Tom’s Foundation Year Blog – Work, work, play.

Hello again! Wow these weeks are just flying past, crazy to think in two weeks or so we’ll be on our Christmas vacation, and what a long vacation at that. 1 month off! That’s defiantly a perk of university life, we do get so much holiday. But of course I will be revising hard for the upcoming January exams, as well as eating as much Christmas food as possible!

So the last couple of weeks have been very busy. After reading week (4th November) I had a hectic week and a half. Four exams, a coursework deadline and a group poster presentation, it was going to be a torturous 12 days or so with the majority of my time being spent in the library. Unfortunately during the reading week, I went to Spain for the week with the family (I say unfortunately, however really it was no hardship!!), and so making time for revision and work became a challenge. Fortunately the weather was terrible with high winds and constant rain, the famous lyric ‘the rain in spain stays mainly in the plain’ didn’t live up to expectations. This gave me more opportunity to work, but when it came to the first exam I couldn’t help feeling I wasn’t 100% prepared. So I would advise you try and avoid holidays just before exams, and make sure you are 100% prepared for exams.

Last week I had a lab session at the University were we did a gel electrophoresis experiment. The faculty made a forensic scenario involving three cats. The crime was that one of two cats had been eating the other cats food, and the owner wanted to know who was doing the crime. Why the owner would decide to conduct an electrophoresis experiment, I don’t know, but cats are crazy criminals! It was good fun and really interesting. Gel electrophoresis is a method to separate DNA,RNA or protein fragments depending on their size and charge. Due to the fact that DNA molecules are negatively charged, if you apply a negative charge to the molecules they will repel and move through the gel. The gel is a matrix and so smaller particles of DNA will move further. You end up with a photograph, like the picture I’ve attached, which we can compare to the victims DNA. End of science lesson! But in the end it turned out that Lotus the cat was the culprit. So if you come across a cat called Lotus, RUN RUN RUN!

Once those crazy couple of weeks of exams and coursework deadlines passed it was time to relax a little. One night I found my self in this large room above a pub, with a band playing some sort of scottish music. Next thing I know, after a couple of drinks, I’m indulging in some group Scottish dancing extravaganza! Normally I wouldn’t dare do anything of the sort, however it turned out to be one of the best/enjoyable/funniest nights out in a long time. Highly recommend Scottish Dancing in Manchester.

I also got the opportunity to ride the Manchester Velodrome, which was an incredible experience. It was pretty surreal knowing that some of the countries best Olympians, with the likes of Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Jason Kenny etc, train at the same velodrome every day. It was amazing at the speed you can reach is scary, plus it’s a real leg burner!

That’s it for now. The weather is getting colder, and Manchester is actually sunny for the first time in a long time. It seams that freezing conditions are required for any sign of sun.

Rap up warm!

T

Inez’s First Year Blog: Insanity and Elevators

Hey everyone,

Hope you all had a lovely Friday…Manchester was sunny for the first time in ages today! I looked like a crazy person, walking in a zigzag pattern on my way to uni, avoiding all the shady places and trying my very hardest to soak in as much sun as possible.   

I’ve been hovering on the border of insanity for a while now, ( 18 years approximately) and I think the crazy week I’ve had has given me that final push over the edge!  I got stuck in an elevator a few days ago.  Very appropriate, given that I had just watched James Bond perform death-defying stunts on the highest floor of a skyscraper.  Luckily, the emergency button was  working ( !)

The charismatic Mr. Bond

and the engineers responded quite quickly.  Somehow I felt that I wasn’t adding enough dramatic flair to the situation, so I did what everyone trapped in a lift should do. I asked Google for advice and followed the first suggestion I saw…That’s how I ended up banging on the elevator doors until the engineers arrived. Not as stylish as 007, but just as effective…right?  

I had a very interesting lab session last Friday.   My classmates and I had to measure our lung capacities and check the total volume of air we could hold.  We had to blow out into these basin-like machines called spirometers, whilst wearing nose-clips.  It must have seemed quite strange to an on-looker, to see all these white-coated teenagers huffing and puffing away like the wolf in “ The Three Little Pigs.”   We had to measure our height and weight before we started, and I was ALARMED to find that I’ve put on 2 kgs since I came to Manchester.  I’m definitely going to be visiting the aquatics centre soon… I’m really short ( about 5”1 ) so I was pleasantly surprised to find that my lung capacity is 3.6L.  This was a little suspicious though, considering the fact that I’m a couch potato.  Hmm… maybe the yelling in the elevator magically increased my lung size. Stranger things have happened!

One thing I’ve grown to love about Manchester: the cinema!   It’s right in the city centre and really accessible.  They play all the latest movies as soon as they are released, and the student discounts make tickets relatively reasonable.  The Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream doesn’t hurt either! ( EEK! That’s where the extra 2 kg has come from! I’m doomed!!!)  I’m a huge fan of Bollywood movies and I was delighted to find that they play all the newest ones at the IMAX.

 

The contentious discussion we had at the workshop was essentially physics v. biology

Yesterday I attended a very interesting workshop, run by the BBC head of Science, Andrew Cohen.  He described the integration of film and science, and provoked some contentious discussions.  He said that physics was a more popular genre to televise than biology, because it answered “big” questions about the universe.  This led to further discussions on how biology is underrated and perceived as a lesser science compared to physics or chemistry.  There were some rather outraged biologists in the audience…

Hope you all have a grrreat weekend,  

Until the next post

Xoxo

Inez

Alice Copperwheat’s Second Year Blog: Studying, socialising and spiders!

You’ve found it! This is the blog of Alice Copperwheat a second year zoologist with a lot to say and not much time! I have been living and studying in the wonderful Manchester for just over a year now and it is safe to say I’ve forgotten what sun is… only joking… My aims of this blog are to tell you a bit more about my course and what I’ve done on it, my role as a Faculty of Life Sciences Ambassador, my hunt for a placement, useful information about Manchester itself and of course, my social life.

But for now, a bit of background information. I joined the university in September 2011 enrolled on Biology with Industrial Experience. I was originally applying for Zoology but a night before the deadline saw me swap this to Biology, much to the despair of my head of year, I was even asked in my interview why my personal statement read like a zoologists. Pretty early on in the course I realized that zoology was always what I wanted to study, but I remained on Biology until the end of the year. If you are worried about what areas of science you are interested in, Biology is always a good base because you get a choice of lots of modules and can experience a little bit of everything until you decide what your most interested in.

Whilst in my first year I had some incredible experiences, most notably my field course to South Africa. Here I studied animal behaviour in spiders and got to experience nature up close. I won’t say too much now because I intend to dedicate a whole blog post to it, so keep looking out for that! Another amazing experience was Welcome Week (or freshers week as everyone but the university calls it). I lived in Owens Park Tower, which wasn’t as bad as I had been dreading! The catered food was edible and the full English breakfast everyday (especially on a hangover) was amazing. During freshers it was crazy how many people I met and that was one of the best bits. On my floor there were 12 boys and 12 girls, and there were 2 floors to a ‘flat’. That is 48 people to get to know and love! Add on to that people you meet from your course, societies and those random people you can never remember how you met. My flat mates and me enjoyed it so much that we reenacted it this year and pretended we were first years again!

Back to the course…any life science course is brilliant because first year is so vague and thus allows you to really find your niche. I thoroughly enjoyed the varied lectures that kept you on your toes and interested. Now I am in second year I have less choice, but the compulsory lectures are very relevant to my degree. The choice of optional modules allows you to experience something a bit different; I am thoroughly enjoying Human Anatomy and Histology because we get to visit the dissecting rooms. Also, as a Zoologist, a field course is compulsory and so I have got the amazing opportunity to visit Costa Rica at the end of second year.

Well that’s all but keep checking back for new posts so you can hear more about my experiences.

Over and out

Alice

Inez’s First Year Blog: Mosses in Manchester

Hi everyone!

My best friend and I, blocking a very busy street to get a picture with a very shiny red car!! ( We got told off afterwards for not knowing what model or make it was..) Hmm…I’m the very short, messy-haired one to the left…

My name is Inez and I am a first year Biology student from the far-flung, deliciously sunny country of Zambia. I’m going to blog about life here in Manchester… the good, the bad and the outrageous!=) I  have been in Manchester a little over 8 weeks now and I can honestly say it bears no resemblance to my home country!  At first I was  overwhelmed; everything  here in Manchester seemed so alien and surreal- literally and figuratively – I was thousands of miles  from home.

When the Emirates plane rolled to a stop on the smooth tarmac, I looked out of the window, at the place that was to become my home for the next four years. The first things that struck me: a grey overcast sky and heavy drops of rain pelting against the thick glass of the plane window.   That was it, I had to laugh… not even an hour in the country and the first British stereotype ( rainy weather!) unveiled itself!

Since then I have discovered that the British really do love tea, have frequent conversations about the weather and say “ cheers,” where the rest of the world says “ thank you.”  All in all, I have had a pretty amusing couple of weeks!  In all seriousness though, the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester is in a class of its own.  My first lecture was in the impressive Lecture Theatre A at Uni Place ( as most FOLS students will know) and I was all out impressed. The theatre is massive and seating is arranged in red tiers. Like a cake. A red cake. It nearly looked too pretty to sit in! Though by my tenth lecture I started  to suspect  the theatre designers of having an ulterior motive in choosing the colour red for the seats…Perhaps they thought sleepy students would be startled  into paying attention early on a Monday morning…

Lady Gaga has been recognised for her weird and wonderful costumes by having a fern species named after her!

Biology with Science and Society- a mouthful of a degree title- is the four-year program I am doing. Get this though, I am the only first year on the degree program! I get gales of laughter from fellow students when they hear this; though, to be fair I’ve given a few sarcastic “ha ha has” myself. If you can’t beat them,   join them ( another one of the lovely British proverbs I hear getting tossed around bars! The hangovers were probably severe the next morning!). I’ve never quite studied Biology as I have for the past 6 weeks. I get to look at the philosophical, historical, communicative, practical and theoretical aspects of Biology and my verdict: I absolutely love it.   Studying so many aspects of Biology really intrigues me… Did you know that Lady Gaga has a species of moss named after her?

I’m still discovering the buzzing hive of Manchester, as one of my peers so nicely summed it up, “ it’s a little big city.” The whole city comes alive at night, and the restaurants, cinemas, parks and museums all add a trendy, urban vibe to the city. I especially love the city centre- it’s buzzing, noisy atmosphere makes me feel like I’m at the beating heart of the city!  The street performers, the cobbled pave ways, the ethnic diversity, the thronging crowds all add  a unique flavor that I doubt could be captured elsewhere.

I do miss the dramatic sweeps of the blue, sunny Zambian skies, but I think the faster internet connections in Manchester compensate for the loss of Vitamin D…

Until the next cyber meeting

Xoxo

Inez

Harry’s Final Year Blog: A Big Helloooo and Introduction to My Blog :)

ME!

Hello anyone who may be so focused on procrastinating to end up reading this!

I’m Harry, a final year biologist at the University of Manchester, which places me firmly within the Faculty of Life Sciences. If my status as a student here also had to have a job title , I’d surely be ‘chief serial procrastinator’, as that sums up my methods for doing assignments! If you haven’t experienced the debilitating disease of ‘procrastinatitis’ yet, your time at university will surely expose you to the epidemic.

Anyway, time to introduce the focus of my blog! Although I will cover what I’m doing with myself in Manchester (final year is MASSIVELY different to my previous two years) I’ll also discuss any news specific to the Manchester area or the university that has interested me, and hopefully will interest you! My blogs will be capped off with ‘tip of the week’ which will be something from experience I’ll suggest that should help you along in uni life, or a little secret!

For this week’s blog theme, I will simply be introducing what I’m up to now!

As for what I’ve done this week, I’ve applied to two grad schemes- GlaxoSmithKline and Unilever- and did a 12-page literature review (AKA dissertation) and an assessment for my Climate Change module. Don’t worry, this isn’t a normal week! It’s my own procrastinatory fault for leaving them this late! By the way- look up grad-schemes, some of the pay and perks (free Ben & Jerry’s at lunch if you work for Unilever!) can be amazing!

At the moment I’m living in a little house in Withington with three people I’ve lived with for the last two years, it’s great! We’re literally less than five minutes away from bus stop, co-op, sainsbury’s, a dead cheap grocers and a dead cheap cornershop-kind-of-thing (however on the last two I have my suspicions about the legality of their methods ¬__¬). Most importantly, three minutes from the bus stop and therefore about 20 minutes from uni, lie-ins ahoy! (P.S. Red arrow’s my nest!)

 

On the upside however, tomorrow is my housemate’s 21st birthday so we’re going to Harrogate (his hometown), I’m SO excited!! He really bigs up how good a night out Harrogate is (purportedly places shut at 6am, plenty of banter etc), so I’m prepared for a letdown 😉

WARNING: When travelling anywhere distant, always consider cheaper alternatives than the train. I paid about a fifth of the price of train travel getting to Harrogate by instead getting the coach to Leeds and the bus to Harrogate! Clever monkey!

Harry 🙂 x

Tip of the Week

When deciding on open days to attend, do not leave out accommodation open days! Not only do they really motivate you to go to a particular uni, some halls may be more grim inside and less sociable than others which can’t be reliably judged from their webpage! Ambassadors showing you around are paid to be honest about them, and who you meet and what you do in halls are arguably the most important part about your first year!

Tom’s Foundation Year Blog: Welcome, I’m Tom Ward.

Yo, my name is Tom Ward and through out this year I’m going to take you on an adventure of my weekly occurrences at The University of Manchester. I should probably introduce myself a little. I’m 18 year old, live down south in Surrey (Northerns are much more friendlier), and I’m studying Life Sciences with a Foundation Year. I’m very passionate about bicycles of all forms, but mainly ride road, track, fixed and mountain bikes, so if anyone is reading this and likes to cycle, get in touch!!

I’ve been at the university for approximately 2 months now, so I’ve had plenty of time to settle in and get familiar with the surroundings. Freshers weeks was daunting and honestly I can’t really remember much about it, apart from arriving and thinking WHY WHY did I drink so much when I’m setting my alarm for 8am, the next morning to go to introduction lectures! To summarise though this was essential freshers week in a nut shell: Arrive, meet people, go out, sleep, introduction lecture, eat, go out, meet more people, meet more people, meet more people, go out, sleep, cycle, go out, sleep, freshers fair, sports fair, go out, sleep, eat. It’s full on and draining, but one thing is for absolute certain, IT WILL BE THE BEST WEEK OF YOUR LIFE.

After freshers, the work starts to kick in and has done every since! If you manage your time though, it’s perfectly fine and you still have plenty of time to have fun and socialise. The foundation year has been brilliant so far, and I would recommend it to anyone. We just completed a report on    the effects of antibiotics on bacteria, which was brilliant and it allowed us to spend some time in the labs which is always fun. We then did a further practical on an aquatic organism called Daphnia (picture included), which was incredible. The amount of detail we got to see from such a minute organism was sensational.

I’ve been playing a lot sport. There are squash courts everywhere, and a great swimming pool at the Aquatics centre, all for really cheap entry. That’s another perk of being a student, you get loads of discount! Not to forget cycling. I’ve been cycling around three times a week with the cycling club, not to mention the daily cycle commute into university. Manchester and the surrounding area is fantastic for all kinds of outdoor activities, especially cycling. The Peak District is stunning, the Lake District is a two hour train journey away and the Yorkshire Moors are not too far away either, all of which offer great scenery, suburb road and mountain biking, plus it’s really nice to get away from a busy city like Manchester.

I could keep on going for ages, however I must stop some time! So from now on I’ll be updating the blog regularly about the crazy adventures occurring around university!

Till next time.

T