Unfaithful

For two weeks now, I have stayed faithful to my computer. My hard drive died on January 29th 2010, may it rest in peace. Although I have since bought a new hard drive, my computer still lies lifeless and cold. It amazes me that despite enquiring on both sides of the atlantic, my quest for a windows cd is no closer to being completed. All good things one day come to an end, sometimes prematurely. My dear Dell will just have to come to terms with the fact that it no longer has exclusive claims on The Reflector...

Not having a functioning computer in my room has opened my eyes to how dependent we are on computers. I can hardly imagine life as a university student without computers, despite it being reality only one generation ago. The amount of time I all of a sudden find on my hands is also rather alarming. Without my computer I actually have time to do other things; like reading and talking to people - imagine.

Although there is no doubt that I would have liked to have my computer up and running in time for the live streams of the olympics, which begin this week-end - friends come to the rescue, as they always do. This next week no less than four of my american friends are coming to London, one of whom will come bearing a mac. Without getting onto the subject of macs, lets just content ourselves with the fact that the olympics will be greatly appreciated - Holbein House, Evelyn Gardens being no exchoeption...

fresher citations and other geeky tendencies

For the second year running I am a fresher. No, I didn't fail my freshman year in the States, but I am officially a dropout; a fact I somehow failed to tell my new university - Imperial College. Once again I am living the highs and the lows of the fresher experience, although the fact that I've already "been there, and done that" and that I am older than everyone else; I am purposefully experiencing a bit less than some of my fellow classmates. During my freshman year in the States I had to go through the painstaking ordeal of learning how to make citations in different formats under the perfectionistic, eagle-like Dr Leatherman. Now, at Imperial College in London, I have discovered the joys of Endnote. Endnote is a lifesaver, a grade-saver at the very least. It automatically imports sources from online journals, saves them in databases, and exports them to Microsoft Word in the format of you choice, amazing. Though my second freshman year may be more challenging in some ways, wrestling with citations will be the least of my worries.

Alright, so I guess it is about time I admitted that I am a geek. As I was sitting in lab today drawing this molecule (and enjoying it) I realised that most people probably wouldn't be fascinated by chemdraw to the extent that I was. Now, having said that, I wasn't exactly jumbing up and down in my seat, but I did enjoy it none the less. Also, I must make it entirely clear that I am far from being among the worst. Since I began studying at Imperial College I have seen my fair share of science geeks. After all, a university of 13000 undergraduates, which only offers degrees in science, technology and medicine, is bound to have an unusually high proportion of nutcases. In fact one might argue that the atmosphere resembles that of the TV-show Eureka. Once again, I feel the need to reassure both myself and my readers that I do not follow Eureka, however hard you might find that to believe. The reason why I decided to write about this in the first place is that I tend to distance myself from the average geek. Usually I am annoyed by people who are overly fascinated by a subject to the extent that they are unable not to talk about it. Please don't misunderstand, I still do find this annoying. I still find myself shaking my head at some of my fellow students' questions and topics of conversation; not to mention "extracurricular activities." Yet my fascination with Chemdraw was a wake up call nonetheless. To some extent I guess I am a geek; I am OK with that. Yet despite this I must be careful, lest my personality should slip and slide - just like my accent.

it's really happening....

Today I wrote instructions for my successor, cleared my desk and said my goodbyes - I am officially finished teaching!! For now. Finishing teaching is the beginning of moving on. Leaving the safe and sound to challenge the world. Two days from now I'll be sitting on a plane bound for Munich. Somehow or other I'll have to get from the airport to some place out in the middle of who knows where, in Austria. Finally my basic German skills will be put to the test. From there I fly to London, where I'll be moving in to my new room, with my new room mate, at my new university; it's really happening.

Although teaching has been OK, and despite the fact that I feel I've actually made a contribution to the lives of people I care about, being finished is a relief. Now I can just lie back and enjoy my last few days in Norway. Change is good. Change is exciting. Change is happening right here, right now. Adventure is important. If you don't have much excitement in your life I challenge you; I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and live once in a while.