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.

⚗🔬 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!

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.

🎃🎃🎃 HALLOWEEN 🎃🎃🎃

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