settled into term...

Hey guys,

Term is now back into full swing and for me life is definitely getting busier! Now that I've started my Physiology lab project, I'm up at Addies (our teaching hospital) pretty much most weekday afternoons. My project is looking into the effects of hypoxia during birth, and the effects it has on programming insulin signalling pathway (sorry if that sounds like a medical jargon, but it's the simplified title)!! I'm working with rat samples, and it's reasonably tricky work - the first set of results I got weren't amazing, probably due to my amateur lab techiques and all the liquids I've been spilling around!!

Aside from that, I've also been busy with organising some College badminton stuff. Badminton 'cuppers' is held this term, and we've entered two mixed teams. Cuppers is basically a knockout tournament that is played in several intercollegiate sports, including football, rugby, etc and is separate to our normal league, as any team can enter (much like the FA Cup) so there is the possibility that we can either get drawn against an amazing team, or a team we ought to beat!

In addition we also had a formal hall (formal dinner) with some Uni trampolinists (sounds a bit random I know, but we organised it through some friends) and that was a good laugh. Formal halls are generally good opportunities to meet people from other colleges and get a feel of different College formal dinners (and learn to appreciate just how good the food is at your own College)!

I've also been busy advertising a summer teaching project, which I did last summer in Romania. Every year the students who just completed it are responsible for choosing next year's students, so I'm busy making adverts and posters right now. I can't wait to interview people...!

Anyway, I better get back to an essay I have to write on the fascinating world of bone physiology - I'll update you with what I'm up to same time next week!

Kief

new year!

Hey guys,

Well it's the start of the new year now, and back to the grindstone for me as I started my term two days ago (the terms start and end on Thursdays here in Cam).

Clinical school application forms are all in now, and most people are having their interviews, which tends to bring back the memories of first applying to med school all too vividly for some! As you know, I applied to Oxford, but as of yet don't know where I'm going yet, so I'll keep you posted on that.

In terms of my work, I've finally started my Physiology lab project, up in the research labs at Addenbrooke's (the Cam teaching hospital). I'm looking into hypoxia and its effects specifically on the insulin signalling pathway in unborn fetuses. It's quite cool, but very knackering, as on the one hand I get to use all the amazingly cool equipment you see on TV, but on the other hand I do have to put in some long hours on some days (the other day I left the lab at 7.30 pm)! Also some of the things you have to do can get pretty boring and repetitive, like labelling tubes, crushing up tissue, etc etc!

Last night I DJed at a 'chav' themed bop, which was hilarious because not only did every dress up in their reebok classics and bling, but people also started acting like chavs too lol! Anyway, this weekend I'm not doing too much - I've got a 7-a-side football tournament tomorrow, so think I better put pen to paper and do something productive than procrastinate on the internet!

Cool, I'll be back in a week!

Kief