Zoë Johnson

Hey everyone, it's been a while! My last exam was on 4th June and I have now finished uni, which is mad. I'm starting full-time at Weatherquest on 1st July, so am making the most of my free time before then. Sadly it's not as fun as it sounds, I've been doing life admin, cleaning and organising! Since I wrote my last blog post in early May, life has been mostly revision, but I'm gonna post some pictures of my favourite moments. Below is Elin and I having our first snakebites in the SU bar after an exam (only 4 years late!). During the middle of May, Tom and I ran the Pretty Muddy Race for Life, in aid of Cancer Research. Tom filmed the whole thing, you can watch it here ! For Elin, Mollie and I's birthdays we went to Haggle, a Turkish restaurant in Norwich. It was awesome and so lovely to dress up. We then went to my last ever (probably) Damn Good LCR night!!  Then it was my birthday (mid-exams) so I took the day off and went to the beach....

On Saturday Tom and I woke up at around 2pm feeling slightly worse for wear... No matter how much I drink I always get super hungover, and today was no different!! Tom was an angel and got up and made me breakfast in bed! A bacon sandwich and coffee, it was lovely! Bacon does always make me feel better... We stayed in bed for a while watching Chalet Girl and Grand Designs which was fun. I'm really loving the new series of Grand Designs and Chalet Girl is just such a classic! We also went for a lovely walk in the afternoon along the canal in Leicester. It was a lovely crisp autumnal day and it cleared our heads a bit! At around 7ish we headed out for a dinner reservation, and sadly I was still feeling a bit rough!! We had booked a table at Crafty Burger in St. Martins, which is something we'd wanted to go to for ages!! St. Martins Cafe has such a lovely vibe, its full of fairy lights, cool lampshades and other indie looking things! For our meal, I had the El Rojo Burger, ...

Friday began at 11 with a Meteorology lecture. We've finished thermodynamics now and have started the topic of radiation which is interesting. We spent the lecture learning about Sun-Earth geometry, which explains why we have seasons and stuff, and then talked about blackbody emissions. I headed home after the lecture to finish packing for Tom's and have some lunch. I felt like I was busy the whole of my lunch break but honestly I couldn't tell you what I did!! At half 2 I walked down to the bus stop to wait for a bus into uni. However after waiting almost half an hour I realised that I wasn't going to make it so headed back home! Totally gutted to miss a maths lecture ;) Turns out that it couldn't have been more perfect, as the entire lecture was non-examinable!! Instead I chilled at home, putting some work and music on my kindle to keep myself busy on the train. Time went very quickly, and soon enough it was time to walk to the train station. Normally I trav...

Due to my Ocean Circulation reading week, I had the whole of Thursday off! Hooray! However, I was still up bright and early, because Mumma was coming up to Norwich and we were going Christmas shopping! First we headed to IKEA, as Mum wanted to show me their range of Christmas decorations! We got some tiny little baubles and some red candles. We really wanted to get some of those hanging paper stars, but the ones we liked were out of stock. Heartbreaking. Next we needed out of the city to the big Sainsburys and Next. We spent a while looking through the Christmas home department in both Sainsburys and Next, which were lovely. Once we had finished getting a few bits and pieces and having a general look around, we headed back into the city centre. We headed to the big TK Maxx first, again, to look at the Christmas department! It wasn't as good this year as it has been in previous years, sad times. Then, starving, we headed to Pret to get some food. We got a Curried Cauliflower a...

This week is my reading week for Oceanography, so I only had one thing on Wednesday, which was a Maths seminar. I really didn't want to go, as although it was only an hour long, it takes two hours out of your day if you include traveling, and I had loads to do! I dragged myself off to uni and into my seminar. It was a small group, and I was lucky to have quite a few of my friends in with me. We got to work on our coursework that was due in on Thursday. It was only two questions long, so not too bad, and I had already done the first by myself. However, we had only just learnt the material covering the second question the day before, so were a bit unsure about it. The seminar leader was the lecturer we normally have for Fluid Dynamics and he was actually really helpful. Remember when I wrote a blog post about him entitled 'Worst Lecture Ever'?? I take it all back now! He explained everything really well and checked that we were all finding the lectures ok and that we unders...

Tuesday was an absolutely beautiful day, on which I got up early to try and get stuff done. I had a pretty successful morning doing odd jobs and editing my video, before I headed into uni for 12. I started with an hour meteorology lecture on different measures of water vapour. After an hours lunch break we headed to our lab session, on the same thing. Our practical was based in the computer lab where we were using some kind of software to draw tephigrams. It was quite complicated and gave us all massive headaches. After the meteorology lab we headed to the library before maths, and on our way I took a picture of campus looking absolutely gorgeous. After chilling out in the library for a bit, we all headed to our hideously late maths lecture, which was on particle paths and the convective derivative. As much as I was enjoying and understanding it, I could barely keep my eyes open. My headed was pounding and I was shattered. It is STUPID to have maths this late in the day. Once ...

On Monday I had another dreaded 9am! I dragged myself out of bed in the FREEZING cold and made my way to the seminar. To be honest I was so tired it was hard to get my brain to do anything, but I still got a lot done. I headed straight home as soon as the seminar finished so I could get on with my day. During the day I worked on some Maths and my essay. I read several more articles and think I might have finished my research by now. However I have zero motivation to write this essay, I'm finding it super hard to get into as it's kind of boring to me. I also spent a huge amount of time doing washing up and tidying the kitchen. Yay. Rosie's family were visiting today so it was really lovely to meet them. Her and her siblings look so much like each other and they were all so nice! Her youngest brother and sister had made an amazing multi-coloured layer cake and it was so tasty, well done them! Monday evening I was super tired from my early start so treated myself to a fa...

On Saturday I got up fairly early to make the most out of my day. In the morning I did a lot of work towards my placement application. I don't know if theres such a thing as putting too much effort in, but it feels like I'm probably doing that!! At this point I'm about halfway through the application. After a quick toastie for lunch I then started working on my essay for Ocean Circulation. The topic I've chosen is Wyrtki jets, which are eastward flowing currents in the Indian Ocean and they're pretty interesting. My main worry with this essay is that I won't find enough to say about them without the whole essay just being references to other peoples work. I got bored of essay research fairly quickly and moved onto something far more exciting... Christmas shopping! Giving gifts is 100% my favourite part of Christmas and I want to be super organised this year! At around 6ish I started preparing dinner. Elin was coming over and I was making my special chow me...

My first lecture on Friday began at 11 and it was meteorology. In the lecture we learnt about moisture in the air, focusing on phase changes and equations of state. I'm still really enjoying meteorology, it's pretty interesting stuff! After meteorology I had a 3 hour gap before maths. I headed home and tackled the kitchen, which took me a whole hour! Once I had finished I did some odd jobs, such as banking and writing a shopping list, and before I knew it, it was time to head back into uni. Todays maths lecture was on streamlines, which I'm actually quite enjoying. I'm feeling pretty good about this maths at the moment, as I tend to come out of the lectures having understood everything, which is always a plus! Once the lecture had finished, I got on the bus and headed to the supermarket to do some food shopping. I decided to head to Morrisons, which I'd never been to in Norwich before but this was the wrong choice! The bus alone took an hour to get there becau...

On Thursday I woke up at home, which is just the best feeling ever, right??! Mum brought me a coffee in bed and the doggies came and gave me a cuddle, whilst I read the Hotel Chocolat Christmas catalogue! Mumma and I made some of the Jus-Rol croissants for breakfast, which were lovely, and then I got ready for the day! Once I was ready we sat together and Mumma helped we sort out my CV so that it'd look great for when I start sending off my internship applications! Unfortunately I had a lecture to get to at 12, but very kindly, Mumma drove me in so it wasn't too bad! The lecture was oceanography, and it was all about the Coriolis Force, which is an effect that acts on a mass, caused by the Earth's rotation (google it!). As always, we had our little break between the lecture and the lab session, however, today there was a recruitment fair on in the sports park. Following my decision to switch to a year in industry, Elin and I thought it'd be a good idea to go and che...

I had two lectures on Wednesday, starting from 11. I'm trying to get into the habit of waking up earlier than I need to so that I can get jobs done before I head into uni. My first lecture was oceanography and was on the physical laws of ocean circulation, such as the pressure-gradient force. The second lecture was maths, and it was our final lecture with the lecturer who had taken us for the first part of vector calculus, the one I really liked, so we were all feeling a bit sad! After my lectures finished I headed to the bus stop to catch a bus back to mine, and had to wait ages for a bus due to severe delays. This meant that when I got home I had to super panic pack and rush around trying to get some lunch at the same time. I was meant to be getting the 3pm bus home and had some shopping to do in the city before I went. While I was going crazy, trying to sort everything out, a parcel arrived at the door and Rosie gave it to me. It said it was from M&S which confused me, I h...

Yesterday I woke up feeling much more positive, like I could turn over a new leaf of sorts. I woke up fairly early and got things done in the morning before I headed off to uni, including eating as much fruit as possible to try and ward off the dreaded freshers flu! I arrived into uni just before 12 and headed to Meteorology. We have just started learning about lapse rate and what makes an atmosphere stable or unstable. Pretty cool stuff. At 1 we had an hour for lunch where we all just chilled in the ENV social space, which is like our common room. Our lab began at 2, so we headed upstairs, settled down and began another question sheet. It was all about potential temperature, lapse rate and learning to read tephigrams. It wasn't too challenging so I sat with Elin and chatted about taking a year out in industry and applying for our summer placements. I think I've decided to go for the year in industry. It would give me a chance to broaden my horizons a bit, while earning some ...

I had an early start yesterday and was into uni by 10. I was 10 minutes early outside the lecture theatre and feeling very pleased with myself as I'm never early, and then I realised I was in the wrong place, and the right place was the other side of campus. Great job Zoë.  However I still managed to get there just before it started and got stuck into it straight away. It was maths again and we were looking at Stokes' Theorem. Interesting stuff. After the lecture I headed home as I had loads to do. I'm in the process of applying for several summer placements and also looking into internships. Its all really stressful stuff for me, as it really means a lot and I want this placement more than ANYTHING. I also had loads of work that needed doing and I have a big summative essay looming ever closer. I also STILL trying to sort out all of the bills for the house and it's been ridiculous. Literally nothing goes my way, all the people that I speak to seem to fuck things up e...

On Saturday morning I woke up very warm and cosy in my own bed and with a monster hangover! I get hungover very easily so this wasn't unusual for me but I still felt awful! It was so nice to have my family around me, looking after me, and nothing cheers me up like a cuddle from the doggies! At breakfast time I still didn't want to eat, however my Dad swears by having a bacon sandwich to cure a hangover, so made me one, and it worked!! After breakfast I chilled in the kitchen with Mumma, helping her make dinner, which was Moussaka, and seeing as Max, my brother, is vegetarian we had to make a separate lentil one for him. It was lovely just to relax and cook with my Mum like we always do. At around 1ish we all had lunch together which is always fab at home, because Mum and Dad have lots of cheese! I'm a big fan of cheese and nice cheese is something I really miss when I'm at uni! After lunch I had a nice warm shower and began getting ready as we were meant to be lea...

On Friday my first lecture began at 11, at it was Meteorology. We've nearly finished covering thermodynamics and I've enjoyed it, however I'm looking forward to seeing what we cover next! We were in a very small lecture theatre for this lecture, and unfortunately EVERYONE around me was super ill and it was horrible, the room felt so full of germs!! After my lunch break, I headed back into uni for Maths, full of vitamin tablets and fruit as my attempt to ward off the awful cold everyone seems to have. The first of the maths lectures was vector calculus, where we looked at the Divergence Theorem. It's getting pretty hard, but I'm sure with a bit of work I'll be ok. Next up was Fluid Dynamics which was actually ok!!! We all understood everything that happened in the lecture and were all a bit in shock. We were going through examples of the hydrostatic equation and I really liked it. I think it's because I can see how it works in real life. Having had a good...

My day on Thursday began with an Oceans lecture at 12. We had all ate and drank far too much the night before and were feeling a little fragile!! However I still managed to drag myself into uni, I'm getting good at functioning with a hangover! The lecture was on the continuity equation, which is based on the idea that the ocean is virtually incompressible so water and salt that go in to an ocean basin must be equal that going out. Interesting stuff. We then had a short break, but were back in our lab session at 2, which was in the bio lab, meaning we all had to wear lab costs even though we weren't doing any practical science. I quite enjoyed this session, we were completing a problem sheet and although some of the questions were fairly challenging, Elin, Katie and I teamed up and were first to finish! On my way back from the lab I headed over to see my advisor in his office hours. I've recently been offered the opportunity to switch from my course (Met + Oceans Bsc) ...

I only had two lectures yesterday, the first beginning at 11, on Oceanography. We learnt all about how light travels in the ocean, and the word penetrate was used far too often for my liking. Following the Oceans lecture, we then had an hour of maths, which wasn't too bad, but I do feel like I'm beginning to fall behind as it gets more difficult.  At 1 I headed home hoping for a productive afternoon. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on hold to our energy company, and didn't manage to resolve anything. Bills and stuff are so confusing, I really think you should be taught the basics of paying bills and energy tariffs at school to prepare you for adulting. I also spent a long time cleaning the kitchen which just sucks. At about 6 we started to get reading for going out for Abi's Birthday Meal. She had booked a table at pizza hut and I was pretty excited as I'd never been before!! There was 9 of us going and we had a lovely time. I ate a ridiculous am...

On Tuesday my lectures didn't start until 12, so I got up early to get things done before I went. Shockingly, I was actually quite productive. At 11.30 I headed into uni for a Meteorology lecture and somehow (as always) ended up late and out of breath after 3 flights of stairs. In the lecture we continued learning about the first law of thermodynamics which I find quite interesting even if it's a lot to take in. We had a short break at 1, before starting our Meteorology lab at 2. It wasn't a particularly involved lab session, as we just had a page of questions that we all worked through together. The lab finished early as we had tried to complete the problems as quickly as possible! At 4 we headed to the library just to chill for an hour before Maths at 5. I was dreading Maths, as it was with the lecturer I didn't like from Fluid Dynamics the other day (See 'The Worst Lecture Ever'). However it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. He has since redee...

I had my first 9am of the semester yesterday, and it hurt. It was legit still dark when I woke up! And I hadn't considered what it'd be like trying to get to uni during rush hour, and was super cramped on a packed bus that took ages to get there! Not the sharpest start to the day from me... My first lecture was vector calculus and, as usual, I quite enjoyed it. It is getting harder but as long as I stay focused I'm ok. After the lecture we had a seminar, also on vector calculus. We had been given a problem sheet a week ago, and the purpose of the seminar was to iron out any kinks in our work. As you can imagine I have many! I left feeling pretty frustrated with myself, having gotten most of it wrong as I had forgotten one of the key rules of differentiation, and thought that differentiating x gave you zero, not one. What a twat. After the seminar I rushed home to complete a formative that was due in that afternoon. I had done half of it, so knew it wouldn't take lon...

On Saturday Tom and I slept in and it was fab! I never normally let myself sleep in because I like to wake up early and get things done but it was lovely! We got up at about 11(!) and nipped out to the cute little bakery at the end of my road to get some breakfast! I'd never actually been in before and it was incredible! It doesn't look much from the outside but it was full of the most delicious looking pastries and cakes! I can't believe I forgot to take a picture, I'm literally kicking myself. I had a lovely raspberry danish and Tom had a sausage baguette and a chocolate orange cupcake, they were so good! I can't wait to go back! After our lil breakfast we got ready for the day and then put Friends on while I did some maths work for my seminar on Monday. We were planning on going outside for a walk in the park nearby, but it was raining so we stayed in! It wasn't long before we were eating again, and we had half the pizza Glen made us and watched Cool Runnin...