The end of the term

I can't quite believe I'm typing this but the term has ended.

Making it to the end, against all odds I have to say I have given myself a pat on the back and I feel very proud of hanging on in there until it's all over.  Chuffed.  Chuffed.  Chuffed.

Exam time has given me a buzz, as always and I hope I have done enough to pass.  I feel I have.  Not without putting in the time and effort though.  Night after night, day after day I have worked hard in the beautiful university library.  I love it here.  Very grounding and really gets you to work.  What a great space.

What has helped me?

I found that going over old exam papers was by far the best way of revising for this first year.  Many of the questions were repeated and it gave me the skill to learn how to properly read the question and indeed how to answer them too!  I felt that reading over the powerpoint slides again just confused me.

Many of the questions gave us a choice of 10 and we had to answer 7 of them.  About half of these were repeated the past 3 years and me and my classmates came to the conclusion that this way likely to be a pattern for this year too.  Focused, I attempted all of them yet to be honest, I struggled with the renal system (kidneys etc) and couldn't get my head around it despite giving it several hours attention. Instead, I decided to quit trying and focus on other areas where I could gain more confidence and likely more marks.

Feeling very much like I was dreading the biochemistry exam (the last one) I was entering the room slightly nervous.  There was no need though as I honestly feel I really took the bull by the horns and managed to do well as I could have.  I applied for E.C (extenuating circumstances) due to missing so many lectures on this subject.  That all happened around the time that I lost Dad.  Poor Dad.  Sorry to keep blaming you Pop.  Obviously I am/was glad to be on hand to make everything happen in relation to organising the official things.  Mum needed my support that's for sure.

Without having a belief in myself (despite being against the odds), spending time in the library and going over those old exam papers, I'm not sure I would be as confident.  Let's wait and see now but everything crossed, I'll let you know what the outcome is in a few weeks time!

Too much politics for me?

I just wrote this (fair to say I'm having a wobble about my future!):

Is it all just too confusing now to know what to eat?

When was the last time you ate something with total confidence?

You read so much from so many places and just when you think you might have cracked the code on the mystery that is 'healthy eating' you hear some new bit of research which tells you how wrong you have it.

I'm frustrated.  I'm being honest.


For me, things are a little different as I have both crohns disease and celiac so of course I need to take those things into account.  Yet as a nutritionist (the type without a degree - yet!) I find it's near on impossible to give the right advice to the entire audience.

A dietitian who I previously respected has published a rant about all the type of 'clean living' which is apparently a new fad.  The BBC publishedthis show about the dirty secrets of clean living.  The blogger who hosted it was quite open about what she was trying and the advice she was getting from various fad diet gurus.  After watching it, I had to agree with a lot of what she said, there is a lot of bad advice out there.

Yet something that makes me really cross is how they portray us poor old 'nutritionists'.  
There seems to be a war between the quackary of being a nutritionist and a dietitian who is one to be obeyed.  
In fact, to set the record straight, we take the same degree qualification and the only difference is that Registered Nutritionists do not have to undertake hospital placements.  Generally,  once qualified and Registered with the Association for Nutrition, a Nutritionist will need to practice with as much credibility as a dietitian.  

I started out my degree to become a dietitian.  I changed my mind after 4 months as I realised that I would be tied to a 'one rule fits all'.  Sadly, I had a bad experience with a dietitian and I'm sure this was an isolated incident.  When I was first diagnosed with Crohns and fighting to keep my bowel in tact and not have it removed with surgery,  the dietitian I saw at my hospital knew nothing about adjusting my diet in accordance with inflammatory bowel disease, nor did my gasteroenterologist beleive I could make improvements in my health by changing my diet.

"you can't control your symptoms without medication or surgery, or both."  He said as I cried.
The dietitian advised me to eat from the Eatwell plate which I am sure would have left me in a state of needing the surgery.

I proved them wrong.

I won't go into my advice to you in this blog post. I simply want to  point out that if you believe one way works for you, then it's likely it will.  

However, while we have spent two years studying hardcore science and about to get into the minefield of research to complete our degrees at university, I can't help but wonder if I'm trying to enter an industry that seems to love a bit of politics.

That worries me.  

Week 2 getting to know you

Week 2 of University - Getting to know you.

The campus is not difficult to negotiate.

Parallel corridors engulfed with beautiful dark wood just seem to make sense.  The buildings begin with a P (for Pembroke) or A (for Anson) then the floor numbers correspond with room numbers.  Easy!

This week while there were no lab practical sessions, we found we were off for the day on Tuesday.  Dr Lauren Pecorino provided me with my time filling activity as I began to read her book "Why millions survive cancer."  An excellent book.  Quietly showing me just how much I have to learn about cells.  I aspire to write so confidently as her.

Fellow students in their minority are finding it easy to complain about our insecurities.  We all are trying hard to gather our way into finding answers to things.   Self development plan number 1 - be more tolerant or space yourself further from the negativity.  I must not engage with difficult conversations.   My plan at University is to enjoy my time,  to learn everything I can to facilitate my brilliance as a nutritionist and to keep smiling all the way through,  becoming just lovely!

Chemistry was a difficult subject for me last year.  Worried that this year may prove the same,  I focused hard on the lecture.  A new tutor nervously took the lecture.  Last year, i found I was mostly repeating memorised sentances regarding atomic bonding.  Just enough to pass.  Yet this lecture saw the proverbial 'penny drop' as I realised that a covelant bond was in fact a sharing of electrons.  Aha,  a sharing of electrons.  Now I see clearly!

Writing myself notes,  I reference into Youtube to go and look up Pauli exclusion principle and Hands rules.  These are currently another language to me.