For many of us international students, coming overseas is definitely a daunting experience – leaving all you’ve known and loved only to arrive somewhere you know nothing of. Compounded by the fact that we are apparently adults because we have graduated high school, the sense of protection and belonging is no longer there. We are all very much on our own.
Personally, I was very lost when starting the first year at university – arriving at a new place knowing no one. However, since then I’ve grown incredibly through friendships, failures and successes. I’ve become the president of the table tennis club, managed to secure some internships and met my girlfriend in the testosterone-filled world that is Imperial.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you’re reading this somewhere in the world, and you hope to come to Imperial(or any other international university), it’s okay to be scared! I’ve really realized the number of people who read these blogs (at the start I thought it would be buried in the web) when I began receiving comments and questions from people all over the world.
As the holidays came to a start- my initial mindset was, “Oh, I’ve got looaaddss of time. I definitely deserve a break. One more season of this show on Netflix won’t hurt.” It must have slipped my mind that the exam on the day I go back is not a mock. Now that I’m about 70% through my Easter/Spring break, I am filled with regret and drowning in revision. :’)
Watching a season of Hell’s Kitchen The first thing I did was binge watch as soon as the term ended. Personally a big Gordon Ramsay fan, even though he’s not a believer in Vegetarianism/Veganism cries.
Attending a university fair Got to rep Imperial at a secondary school in Bexley, London. This was actually a paid job opportunity under Imperial’s President’s Ambassador scheme. It was really cool speaking to students about our uni and life as an undergraduate student, specifically studying in central London. Sharing the Imperial loveeee.
Eating at a veggie pub in Soho I met up with an old friend who’s currently doing an exchange year at UCL (please don’t kill me.) We went to London’s first and only Vegetarian/Vegan pub! Tried their ‘Tofush and Chips’- amaaazzinggg! 11/10 would recommend- Coach & Horses near Soho Square, London. They also have two resident black cats; as I am a big cat person- this was a massive bonus! Can’t wait to go back and try their pies!
Watching a season of Blackadder and 3 seasons of Plebs Blackadder throws it back to Rowan Atkinson’s pre-Mr Bean/Johnny English days; this is described as Pseudo-historical British comedy sitcom. Plebs is where it’s at though, folks. This is a comedy about three friends/flatmates who live in the time of ancient Rome. My current favourite show- if you haven’t seen this then you’re missing out! Grumio gives me life, honestly. You can catch seasons 1-3 on Netflix, and season 4 on Mondays at 10PM on ITV2 (UK). Both shows were recommended by my boyfriend- not sure whether to be grateful or mad at him for leading me into a blackhole of more Netflix bingeing. Cheers, friend.
Seeing Fall Out Boy live So Fall Out Boy is one of my favourite bands of all time (after My Chemical Romance)- seeing them live at the O2 Arena was an absolute dream come true. They were incredible- the whole experience was unreal. I definitely think that this is one of the massive perks of living in a city like London, there are endless things to do and see for leisure! If an artist is doing a European tour, you can bet they’ll have a London date. Also seeing Ed Sheeran in June, super psyched for that!
Visiting my old school I flew back home (Macau) for my last two weeks of the break- low key a massive mistake because there were so many people to catch up with, meaning it left minimal time for revision. However, going back to the place where I spent 14 years of my life (Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary) was absolutely surreal and so heartwarming. It was so wonderful seeing all the familiar faces of my former teachers teachers and younger students whom I was good friends with. Today is the current senior students’ last day of official classes; I remember my last day like it was yesterday. Being back home is eye-opening – I see how far I’ve come, how much things have changed, and how much things have also stayed the same.
Panicking about revision but not doing much anyway This is high-key the story of my life. Most nights currently consist of me freaking out because I’m so behind on revision, then making excuses about how sleepy I am thus I won’t be able to properly concentrate. This results in me lying in bed taking BuzzFeed quizzes, e.g. Take This Quiz To Find Out What Kind Of Potato You Are, for an hour or two until I fall asleep when I could have spent it revising or writing this. Jetlag also isn’t my friend. My life is currently in shambles but oh well- I’ll figure it out. Worst case scenario, there’s always a resit in August.
Hopefully this blogpost helps you see that not everyone at Imperial is the ‘perfect student’! Or maybe it’s just me.
Hoping that your term break has been considerably more productive than mine,
Alex (:
In my post about affording London prices I suggested bringing lunches to work, just to save money. No matter how busy I am, I do it most days, thanks to a collection of delicious and ridiculously quick recipes I collected (let me know if you’d like me to post them!). However, sometimes I treat myself to a lunch at Imperial. Where do I go?
At South Kensington campus we have a big choice of catering outlets that serve everything from sandwiches and salads to Japanese and Indian. About 11am they post the menu of the day, which helps to make an informed choice (and procrastinate from work for a few minutes). Based on the dish of the day, I usually venture to one of my favourites.
Senior Common Room (SCR). It’s just for staff and research students, so we can chat with our friends or supervisors without bumping into undergrads whose papers we’re just grading. They offer 4 main meals a day: 2 meat, 1 vegetarian and 1 vegan. I must admit I used to go to this place much more last year, because they had a great salad bar, which disappeared 🙁
Lunch in h-bar. Source: http://www.imperial.ac.uk.
h-bar. Again, no undergrads allowed. Big, big queues. Here just 2 meat and 1 vegetarian main (no vegan options, I believe), but on the plus side they have delicious salads.
Fusion. A tiny take-away in the main walkway, gets very busy at lunch time. For vegetarians every day they offer a different curry and pasta. Grab your food and go back to maths department, that’s the deal. My Indian friend claims it tastes like food at home, so if you want to try cheap and authentic Asian cuisine, it’s probably your best bet.
Fusion. Source: http://www.imperial.ac.uk.
Huxley Cafe. My office is just opposite to this common room for maths PhD’s and staff, so it’s usually an emergency feeding point, aka ‘I’m-so-busy-but-my-stomach-is-rambling’. Mostly sandwiches and ready salads. Plus coffee.
This is a non-exhaustive list of places I usually visit. When it comes to prices, for a main meal you’ll pay about £4-5, not too bad. Enjoy!
I recently used a R script from Keith McNulty to analyse my Facebook data. I was curious to know how much I had been posting for the past 10 years, but I also wanted to know much information Facebook had about me.
I was able to download over 4,000 days of data and more than 30,000 posts. These posts were mine, but also from friends that were posting on my timeline.
In the process, I learned these three points:
1. I have 1000’s of posts per year
I remember when I initially joined Facebook, my friends I would basically communicate and organise everything by posting publicly on our walls (no sense of privacy!). That easily explains why I have some many posts for the first few years of data. I can see a huge peak in 2012 and 2013, but I’m suspecting this was due a Spotify integration that was posting automatically the songs I was listening to.
In the past few years, I started interacting much less and made my privacy settings more restrictive. That’s the reason why we see a decline in posts from 2016.
2. Lunch and dinner time were the moments to post
Just as a caveat, in the past few years I’ve been living in Germany and in the UK, but have also spent most of my holiday time in my home country Bolivia. From the graph below, we can see many posts before 7am. Those were possibly posts created in Bolivia (4-5 hours behind UK time). Other than that, most of my posts were during my lunch break or later in the evening.
3. It is all about music
When I looked into the most common words from my posts, they were certainly all about Music. This might be again skewed due the Spotify integration, but I would certainly used to share a lot music with friends over Facebook. A genre that I love and that stands out in the word cloud below is Bossa Nova – “Gilberto”, “Ipanema”, “Joao” and “Garota” are all either singers or parts of song titles. As you might also notice, I really enjoyed listening to Jazz from Norah Jones and Diana Krall.
My mother tongue is Spanish and I can see that I spent a lot of time congratulating family members and friends for their birthdays. There are several words related to this as well.
There is no wonder why Facebook knows so much about us! There is a lot of information on us there.
Do you know how much you’re posting? Share with us in the comments below.
However much you might try to think you make the best use of your time, I’m sure that there’s always some time during the day when you sit there not quite getting on with your work but pretending that you are. As a particularly keen procrastinator, especially when I find the work difficult, here are some of the ways I’ve managed to get through tough revision periods avoiding procrastination.
Make a timetable with not more than 45 to 90 mins revision sessions at a time. Don’t just write down what subject or module you will be studying, include key details of what particular topic, or which past paper you will do in this time. By micromanaging your time and breaking things down, you will feel more motivated to work as you know exactly what you need to achieve in that time period.
Take regular productive breaks such as cooking, (writing blog posts), tidying up or doing household chores, going for a run or walk, listening to music, or watching something, as long as it’s a particular episode or movie you have chosen and only watch that (not binging!!!). In the evening when you’re feeling exhausted taking a quick shower or bath can also be the perfect respite. Of course once you’ve finished all your work for the day, then feel free to watch those couple extra episodes you know you want to watch!
Stay healthy, both mentally and physically. Make sure to get some fresh air everyday, a short walk in your local park or even to the supermarket will leave you feeling refreshed and energised. In addition try to do some other exercise for 2 hours a week, either playing a sporting, going for a run, or even taking a longer walk. Make sure to eat a well balanced diet with not too much self-pity midnight chocolate. Try snacking on frozen grapes, carrot sticks and nuts during the day. Be adventurous and try cooking some meals from scratch, this will also provide some relief from work.
Separate the space you use for work from where you relax. For example only revise at your desk and then chill in the kitchen and watch Netflix on your bed. This will reinforce your brain for when it’s time to work and when it’s time to relax, so that when you do sit down to start your work for the day you won’t feel like doing anything else and so will get on with your work quickly.
If you’re stuck, ask for help! Otherwise you will just be left at the same point not knowing how to move forward. Normally your friends on your course or in your classes will be very willing to help you as they know you would return the favour. Also make use of your perusal tutor and lecturers when you get the chance in tutorials and lectures respectively. Getting a correct explanation for something you are stuck on can really set you on the right track to much more productive revision.
Now this one is a favourite of mine. Bribe yourself with treats. There are two ways this can be done, the first is short term goals where for example you could eat a treat of some kind, maybe a skittle or a smartie for every page you finish or maybe a biscuit for every chapter you finish. On a slightly longer term you could have a nice treat lined up for the end of a long day of work, such as meeting a friend, watching a movie or buying something but make sure you finish all your work before this treat. Having something nice as a reward for work is a positive way to motivate yourself. Having a long term treat for the end of the day also sets a time goal on your work making sure you get it done without too many distractions.
(I won’t lie and will admit that I wrote this blog post when I really should have been revising mechanics, but we’ll call this positive procrastination as at least there is some useful outcome!)
Studying at the most International University in the UK
It goes without saying that Imperial College London is one of the most culturally diverse university communities in the world. Just walking around campus, it is clear to why we have been named the UK’s most international university by The Times Higher Education. Being one of the highest ranking universities in world and leading the way in scientific research, attracts some of the brightest students from across the globe, giving Imperial its signature incredible variety in culture.
Having lived in London my whole life and attended, what I thought was, quite a diverse school, I’m not sure what I expected Imperial to be like however, I had really not anticipated making friends so quickly with people from all around the world. Even amongst those from the UK, many actually have more varied ethnic backgrounds rather than just being British. This creates a very strong sense of community as whatever country you are from, language you speak or religion you follow, it is so easy to find others like you. Imperial proudly boasts over 70 different cultural and faith societies where people come together to celebrate special occasions such as Chinese New Year and Diwali, discuss aspects of religion and faith and simply come together to reminisce about home.
Diversity in clubs and societies
Coming to London, which is such a busy and bustling city, for the first time, can be extremely daunting. A new city, maybe a new language and not knowing many people could leave you feeling quite isolated. However, with such a strong foundation of clubs and societies within the college it is extremely easy to find people who will soon become like your family, brought together by a shared culture and language and often a craving for foods from home. This is incredibly important as it allows students to feel like they’re at at home, even when home is 1000s of miles away. By feeling like they belong somewhere, students begin to have a sense of identity and thus make the most of their time at Imperial by getting more and more involved in the community, leading to a more positive university experience.
Supporting our friends at Malaysian night
Aside from just building strong cultural ties, the diversity of Imperial allows students to experience other cultures. From trying my flatmates’ food to attending variety shows, I have been introduced to a whole host of new experiences I otherwise wouldn’t have. Between Malaysian night and the Indian society’s dance and music extravaganza, to name a
few, I have witnessed aspects of a culture one can often only experience in certain countries. However with people from almost everywhere, students at Imperial are able to share such authentic experiences with large audiences of students, keen to learn about other cultures.
Diversity in courses
Not only does this make students at Imperial incredibly culturally aware and accepting as we live, our few years within the Imperial community, surrounded by people from all over the world but it also means that we have made life long connections beyond country borders. Bring exposed to these varieties of cultures leaves us students hungry to learn more, encouraging us to travel in the future and maybe even consider working in a foreign country as we have already experienced some of what it might have to offer. High profile, international universities such as Imperial College London, therefore thrive off their international population as these students who travel so far to study here bringwith them their culture and take back their scientific knowledge and research allowing science to progress much better when people are able to work well with each other even if from different corners of the globe, as they have already been exposed to this concept at university.
Diversity in halls
For all these reasons, Imperial continues to attract countless numbers of international students, driving the university forward with their opinions and ideas within science but also by sharing their culture all students are able to leave university more enriched and well rounded and creating the lively, bustling and multicultural atmosphere that Imperial is so well known for.
First things first, who saw (and recognised) that The Hobbit reference in the title? 😉 🙂 🙂
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Anyway moving on to less important stuff the main point of this post, every international student (whether Imperial student or otherwise) should have heard of HOST UK. And maybe go for a HOST visit at least once over the duration of their study here. No? Well, you must!
So what is HOST UK?
HOST UK is a charity that arranges visits for international students to stay with a host family anywhere in the United Kingdom. The visits can range from a day or 2-3 over the weekend. You can find out/ read more here if you’re an Imperial student (because I’m too lazy to explain more sorz).
Accommodation and meals are catered for by your host and The International Student Support office will cover the application for ONE visit throughout your time here for Imperial students (so you don’t need to pay or it’s FREE!!!)
Well, me being me, when I see the word ‘free’ there, I immediately decided to apply for a visit because why not, right? I get to live with some posh British family somewhere for 2-3 days FOC and I get to travel somewhere I’ve never been before without needing to worry about food or hotels. I did have to pay for travel myself but hey, that’s not exactly a bad deal…
APPLICATION PROCESS
The application is done entirely online (so you won’t have an excuse to not apply lol). You just need to register and put down some of your personal details such as;
contact details
dietary preferences (like no pork and alcohol, vegetarian, etc),
your maximum travel budget (I put in £15) and how far you’re willing to travel (whether somewhere close to Imperial or you’re willing to go further; like somewhere in Scotland),
allergies if you have any,
whether you’re applying for a day visit or a weekend visit, and
3 dates on which the visit can take place (you should try to be specific but you can still change these later if something comes up)
You can even bring a friend but they’ll have to complete a separate application and you’ll both need to indicate that you’re going together in your forms (there’ll be a place where you can do this). Anyway, I decided that I wanted to go by myself this time.
After you’ve completed the form, there’ll be a short wait since HOST will need to verify with Imperial that you really are a student here. It’ll probably be about a week before anything happens (unless you’re lucky and the ISS is quick to confirm your attendance here). You should take this time to confirm the dates you’ve listed before and make sure you really are free on those days.
After all that, a representative from HOST (most likely a regional organiser) will email you regarding your visit. You will need to confirm your dates then and this will be your last chance to make changes to them. You will not be able to change them after this so make sure you are okay with them. After you’ve confirm those dates, the officer will start looking for invitations for you.
MY VISIT
My visit took place on the weekend of December 8th last year (I know, it’s been a while… but I’ve been procrastinating heheh) in Harpenden. I was staying with Donald and Gill (aka Mr. and Mrs. Robertson), and another student from King’s College.
Now that everything was set, I was starting to get a little nervous. What if they don’t like me? What should I bring as a gift? What if they think I’m weird or snobbish or something? What if they’re like super posh and proper and I embarrassed myself? and basically every negative thought you can have.
So Friday afternoon after Earth Materials lecture, I took the train to Harpenden with my trusty rucksack, a box of chocolates and my heart beating like mad.
Turns out my worries was for nought. Gill and Donald were excellent hosts and we had very interesting conversations about boats (Donald used to be a sailor), gardening/ plants (Gill loves gardening), dessert (we all have a sweet tooth), etc. We also played some games and I even had the chance to talk to their son-in-law who grew up in Malaysia (we spoke Malay on the phone XD) Also, Gill is an amazing cook. Simply said, everything was perfect.
We went for a walk and took the bus to the Railway Museum on Saturday.
A pic of us after dinner
On Sunday, the most amazing surprise was waiting for us that morning. It was snowing!!! Heavily. Heavily enough that we managed to make a snowman and had a mini snowball fight. I was my first time seeing snow and it was the most magical thing evahhh. I was kinda bumped that the weekend seem to fly so fast. Thankfully, all of us are still in contact now. That goes to show that such relationships do last (I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now) 🙂
Me, Feifei and SOAS the Snowman
Us right after building and christening SOAS the Snowman
One more of just me this time :3
I hope I’ve convinced you now. So what are you waiting for? Go grab yourselves a HOST visit now XD Toodles!
This is part 2 of my placement year blog post. If you’ve missed part 1 be sure to go back and have a read (otherwise this next bit won’t really make sense!)
Paignton, Devon
My year in industry placement was at Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust in Paignton in Devon. Specifically I was based at Paignton Zoo, one of 3 zoos owned by the trust. First, a little background about my location. Devon – a place that everyone seems to have visited “when they were a child”. For me, I had heard very little about Devon, even less about Paignton. However, everyone I talked to about my placement, whether it be family friends, elderly ladies at bus stops or cab drivers, knew about Devon and Paignton Zoo. It seemed to be a place full of happy memories and summer holidays.
I arrived with my suitcases full of things, driven 4 hours by my parents to Devon. On first arrival I realised that Paignton was a classic English seaside town – it had seen better days. After settling into my new house (5 minutes walk from work – score!) and getting to know my flatmates, who were soon to be my colleagues and friends for the next year. I arrived at the zoo for my first day “on the job”, I fell in love as soon as I arrived. I walked in bright and early to be greeted by the sound of gibbons singing at the top of their lungs – what better way to start the day? The first couple of weeks was a whirlwind, meeting all of the staff, countless tours of the zoo to meet the all of the animals (over 2,000) finally culminating in keeper weeks.
My office for the next year…
Keeper weeks
Keeper weeks were, and still are, one of the most tiring but exciting experiences I’ve ever had. I spent two weeks going around different departments working alongside keepers and vets on their daily schedule. I worked alongside keepers in the Lower vertebrate and Invertebrate, Mammals and Bird departments. I even managed to have sneak peek of what the vets get up to! It was a truly insightful experience – I shovelled lots of poo and got up close to lots of incredible animals. From tiny spiders, cheeky Hamadryas baboons and orangutans to the graceful resident African elephant. Overall however, the biggest takeaway from the experience was how close knit the zoo staff family are. They deal with a lot everyday, from managing dangerous animals to hand rearing the smallest chicks. I have never met a group of people who are more dedicated and caring. Everyone was friendly, passionate and willing to help out. Most of all there was of plenty of laughter!
I didn’t get to work with the lions but here is a cute photo. Because, who doesn’t love lion cubs!
Zoo life
After the whirlwind of keeper weeks, I settled into my own department for the year – the Field Conservation and Research department. I was in a team of 6 placement students from universities all around the country. We each had our own projects but worked in the same office space – it made for a real bonding experience. I began to get stuck into my research project: Investigating the physiological and behavioural impact of UVB lighting on captive brown spider monkeys. That basically means; look at how UV lighting affects, the minerals in and the behaviour of, the resident brown spider monkey group. As with every scientific project, I had my work cut out.
In between my reading, alongside the other placement students, we would often go for walking breaks around the zoo. These could vary in length, from 10 minutes to 1 hour, and would involve walking around every part of the zoo meeting the gorillas, zebras, cheetahs and frogs. However, one part of the zoo was our favourite – the petting zoo filled with goats. We instantly fell in love with the resident goats, spending many an hour petting them and taking selfies as they lived the high life. In fact, we loved them so much that we dedicated a day of the week to them: “Goat Fridays”. As the name suggests, we visited the goats on a Friday each week to give them plenty of cuddles. If I’m honest, we did this plenty of other times during the week too, when we needed a little booster.
Me and Gonzo. Photo Creds: Nagashriya Aerasala
Zoo life for the animals can sometimes get a little repetitive. To keep them interested and active, the keepers often make enrichment for the animals. The placements students were enlisted to help make paper mache pumpkins and snowmen during Halloween and Christmas for the baboons. It was a really fun experience – hours of work destroyed in seconds as the troop compete for the treats inside. If there is one thing I’ve learnt from my placement, it’s a strong paper mache game.
Spooky paper mache pumpkins for the baboons!
As the year went on, I really got to know my project subjects – brown spider monkeys. Paignton has a wonderful close knit group, each with their own individual personality. I spent countless hours sitting observing them, noting their behaviour and location every minute on the minute. There were of course downsides to this, when it was freezing outside I still had to sit and observe them as they were in their heated enclosure. I was wearing as many layers as possible, I don’t do well in the cold, and even invested in hand warmers. Desperate times call for desperate measures. However, as time wore on and I spent more and more time with the spider monkeys, they began to recognise me – coming up to the glass to say hello and often vocalising when I approached the enclosure. For me that was a really special experience and one I won’t forget in a hurry!
Don’t tell the other spider monkeys, but Luna is definitely my favourite…SCIENCE! I definitely know what I’m doing here (cough).
Wait…It’s almost all over!?
As the end of my year began to draw closer, I reflected on what I had gained throughout the experience. I had experienced many unique things – who can say they work within 10m of exotic animals on a daily basis!? I had made great friends, colleagues and memories I would never forget. I had learnt how to work as part of a team, lead my own project and to cope when things go wrong (it turns out they do a lot during research projects). Best of all, the whole experience culminated with me presenting my work at the Annual BIAZA Research Conference at Edinburgh Zoo – a real achievement!
Coming back to London
Coming back to London wasn’t that tough, I fell straight back into the hustle and bustle. I was grateful for the constant tubes and buses – a stark contrast to Devon where it’s vital to have your own car. Adjusting to final year university was a little harder, the workload hit me like a tidal wave. Ah well, back to the grind for one more year…
Overall, taking a year out to complete a placement was an incredible experience. It taught me many skills. I made many friends and memories and it gave me an amazing insight into working life. I still stand by the fact it was one of the best decisions of my life. Would I recommend it? If you ever get the opportunity – seize it with both hands and go for it!
Summer term’s just around the corner, and what does that mean? That’s right! Endless episodes of exams. Over the years as a student at the RWTH Aachen, I have collected various tips on how to survive the intensive studying phases – all without jungle hair and mental suffering.
First, schedule your free time
Even if you plan to study 8 hours a day, I always take the time to plan my private things first in my weekly schedule. Fitness and relaxation times are a must, and there are even studies that recommend such a planning. In the critical phase time naturally gets a bit tight and sometimes your exercise suffers, but one should always strive for a balance.
Analyze the old exams
Always a good idea. Perhaps there are focal points and repetitive tasks. It is also a good idea to ask students from higher years if there are only a limited number of exams. Unfortunately, there is no online forum at Imperial College to exchange previous experiences. At the RWTH there is the so-called Maschboard, in which Mechanical Engineering students report and exchange experiences. Very helpful and highly recommended.
Build a study routine
Get up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, eat lunch at the same time. Even on weekends. Man is a creature of habit, and it also builds momentum that helps you get into the ‘flow’ channel. This is where you have the feeling that it’s working and that you’re quite productive.
I always study through the weekends, but every 2 weeks I take a day off where I don’t do anything at all. Relax, take a trip somewhere or just chill out in the park all day as a reward for hard work.
Good luck and happy Easter!
