presented my masters project yesterday

i had to explain my project and findings to the other students, and it went really well - i got a first! so glad i don’t get remotely nervous about presenting any more :D

guys i did it

tonight i finished my second 7,000-word dissertation of the year and i’m very proud of myself because it was H A R D

when you write the acknowledgements for a paper you have to be annoyingly serious and just thank academic people. in reality i owe my gratitude to twining’s tea company, mcvitie’s, and my fam & friends for being encouraging and lovely ♥

now please excuse me while i sleep for a full 24 hours

well, that escalated quickly

i just took some (super cute) foraminifera to be identified by a professor who is one of the world’s leading experts in the little beasties

they ended up being something he’d never seen before, and also offered me a fourth-year project which will place me as co-author (or even main author, if what i find is snazzy enough) on a very publishable paper!

and now i get to go home and hug my cat, so today is just fab

i love my course

yesterday we essentially spent our fieldtrip feeding cute duckies and geese in the name of science

there were flamingos too

and in three weeks i head to cyprus, plus at the start of next year we’re probably going to naples (or an equally fab mediterranean location)

geology rocks you guys

today’s evolution lecture

was basically a slideshow of our lecturer’s pet ducks - including his favourite “fuzzy”, who sits on his shoulder - to prepare us for our fieldtrip to swansea wildfowl centre next week where we will be feeding birds, getting nipped and trying to record their features all day

reason #1636 why i love my course

currently pre-drinking predrinks

tomorrow’s nine am lecture is going to be interesting..

finishing an assignment and decimating all the tabs you had open to help with it is definitely one of life’s little joys

hello tumbly, this is my cosy little desk region!

complete with teapot, mug, flask, pistachios and the obligatory rock (containing some quite nice graptolite fossils, actually) ♥

i LOVE my evolution module this semester

it’s held in a little classroom to encourage discussion, and seems like it’s going to be a nice mix of philosophy and science, which is pretty cool!

this week’s topics were the idea of “resurrecting” certain species (like mammoths) and races of human (such as ancient egyptians), since it’s perfectly possible, and whether the fact we’ve created so many new species of plant and animal counts as biospheric evolution

i’m in my element you guys ♥

challenge of the week

read and take notes on the entirety of my giant geomorphology textbook!

oh man i’m gonna need to up my tea intake to at least fifteen mugs a day

update: finito!

GREAT SUCCESS

(in the words of borat sagdiyev)

i’m a fully-fledged mentor! only 18% of applicants got through so i’m pretty proud of meself :D

can’t wait to meet my group and impart my shiny third-year wisdom oooh

finally cosy & dry

after two days studying ancient reefs, hunting for trilobites, a huge (and unreasonably spicy) curry and an overnight stay in a ridiculously grand manor house. tomorrow we get to go collect fossil plants from an old coal mine hooray

i love geology triiips ♥

all moved in!

bedroom mostly decorated, clothes mostly unpacked, cupboards mostly full, a night in the pub already done, housemates wonderful, bed comfy, house warm

HAPPY McCHAPPIE :D

i’ll post a room tour or something soon ok ♥

last night at home!

tomorrow i move in with my lovely new housemates (along with their awesome variety of consoles and casual mixing deck) and the bearded dragons!

VERY EXCITE

getting your student loan is the best thing ever at first

suddenly you have all this moolah that you just want to roll around in gleefully and throw from the rooftops

but then you work out your budget and realise that after paying rent, bills, food and other necessary expenses, you’re only left with a few quid a week to play around with and it’s really pants. i’ve managed to scrape by until this year, but i had to go into my overdraft this summer thanks to the france trip so i have way less money than usual hnng

WELP TIME TO GET A JOB :D