An unexpected vaccination scheme

 When doing my research for what to expect in my first year of university, something that didn't come up was the MenB vaccine. This is a vaccination to prevent illnesses caused by the Meningococcal group B (MenB) bacteria, which can cause diseases such as septicaemia and meningitis - both of which can lead to sepsis.

The NHS runs a yearly vaccination scheme targeted at first-year university students, as being around lots of new people and sharing living spaces with these people can increase the risk of contracting and spreading MenB bacteria. Hence, it's recommended that all first-year students receive their two doses of the vaccination before the autumn term, with the two doses at least 28 days apart.

As aforementioned, I had no idea of this when applying to university, and only found out when my sixth form's head teacher sent an email to all of the Year 13s informing us of this scheme (amongst some other important leavers' information), and explaining when it would be available, to whom, and how to book appointments.

If this is someone's first time hearing about this, don't worry, you can be prepared and immunised - if you wish! This vaccination is not mandatory; however, I think that this minor inconvenience for about two weeks in total is outweighed by the risks of meningitis. This is why I have decided to get it. I didn't know it was available until a few days ago because my friend got a notification through her NHS app - I didn't receive this notification, but after I realised it's likely because I hadn't fully completed setting it up. So I opened the app and was easily able to find where I can book to receive the vaccination. You're able to book appointments well in advance and with a variety of time slots (hopefully this is the same for everyone and not just my local GP), and so hopefully it should be a doddle for everyone else too! I believe the appointment should be about ten minutes, and hopefully very easy.

You can't have two appointments booked at once, and they say that if you attempt to attend a second appointment less than 28 days after the last, they will refuse you on the spot, so at least they're clear about when to book the next one. I had to wait a day before booking my next one as the NHS app wouldn't let me - I think the system still had me as having an upcoming appointment when it was the same day.

The appointment was very quick. I got there early, but they still just did it pretty much straightaway (other than the fact that the pharmacist had a prescription to sort first). It wasn't as bad as I thought; there was a lot of fear mongering online about how awful it was actually receiving the injection, which spiked my anxieties. I don't have a fear of needles; I think I just have a fear of the unknown, which causes me immense stress before new things, but I always know that these things aren't going to kill me, so I'll be okay. The worst part for me is that it was slightly longer than I remember other vaccines being, and I could feel the liquid moving into me from the point where the needle was in me, if that makes any sort of sense at all. It was kind of gross, but I'd rather feel gross for a maximum of ten seconds than get meningitis and possibly die.

I didn't feel much pain on the first day. After a while, it was slightly achy if I'd kept it still for a while, and I had very mini waves of minor nausea - though they could have been a placebo effect from me reading the side effect section of the information pamphlet. It was also extremely painful for me to lie fully on my vaccination side after a couple of hours. I think it's one of those things where it's different for everyone, though. My other two friends felt completely fine the first day, but I think the common side effect is that at least on the second day, your arm will be in pain. It wasn't like unbearable pain to where I could do nothing, but driving and changing gears was quite painful, and if anyone touched it, it would hurt quite a bit, but it wasn't awful. I also found that washing my hair and just having my arm raised even a bit made it hurt too. Day three was a majorly minor pain, but for me, it was just aching around where I'd had the vaccination. This was the easiest day; raising my arm didn't hurt at all, but it just sort of felt heavier in a way?

Anyways, enough of my blabbering. I think that anyone starting university this September should definitely get this vaccine. I know a lot of people have anxiety surrounding vaccinations as they don't really understand what goes into them, and there's a lot of fear-mongering online. I suggest that anyone with uncertainties speak to their pharmacist or do their own research online - this does not include listening to a loser with a podcast who has no experience in healthcare. Vaccines are so important to us as a society, yes we barely have any of these diseases anymore, but it's because of these vaccines that this has been able to happen. If people understood what the regulations and rules were for being able to introduce a vaccine to the UK, I think it would ease their anxieties.

Returning to volunteering

 In my opinion, I used to be quite an avid volunteer; I began volunteering at a local youth group when I was about 14 and doing my bronze Duke of Edinburgh. After finishing my GCSEs, I moved on to volunteering at a local Barnardo's charity shop, and eventually at a primary school which was sort of partnered with my sixth form. These were brilliant experiences, though I knew that these were things which were taking up time which I could use to be revising for my A-Levels or relaxing from revising for my A-Levels. I do think this was the best decision to make, but I really miss being able to help out places.

Thankfully, this week I was finally able to return to volunteering. Whilst I won't be returning to the primary school, not only are it the summer holidays, but I don't think a university schedule would be repetitive enough to commit to a specific classroom or time - and it's no longer exactly ideal to commute to. I have started a new volunteering experience though; this week, I signed up for my first ever beach clean!

For some reason, since towards the end of my A-Level exam season, I had a sort of craving for doing a beach clean, so when my college emailed me (well, not just me, I think everyone in my sixth form) a list of Durham Wildlife Trust volunteer events in the summer, which is where I saw there were three beach cleans happening in my town. Which I was majorly chuffed about. I signed up for all of them, with the first one being for this week and the next two being two days in a row for Marine Week, which is something I am excited to post about. 

I'll be honest when I say that when I woke up on the morning on the beach clean, I was kind of dreading it. I think it was because of the new experience and having to speak with unfamiliar people, as well as having to commit two hours to something (so far this summer I really haven't done much, so this was the most I had done for a while). I do find that I tend to feel anxious to the point of feeling ill when I know where I'm going is likely going to be entirely unfamiliar - this used to happen before every driving lesson, despite how lovely my instructor was. But I always pulled through and did them anyway, which I can applaud myself for, but I wish that it didn't happen at all in the first place.

Anywho, I had a parcel to drop off before heading there, so I decided to leave an hour early to account for any mishaps that could happen - such as the traffic going 5mph down my street with a queue of twenty cars behind it. Lucky me. Despite all of this, and struggling to park near the post office, and originally parking in the wrong car park for the beach clean, and struggling to park in a nearly empty car park, I still got there about half an hour early. Which was ideal, as so was everyone else! Everyone who was there (fellow volunteers and Durham Wildlife Trust members) was so welcoming and kind, which made everything so much easier for me.

The beach clean itself was actually really fun. I didn't really speak to anyone during the actual beach clean as we kind of separated out to ensure we covered as much of the beach as possible. It was actually much more fun - and much more physically challenging - than I thought. Despite only picking up smaller pieces of rubbish, I hadn't expected it to get so heavy as fast as it did! My arms aren't as strong as I'd like them to be, but I've been trying to consistently lift weights 3x a week to strengthen them (and my legs), so hopefully this has helped as a workout, as well as being a bit of cardio too (it was an extremely difficult access beach). Despite it being so hot and physically strenuous, I really enjoyed it! Obviously, it was so sad to see so much rubbish dumped on the gorgeous beach, but it felt rewarding to pick it all up and ensure that local wildlife are more protected. The most common rubbish I found was tangled fishing line and torn parts of carrier bags. The most random thing I found was an empty takeaway Tupperware box. We ended up getting a team photo - which I haven't seen yet, though I probably look a mess - and we collected 20 bags! It was an amazing achievement, and I really look forward to doing two more (thankfully easier beach cleans) next week. I hope it also eventually helps me find the confidence to do my own one, as it was actually quite relaxing to just walk in silence and pick things up.

My next volunteering venture is that I've finally returned to Barnardo's! I've been really excited as I like the manager - she's so nice - and it's nothing too difficult, but still rewarding and varying each time. I have opted to do two 2-hour shifts per week until I (hopefully) start my degree, after which I'll probably have to shorten it to one 2-hour shift a week. I like how I'm able to pick and choose whichever shift I like. It makes it so easy to fit it around my life, rather than committing to one shift, which I sometimes have to cancel. I hope returning to volunteering (and maybe eventually extending my shift hours) will make the shift into university easier, as it's not as though I spent my whole summer holidays being a loser.

My first day back wasn't incredibly hectic, though there was thankfully a lot to keep me busy. I was tasked with doing my favourite job: coding items. For some context, at least at my charity shop (not sure if it is the same for all charity shops), the price tags on the items have three "date" and "week" boxes. The shop I volunteer at only uses the date boxes, and the 'most recent' one is when that item is due to be taken off the shelves. Each item is on the shop floor for two weeks from the date it was sorted (if that makes sense?). Since we get so many bags and a lack of volunteers, it normally takes a few days or even weeks to get a chance to actually go through that bag. A little side note, I could be wrong in saying this, but I think if an item is close to the date of being off of the shelves, they're more lenient at attempts for people to haggle (I have seen a man try to haggle £5 shoes, I'm sure the managers/tillworkers will have no problem if you try to haggle in all honesty). Anywho, my favourite job within the charity shop is being able to go through a whole section of the shop and take items off the shelf which are at or past their 'expiry' date. This is an important part of the process as it not only allows for space for newer items, but it also gives us a chance to try to sell these items again, but at a lower price. Quite often, the items taken off go to a sort of hub, where charity shops which are low on a certain item (e.g. men's trousers) can be sent a bag from another shop to make up for the lack of stock. That previous statement could be wrong, but that's how I remember the manager telling me what happened last year.

It was a really good time; the two hours actually went over really quickly, and it was a great way to spend my day, as it gave me a reason to actually get out of bed! I can't wait to go again next week - I haven't had a chance to do my second shift this week, as I've moved it to tomorrow (Saturday), just for this week, since I have something to do this Friday. I hope this shows why I love volunteering there; the flexibility is so helpful.

My A-Level tips for incoming Year 12s and the new Year 13s

 Although college and sixth form don't resume until September, I've still had a couple of comments on my TikTok asking for advice on their A-Levels because they're doing one of the three I did (chemistry, maths, and physics). I feel like the advice I give everyone is the same generic advice, and I can only go into great depth for chemistry. For me, there was a lot of overlap between maths and physics (especially since both have mechanics as a topic).

So here I am, making a blog post as a place for my suggestions for each topic. I'll try to organise this efficiently and not repeat myself as much as possible, but no promises.

            Generic advice

I feel as though everyone hears the same advice, whether it be for GCSEs or for A-Levels, and they never take it, but they end up giving it towards the end. But trust me now, you should take this advice; you don't want to be me. Not that I've ever failed, but think of how much better I could have done had I taken my own advice.

For each of your subjects, you want to make sure you keep on top of your revision material and make things as you go. Flashcards, mind maps, flowcharts, summary sheets, keyword sheets - whatever works for you, do it. If you don't know what works for you, do all of it; just don't slack off and miss weeks' worth of work like I did. As long as you keep up with making resources, you're ahead. Then, maybe 15 minutes a day or for 2 hours at the end of the week, whatever works for you, use those resources. Do a set of flashcards, read your mind maps, and blurt as much as you remember (blurting was something I severely missed out on until Year 13; do it early). 

Then, for the Year 12s, use your summer wisely. Yes, you deserve your rest, but this is also a chance for you to build solid foundations for your Year 13 to make life easier for yourself. Doesn't have to be much; even an hour a day would be amazing. I really did next to nothing over the summer, but I regret not going over my flashcards every so often and completing all of the AS papers available (Physics&Maths tutor is great for this). Just make sure you fill in the gaps in your knowledge at the bare minimum. If you want to go above and beyond, work until you could recite topics in your sleep. Yes, Year 12 is hard, but for some subjects, it is nothing compared to Year 13.

A note for when you make notes (horrible phrasing, I know): I feel as though the Cornell note-taking method really does work. I struggled to do it as I only tried it in Year 13, but try it from the start of Year 12. Your notes don't have to be perfect, but I found from the few times I used the Cornell method that I really felt as though I was actively listening rather than just copying word for word. Which is another thing: you're not going to actively take things in by copying down directly from the PowerPoint. My trick is to read it and take reworded notes - summarising if you can would be good. I think the best way is to have some detailed notes during the lesson, then afterwards spend time making your flashcards, mind maps, and summarised notes (which is what you should mainly use, referring to your detailed notes if you need more guidance or if you're doing a topic you're weaker at).

Sorry if this advice doesn't apply to humanities; I haven't done any sort of humanities in 2 years; I'm too much of a STEM lover.

            Chemistry

Chemistry is by far my most favourite subject and the one that I am most confident in - well, maybe not anymore, but at one point it was. I, unfortunately, don't have any unique tips.

For organic chemistry mechanisms, I set aside about an hour a week (you will likely need less than this in Year 12 or if you write quicker than me) to go over my mechanisms using a 'wheel of choices' and a summary sheet. I would spin the wheel to randomly get a mechanism, then copy out an example with the conditions required (similar to blurting), and then would correct using my summary sheet. I found this was the most effective way to learn them, as by the end of Year 13, I could write out mechanisms off the top of my head (my conditions were a bit weak, but I only started doing that later when I remembered they were something you were tested on). I have them linked on my Linktree along with some other resources for anyone interested! I also have plans to make more resources.

The way I got more confident in chemistry was just by going through hundreds of worksheets - you can find some on ChemSheets, and whilst you do have to pay for it, you have access to their whole website of resources for two years, which I think is a good deal. I unfortunately did not do this as I didn't read it properly and thought it was a yearly thing until I spoke to this girl towards the end of Year 13, and she told me about it. By then, I didn't think there was much of a point in buying it and just asked my teachers whenever I wanted something.

            Maths

Maths was a subject I had a love-hate relationship with. Topics like the factor theorem and quadratics I loved, but I hated things such as integration by parts and by substitution.

I feel as though the generic tips apply here too. I really loved using TLMaths on YouTube as a way to help with my weak topics, as reading my examples didn't really help at all. My fault, though; my written work for maths compared to chemistry or physics was poor. The only thing I can really say is to practice as many questions as possible to become familiar with the method so it essentially becomes second nature.

If you do Edexcel like I did, I wouldn't bother with learning much of the Large Data Set - too much to know with so few marks on it. You are better off getting marks for the calculations. Though it is helpful to learn the basic units and such, there are summary sheets of it available online that you'll be able to find quite easily (I think there's a good one somewhere on Reddit?). 

The only thing I can think of that flashcards and blurting would be good for is the Large Data Set information, and equations you aren't given in the data booklet. The way I remembered some of the inverse trig identities was using 'Tans are sexy' (tan^2(x) + 1 = sec^2(x)) and "Cots are cosy" (cotan^2(x) + 1 =- cosec^2(x)). 

            Physics

I hated physics. With a passion. I really liked the subject itself, but considering how much I loved the subject at GCSE, I hated it at A-Level with a burning passion.

The only tips I really have are to be familiar with your definitions (unless it was just my teacher who drilled that into us) and ensure you know your stuff. In my opinion, I can see next to no overlap in many of the A-Level physics topics, and it was all nonsense to me. So be familiar with your stuff. I have a fully annotated data booklet linked on my Linktree, which I found really helped me, as there were a lot of reused symbols in completely different topics, so be familiar! That is the only advice I have.

I don't believe all of this advice is anything groundbreaking and more or less just reiterating what everyone else says online. I hope that it helps someone out there and motivates them to do better than I did or helps them feel more confident for the upcoming year.

Paris: The City of Love

 I was fortunate enough to spend Wednesday to Friday last week in Paris - and luckily for me, it was my first time ever experiencing 30+ degree heat where it actually feels like it and has no cooling breeze at all! Lucky me! (Sarcasm, for those unaware).

The first day was mostly travelling. I woke up at 4:30am after a horrible sleep due to someone's car alarm going off, and rather than them switching it off themselves, they let it ring until it stopped itself. How rude! So I had about five hours of sleep, but luckily didn't feel too horrible. I left just after 5:00am so my dad could pick up my two friends, hoping we would arrive at the station early - and lucky us, we got there half an hour early! It was easy to fill the time, though, spending time chatting whilst my friends grabbed a Costa coffee - unfortunately, I don't like coffee or Costa, so I got nothing - keep reading for more money-saving strategies. Despite wearing shorts, a vest, and a jacket, I wasn't too cold despite being in the north of England.

Catching the first train was a doddle. It was about three hours long and was easier than expected; we spent the time chatting and doing our makeup. We were sat at a table, and the train was expected to be full, though many people didn't end up getting on, including our seat-mate - unless they were sat at one of the many empty double seats rather than with us.

We reached London and, again, it was a doddle going from King's Cross to St Pancras for our connecting Eurostar to Paris. It was my first time going through some sort of security line, but not my first time through passport control. I went through a machine which scanned my passport and then my face, which I had never seen before. We had arrived at the waiting area very early (as you are told to do on the Eurostar website), and so we had a slowww wander through Duty Free (small aisles and slow people with suitcases will cause that). Once we were bored of sniffing the Duty Free perfume aisle, we found an empty area to stand in front of some doors which, luckily for us, were right where we needed to be, so we essentially got front of the queue.

Once we were finally able to board, we were some of the first on, with our suitcases overhead and all the room in the world at our table. Until we realised we were on the wrong carriage - thank you to the women who stared at us rather than asking us to move; we couldn't have done it without you. Our actual carriage was just one over; we had mixed up the platform and the carriage number (well, not me, I didn't have the tickets or know what was on them). The only problem I had with the new carriage was that I had to use the luggage rack, which set off my paranoia, and there was a woman who insisted on standing in the middle of the aisle rather than sitting in the seat. Very odd. She had to move out of the way every few minutes so people could get to the toilet or to the food carriage. I don't really know why she thought it was a good idea.

It was so weird that our train from London to Paris was much quicker than our train from near where I live to London (about 2.5 hours compared to just over 3 hours), and we weren't in the tunnel for nearly as long as I thought; most of the time was spent above ground. My friends and I thought the French countryside was very similar to the English countryside. Despite how smooth the track was, I somehow got travel sick. I normally never get travel sick on trains, but for some reason today was the day I was to be travel sick. Lucky me.

When we arrived in Paris, it was absolutely boiling. I hadn't realised the train was beautifully air-conditioned, as when I got off the train, it was a crisp 30 degrees with no wind. Wow. And my friends still wanted us to walk over an hour to our hotel? I can't believe I'm friends with psychopaths. That walk was genuinely the most difficult of my life. Hauling my suitcase over the uneven streets was really testing my patience, and my friends thought it was funny when I was annoyed that my suitcase fell over. Like, yes, I'm annoyed my suitcase fell over, along with my bag and jacket on top, getting them dirty from the sandy path - why was the path sandy? We're nowhere near a beach!

Arriving at the hotel was bliss, although there was no lift and so I had to carry my suitcase up the stairs. I didn't care too much as I was too excited to be able to lie down on a bed - and the hotel was also air-conditioned, with further air-conditioning available in my room. Thank the lord! We all enjoyed the bliss of lying down on a nice cold bed for a few moments before putting our nice dresses on to go out.

We were rushed to head to the Eiffel Tower as we had booked to go up it, and you had to be about half an hour early. Though it didn't really matter as we were still there on time, and they didn't care. I was so grateful that my friends booked the lift up, as I don't think I would have survived the stairs. We had a little look around the whole way, took some cute photos, and then I sat for a while whilst they browsed the shops.

We spent about two hours up the top, and the peak was so pretty. I was only really scared of the lifts as they kind of had a rollercoaster vibe to me. We then headed back to the Trocadero (across the river from the Eiffel Tower with a nice view of it) to take some more pictures of us; it was so fun! My favourite part of my night was heading to a restaurant near our hotel to have a meal. I had the most gorgeous mince, onions, fried egg, and chips. I couldn't finish it because I had about a million chips, but my god, it was the most gorgeous meal I've ever had.

It was bliss getting back to the hotel and having a quick shower to wash the day's sweat off of myself before getting into my nice cold bed. Despite the pain I had during the beginning of day one, I had an amazing day.

Day two started well as I was able to have a lie-in until 8:00am, getting ready to leave for 9:00am (ish...). This was the only day when we actually spent the whole day in Paris, the first and last days were travel days, though we still spent a majority of those days in Paris. We headed towards the Louvre and some gardens which are in front of it, following the Seine. We also took loads of photos of each other on the way because we're whimsical like that. It was quite a tiring walk as, similar to yesterday (though I forgot to mention), the cold drinks we would buy would stay cold for about 10-15 minutes before becoming lukewarm due to how hot it was; it was very frustrating!

I was quite tired on the walk there, but thankfully got to take a couple of breaks. We didn't go into the Louvre, as you had to book very far in advance according to my friends, but it was still a cool building to look at. I hadn't realised that the big glass triangle was kind of in the middle of a courtyard, surrounded by these really gorgeous buildings, which were also part of the museum. No wonder my friend spent a whole day going around the Louvre; it must be massive!

We then headed towards a cute cafe - La Palette, I believe? It was apparently 'famous' on TikTok for their iced coffee or something; I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but they made the most unreal ham and fried eggs. I thoroughly enjoyed it! We also took this opportunity to steal lots of their tap water, since our drinks were quite warm by then. It was similar to drinking hot chocolate with a poor chocolate flavour.

Our next destination was the Shakespeare Bookshop, which I didn't realise there was one in Paris! There was a smaller bookshop, a cafe, and then the larger, main bookshop. My friends wanted to go in to buy one of their cute tote bags, and I really regret not buying one, though I suppose I could find one on Vinted. There was a huge queue for the main bookshop, though, so we had a browse through the smaller one and the cafe before joining the queue (in hopes of finding a nice tote), but we eventually just decided to go in. I was happy at how fast the queue was moving. Obviously, most of the books were in French, and so I didn't buy any, but it was nice to have a browse. One of my favourite parts of going into a bookshop is looking at the variety of covers out there. I know people say to not judge a book by its cover, but it's something that I enjoy.

From there, we headed towards the Notre Dame - we were devastated to find at the front of the queue that we had to cover our shoulders, so we had to go find a local shop to find a shawl or something. We fortunately found a cute shop with a variety of scarves, and I got a blue one with a floral pattern - my friends and I all got matching ones, with the only difference being the colour. They were 9 euros each, which I thought was a bargain! When we rejoined the queue, we were able to quickly make it to the front again, though there was still a long walk to the front of the door. It was only long because they had the barriers snaked towards the entrance. If there were no barriers, it would have been a very quick trip.

Inside Notre Dame was quite nice; I thought it was quite similar to Durham Cathedral (from what I can remember from it), and I think that York Minster is a better-looking building - just in my opinion. I thought it was more impressive, and it was also less cramped when I went. Notre Dame was still a beautiful building with some impressive artwork, but some of the other tourists were quite annoying as they would just randomly stop walking - though a lot of places are like that nowadays! 

By this point, my legs and feet were in agony, and so I was a little bit grouchy due to that and the heat, and so I was excited to finally be walking back to the hotel - although it took us about an hour, as we took detours to some places my friends wanted to see. Though we had a chance to rest on the field in front of the Eiffel Tower whilst my friends recorded some TikToks and took photos, it was a nice rest. I think it was in front of a military school, but it was such a gorgeous building; I couldn't imagine learning there! I've been to the military college in Harrogate, and the Parisian building was much more impressive in my opinion - though a lot of the architecture in Paris was just absolutely gorgeous.

I was pleased to get back to the hotel and have a quick shower to freshen up, before changing back into my dress so we could head to our Seine River tour. It was to last about an hour, and we had paid to get free crepes from one of the stands on the Trocadero afterwards. The river cruise was so nice and relaxing. It was seated, and so I got a lovely view of Paris - it was crazy to see how far I had walked in the day! Then the cruise went slightly further than that too, so it was nice to see some new places. The cruise was also commented on, so it was nice to hear some of the history of the places - there were a couple of buildings which inspired the White House in the USA! We also saw the smallest house in Paris, which was 2m wide; it was so cute compared to the ones next to it! It was also cute how many people were waving to the boat. I just had to wave back!

From there, it was just time for us to grab our crepes and head to a spot to take some cute photos whilst the Eiffel Tower sparkled. We had five minutes, and when it started, some people budged in next to us, knocking one of my unopened cans over, so I had to (embarrassingly) run onto the road to retrieve it, meaning my photos were rushed and poor, though my photos from behind were so cute! I did have a good time seeing it, as photos aren't everything, and I still have photos to commemorate it.

Once it was over, we finally headed back to our hotel at about midnight to have our final sleep in Paris.

By far one of the most difficult days for me was day three.

It started off alright; the day before, a muscle in my thigh was in agony, but a good night's rest had recovered it - though that muscle pain may have been a lighter sentence than the heat I was going to be experiencing for the rest of the day. We woke up at 8:00 again to leave for about 9:30, to account for packing, though I was prepped and packed most of my stuff the day before, meaning I had an easy morning compared to my friends. We had a very filling breakfast (well, I did), as I practically ransacked the buffet breakfast for all that it had.

Checking out was a doddle. We were familiar with the guy who worked mornings, and he was very kind, allowing us to store our suitcases with him until much later in the day. Our first stop of the day was Carette. If you were like me and hadn't heard of it before, it is a famous cafe in Paris, and if you try to arrive past 10:00am, you have to practically fight for seats. I believe it's most known on TikTok for its hot chocolate, which you receive in a little teapot type of thing and a big heap of whipped cream, which is what my friends wanted to go for. We didn't have to wait in a queue to get in, thankfully, as we were happy to sit inside.

In my opinion, the menu was lacking, but I think that's because, for some reason, Paris made me have an insatiable craving for fried eggs, so I settled on a Paris ham sandwich from the finger sandwich selection. Now, I was expecting this to be small, so I thought I would maybe get two or three. No, you pay 4.80 euros for one little sandwich wrapped like a stick of lard (shown in the photo). Was it nice? Yes. But was it delicious? Not really. I would say it was a standard sandwich, though my mam makes much better ham sandwiches. This isn't so much a slight to Carette; their fancy bakery items looked delicious, but I was cursed with being a picky eater, so I can't imagine I would have liked the actual flavour of any of them, though I wish I would have.

We spent quite a while in there, as it was nice and cool compared to outside, but we had more plans for the day.

Our first stop was Brandy Melville, which was about a fifteen minute walk from where we were, and on the way, we looked down a street and saw a couple of groups taking photos, which my friends recognised as a gatekept photo opp on TikTok - I promise my friends aren't chronically online, they just did more research than I did (I did none, I trusted them entirely). So we did the typical thing for our group and immediately took the opportunity to wait for a spot to take photos. Everyone was respectful of each other's spaces as we were all divas, and we took some cute photos. We also saw the third wedding photoshoot of our time there; I can't imagine how hot all those brides-to-be must be in those dresses! Although they were very pretty.

When we got to Brandy Melville, we nearly walked past entirely because there's not really any obvious signage for the one we went to (not the infamous one with the fat-shaming door), and it was quite nice inside, though poorly organised. A lot of the display items were on the opposite end of the shop to where you could actually pick up the item to buy. Though this didn't bother me too much, as I love to have a mooch, more of a little annoyance to whoever decided to organise the shop that way. I ended up buying two t-shirts - one with just 'Paris' and another with a labelled drawing of Japan - and a pair of polka dot shorts that are extremely soft and comfortable. This, unfortunately, cost me about 59 euros (ouch), but I just used some of the money my parents gave me.

Our next stop after this was the Arc de Triomphe, which was in the complete opposite direction, so we decided to drop off our Brandy Melville bags with our suitcases on the way, which the receptionist didn't mind, thankfully! It was a much shorter walk than I thought it would be, though it still felt sweltering hot; it was much more manageable after I was able to steal more ice from the hotel ice machine (an absolute godsend). Before planning this trip, I had no idea that you could actually go inside the Arc de Triomphe, let alone stand on top of it. I was worried the trip up would be worse than going up York Minster, but when I did it, it was actually quite easy. The railing was reliable, and the steps were insanely close together and uneven. There were also multiple floors, one floor being a museum, the second being a secondary museum telling the story of the creation of the Arc de Triomphe with a little gift shop, and a few stairs up from there was the top.

The view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe was beautiful; the way the roads all seemed to span away from the central roundabout (if you could even call it that; I don't even think the people who lived there knew how to use it) and a view of the Eiffel Tower from afar. It was nice having a slow walk around, and eventually just standing and watching everyone attempt to use the 'roundabout ', which had no markings, but should have been like six lanes, with people randomly stopping to let people on and randomly swerving in front of each other. It was beautiful, and a great reminder of how I will never do a driving trip in mainland Europe, despite how fun a Europe road trip sounds!

I think going back down the stairs was the worst part, as the way down was (from what I remember) mostly one continuous staircase, though I was constantly tired, dehydrated, hungry, and overheated in Paris, so I'm relying on photos for this blog.

The walk back to the hotel was painful, but knowing that I'd have access to more ice at the hotel and the thought of being closer to going home motivated me. This was not the most tiring part of my day, though.

We collected our stuff and headed to the Metro station, as the last part of our day was to go to Montmartre. I had never heard of it, but my friend wanted to see the Moulin Rouge windmill and the Sacré-Cœur, so I thought, easy, it will be mostly flat like the rest of Paris! I was so wrong.

Our problems started in the Metro station; not only were there no lifts, so we had to carry our luggage up and down the stairs, but we bought just one ticket and paid for the three of us together as it was 2 euros per ticket printed, but then it would only let us scan once. We only realised after letting one of our friends through. So my other friend and I had to crawl under the barriers like criminals whilst we watched the Metro leave us all behind. Which was fine because about two minutes after sitting down, the next Metro showed up. It was really nice inside; it had lights on the map, off to show we'd been, blinking to show the next/current stop, and on to show it's an upcoming stop. This was perfect for us as we had no idea where we were otherwise. It was a super quick journey compared to walking. It took about fifteen minutes to get to our stop rather than the almost two-hour walk (according to my friends).

The Moulin Rouge windmill was waiting for us when we emerged from the Metro, and I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. But it wasn't for me; it was for my friend, so I didn't really care. After this was when the real pain started. There were numerous steep hills on the way up, which had us tired from lugging our suitcases around (I should mention that by this point, I had moved my Brandy Melville stuff into my handbag and binned the bag from the shop). But this wasn't the worst part. My psychopathic friends had planned for us to walk up numerous flights of stairs - with our suitcases - to the Sacré-Cœur. I did the best I could to get myself up those stairs by lifting my suitcase onto my shoulder and walking up all in one, as if I stopped, I would have blocked everyone else, and I doubted my ability to persevere after stopping; but I managed to do it! When we got to the top, I will be honest and say I was not impressed. All of that work for a subpar view and a building we weren't even going into.

From there I thought: well, at least we're only about forty minutes from the station! But this was forty minutes from hell.

All of us were hungry, and the area where our hotel was was abundant in restaurants and cafes, but where we were was likely where more Parisians actually lived, and it was mostly bars, which my friends refused to eat in. We eventually found a cute little bakery, but they only had sweet food I liked, though I did fancy a savoury meal. I got over it as I just wanted some food, and I got a chocolate chip brioche and a pain au chocolat. I ate the brioche there; it was absolutely unreal and gorgeous. Then I had the pain au chocolat on the train; by then it was quite squashed; it was nice but was too sweet for me in that moment. So an overall like 9/10. They also had cold water I could buy, as by then, the water I did have was heated up. It was a lovely bakery to chill in after walking up all of those stairs, and then also having to prevent my suitcase from sliding down the long, steep hills before we'd have to go to the station.

There's not much for me to say past this point; we walked to the station for what felt like hours, got to where we needed to be, waited what felt like forever to go through passport control, and then to security, before finally making it to the waiting room. We nearly caught the wrong train; thank god it was just that the train before us was delayed by forty minutes! How unlucky! Could never be us! And it wasn't. Because our train was delayed forty-five minutes. I rang my mam after finding out, and told her about it with tears in my eyes. I was so tired and overheated that I just wanted to go home. On top of that, we had to pay to reschedule our connecting train as it meant we would have missed it. Thank god we didn't go for the last train of the day, or else we would have been stranded in London.

I was so grateful when we got on the train; it was lovely and air-conditioned, and we sat in the right seats this time. I couldn't really sleep because of how the chairs were, and I felt nothing but travel sick, which made me awful for the rest of the way. I was so hungry, but nothing at the cafe called to me, as it wasn't just like plain bread or something. 

We got our connecting train at just after 23:00. I was slightly cold but was more concerned about how starving I was; I couldn't wait for the cafe to open. I was so pleased to see they served bacon sandwiches all day. I ate it slowly to not cause myself to vomit, but it was so delicious, and it filled me sufficiently that I could go to sleep. I think I slept for most of the train journey, as my friends had a lot more energy than I did somehow, so I, again, don't have much to say other than I arrived home at about 2:00am and went to sleep by 3:30am.

I had a great time in Paris with my friends, and I definitely don't regret going; I just wish I had been more prepared for that sort of heat, though I would definitely recommend that anyone thinking of going does go! It was my third time going abroad (still never been on a plane!) and I hope to continue to go abroad and experience more cultures in the future. I learnt that the Eurostar goes to more than just Paris, so I'm seriously considering going on a solo trip to Amsterdam for my birthday, or inviting my friends to come with me or something.

My banana DNA extraction disaster

This morning I had a frustrating experiment which, thanks to my amazing luck, failed! Well, it wasn't so much my luck as it was my poor planning.

I followed the steps outlined by "Ask A Biologist" to complete a DNA extraction using a banana. Materials required were a ripe banana, hot water, salt, dish soap, a plastic bag, very cold isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, a coffee filter, a narrow glass, and a wooden stirrer. My first few problems arose when I realised I, in fact, did not have rubbing alcohol, and so substituted vodka! I would later learn this was my first of many mistakes - more details on that later.

A beautiful photo of my materials all gathered together.

Unfortunately for you all, I'm no biologist; I haven't done a lick of biology in the last two years, until today! So I will try my best to explain to you all the purpose of each of these materials.

• The banana is present to, obviously, have the DNA extracted from it. The method specified a ripe banana, and I immediately thought, "Why, what difference does it make?" From skimming this interesting essay, I found that ripened fruit produces many more DNA strands than under-ripe and over-ripe fruit. Under-ripe fruit doesn't produce sufficient juice after mashing, whereas over-ripe fruit produces a lot of juice, but a lot of the DNA has decomposed by this point.
• Dish soap is an anionic surfactant (essentially a negatively charged compound which loves water), which causes cells to lyse (pop). The cell membrane (outer part of a cell) is made of lipids (fat), which dish soap is effective at breaking down, meaning the membrane breaks down and the outsides spill out.
• Salt allows the DNA to clump together, making it more visible. DNA naturally has a negative charge, which is why it's so soluble in water, but this means that the positive sodium ions in salt are very attracted to it (think how opposing magnet poles are attracted to each other). This neutralises the charge of the DNA, meaning it more easily becomes a precipitate (solid) in alcohol.
• Ice-cold isopropyl alcohol is used because although DNA is soluble in water, it's insoluble in ice-cold isopropyl alcohol, meaning it can be viewed in a separate layer from the water,

I followed the steps outlined on the website to a tee, with only a few minor accidents.

As you can see, I began by beautifully mashing my banana and making my salt water, only spilling half of it onto the kitchen counter rather than all of it.

They were then mixed together by yours truly, like a true lab professional. Before adding the dish soap, and certainly not spilling it all over the place, despite having the scooper hovering inside the bag.

a photo of the aftermath of
adding the banana solution and
dish soap

My next step was the treacherous goal of adding this concoction to a narrow glass through filter paper.

The first time failed (unsurprisingly). I hadn't thought about securing the filter paper to the glass, and it immediately fell through. Thankfully, this was swiftly fixed ("Phew," you all say in unison), as I quickly went upstairs and used a hair bobble of a colour I would never consider wearing - perfect for a DNA experiment. 

before

after

(No one knows how much I struggled to put these

  even somewhat side-by-side)

These next steps severely tested my patience - waiting for the banana solution to fill even an inch of the glass was truly boring (I definitely didn't use this time to get dressed for the day). I also will not mention the first attempt to do this, where I tried to mash the mush up, and instead put a hole in the coffee filter, causing it all to fall into the glass. I also will not mention I spilt half of it when trying to pour the remaining contents from the bag into the glass.

What you all don't know can't hurt you.

After waiting the painstakingly long time for the solution to separate, it was time for the exciting stage - adding the vodka. Despite my excitement, I made sure to tilt the glass and slowly add it. Nothing. I waited a bit, tried a bit slower. Nothing. After all my pain and suffering (20 minutes of my time), it had failed. Unfortunately, I have no evidence for this failure as I poured the solution down the sink in anger. It was 9:00am and I, for some reason, was as tired as a mother of newborn triplets, which only amplified my annoyance.

My genius thought that, since I didn't have rubbing alcohol, I could use vodka because they're both alcohols - I was very wrong about that. What I didn't know was that vodka is only about 40% alcohol, with the rest being water. Since DNA is soluble in water, this meant that the DNA would just dissolve in it, and they also wouldn't form separate layers. What I also hadn't considered - and what should have been painfully obvious as a former A-Level chemistry student - is that the vodka is mostly water! From what I've seen, the vodka I used contains ethanol, which, if you need reassurance, means it does not contain isopropyl alcohol (or at least not at the concentration required for this experiment). This means that if I had wanted to use ethanol, I would have had to use pure ethanol, rather than the highly dilute vodka ethanol.

Not only was my poor planning a failure, but by the time I added my water to the mushed banana, it had cooled down to a colder temperature, when it was meant to be quite warm. Allegedly, 'science' backs the fact that warm water helps dish soap break down fatty-lipid membranes, but who believes in that 'science' rubbish? Certainly not me...

Despite all my jokes throughout this post, I did find this valuable. I now understand the importance of not slacking and just substituting materials you don't currently have, as it can affect the whole reaction. I'm sure that the next time I repeat this experiment, I will have splurged in buying isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), I really am investing big money into this blog.

A peek into life as a pharmacy student (Partners Academic Summer School 2026)

For all of those unaware, the Partners Academic Summer School (abbreviated to PASS) is run by Newcastle University as part of a few conditions to receive a reduced offer to study there. This is only for a few courses and under specific circumstances; for example, being first-generation (direct relatives didn't go to university), your home postcode, and the secondary school you attended. I was fortunate enough to qualify for this programme and receive a heavily reduced offer! This is an amazing programme that I would definitely recommend signing up for if you're interested in studying at Newcastle. With the only requirements for the reduced offer being meeting the qualifying requirements and attending a week-long summer school (half online, half in-person), it's a no-brainer!
I opted to take part in some of the optional induction-week live sessions, which helped build my confidence for turning up to the summer school the week after. However, nothing could prepare me for the hell that was my first day. 

my wonderful brekkie

    Sunday - induction day
I was part of the people who were in-person Sunday-Tuesday and in-person Wednesday-Friday; I was thoroughly disappointed when I tried to buy tickets a few days in advance, as the trains were cancelled for Friday (thankfully not the Monday or Tuesday). This meant that my journey time would almost double, and made things much more awkward as the buses from my town to Newcastle are few and far between. I thankfully found a time that worked for me, despite meaning I would have to leave at 10:40 and arrive home at approximately 20:00, as the sessions were 13:00-16:00 and 16:30-17:30. I thought, surely the first session will be filled with things to do! I later found out I was sorely mistaken.

My day begins with panic as I rush to park near the bus stop, as I feared I would not arrive within my half-an-hour-early window. Thankfully, I was ten minutes early for that. But that begs the question - how do I fill my forty minutes before the bus arrives? I opted to walk to the McDonald's that was nearby and order a bacon & egg McMuffin - as always, delicious.

After finishing my second breakfast of the day, I waited for the bus for approximately fifteen minutes. I got on, with my only hassle being that I had to have a staring competition with a child blocking the staircase until his mother scolded him, reminding him he was not allowed to sit upstairs. I was grateful to get a seat. A backwards seat. Although I am incredibly prone to travel sickness, I was sure I'd be fine! I'd taken a travel sickness pill AND had my travel wristbands on; they always work!

For the half an hour along the motorway, they did work. With the cool breeze flowing into the bus to cool me down, and my water to quench my thirst whenever I pleased, I was fine. Until the bus had to drive on a proper road rather than a motorway. Bumpy. Sweaty. Boiling. A few words to describe how the journey was before I felt ill. I didn't want to move seats to maintain my image to the other passengers as someone who doesn't jump between sitting next to other passengers. But fortunately, my desire to maintain my image to the other passengers as someone who doesn't spew from travel sickness overcame me.
I moved to a forward-facing seat, somewhat hyperventilating and downing my water to rid myself of the sick feeling, until I decided that a stop was close enough to my destination that I could get off and get some fresh air. Thankfully, the bus stop was one with a bench, and a lovely couple asked if I was okay. Bless them; I hope they're well. Their suitcase fell over on the bus and slid halfway down the aisle. But this was not the only problem - I was one hour and forty minutes early. I was still slightly ill, so I didn't want to sit in a cafe to do work, so I went to find the PASS student ambassadors (I don't think that's their correct title, whoops) and ask for any recommendations on where to work - I was recommended Newcastle University's Student Union (NUSU) Wetherspoons.

This was my next mistake. I spent possibly my whole time there trying to connect to any sort of wifi, but none of it would work for some reason, and so I did not manage to complete any of the training for my new Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) role that I was planning on doing. I admitted defeat by the time it was 12:55 and headed for my registration.

I queued for about ten minutes max (perks of having a W surname). I received my lanyard, a beautiful blue, and was, for some reason, down as having accommodation? There was a morning and an afternoon session that day, with the morning being for people local to the area. Which confused me, as, typically, I would just get a thirty-minute train; I would have considered that local, but apparently not. I also hadn't completed the form, so, wow, way to assume (joking - that was very kind of them to consider me regardless). It must have been easy to solve, as they just said they would remove 'my' room key from the pile, thank goodness, as otherwise I would have had four wasted train tickets and one outfit for the three days. From there, I received two £7 food vouchers for anywhere on-site, though places run by the Student Union unfortunately didn't count, and was able to write my name & pronouns onto a card on my lanyard. This was all super fun. Until I found out there was nothing to do between my receiving the induction resources and the induction assembly. Three and a half hours, when I was somewhere I could not connect to the wifi to do any of the work I planned to do.

Thankfully, I had some friends nearby in a local Wetherspoons that I chilled with before heading to the assembly, so thank god for them! I don't really have anything to say about the assembly in all honesty, other than the fact that walking in kind of felt like a free-for-all.

       Monday - day one

Day one started off well; my mam was kind enough to put my hair into a French braid - since having short hair my whole life up until the age of about 15, it's not a skill I ever learned; thankfully, she does it for me - however, my anxiety was spiking as she got about halfway through and then decided she had to redo it. In hindsight, it's obvious that my anxieties are ridiculous, as I always give myself way more time than necessary to get there; I just love being early to things. As the saying goes, "Better to be early than late."For once, the train arrived on time, and so I didn't have to wait too long, much better than getting the bus that makes me ill! I always wonder how I get travel sick on a bus, but never when I drive or when I travel on the train. Very odd. Anywho, I was quite productive on the way there; I completed some of my RVS training. It was mostly reading, and I kept getting distracted by other passengers' conversations. I should have put my headphones on, but I am far too nosy.

Once I arrived in Newcastle, I practically raced to the Greggs at the bottom of Northumberland, thinking it had tables and chairs to work at, stupidly walking past the Greggs that does have tables and chairs in it. Hence my bringing my laptop and getting to Newcastle over an hour early to get some work done and have my breakfast was pointless - well, not the breakfast part; that was delicious as always. So I admitted defeat (still forgetting about the Greggs right near the station that would have been ideal) and headed towards the Newcastle University campus and sat near the Boiler House to have my breakfast and hot chocolate in silence.

After waiting for about an hour, it was finally about half an hour before my session, so I felt this was more than ample time to get to my session. Finding the building was easy as pie thanks to Google Maps, and since I was early, I decided I would use the toilet. However, the signs were idiot-proof, and so I completely walked past the toilets the first time, thinking they were some sort of storage room. This is where I bumped into another pharmacy student, with both of us being confused as to where to go. I had priorities, so I used the toilet. By the time I came out, there were more of us, and so we were brave enough to wander upstairs (it definitely wasn't that practically all of us had missed the signs by the entrance telling us where the different rooms are). We all headed upstairs and found seats, completely away from each other! True friendship!

I did make some friends with the girls who sat with me whilst we sat through the introductory session, though we were sadly quickly separated as I was placed in a separate group to them. The introductory session is also where I learnt that the timetable we were shared in advance was a lie. That was an equivocation (GCSE Macbeth coming through for that word); it was just somewhat different because we were in different groups. I was one of the lucky ones to where the sessions ended at 12:00 and I didn't have any sessions until 14:30. Which meant I had a two and a half hour lunch.

The first session of the morning was on the history of pharmacy as a profession, what to expect at the summer school, the importance of signing the register, what it was like to be a pharmacist, the importance of signing the register, and researching the asthma case study. It wasn't very productive for me, but I had fun making friends! 

We then had an hour-long lecture straight afterwards about the pharmacology of asthma. Which is where my nightmares came true - the whole summer school was going to be biology-based. This was not a problem for anyone I was sitting with, but for me, it was like they were speaking Mandarin. They were using words I had never heard of before, which I felt like I should have known, as everyone else was just nodding along like they were basic terms. Silly biology bashers... how dare they do a subject that is extremely helpful for any healthcare career... don't they know chemistry is the only requirement?... I kid, I kid. It's my fault for waiting too long to have the realisation that I wanted to do pharmacy, so I couldn't change any of my subjects to biology. I did speak to a lecturer on the last day, and he just said they would reteach it, but I'd have much more to do outside of lectures and seminars than other people. My goal for this summer is to learn some basic biology so that I can make September-me a bit happier. If I get the grades required...

Thankfully for me, the second lecture finished thirty-five minutes earlier than scheduled, which meant I had time to get a head start on my online modules! I decided to go to the city library. Unfortunately, when I got there, it was overrun by primary school children, so after quickly using the toilet, I skedaddled back to the university site. Thank the lord for the Partners Help Desk, as someone gave me a recommendation for where to go - the Walton Medical Library. I needed to be in the medical school for my next two sessions anyway, so it was ideal. I bumped into my friends on the way there. They must have thought I was so cool, working over lunch! I'd tried to go to the Walton Medical Library during an open evening, but was confused by the very easy signage. Thankfully, this time there were even more signs - presumably for the Partners Summer School! Unfortunately, I embarrassed myself. I tried to walk in after a girl, thinking she pressed a button, but was quickly humbled by her and a member of the library staff. They were both very kind about it, but it was extremely embarrassing to me!

I stuck to the group study (I can't remember the exact name) part of the library; it was really nice there! Not many people, so it was relatively quiet; not that it mattered, as I had my noise-cancelling headphones on, and I sat in a cute little nook thing to get my work done. It allowed me to eat my packed lunch and begin working on a cell biology video. It took me the whole time I was there to do it because of how many unfamiliar words there were - GCSE biology was only helping so much!

At about 13:55, I decided to head off for my session as I had no idea where I was going, and the medical school was like a maze to me. Thankfully, there was a reception where I could ask where to go. Unfortunately, I was still confused, and when I came back to ask for help, there was no one at reception. Fortunately for me, I spotted two girls and asked them if they were in the pharmacy strand - yes - and if they knew where they were going - also yes! Unfortunately, it took us (and another girl who followed along) about 10 minutes to find where we were going, but we still got there early and were, thankfully, in the right place! When some other girls arrived, I started chatting with them whilst we waited for the session to start. One of the girls asked where I was from as I was the first person she heard with a northern accent - insane by the way - and she had also never heard of the saying, "Shy bairns get nowt." For some reason, I thought this was a phrase used nationwide. Every day's a school day, though.

I haven't yet mentioned what the session was, but it was my dreaded SimMan session. For those unfamiliar with those horrific machines, it's a (actually really cool) robot who basically simulates a patient - he can talk, cough, urinate, has a pulse, is oddly warm, parts of him can change colour (e.g. lips turning blue), he blinks, and he can die. I was first introduced to these at a Sunderland University open day in Year 12; I was immediately horrified, especially due to my PTSD (not actually) from a puppet in Year 2 (story for another day).

my fab drawing of part of the body
from a mannequin thing

The session was split into three groups - a group getting an insight into working with the dreaded SimMan, a group looking at the anatomy of the lungs & looking through BNFs (British National Formulary, basically a dictionary for all possible medications), and a group measuring their peak flow & breath rate, comparing it to before and after completing five minutes of light exercise. As a quick rundown, one girl in my group was arrested for not asking for consent to use an inhaler on the SimMan having an asthma attack, another overdosed him on salbutamol, I didn't even end up drawing a picture of the lungs, and I could barely do five minutes of light exercise. It was a lot of fun, and we finished early again! The pharmacy team currently has a great track record in my book.

My last session of the day was a lecture in a lecture theatre on Pharmacy as a Career. The lecturer was Dr Anna Robinson, and wow, was her work history interesting! She'd worked in so many different pharmacy sectors and shared some sectors I had never really considered were job roles in themselves. For example, media pharmacists- I knew there were pharmacy conferences, but I had always assumed they were a volunteer-based thing! I also didn't know about there being pharmacists within army barracks, which makes sense, but what shocked me was that they are sort of like reserve officers, so still have to pass the basic fitness tests and stuff like that. My boyfriend is in the army, so I joked I would join so I could follow him around on his 'tours' (I can't think of the proper word, woops); he was not a fan!

This session was insanely informative, and finished early yet again! Which gave me time to rush to the station and be half an hour early for my train, yay me! Monday was one of my favourite days in all honesty; the large break between my morning and afternoon sessions allowed me to see where I could be in two months doing my revision for my course. It really piqued my excitement!

I can't believe how insanely long this blog post is, and I've only written about 2/6 days (not that the online days have much to say about them).

       Tuesday - day two

This was quite possibly the toughest of the three in-person days. Both mentally and, unfortunately, physically later on.

The day started as the previous day did: me worried I was going to be late! Which, as I have said before, is ridiculous, as I am chronically early. I can't remember the last time I was late for something, in all honesty. I did not bring my laptop on this day, as the day before, my back was in agony from carrying it around, so I travelled much lighter on this day. Which I immediately regretted. 

Walking from the station was when I realised that, quite literally, a five-minute walk up from it was the Greggs I was picturing. With indoor seating available. I was so annoyed at myself. I was there over an hour early (darn me and my need to buy tickets in advance). I still sat inside with my breakfast, but instead planned where I would meet my friend for lunch, since I would be coming from the medical school and she would be coming from the law school. This could have been much more productive had I brought my laptop. But what do I value more: a pain-free back or a productive morning? It was the productive morning. I regretted it so much; I could have finished much more of my RVS training or even more of my modules! Darn Monday-evening-me and my want to not have a painful back!

Once I'd finished my breakfast and drunk as much of my hot chocolate as I could bear - I can't stand the last third of hot chocolates, just feels full of dregs to me - I headed off back to campus, where I sat the day before. Well, that was my plan until I got anxious thinking I was going to be late, so I headed straight for the medical school. After arriving half an hour early and almost entering a Backrooms-esque room, I found the lab, and the lecturer had just turned up! And she told me I was only allowed in at 9:00! Damn. Unlucky. Oh well! I just kind of awkwardly stood and waited. I'd expected it would take me much longer to find, like the SimMan room, but at least this lab had the proper labelling and was obvious about where I needed to go. Thankfully, some other girls turned up early, allowing me to chat with them for a bit - this summer school really helped with my communication skills; I feel as though they've been lacking. I think my goal for this summer is going to be feeling more confident when communicating. I'm hoping to start two new volunteer roles and return to an old one, so hopefully that should help.

I managed to stick with one of the girls I had met when entering the lab, and a girl from my group in the SimMan session joined us too! They were really nice and easy to talk to; I felt as though I was able to have a laugh with them and make it enjoyable. Especially since I did not understand anything. The lecturer did an amazing job explaining respiration and the different lung volumes, but for some reason it did not transfer over to the respiratory practical. It was fun to do, but inputting the data was frustrating to me as it felt like I was going in circles trying to figure out how to calculate the expected values of lung volumes, writing the reasons why it was, and then also trying to pick the correct points on the graphs that corresponded to the different data values. 

We ended up getting a whole section wrong because, for some reason, the system wasn't picking up the massive exhales the girl was doing (we had to pick a girl in our group to breathe into the machine). I wish I could elaborate more, but it would feel wrong as I myself had no clue - just Google spirometry experiment if you're interested, as I think that should go to the right sort of page. Thankfully, we were let off for our wrong data and allowed to leave half an hour early! Not as early as some groups, but early nonetheless, as this practical was really draining me mentally. Just some personal morning things that made me quite miserable, irritable and impatient (I'm already a bit like that too, so it was just amplified). Although I was eager to leave, the spirometry practical was actually interesting and helped me get a good view of what sort of computer systems I could be using this coming September, and how a lab session could go. Hopefully my lab sessions in September will be more successful than this!

After this, I had my hour-and-a-half lunch (very beautiful) and felt blessed to have a ladybird land on me! I just really wanted to share because I've never felt so special and chosen in my life... It also made me feel better after having the same fly land on my hand about fifty times, which freaked me out quite a lot.

My last session of the in-person summer school was a computational session. I wasn't sure what to expect from this; I thought maybe processing data from our lab session, but we had done this in the session. I was obviously wrong, and we spent the time being introduced to ChemDraw! Well, we used MolDraw, but the lecturer explained to us what ChemDraw was; my favourite thing that I learned from this is that you can draw out a molecule, and then use a feature to search suppliers which will make this, and you can buy it from them! That was a very rudimentary explanation, but I thought it was cool! I think it's used during, like, research projects? I wish I had noted this down in more detail, as I feel as though I can only vaguely remember! 

That session lasted for about an hour before another lecturer came in, and we completed some interactive activities on diffusion & osmosis, action potential, preparing a smear slide, and Gram stain. I, unfortunately, did not finish these at the time as I spent a lot of the time trying to figure out what words meant and gossiping, as a lot of the words being used were from A-Level biology, and the girls I was with could only help me so much. But in trying to Google what words meant, I just ended up going down a rabbit hole as the definitions would include more words which I had never seen before. I was able to finish this at home, but I would have rather finished it in the session because it would have been more convenient for me. I still felt as though I learnt a lot or was recapped on some GCSE biology concepts.

The exciting part of this day was that the original timetable that we were sent in advance said that we would finish at 17:00, which is what I continued to believe. However, I had missed the fact that the new timetable said that we finished at 16:00 and a message had been sent into the Partners WhatsApp group chat. I felt so blessed. I quickly rearranged my train ticket to 16:40 - I was so eager to go home early! The last hour was planned to be a wrap-up session, but we finished about forty-five minutes earlier. Thank you to everyone who didn't have questions during the Q&A portion, which meant I had time to do something I had only briefly considered: look through Forbidden Planet. 

My boyfriend and I had plans to see Supergirl together on Friday evening, but he decided to go and get a highly contagious skin infection, so he's been isolating. Therefore, I planned to buy the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic from Forbidden Planet, but (as you will know if you read my blog post on Friday) I ended up buying three comics and finishing one on the train home - Superman: Red Son. I go a bit more into detail about it in my blog, but it was so good, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an easy, fun read! I'm still yet to read the Supergirl comic, but plan to do it soon and am super excited. Unfortunately for me, though, whilst I was walking to the station, I slipped off the kerb (didn't even fall over), and knackered my left ankle to where I had to hobble to the station. Genuinely no idea what I did there, but it made me feel like an attention seeker.

When I got home, I was so happy to be able to lie in bed and just prepare for my upcoming online sessions.

Wednesday to Friday - the online days

In all honesty, I don't have much to say about the online portion of the summer school. I completed the employability and the higher education modules the week before, as pharmacy didn't have an Ask the Experts live, so we either had to join another subject's live or watch the recording from last year. I chose to watch last year's and fill in the reflection form; I would say it was just as useful, as any questions I had were being asked by the people from last year.

The only problem I really had with the sessions was that there was so much biology for a course which doesn't require you to have done biology. This, in my opinion, made some of the multiple-choice questions much harder. I do understand that biology is just as much a part of pharmacy as chemistry is and that it's a very common science subject to take to do pharmacy; however, Newcastle University does not require you to do it to do pharmacy, so I was surprised at the fact that practically everything required you to have at least some understanding of A-Level biology. A lot of the words and concepts were unfamiliar to me - I know some parts of the course were unfamiliar to A-Level biology students too, but it felt like an even bigger gap to me. I am still grateful to have attended the summer school, as it has really motivated me more to try and learn some A-Level biology before starting in September. This is something I had considered doing before, but wasn't really sure, as I thought I would 'just catch up in September', but I think I'd like to give myself a bit more of a chance to understand new concepts when I start my degree.

I'll be honest when I say I think that's everything I have to say about my experience at the Partners Academic Summer School! I had a really amazing time despite my complaints about biology. I feel much more confident in understanding how university actually works - before, I had no idea how lectures, seminars, or lab sessions worked. I met some amazing people while I was there, and hopefully they'll be people I'll be able to be friends with in September.