Category: food

Feeling British

Mathematics of Planet Earth

I haven’t written for a while as I recently moved to Exeter for a summer internship in Met Office. If you’re interested in what the research here involves, check out my popular science blog. However, my Exeter adventure involves way more than work.

While London and Imperial are as international as it gets, Exeter has a very British (or rather English) feel. Today I spent ages queuing for cream tea and discussing with English colleagues what being British actually involves. Here’s the list of very British things I experienced only today.

  • Queuing. I come from a Central European country, where your place in the queue depends pretty much only on how cunning you are.

Hungry in South Kensington?

Electronic and Information Engineering

Many students are tired of the renowned library cafe and the free baked potatoes you can get with yoyo points. However, there’s plenty of options nearby that will definitely satisfy the most innate hunger.

For Lunch:

  • Bosphorus Kebab: The most amazing kebabs in the world for a cheap price too! (6 – 8 pounds per meal)
  • Go(Vietnamese): 8 pounds for the lunch deal. Best things are the chargrilled lemongrass chicken or the curry
  • Dozo(Japanese): Usually quite full, but the lunch deals range from (8-10 pounds)
  • Pret – sandwiches, hot-food ( 4- 7 pounds)
  • Wasabi – (6 – 9 pounds)

For dinner: 

  • Honest burgers: Fries are amazing ( 8-12 pounds) – simply one of the best burgers
  • Oriental canteen(Asian): (6 – 10 pounds) – south-east Asian cuisine
  • Jia(Chinese): (10-12 pounds) – this one has dumplings and stuff

Usually, for lunch, it’s either Go or Dozo.

Lunch break!

Mathematics of Planet Earth

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).

Deck the Halls!

Mathematics and Statistics

The guide to a perfect student Christmas dinner

So for the perfect Christmas dinner in halls, you ideally need: a good number of hungry students, at least two types of meat, a vat of gravy and a mountain of pigs-in-blankets. To be that little bit extra, like us (and the royal family), you could also add a lobster centre piece! Between 6 kitchens and 8 people cooking, we were able to feed 12 people, for only £8 each!!

Rather surprisingly, the dish that was eaten up first was the Brussel sprouts, traditionally a vegetable that gets slightly neglected! However, here are my top tips to preparing and cooking these surprisingly edible greens, in a recipe otherwise known as “sprouts drowning in bacon”.

Who’s this guy!? (and an amazing steak)

ERASMUS+ exchange student

You know the situation: you’re attending a presentation, you eagerly wait for new information, but the guy in front of you firstly begins by talking for 30 minutes about himself and his references! This has happened too often, so I want to be as brief as possible for the sake of German politeness.

My name is Alex, I’m 23 years old and I have the great chance to complete an ERASMUS+ exchange at Imperial College! 🙂 When I’m not studying for my subject, mechanical engineering, I do a lot of physical training (boxing and weightlifting) in my spare time. I also like to write – especially about things that move me (not the tube).

on the flipside.

Andrew Wang profile

MSci Immunology

Being able to pursue higher education in London has always been one of my objectives on my ever-growing to-do list and quite frankly, I believe the same for many of you guys reading this too who are considering to undertake a degree in London!

It’s very true when they say living in London is costly. But that’s not the point of this post and in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s going to incur some unexpected expenditures, and for me, that is *cues drum rolls*…..

FOOD!

Yes, you heard me right. Food glorious food! I mean, do I even need to introduce this to anyone at all?

London – how to afford it?

Mathematics of Planet Earth

Let’s face it: living in London is expensive. It might sound scary, especially that for some of you the first year of the university will  be also the first year when you have to be fully responsible for your finances. Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Here are my survival tips.

  1. Find a good accommodation. This is the key, since paying rent will be your biggest expense. Remember that you’ll also need to cover bills – and you might underestimate how high they’ll probably be. Having said that, I must stress: don’t go for the cheapest option. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Adultification

Abhishek profile

MSci Mathematics

Why growing up can be tough, and why you’re still allowed to make up words.

School life tends to be very linear. You wake up begrudgingly at a set time every weekday; you spend most of the day studying and hanging out with friends; you get home sometime in the evening and eat/do homework/relax to varying degrees; you fall asleep at a time that’s socially acceptable; you repeat. And it continues like this, more or less, from the age of 5 till you’re 18. Come to university, and it’s a whole new ball game.

Suddenly your days are irregular. And non-linearity rules (unless you’re solving differential equations, in which case I wish you the best of luck).

Learn more about life at Imperial

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