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Stop slacking, C4H4AsH! | TypicalNerd’s first year undergrad GYG (2023 - 2024)

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Update 2: Fresher’s week so far

Fresher’s week is still under way - I’ve spent most of it either in an auditorium listening to presentations on all manner of college policies or otherwise strolling round Oxford to get to know the best places to buy essentials and the best routes to areas of the city I’ll need to regularly disappear off to.

I have also taken some time this week to work out what my academic timetable will look like - I am using colour-coded Gantt charts to visualise exactly how much time is being spent in labs, lectures and tutorials so I can establish how much free time I have each day. This will be invaluable when scheduling downtime to maintain a healthy work-life balance and also arranging time to complete prep work and assignments where needed.

I’ve met three of my five chemistry tutors so far (they are all wonderful) and all seven of my coursemates within the college - all of whom are obviously very bright. I would imagine each has an area of particular interest in chemistry and I look forward to learning from them about said areas and improving my own understanding.

Spoiler

St John people are lucky that there is a Tesco right at the opposite end of the road lmaooo, while me LMH dude hv to march a 20 minute walk lol

(lmk if you'd like a tour around LMH XD)
:woo:

(Subscribing for some Other Place content :tongue:)
Update 3: The end of Fresher’s week

Ok, maybe it’s a little premature to call it the end of Fresher’s week, but as far as I know, nothing else relating to fresher’s week is scheduled by the university or college over the weekend.

A few things have happened - more exploring, a little more time spent in the auditorium, the welcome dinner and the chemistry department induction thing… or whatever they called it.

The exploring has been wonderful - plenty of iconic landmarks have been seen and I now am pretty confident at navigating the area as required.

The welcome dinner was great. Although I am usually not one to enjoy social gatherings of any kind, being sat near plenty of likeminded individuals and having interesting and insightful discussions about various sophisticated topics was genuinely really enjoyable. It also goes without saying that the cooks at St John’s are insanely good at what they do and they pick their red wine very well. Props to them.

The chemistry department induction thing was at best okay. Whilst the talks given were very insightful and I now have another thing to add to my very long reading list, the tour itself wasn’t terribly spectacular.

Next week presents a lot of opportunities to look forward to - officially starting both the theoretical and practical aspects of the course, matriculation and getting to see how rusty I am at chemistry…

Spoiler

Yay for matriculation coming up soon :biggrin: Sorry the chemistry induction tour wasn't that great, but it's good you're finding your way around the city and everything. I don't think I've ever eaten at St John's, good to know they have nice food :biggrin:
Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd
Yay for matriculation coming up soon :biggrin: Sorry the chemistry induction tour wasn't that great, but it's good you're finding your way around the city and everything. I don't think I've ever eaten at St John's, good to know they have nice food :biggrin:


Indeed, yay for matriculation day soon. I wonder if St John’s does sconcing on matriculation day lmao

Thanks. The induction thing wasn’t that bad really, it’s just that it wasn’t particularly exciting.

Oxford is actually pretty navigable as far as cities go, so I’m naturally not having a lot of trouble getting around. The biggest problem with getting around Oxford is how busy some of the streets can get.

I see. It is a shame you haven’t had such an opportunity to try the food here, but I imagine the cooks at Woosta did an equally brilliant job when you were there.
I hope you're having a good time :woo:
Original post by thrivingfrog
I hope you're having a good time :woo:

I am - lectures, tutorials and all started today, so things have got a lot more interesting. Hope year 13 is treating you well, too.
Original post by TypicalNerd
Indeed, yay for matriculation day soon. I wonder if St John’s does sconcing on matriculation day lmao

Thanks. The induction thing wasn’t that bad really, it’s just that it wasn’t particularly exciting.

Oxford is actually pretty navigable as far as cities go, so I’m naturally not having a lot of trouble getting around. The biggest problem with getting around Oxford is how busy some of the streets can get.

I see. It is a shame you haven’t had such an opportunity to try the food here, but I imagine the cooks at Woosta did an equally brilliant job when you were there.

Yeah, my Faculty is on St Aldate's and it was often a nightmare getting past all the tourists on the pavement, haha!

Yes we are a foodie college so that was handy for me :ahee:

I just remembered I *have* eaten at your college, but in the SCR. They used to put on a nice afternoon tea thing where you can go and help yourself to cakes :biggrin:
When meetup, I’ll treat you to some Najar’s falafel :yum:
Original post by PAT_22
When meetup, I’ll treat you to some Najar’s falafel :yum:


Given there are rules on TSR around the sharing of contacts (and these presumably extend to arranging to meet up in person), arranging to meet up may be a little difficult. I've also never been a huge fan of falafel.

If we do meet by chance (as unlikely as that sounds), then we can arrange something - in which case, I'd probably invite you round for a formal.
Update 4: Week 1 and matriculation day

Week 1 has now concluded - it has been a positive experience on the whole, though I will admit I have spent a bit of the week rather peeved at myself for being behind schedule with the work so far. I will just have to be more disciplined and use the time I have as sensibly as possible.

My tutors are all wonderful and I have found myself thoroughly enjoying the tutorials so far. They have been some of the most productive hours of my life and have proven to be wonderful opportunities to learn from both my own mistakes and the inputs of my coursemates towards the discussions.

The lectures have been rather variable. The organic, physical and mathematics lectures have all been rather unexciting as the content is largely just a recap of things I have done at A level or whilst preparing for the Olympiad - the lecturers themselves are wonderful and I imagine that they will deliver some fascinating lectures later on in the course once we begin to cover new content. Conversely, the inorganic chemistry lectures have been fascinating. Although inorganic chemistry is the area of the subject I consider myself the most well acquainted with, the current focus of the lectures (atomic structure) has made my understanding of the quantum model of the atom considerably stronger. Concepts such as the wavefunction make considerably more sense than they used to, but that was largely because my own approach to trying to learn how it worked was less than ideal.

The major highlight of the week has been the labs. Although it sounds utterly mad to enjoy 6-hour long sessions in the lab (on most weeks, you have two of these sessions), it can be genuinely really satisfying once you have got your results or have made an interesting observation in the midst of a practical.

Today was matriculation day. I am now officially a member of the university of Oxford and should presumably be able to access all the Bodleian libraries and all. Besides the ceremony in the morning and photos being taken of all of us in our gowns and subfusc, not a lot has happened.

I look forward to week 2 and seeing how much my time management and self-study technique improves from this point onwards.

Spoiler

Yay for matriculation, and great that you're enjoying tutes so far! I'm glad you have lovely tutors, that can make all the difference :yep:
Original post by TypicalNerd
Update 4: Week 1 and matriculation day

Week 1 has now concluded - it has been a positive experience on the whole, though I will admit I have spent a bit of the week rather peeved at myself for being behind schedule with the work so far. I will just have to be more disciplined and use the time I have as sensibly as possible.

My tutors are all wonderful and I have found myself thoroughly enjoying the tutorials so far. They have been some of the most productive hours of my life and have proven to be wonderful opportunities to learn from both my own mistakes and the inputs of my coursemates towards the discussions.

The lectures have been rather variable. The organic, physical and mathematics lectures have all been rather unexciting as the content is largely just a recap of things I have done at A level or whilst preparing for the Olympiad - the lecturers themselves are wonderful and I imagine that they will deliver some fascinating lectures later on in the course once we begin to cover new content. Conversely, the inorganic chemistry lectures have been fascinating. Although inorganic chemistry is the area of the subject I consider myself the most well acquainted with, the current focus of the lectures (atomic structure) has made my understanding of the quantum model of the atom considerably stronger. Concepts such as the wavefunction make considerably more sense than they used to, but that was largely because my own approach to trying to learn how it worked was less than ideal.

The major highlight of the week has been the labs. Although it sounds utterly mad to enjoy 6-hour long sessions in the lab (on most weeks, you have two of these sessions), it can be genuinely really satisfying once you have got your results or have made an interesting observation in the midst of a practical.

Today was matriculation day. I am now officially a member of the university of Oxford and should presumably be able to access all the Bodleian libraries and all. Besides the ceremony in the morning and photos being taken of all of us in our gowns and subfusc, not a lot has happened.

I look forward to week 2 and seeing how much my time management and self-study technique improves from this point onwards.

Spoiler




Tag me, please! :yep:
Original post by 5hyl33n
Tag me, please! :yep:

Consider yourself tagged. I do hope all is going well at uni on your end.
Original post by TypicalNerd
Consider yourself tagged. I do hope all is going well at uni on your end.


Thank you. :woo:

It's going well so far, thank you for asking. Very busy, but that is to be expected. How is university so far on your end?
Tag me please! Congratulations on matriculation, it’s always an exciting time. I could barely get around the town centre on Saturday due to it. Sooo many people were being a bit risky and climbing up onto the blocked off inset window things on the Rad Cam to take pics. Saw one girl almost fall off 🤣
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Sorcerer of Old
Tag me please! Congratulations on matriculation, it’s always an exciting time. I could barely get around the town centre on Saturday due to it. Sooo many people were being a bit risky and climbing up onto the blocked off inset window things on the Rad Cam to take pics. Saw one girl almost fall off 🤣

You have now been tagged.

Yeah, Radcliffe square was also pretty packed on this last matriculation day with students also trying that and getting around was a little more tricky than usual. I didn’t bother taking many photos because I’m terrible at photography, though I have one photo of the Rad Cam surrounded by newly matriculated students.

I think the bigger news this year was that Emma Watson also matriculated alongside us lot, so as you can imagine a number of students were keeping their eyes peeled for her and trying (and failing) to get photos of her.
Original post by TypicalNerd
You have now been tagged.

Yeah, Radcliffe square was also pretty packed on this last matriculation day with students also trying that and getting around was a little more tricky than usual. I didn’t bother taking many photos because I’m terrible at photography, though I have one photo of the Rad Cam surrounded by newly matriculated students.

I think the bigger news this year was that Emma Watson also matriculated alongside us lot, so as you can imagine a number of students were keeping their eyes peeled for her and trying (and failing) to get photos of her.

I'm sure she kept very low key and didn't go into town or anything, I've heard she even has a team of bodyguards that have to accompany her when she's out lol
Original post by TypicalNerd
You have now been tagged.

Yeah, Radcliffe square was also pretty packed on this last matriculation day with students also trying that and getting around was a little more tricky than usual. I didn’t bother taking many photos because I’m terrible at photography, though I have one photo of the Rad Cam surrounded by newly matriculated students.

I think the bigger news this year was that Emma Watson also matriculated alongside us lot, so as you can imagine a number of students were keeping their eyes peeled for her and trying (and failing) to get photos of her.


I witness her being roll called at LMH! We had to have a roll call to register all the new people in our college, and it was kinda crazy ngl. (I got a glimpse when Emma Watson was called so it was pretty cool - no pics tho)

Yea I didn't spot any sign of her walking to the Sheldonian with the rest of the new LMHers so idk.

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