NYU London
Moving from Singapore to London to begin my first year of university was not as big of a transition for me as it was for others, seeing as I had moved from Missouri to Singapore at age sixteen. The rush of independence and emotional distress of being separated from your parents for the first time in your life was 'old news' to me by that point. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it – this left me with much more time to focus on the present and future upon moving to London. A lot of that focus has led me here.
When I first applied to university, I was undecided in my course. I knew I wanted to be in London, but it took a semester of social sciences for me to realize that I am more interested in how things work physically rather than metaphysically. As I refined my search for a different course, I was able to uncover connections between the soft and hard sciences. In the four months after I moved to London I attended thirteen public lectures at local universities. I explored Imperial Lates and listened to professionals speak on International Science in a post-Brexit Britain. With computing students from King’s I learned about dark matter and the applications of data and technology in finance. At UCL I attended events on AI in Society and quantum computing, but also capitalized on the affiliate membership my university provides to join UCL’s Engineering and AI societies. This allowed me to meet people in the fields I’m interested in, and answered some of my questions as well as inspired new ones. Currently, I am using online resources to self-study AP Chemistry and Calculus BC. I find the structured curriculum conducive for independent learning and have attached throughout this post a lot of the notes I take and the resources I follow for anyone that is interested. I also contacted the professor of Organic Chemistry at NYU, and although I couldn’t officially enroll in her module, attended her lectures all semester, and plan to do the same in the next.
Don't worry, in addition to all of this I have made some wonderful friends in London, and taken plenty of time to have fun and explore the city. Look out for new posts along the lines of "Insider Guide: London", "How to Survive in London on Seven Pounds a Day", "The Best Cappuccino in London", and "An Ultimate Review of London's Night Scene".
