Career Update

I seem to have gone to about a million open day/lecture course/interview days at universities and so have met a fair few university undergraduates. None of these, at least none who I though to ask, have any idea what they 'want to be when they grow up'. To be honest this has made me feel much better and more comfortable with the fact that I have absolutely no idea either! It kind of feels like I'll just do whatever comes along. But with all this university decisions it feels like I should have some idea so that I can make a decision.

I feel like going Medical Physics would be a good idea. I mean the measure of a discoveries significance in my mind always seems to be how many lives it has saved. I've always thought of medicine as a noble career choice but have known that I'm by no means cut out to be a doctor. Therefore medical physics is perfect right? I don't have to cut people open but I can make a real difference in peoples lives. It feels nice to have goals. Except don't make me choose a particular part of Medical Physics, come on one step at a time guys!

Deciding decisions is distressing

I went to see Warwick on Wednesday but have been dreading writing this post and so have left it a few days. For a couple of weeks now I have delayed the inevitable decision making in regards to my firm choice of university course because 'it wouldn't be fair to decide without seeing Warwick' but now I have and I don't want to decide...

By the end of Wednesdays trip mostly all I could confidently say was that the campus was lovely and Warwick is closer. If I'm completely honest the distance is important to me. I'm not sure if this should be an important decision factor but the lunch with undergraduates at Warwick was so awkward it was almost painful! Worse than the one at Nottingham...


If life were easy I guess I would just scoop up the Nottingham physics department and put them in the middle of Warwick university but since that can't happen I'm supposed to make an actual decision... The one on one tutor meeting at Nottingham was something quite special that really made me feel relaxed and comfortable and like I was already at the university... I want to go to Nottingham!! But Warwick was all shiny and new and there was an actual climbing room and they have really exciting labs... I want to go to Warwick!!


So that I can take an extra long time making a decision I have started a complex colour coordinated table full of information about each university. Actually the research has been really useful because I hadn't realised but to stay on the main campus at Nottingham it is all catered accommodation whereas Warwick is all self catered. I don't really know what I'd prefer. On the one hand, self catered seems cheaper, healthier with more freedom but the catered is easier, quicker and maybe actually better as I won't be getting takeaways, eating out or having a diet of only biscuits due to laziness...

I can't tell if this is an instinct to root for the underdog but in most of the rows Warwick seems to be winning and I give a little mental cheer every time Nottingham wins. So what is that? Just to further complicate things my fortune cookie on Friday told me 'wherever you go, go with all your heart'.

I also seem to be spending an extraordinary amount of time day dreaming about actually going to either university! It has to be said that this has helped a little but basically just shown me that I would be perfectly happy at either, which although is a lovely thought it is completely unhelpful in decision making... Shall I just flip a coin??! Gahhh...

I love the internet!

So I signed up to a new blog thing, I probably have a problem with signing up for things to be honest but today has been a good day for it! I signed up for a theory test and started student finance! Its just so fun! Anyway I'm supposed to make a post with is thingy in and see what happens?!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Oh cool, its just a linky thing, and now I'm all set! It just seems to make following and finding blogs a little easier, I like it!

So far I found this really funny post about how different types of physics can be like different partners that you have relationships with, theres a male version and a female version. String theory made me laugh so much! Because its one of the only jokes I actually got, I can't wait to understand the other half!

I also found this page where they discuss the science of an Agatha Chistie novel which I found interesting because I had a whole Agatha Christie phase a few years ago but didn't even notice all the different poisons. I didn't know that Christie was a member of the royal society of apothacaries and so have a new level of respect for her. I mean she passed a test to be a member, wrote 65 fantastic books but the pinacle of her career has got to be that doctor who episode about her, giant wasp and all! Thats when you know you've made it

Imperial interview

Today was my interview at imperial and it was quite a nice day except for the actual interview part!

I got a little lost on the way there but easily got back on track after getting on the wrong train! So I ended up still being on time but was the last one there nonetheless which is pretty awful when you consider that I live the closest out of the 10 others there, one girl was from Denmark! What am I saying, one girl? I mean the only other girl...

We had a tour which was very nice and showed how close lots of things are even though it's a city but also showed how busy it is. I don't particularly like the idea of having to fight for a desk in the library!

Then we had lunch which was free and yummy and only a little awkward. The other people were really friendly and I actually spoke to most of them. Particularly the Irish guys cause they have cool accents! And of course the girl because that's what happens in physics, us girls stick together!

Then we had a meeting as a group and a department tour with an academic and she was lovely! It gave us a chance to relax before the interview although that didn't stop me getting flustered with my negatives but I'll come to that in a second... We snuck into the back of a 3rd year lecture and from what I could gather it was about particle physics and for some reason when something is to do with z and w bosons the mass has to be massive? So yeah very educational!! We also got to see the labs and talk about experiments which surprisingly got me super excited.

Then came the interview! Well no, first came the wait while another guy had an interview and then came the interview! The wait was actually quite enjoyable, I just got to chat about physics with a guy in a heavy metal band, something I've never done before and can now cross off the list!!

In the interview I got to talk about MRI, Tesla and endoscopes, I totally didn't mean to mention medical physics so much - I don't know what's wrong with me!! I only quite like it... Then came the questions there was a math and chemistry one but the worst was the physics one. I got in a right mess and started saying rubbish... The question was basically why when I open and close a freezer twice is it harder to open the second time. It's something to do with pressure or something but I said it was the normal reaction force of the gas on the door... I'm so stupid... But I've learnt about interviews a bit? Yeah I basically wasted the day... But the important thing is that I bought a hot chocolate on the way home and found a free marshmallow in it! Loving life :)

News Check

Okay so since my interview is tomorrow but I really already prepared for it when I thought I was going to have an interview yesterday all that's left to do it a last minute news check. Anything could have happened since I checked it in a study period this morning! They could have confirmed the presence of the Higgs field or found living organisms in that mars meteorite or found a way to have superconductors at room temperatures.

Well there's nothing quite that exciting... I found out that they have used 3D printers to make an artificial jaw though! I heard about this in the Steven Hawking's a brave new world programme where they can use a computer to design the exact details of an object an the computer builds the image a layer at a time. Its really good because it can make things lighter, its more economical as there isn't waste from cutting bits away and it is very precise which is particularly important for the jaw in this case. In the article that it also means less time in hospital and make it easier to get used to a new jaw.

This isn't brand new but I found it strange that the space mission to Mars where they were going to drill, take samples and atmospheric measurements is in danger due to the likelihood America pulling out their financial backing as well as their skills increasing. But this is also happening parallel to the meteorite from mars being donated to the Natural History Museum after landing in Morocco last July. I'm looking forward to seeing what studies of this meteorite shows.

Well I guess they'll be all for now, I'll update you tomorrow!

I'm now a Twitterer! Tweeter? Twit? Ahhh, you know...

Near the very end of the exams I signed up to twitter. In the sense of wasting time and feeling slightly more like a stalker of various celebrities such as Olly Murs and the Glee cast as well as my real life friends, particularly the frequent tweeters getting twitter was an awful idea! But then it is so much more interesting that facebook and it is actually educational! Really it is! I'm always getting cool physics things in my feed the only problem is that sometimes I don't have time to read them all! In terms of physics I follow:

1. Alby Reid - his blog was recommended in the physics review
2. Diamond light source
3. iCub
4. Fermilab today
5. Institute of Physics
6. Space weather
7. Simon Singh
8. New scientist
9. CERN
10. NASA
11. and of course - Brian Cox

So I'm @emazingness if you want to follow, as in amazingness but with emma cause that's my name and people call me that because I'm so amazing! Just kidding, no one calls me that... I made it up myself...

And the winner is...

So for all this interview craze I've had to seriously think about what my favourite parts of physics are. I mean its not really an important decision at the moment but it just feels like I should have a favourite so I've made a decision... *drum roll*... At the moment it is definitely....

Please join us after the break!

Sorry too much Xfactor in my life? Well, its particle physics. Maybe you already guessed because I seem to mention it a lot but I hesitated about saying it is my favourite because it can be so damn complicated and seriously frustrating! So here are my reasons;

1. Its damn complicated and seriously frustrating!
2. It was the unit that I most looked forward to on the alevel course, well that and time travel but I'm afraid that's going to be hugely disappointing. All the time I had little clues of particle physics being dropped on physics lecture courses and in random Internet research and I was desperate to get my teeth stuck in and actually understand stuff!
3. Its so exciting at the moment! What with the neutrino debacle and the higs field drama, particle physics is where its at! It all feels so fresh and current

But I fully expect this to change, hopefully as frequently as I discover new things. I would never have thought I would like medical physics but once I got into it, it was so good! Plus it feels like it has so many worthwhile implications. I mean I'm sure that particle physics will lead a revolution one day but medical physics seems ever so Nobel at the moment but maybe that's just because I started reading 'Call the midwife' by Jennifer Worth