Last exam is tomorrow!

So, yes the last exam is tomorrow.
I don't know how I feel and it's super strange to be honest.  
Yesterday I spent a fraction of time (amongst my revision) gathering together photographs of my time at university and adding them to my newest Facebook photo album entitled "University life".
Flicking through -and there are many more to be added- I realised there have also been many wonderful memories.  Yet these are mostly to do with the small handful of amazing people I have met along the way and the fun times to be had at the posh events we have been to!

Autumn in our campus.

Me Stealing Annas glasses in year one!

The Greenwich campus is simply stunning.

Summer ball in year one 

Leavers dinner in year 4

Some people I am glad to never see again. In fact I would go so far as to avoid them at all costs as their nastiness has caused me actual massive emotional turmoil. More than that; anxiety.  One in particular stands out in my memory and to gather the positive aspect from this, she highlighted that I do have actual anxiety and have had for some years.  Yet the most massive panic attack outside St Pancras train station highlighted me to this.  Feeling as though I was going to die, I phoned my husband at the time and said goodbye. 
"Where are you?" He asked and I explained. He cleverly yet unknowingly got me to describe the places I could see,
"There is a McDonalds on the corner and the station is behind me..." He told me to sit down and take some breaths. I didn't have time for that, I had to get to  a chemistry exam.
Two weeks off followed and a host of medication.  Thankfully, I finally stopped these meds recently
Knowing now how we all need to give respect to our mental health, I am able to recognise that this is likely something I carried with me since my bullied days of school.  That's a whole other story and likely a whole other book! Knowledge is power they say. I agree with 'them'.  Now I can spot times of danger with my mental health.  Now I am able to shape my life to fuel my soul and to love my whole self in respect of who I am and what I need to generate happiness and joy within my life.  
Which, after all, is the entire point of being.  

What is life if not joyful?

The actual politics accompanying the academic world have not impressed me. It's simply not what i am about. I'm about heart and love and being kind to each other.  It seems the majority of academics are at university to carry out their research. An important job of course.  Yet I would imagine the difference between being a teacher and being a researcher is a whole host of other skills.  A handful of our academics really seem to care at my university and I adore them for that!

The Exam

So I have a seen exam tomorrow starting at 9:30am.  We know there are 5 questions and we know we answer 3 of them.  I have decided on my questions to be answered and done a little research into what I will write.  Today I am going to write them blog post fashion and publish them over on my nutrition blog. Re-reading them I will hope to remember some of what I have written and let's hope it's right! I've taken the brave a bold step to answer a question from the most harsh marker in the department.  Yet I love the question, the subject and the topic! See the next few blog posts to see what they are and how I have answered them. Of course if you are simply interested in my journal here and not much interested in nutrition then please skip past...

One last thing.  Obviously this work needs to be done in Starbucks!

Wish me luck!

Thoughts of the summer holiday.

So here we are at the end of May.  I have been off now for around 2 weeks and things are going crazy inside my head.

Part of me really misses university so so much.  Part of me loves being at home.

Interestingly, I have started to drop some weight while doing not much different. Which does make me wonder about the theory of stress and cortisol.  We know this one by now don't we?  Do we?  Yes we do.  Stress keeps us from digesting stuff properly! I also recently heard about a bit of a craze regarding cryotherapy and weight loss.  Apparently it stimulates leptin in the system.

Interesting stuff.

So, last week I almost moved home.  I was having a big dream about buying this huge house and letting out part of it to create a type of getaway for those who want to either learn to cook, or be cooked for and have a place to chill while doing some country walking.  Yet thinking on, I have decided to stay in my house and hopefully get some home improvements done.  This also brought me to a place of thinking about helping children and giving back, making a difference.  I'm a very loving giving person that only those who get close to me tend to see.  Otherwise I can seem stern, yet I'm not.

Speaking to a client of mine who is managing director of a fostering agency, I might well go down that route.  Sounds crazy I know. I still dream of all the same things I have always dreamt of.  Writing and creating information online for those who wish to improve health through nutrition.  If I can do that while also taking care of a loving little baby who is waiting for it's forever home then what an amazing adventure that would be!

This brings me to a place of thinking should I really go back to university.  The amount of stress I endured and the health issues and even right down to the palpitations, it is crazy.  Then bizarrely as I sit writing this blog, one of my university besties texts me out of the blue to organise dinner with the other of my uni besties.  So the universe works in crazy ways. I really owe it to myself to get registered as a nutritionist and that means passing this degree.  The time will fly I know. And perhaps once this home improvement work is done I can begin the path to foster these sweet little babies.  Who knows....

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!

Bank Holiday revision

After much panic (needed panic?)  I am sat at university on Bank Holiday Sunday.

The weather is streaming sunshine outside.  Yet here I am revising.  Thankfully things are starting to click into place and I feel like this is what I need to do.  To just brave it out!

At university we have been discouraged from using  the internet.  Especially you tube.  Yet last year I felt it really helped so much.  Two friends of mine (one from last years uni and one from this year) both suggested I use Youtube.  So I have.  Sitting here with my headphones on and watching youtube.  Making notes and hoping to get around to writing up some bullet points.

All the while I am sharing these videos over on my Science of Nutrition Facebook page.  I hope it will help some of you guys too.

After previous disappointing results, I have really been going to town beating myself up about this.  Silly.  Silly me.

Yet the family have needed me as we have been taking Scott through a series of heart operations, tests and issues.  Of course I'm still there for mum as we get used to life without Dad and now on top of these types of dramas my car has gone wrong.  Not good as I need to pay a small fortune to fix it.  But good as I am now getting a new one!  Wonderful.  Excited.

Meeting up with my personal tutor and the mental health team on Thursday.  Just to get some support.   A little rub on the arm and a 'come on Louise, you've got this' will help massively.

Panic.  Breathe.

Presentation skills workshop

Attending a presentation skills workshop seemed a no brainer when the invite arrived in my inbox via the employability office. 

Many times we have been encouraged as a class to get used to the idea that we would be presenting many times over. At my last university, in year Zero, I was fortunate enough to be encouraged to speak at many of their events which were well attended by industry experts.

Most of us felt as though this was more of a practice as opposed to learning workshop, which was fine, yet I did feel I would have loved to go further into detail.  Perhaps as a mature student with experiences already I was expecting too much.  As a note to myself, I wondered how I should be learning more about my presenting skills.  Perhaps this is something I could look further into very soon. I know there will be many videos on the internet helping with the finer details of making a good presentation.

Nevertheless, this was not a waste of time as I met a couple of new students who I could now smile and wave at on campus, as well as fulfilling a requirement of attendance towards my own course credits.

Win/win.

Lab days with chemistry

Learning, learning.  What even is or was this?

Not sure.

Looks to me like serial dilutions.  I love the lab.  Yet seems I'm one of the few.

Why I adore practical 'stuff' I'm not sure.  

Today we got a locker with all these bits and bobs in, mostly made of glass.  Less chance of cross contamination than plastic. 

Learning to pipette is not an easy task.  Although I am crazy precise.  Thinking this might well come from my chef training.  Ingredients of a different kind.

We do have a chuckle in the lab. 

My deafness is at an all time high so even with the hearing aid in, I am struggle to hear unless I can watch the lecturers lips.  Thankfully, he has a big ol voice. 

Makes me laugh as he introduces himself with a simple Hi I am....first name.  When you look him up in a non stalker fashion, you find he is Dr so and so with all these letters trailing his name.  What a lovely and down to earth chap! I'm going to enjoy chemistry far more than last year.

I can tell!

Entering clearing for university?

So you didn't get the desired results?

It sucks and no doubt you felt let down.  Yet fear not! There is always the Clearing service

What is clearing?

Basically it's a service that universities use to fill up courses. This year should prove easier than some others as we now have the Brexit issue to deal with which will have made many european students think twice.

So what you need to do is all listed here and you still have a couple of weeks to get your desired courses in.  You can call the university you are interested in and apply that way by chatting to them, or just check the clearing list on the UCAS website to find out more.

Interested in nutrition? 

If you were thinking about getting an NHS funded course, think again.  Not only is there massive competition for these courses but chances are they are filled well before exams are even taken.

Dietetics is one of these courses.

I do get hugely frustrated when I hear students apply for such courses simply so they don't get a big student loan.  That's not morally right in my opinion.  You should train with the NHS as you want to work in the NHS.  Surely?  So if you wanted to enter dietetics through clearing, chances are it's unlikely.

Nutrition on the other hand may be an option for you.

Basically this is the same course but you don't go through the placements within the NHS hospitals.  There fore it is one year less too.  At the end of it you may be registered as a nutritionist but not as a dietitian.  There is a big difference.  Really, depending on which field you think you may like to work in.

As my career is likely to take me online, nutrition is perfect for me.

Check out what is out there but bear in mind, taking a degree is HARD work.  You must be interested in your subject.  Nutrition is very heavy on Science, particularly biology and chemistry.  There's lots of maths involved too and quite a few 'talks/presentations' too.

You can look at Extended degrees too if you need to brush up on your science or have been away from education for a while.  London met and Greenwich both offer these leading to nutrition courses and I would recommend them both as excellent universities.  I have been to both.

Let me know if you have any questions you think I can help you with!

Don't forget to follow this blog as there are lots more posts coming up to let you know my tips and advice for getting through university.