Blogging My Way Through Uni: 2016

🌇🎆🍂 November's Gone 🍂🎆🌇

02:29

I hope you are all getting your daily fix of Vitamin C to fight off the dreaded colds and flus that are popping up everywhere. Winter is coming....

Brace yourselves, it's going to be a cold one. Whether it's waiting for the delayed Central line or braving the elements to cycling to uni, it's been worth it. Here's why...

1st Year Rep Meeting 📝📝📝

It's nice to be back in the position ofAcademic Rep this academic year. The first meeting followed on very shortly after the elections results were announced. Myself and the other rep managed to swiftly discern the most important issues facing the year and presented these at the meeting.

These are always insightful and have helped me with structuring a talk and presenting findings coherently. This meeting was particularly special as Senior Staff and Chemistry Year Reps got to meet each other for the first time. The meeting lasted for 2 hours but we were given free food so I can't complain!

#MincePieFriday

The Let Us Learn campaign has been churning away at plans for an action and we are proud to announce #MincePieFriday!!! So the idea is to visit several universities across London, with the hope of reaching out to those with the power to bring about positive change in the form the availability of scholarships for young, gifted and blocked migrants in the UK with no access to student finance.

We will be visiting with mince pies and our personal stories to try and get meetings with heads of universities. We will be tweeting news/pics from @LetUs_Learn and some stuff on our FB too – please share and follow the events on #younggiftedandblocked and #mincepiefriday hashtags.

Have a look at the video below which is being used to promote the scholarships campaign started by the Let Us Learners in October of this year.

🍲 Chinese Night w/ Friends 🍲

It's been a while since I hosted a themed dinner so it was about time! It was fun to have a few friends around over some homemade (mostly) Chinese food and to have a general chat.

Everyone seems to have been caught off guard by the picture 😂😂😂

P.S. I have some very exciting news for everyone reading this. But, I can't tell you until the next blog entry. I promise it'll be good... Until next time!

#EOtoImperial

🎃🌇🎃 Tales Of October 🎃🌇🎃

08:27

It's hard to think that one month has already passed by since the second academic year officially start! Its been an exciting month.

The step up from first year to second year is a very big one indeed. This year looks to be positively challenging in I look forward to all the experiences to come. Without further ado, i'll tell you what I've been up to this month...

Re-elected as Year Rep 💪🎊

I was lucky enough to elected as Academic Year Representative for my cohort last year. My role was all about finding out the opinions of my peers on how the course/department could be tailored to fit their needs. It was an interesting role which saw myself meeting with senior staff members to pitch ideas formulated through questionnaires and focus groups.

This year, I campaigned to be elected for the role again and after an unsettling voting error that meant that the election had to be postponed for a week, I got the position again (without any persuasion from a box of chocolates like last year I must add!).

Hall Senior @ Woodward Halls

As a hall senior at our accommodation I have been helping out with various events, that were organised before the freshers moved in, to help them settle in and to encourage some social mixing and to create a sense of community over at the halls.

There have been too many events to mention but the most memorable was the casino night. We set up a mini-casino in the common room which was well received by the freshers. Smartly dressed hall seniors hosted games such at blackjack, poker and roulette with some jazz swinging in the background and an unlimited supply of refreshments.

A picture of myself and Kush (another hall senior) from the casino night.
©️Franz Tapia

⚗🔬 Labs Labs Labs Labs 🔬⚗

We have been hit with a busy timetable of various lab sessions designed to make us better practical chemists. Some sessions are as long as 5 hours!!! It's not so bad as I enjoy being in the labs and taking a more hands-on approach to learning.

We have been synthesising some transition metal complexes, learning to code in a programming language called Python and next week, I will be doing some electrochemistry. Very exciting stuff!

Nickel complexes prepared in block of Synthetic Chemistry Labs

Ernst and Young Black Network Dinner

I was lucky enough to be invited to a black tie dinner to celebrate Black History Month in style (thanks to the AMOS Bursary). We were greeted at the Waldorf Hotel (Hilton in Aldwych) with soft music from a violin and a champagne reception. After a some networking, we were ushered into the banquet hall.

Dinner was served! And as if that wasn't enough, we had highly respected speakers like June Sarpong, Colin Jackson and Nathan Oceng leaving us with some words of wisdom.

The AMOS Bursary table @ EYBN Black Tie Dinner

🎃🎃🎃 HALLOWEEN 🎃🎃🎃

Me and my girlfriend as a samurai and a geisha over the weekend.

I hope you have all had an enjoyable halloween weekend and that you enjoyed reading this months blog post. Until next time.

#EOtoImperial

🌞🌞🌞 What A Summer 🌞🌞🌞

05:24

After a little break from blogging for the summer months, I'm back!!! With the summer that we've had I'm sure you haven't missed me too much. I've had a cracking summer and it was so hot that I even caught a tan!

Thought I'd let you guys know how the summer has been with my first blog of the academic year! Here goes...

Working for NCS as a Music Practitioner

2 months of the summer was spent working on the government funded programme called "The Challenge" aimed at engaging Year 11 leavers in bonding, skills-building and volunteering activities to help them give back to their communities.

My job was to give a crash course in samba and provide the young people with the skills needed to interact with a community partner (disability centres, care homes, community centres, etc) and then finally put on a showcase of the three days they spent with me as their practitioner.

A classroom set up for a samba class from yours truly.

Working across London and with 11 different cohorts was extremely demanding but I had such an amazing time and it's refreshing to see young people actively trying to make a positive change in their communities. I also learnt a great deal about myself and had the chance to improve on my leadership, communication and teaching skills.

A thank you card from one of the groups I worked with.

LuL Campaign

The Let Us Learn Campaign keeps going from strength to strength! It has been a busy few months for the members of the campaign, especially those in the core group of campaigners.

Core LuL campaigners graduating from Shauneen's Leadership Course

We recently graduated from a leadership programme run by Shauneen Lambe (Executive Director of Just For Kid's Law) and on the back of that we also decided to run a scholarship campaign to alert universities of the need to open up more scholarship for migrant children settled in the UK who do not qualify for student finance.

Schools started back again and myself and Chrisann went to inform a group of sixth formers at Queens Park Community School Academy about the changes to the student finance policies and how it could affect them or their friends.

Myself and Chrisann outside Queens Park Community School Academy.

We also heard some amazing news over the summer! Two of our core team members, Arkam and Sharon, have successfully acquired scholarships to study Geography and History respectively at Kings College London!!! 🎉🎯😀

Carnival and Gigs

This summer has also been full of gigs (too many to get into details!). The most enjoyable was by far Notting Hill Carnival! This has always been a highlight of my summer for many years and I doubt this will change anytime soon.

Relaxing at carnival after the 3 hour parade with my samba school (Paraiso School of Samba).

Moving in as a Hall Senior

So I moved back into halls as a hall senior and the team has been working hours on end to prep the halls ready for the freshers. As seniors, we are responsible for making sure that the freshers settle in nicely and have a positive experience whilst they are in halls.

The Woodward Hall Senior Team

We were split into different teams based on what floor we live on and tasked with organising separate events to promote social mixing in the halls as well as coming together to organise bigger events for all the residents of the accommodation.

Cheeky selfie whilst on Hall Senior Duty

AAAAAND........ BREATHE!

So that was my summer in a nutshell! I'll be starting my course in early days of October and will keep you updated as always.

Until next time 👋👋👋

#EOtoImperial

✍ ✍ ✍ Exam Mayhem in May ✍ ✍ ✍

05:56

It's that time of the year again, where students across the country are at war with their finals whilst resisting the temptations of the good weather outside. In two weeks, first year will have skipped by! Before that though, I've got to sit through my last few exams.

I've taken a step back this month to give myself more time to prepare, nevertheless is has been an interesting month with some healthy distractions. Here are three I'd like to share with you...

Paraiso Costume Launch

Paraiso School of Samba, of which I am a proud member, put on a showcase of all the beautifully designed costumes for this year's carnival season. The night was kicked of with traditional pagode style samba from the amazing band Quintal Do Samba.

The separate sections that will then make up the procession of about 500 odd people representing the school had representatives modelling their costume for this year.

I was lucky enough to sport the costumes that the bateria (drummers) will be wearing for Notting Hill Carnival this year. Sounds weird, but I can't tell you how happy the band is that we've finally got pockets on a parading costume now!

Modelling the costume for the bateria this year at Guanabara
© Dex L Photography

Working for The Challenge

I just finished up the last round of training for a role in the summer as a Music Practitioner for The Challenge. The Challenge is a programme financed by the National Citizen Service that helps put Year 11 leavers in touch with their communities through volunteering.

The programme typically lasts for 3 weeks. The first week consists of team building activities between the groups of participants. The second week, where my role comes in, involves the groups visiting community partners and interacting with them using a skill they learn from the practitioners (art, music, sport, media and drama) as the basis to kickstart their conversations.

I will be working with many groups across the summer, teaching a simplified version of samba to Year 11 leavers across North London. I'm quite excited for this role as I was on the programme myself after finishing secondary school and I look forward to hopefully serving as a positive role model and perhaps helping to spark an interest in samba among the groups I teach!

Woodward BBQs

The amazing team at Woodward (which I will be part of next year) put in two amazing BBQs this month! A large majority of those at Woodward (the university accommodation) will be finding new places to stay and it was really nice to get everyone together before the summer. Also who can say no to free food and drinks?!

There is a strong sense of community here at Woodward and I look forward to helping to nurture that next year with the team of wardens, sub-wardens and hall seniors.

I hope you have all enjoyed the bank holiday weekend! Wish me luck with my exams.

#EOtoImperial

🎂🎂🎂 April 🎂🎂🎂

09:22

I turned 21 this month! I have to say its been one of the best birthday months I've had so far - and thats saying something. But I am sure that after you read this month's blog you will agree with me. Ill give you three reasons why this has been a month to remember...

I met Obama!

Thanks to the AMOS Bursary and their relationship with the US Embassy, I was lucky enough to be asked to attend a 'Town Hall' with the president on his visit to the UK. Waking up at 5:30 AM on a cold Saturday and waiting for what seemed like an eternity in a line before entering a building has never been so worth it!

It took me a few days for everything to properly sink in. But I was in the same room as Obama, one of the greatest men to ever walk the planet. This was apparent when he walked in the room... silence. Ears perked up, postures straightened and notebooks at the ready. His presence commanded respect and admiration from from everyone in the room. Logic and reason underpinned all his answers to the questions posed by the lucky few in the room.

Obama addressing an attentive audience (Picture taken by Wilfred Obeng)

The greatest take home message that day was the importance of the day was to learn from the past and to understand the fact that change takes time and that this should dishearten those looking to bring about change.

"The arch of history of history is long but it bends towards justice", Obama said, quoting MLK Jr.

The London Mayoral Assembly

I am aware that this month has been quite politically charged, I make no apologies for that! I have never been as proud to be a Let Us Learn campaigner as I was this month.

100 people turned up to the representing Let Us Learn at the Copperbox in the Olympic village. A total of 6,000 people turned up to hold the front-running mayoral candidates, Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith, to account on their promises to the capital once they become mayor. The event was hosted by CitizensUK.

Picture taken by me as people arrived at the Copperbox

Let Us Learn was represented by Ijeoma whose story received roars from the crowd! I was so proud to see all the hard work we do with the campaign being recognised by 6,000 active campaigners from across the city. You can have a look at the event in its entirety below (Ijeoma's speech starts at around 1:57:00).

Footage of the London Mayoral Assembly

Back in the Labs!

The last term of uni has started and we are back in the labs! This is exciting as we are researching how to manipulate the properties of alginate membranes for commercial applications.

The chemistry behind these alginate membranes is the same that drives the production of fake caviar. We are working with a company called Skipping Rocks Labs on their Ooho! Project which aims to encapsulate water in these membranes to reduce the usage of plastic bottles.

Ooho capsules are totally edible and biodegradable. Our work in the labs will inform the company in changing desirable characteristics in the membranes to make them better suited for commercial use. The ingredients for making the capsules are available online and are very safe to handle.

How to make an Ooho capsule

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog! Have a good month this May and lets pray we get some good weather *fingers crossed*

#EOtoImperial

🏃💨 Marching Through March 🏃💨

06:30

And just like that the second semester is done! It feels as though time is flying by, this time last year, I wasn't even sure whether I would be at university. And now, first year is nearly over!

If you would like to know what I have been up to this semester, start reading the blog from the January entry. March has been one of the most exciting month so far. That will be because of...

*drum roll*

Maya 2016

Maya - a theatrical production put together by the Malaysian Society at Imperial - was such a brilliant experience. I decided to buy tickets on a whim after a few friends (mainly my lab partner) convinced me to go along. I am glad I made the decision! The show was so well put together and considering the amount of people involved it was an absolutely amazing achievement by the Malaysian Society.

The production detailed the rise of a young app developer whose rise to fame was haunted by his guilt and driven by his business partners' greed for more money (with a Malaysian twist). The audience were also treated to amazing bursts of performance art, my favourite can be viewed below.

Would recommend watch the first 3 minutes and then skipping to 15:10

Spanish!!!

At Imperial, we get the choice of picking an extra subject for degree credit, an ancillary subject. I decided to do Spanish every Tuesday as my ancillary course and I've loved it! We had our final exam on the last day of term and it went really well!

Glad to have had the opportunity to improve my Spanish whilst at university. Stay tuned for how those exams went (I have a feeling I did quite well!). Strictly speaking there will be one more oral examination before the Spanish course is done but I am glad that it is approaching an end. Having classes till 6 on Tuesday (even for amazing Spanish classes) was quite demanding.

Me Vs. Spanish

Vitality North London Half-Marathon!

For those who read my last few blogs, you might be well aware that I have been training for another half-marathon. I didn't quite reach my target time of under 1 hour and 30 mins but I did manage to get a new PB of 1 hr 35 mins 24 sec! As a team, we managed to raise over £3,000 for Just for Kids Law - a charity that helps to represent and support young people with their legal battles.

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us so far and to also highlight the fact that it is not too late to do so if you haven't had the opportunity:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/just_for_kids_law

A picture of Just for Kids Half-Marathon Team with our medals!

Leadership Training w/ Citizen's UK (AGAIN :D)

Casting you back to the first semester, I attended a two-day leadership training programme hosted by CitizensUK (an organisation that provides a platform for other campaigns to bring about positive change in their communities) where we were given training to improve our skills of storytelling, negotiation and ability to organise alongside others with a common cause.

This was built upon in another successful training session that has seen the "Let Us Learn" team grow from strength to strength. The focus of the last training session was to lead up to the upcoming mayoral elections where we plan to question the candidates (Zach Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan) on their views on migrants in London.

They will host an audience of about 6,000 people at the Copperbox in the Olympic Village and I take this opportunity to openly anyone who wants to attend as a guest of mine (feel free to get in touch).

Let Us Learn alongside campaigners from Blood, Sweat and Tears and Refugees Welcome.

Can't Forget Easter!!!

I trust you have all had a restful Easter break and haven't been too mean to friends and colleagues this April Fool's Day!

#EOtoImperial

🎊💪🏾 Fab Feb As Always 💪🏾🎊

04:07

And just like that, another month flies by. Finally received the results from the January exams - I got a high 2:1 on average which I'm chuffed with especially bearing in mind how I felt after each exam! The lab reports have also came back as high 2:1s which left me over the moon.

The shortest month in the year has felt even shorter still, It's been very busy at university with computational labs, helping out the Chemistry Society and keeping up with samba amongst other things.

Chemsoc University Challenge

A poster advertising ChemSoc's version of University Challenge

Earlier in the month, ChemSoc put on their own version of infamous BBC Two gameshow hosted by Jeremy Paxman: University Challenge. As one of the year reps for first year Chemists, the responsibility of choosing who would represent us for the challenge fell to myself and Sarah, the other year rep.

After fending off strong competition from contenders from the other years, the team went on to defeat the all star staff team to everyone's surprise. Well done lads!!! (And whoever chose the team!)

Orchids 2016 @ Kew Gardens

If you're from London, you might have spotted the ad below on your regular commute on the London Underground. I have been lucky enough to be chosen to provide entertainment and contextual atmosphere in the form of a small samba show and dance class along with other drummers and dancers from Paraiso School of Samba!

An advert for Orchids 2016 at Kew Gardens

It was an amazing experience. I've never been to the Kew Gardens beforehand and I wasn't overly keen the idea of going to a flower display but this really was special. The arrangements and choice of specimen are a celebration of plant life and habitats in Brazil (which explains why my glasses fogged up as soon as I walked in).

Close-up of one of the orchid arrangements taken on my phone

Bromeliads arranged to resemble dancers during Brazilian Carnival

Vitality North London Half-Marathon

Training has been underway for the run on the Sunday, 20th of March through most of North London (so many hills -_-) and finishing up inside Wembley! I'm aiming to run under 1 hr and 30 minutes which will be very difficult but isn't impossible.

How I imagine myself smashing through this half-marathon

I will be running to help Just For Kids Law raise the much needed funds to keep the amazing work they are doing for children and young people in London.

If you would like to support with a donation please visit this link:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/just_for_kids_law

Once again, thank you for reading my blog and I hope you are all well :)

Brunch w/ the Chemistry Crew

#EOtoImperial

January - Glad That's Over!

08:07

This months started off with the first exams I have ever sat in 2 years! It was a nerve-wracking experience. The first paper was a challenge but I felt quite confident after the last one. One thing I can say is that I'm glad those are over!

Lab reports followed suit straight after the exams, with the blistering cold and very little sunlight this month you can imagine how glad I am that January is finally over. Bear in mind it is carnival season in Brazil (where most of my band members are right now!). Well at least I'm improving my average keystrokes per minute with all these lab reports!

Okay... the rant about having to sit exams and write lab reports whilst watching friends enjoy Brazilian carnival season is over. January hasn't been that bad actually..

*drum roll*

Let Us Learn!

Myself and Chrisann outside Newman Catholic College (I was not ready for that picture!)

I've had the pleasure of representing the "Let Us Learn" campaign alongside the founder of the campaign, Chrisann (pictured above), on one of the many school visits to raise awareness around the current laws regarding young migrants and their access to higher education.

We spoke to a crowd of 100 Year 11 boys prepping for their GCSE exams - I was very nervous. The last thing I would be interested in at the time of sitting my GCSE's would be what a total stranger had to say at my morning assembly. To my surprise, we were warmly received and I look forward to visiting more schools on behalf of the campaign this year.

Steering group meeting held at the Just For Kids Law HQ in Euston

My fellow campaigners over at "Let Us Learn" have had a very busy month! We also met with our steering group this month which was a very insightful experience - especially hearing from highly respected professionals in their field on how best they felt the campaign could be moved forward.

Vitality North London Half Marathon

A map of the Vitality North London Half (just looking at the route hurts)

Training for my next half-marathon also began this month; I'm dreading it. Another 13 miles through the streets of London. However,tThe fact that the route ends in Wembley has provided me with the motivation to train that extra bit harder. I hope to beat my personal best of just under an 1 hour 40 minutes (recorded at the Royal Parks Half) which will take some doing.

Carnaval!!!

Christ The Redeemer, Rio

As I mentioned before, January marks a period of celebration in Brazilian. As a samba percussionist, gigs have been flying in as the samba community in London join in the celebrations. I will be playing at Guanabara, Holborn on the 5th and 13th of February so feel free to join in the celebrations however you can.

Well I better head off, lab work isn't going to finish itself!

Thank you for reading my blog once again! I hope you have all had a brilliant start to the year!

P.S. Here is the link to an article in the Independent following up on the campaign for those interested in a quick read! - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/emmanuel-opoku-the-student-who-secured-his-university-place-by-crowdfunding-a6828531.html

Blogging My Way Through Uni

🌇🎆🍂 November's Gone 🍂🎆🌇

🎃🌇🎃 Tales Of October 🎃🌇🎃

🌞🌞🌞 What A Summer 🌞🌞🌞

✍ ✍ ✍ Exam Mayhem in May ✍ ✍ ✍

🎂🎂🎂 April 🎂🎂🎂

🏃💨 Marching Through March 🏃💨

🎊💪🏾 Fab Feb As Always 💪🏾🎊

January - Glad That's Over!

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