My week at UCL- 15th August - 18th August

I was fortunate enough to visit UCL for free for 4 days. 

Travelling was relatively easy- it was a direct train followed by a tube (UCL had posted the train tickets in advance).The first day at UCL was relatively calm- we registered, received our free UCL goodies (bag, notebook and pen) and met our mini-groups. The first task was an ice-breaker, we went through the usual getting to know you questions and went on a scavenger hunt (which my group sadly did not win). We also got to know the topic of our group projects- we were given a task to research and prepare a presentation on 'the invention that changed the world'. My group quickly chose nuclear weapons. The evening was really relaxed- dinner was served and we had around 2 hours to kill before the activity. In these two hours, I got to know a variety of people from all over Britain. The first evening activity was a bus tour around London- we spent around 2 hours seeing various historical sites, we went through Oxford Street and soaked up the views. 

Day 2 was less relaxed; breakfast was quite rushed (mainly because I had overslept and arrived behind the hoard of 30 other teenagers). The first activity was a university style lecturer with a PhD student; the focus was on graphology. Graphology is the study of all graphic movement (handwriting, doodles, drawings and paintings). Graphology can actually give you insights into the physical, mental, and emotional health of writers or artists. The session was quite interesting- it wasn't something that I was used to and the example chosen was quite accessible. My group and I had around 2 hours to work on our project- during this, I created an A3 poster detailing the history of nuclear weapons. This topic touched upon what I had studied for History GCSE and allowed me to explore more into the subject. I had lunch in the dining hall, which I used to catch up with the friends I made in the first day. Following this I had 2 talks; the first was from a panel of professionals who answered questions and talked about how they ended up where they were (the group included a lawyer, social media analyst and a recruitment consultant and many others) and a UCAS lecturer, where the speaker spoke about funding, scholarships and the UCAS process. That night we went to see the School of Rock musical, which was amazing!!

Day 3 was an amazing day. I had learned my lesson from the previous day, and showed up to breakfast 5 minutes early. A university lecturer started us off with a lecturer about religion and money. It was interesting to see the different interpretations held by different groups- we explored a variety of medium including news reports, posters and paintings. The next session was held by an external company. UCL had hired a speaker to give us a session on preparing to speak confidently in presentations. After having practised so much, I became less nervous of presenting the project to the large panel the following day. We had another hour to tweak everything in our presentation and practise as a group. The next activity was quite academic- we visited the British Library and were told the history of it. Many students occupied the study spaces- the British library is the perfect place to study at UCL; the weather outside was amazing and we were able to eat our packed lunch outside. I actually skipped dinner on that day, because we were going bowling that night. It was by far the best evening activity. There were arcade style games and I played 3 games of bowling and enjoyed a late dinner. There were endless pizzas, curly fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks and soft drinks along with brownies and bowling shaped cookies. The evening was full of dancing and to end it, a rendition of the Glee cover 'Don't Stop Believing' was sung by everyone.

The last day was when the group projects were presented and a graduation ceremony. I received my certificate and then was given a prize (for contributions throughout the week) which was a portable charger. Goodbyes were the last thing to do and the student ambassadors walked us back to the station to go home.