Student blogs

Welcome to Imperial!

For all of you freshers settling into life at Imperial, it’s a very important and busy few weeks! First of all congratulations on getting here and I hope you have enjoyed your first 24 hours in halls! Starting at Imperial can be a very exciting time, filled with so many different emotions. Fear of the unknown, excitement for the adventures to come and nervousness about meeting so many new people, followed by a touch of homesickness too perhaps. Having been in your shoes two years ago, it’s fair to say I know a thing or two about negotiating Freshers week, which I hope to share with you!

My Top Tips for Negotiating Freshers Week

1. Talk to People: One of the most daunting things about moving to a new place and a new environment is making new friends. In my experience this in undeniably one of the most important parts of Freshers Week. The only way to make friends is to talk to people, anyone and everyone. This could be in your flat’s kitchen, at your first departmental lectures or even at the union after a couple of drinks. Some of the first friends you make in Week 1 can remain your best friends for the rest of your time and Imperial and possibly even the rest of your lives. (My first year neighbour, Sung Soo, is legit still one of my best friends today)
2. Go Grocery Shopping: There is nothing worse than coming home from a long day of intro lectures to find a fridge emptier than your stomach. Pick up groceries on your way home, or the evening before. Why not pool together with your flatmates to do an online grocery order? But never ever steal someone else’s food from the fridge, this is not okay!
3. Safety in the Kitchen: Don’t be the person who sets off the fire alarm! Whether it be 8pm or 3am no one liked to have to trek outside into the cold in their slippers because your microwaving a whole egg ended in sparks! If in doubt ask for help, someone in your kitchen will know what to do. 
   

4. 

   Freshers Fair: Make the most of freshers fair, its a chance to take a look at everything that Imperial has to offer. Take a walk around ALL of the stalls, not just the ones you’re super keen to see. Sign up to more the. you intend to do as you can always unsubscribe from the 50 extra mailing lists you’re on at a later time. I recommend finding 2-3 societies to keep involved in but this is obviously your choice.

5. Stay Safe when you’re out: If you’re heading out for the night, make sure you’ve got people you trust around you. Travel together and try not to lose each other whilst you’re there! Remember to keep drinking water and have something to eat before you head out. If you’re out late and there’s easy night tube/bus route home then get an Uber. It is really not worth the risk of you walking half way across London.

   

6. Dealing with a Hangover: The best cure for a hangover is a nice mug of tea and a sturdy, carb-y breakfast. Keep the fluids flowing and your stomach topped up and no one at your 9am should notice!
7. Take every opportunity possible: Whether it be applying for year rep, meeting new people, or taking any sort of risk, give it a shot. You never know, it might end up being the best thing that ever happened to you!

So, Good Luck for the week ahead! I hope you loads of fun and get a lot from it before the hard work begins for real!

Aishy 🙂 

Read How to Survive Freshers Week in full

This Saturday the South Kensington campus was host to the Imperial Summer Ball. An annual celebration to help students unwind after a long year, there was plenty to keep everyone entertained all night long. Here is a snapshot of my evening with course-mates at the ball… 

Student Performances

In the SCR lots of acts from hip-hop dancers to a capella singers took to the stage in front of a crowd of onlookers. As ever, Dance Company was part of the action and I performed with them in a Disney Medley!

Funfair

One of the main attractions of the evening were the fairground rides. Our course bumped cars on the Dodgems and got a bit dizzy on the Ferris Wheel but had a really fun time doing so.

Fireworks

Out on the Queens Lawn were a few bars, and come 11 o’clock became the viewpoint for a firework display. Set to music from The Greatest Showman, it was a lovely moment from the evening.

Dance Floors

As with every good party there were lots of rooms for dancing. In H-bar there was some live music, in the Queen’s Tower Rooms there was a silent disco and in the Great Hall there were DJ Sets by headliners Jack Saunders and Pink Panda.

Afterparty

For those who wanted to continue partying after the main event finished there was an afterparty held in the Beit Quad. A few of us made it over and ducked out at about 3am, which was well before the ‘survivors photo’ at 5am!

A great time was had by all, and many memories were made that I’m sure we’ll hold onto for years to come.

Read Having a Ball in full

First year through my eyes

As the end of the year has arrived, it is time to reflect on everything that has happened over the past nine months.

I have moved abroad, started a degree, started relationships with people from all different backgrounds, I’ve experienced the exciting and sometimes lonely London.
I’ve spent more hours in the library this year alone than during all of my high school years combined. I’ve created a structure, been taught how flow behaves around aerofoils or how combustion allows us to move forward.
I’ve learnt how to overcome drag, both theoretically and figuratively.
I have grown, a scary amount.

University has presented itself as a marathon, a resistance race to be run one step at a time. The first year of aeronautical engineering at Imperial has been the greatest challenge of my life.
It has been a constant academic demand. A non-stop perseverance on digesting knowledge and interiorising it. But now, looking at it in perspective, it is very much rewarding. I will be recognised as one-quarter of an engineer! Not only that, I actually feel like I am so!
As a good friend of mine once told me, engineering provides you with the ability to solve problems, regardless of the topic they belong to, and she is very much right!

University has also been the sugar-coated presentation of what life truly is. In one hand, it shows you that loneliness can be your companion when it is you against the world. On the other hand, you are taught that in order to succeed, one’s effort is needed but also the help of others.

Dear first year, thank you for being one of the best and worst years of my life.
Dear readers, thank you for joining me on this journey.

What others have seen
As this is my last blog post, I wanted to include not only my experience of first year but also how the people around me saw me live it. That is why I asked three people to tell me how this first experience at university changed me.

“Leaving high school and starting a university career it’s is a great step in life. And if you add the fact of living on your own, in a foreign country, in a high-level college, and a high-level career as aeronautics, it becomes then a great challenge that Claudia has faced, showing determination and responsibility. She has grown, in many aspects. I’m proud to say how she’s standing in her own feet in a so short time, and how she’s managing the anxiety of hard studies and exams, taking so many important decisions. A great step in her life!”
– José Luis, dad

“Having known Claudia since we were 8 and being a part of her life for so many years now, I have seen her change, mature and develop, turning into the incredible person she is today. I truly believe that being at Imperial, in a city like London, has made her much stronger, she has become her own person, with her strengths and weaknesses, but she has learnt how to deal with every problem that has crossed her path, she knows what she wants now and despite the tough times, she has found the courage to not give up and continue fighting, never letting anyone’s opinion change her beliefs and goals.“
– Laura, friend

“Claudia is a new person since she left her hometown to go to Imperial College. Yet, she is the same girl. Although she has always been very self-aware and conscious about her limits, her first year at Imperial has shown her the nature of elite and elitist education and the academic market’s obsession with beyond-possible success and super-natural performance. She has learnt how to survive the perils of her world.”
– Ignacio, partner

Read Year one, checked! in full

3 exams down, 6 to go.

You know how they said studying with a friend makes you less stress, yeah well, at this point its not anymore. I mean he made me laugh, he stalked someone (on my behalf-ish), he made fun of the way I’m typing up this very blog, he warned me when there was a secret sales, went to get coffee with me, He made me have fewer mental breakdowns. But being seriously tense and unease, having five mini mental breakdowns a day, all I want is to be left alone.

27 May 2019

You know what I did on Bank Holiday. The one day that’s supposed to be a holiday. Well, I was in the Skempton Building, along with half the department — rough estimate. I know it probably seem like I’m complaining about the hard work, but maybe I am. When people say to me, “first year is easy”. I wanted to say maybe it is, because you went through it and came through the other side. But maybe it isn’t fair for someone who’s going through that to be told what a worse future they’re going to have.

Anyway. At this time, I seriously wish I have a photograhic memory. The exam on Tuesday was mainly memorising, and well after the first 3 exams, my brain is at 5% capacity.

28 May 2019

The day has come, it was a 3 hours exam, and I left halfway through. I made a judgement call, I knew I was better spending my time revising for my next exam rather than staring on an answer sheet, I answered to the best of my ability. I’m going to admit, having Fluid mechanics the day after was not easy I attempted to do the 2018 paper, and I tried to do it, and nope not right. Being so close to the exam, not being able to do the question felt like an absolute failure.

Did the next question, and I can barely answer it, I finally brokedown. Thoughts rushed into my mind, I couldn’t do this, I can barely do this question, what am I going to do tomorrow. I went outside of the room, and called my sister. I was so upset and one of the undergrad office came to me, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have the support system that’s available.

I went back inside, with a clearer head. Finished my revision, and ready or not, I’m going to have to be.

Read Leave Me Alone | The Exam Life #3 in full

22 May 2019
Constantly in denial that I was sleep deprived, sleeping an average of 3 hours a day and surviving on ten cups of coffee a day. The perfectionism, the need for constantly being right and accurate at the same time, led me to this day. The lack of sleep simply put me somewhere between constantly making small mistakes that frustrates me and the paranoia that the one thing that I didn’t perfectly understood was the one thing that would fail me.

Structural Mechanics, a subject that in my opinion requires focus on details, something I admitted lack in this circumstances. I contemplated and doubted about writing this post. The fact that I’m practically publicising my weaknesses, terrifies me. But it’s an experience that I would not have if I was not here, and an experience I can share.

Feeling fairly quite satisfied with how I did on the exam earlier that day, I continued to force my brain to function. When it wasn’t I went down to the library cafe and ordered a large americano or a double espresso.

23 May 2019
At this point, I might as well change my address to SW72BB, pretty much where I spent night and day at. I was so tired, so exhausted, all I wanted to do was lay down on my bed and cover myself on a nice warming duvet, preferably on my pyjamas. But instead, I felt guilt, I felt awful if I spend 8 hours in bed instead of 8 hours of revision. So I slept only when it was absolutely necessary, until I needed to go home. Finally, I ubered back home at 8PM. Finally getting the sufficient sleep that I so deserve.

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24 May 2019

Exam day! I ordered a large americano, cooled it down and drink it all before I go to the exam room. Looked through the first question, and I was like, yeah I can do this, no big deal. The second question, damn it, not this one. I remembered something like this was in one of the past papers, but a bit trickier. By a bit I mean, I’m just hoping that I didn’t already lost 1/4 question. One question at a time, the clicking sound of my fingernails on the calculator, the raised heartbeat, convincing myself that this exam doesn’t determine my future or who I seem on paper, but it does. It does, and what I did on that exam matters. Like always, I’ve always realised that things matter after its too late to do anything about it.

Read 10 Cups of Coffee A Day | The Exam Life #2 in full

The first day I came to Imperial as a student I vividly remember being told not to spend 24 hours in the library, and yet I spent 36 hours in the library.

20 May 2019
Seconds after finishing my maths exam, I rushed myself to the third floor computer room in Skempton. After feeling like I just failed Maths, I can only fail one other subject, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t Computational Methods (the exam I had 2 days after Maths).

Somewhere between overdosing on caffeine and bankrupting over deliveroos, I was at the computer, frustrated and enraged that the codes didn’t made sense to me. In the verge of a severe mental breakdown, I tried to breath, convincing myself that I could simply pass.

21 May 2019
Hours passed by, then it was midnight. I packed my bags and moved to my other study spot. Second floor, Central Library. Going through the lecture notes, trying to understand anything I didn’t. I swear at this point I was probably paranoid, thinking anything I didn’t understand was going to come up in the exam, which btw at this time that hypothesis is true.

5 AM in the morning, my brain was on auto-pilot mode, and for some unexplained medical reason, my fingers are still typing up codes, while my brain went to sleep. An hour later, my eyes literally shut down against my will, and I fell asleep right there and then.

At this point 30 minutes nap was all I need, Spent the next 12 hours double screening between MATLAB and Net-a-porter. My focus was practically split at this point, but a split focus was better than doing nothing at all.

7PM, I was confident at this point that I could do the exam, so I uber-ed home and literally passed out on my bed.

After the unpleasant sleepover, I had a tiny moment of realisation that I probably shouldn’t “occasionally” skip lectures and should probably study more throughout the year. My gosh — I’m confessing too much.

Read 36 Hours at Imperial College | The Exam Life #1 in full