March | 33rd Board
March was a generally uneventful month, as we’re mostly focusing on finding our successors at the moment. It feels like the year just started and we’re already looking for people to replace us - it’s a wild feeling. We’ve had some promising applicants already, but we’re always looking for more people to consider. If you’re still wondering whether to apply or not, this is your sign!
Outside of CB hunting, we’ve been busy planning a lot of tiny things behind the scenes. Two big events - gala and the weekend away trip - are coming up soon, so those have taken a lot of time. We’re also holding space for self-reflection, also known as the half-year evaluation.
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Hi everyone! |
Hi all,
March was, yet again, a blur. I’ve surprisingly had little to do for Helix, aside from the general tasks. I’m working on gathering the information for the website in one comprehensive file so I can - hopefully - upload everything in one big push. Other than that, I’ve been helping out where I can while also focusing on my studies. My BBS3004 project was really cool (what do you mean I got to dissect an actual human?!) but man, it was hard to translate that information into a Skills Clip and report. Luckily I got through it!
Personally, I’ve had a bit of a slump in energy, so I’ve been taking it easy. One of the horses had a pretty big scare with a tumour, but thankfully everything was resolved & he’s now in recovery from surgery! The poor guy just wanted to be scratched, but we weren’t allowed to touch him. I don’t think he fully realises what happened to him.
I’m currently doing my internship, which is such a weird thing to think about. I’m working on something I find really cool, an integrative QSAR/Molecular Docking pipeline - essentially, I’m making my own machine learning model and writing a full Python script for that so you can just plug in a file and receive all the information you need. It’s a lot of work and a lot of maths, but we’ll get there.
I’m not built to actually work on one thing for 8 hours a day, so I’ve been using my internship time to work on some preparatory things for the upcoming Board change. It’s still over two months away, but there’s a lot to be done. It’s the final stretch, truly.
I hope everyone’s doing okay and can deal with these very stressful times in an okay manner. Remember to slow down and take a breather whenever you can!
Always yours,
Nalin <3
Hello,
Writing a monthly update (MU) isn’t really my thing. I’ve never liked talking about my life, not even with my close friends and family, so if I have to write once a month, I might as well tell you that I don’t have anything to say. But after giving it some veeery serious thought, I did manage to come up with a few stories.
In March, I spent a lot of time in Belgium, at my parents’ house. I don’t know why, but I felt like I needed it—probably because my internship starts soon and I won’t be able to come home during the week whenever I want, so I took advantage of it when I could. I work a lot during the week so I can have my weekends free to do activities with my high school friends. For example, I did some ceramic painting. It was very relaxing, and I realized I need to do creative activities more often. There’s just one small detail I hadn’t thought about at all and that ultimately made me regret going—the horribly high price. I’m broke.
I also ran a half-marathon in Ghent! It’s a really beautiful city in Belgium. You might think I was able to sightsee while I was running, since you have plenty of time to see everything over 21 km. But not at all—I was so focused on my race and on myself that I completely forgot to look up. But I love it—I love giving it all in this sport, I love the people on the sidelines cheering you on, even though they don’t even know you. It’s really quite different from running alone after work during the week.
I’d like to wrap up this monthly update with a quick reminder to apply for the board of helix. Believe me, I was also afraid at first that I’d regret it and wouldn’t have time for my studies and my personal life, but with a little organization, you’re going to have one of the best years of your life! You’ll meet lots of new people—and not just Biomed students—because you’ll be invited to events you’d never have had the chance to attend otherwise. And, what could be better than a little challenge in your life and more responsibility? If you want my opinion on my own position (treasurer), I really love having the freedom to do what I want when I want (as long as it gets done on time). My job is 90% flexible. On top of that, for unsociable people like me who don’t like talking to anyone, my position does require occasional meetings with, for example, the bank, sponsors, and my committee (come to Berlin, hehehe), but it’s mainly accounting and oversee the transactions. I manage to be more consistent than I was at the start of the year, which I strongly recommend if you don’t want to end up like me, printing out transactions for three days straight.
Thanks for reading this loooong MU until the end (yeah, I know I said I never had anything to say).
Kisses<3
Yet another month has passed… Time really does fly when you have so much to do. As I am writing this, the Honours graduation is two weeks away, the bike race three, and my HAREC exam (to hopefully get my RZAM-F licence and callsign soon) a month. At this rate, it seems like I’ll need to marry my moka pot…
However, I am also massively excited, since I’m starting my internship in just over a week! I will be researching the role of AGEs, which are by-products of the Maillard reaction (that’s the technical name for food going brown, crispy, and tasty when you cook it), in chronic bowel diseases. Hopefully, my drop in the bucket of research can help patients further down the line!
On more Helix related news, we have opened the search for the next Board! If you think you have what it takes, why not apply? Being part of the Board gives you a ton of new experiences, all while working together in a friendly group. In the meanwhile, I’ve been working closely with the university to see that everything related to the SEPs will continue working smoothly in the future, and ensuring that we finish this academic year without any more hiccups. Most of my tasks right now are just existing in the background, making sure everything runs smoothly, and getting ready to pass the baton onwards as well!
Hey guys,
I hope you had a nice Easter holiday and that you all survived period 4 (because I didnt lmao). There's actually a saying in romanian that I really love, which goes like "Fără restanță n-ai prestanță", which basically means you cannot have stateliness without having to take a resit. I definitely had to search up that word because how tf do you translate "prestanță". "Stateliness" is some premium english shit right here.
Anyways, my highlight from March is the fact that i visited the Drents museum literally 1 week before the dacian gold has been retrieved. That story about our dacian treasures is genuinely a peak Romanian experience. They have been lost for about a year and then randomly found just now, almost intact. The thing is that the thieves are not even romanian. They really pulled a uno reverse card on us and be like: haha romanians stole enough from us, now we steal from them. I'm honestly gonna blame the Drents Museum staff on this one for putting our gold right in front of a window. The thieves basically just had to break that window to steal them.
Nevertheless, keep your wallets safe guys :)
Hi, lovely creatures!
This month honestly felt like somehow a bit Icy.
It starts with me, your lovely Head of External Affairs who simply thought to attend a few events and keep some partnerships going, nothing unusual. But somehow, that simple plan turned into a full-on expedition.
At one point, I found myself in Belgium, walking through a forest like a slightly lost but determined mammoth. No clear path, just vibes and headphones. But the walk started to raise some important questions, like: Is this networking, or have I joined a migration?
Along the way, I encountered all kinds of creatures. Some were easy to talk to, others required a bit more strategy, like trying to convince a very stubborn sloth to move in the right direction. Still, connections were built, conversations flowed, and the journey continued.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I took on an unexpected but critical mission: making tostis during company visits. While others showed up with hunger after the visit, I showed up with sandwiches made with love by me and my companions. And honestly, that might have been the most effective strategy of the month.
Despite the occasional chaos, the questionable “why am I in a forest” moments, and a few near–existential crises, the results were strong. Events were attended, relationships strengthened, and the organization kept moving forward, no matter how icy the path felt.
Now that the expedition is (temporarily) over, the focus shifts to something equally important: looking forward to watch the new season of Euphoria. After surviving forests, events, and high-pressure tosti production, it feels well deserved.
If there’s one takeaway from this month, it’s this: external affairs is a bit like the Ice Age, you adapt, you keep moving, and somehow you make it work… even if you’re not entirely sure how you ended up in the forest in the first place.
Looking forward to whatever the next adventure brings. Stay tuned for the next story!
Kisses:*