October 17, 2012, by Sarah

Crystal Menth

Most of my week has been dominated by Fresher’s flu* so I have been enjoying the delights of night nurse, lemsip, olbas oil, and menthol crystals – also known as Crystal Menth.

The latter you put just one in a mug of boiling water, then cup your hands over it, and inhale. It blows your head off but does definitely open your sinuses. My housemate introduced them to me and was highly amused at my reaction to my first one which was a massive coughing fit. These things are strong! But thanks to her drug lording plying me with menthol crystals I am feeling a bit better now – the end of flu is in sight. My room in now thick with a fug of menthol and eucalyptus etc. but there are definitely worse things a room can smell of – Uni introduces you to that!

*for those of you who are lucky enough not to know what Fresher’s flu is, it is the pathogenic spawn of Uni students from every corner of the globe congregating and their germs forming a super-potent cocktail of DOOM. There comes a point, early in the term where you can’t hear lecturers due to the volume of coughing and all the cough/cold/flu medicine in the student shop is sold out – it’s an occupational hazard of Uni.

Being ill has definitely made me grateful for making meals earlier in the term and freezing them because although I love cooking, I haven’t been feeling much like it. Plus chilli con carne is something you can definitely taste when you have a cold. I have also been treating myself to this:

No it’s not weird cheese on toast, it’s marzipan toasted on fruit and nut bread and it’s YUMMY. Marzipan was in the pound shop so I thought I would go for it and I’ve frozen it in squares and it makes me smile.

Something fun that happened this week was participating in a research study. I had a functional MRI scan of my brain whilst tasting different flavours to look at which areas of the brain were affected. One of the good things about being on Sutton Bonington is the Sensory Science Centre. Postgraduate students often need students to do taste tests or questionnaires and there is often a financial incentive which is handy! However this was my first one which involved an MRI scan and that was definitely an interesting experience.

Me and my housemate Marilyn looking stunning waiting for the MRI:

You definitely would not want to do this study if you were claustrophobic, MRI scanners are…cosy! Anyway I got this picture of my brain:

I went to church again this week. My church has just launched a morning service in the Odeon cinema in Loughborough. One funny thing about Sutton Bonington is that it’s nearer Loughborough than Nottingham, despite being part of Nottingham University.  Anyway the service was awesome and definitely one of my favourite things about Uni has been finding a church family away from home, it’s also nice to get out of the student bubble.

…Well I had to get Disney in there somewhere…

Anyway essays are calling so until next week!

 

Sarah

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