Is it too early to be thinking about going back to university? It’s that weird time at the end of the year, between Christmas and New Year’s, when no one really knows what day it is or what they’re supposed to be doing. In this time I find my thoughts keep coming back to the start of Term 2, which is just one week away now.
Firstly, I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas, whether you spent it at home with your family and friends or here in London exploring the city. With New Year’s Eve coming up and then Term 2 starting just a few days after that, here’s some tips for making the most of the last week of the holidays.
If you have spent most of your time so far working and catching up on lectures from last term, make sure to give yourself some time off. It is the Christmas Holidays after all!
Equally, if you have done no work at all, it might be an idea to dust off those lecture notes and have a quick recap before heading back so that you are starting the new term fresh and ready to learn more.
Make the most of the sales! Student budgets can be tight, so if there is anything you think you might need for the new term, try and grab yourself a bargain by getting to the shops before you head back to see what’s on offer and reduced.
On the topic of New Year’s, have you thought of you New Year Resolutions yet?
Personally, I don’t tend to set any because I know they only last about a week, two if I’m lucky, but if you are one for starting the new year with a new mindset and goals then get thinking of your aims for this year. Make sure to make them achievable and apparently if you tell people your goals you are more likely to stick to them.
Finally, if you have spent the holidays at home, make sure to make the most of the last week with your family, you might not be seeing them again until the Easter break. Also, make sure to show your parents how grateful you are of them looking after you at home, nothing beats a home cooked meal and I’m sure you’ll start to miss them once you’re back to cooking yourself most nights.
I hope the thought of the new term hasn’t put a downer on your holiday spirits, but remember you do still have a week of free-time left before we all move back to London.
Make the most of it and I wish you all a very happy New Year!
The Christmas spirit is absolutely infectious in London.
After making it through a term of epidemiology and medical statistics, I think I’m at least qualified to say that. [95% CI crossing fingers, crossing toes].
Call me a Grinch but I’m not usually one to celebrate Christmas. Back in Singapore, the streets get all gussied up with lights and decorations but it’s hard to really get into the whole snowman thing when it’s 33 degrees Celsius all year round.
I hadn’t given it much thought here in London either, even as the temperatures started falling. Then one foggy Christmas eve day we went to our local laundrette and discovered that it’d turned into the neighbourhood Christmas tree purveyor overnight.
The words were on my lips before my inner Grinch could protest.
“It’s..”
(No, that’s the most cliched thing ever)
“…starting to…”
(You can still stop!)
“…look a lot like Christmas.”
(I’m not sure we can be friends anymore)
Suddenly, I was carrying a Christmas tree back home with a spring in my step and vague hopes of collecting pine-scented laundry in a few days. As if by magic (actually Amazon), decorations appeared and Bruce the Spruce now stands proudly in my living room with fairy lights in his boughs and presents nestled under.
I’ve also started exhibiting clear symptoms of Christmas spirit infection. Flurries of Christmas card writing, YouTube videos on present wrapping and a disturbingly high risk of breaking out into non-denominational Christmas carols in the shower.
The beauty of Christmas in London though, is in its heterogeneity. A stroll down town will take you through all its joyous various strains and their manifestations.
Luckily, it looks like the good folks at the BMJ are already on the job characterising the Christmas spirit and have published a paper on the “Christmas spirit network” of neural connections. They’re also currently preparing a patent for solving “bah humbug syndrome”, the counterpart to Christmas spirit. When people afflicted with this start grumbling at Christmas dinner, a special Santa’s hat will let you “give them electric stimulation right in the Christmas spirit centres.” (Hougaard et al. 2015)
If any of the 2 or 3 people who will read this celebrate Christmas, happy Christmas-was-two-days-ago! 🙂
I spent it in the company of family, family friends and their cat. She’s one of the coolest cats ever; she woke me up with paws and rekindled my need for my own feline creature.
Other than the early drysuit, I got a Totoro t-shirt and a mini gorilla, which sounds random, but was a response to my love for gorillas, which I’ve displayed a lot since visiting Bristol zoo last February. Both were due to the boyfriend, so it’s his own fault, really.
I’m back in accommodation, since my dad, stepmum and sister and going to Russia for New Year and my mum is visiting me here in about 4 hours. And then I go back home to make sure the dog feels loved enough while he’s left alone.
fluffy bear thing
I need to do a lab report, some German, a CV and covering letter, go work out what actually happened last term and buy food so my mum thinks I have life sorted. Eughhh
I’ve seen the new Star Wars and I can say spoiler-free that it was damn awesome and you need to see it if you haven’t yet.
Also, where’s the snow? I didn’t sign up to such warmth during Christmas and I disapprove.
Having lightly hinted at my desire to be dry while everything is water, I successfully ended up with a drysuit for Christmas! Whoop whoop. I already have it, because the smallest size available was a size too large and we wanted to make sure that it didn’t need swapping. It fits a little loose around the legs, but the body is perfect and the ankle can be tightened. Plus, I’m planning to wear my Totoro onesie underneath, so more room is never an issue.
It’s a Typhoon ladies, but has only the back zip, so allows no toilet breaks. It’s also damn expensive, since it’s a good one. As a clue, my dad, stepmum and mum all pitched in to get me this…THAT expensive.
The last two weeks of term have so far been a flurry of carol services, Christmas trees, mince pies and mulled wine. I am loving life (apart from the massive piece of coursework I’m doing but let’s suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend that this fortnight is a fortnight of fun and cinnamon sticks).
By the time I go home next Sunday I will have attended no less than four carol services! Last night the Christian societies at Imperial hosted our annual carol service at the beautiful Holy Trinity Church next door to Beit Quad. It was a lovely evening and loads of people came over from Imperial to join us for carols, readings and a short talk about the gifts that Jesus gives us. There was a performance by the IC Gospel Choir and we were accompanied by a small band of musicians and the organ (side note: to get the organ in this church you have to climb a spiral staircase and then the organ is located in a little pod above the band. It was cool but going back down the stairs was scary as someone with a fear of both heights and falling down stairs…). Check out Lorna’s blog also getting hyped for the number of carol services available at this time of year!
After the carol service a couple of went out for dinner at Ottoman in Hammersmith. This is another side note but definitely go to Ottoman if you find yourself down Hammersmith way. It’s a Turkish kebab restaurant that serves very reasonably sized portions of meat, rice and salad AND there is free bread. The food is delicious and fresh, the service is great and one of the friends I went with has been there enough times that the waiting staff greet him with a handshake and know his order by heart. It’s hilarious. Whenever ‘Ottoman’s?’ is suggested everyone knows what the right answer is.
Have a great last week of term friends and I hope that you have a peaceful Christmas! xox
Random update. Canoe club had a curry night and particular highlights included stealing hats, millions of selfies while people left their phones unattended and a table of people even more obnoxious than us. Also now have a new favourite phrase:
“The bread you shoved down my back still itches”
“You shouldn’t have thrown it at me”
“I didn’t, I just gave it to you at a trajectory. It’s called projectile feeding”
Love it.
Also had a dentist appointment today and found out that although i’ve been transferred to a dental hospital in London, they don’t currently have someone qualified to deal with the amount of mess going on with my teeth. GRR. I’m going to enjoy complaining about that in another post, which will be likely to contain too much information.
It’s official, advent has started, Christmas is nearly here!
I’m sure those of you who live in London are well aware of this: Harrods have got their Christmas lights on, the streets are crammed with Christmas Shoppers, Winter Wonderland is lighting up Hyde Park, coffee shops have got their Christmas drinks on the go (I have tried so many!) and the Christmas adverts have started! If that isn’t enough evidence, I actually saw someone today carrying a sledge!
One of my favourite parts of Christmas is the carol services. Yes food is good, presents are great and spending time with family is nice, but I don’t think you can beat a good carol service. I’m guessing that most of imperial would agree with me looking at the large number of carol services that are available!
Not only is this a great opportunity to get into the festive mood, eat lots of yummy food and belt out some old classic carols. It’s also a great time to relax and have a break in the midst of Christmas meals and events at the end of a busy term, and hear why Christmas is important to so many around the world. International students can find out more about a traditional British Christmas, and Brits can enjoy the Christmas story as an adult. So why not head along to one of the many carol services around or near campus? Take a group of friends, your sports team, or just go alone for some space!
Over my five years at imperial I have had the joy of sampling many a Christmas Carol service, so here are some of my top choices that you could try this year. All are free and will offer a very warm welcome.
Within Imperial: 1. Imperial Christian societies Carol Service Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road. 11th December, 6:30pm (doors open at 6:15)
If you are going to have a Christmas Carol service Imperials Christian societies are probably the best people to ask. Here a range of student Christian societies across Imperial come together to run a great Carol service on campus aimed at students, straight after lectures.
Come along for a convenient location, lots of good old carols, Bible Christmas readings and a short talk. Lots of opportunities to think about what Christmas means and find out more if you want, or just to sit and enjoy the candlelight Church. Imperial College Gospel Choir will also perform during the service. The event is followed by lots of mince pies and festive hot drinks!
Also bonus fact- Last year the speaker had done the Carol service in Chelsea for many celebrities including the made in Chelsea cast- if it’s good enough for them…
2. Imperial chaplaincy carol service Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road. 14th December, 6pm
Once again in the busy end to term this service offers a space and time to reflect, as well as sing some favourite carols and enjoy the Church in candlelight. Once again all are welcome, regardless of background, and refreshments (mince pies!) will be served afterwards. Imperial College Chamber Choir will be performing during the service.
Organised by the medical school, this carol service features ICSM societies, student volunteers, lecturers and teachers perform a variety of readings/prayers/pieces. Again, lots of carols, festive cheer and A popular choice for sports teams to come along to as a group, everyone is welcome, feels like a family event!
There are also a range of carol services at local churches, which should be very welcoming to visitors, and often have really good mulled wine and mince pies!
1. Christ Church Mayfair Down Street, London, W1J 7AN (just by Hyde Park Corner)
Traditional and Family Carols (10.15am, Sunday the 13th and 20th of December respectively), Carols by Candlelight, (6pm on Sunday the 13th and 20th, and 7.30pm on Wednesday the 16th)
Minced pies, mulled wine, a warm welcome, a candlelit church, a fun Church choir and lots of carols and readings. Perfect ingredients for a carol service! Many visitors come along to the carol service so you will not be alone. Is located near to Winter Wonderland, so might be nice to combine with a Christmas trip! Also have a service on Christmas day if you are stuck in London and fancy doing something to celebrate Christmas.
As one of London’s largest churches, and on the doorstep of Imperial, this offers a massive range of carol services- really- have a look! I’m sure there would be something here to suit everyone’s tastes. The Church is used to having lots of visitors so should be super welcoming! They also have a free community lunch on Christmas day which might be worth looking into if you are in halls over Christmas.
Just next-door to Charing Cross Hospital, this Church is perfectly located for medics (or anyone else who lives near Hammersmith!) to pop along to a carol service.
Yesterday I came home for Christmas. Being home is both weird and wonderful.
Weird because first term can’t possibly have gone so quickly, and because living in a village is a bit quiet after London.
But wonderful because I love home: cuddles with my cat, having my family around, making plans to meet up with friends who I haven’t seen for ages, being looked after by my mum, telly (I caught up on Downton Abbey this morning, in time for the Christmas special!) Also, I finally have time to stop – this term has been crazily busy, and while it was mostly crazily fun, having time to catch up on sleep is good too – you can only survive so long on caffeine…
*Excuse to show everyone pictures of my cat*
The problem with having spare time is having time to be ill. I never really got rid of my Freshers’ flu, and have had a cold/cough for about ten of the eleven weeks I’ve been at Imperial, but since term finished it’s got worse. I’ve slept most of today and am writing this in bed with a hot water bottle and a mug of Lemsip (yum!) My mum’s decided that I’m probably ill because I haven’t been eating healthily enough (she may have a point) so for dinner she’s cooking something with about ten of my five-a-day. I love not having to cook my own dinner – and even better, not having to wash up. Until October, I never appreciated how wonderful having a dishwasher is.
I plan to spend the rest of this week recovering, having fun and being festive, and then the remaining two weeks of the holiday I’m going to be trying to learn some of the MCD (Molecules, Cells and Disease) stuff we’ve been taught this term, in preparation for an exam on the first day back (boo!) Now that we’ve actually finished lectures I’m suddenly realising that there’s quite a lot to learn… but first I plan to enjoy Christmas!
The last two weeks have been particularly busy, with various assignments due in, and Opera the week before last. The show was ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and being part of it (in the band – obviously the best bit!) was amazing. Rehearsals have been going on most of this term, and all the hard work paid off (in between all the messing about and having fun). Huge thank you and well done to everyone involved, especially Nicky, our wonderful music director/conductor.
Opera Band is the best!…but Cast is also amazing 🙂Band <3
I was really sad when Opera week was over, but the next performance is already in the works – some songs for Arts Review in February – and I’m in the chorus, yay! Although I can’t imagine how as my dancing in the audition was appalling…
Aside from that there’s lots more exciting stuff happening next term: first years are starting LSS (Life Support Systems) which sounds a lot more interesting than MCD; RAG week in February to raise money for charity (I’m not entirely sure what this involves but it was happening when I went for my interview in January and all the first years were dressed as superheroes); and lots of under-undergraduates coming for interviews – I’ve signed up to give campus tours on some of the interview days and am looking forward to meeting some of the potential new members of the ICSM family 🙂
To anyone with an interview coming up in the next few months: congratulations for getting this far, and GOOD LUCK! I was so nervous before my interview, but it was the friendliest, most relaxed interview I had 🙂
Actually feeling much better now – clearly the combination of Lemsip, a hot water bottle and blogging works. Right, I’m off on a mince-pie-hunt.
Finally – and most importantly: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
1. Getting your laundry done for you and not having to leave it out to dry for three days because…
2. The heating is on for a substantial amount of time each day. And you don’t have to worry about what your heating bill will look like at the end of the month.
3. There is food?? Like all the time??!? You don’t have to eat breakfast cereal for lunch. And that is great.
4. Sofas and TV.
5. There is always milk so you don’t have to run to the shop when you need a cup of tea in an emergency.
6. You can visit your childhood best friends who live five minutes away from you.
7. Revisiting childhood when you sleep in your old room.
8. Fam time. I miss mine a ton when I’m away.
9. Also babies. My mum looks after kiddies for a living so I love playing with the babies when I come home.
10. Getting out of London. It’s good to be able to slow down from the pace of London life for a while!
I think I might be the only person I know who wishes Christmas wasn’t so soon.
Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE Christmas. Christmas trees are appearing everywhere (including one that randomly appeared on the kitchen table today); Secret Santas are being arranged; and I’m having lots of Christmas dinners in the next few weeks with lots of lovely people. But I still don’t want Christmas to come.
Kitchen Christmas Tree 🙂
By Christmas, I will have finished my first term at medical school.
Meaning that I only have 17 terms left, which suddenly doesn’t seem very long to learn a lot of stuff.
And then I get to go and be a doctor – eek :O
I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was about ten. I was first influenced by my mum’s addiction to Casualty and Holby City. Since then I’ve had to come up with some better reasons for wanting to study medicine to put in my personal statement. All the generic (but true!) stuff such as ‘I’m really passionate about science’ and ‘I want to help people.’ I feel a bit sorry for medicine admissions tutors, having to read pretty much the same thing thousands of times. Although I don’t feel quite so sorry for the ones who decided not to give me an interview. But I don’t care because I didn’t want to go to their medical schools anyway 😛 (ICSM love <3)
The first time I applied to uni I decided that there was no way I was ever going to Imperial. My mum, two aunts and two uncles all studied here; so I, of course, decided I definitely didn’t want to – I wasn’t even going to bother with the open day. Long story short, I applied elsewhere, received four rejections and decided to take a gap year and rethink things a bit. It was then I realised I quite liked the idea of going to study Medicine in London – this was of course because ‘London’s such a diverse city, offering medical students a far greater variety of clinical experience’ – definitely nothing to do with the music scene…
Me (far left) and my friend Mew (far right) with Gabby Young & Other Animals in November. This (London-based) band had absolutely nothing* to do with me wanting to study in London. *I may not be being entirely honest here…
So, I went along to Imperial’s open day and, despite all intentions, fell in love (cheesy, but true). Over the next few months, my purpose in life was solely to get into Imperial – personal statement, BMAT, interview, etc., etc., etc.. It’s been more than nine months since I got my offer, I’ve been here two months and I think that maybe it might possibly just be starting to sink in that I am studying Medicine at Imperial College London!! 😀
I’ve been here for two months and I love it even more than I did at the open day. I’ve learnt a lot (mainly outside of lectures), spent more money than I really should have, deprived myself of sleep and vitamins (until some vitamin tablets arrived in the post – thanks Mum!) and made some wonderful friends.
Some of the most important/useful/random things I have learnt so far:
– Eight hours sleep a night is really not necessary. Five hours at night and then three the next day during lectures works equally well.
– Even if you have had eight hours of sleep the night before, there are some lectures that are impossible to stay awake in *cough*Epidemiology*cough*
– Freshers’ Flu is real (see coughing above.) I’ve been ill since week 2. During the first few weeks, every lecture was accompanied by a constant cacophony of coughing.
– The violin parts for all the songs in ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ (I’ll blog about this soon!)
– A LOT of drinking games
– Looking at stuff under a microscope is actually kinda cool. Or maybe I’m just a nerd…
– It is a bad idea to realise as you step outside in the morning that you’ve left something that you need in your room … on the third floor… up six flights of stairs… (d’oh!)
– When the label on an item of clothing says it shouldn’t be tumble-dried, it’s honestly okay to ignore it.
– ICSM is like one big, happy family – some of the older years told us this when we started, which at the time seemed really cheesy but actually turned out to true… ICSM love <3
Medical students are well known for their motto ‘work hard, play hard’ (or, at Imperial, ‘work hard, play harder’.) At the moment, the first years are neglecting the first part a bit but making up for it by focussing on the second. Far too much fun has been had to write about everything here (i.e. I’m being lazy) but a few highlights have been:
– ICSM MusicSoc’s Weekend Away in Bristol – 48 hours during which we took the ‘Fun Bus’ to Bristol, where we spent a lot of time in various Wetherspoons across Bristol and rehearsed a bit to justify it being a ‘Music’ weekend. The best bit was Saturday night – going for dinner and then to Thekla in our ‘Firms’ and all dressed in scrubs. Depending on year, we were ranked from ‘Consultants’ (6th years) to ‘Work Experience Students’ (1st years e.g. me). My firm was ‘Obs & Gynae’ so our tasks for the evening involved educating people on STDs and contraception… and, randomly, building lots of pyramids (out of ice cubes, ‘wet floor’ signs, people)
– Opera Invasion – a group of us from Light Opera Society went round London trying to complete a list of tasks. We ended up fitting a lot of us in a telephone box and even more of us on a (stationary) Boris Bike; playing hide-and-seek in Harrods; and singing songs from musicals outside of the relevant theatres, amongst other random, crazy, fun things.
Yes, there is a bike under there!Rainbow! Minus orange… and green… and indigo and violet..Light Opera Society creates true works of art.
– Halloween – I never did much for Halloween when I was younger, so dressing up for the Halloween Bop at the Reynolds (Medics’ bar) was very exciting!
Creepy cracked china dolls for Halloween. Left to right: Me, Catkin, Mew.
If my first term is anything to go by, the next 17 are going to be amazing. I used to see medical school as something I had to do to become a doctor, but it’s actually a lot more than that. It’s an amazing experience, and an education (not just in lectures!) Best of all, it’s a wonderful family.
By the time I go home next Sunday I will have attended no less than four carol services! Last night the Christian societies at Imperial hosted our annual carol service at the beautiful Holy Trinity Church next door to Beit Quad. It was a lovely evening and loads of people came over from Imperial to join us for carols, readings and a short talk about the gifts that Jesus gives us. There was a performance by the IC Gospel Choir and we were accompanied by a small band of musicians and the organ (side note: to get the organ in this church you have to climb a spiral staircase and then the organ is located in a little pod above the band. It was cool but going back down the stairs was scary as someone with a fear of both heights and falling down stairs…). Check out 
