Interesting question really. Time has flown by since my last blog post. So fast. I feel like I blinked once and then time sped up by a month and a half.

Last time I blogged I was out at the Silwood Campus of Imperial doing my final year project, time maintaining a respectful pace. Then as a week or two went by, the reality of the project set in. The final year project was the name itself, final, stressful, HUGE! And the word limit was 8000 words…

I ended up doing a bit of a commute every weekend back to London from Silwood, after discovering that I could get an overground train to Clapham Junction and then change to another overground train that took me directly to Shepherds Bush. This was instead of my long winded change to a tube train at Richmond and then a bus at Hammersmith to complete my journey to Shepherds Bush.

The remainder of my time working on the project was spent either in Imperial’s Library or out in the Silwood Computer room, glued to a computer. I doubt I’d ever spent so much time concentrating on one piece of work before. All usual procrastinative tasks ceased. I forgot about the internet, TV, facebook…you name it. Meals merged into one. Dinner became breakfast most days, and  each day became one eternal fusion of night. And then I got flu. Why do I always get ill when I have the biggest deadlines? Why?

I was so relieved to finally hand in the copies of my work, although not without the stress of using the binding machines and completely messing the binding up on two copies! As my total project was saved as five separate files at the time, and in several different formats this did not help the stress at the time!

Everyone had their Viva this thursday where we had half an hour of questioning on our respective projects. Next week all of the final year biologists get their projects and degree marks! How scary! I just can’t believe my degree is finally, completely, finished!! As a youthful and optimistic first year, I never saw how fast the years at uni would go by. Biology, however, if you don’t take a year to work in industry or work abroad, is one of the shortest degree courses at Imperial, which explains why I am finishing ahead of most of my friends in other subjects!

Despite the stress of the project I did manage to have some extremely fun times this term. The Silwood Campus is completely different to the London Campus, being in the country. Unlike the bustle of London, Silwood is very relaxing in some ways, in that it is very self contained and lacks the huge numbers of people that clutter London’s streets.

Silwood grounds with William Penny Halls in the distance

Friends enjoying a drink at the Silwood Bar

Table tennis!!

The Manor House

Twig-like caterpillar

Random wigwam type object I found one day!

After handing in my project, life has become even more hectic. I fly out in a week to the beautiful isle of Cyprus where I am spending 5 weeks doing an ecotourism placement. My itinery informs me that I will be visiting National Parks, working in a plant nursery, looking at recreational facilities and counting wildlife! All in a days work…or not! I am very much looking forward to it as I have never been to Cyprus before.

I have also spent some time catching up with friends since moving back to London which has involved various days and nights out! See photos below!

The Thames river at night

Night lights!!

Dodgem cars at the IC Ball

A trip to Fezz nightclub!

Disco floor in Fezz

Just a quick post today. Just been searching through my photos and stuff from last term as you do occasionally, and I found this video I took of part of a Bloc Party DJ set at the Union. Not sure if Bloc Party were on stage when I took it…

all in all a very good night from what I can remember!

In other news, I am fully immersed in my project out here at the Silwood Campus, and today I learned how to use coin operated washing machines! Immense!

This Friday I travelled back up to London from Silwood and went with Windband to the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington to see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play. The concert was a celebration of film music with different film scores being played throughout the evening. We had a very good view of the concert being high up and almost directly facing the orchestra. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a highly acclaimed London Orchestra conducted by Paul Bateman.

It was a very good concert all in all with some of the most famous film scores and composers featuring such as Hans Zimmer; Gladiator, John Williams; Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Schindler’s List, and David Arnold; Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale.

The Royal Albert Hall is an amazing venue to see various musical events in London and I would highly recommend you visiting it if you get the chance to! It is a circular hall in which the viewers can sit all the way round to see the event. It means it can fit a lot of people into the hall.

The inside of the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall ceiling acoustics!

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Here is a video I took featuring the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Theme:

You’ll have to excuse my general rubbishness in holding the camera straight but the music is very beautiful. I took two more videos: Schindler’s List and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl! Again you will have to excuse me on the shifting picture!

To coin a phrase, that one would probably be it for me at the moment! Exams finished last Friday. My final undergraduate exams to be precise. I went through an odd mixture of relief and apathy after the final one. There was no great elation, third years know the drill pretty well. Finish the last exam and head straight to the Union for drinks, lose the next few days in a oblivion occasionally waking up in the middle of the night in a fit of panic, still in exam mode.

So now for me, all I have left is the final year undergraduate project which is based at Imperial’s other campus Silwood Park.

I moved to Silwood on Tuesday…well actually I didn’t, not properly anyway. I moved my bedding and crockery on the train from my flat in Shepherds Bush. I met up with two other biology friends on the way. On departing the train from Sunningdale station, the nearest in relation to the campus, we decided to walk the rest of the way there. This was a mistake. Silwood has hills and fast roads. By the third hill, dragging suitcases and bags behind us we realised that perhaps a taxi would have been better. Luckily since I only had half the amount I was supposed to bring, the distance wasn’t that bad but still…

I brought the rest of my stuff early in the morning today and made sure to get a taxi from the station to the campus. The campus is totally different to the London based campus. For one thing, there are plants, lots of them, trees too! The campus is a lot smaller, but more spread out than the London campus. The houses of residence are fairly clustered together and the atmosphere is a lot calmer and laid back than in London. My room is in Brian Flowers hall on the ground floor and looks like any standard hall room with a desk, wardrobe, chair and bed etc.

I went food shopping today with a bunch of other biologists. The nearest supermarket is Waitrose which is next to Sunningdale station, so again half an hours walk from the campus. Waitrose is ok I guess. A little pricey for a general student budget in my opinion, but with Tescos being a significant drive away, it won out for this weeks shop. Other students we met on campus told us that there is a mini-bus every Monday and Wednesday that is driven by the students to Tescos; this may be something I may have to check out in the six weeks that I am here . My all consuming feeling with regards to shopping is that a car would probably be a good choice if I was staying here for any length of time, although I realise that I am slightly biased on this view having lived in London for three years where public transport (despite numerous derogatory comments regarding it in my facebook status) is actually as easy as flicking a light switch. You really appreciate london buses and tubes when you move to the countryside. Then again I probably need the exercise! Trains run every half an hour from Sunningdale train station to London Waterloo and you can change at Richmond for the district line for places such as Hammersmith and South Kensington.

So what is my dissertation/final project all about? (Skip this paragraph if you don’t like ecology!) Mainly about getting absolutely covered in caterpillars…that little green caterpillar on my work in my last post was an omen! I’m looking at Winter moth caterpillars on Sycamore trees and counting them. Today was windy and all the caterpillars started falling off the trees onto me! Good thing I’m not counting spiders! This is a practical project. I like practical projects in that it’s quite nice to get out and about in the countryside and get out in the field and actually look at interactions first-hand.

I stupidly left my phone at my flat in Shepherds bush when setting off today. Logistically this is proving interesting whilst out here. There are about 15 of us biologists all spread out amongst the various laboratories with most of us spread out in the halls too. Meeting up for lunch or dinner is a bit of a challenge. Since I can’t text anyone to find out where they are, I rely on chance to find people. My phone is also my alarm clock as well Talk about going back to basics!

I shall try to keep my blog updated  for these six weeks with my fun and frolics whilst out here, hopefully with some pictures as well.

Chows

Your friendly caterpillar covered blogger!

I am the nocturnal student. I am the student who adores artificial light and detests the sun. I am the student who abhors the daybreak…perhaps I am the only one in the midst of so many…

Or not.

There are others like me I am sure. Brain completely messed up by studying, that prefer the silent night that creeps like a fold of black cloth to cover the evil, evil daylight…yeah I’ll stop now. Don’t want to be thought of as bordering on vampirism do I now?

But yes. I am slowly turning into a nocturnal student. My concentration improves in artificial light. The night takes away all the silly, silly people outside my flat that are constantly arguing over the limited parking spaces available. My flat is stupidly close to the new London shopping centre Westfield, although I’m not sure that contributes to the problem that much. People arguing over parking spaces provides most of my daytime entertainment especially when a lorry gets stuck too (people park both sides of the street, leaving a single lane for everything else).

The night takes away the distractions generally. I’m not sure why I seem to prefer artificial light. Revision grinds to a halt when it is bright and sunny. This isn’t because I hate the sun. This is when I fall asleep. Friends have muttered something about a lack of melanism.

Revision is going ok. I suppose. Not sure how much I’m actually learning though. I am not the eternal optimist when it comes to revision or for that matter exams. I seem to work best under rather extreme pressure that I seem to habitually put myself through, which be warned is not the best method to go by. Although this time I have tried to avoid this mistake by looking at the volume I have to study several weeks before my exams. My first one is in 11 days…shhh!

Picked some of notes up from the clutter on my bedroom floor only to find a little green caterpillar attached to them. Since I’ve not had my window open because I can’t get it open these days (It’s one of those wooden ones where the pulley system is unbalanced or something) I was slightly surprised as to how it got in. Nevertheless having a soft spot for the poor green thing, I took it outside and deposited it on the tree I thought it might have come from. It had a bit of a nibble on my finger as I was getting it downstairs. I wondered vaguely if one day I’d wake up and there would be more of them nibbling my curtains or something.

Amongst other thoughts: I had noodles the other night. The kind you make with hot water with a sauce sachet. Having not had such simple student fare since first year, my immediate thoughts were for the student stereotype. You know the one, where all they live off is noodles, takeaways, and occasionally beans on toast. The student stereotype is a lie I thought. How can anyone live off just noodles? Are there really students out there who do just live on noodles and other such stereotype food? Without ingesting vegetables for months at a time? Is the student stereotype a lie with regards to food? What do you think?

Guess who’s currently revising for finals? Yup that would be me sadly…so this will be a short post. I decided that this time round I would revise in College as I seem to actually work there! I went home briefly for the weekend after my last module finished last Friday. And now I’m back with a vengeance to learn anything and everything (well I’m trying…kind of). This time round I have also decided that getting into uni before lunchtime is also a better bet than staying late. Hmmmm… will this really work??? I got into uni at about 9:15 this morning…yay…and spent the first 4 hours on level four revising past lectures. Now though as the library has increased in busyness and (very) PDA’s* I have moved to another computer room in my department. (* Public displays of affection in the library are just wrong, libraries are studying, not swooning!) But enough of that. Computer room is very quiet and chilled…now…just…time…to study…

What kitty didn't notice was that he was in the wrong section of the library...!

Till next time,

Adieu

Apologies for the rather odd title…this is because every few minutes I keep forgetting and thinking and thinking it’s either thursday or even friday. Blame Imperial for the short term memory loss please! I have been in coursework mode for the past two weeks hence the lack of bloggage on my part. However I am now here to update you on the life of a busy third year biologist with serious short term memory issues so do not fear! Theatrically speaking I should flounce in and give a tragic wail, collapse and then explain that coursework has taken over my life and won’t let it go, but given that this is a blog post you will just have to imagine the scene in your head instead. So what has my coursework been about, do you really want to hear this? Oh yes you do? Excellent. (Well you have no choice in the matter, I’m going to tell you anyway seeing as I have been living and breathing this for the past few days!) For the first piece of coursework I had to prepare about 3000 words on an endangered species phylogeny and include relevant statistical tests using a program called R. If you haven’t already met R (pronounced RRRR in a hearty pirate voice) it is Biology’s statistical god that never fails to amuse with its error messages, (and no I’m not being sarcastic, you know when you find the error messages funny that you have begun the long descent into madness!). Next upon the coursework agenda was to propose a species action plan for a species on the IUCN red list taking the form of an A1 poster and a presentation, whilst working in a pair, one of the pair taking the presentation, the other the poster. I was doing the poster, which I handed in about an hour ago…whoop whoop. And finally my last deadline is on friday for some coursework that we’ve all had set literally ages ago, currently it stands on 4000 words and counting…

If you’ve read my last post you’ll know I’ve been having some technical issues and have been migrating to college on a day to day basis to finish most of my work. I’ve discovered that the library cafe is open till 11pm every weekday serving hot food which is a bit of a godsend. I’ve discovered that the wedges they sell taste better with mayonnaise and I have discovered that the average amount of time someone spends at a computer can go on for well over 6 hours. Talk about the risks of DVT!

Apart from doing coursework, I have been doing a shift a week at the student union as a steward for some of the student nights which is fairly fun in its own way (getting hugged by random students is always an interesting bonus if you can call it that!).

Windband held another concert in the Great Hall yesterday in which I played and then disappeared off to the library again afterwards (Boo ) which sounded amazing generally. Some of the Coldstream guards played with us again which was good. If you’ve read one of my earlier posts you’ll know they did a joint concert with us in january called WindPower!

So thats it really for now!

Yours in haste!

I seem to have been living and breathing coursework this week. It’s all I’ve thought about every living waking moment of the day. Well actually that’s a lie. I’ve thought longingly about sleeping, shopping, and several TV series that need catching up on. I’ve even debated cleaning the bathroom (my flat responsibility). None of these procrastinative tasks have indeed happened though due to the disaster that struck last Wednesday. My laptop caught a virus (not especially exciting in itself) and by caught I mean it was probably entirely my fault for clicking a link via MSN which I didn’t think twice about. Next thing I knew my virus software was going berserk. And it talked. And talked. Over and over again with a wailing warning siren. Billions of windows kept popping up all saying the same thing “Warning, you have a virus!”…”Warning you have a virus!”…”Warning…you have a virus!” in that stupid electronic voice computers are assumed to own.

I was halfway through a crucial piece of coursework when it struck. I was infuriated. It was an EPIC FAIL in big capital letters. In the end the hard drive required a complete wipe for which I am grateful to my computing friend for sorting out. Luckily all my work was saved. And now I am back installing various things on it, which although mildly irritating and inconvenient, is better than the horrific automatised wailing the laptop emitted before.

Meanwhile though whilst I was in transition with various states of electronic trauma, I realised quite quickly that I wouldn’t meet my coursework deadline if I didn’t pull my socks up, forget the laptop and get myself into college. So that’s where I have been most of this week from Sunday to Friday. I have discovered through trial and error of sorts that:

a) it is entirely possible to get locked in your department (with other students) if you are absorbed in work and the swipe door automatically locks at 10:30 without warning

b) You will then think of phoning security to come find you

c) The internal phone will then not work, nor will there be a security number you can call

d) You will then realise quite spontaneously you are bursting for the loo with no imminent escape possible

e) You will then have the bright idea of going on your email (as you are in a computer room) and looking up securities internal phone number (which is what I did)

f) You will then loudly congratulate yourself on your stroke of utter pure genius*

(*genius only applies if you thought of it within 5 minutes of being locked in, otherwise it doesn’t count, it’s the result of pure desperation…)

g) You will then phone security through a mobile phone

h) Security will arrive and tell you that the door locks at 10:30 and that you should have been out of there earlier…blah blah…

The library by contrast does not close this term. It is open for 24 blissful hours per day, although whether every hour spent in there is really blissful is somewhat debatable. I seem to have spent a lot of time in there this week, mainly after 11pm. I hide out on Level 4 which is apparently life sciences but should really be labelled *the noisy part*. Level 4 is good if everyone keeps noise to a minimum, but usually you will get a least an entire cohort of people engaging in group procrastination which seems to involve loud talking and laughter and/or funny videos via the medium of YouTube. Other levels so I’m told are quieter, but through force of habit I always seem to end up on Level 4.

So my coursework is finished (kindof, I think, although there’s always something extra you could add) and soon I start another piece. I don’t think I ever appreciated when I began my degree the need for a library/working space within college. But by third year, you realise pretty soon that actually they are pretty vital resources. Glum statement eh?…but a sad inevitable truth of life as a third year!

Anyways…time to spell check…

Yours in tiredness…

I’ve noticed a fairly consistent pattern in my posting…I always seem to post on a Sunday! Sunday is when I seem to collate all my thoughts of the previous week before moving on to the next. Next week I start a brand new module in truly youthful optimism of attending every lecture on time, studying hard and making sandwiches the night before for lunch the next day. Doubtless as previous experience has told me this optimism won’t last till the end of the first week before I end up running ever morning for the bus, hair madly askew, and made lunch a distant dream in a past life.

But before this vicious cycle of daily grind begins I shall tell you about something exciting that’s been happening this week (or should I say last week??)ARTSFEST!!!

Artsfest is a week of student activities based around art, music, drama and dance that happens every year. It is a chance to see some of the arts-related societies at their best. Activities go on throughout the week and cumulate into a huge Finale Concert at the end of the week. Artsfest is a good way to forget about science for a while and watch or join in with something that’s music or arts-related. It’s a great way to see some of the societies that you wouldn’t normally get the chance to see, in action.

There were several lunchtime busking concerts around college featuring the various musical societies. I played in one myself on the friday in Windband. It was a joint concert featuring the Choir and Windband. The good thing about these types of concert is that people can come along and listen for free and for however long as they like. The size of the audience suprised me somewhat. I hadn’t expected so many people to come and watch!

Other events around college included a Fine Arts and Photography display in the Blyth Gallery, a DramSoc performance workshop, a free cinema screening and a barn dance in the Union Dining Hall! See the timetable below!

A busy week of Arts and Music!

The Finale Concert was immense! Having been to the Finale Concert every year for three years I have to say it is one of the highlights of the year for me. All the societies get together to produce a very varied concert. There really is something for everyone to enjoy! I was playing in the first half but there was still time for me to enjoy some of the acts before I had to play!

Imperial College Sinfonietta Orchestra began the concert by playing Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances. Sinfonietta set the concert off to a good start with the lively dances keeping the audience on the edge of their seats! Freddie and the Faggots were next (a group of five bassoon players) who performed several popular tv-theme tunes with a bit of a twist. This a very funny act!

Sadly I missed the next two acts as I had to get back stage in time for Windband. These were Wushu and Chamber Choir. Wushu is a chinese martial arts society. It combines some very energetic acrobatics with sword fighting and hand to hand fighting. However after I had played with Windband I was able to watch the next bit of the concert before the interval.

One of Imperial’s newest societies: Techtonics hit the stage. Techtonics is an all male singing group that reproduces popular songs by singing all of the instrumentals. The combined effect of them all was phenomenal! When they sang Buck Rodgers by Feeder there was raptuous applause given!

After an interval in which all of the audience migrated to the Senior Common room for drinks the concert began in earnest again! The Imperial College String Ensemble played Gymnopedie #1 by Erik Satie. It was a flawless performance.

IC Belly Dancing was next followed by two solo singers from the Musical Theatre Society. Again brilliant performances all round!

Funkology (The society that performs some of the best Hip-Hop dancing I have ever seen) was up next. They combine dance into the form of a story. From previous years Artsfest experiences Funkology are always amazing! This year was no different with the society getting whoops and cheers from the audience!

Last but not least Big Band performed Hunting Wabbits by Gordan Goodwin and Birks Works from Dizzy Gillespies Big Band. They were the icing on the cake to what was an amazing concert!

“Procrastination is the thief of time” Edward Young, English poet.

Today I am doing just that; procrastinating. Whiling away my day on various inconsequential activities, none of which are remotely constructive. I haven’t reached the stage where  where I feel the urge to tidy my room though which is the low point of my procrastination scale. So far today I have got up, wandered round the kitchen several times, sometimes staring out of the window at nothing, watered the plants, thought about cleaning the bathroom but haven’t, checked my email accounts about 5 times all within the space of 10 minutes, wondered if I should take my now-dry washing off the drying rack but wandered away before I could carry out this activity and  then proceeded to munch my way through various snacks. Procrastination is an art form; one which doesn’t require much skill but yet a great deal of laziness. Which leaves me with my conscience (still lazy but with a wary eye on time and a pointed finger that says “Ye shall see the mighty wrath of the great pile of work waiting there to be done soon!”).

So what should I be doing? I should be working on my biology project which involves me analysing data on grasshoppers I collected from a field trip to the Silwood Campus in July last year. Baring this I should be deciding on choosing another final year project to end my degree in June of later this year. The list has 144 projects on it I am kindly told by email, and the deadline for choosing is by this coming Friday. Fun. Or not. Alternatively baring all of this I could be acting like what I am (a third year) and doing some serious work on previous lectures and/or extra reading. None of which has appealed to me today.

Therefore after several hours I have had a sudden rush of creative procrastination and uploaded all of the photos from my camera to my computer. I remembered that most of the photos I have taken this week are of the prettiness of Imperial’s buildings. So for any prospective students out there, you will be treated to a few prospectus-worthy photos from me now!

The Bessemer Building looking pretty in pink and green

The Bessemer Building I am reliably informed contains Bioengineering, the Centre for Environmental Policy and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. The Bessemer Building is part of a complex which also contains the RSM (Royal School of Mines).

The Faculty Building in blue with Queen's Tower and The Grantham Institute for Climate Change to the right

Some interesting futuristic cubes living on the Main Walkway

Central Library with the Sherfield Building to the right

The Central Library is where most library and core textbooks are housed and the Sherfield Building is home to the Student Hub, where you can sort out various student issues such as housing and loans etc.

Queen's Tower in all its glory. Try to spot the decapitated snowman...

The Queen’s Tower is the remains of the Imperial Institute, which was built to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. If you want to more of the history of Queen’s Tower click here.

Inside the Sir Alexander Fleming Building

The Sir Alexander Fleming Building or (SAF) as it is commonly called is home to the biologists amongst us, as well as first and second year medic teaching.

Hyde Park - an excellent get away from the City

Hyde Park covers 350 acres and is a 5 minute walk from College. It’s a nice place to go and walk or relax. You can forget the hustle and bustle of the city for a few hours.

Queen's Tower as seen from Hyde Park

Some of the residents of Hyde Park

So today overall has been quite productive…at least you all know what Imperial looks like to some degree now! So to finish I shall leave you with another procrastination quote:

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday” Don Marquis