Bumpy ride pt. 2 – My final blog

Clearing is coming to an end now since we have reached our peak but that only means that the new academic year is beginning. Before we know it, we're going to be bringing Tesco’s into our lecture theatres to stay awake through 3 hour lectures.

We’ve officially started to pack up the clearing room and I’ve found nothing but stationary and more food wrappers. It’s all I’ve been doing for the last two months, eating and advising students. I’ve found strawberry lace wrappers, short bread biscuit wrappers, éclairs and lollipop wrappers and a lot of cafeteria tissues from my rack and I have no idea where they all came from. But I am going to miss my hash browns and hot chocolate in the mornings.

Working in Clearing this year, I've come across a lot of students who don't want to travel to Medway because it's too far away but it really isn't. The University of Greenwich provides an inter-campus coach and believe me, you won't be the only one on it, you'll have friends travelling the same way and it's the perfect opportunity to meet other people from other courses.

On that coach is where I did most of my socialising along with Drill Hall library and I found it very convenient. All I had to do was sit on the coach and fall asleep till the coach stopped and I'd be at Medway. I didn't have to worry about crossing Blackwall tunnel or Dartford Bridge and the traffic it would cause if I had got a car because getting this coach made sure I bypassed all that Peak time traffic.

This time of year is where we make the most important academic decisions, some planned and some are last minute. You either decide to carry on studying or you decide to work but either way, it’s a type of progression.

I know for most, you have come through Clearing and some have picked a course slightly different to what you wanted to do and so did I at first. But I ended up liking what I did and now I'm going to progress in this field and I have no one but this university to thank for acting like a stepping stone in life.

Last of all… thank you for reading & Good luck for the future.

The End (Part 2)

I finally graduated in BSc Biomedical Science, with a First Class no less. I was busy in the Enquiry Unit till Thursday 24th, working and then going home to sleep more than eat. During the ceremony, I was only allowed to take two people. I don't know if this was a good thing or bad thing. My sister had to sit in the car but knowing her she would have fallen asleep during the ceremony just to embarrass me when my name was called out, but my dad cheered me on when it was dead silent. I'm surprised my dad didn't sneak confetti and party poppers into the cathedral.

But a tip for those who will graduate, take bobby pins because it is one heavy hat you have to wear and take lots of safety pins. It’s an actual heavy 3-piece suit; it’s like wearing carpet and walking around for 3 hours.

I didn't feel like it was the end till my dad started to drive away. Three years done and it only felt like it was yesterday that I met my friends for the first time during our Induction. Then we took every step together and now we're going to go our separate ways. We are ALL going to go our separate ways. Even though throwing our hats in the air meant that this was the end, it also means that another milestone has been completed - That I was on my way to complete another milestone.

But from now till then has a months gap. A hot month of random fasting with only fruits and very little nuts since all they do is give me a headache. But on the other side of things, I've been hooked to Food Factory on Discovery Science and I learnt things that we never question.

Like did you know...
1) An Aubergine/Egg Plant is actually a fruit, more specifically a berry. My mum didn't believe me and her dad/my grandfather grows these in his back garden.
2) In chocolate chip cookies, they mix ice cubes into the dough to stop the chocolate chips melting. Who knew?
3) A lettuce is from the sunflower family.
4) Cashews in my opinion have the weirdest origin. I'm never going to look at cashews the same way again.

The fact that my academic year has ended means that the New Academic Year is about to roll around corner. And that means the beginning of a new clearing period so let the fun begin.

Take care my dear bloggers and don't forget to check out our Clearing Diary 2014!!

What A Wonderful World

Exams are finished as I've got my results for this year and I have surprised myself with what I got. People say the last year of university is hard. Last year’s students said it's better than second year. I still don't know what to think. For me second year was hard but maybe that was because we didn't have January exams. This year we did but I also had two jobs against my mums better judgement and I made it but I am tired, more mentally than physically. But it doesn't change the fact that I keep checking my results every day hoping they won't change.

We assume change is good but it doesn't always have to be. What if my results go down? No, I'm happy with what I've got.

So far I've had no luck with my graduation dress; I walked the whole of Lakeside and found nothing. Till I got home and saw a dress on sale online so I ordered and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We've all heard stories about ordering clothes online so one is hoping that this dress is as good as it looks and it fits me nicely.

But on the plus side, my mum has her dress for my graduation. She wanted to wear an Indian Saree but my sister and I convinced her otherwise. This is an English event and so she should wear English clothes, experience another culture and she has a nice figure, so why not? It's not about forgetting my culture; it's about experiencing and adopting another culture too. Something my mum taught while she worked in a care home with various elderly patients who came from different backgrounds and an advantage is that I've learned to cook all sorts of dishes, from Indian cuisine to African to Mexican and it's amazing, especially if you love food.

I have also started reading. Something I banned myself from because I realised I was reading too much fiction than text books. But I read ‘The fault in our Stars’ because my sister wanted to read it. I didn’t want to because this is the kind of book that would change your life forever. Like when I read ‘The Best of Me’ by Nicolas Sparks, I cried and then got myself a donor card. But I would totally recommend it. I think it’s a great book to change people’s perspective on cancer patients and after reading this book I am even more determined to do cancer therapeutics.  It was something that would make you laugh out loud and make you hold back tears. I’m trying not to give out any spoilers.

I also read Divergent and I’m nearly through Insurgent but I prefer the books over the movies. It’s the kind of book which allows you to stretch your imagination. But I feel like it’s a lot like the Hunger Games in terms of the adventure and setting.

On another plus side, guess who got tickets to the Summer Time Ball. I'm going with my sister and the line is good, not as good as last year but I'm not complaining. Besides, it’s the first time I will be going to a football stadium, even if it’s not to see a football match. It’s good enough. But I would like to go to the Jingle Bell ball too in December but exams always come in. We shall see.

But here is to a good weekend after a very busy week. 

The End (Part 1)

Third year has finally finished. After three years of taking the coach to Medway School of Science, 21 Modules, 18 exams and 15 essays, I now hold a bachelors degree in BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science. And it finished in a blink of an eye.

This year was quick, it’s like the year started two weeks ago. I was so busy with university and work that I had no time to think how busy it actually was.  All three exams went really well but the cell pathology was hard even though it was a seen paper. It was last year’s essay question so not only did we have to write the essay, we had to memorise it with references and then had two hours to write a 100-mark paper. It was by far the most intense paper because we actually needed three hours for this and near the end, my hand was flying on the exam booklet and it was like my brain exploded on the paper. I hope who ever marks it can read it.

But now that I've got some free time, I caught up with Vampire Diaries and I won't spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. But I hope they come back ;) I’m finally getting through my ‘To Watch List’ and I have checked off Prison Break and I’m currently catching up with Supernatural.  Now I don’t know what to watch next, so many shows, such very little time…

The one thing my family is looking forward to is graduation. I can’t wait either though I’m scared I’m going to fall when I go to get my degree. The robes are black with blue and red so I don’t know what color to wear and I refuse to wear a black or white dress. I really hope there is some sun!

Even though my exams are over, I’m still tutoring GCSE and A-Levels and I’m quite shocked I can remember things from about 7 years ago. It was like yesterday that I was sitting there and learning myself and here I am today, teaching others while I've finished my bachelors and ready to move onto doing my masters. I’m excited for and dreading doing my postgraduate qualification. I’m excited to go to another university and learn more about treating cancer, I mean who knows, I might even have a hand in finding a cure but that means more studying and more exams. I will keep up my motivation because its what I want!

MY WORDS OF WISDOM: 
If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it
If you don’t ask, you’ll never know and the answer will always be ‘No’
If you don’t walk forward, you’ll always be in the same place and you’ll never know what awaits you

Times will be hard and easy but we must stay strong. All I can say is that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Good Luck for those who have exams and lets pray for some 2014 sunshine :)

Last Minute.com

Dear Bloggers,

It’s been a long month and the next month is going to be even longer. I left everything this month to the last minute, which has resulted in sleepless nights and very long tiring days. The immunology case study I did three days before the deadline and I did the haematology case study two days before the deadline. The only good thing that happened this month was that we got a ten day extension on our project, only to find out the next day we have to do more labs. My feet are killing me and all I want to do is sleep. On the plus side, we transfected the plasmid and actually got to see in go in the cell. Amazing. It was like magic.

My project is slowly killing me, the only thing motivating me is graduation and the summer, which I’ll probably working through out. I’m currently referencing my project or well trying too. I have to force myself to do it. I find every possible excuse not to do it till I have to do it. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve gotten addicted to temple run again. I have to Harvard reference 70+ journals, so I’d like to thank the person who invented google scholar; you are literally a life saver. Temple run isn’t the only distraction I’ve had, the other is YouTube. One video leads to another and before you know it, you’ve wasted hours watching funny videos. I recommend watching ‘Drive Thru Static Shock Fainting Prank’ and since I’m Gujarati, I found this one hilarious, ‘Telling Gujarati Parents You're Leaving the House’.

This also includes watching TV serials. On half my computer screen is my coursework or lecture notes and on the other half I’m watching Teen Wolf, Pretty Little Liars or Castle. Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy, Vampire Diaries and The Originals is just piling up like the library books sitting on my desk. I need to get though them but I just get too distracted. I have a plan and I think I’m going according to schedule, but April will roll on and then I’ll know how behind I am.

I’m no Astrologer, but I know April is going to hold more sleepless nights because I have my first exam in exactly a month and I have not even stared revision and usually I have. I go to lecture and sit there, day dreaming about what I need to do but I don’t actually get through the list. I spend more time on thinking what I should do then actually doing it. Third year is no piece of cake.

Take care bloggers xxx


Thank You

Monique

Not the month of Love but the month of Cake!

Dear bloggers,

It's been a busy month but I'm just doing one thing at a time. Cervical cancer essay is due this month and I was over by 100 words but I cut it down. The lesson I learned during this coursework is to eject your USB properly or you will lose your work even if you save it. This is how I spent another day re-doing my references. But I finished it before the deadline and it's a good thing I saved it in three different places.

Now I need to do the ADVANCED immunology case study which is easy but it's long. Not to mention my project write up which I need to fix. I haven't started my method section but I'm still doing the practical side so it's hard to write up the method.

Labs is amazing though even though it's tedious because we have to wait a lot for results to turn up. Which funnily enough we get good results every Thursday. So far we've done PCR and we've cloned and cultured E6 and E7 which took two weeks to do but we got there in the end. And now all we have to do is send it of to be sequenced.

But it's been a fun month so far, I turned 21 and got to eat TWO fresh cream cakes and I did feel sick after but it was totally worth it. My friend decided to drag me to Nando's in the cold and rain but I got cake and then my parents surprised me when I got home so I got more cake.

I love cake! And just remember to eject your USB properly. :)

Take care bloggers xxx

Source: www.rosebakes.com

A New Start

Dear Readers,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! WISHING YOU A BETTER 2014!!!!

My holidays weren't all that, I revised the whole three weeks and when I got to my exam, I didn't remember a thing. It's ironic how I can remember something that happened once and years ago but not something I've been learning for four months over and over again. Medical Biochemistry wasn't that bad except I totally bluffed one essay question with knowledge from the back of my head and Cancer was amazing, though I managed to successfully confuse myself with the cancer drugs that I had learnt in so much detail. We’ll see what happens. Can’t dwell on things you can’t change.

I went to see the London fireworks of 2014. Got a little wet but I was singing my heart out on Waterloo Bridge with 150,000 other people. But it was amazing, like a fairy tale. I was one of those things you can be in a daze at until it stops, like fire or a running stream. But the journey home was a nightmare and yes, it did involve a jam packed central line at 3 o’clock in the morning, and the driver threatened to stop the train if someone opened the middle doors again. To think, I could have been stuck on the central line with no breathing space!

I finally started my project, so far its about 12 pages and I have about 25/120 references, not so good because I hate reading journals, they’re not exciting like fiction books but I’ll just motivate my self with food. But I need to edit and get on with my labs. Starting term 2 this week, Hematology, Cell Pathology and Advanced Immunology. I just about got Basic Immunology and now Advanced Immunology, I’ll let you know how I get on but I am dreading it.

But all the TV shows I watch like PLL is starting up again. I’m so excited to just come home after a long day of lectures and watch girls go at each other over no reason. Entertainment on my Mac, on demand. My imagination gets the better of me sometimes. But those who had exams, I hope it all works out and those who will, good luck.

But just remember, there’s no point dwelling on things that are done. All you can do I move on and do better next time.

Take Care Bloggers