Some surprising news

It's that time of year again - exam results day. After obtaining an average of about 74% for my first semester, I didn't really expect to be able to improve on that. I was pleasantly surprised:

Electricity, Magnetism and Waves (20 credits) - 82%

Mathematical Methods for Physicists 2 (10 credits) - 80%

Computational Methods for Problem Solving - 89%

Planets and Exoplanets - 86%

Experimental Physics 2 - 76%

I don't really know what to make of them, but they do bring my average up to 78.3%.

When I managed to get into Cardiff University, I really didn't ever see myself getting above a 2:1, and I doubt anyone else did because my A level results were pretty average for a Physics course. I was genuinely worried about not being able to stay on the Masters course (55% average and above). I suppose it just shows what is possible when you set your mind to it.

APOD never fails to amaze me.

Maybe I can do this whole Physics thing after all...

I am ridiculously happy with my exam results. Just for anyone who is interested, here they are:

Mechanics and Matter (20 credits) - 72%
Mathematical Methods for Physicists 1 (10 credits) - 66%
Mathematical Practise for Physical Sciences (10 credits) - 87%
The Universe from Particles to Galaxies (10 credits) - 85%
Experimental Physics (10 credits) - 62%. 

I'm still surprised by my lab mark, as I really did find it a challenge. However I must leave, as it's time to go (back) to the Taf (pub).

I can't wait for Astrofest tomorrow :)

The UCAS post.

15/08/12 

19:24pm For anyone who hasn't really read my previous posts, I shall give you the "low down" on my UCAS situation.

My intentions are to study Astrophysics (MPhys) at Cardiff University, and to do this I will need AAB (including Maths and Physics). My other subject, which should provide me with an A, is Electronics. My insurance offer is for the same course at Leeds University, therefore it has the same entry requirements. This makes it a very bad back up plan, but I shall manage. So, whilst I wait for midnight, I am going to watch the Sky at Night :)

22:49pm Arghsj\hfjakkcjsakjhjsalknzvhdaijL. My friend, Sophie, came over for a bit. This calmed my nerves a lot,  but now she has left I feel lost. I have out some food on as I feel sick (doesn't really make sense) and have started drinking copious amounts of tea. The only good thing is that the clearing vacancies go live in just over an hour. I want to check to see if there are still places on my course, as that will make me feel better. There were places available through clearing last year, so I am hoping it'll be this year.

23:26pm NOT EVEN TIRED. I'm currently wide awake, dancing to Spice Girls and drinking Sunny D. What is life. I might watch Dirty Dancing. 

23:37pm Just went on UCAS. I love this image, it's so precise :) 

23:46pm There are no words (click the image).

16/08/12

00:02am I am currently refreshing UCAS a lot. It's good practise for today really. It's already been a minute and UCAS hasn't updated. This is really annoying and now Spotify is talking about results. I cannot cope.

00:05am FINALLY.

00:07am This is a good start! It surprised me last year how many vacancies were available for Physics.

00:09am There are also lots of vacancies at my ideal university and on the course I want. Life is good. I'm assuming this list means they are available. 

00:56am I'm surprisingly sleepy. I am actually going to try and sleep. This will probably fail miserably and I will more than likely be back on here moaning within an hour. If I do sleep, I will have the "I HAVE FAILED EVERYTHING" nightmare and wake up in tears. That is one traumatic dream. Goodnight (for now) and good luck.

06:19am I don't think I have really slept. It was very on/off as my stomach is in knots. I feel so ill, this is horrific. I don't think I have ever been more nervous for anything before. It's scary that everything I have been working for,  over these past 2 years, comes down to a couple of letters on a web page today. Then these silly letters decide on whether or not I get to live the dream, at Cardiff university in September. I'm so nervous I could cry. I am also ridiculously tired. I would also like to sleep for a very long time, but I know I won't be able to until I know what I am doing. I might wander to the shop for a copy of the telegraph. I need to waste some time. 

07:20am As predicted, I cannot access my results. Bilborough College, I hate you. Let me on pretty please. 

I don't really hate you, I just need my results.

07:40am That was fast. Right. I'll let you see my results first.

So overall, thats A*A*BB in Electronics, EPQ, Physics and Maths (I think). Now...for UCAS track.

I'm off to Cardiff University.

Goodbye July, hello future.

It's August tomorrow and I am really starting to worry about it. Although, if I am honest, I have probably been worrying about it since September. Not even the Olympics can distract me from thinking about results day. I might have to just remove my calendar for a bit, or go in to hibernation (I just googled it, hmm). I'm not sure what would be less drastic.

ps, Bilborough College, I WANT MY PINK SHIRT BACK. Either that or my £60 deposit. Pretty please.

I need a distraction. Desperately.

Currently, the only thing I can think about is results day. The amount of time that I spend thinking about it is probably unhealthy, but I just can't help myself. I have tried really hard to keep myself busy, but I just don't have enough to do. I only work 2/3 times a week and I obviously don't have any specific "work" to do. 

Therefore, boredom always brings my brain back on to the subject of results day. I hate waiting. I just want to know what I am doing in September, even if it is staying in Nottingham for another year. Although, I really hope it doesn't come down to that (but it probably will). 

To try and distract myself, I am going to research Physics books to read - in case I actually get in - and go through my OU module again. I didn't really learn much before, so I am going to try and learn more this time. Wish me luck.

My dogs were being slightly cute earlier, so I took pictures. This is what boredom is reducing me to. The white one is Rocky, and the other is Ruby.

Estoy en casa

¡Hola amigos.

I don't really have much to write about, seeing as I am a very dull person. However, I have just returned from Spain and it really highlighted certain language barriers. 

For example, in the hotel we stayed in, there was only one other group of people who has English as their first language. Yet that did not stop any interactions between myself and other hotel guests. The main languages I could pick out were Spanish, German and French. 

The main point, which I am poorly communicating, is that all of our conversations (excluding hello, goodbye and thank you) were in English. I do not believe that I am alone in this. As a country, our basic grasp on other European languages is poor. This point was emphasised when I couldn't understand a cry for help, from a young child, coming from the pool. Some poor unsupervised child was struggling, and it took for his head to start dipping below the water, for me to notice what was going on. I did help him, but I felt bad for not getting there sooner. Luckily. he was okay.

Therefore, I have decided that I will make an effort to improve my language skills, before visiting another foreign country. I do intend to go on holiday with some of my friends next year, so at least I have plenty of time. 

ps, why was the Higgs announcement in Comic Sans, I'm still laughing about it now.

pps, my results day is exactly a month today. I genuinely feel sick with nerves. This month is going to be a long one.

Where does my time go?

I really do want to become a regular blogger, but I find it so hard to fit into my life. It's so busy! In between college, work and my poor attempt at maintaining a social life, I just don't get the time. 

First of all, so I can get it out of the way and never discuss it again - exam results. They were unfortunately rather poor and I definitely need better if I want to get AAB and go to Cardiff. I was hoping for better than ABCD, but there is nothing I can do now, other than resit and promise myself they'll go better this time. This way of thinking is the only way I can get through the next few manic months. I would like to emphasise manic, because I only have 2 months and 9 days officially left at college! This terrifies me.

Secondly, I still haven't discussed how great Astrofest was (what is the world coming to?!). I met Sir Patrick Moore, Brian May and many more. I bumped into John Timmons (Peak2Valley instruments) and couldn't resist chatting with Pete Lawrence. The day was almost as good as the Peak Star Party, but not quite. The conference aspects were fascinating. I really enjoyed the talk by Lucie Green about the current projects observing the Sun. Also, I feel like I have to mention Simon Singh passing a high voltage through a pickle, it was a strange event to witness. It was brilliant. 

This was a really special moment for me, I didn't know what to say to Patrick Moore. It's the quietest I have been in a very long time. Also, to the lovely person that took this picture for me (whoever you are), thank you so much. 

Who is that guy in the background? He appears to be posing for this photo also. 

Talking of astronomy and all things related, I have been taking a few pictures lately. They're nothing special and they've been taken with a very normal and boring digital camera. I do enjoy my Moon pictures though, my Physics teachers thought they were quite good too. 

 This is the (badly, hence the sky looks navy blue) edited photo I took in my back garden. I thought the plane (left of the image) looked cool. Orion looked beautiful that night.  

 Using the afocal imaging technique, I took this with my Samsung ES65 through my 130mm Skywatcher Newtonian reflector. Not bad for my first attempt at the technique. 

 This is just a zoomed and cropped version of the above image. I want to name the craters, but I am having serious issues trying to locate them on my rubbish Moon map. I like the detail highlighted by this phase of the Moon and I will take a few more as the phase changes. 

This is sadly my view of Venus. It doesn't photograph well with my camera or look very nice in my telescope. 

It took me a few shots to image Jupiter. I was quite impressed (even if the image isn't visually pleasing) with my efforts. I think it's the fact that I, with very little knowledge of cameras, can take a picture of something so far away.  

I love this image. It's not even particularly good, I just like how interesting the Moon looks. Just above my neighbour's house (the house on the left) you can see Mars! My poor camera even managed to pick out a few stars in the constellation on Leo. 

 During my ISS stalking phase (that will resume again in April), I took this of the darkest location within 1 mile of my house. It was a poor night for viewing the ISS because of all the clouds. It caused the Moon to look green in my image also. 

For now, that will be enough of my astro imaging attempts. However I'm not done with pictures for this blog post. 

I feel like I should discuss something which has recently taken over all of my life - my Electronics project. I currently spend about half of my total time in college in C3.1 and it is getting on my nerves. My project is some weird audio game thing that has taken me a very long time to build, which is surprising considering how small it is. It is finally finished!

 The finished masterpiece. I think I spent too long trying to make the wires look neat. 

This is an oscilloscope captured image of my input signal (yellow) being distorted (blue). I may have jumped around for several minutes after seeing this. 

Okay. Now I am done with images and sadly this blog post. I think I might try and spend another hour on my Electronics report before sleeping as it is due in on the 27th. I hate deadlines. I do realise that I normally finish my post with an image, but I think I have already included too many.

I'll try not to leave it so long between blog posts next time.