Blog posts

Stonehenge – a quick trip to UK’s history

ERASMUS+ exchange student

Deadline successfully met on Friday, and how am I rewarding myself? Hmmm…

Ah! I had seen this trip to Stone Henge on the Imperial College website a few weeks earlier. Since I totally love stones (you can laugh, but it’s no joke), a trip to this epochal monument was on my bucketlist anyway. So I booked the excursion without delay!

Our group of students was picked up in the morning by a modern bus directly in front of the Sir Alexander Fleming Building. After about 1 1/2 hours of comfortable driving we arrived at the place of legend and mystery. However, there were more facts about the monument than I thought!

Off the court

Mathematics and Statistics

What do Netballers really get up to?

I know it has been a long time since my last post, but I have been super busy with the end of the term and the end of the netball season, oh and of course keeping up with my degree, well kind of. Despite Varsity Fest 2018 being postponed, my calendar has been chock-a-block with all things netball! We’ve had some fun (and tough) last minute practices before our postponed varsity matches, including more sprints than I wish to remember but also the club AGM (annual general meeting) and the end of season dinner.

“Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny”

Mathematics of Planet Earth

My plan for today was to publish an article about π, to celebrate the International Pi Day (check out my last year’s post). Unfortunately we all woke up to hear very sad news: Stephen Hawking has died.

Only yesterday I and my office mate J. had an interesting conversation about the importance of social skills in academia. We came to the conclusion that while the stereotypical maths or physics professor is, for lack of a better word, a weirdo, such scientists are more likely than not to lose the battle for academic jobs. Research is all about collaboration and nobody wants to have rude or antisocial colleagues.

Uniting St Mary’s campus against diabetes

Master of Public Health (MPH)

One of the best things about being at St Mary’s campus is that it’s a unique crossroads of both the healthcare community and the people who live and work in the Paddington area. All at once, the campus is a graduate school, historical landmark, fully functioning hospital and community resource.

That’s why it’s really cool when the different communities here unite for a common cause.

From March till May, St Mary’s folks are taking the plunge and swimming 22 miles in support of Diabetes UK. That’s the width of the English Channel and helping us get there are an awesome band of postgrad students, medics, diabetes researchers and the ICSM water polo team!

Nobels, cats and some pseudo-profound bull****

Mathematics of Planet Earth

Watching cat videos can give you a Nobel Prize.

Well, Ig Nobel, to be precise, but still sounds impressive. That’s what I learned thanks to our Graduate School.

I just came back from the Ig Nobel Award Tour Show 2018 hosted annually by Imperial. Ig Nobels are awarded every year at Harvard University by actual Nobel laureates. The only criterion is: the research first makes us laugh, and than think.

Having attended the show last year, I suffered from a stomach pain after laughing too much. The “goat man”, Ig Nobel prize winner in Biology who decided to become a goat for a few days, still makes me giggle.

Drama at Imperial: Act II

MBBS/BSc Medicine

Coming to you from mid-way through play week.

Picking up where I left off in the last blog post; as the Autumn Play was happening, Freshers’ Play was also a thing! So each year, older years in drama get together to direct (and sometimes even write) 3 short plays featuring the freshers. I remember genuinely freaking out because one of the plays were improv meaning the audition would be too. Honestly ended up having an absolute blast- and got one of the leads. I played a (largely-drunken) drama fresher who was couch-surfing because she had been kicked out of halls. Good times. 

Around England

Aeronautical Engineering

Although London is a world in itself, England has a lot more to offer. Getting away from the streetlights and the bright night sky is exactly what you need every now and then.

That’s what I did for a weekend. There were four of us, we hopped in the car with one thought in our minds: Hello Kent, bye work!

Learning how to teach at medical school

MBBS Medicine

Twitter: @malamawks | Instagram: @malamawkin

In 5th year we are all given a compulsory one week of teaching skills. It is hard to imagine why we need to learn how to teach- surely everyone knows the basics?! But actually, what I found over the week was how little I actually knew about teaching and how vital it is for being a good doctor- whether you are training medical students, teaching colleagues about cases or even presenting at a conference.

We learnt the basis on teaching skills and theory behind practical methods on the Monday, which lead us to be split into teams to design and teach each other how to make a paper airplane (very competitive!).

Drama at Imperial: Act I

MBBS/BSc Medicine

Drama is the macrophage, and I the pathogen. It has engulfed and destroyed me. (In all the best possible ways)

Welcome to part one of your insight into Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) Drama– the best medic society at Imperial. I promise I’m not biased.

The start of the journey brings us back to Freshers at Freshers’ Fair- where 370+ clubs and societies are showcased across campus to try and spark your interest in joining them. Standing right by the entrance to the medicine building was Gen, who is all types of lovely plus she’s also president of the society.

Snow Day(s)

Biological Sciences with year in industry

4 years I’ve been waiting. Today was the day – I finally saw a substantial amount of snow in London. It was as magical as I had hoped! I always remember as a child waking up on the morning of a snow day and screaming with joy! Yeah, that still happened even as a 21 year old. It seems that snow, no matter how old you are, always elicits a feeling of playfulness and unbounded joy (unless you’re trying to commute – then it only brings sad sad sadness).

I should warn you, snow in the UK is a rare event (unless you live in Snowdonia in Wales or Northern Scotland) and as a result, we are awfully prepared – EVERY TIME.

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