The New Term

Ho ho ho. I’m back! Sorry for people who have been religiously checking these pages for the wait (yeah, right, like I have more than a few regular visitors). It had been quite busy, but the strange thing is, I felt kinda happy. Maybe it’s because I can see myself finishing the laborious heat exchanger design project that I’ve been working on, or maybe because I basically have the whole of June free to do whatever I want, or maybe I have just now realised what a closed-knit and friendly department I have, which is evident from the fact that I can go to almost everybody and start a discussion about the project. Whatever the reason, it’s probably a good thing since it makes me not too stressed on the upcoming exam.

We, as in the chemical engineers, have a two-week term after the Easter break. Some people, like the mathmos or the medics, practically don’t have anything left that they have to attend. Not that it’s so bad for us. Half of our lectures this term are actually soft skills talk, in which the department invited people from different companies to give talks about things like team building, leadership, interview skills and the like. It was kinda fun. One of them asked us for an example in which we have lead a team to achieve a desired goal, and somebody answered ‘Championship Manager’. Another asked about instances in which we are involved in a team. “What about study groups?” he asked. We looked at each other for a few seconds and laughed.

A funny thing happened today. I met a friend from the department on my way to Sainsbury’s (I don’t think he remembers my name, so he called me ‘smiler’, which is a nick that he and his other friend came out with, though I really don’t think I smiled that much). We were browsing the food in Sainsbury’s when another friend called me on my mobile asking about the heat exchanger project. Since my friend who’s with me was more ahead in the project, I let him answer it. We must look pretty weird being in a supermarket passing a phone back and forth talking about pipes and flows. Then again, I suppose it’s not very weird in Cambridge. The elderly people you passed on the street might turn out to be famous fellows or professors, you never know.

Yaz