Student Diaries 2004: Kirsty

Well, I have just grabbed the first few minutes of free time in this city to write a little about how it's all going.

First off, I am shattered: I don't think I have ever been so rushed off my feet before. In fact, right now I should probably be tackling my first load of supervision questions ... never mind, another late night won't hurt!

I should probably introduce myself. I'm 19 and have been severely hearing impaired since birth. I primarily use lip-reading, with the assistance of digital hearing aids. My deafness has never stopped me from doing anything - well, other than being able to sing! I went to a hearing school and then took a gap year, which I spent doing a ski season and travelling around Australia, NZ and USA: the best time I have ever had. I only decided to study Medicine once I decided that I was good enough academically (after A-levels), and also once I had reassured myself that my deafness wouldn't get in the way of enjoying the career.

I drove down from my home in Edinburgh and arrived here at Cambridge on Saturday in a Volvo crammed full of boxes, trunks, a bike, Mum, Dad and the dog. Needless to say I was pretty keen to get it all into my room. The porter was the first person I met, and he showed me to my room. A pretty pleasant surprise - I have the largest room on the newest corridor (finished 8.00pm the night before!) and a great group of people along it. The college have installed a flashing light system and a vibrating alert for the fire alarm, which is very efficient of them as I never even mentioned the need for that.

So things were starting well at college. However, I had a little panic about note-takers before I arrived, as it appeared that they could only provide enough people to cover the Mondays and Fridays, which wasn't great! So I thought about other options and, fortunately, I have a friend starting on the same course who can photocopy her notes and fill me in on what I miss. I will have to see how that goes. It's almost preferable, as she will be writing the notes from the same standard I'm at and will be able to explain if I don't understand something. I'll also feel more independent.

After saying goodbye to Mum and Dad, I spent Saturday afternoon unpacking and chatting to the others along my corridor. Then had supper in hall and spent the night at the college bar, taking names in one ear and shooting them straight out the other. It got way too loud, but it seemed easier for me than anyone else as I could lip-read! Headed to bed late.

Sunday was the official start of Fresher's Week. I got up pretty late after a bad night's sleep in a new bed. We (meaning me and a bunch of people from the rooms near me) went around some of the other colleges and quickly realised that St Catz (my college) is tiny in comparison. I like this, as it means that I don't feel overwhelmed and pressurised by masses of people. It's easier to relax and have a decent conversation with a few people that I can keep up with. Every minute I am meeting people with new accents and lip patterns, and I have to get used to them all - as well as working out where I have to be and when!

We met the JCR (Junior Combination Room, the social hub of the college) and 'The Powers That Be' (the Master, Dean etc of the college) in an evening meeting, I sat near the front and seemed to hear everything OK. Wonder how I will be in a room of 300 people?

Spent the rest of the evening chatting at the bar and then went out to a club called Life. Good fun, but don't think it helps the whole tiredness thing ...

Monday morning was spent sorting out my IT connection and registering with a doctor. The afternoon, however, scared the life out of me, as we had two solid hours of the Director of Studies and the Senior Tutor drilling it into our heads that we have to work seriously hard to succeed, and that there is little time to do much else. However, this was balanced by my tutor telling me that it was all fine and that if anything got too much it was easy to take a day out - but that it is very hard to catch up if you do!

All three - the Director of Studies, the Senior Tutor and my tutor - came up to me at the end (subtly, which I appreciated) and asked me how things were and told me that they were there to help if I needed them.

In the evening, we had Matriculation Dinner (Matriculation the process of official registration to study at Cambridge). It was a very formal affair that was good fun, but it did feel a little like Harry Potter with us all in our gowns and smart outfits. Also it was impossible to hear the Master's speech, as he was at the other end of the room and in front of bright lights (which meant I couldn't lip-read either). At times like these I have to laugh when the others do and hope that I don't miss anything. The Dean, who was opposite me, explained what the Master had said afterwards, which was very kind of him.

This morning we had Matriculation - this is where you sign the register to officially become a member of the college. It also involved a photo and speeches. I spent the rest of the day at the Fresher's Fair - it was a bit of a scrum, with everyone trying to get you to join their societies. I'll soon find out what I signed up for!

All in all, the first few days have been pretty exciting and an experience, to say the least. But the one thing I would say is that it isn't all fun and games; I think the second year students enjoy it more, as they don't have the same huge amount of pressure to meet friends for life and to enjoy the enforced activities. Much of it is fun, but there are times when I'm glad to have a few minutes to myself to relax after concentrating on what everyone is saying all the time. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when I start my first lectures and begin a (relatively) normal routine!

The bells of Kings College Chapel are going off outside my window.

Thanks to these new digital hearing aids, paid for by my DSA, I hear them every day. I understand that it carries on through the night, striking every hour. Thankfully I get to miss out on that.

It's another cold and sunny day here, though perhaps not as cold as back home in Edinburgh, and no doubt it's going to be busy if it follows the trend of last week.

Last week I left you on Tuesday evening. My friends and I spent the night chatting at a pretty relaxed, if a little noisy pub called the Hogshead. The noise was down to a live band. I then headed to bed at a reasonable hour, not wanting to feel shoddy when work started!

Up on Wednesday and off to lectures to face my first dead body, or 'cadaver' as it is known here. Was dreading it, and not sure at all how I would react. However, when I came face to face with the cadaver, I was more fascinated than anything else; I think this is because it just doesn't look very real.

The organisers in the Anatomy lab split us into groups of six people, one group per cadaver. This was great news for me as it means I will be working with the same small group in all the Anatomy practicals for the rest of the year - meaning, hopefully, that they will be able to recognise the signs and help me if I miss anything. We also get two demonstrators to each group of six.

The first Anatomy lecture went fine as my college medic friends are all keen to sit near the front, which is great for me; I heard/saw every word clearly and easily. After an hour of sitting with 299 others listening to the same man, we all headed off and bought our lab coats at the Biochemistry department, as well as another bag of handbooks for MIMS (Molecules in Medical Science).

I dumped those in my room and then went over to meet my friend from back home who is in Queens' College, also doing medicine. It's great to catch up every so often and not have to ask all the same questions (name/where from/studying, etc)!

Then back to college for some sups (supper) and a sports/societies 'Squash' in the hall. (According to this glossary of Cambridge jargon, a 'squash' is a party or reception usually held at the beginning of the academic year, for the purposes of introducing people to a club, society or organisation - Ed.) Again, I doubt I will have time to master netball/tennis/football/rugby and rowing - however, I think I'll give rowing a pretty serious go. Sounds great fun if a little hard work, but that'll help the fitness levels, right?!

Back to the bar for an evening of Karaoke. Those that know, or can imagine, how bad my singing is will be pleased to know that I stayed well clear of the microphone! Although hearing some of the others, I doubt I could have been much worse!

Procedures room this morning. We spent the time learning about the spine and the nerves within it. All went well and my group of six is really friendly and keen to tell me what I've missed. The demonstrators also thanked me for telling them and then (very subtly) made it easy for me to see them and repeated anything I missed (which wasn't a lot).

Then a lecture on cell biology, which was made harder because we got there rather late and so had to sit at the back. I switched onto the loop system with my hearing aid; this was great, also preventing me from being distracted (which regularly happens). The lecture was meant for those without A-level biology, so wasn't intellectually strenuous ... thankfully!

In the afternoon we had the first of our Supervisions. The Supervision system at Cambridge is there to back up lectures and practicals, and is an opportunity to ask about things you didn't grasp in them. Reassuring, because if I seriously lose the plot (literally not metaphorically) in a lecture, I can ask the Supervisor to help.

Just six of us in a room with a professional, discussing the subject: Medical Ethics for this one. I really enjoyed this as it was much more personal and gave the opportunity for showing your own view and asking questions. Again, easier in small groups for me - my luck is clearly in! I haven't met anyone yet who is difficult about helping out - maybe that's a little to do with the profession?

Back to hall for sups and then dressed up for our Medics Pub Crawl, a Catz (St Catherine's College) tradition. The theme, very originally, was doctors and nurses, and involved wearing a lab coat and being tied to two second or third year students by our wrists. Great fun!

Had to be up and across the other side of town by 8.30am for my occupational health appointment involving a blood test (for Hep B) and my third booster, as my antibodies (the body's fighting mechanism) have to be up at a certain level to practise medicine. Then it was back across town again to reach my 9.00am lecture on Anatomy - which, again, was easy to hear sitting on the second row!

This evening we had the 'Back to School' Fresher's Bop: cheesy music, daggy costumes, drink and loads of people crammed into one room. Good fun, if a bit hot by the end of the evening! No one, I think, heard much; I most likely heard the most.

Today was great fun, if the most energy-draining day in 15 months, as I have done very little exercise since school! Up this morning to catch up with a few emails, and walk to the Biochem department to drop off some work. I also bought a few books (not cheap) for the course and a pair of tracksuit bottoms for rowing. Then at 1-ish we walked to the Catz pitches, a while out of town, for the rugby training.

Spent one and a half hours running around chucking the ball - great fun, as no one was very good at it! We had a game of touch rugby at the end, and I scored a pretty good try with another girl.

Then 'legged it' back to college in time to meet the rowers and walk to the opposite end of town (with my bike as others were walking) to see the boathouse. We spent an hour there, being introduced to the 8-man boat and checking it out. I was put in the bow (the smallest seat), which I hope doesn't happen regularly as it's the opposite end to the cox, who I need to be able to hear!

I have done a little rowing before, so the college are keen that I join the squad and hopefully compete in Fairburn (the novice race at the end of term); maybe joining the senior squad next term? Think I may have to give up rugby to do this, which is fine, as I would love to take rowing seriously.

Cycled back through town, narrowly avoiding a car (whose horn I definitely heard) and showered. Had some sups and then spent the evening with a few others, chatting and drinking hot chocolate in my room. Then bed with weary feet.

I did a bit of work this morning, learning amino acids. Fun, fun, fun! Then headed to brunch in hall with a few others before coming back to read and chat for a while. Great to have a reasonably relaxing morning where I'm not running around like a headless chicken!

This afternoon I headed down to the boathouse where we did some tubbing; rowing in twos. Great fun, and quite hard work. I think I'll be getting fit if I do this seriously - which I will, hopefully.

The captains said we were really good! There were quite a few other boats on the river, which made things a tad more complicated in terms of crashing into people, although we seemed to avoid everyone today. Really enjoyed the whole thing and will no doubt be back soon.

The evensong service in the chapel at St Catharine's was very interesting; the sermon answered the question 'Do Christians need to see a psychiatrist?'

The choir was excellent, I was sure to keep my voice to a minimum throughout the service though, for fear of hurting my neighbour's ears!

Then had formal dinner again, in our gowns. I love this weekly Harry Potter enactment, but wonder if it will continue to be such a novelty. Somehow I doubt it! Still, it was a good chance to chat to everyone without blaring music.

I forgot that it was bring-your-own-bottle, but luckily the boys next to me shared theirs.

After, we headed to James' room, he's another Catz first year medic. It was his birthday and we gave him his card and cake. He later completed the Catz tradition of climbing on top of the bar to kiss the model cat up there. Great effort!

So that's my last few days, I have a feeling things will settle down, and the work/play balance will tip rather more favourably towards work sooner or later! Long may the fun last!

Today was pretty busy, had two lectures, one in Medical Sociology and the other in Biochemistry. The lady who took the sociology lecture literally read straight off the paper for an hour with little hesitation and flicked through the slides very fast. Making it very tricky for everyone to take notes. As I am hearing impaired I did my best and later found a copy of her lecture notes online which I read through and annotated.

Most of the lectures have summaries online, which are brilliant for me - and 90% have handouts at the lectures.

We also had a Homeostasis practical, spending 2 hours twitching a frog's leg, really interesting. I was partnered with a girl from Fitzwilliam, who was sweet and very helpful if I missed anything. It's great.

There are 300 medics, everyone is really good at introducing themselves and chatting between lectures and practicals; but we are mostly sticking together in our own colleges in the evenings as that is like home. Each college has its own bar, so everyone goes there. I also get on really well with the others along my corridor.

I had a supervision, and spent the afternoon working and then went out in the evening to meet up with a friend, Charlotte from Downing, who is a 2nd year Land Economist. She is a Blue (meaning she plays in a varsity 1st team against Oxford) in Lacrosse. Great to see her again!

Got 9am lectures everyday this week which slightly puts late nights on hold.

Had an Anatomy supervision; our supervisor was a really clever Professor who has been published several times so I was pleased to have him.

He used slides to demonstrate what he was talking about and having switched the light off to show us the slide, would switch it back on again so that I could see to lipread/hear what he was saying - very considerate.

I spent the evening in the bar with some other first years, and then had an early night as have to get up early in the morning... uh oh!

Up at 6:20am, and am not a morning person. Nevertheless, I managed to have some brekkie and cycle down to the boathouse for 7am.

We had ergo practise before getting the boat out and rowing in an 8-man boat for 45mins. I loved it, once I warmed up, as it was freezing and very early morning light with few people out and about - a really calm atmosphere.

The captain put me at oar 6, which is 2 from the coxswain, ideal as I could then hear her clearly.

Managed to get back in time for the 9.00am lecture, and then Procedures (the clinical bit of medicine). I am really enjoying the course, which is a relief, as I will be studying it for the next 6 years!

We had Histology, 2 hours of looking through microscopes, in the afternoon. I was in a group with Sophie, Clare and James - all at Catz (St. Catherine's College), and as it was pretty simple we spent most of the time chatting...

Spent the evening chatting with a couple of girls, one also from Scotland, doing Nat Sci. It was nice not to be drinking and to just relax for a bit! Went to bed pretty early as was tired from the morning.

Today was pretty easy in terms of work, had one lecture and a dissection. Then spent some time working in the afternoon, getting back into the whole working thing after 15 months off. It was weird at first, having a timetable, and a duty to be at certain places at a certain time, having been used to doing my own thing - think I'm getting there now though!

Went out in the evening to a novice rower's curry: pay eight pounds and take a bottle of wine along to the restaurant.

We all met at the bar at 7:30ish and then headed out to the restaurant, which wouldn't let us in till 930pm! So we went to the bar next-door and chatted.

When we finally sat down we were introduced to the rules, if you were pennied (someone put a penny in your drink) you had to down it, you couldn't penny the person who had just pennied you, and if you pennied someone who still had the penny in their drink, you had to finish it. A fun evening, and relatively early bed!

Had two lectures and am now about to do a little work so that I don't feel bad over the weekend! I planned to have a chilled evening watching TV (for the first time in 2 weeks!) and maybe go out to meet a few others from the other colleges for a drink or two ... but plans later changed.

I actually spent this evening going to an instrumental award winners concert at the music school.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love music and these four people were extremely talented but my attention span of a gnat meant that I found it very funny watching the people in the rows in front of me nod off, and I joined in myself a little towards the end of the second hour of Mozart - totally uncultured!

We spent the rest of the evening watching Swordfish, 8 of us crammed into one room staring at a computer for 2 hours. Great film but my mind didn't seem to grasp the intellectual side... never mind...

I worked in the morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon with Louisa and Charlotte (both school friends from a while back) and Rosie (Louisa's cousin). I bought my accessories for this evening's themed party - Pirates, and then we went for a hot chocolate and headed to Downing for a while.

I got back to my room in time to have a chat with Mum and Dad. I'm missing home but not enough to want to be there, it will just be nice to see family again at Christmas.

A lot of my friends have had their parents coming in and taking them out for lunch which I won't get as we live 9 hours drive away in Edinburgh! But it hasn't been too bad in terms of coping without them with my hearing as I have been fairly independent for a while.

I had a nanny/nannettes dinner tonight. Let me explain. Every fresher has a second year assigned to them, usually doing the same subject, to help out with anything.

My nanny, Stacey is great and has helped with loads from location-finding to tricky supervision questions. I, by the way, am her nannette.

The dinner was great fun. We had punch (rum and OJ), homemade pizzas and homemade banoffee pie, which was seriously impressive for student cooking! We had a few games and then spent the rest of the night gate crashing the other flats and mucking around.

I ended up taking someone home to their bed with a couple of others, we chatted in my room and eventually went to bed ourselves!

Another nuts sporty Sunday.

Up at 10am to do some washing and go to Sainsbury's before cycling to the Catz sports ground with another girl, Rachel (a Geography student) where we spent 2 hours playing rugby.

We started tackling today, which was lethal and my arm and back kill - think I may have to concentrate on rowing! Spent the afternoon rowing, which was again, great fun! There is a pretty high chance of me rowing in Fairbairn (the novice race at the end of term), which is exciting, and then in the bumps next term!

This evening we had the Medsoc curry at the Curry Mahal. It had a sixties/seventies theme. I donned my flares and bangles.

I was pretty knackered after 4 nights out and a full day of exercise, so went for the curry and a few drinks at the bar, but declined to go to Coco's, the choice nightclub. And I am now writing this before I go and indulge myself in a very intellectual book called Harry Potter.

I enjoyed this week rather more than last week, even though it has all been great - maybe it is more accurate to say that I have been more relaxed this week as I am getting on with everyone well and enjoying the course.

There are very few worries in my mind about whether I can do the course and ultimately the job as it is fascinating and everyone has been brilliant so far.

Hey, looks like it's my last instalment for Ouch! Can't believe the first three weeks at uni have gone by so quickly! I know I have said every week that it has been action-packed; well, I'm afraid this week is no exception. However, things are settling down into a routine, which is is great as there is much less emphasis on the fact that you are new, everyone is clicking and I can walk round the college and say hi to quite a few people. Admittedly there are also many that I turn round and realise that I have never seen them before!

Well, Monday was great as it was a lie-in 'til 9.00am, which is great for a Medic timetable. It was a relief as we had quite a late night last night after the MedSoc curry. Had a Physiology practical, which was hard work but interesting. Then a Biochemistry lecture, again tough stuff. Things seem to be getting rapidly more challenging!

After the tricky morning, I had some lunch with the other medics before doing some work. I had another supervision and spent the rest of the evening working.

Had a pretty quiet night, chatting to others in my corridor.

Another morning of lectures and practicals finishing at 1.00pm - all going well. The afternoon went by trying to learn anatomy, and I resorted to drawing my nerves, veins, muscles etc onto my arm, as it seemed to make things a little easier to understand. Even if I got a few weird looks before pulling my sleeves down as I walked to my supervision.

Unfortunately, the supervisor chose to use my arm for his demonstration, and as he rolled my sleeve up he looked a little surprised to say the least!

After this, Elaine, Emma, Laura, Kerry (Natural Scientists) and myself decided that we had been working hard enough, so we headed out to Pizza Hut. This was good fun until I realised that Emma and I were both supposed to be at the Chaplain's room from 9.00pm, and it was already 9.30pm. Having said that, he did tell us we could turn up whenever we wanted. We were still pretty late, but he took it well and welcomed us with mulled wine.

Today I only had two lectures. In between the two, I went with Susannah to Starbucks, and then we wandered around the shops for a while. I spent the afternoon working (or procrastinating, as I mucked around online and then chatted to a few people on my corridor!).

Had another supervision, which was hard work. It was Physiology and we are doing some Maths, which I haven't done for ages. Hmm, will see how that goes.

Went to James' room with Susannah and watched The O.C. on the computer and chatted for a while.

Yet another morning full of lectures and practicals. I had an Anatomy practical in which we were chatting and working out the muscles in the arm. The only problem was that loads of people were talking, so I had to work doubly hard to understand them all. Seemed to manage OK though. It makes it so much easier when you read the notes before you go in, as you know roughly what's being talked about and you can recognise a new word from seeing it written down previously.

We had an ethics chat this afternoon with Dr Dalton. I really enjoy these as we chat about tricky questions like "What do you think of euthanasia?" and others relating to recent cases in the press. I sometimes find it quite funny 'cos when we talk about equality and rights for disabled people, I have to remind myself that I am one of those. I find myself forgetting that quite often, and also wonder whether the others in my supervision group ever think about it.

It shouldn't matter, as I have no worries at all about people chatting about disabilities - or, more specifically, deafness - and asking me questions. It almost makes it easier, as I know they can feel that they don't have to do anything different other than make sure I can see their faces when they are talking. The best thing is when people are surprised when I tell them I am deaf; I don't like to stick out - well, not for those reasons anyway!

I went with Rachel to the Rugby curry. When you tell people here that you are going to the Curry Mahal, they almost wish you good luck. Put it this way, no one ever goes for the food. It's bring-your-own-bottle, and it is mostly students that go there - they didn't seem to do much when a food fight broke out between us and the OTC (Uni Officers Training Corps). There were 20 of us; all great fun, and a good night out.

We ended up back at the Catz bar for a few drinks. Some of the others went out to a nightclub, but as I had another 9 o'clock lecture in the morning I declined the offer.

Today was pretty easy, other than having to wedge myself out of bed this morning; I could have done with another couple of hours, but managed to squeeze in a mid-morning nap between lectures.

After lunch I went rowing, but as it was so windy we ended up doing training on the ergs (rowing machines).

We are competing in the Queens Ergs competition; you do a 500m relay with 7 others and try to set the fastest time. It's pretty hard work, but apparently the bonus is that you get a T-shirt for competing. Anyway, I figured it would be a good plan for the fitness!

I spent the evening vegging out with a few others watching Finding Nemo (highly cultural film, I know!) and chatting.

Had a good lie-in this morning and decided pretty early on that I wasn't going to do any work at all! Headed out on a shopping expedition to buy a pair of jeans and boots. Most people were still asleep so I went on my own. It was quite nice just to chill out by myself for a wee while.

Then back to have a sandwich and out rowing. It started raining pretty heavily, but we went out anyway and then some ergs practise, testing on the 500m sprint timing. Was knackered and soaked when I got back to my room.

Later, I went out to Sainsbury's with Sam and Clare to pick up some food for the week, before heading back to dry off again and have some pasta (a student staple food!).

Spent a while distracting those on my corridor from work; it was pretty easy as they were not particularly inclined to work on a Saturday night. Later on I went out to meet a few people from other colleges and we tried to go to the Queens Ent (a party), but it was sold out so we just chatted for ages instead.

Another lie-in, then did some washing before settling down to do some real work as the week ahead is going to be the busiest so far with four 9.00am-6.00pm days. Uh oh!

Went to hall and chatted before going to do a little more work, followed by a few drinks at the bar. Not too late for bed to get a decent nights sleep in preparation for another busy week.

I guess that's me done then! I hope I've been able to show some people, particularly those of you who are deaf, that it isn't so hard to go to uni and take part in everything (bar perhaps the singing) as much as everyone else.

Having done this diary, I thought I would leave you with a few tips, suggestions and thoughts. Firstly, from my experience, everyone has been brilliant. It depends on you telling someone the situation, whatever it may be. You need to be honest and confident at making sure that they are making it as easy as possible for you.

In the first week I was mentioning my deafness to everyone, not by choice but by necessity. This did get tedious, but it is now less and less of an issue as it becomes almost second nature to your companions to help you - for example, by sitting with you near the front of lectures.

I don't know any other disabled people here, let alone deaf, which I don't see as a bad thing. I have never really known any deaf people, having been at a hearing school. Therefore it is not new to me to have to explain my hearing impairment to lots of people.

One thing I would say is that the DSA timetabling seems to have been a little bit of a farce, as I still haven't received notification of my allowance. My application went in at the end of August - I know that was late, but if most people only receive their confirmation from the university around that time, surely most apply then? (I have also seen from the other three students taking part in Ouch's diaries that at least two of them are still waiting on the DSA as well.) And yet, I have no confirmation of whether I will get support for note-taking etc, should I choose to use it.

Personally, I am lucky enough that my parents can lend me the money until it comes through. However, there are others who are not in such a fortunate situation. What becomes of them? They are forced to make do until the funding makes its way to them, supposedly (in my case) by mid-November, by which time the first term is ending. Even more annoying is that we all have to go through this fiasco every year we are at uni! So if you are lucky enough to be able to, I would advise you to start preparing your DSA application as early as possible.

Specifically, as a medic, I do not foresee any problems that I can't do something about. For example, in theatre (when I eventually get there!), I will have to make sure that I get hold of see-through masks so that I can lip-read the others.

In hospitals I will need to get used to explaining to the patient that I am hearing impaired but that I can communicate well. Elderly people and children may be tricky, but they are more often than not accompanied by a parent/carer/companion who can help with communication.

When I do finally complete my training I am interested in going into General Practice, as it is one of the more broad careers. However, there is part of me that is interested in Obstetrics and Paediatrics - maybe something to do with a similar sense of humour?

Seriously though, with so many paths being open to me, I don't reckon I will close any options for another couple of years.