Category: Character

Imperial affection

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

While I was watching the University Challenge today, I had this extraordinary feeling: the Imperial affection. It was not the first time… There are these little moments during the day when I suddenly realise I am at the best university in the world: when I put on my Imperial hoodie, when I look up at Queen’s Tower, when I see Imperial in the news, or when I see the Imperial guys beating Oxford in the University Challenge.

It’s hard to define this feeling: I would say it’s some kind of “belonging somewhere” feeling. Because I am terribly, terribly proud that I am an Imperial student and I belong here.

An honest confession…

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

When I was in high school, I never really had a problem with studying. Because, to be honest, I never really actually studied. I went to the lessons, paid attention to the teacher, more or less did the homework. But – except before the final exams – I didn’t really study. I never sat down with a textbook and read it three-four times, never made notes, never did practise exercises or past papers. And I got away with it quite well: I had outstanding final marks, perfect tests and all these strange awards for being the best in random years… I have never felt I have worked enough, because I knew I didn’t.

Refreshers’ flu…

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

It’s a well-known fact that freshers’ flu hits universities every autumn. It has to do with the lot of people from lot of different countries, as we were told. Another well-known fact is that the first week of the Spring Term is the Refreshers’ week, a thing I still don’t really understand, but this might just be due to my narrow-mindedness (Seriously, refreshers? Just why??) But I unfortunately got to know a not-so-well-know aspect of Refreshers’ week: the refreshers’ flu.

Friday

I started to feel something on Friday afternoon. I can’t remember when was the last time I had flu, so at first I thought I have a cold.

#justLondonthings

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

A few years ago I wouldn’t have thought that I’ll live in London one day. When I first visited the city in 2013, I was amazed: it is huge, crowded, full of famous buildings and places, full of classic “London” things like the double-decker or the black cabs. Then, as I came here more often (after half of my family had moved here), I started to get used to things: I memorised the underground stations, I got an Oyster card, I queued for the bus… But only in August could I say that I was officially a Londoner, when I got my +44 phone number and changed my current city to London on Facebook.

A subjective description about subjects

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

I think one of the many positive aspects about ChemEng is that we study a whole bunch of different subjects. While other courses have 4-5 subjects, we have … hmmm… well… I don’t really know 😀

According to Blackboard (online platform where all of the course notes and homeworks are), we have 14 different “things”, but some of them are jointly called “coursework” subjects (CE1-03) and we will get only one mark for it at the end. So, I am quite confused when someone asks how many subjects I have, but here is the list:

Another interesting thing is our timetable.

Foundry Night

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

The weekly Foundry Night is always a pleasant reminder that another week just passed… And another… And again… It feels like we moved in yesterday, though I’ve been here for more than two months already!

For those who don’t know: Foundry is the wonderful bar located in block A of Woodward Hall. There is a 20% discount for students and the food is quite decent. So my dearest flat created a tradition: we go there every Sunday evening to spend some time (and money) together…

Foundry Nights have a special importance in the flat’s life. We start to plan them around 1 pm on Sunday, we decide when to go, what to wear.

Perks of Autumn term

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

We’ve literally just started university, and the first term has almost already passed… So it’s time to talk a little bit about the achievements (or “achievements”…) so far.

On the first week we had several introductory lectures, but one of them was particularly interesting. It was about assessments and grades. And the lecturer kept emphasising:

“Don’t expect 100% on all tests!”

He also said that it will be new for most of us, because we were most likely to be the best students in our class, and we were the ones who got 100% all the time. But that time is over, because everyone can’t be the best so we have to get used to the thought of failing.

Admission day

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

I had my Imperial interview almost exactly a year ago. It’s rather unbelievable that an entire year has just flown by… But it didn’t really hit me until the first admission day. About a month ago we got an email from the department that we can volunteer to help on the admission days, and I – of course – applied.

Admission day is a lot more than just interviews: the applicants are shown around the campus, they have lab tours and they visit the Pilot Plant, too. When I volunteered to help, I didn’t know that it would be this shockingly amazing experience.

Welcome!

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my blog! Are you interested in Imperial? Or ChemEng? Or Woodward Hall? You are at the best place… I want to tell you everything from the moment of getting my @ic.ac.uk email address through the weekly Foundry Nights to my amazing Fluid Mechanics lectures. I hope you will enjoy it!

You might wonder what the categories mean at the side…

C12 – That’s where I live, the amazing Woodward Hall C block 12th floor! This category will include the ups and downs of living away from home and the joy when they introduce a new type of microwave food in tesco…

ChemEng – It is my course, MEng ChemEng 🙂 This will be all about the working bit of university life (who would have thought that going to Imperial actually involves studying?)

Enjoy!

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