28/01/2020

9/1/18 - 3/100 days of productivity

Today has been awesome. I had chemistry first thing, and then double German (my favourite class!), then I had some Galette des Rois in French and ended the day with Biology. No frees today but a really positive time all round :)

I’m sat doing homework now and I’ve promised myself I can watch a new TV programme that’s on later if I get it done haha

I got exam results back for the January exam season... above 80% in every module, with an average of 85%! Though I’m not so pleased with my performance on some individual questions, I am trying to be kind to myself. I thought I’d completely flunked all of my exams because I was in an unideal environment and so anxious about them, so to get a solid first class mark on every single one was such a surprise!

I’m well on my way to achieving my goal of a first in every module - let’s hope the summer exams go well!

13-14/11/18 - 65-66/100 days of productivity

14th - well today has been long. I had an applicant visit day to the uni of Birmingham, which was so much fun - until it came to getting home. I was supposed to be on a quarter past four train to be home for half seven. It is now ten to seven and I am waiting another 30 minutes for the final leg of my journey home to start after standing for 2 hours on a packed and very late train. I should arrive at my finial station at nine.

It’s not the staff’s fault necessarily, but we were turned away by a staff member when our train was actually boarding, so we missed it.

HOWEVER I did get to make good progress with Selam Berlin! And I got to play with sodium alginate and calcium chloride, and experience a lecture on why transition metal compounds are coloured.

I did my German catch-up work on the train to Birmingham, too. Now to make some important emails!

I haven’t been that active on here recently, but I feel it is important to do what I can to support the BLM movement.

Saying this is probably futile, but I don’t want to stay in the shadows. I have a voice of privilege and I need to use it somehow.

I will start by saying this. As a white person, I do not claim as my brethren those who think that discriminating against another person for the colour of their skin is acceptable. I don’t associate myself with hateful people. If those people were family members or friends, they aren’t anymore, as far as I’m concerned. I am ashamed of those who carry out, condone and defend racially-motivated attacks and police brutality.

I am doing all I can, as one single, unimportant individual, to support the cause, including speaking up to racist comments - but I could always be more educated. If anyone could recommend any books, podcasts, documentaries, films etc that explore racism, I’d love to hear about them.

A Level hell has finally begun haha

Physical chemistry wasn’t so bad

07/09/2018 Biology notes in the local library!

I met up with a friend and we are having a very productive day.

back at it again with the chem

22/2/2020

We love tutorials! Photo is a bit bad but it’s late and I feel bad for neglecting this account haha

01/02/2020 - 1/100 days of productivity

Happy February! New month, new me? I’m going to do the productivity challenge again.

My mum visited me at uni today so I spent the afternoon with her in Birmingham. I decided to condense 3 handouts from my lecture course on carbonyl chemistry onto one summary page this morning before I met her, and I finished it off after she left to get the train home.

I decided to write up the mechanism for Swern oxidation even though it’s beyond the scope of the first year course; it helps me remember the conditions if I actually know what each reagent does!

I used to think scientists were mortal gods; that I should never be clever enough to be one of them. Even now I am astounded every day by the minds that solved some of nature’s most incredible problems. Maybe that’s why I took no interest in science until I was 14.

Or maybe it was because of all I have been told over the years. I was told I was hopeless with maths - my secondary school maths teacher admitted that I was only in the top set because my confidence was already on the floor and would not allow them to move me down.

I was told that if I needed to be medicated for depression and anxiety, I would have no hope in the “real world”.

I was told that given my socioeconomic status (my single-parent family is among the poorest 10% in the U.K. based on income) and postcode, all the predictions pointed to my failing school. I don’t suppose the truancy due to constant bullying helped my case. If I didn’t even have a desk to work at, how could I ever expect pass any of my exams? (Look carefully at the picture and you’ll see carpet. It’s 23:56 on a Sunday and I am reunited with the only study space I have in my family home - the top of the stairs!)

And yet here I am, despite all the odds. I did not fail in school: I was top in my year, twice. I am striving for a first in my chemistry degree at a Russell Group university. I taught myself an A level in maths and got a top grade. I am now so totally in love with my degree and with learning that it hurts.

I did all that from the top of the stairs.

[Sorry for the rambles, and I hope that the wall of text doesn’t look like bragging. It’s just that lately, I’ve been so overwhelmed with how far I have yet to go, and I’ve only just realised how far I’ve come.]