UKCAT

UKCAT done. Reference being written. Personal statement planned. Deadline 5 days.

NHS plans

So graduates who want to do the five year MBBS will get no help for tuition fees.
Fuck. That is all.

On an additional note, my best goes out to Merys at I Am Not A Drain On Society. Congratulations on becoming a doctor after a 9 year struggle. Sorry to hear you are in hospital. Get well soon :D

Exams, UKCAT and lots of starbucks

So my first year of university has finished. My exams are over and they could have gone a lot better. I slept through one, had friends down for a gig the day of another and generally was so relaxed about revision that I only panicked twenty minutes before each exam. And yet I loved it because I loved my first year. I've probably fucked myself for the next few years but I couldn't care at the moment. I've jumped through a lot of hoops for medicine and even ended up on a degree that wasn't even my second choice. As my advisor says "If you want to mess up a year, the first one is the one to do it in".

I've spent today buying UKCAT books and sitting in a Starbucks in Piccadilly drinking mocha frappes. It's been pretty cool and I think that I've got a much better attitude for the UKCAT this time round. I'm going to start at the basics going over GCSE Maths, practice speed reading and making sure I do the damn shape tests in my sleep.

Just in case I haven't mentioned, my university (Queen Mary) lets 2nd year Biomeds apply to their Medicine degrees for deferred entry hence the UKCAT stuff. I'm pretty excited about the application process but also hesitant. I'm going to be on a course next year with 80 other people applying for medicine at the same place. I'm sure that will drive me mental slightly. We'll see.

Also I should probably proof read my posts before positing but then it gives me another reason not to post so apologies for the rushed nature. Now that summer is coming they'll be more planned and organised.

Where did the time go? Almost end of the year!

I feel like every blog I start is apologising for not posting enough. I twitter a lot at the moment but blogging usually takes more. Or should take more if I planned it.

I've just finished Week 11 of Semester B of my first year of university. I have one week of official teaching then exam season starts :(

Can anyone say panic? First of all, I don't want to leave 1st year. Being a fresher is brilliant. Being a second year sounds like hard work. Secondly exams. I haven't done any exams for coming up to two years. Not worrying at all. Should be studying but instead I'm finding excuses in London not too.

Today has been interesting. I've had an interview for Drapers (S.U. Bar) and hopefully it was good. I felt it went crap but then I felt that about Sainsbury's and definitely Jobcentre. I had to draw an amazing bar person, then talk about glow in the dark paint for 30 seconds followed by a one on one interview. Odd to say the least. I really hope I get it though. It's on campus, wage is good and I'll be guaranteed a job for two years :D

Housing hunting. I've been looking online a lot but nothing seems to be available yet, apparently I shouldn't be looking till June/July. Plus I'm possibly living in a house that some third years are moving out of so that could make things nice and simple. Really hope so.

Course is good. Writing that, I sound like a postcard or an email to a distance relative. It is though. I'm enjoy the topics, maybe not the lectures but the topics for sure. Plus I seem to be holding my own so far. Exams will prove different I'm sure.

Medicine applications are also approaching. After exams, I'll have to look at booking my UKCAT and applying through QMUL. Should be an interesting experience which I'll blog about for future biomeds who are using this course as a slingshot to medicine.

Semester B and House Hunting Drama

I honestly can't believe I'm in the second semester of the first year already. It's flying by. Christmas was brilliant. Hope you guys had a great new year. Diving into the new semester, the content is definitely increasing in size and depth. I'll be studying histology, biochemisty and phyisiology. I'm loving the modules so far, although histology is going to take up a lot of my time. I can just sense it.

So what's new at uni? Loads of stuff is going on and I'm determined to keep my involvement up this term. I need to go the gym alot more! So far, I've been twice :O I know, shame on me. I just get a little nervous in front of all the guys doing free weights. Might try getting up early seeing as most sports club use the afternoons.

I'm joining the Tennis Club as well. After going on holiday over the Christmas break to Centre Parcs, I realised how much I miss Tennis so I'll be playing that again. I also really loved swimming, so I'm going to be going to the pool in Mile End at some point.

I'm really glad to be back but part of me still wants to be in Medicine at Barts. I know I'm not the only one thinking this and I even discovered that my flatmate has a blog. I had a quick look through and it's nice to know that 1. we are thinking the same thing and 2. he actually likes our flat. He's very mysterious you see, likes to keep himself to himself and it's difficult to know what he's thinking.

For example, our flat get on so well that we've started looking for a house together for next year however I was considered my flatmate would pull out and live with his sports team. Yet when another flatmate questioned him, he was adamant he would live with us and went house hunting the next day. Good to know :D

House hunting is turning into a drama. Somehow and fuck knows how, but a group of six has turned into eight. I like the two girls who want to live with us but they haven't even asked most of my flatmates. They just started looking for eight bedroom houses. In fact, I only found out because one of my flatmates walked in on three (current flatmate and the two friends) of them looking at houses. Mental. So I'm going to have to sit down and find out what's going on because this can easily get out of hand.

Looking forward to tonight :D Going to have a Cheese and Wine evening with some course mates. Going to dress up smart and get drunk. Cheap. Classy. Can't go wrong.

Oh and as a bragging point, because I can brag here because I'm a faceless person and I'm not doing it at an individual, I scored 99% in a Human Anatomy practical and also got published in the magazine for my student union. Pretty proud of myself if you don't mind me saying!

Unrelated

In a completely unrelated post, I'm having a very techy holiday and having been messing with Ubuntu on my laptop. Any suggestions for cool apps is appreciated!








I really want a mac, purely for Keynote though. Powerpoint is shit. I still hate Apple though even though I own an ipod, iPhone and love Steve Job's presenting skills.

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!

I got an email in a lecture this morning as someone commented on a post I wrote three years ago :O It reminded me I hadn't blogged in a while although I have been hitting up TSR recently for kicks.

What I can not believe the most, is that it's been three months since I started university. I have managed to survive, make friends, reasonably pass my modules and have fun! It's gone by so quickly that I've been using facebook photos as a memory jog.

Yet as I approach the last few days of term, I've completed my first essay due for tomorrow (I love my course for the lack of essays). I have a French essay I am avoiding (I'm learning French if I forgot to mention) because I've missed two lessons in a row and will probably have to miss the lesson tonight due to Christmas dinner at uni for £4!!! I get a beer and everything.

While I feel I've done reasonable alright in the course so far (apparently I'm in the top 10 for Human Anatomy module. So BRAGGING ABOUT THIS) I definitely need to "pull my socks up" (borrowing this brilliant phrase from a course mate). The competitive streak that medicine seems to create is still there but I have suppressed it (Thank God). Some of the people on biomed are so insanely competitive and grade obsessive it makes me want to vom a little.

It really does make for 'cringeful' entertainment sometimes, especially when you get to mess with them i.e. "I've done hardly any revision for this mini-test" "Really, I've done about 30 hours so far but definitely not enough" :P

Christmas is coming as well. I've had my first Christmas dinner at uni on Tuesday with some course mates and then I'll be having another one this afternoon for £4 at the curve.

Regarding my blog, over Christmas holidays I'll do some updating. Need to change some links and while I love the theme I think a fresh one is appropriate. Plus I'll put a few posts about my medicine application that will be coming up next year.

Best lab ever...

Today has been brilliant. I've had a brilliant lab today, one I've been looking forward to since the beginning of the course. I'll hold you in suspense a little longer and just cover the last month or so.

I've settled in nicely to QMUL. It's an amazing university and I love the campus. I can not imagine going anywhere else now. I love my flatmates so much! They are perfect, we get on great. So great that we are already talking about living together next year. I'm so surprised. You hear all these horror stories and I go so lucky with them.

The course is great. It's not medicine and I still get ridiculously jealous every time I meet a medic but oh well. It is so good to be back in an academic environment. The Jobcentre was so stifling and there was no real room to grow. Here I feel like I can do anything. I've started learning French, I've joined a gym, I've been to a ridiculously amount of London clubs and even an Ice Bar for my birthday on Halloween. The Ice Bar was unbelievably impressive and to be surrounded by such a large group of friends I was very happy. Homesickness crossed my mind at one point but it was comforting to know that people actually like me here at uni!

But back to the original topic, today was my first Human Anatomy lab and, for lack of a better work, it was awesome! There was a cadavar, some cross sections, several skeletons and many bones. Human Anatomy has been the most interesting subject so far, and it has felt like the least work even though I've had to put in the most. Suprise mini-tests keep me on my toes and I gladly made myself learn all the key muscle insertions and origins.

I love the module and really enjoy the course. I love London and will definetly be posting more. Tomorrow won't be exciting though because I plan to skip. A whole module dedicated to AS Maths/Chemistry. I'll be alright thanks.