Recap?

Okay, I don't know what happened... I mean sometimes it's hard in the holidays because physics stuff doesn't always happen but that's not the case this time... Lots of stuff happened!

I attempted a blog conversion over to a new blog because I wanted to fix a load of stuff but didn't want to lose my archive but it took AGES so I got bored... Maybe I'll finish one day...

I got about halfway through a universe in a nutshell and it was going so well! but then I went to the library and since I have a deadline for them I started reading six easy pieces. I was reading it while I waited to meet my friend and I just got to a bit about molecules not meaning to go in your nose so I smiled in amusement when she crept up on me and laughed at me for enjoying a physics book so much! I didn't believe they would actually be easy but so far it's been OK and is a perfect recap for next year.

Which actually brings me onto my next point - I'm going to Nottingham! And as the days pass by, it's becoming more and more real. I got an A* in Maths and Physics and an A in Geography, Chemistry and General studies and then an A in my Further Maths AS so was super pleased and actually still get a buzz when I think about it! I'm so grateful that all that hard work paid off and can't wait for next year!

Tomorrow is the day that I go to Culham experimental fusion facilities and I cannot wait!! I talked about it agggggggeeees ago here. I'm planning on wearing the outfit I put together for my first physics lecture because lets be honest in a crowd of new people I'm going to chicken out and not wear a space top. First impressions are so hard to get over...

So, I never got my calculator lid back. My teacher didn't come to prom in the end but I can't help and feel like she missed it to avoid me... oh well, I'll just have to live the rest of my life lidless... I explained how I lost it in this post.

And now I promise to write soon.

More Excuses...

Here I am again after a few weeks of no posts and I feel the need to explain my absence. Though of course it is of no interest to you at all, it makes me feel better if my laziness is justified! Well not exactly laziness because I really have been doing physics! Almost too much physics in fact!

So a lot of time was taken up with my UCAS form. Even though I told you that I had finished my personal statement it turns out that my teacher had other ideas... After returning it to her several times I finally managed to convince her that the day before the deadline was really leaving it late enough and off it went! I was happy with my personal statement at the time and of course I was over the moon with my choices but now I feel anxious and edgy whenever I think about it. Was I too enthusiastic? And is my statement really anything more than mediocre? I made the fatal mistake of offering to read through some other peoples statements at school and couldn't help but notice if they sounded exactly like me or better than me...

And now I feel sick at the thought of Oxford. I really don't think that I am good enough to go there so why on earth should they?! The only comforting thought is that I would truly have regretted it if I hadn't even applied because I honestly would love to go there. But I won't let myself be disappointed. I would just as equally love to go to any of the other choices. Physics is physics after all and that is pretty much the only decision that I'm 100% happy with. Well most of the time... And at least if I fail miserably with the physics aptitude test next Wednesday I don't have to worry about the interviews anymore! Because I watched a video about the physics interviews and I honestly had nightmares about it!

Recently I started revising for this physics aptitude test and that was around the time I started getting quite panicky about Oxford. I also made the mistake of looking at a few Internet forums and people were calling the tests easy! So far I haven't got more than 40% in a test so I guess I'll just have to do a few more practises and hope I get better...

Personal Statement: take 1

I've been away for a while with no excuse other than I went on holiday where I had no Internet whatsoever for a week! It was a lovely holiday and as usual being out in the country, seeing and subconsciously identifying river and coastal characteristics I have rediscovered my love of Geography! Well, physical geography at least and maybe love is a slight exaggeration.... However I am prepared to put up with another year of the subject although my friends and family might argue that I was never seriously going to drop anything anyway... I suppose it all depends on my grades now!

While on holiday there were wonderfully clear skies and you could see millions and millions of stars. My bedroom had a perfect sloping window where you could see them from and I felt infinitely cool sleeping under the stars, well sort of... Of course I didn't have the internet though so I couldn't use the app! I suddenly see the flaw of this app - you either have clouds but an internet signal or stars but no internet signal so I think I'll just delete it!
I decided to have a go at writing a personal statement yesterday and since I had no idea where to start I decided to write and see where that took me so I came out with this:

So, the dreaded personal statement. It’s quite hard to write about yourself and then it’s very difficult to convey enthusiasm as well as put the sense of true belonging, total immersion in a subject into words. But, hey, I always liked a challenge and that quality is probably what first started me down the path of becoming a physicist.

Well, it was either that or there are two other possibilities. The first alternative being a particularly engaging teacher who encouraged her girls to take physics, an encouragement which came close to bribery, black mail and shameless flattery at times! The other alternative is that I saw physics as an opportunity to widen my mathematical knowledge and if that meant I had to put up with learning some science on the side then so be it. So of course, you see why I stick to the more romantic option of the three, if you don’t agree with my use of romantic at least it doesn’t make it sound like I was reluctant because I wasn’t really.

I know it is the same for everyone but I have always been fascinated by space science, I mean who wouldn’t be? The earliest I can remember was doing a project on the sixties in primary school. I used to love project work and I got completely absorbed in the space race part of my decade, I felt the same feelings as the men and women from the era watching the moon landing with stunned awe and reverie, I felt like Neil Armstrong placing my foot on an alien moon leading the way for mankind into a new era of discovery, I felt like a student finding enlightenment. Yeah, I was just as silly and sentimental then as I am now!

Anyway, that’s not relevant, you don’t want to read about how I was then, how wide my eyes went at my first trip to the planetarium, you want to know who I am now. You want to check I’m not going to drop out after one term. You want to see that I will do well. You want to see youthful enthusiasm, energy and passion. You want to see that I’m worth your while. I’m writing to say hello, I won’t, I will, here it is and I am.

Don't worry I know it's a load of old poop so I won't be using it! That's half of my word count and I haven't got any of my spider diagram in it! I suppose I'll just start again, it couldn't possibly be much worse! Maybe tomorrow...