyone here would know that, given the male:female ratio at Imperial, that’s nearly impossible. But it happened. Soon I realised that girls have strong preference to white wine, and they like it a lot. I can’t complain, it was fun to watch, and that meant I can have more red wine 
In the meantime, speeches were given. First one was by Simon Singh, an Imperial alumnus, and a popular scientist, talked about his fight with UK libel laws. Then, I had an opportunity to see the new acting rector for the first time, but at that time the red wine seemed to have entered my bloodstream already, and can’t really say much about it.
What I remember, though, is the winners. I remember that, mainly because it turned out that Kieron, one of the guys at my table, was a finalist. Unfortunately, he did not win – this prize went to Matt Silver, who also won last year. Getting nearly 10k for 2 essays – that’s impressive.
After the dinner finished, I decided to go to no other place than Imperial Union. Apparently, it is the last event at dB’s before it’s refurbished and named Metric. It was also my first night out in the Union (okay, other than the Mingle during my fresher’s week). I’d really like to say some good things about the quality of it, but I’m afraid I can’t. I hope that Metric will be better and will be able to compete with King’s and LSE’s unions.
Also, a funny incident happened to me when I was leaving. I’m walking towards the exit, and then I hear some guy shouting my name, I turn around and realise I don’t know him. Then he says: “You’re Maciej, you write the blog, it’s great!”. That was surprising and strangely satisfying. Ah, the fame
Tags: dinner, food, party, science challenge