Looking back at first year: Term-3 (Part-1)

Hi! Welcome back to another blog! This one is the third and final part (or so I thought it was going to be!) of my series of reflections on my first year of university here at Warwick. Now that you know everything that happened in the first two terms, it’s time to move on to the best one of them all- Term 3.

To start off my reflection on the amazingly eventful Term-3 let’s pick up once again from where we left- The Easter break. Straight after the end of the design sprint, we broke off for our Easter break. We were delighted to find out that this break was slightly (a week) longer than the Christmas break! This meant more time to relax, enjoy, and have fun with family and friends… and also study for our final exams which I was clearly looking very forward to 🙄. I ended up having a great time during the break as I once again went back to Cardiff to my uncle’s house. I had loads of fun binge-watching movies and shows, playing games, listening to cringe old Bollywood music, and climbing more mountains! We also visited many beautiful beaches and went on long drives with my cousin’s friends. I also got a chance to explore Cardiff’s city centre and the shopping centres inside it. I also got a chance to go to the Post office and spent some days there, first observing my uncle (who is the postmaster) work and then trying my hand at the system as well! Amongst all of this, I managed to study a bit for my exams in the last few weeks. Finally, after 5 weeks, as much as I didn’t want to, it was time for me to go back to Uni 😞.

Oh also, during the break, the holy month of Ramadan observed by Muslims had begun. For those of you that don’t know, in this month, Muslims all over the world observe fasts from Sunrise till Sunset. That’s about 16 hours without eating or drinking anything while doing good deeds is encouraged. I was lucky to have the first 20 days of Ramadan fall during the easter break and then spent the last 10 days on campus. From breaking fasts, eating food, and praying together to studying for exams, staying up all night, and going out for late-night walks, those 10 days on campus, spent with my friends at the Islamic Society, were some of the best days of my first year. After Ramadan was over, we spent Eid, the festival to mark the end of Ramadan, together by praying in the morning and then going to the War Memorial Park in Coventry. There, spent a great time chilling in the park, eating food, and playing football and cricket. After all the festivities were over, it was time for me to get back into my studies because the exams were only 2 weeks away! We had our 2nd design sprint of the year which was a group project in which we had to design and create a bed-wetting alarm. Basically, a water sensor that triggers a loud alarm when it detects water. This proved to be harder than it sounds like and after a lot of difficulties and prototypes we finally settled in on our final idea. I was lucky to have a really good group as everyone was hardworking and showed initiative. On the final testing day, we came in with a device that worked a few times when we tested it but still were unsure whether it would work on the final test. Alas! Our fears came true when it just didn’t work. We were the only group out of all of the others whose sensor didn’t work 😢. We were all so disheartened because all of our hard work didn’t bear any fruit. However, our 3 weeks of dedicated toil didn’t go to waste as we found out that our group managed to get a really good score! (Missed a first by just 1 mark!) The project leader said in the feedback that this was due to our detailed research and innovative design process for our device. That right there made me learn that sometimes the process is more important than the outcome. What you see in the end is only the tip of the iceberg. Take notes freshers! You’re definitely gonna need these! 😄

Alright, so I’ve just realised that this blog is turning out to be really long and I’ve just started telling you all about everything that happened in Term 3! As much as I can’t wait to tell you all of it, I do acknowledge the fact that you’re going to be bored reading such long chunky paragraphs all at once. So, I’ve decided that ill split this reflection of term 3 into 2 parts. You’ve just finished reading the first one, so hey! Thanks for reading it! You’re already half done! I’ll make sure not to let you wait long as I will upload the next part of this very soon! Until then, thanks for reading and feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below!