Diary of Lisa Jing Yao, Overseas student,
Year 2, MChem course

I used to be the person who knows everything in college. But a year later I found myself sitting in a big lecture room with over 100 other students, and I thought I was the stupidest person in the crowd.

My supervisor is the person who always ensures me when I am in doubt…a good listener, who gives pertinent suggestions on my decisions, and who I consider to be a wonderful teacher, a smart scientist, and also, a true friend. Although sometimes, I make mistakes, he always has confidence in me…with his encouragement, I grew up from an immature fresher, who felt nervous before exams and experiments, who even was hesitate to ask questions, to a confident young scientist, who insisted to pursue my dream in Chemistry. He told me, 'Exams are not everything, Lisa'.

And this is York chemistry department.

"Get lost in the DH Block"

The DH Block is the modern block where the staff 'live'. And it is easy to get lost amongst the corridors, not only because of the complicated structure of the beautiful building, but also the modern labs in there. We are totally attracted by the bright white colour of the labs alongside the corridors, the staff and postgraduate students who work in there, like we were placed in the film "CSI"…13 June, 2008 can easily get lost.

This was the first time we met Dr Andrew Parsons, and it was the first time we had a tutorial in DH Block.

The other three people in my tutorial group, who were also the first few friends I made in the department, are in the same college as me. They are very happy people. I felt so relaxed with them and there was no time to be homesick. So when my mum realised that I didn't miss home at all, but kept talking about how welcoming the British students were, …she felt quite jealous.

An hour later, all my ideas about what a tutorial would be like was turned upside down. We played a hangman game with chemical terms; we refreshed our background knowledge, and all of my queries were answered. There were questions about Nobel Prizes, life-related background knowledge about the topic, and the whole discussion was great fun! This is your chance to communicate face to face with the lecturer, figure out any difficulties you have on a topic, and also, gain a wide range of knowledge and skills which are not covered in lectures, through the process of researching in the library in order to prepare for the tutorial homework. The one-hour tutorial is one of the most enjoyable missions every week.

As we finished our tutorial in the DH block, and walked out passing the same labs and corridors as we came in, the complicated mechanisms of organic chemistry became vivid and colourful, and much simpler…but not mysterious anymore. Neither is the DH block. I hope I will some day work in the modern labs. And this day may as well not be so far away.

"Always think, by yourself"

Forrest Gump said, "Life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." In the chemistry department, the lectures are like a box of chocolates. Every lecture could be a surprise; every lecturer has their own way to convert chemistry learning into your life-time experience.

Besides the scientific knowledge, you never know what you may get in the lecture: A bar of chocolate, a bottle of champagne, an academic book, or a new way of thinking.

Last week, Professor John Holman made a funky long balloon using ammonia in his lecture. It wriggles up to the ceiling. The next day he shoots a Jelly Baby high up into the sky, with a sweet smell spread in the air. The mini vintage train was running across the lecture room, and Professor Holman suddenly became a smiling magician in "Harry Potter" in my imagination. Dr Parsons sings a song in his lecture…a song about mechanisms. All the lectures are impressively humorous and interesting! The York chemistry department has the strongest team of teaching staff.

And today, Dr. Seishi started a new topic on 'statistical thermodynamic chemistry'. If you thought it was all about reciting the equations and rules, you would be totally wrong.

'Don't just recite the equations without thinking or understanding. A scientist is always in doubt. Don't just follow the rumour.' He said, "Ask why."

Every week new scientific journals are being published, but what we study now may not be the true story.

"So always think, by yourself".

I know that lots of my friends do the same thing as I did. We wrote this sentence on the first page of our note book… Always think, by yourself.

'Chemistry lab is sexy'

Two days a week are the lab-days… I love our teaching lab. It is huge and bright, with lots of windows, and interesting noises from the fume hoods and experiments all around.

Our experiments are well-organised and life-related, with the use of latest technology and apparatus, which enable us to have a taste of research. By either working alone, in pairs or in groups, we are trained to work as a team, and to negotiate when different opinions arise between team members. If in doubt, demonstrators (who are in blue lab coats) are always there to help.

Last term we did interesting experiments like analysing the compositions of Horlicks and milk powder, by mimicking the human digestive system in reaction vessels. A crime analysis experiment involved careful analysis of different samples of blood, water and soil. With the aim of finding out the criminal among the suspects, the project was really challenging and stimulating.

Usually, the experiments require us to plan our time, in order to work most efficiently. For instance, while waiting for a distillation step to finish, the preparation and setting up of the apparatus for the next step is progressing. We write a plan before each experiment and a suitable lunch break is set by ourselves according to our plan.

By 'warming up' in the first year practical course, we get more familiar and more confident with the lab-work in the second year. The experiment we did today involves NMR, which requires lots of accuracy, patience and skills in computational analysis.

We worked all day until the lab closed in the late afternoon. I took off the stained lab coat, the safety glasses and rubber gloves, locked our locker, felt physically very tired, but excited in mind. We are looking forward to a good result tomorrow…as a nice end to the practical course in our second academic year.

'Lisa is a scientist'

My last-year flatmate Samantha, who is also one of my best friends in York, turned 21 today. She said she was officially old from now on.

Samantha is a sweet girl. She is the British girl who cooks better Chinese food than me. She is the friend who makes an appointment with the GP for me when I felt sick. She is the person, who hugs me firmly when I felt lonely, and is the beautiful lady who sits in the kitchen, with curly hair, and teaches me the three different ways of making scrambled egg.

In the evening I went to the weekly meeting of my voluntary society 'St John Ambulance', where I was trained as a qualified First Aider. Tonight we were given a brief presentation on the topic of drugs. The topics are quite familiar since we had covered most of the drugs in the 'medicinal chemistry' optional module last term. I couldn't help to point out the mistakes made in the presentation. This is very annoying for both the person who made the PowerPoint, and also me, because,… 'Lisa is a scientist'!

'York'

Just like my hometown Nan Jing, York is a lovely historic city. On the train from Heathrow to York the views are breathtaking. The sky is so low as it appears closer to the ground than in China. All the darker clouds are on the edge of the far land and the clouds above your head are all clear and bright.

After spending four years living and studying in a foreign country, miles away from my family, I am always ready to face any difficulties. I wouldn't turn for help to my parents, as I always did in China, because they couldn't help me any more. They would just become worried, or even more worried than me. I don't want them to be worried like that.

Luckily, in the university, I have met many good people who I can trust and rely on, who kindly offer a helping hand whenever and wherever I need it, who make me feel at home and never left alone. Besides the academic excellence, wonderful views, and wide range of student activities, it is the people here that make the University of York so special.