Back Again! (Hiruni)

Can I make up for weeks without an update with a single post? No.

Will I attempt to anyway? Yes 🙂

 

Like every semester before it, this one is slowly coming to be defined by what assessment I have due that week, and that’s without counting the horrors that are the final exams looming over me. You’d think that after two semesters of this I would be less worried about exams, but here I am with several lectures to catch up on and swamped with assignments. Sigh.

Speaking of which, I’ve found that around this time I think of my subjects less as what will lead me to a greater things and more as a hurdle to complete so I can finally relax. While it is easy to forget the potential of your degree when all you can think about is that next essay/lab report/mid-sem/etc, I was given a great opportunity to get motivated again and to remind me of what the future holds with one of the Science Student Centre’s Discovery Tours.

I was lucky enough to go on the Engineering Discovery Tour, although there is one that is Science-specific, with a group of other second and third year students to discover some of the facilities and research opportunities at the University. We visited the Walter Bassett Aerodynamics Lab, the Engineering Wet Lab and the Mechanical Engineering Workshop. I had never been in any of these so the tour was a great opportunity to see some of the places I would use in later years. The Aerodynamics lab gave me the first real insight into the kind of research opportunities associated with engineering, something I hadn’t even considered when thinking about my career. However, as someone who doesn’t spend much time with students older than me, the most rewarding experience was being able to talk to a PhD student and learn about his research and what it was like working on it. Overall, I found the tour to be a very rewarding experience which reminded me of what my studies could lead to and motivates me to persevere with my coursework.

Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it to a tour this semester as both tours will run again next semester, and you might even be able to meet me there!