Final Week of Term :)

It's officially the final week of term and I just can't wait to go home and spend a few days relaxing and spending time with family/friends before I crack on with the revision. This week hasn't been as hectic as the last two weeks I must admit! This week, as I mentioned in my previous blog, is revision week - on Monday we had a  Medical Biochemistry revision lecture; the lecture for the other two modules were cancelled for self-study. As for labs, well, I only need to go in for two days this week to finish off the final series for the NMR experiments. So in the spirit of Christmas, we decided to throw a Christmas party at my friend's flat which was really fun! My secret Santa this year was one of my close friends...so she knew exactly what I love and hate (pretty lucky for me I guess!) And as expected I loved my present...a chocolate fondue set...which I just can't wait to use! :)

It has been a very busy first term...but I do have exams coming up in January...so regardless of the festive fun I am bound to get caught up in...here's my 'MUST DO' ( not 'To Do') checklist for the next three weeks:

1. Revise all lectures and attempt all past paper questions for the Biochemistry exam; go through all lectures and the designated text book for the Cancer Biology exam.

2. Start writing up my final year project (i.e. the 10-15 page introduction)...which means reading...reading...and dare I say it...READING as many journals as I can!

And this shouldn't really be something that should go on the checklist...but something I still need to do...Purchase all my Christmas gifts/ wrap them up in time for Christmas!!! (And maybe I'll make a promise to myself right now that if I make a start on number 1. and 2. of the checklist sooner rather than later... maybe I can take a day off from revision and go shopping on Boxing Day to find some treasures for myself in the Boxing Day Sales...retail therapy helps relieve stress right? ;) )

So all that's left for me to say is: GOOD LUCK to those of you who also have January exams coming up... for those lucky few who don't have exams...well...here's hoping you have a well deserved rest!

And of course...

"MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!" :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The Christmas season has officially begun!!! The Christmas lights are up in town, the Christmas tree has been put up at home (this year….a Winter Wonderland themed tree... covered with white, sky blue and silver decorations) and preparations for the Christmas party (both with friends at uni and family at home) is well underway! All that’s left to do now is purchase all the gifts, wrap them up beautifully and leave them under the tree… but what with all the uni work that I've been buried under recently… I’m beginning to think Christmas Eve is the one chance I’ll get to do some last minute shopping!

Source: a wonderful tree from theinspiredroom.net

Nearing the end of term, I'm sure you'll all be able to relate to just a little too well, means finding that last bit of energy and motivation buried deep within ourselves to finish off all that needs to be done, before the long-awaited break. So that's exactly what I've been trying to do all week! Except what makes it just that little bit harder than usual is the thought of having exams straight after the break! I've been going to labs every day this week so that I can finish preparing the samples for the NMR experiments. As well as preparing these samples, I have had to repeat the experiment for an entire series I prepared last week as it hadn't produced the results that was expected. After all the hard work  I've put into labs recently, I'm really hoping I won't have to repeat any more series...

Apart from that, I've had two timed online phase tests recently... one on Microbiology and another on Medical Biochemistry. I did revise a lot for these two tests and there were no 'big' surprises as such during the test itself, so I'm quite confident that I've done well in both of them (let's just hope I haven't jinxed anything now that I've actually said this!) And as for the phase test on Cancer Biology I mentioned in my last blog... well the results were put online just yesterday and I'm happy to say I passed with a 2.1!

Next week is officially the last week of lectures and then the following week will be purely revision lectures. Although I've enjoyed learning all three modules this term, I will particularly miss the lectures on Cancer Biology as it's one area of science I really am interested in! Let's hope the modules taught next term will be equally as interesting!

Exams :(

This month is flying past so fast I can't believe there's only a few more weeks left until we officially break up for the Christmas holidays!!! Well, I say Christmas holidays but it's more like a three week study leave because I have two exams...one on Cancer Biology and another on Medical Biochemistry straight after the break which I am soooo not looking forward to right now!!!

The final year project has been taking up most of my time lately. You might think this is nothing to be shocked about, but when you have had so much free time in your hands just last month and now so busy you don't even have time to go through lectures taught that week and make notes just to ease off the pressure closer to exam time, it won't be just me who would feel worried right??? But enough about the complaining and more about how amazing labs have actually been ( honestly)!!! So far I've been working in the NMR labs, preparing the NMR samples and learning how to use the NMR machine in order to gain the NMR spectra for each sample. So far, so good!!! I have obtained really good data for one of the amino acid families...just another three to go now!!! I did however find the solubility of the second group of amino acids I worked on today quite difficult so I need to do a bit of reading around this before my next lab on Friday...

Apart from starting labs, uni has been the usual... a 9am start  every Monday morning, lectures throughout the week and plenty of coursework to get on with. Next Thursday is our in-class phase test on Cancer Biology! We have to review a journal, based on a cancerous gene, which was set by our lecturer and prepare ourselves for an exam based on this journal. When I first looked at the journal...I must admit I thought I was reading another language...but now that I have read through the journal several times...I feel I understand it a lot more...I'm actually quite optimistic about it (not that I want to jinx anything!) We also have an on-line MCQ style phase test on Medical Biochemistry in a few weeks time...so once I get this Cancer Biology exam out of the way...it hurts me to say...there is no rest at all...maybe a day of relaxation at the most and straight back to the books...and of course labs! It's the final year...the last lap of the race...and I want to get the gold!!!