Hello hello!
Well, the hats and mittens have been donned, the cotton wool decorations hung, and Slade has been added to the iPod playlist…the season is here! I hope you’re all feeling sufficiently Christmassy. As I write this I am surrounded by bits of gold tin foil trying to hastily make some Christmas cards whilst listening to a Molecular Genetics podcast and trying to absorb as much information as possible. Christmas as a student is…interesting.
Of course, all the merriness is well and good, but there is an underlying feeling of something ominous on the horizon – alas, January exams are upon us. Yesterday I invested in some good quality Stabilo highlighters, which can mean only one thing: the revision season will shortly begin.
As much as exams are a bummer, I’m actually really enjoying the content of what we’re learning. We’re going over some cool stuff about RNA and the transcription of DNA at the moment in Molecular Genetics, and in Genes, Evolution and Development we have this crazy crazy lecturer who is in love with his subject and shows us all these crazy videos of mice with amplified brain activity and other weird science-y things. Mixing the whole thing with Spanish continues to be a challenge, but it means that my days are varied and diverse so I’m hardly complaining.
Today was the First Year Poster Competition in the Faculty of Life Sciences. Every tutorial group had to make and present a poster about a chosen topic. My group chose neurotoxins, and our poster featured a huge synapse complete with channel proteins and rubber snakes and a massive clay scorpion that one of my coursemates made (which, incidentally, bagged us 100% marks for presentation!). Making the poster was probably the most fun I’ve had doing anything for my course. My tutorial group are a laugh; meeting up with them barely felt like work. Plus it meant that I could legitimately spend an hour making a paper snake. What’s more, our tutor rewarded us with a decent mark so that kind of topped it all off really.
Our awesome poster
Apart from work, my life as a student in Manchester is exciting and random as ever. Aside from the standard house-viewing, Christmas-market-exploring escapade that normally occupies the majority of a First Year’s time, I’ve been grooving at the Manchester Harmony Gospel Concert, attending carol services at my church, and getting lost in Didsbury. The Anchor Coffee House has become my Wednesday afternoon haven, and Platt Field Park remains the best place to escape for half an hour’s chill in between stints of revision. A couple of weeks back I went to see ‘Singing in the Rain’ at the Opera House with my boyfriend, and also had a cheeky explore of Salford Quays with my cousin (we watched the sunset from the bar in the Lowry Gallery – quality stuff). Also recently discovered ‘Falafel’ – a Pakistani take-out place on the Curry Mile that looks crap on the outside (and on the inside, actually) but sells THE BEST cheesy foccaccia things on the whole planet.
Gospelicious
Salford Quays
Me outside the Opera House
Now all that remains are a few short days in Manchester before I head home for Christmas. My main concern is to make my clothes last until Saturday so I don’t have to fork out to use the washing machine…
Wishing you grace and peace this Christmas,
Rach X
Manchester Life Scientists 