Student Debt

I've been thinking about finances again, mostly because I strangely enjoy sorting them out. Maybe I was an accountant in a past life, or it's just because I enjoy maths.

There's an advert for a popular bank (the one I used to work for actually) that irritates me so much. Some young people are jumping on a sofa and reel off about how "it's so great that they give you an overdraft, I was in my overdraft by the third week, hurr hurr hurr I'm so silly." Literally every student bank account gives you an overdraft, it's nothing to write home about. Don't infantilise a whole group of people.

But anyway, a friend of mine was fretting about his student finance application recently. He was trying to work out how much he needed to live on and therefore how much maintenance loan he needed to apply for. So I said "why not just apply for the full amount? You probably won't end up paying it back anyway." It's the same reason that I chose to start third year again from the beginning rather than just coming back for January exams. I wouldn't have been able to attend lectures or redo coursework, just for the sake of saving an extra £3000 on my student loan. Seeing as this degree will cost me over £40,000 in loans anyway, what difference would that make?

The fact is that a student loan is going to be the cheapest long-term debt I'll ever have. Since it'll just take some from my earnings, I'll probably forget it's even there.

I really would recommend students just starting to work a part time job. I wish I had earlier on, but it baffles me how people can go into their overdraft so quickly. Sure, I'm pretty small and not materialistic, but some people were living on houmus and buying new clothes for goodness sake Because I make enough money working to cover my living costs right now, the maintenance loan I'll get this year will go straight into savings.

Money isn't supposed to make you happy and all that, but it's got to help...? Maybe I really am turning into an adult, if the prospect of financial security gets my blood pumping.

Apologies for the rambling post, but it's exam season and I'm procrastinating!

Limpet x

Doing a Physics

It's been a bit radio silence over here, hasn't it? Well that's because life is good! I am busy and have been doing a physics!

Pile of textbooks and lecture notes just to prove to you guys that I actually do work sometimes. On top is my Crystalline Solids course which is technically quantum chemistry and is really weird.

I've recently finished the group work section of my dissertation module. "Group work, in a dissertation!?" I hear you cry. Well yes, that's my thought on the matter too. In a proper subject like physics, no less. The thing is, we have to prove that we're capable of working with others. For physicists that can be a bit of a challenge (most of the stereotypes are true). Rather than letting us just get on with our dissertation they thought this module has to be the one with teamwork thrown in.

First we had to rank a list of topics based on preference, then get put into a group of four and split up the topic to write an abstract and do a presentation on it, before writing a proper dissertation by ourselves. For example, I was in the group for 'semiconductor nanowires'; researched 'the applications of semiconductor nanowires' in the abstract and presentation; and will write my own dissertation on 'nanowire photonics.' So I guess it's good in that you start off with a big topic and narrow it down to something you're interested in.

While writing the abstract was fine, the presentation was terrifying. I made the mistake of working the night before when I had to get into uni at 8am, so I was trying to educate my pub regulars on the growth of nanolasers to make myself a bit more confident. Growing lasers that are in the scale of 10⁻⁹ metres is pretty damn cool to me, but turns out it's super hard to explain a scale that small to people. Each individual nanowire can have the ends cleaved off to function as a teeny tiny laser cavity. I can't wait for them to actually make these.

An array of ZnO nanowires, which can be made less than 100nm in diameter (ie. fitting 10 trillion wires into a square cm). This is what I love about physics: at one end you've got the impossibly small, and at the other you have the vast incomprehensible expanse of the universe.

These zinc oxide nanowires in the photo above are actually used on some solar panels that are getting really, really efficient. Nanotechnology could be the future! My individual dissertation is going to be the photonics applications (photonics=photons=light=lasers and LEDs and optical fibres and stuff) so I get to delve even further into the crazy things nanowires can do.

But anyway, the presentation turned out going really well. I knew all my stuff and answered some complicated questions and they seemed impressed with us. My boyfriend was such a rock throughout the whole thing and me getting stressed and antsy about talking in front of people. He bought me coronation chicken sandwich fillers to munch when it was all over and drove me there early and told me "I'm so proud of you, little one". That's often all I need to get through something, just to know that someone is proud of me and rooting for me to succeed. 

Getting back into physics has been so great. It's what I'm meant to do in my life; I've been feeling productive and useful and it's lovely.

Just give me a few years and you'll be talking to a proper physicist!

Limpet x

Goal 9: Go Back to University

Today's the day! Today I go back to university! It's been a very long 9 months and I feel like a completely different person. I've had so much life experience since then, and illnesses both physical and mental have matured me a lot as a person. I haven't become cynical, of course not, but I know what the real world is like now. Things are serious, and I'm ready to do what it takes to get my degree and my dream physicist career afterwards.

Love yourself, you can do it! Don't give up!

Limpet x