Ellen’s First Year Blog; Making the most of the end of First Year

Hello lovely readers, It’s crunch time. Exams are looming ever closer now. It will be a miracle if I manage to learn all that I need to for my 6 exams. WHAT A HIDEOUS NUMBER, HEY?! Revision has been put to one side recently as I’ve had to submit a lab report worth 50% of my overall laboratory science module, so that made me and my friends recluses over the past week or so. Everyone is equally stressed out and wishing time wasn’t flying so fast. This all sounds rather fun doesn’t it? Okay, I’ll lighten up, and tell you instead about some of the cool things I’ve done over the rest of the month. Remember when Manchester had blue skies and sun ‘fo days’?

Alas, rain and clouds have come back to reclaim their dominant presence over Fallowfield… but I did manage to get out and about in the sun (and in fact burn! Irish paleness for you!). I took full advantage of Platt Fields Park in all its beauty. I went to the fun fair with Ru, where we went on a ride (see picture below) that gave us awesome views across the whole of Plattfields – not that he could concentrate on that, he screamed the whole time, fearing for his life, and came off the ride fairly green. On another occasion I called up my friend Meg and demanded we catch the gorgeous sun set – so we ended up sprinting across Owen’s Park in our Pyjamas – we were near death and sweating profusely when we got to Plattfields but it was worth it. One of the best spontaneous days of my time at university so far was when myself and a couple of my mates took full advantage of the ferris wheel by Uni Place (that had been set up to raise awareness of the need to register to vote), had a gloriously cheap yet tasty meal at Pub Zoo for lunch and finished with ice cream on those awkward-to-walk-up steps of the Stopford building.

It was a small tiny taste of summer and just what the doctor ordered. In other news, seeing as I’m potentially interested in a career in science communication / writing and all that jazz, I decided I’d volunteer to help out with making one of the Life Science Legacy videos made by the Faculty of Life sciences. The topic was Michael Smith and his method of site specific mutagenesis – check out the video below if you’re wondering what I’m talking about, and marvel at the cartoons I drew for it (The laptop, I admit, could have done with a bit more finesse). There have been some big social events this month too! First up was the joint Sheavyn House, Ashburne and Richmond Park Masquerade ball. It was great to see everyone looking swarve in their ball gowns and suits, and generally being all classy – not a word usually associated with first year students. Sitting down to a three course meal whilst being serenaded by live music, entertained by magicians and having photos snapped right left and center – it was a great evening, even though my back ached for 2 days afterwards as a result of the silly stilettos I wore – I’ll take a pair of Nikes over heels any day. Next up was the Christie cup aka ‘The Battle of the North’, a sports competition between Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester which is in fact the second oldest inter-university competition after the Oxford-Cambridge rivalries. The Manchester swim team travelled down to Liverpool to swim in possibly the quickest swimming gala ever – with very few heats per race the whole event was done in about an hour and a half (most swimming galas I’ve been to have span across an entire weekend, to put that in perspective). After spending the majority of the day in Weatherspoon’s we then headed to the results ceremony, and I’m very pleased to say that MANCHESTER WON! The room erupted with screams and cheers; the victory made even sweeter by the fact that the annoying Liverpool rugby ‘LAD-LAD-LADS’ didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate, as they’d successfully pissed off most people by throwing alcoholic beverages over everyone in close proximity to them. We headed back to Manchester to celebrate at the SU where a foam filed Christie cup after party was held. Finally, before I continue to waffle on for all eternity, I held a Mexican themed party at my flat. Tequila, sombreros, moustaches, Bamboléo, an exploding bean bag and roughly 50 people; that’s a fairly accurate summary I believe and it was LOADS of fun. Well well well… that’s me over and out for now. I’m not sure if this may in fact be my last ever post for the blog, what with Semester ending very soon. I’ve loved writing these posts, it’s made me really appreciate my time at University so far and I hope people have enjoyed reading about what it’s like in the life of a first year Bio medical sciences student. Anyway, I have to dash, adios for now! Ellen 🙂