A water molecule has an oxygen and two hydrogens; an oxygen has six electrons in the outer shell and each hydrogen atom has one electron. An O-H bond can be described as the overlap of two atomic orbitals donated from oxygen and hydrogen. When oxygen atom form bonds with hydrogens, three p-orbitals and one s-orbital of oxygen atom are mixed together, and produce four degenerate sp3 hybrid orbital. This process is so-called hybridisation, and this concept is the foundation of whole chemistry. An sp3 orbital has 25% s-orbital-property and 75% p-orbital-property.

The university life in Imperial College London is based on the hybridisation of daily livelihood and the course working, and the component of ‘living’ is much higher than while I was in Christ’s Hospital. Especially, although I am in a student hall supervised by the college, I have to feed myself, as self-catering is standard for the daily meals. Therefore, I feel actually that the working is embedded in the daily life, rather than working and living are well-separated like during the school life in Christ’s Hospital.

The first term flew away so quickly; I had average ten lectures every week, either tutorials (small group discussion) or workshops are held alternatively every week, and had lab work twice in a fortnight. There are three tutorials in chemistry: organic, inorganic and physical chemistry, and they are the most enjoyable part of the whole course so far, as new contents given in lectures can be discussed with six other students and one teaching fellow/professor. This enables me to understand the concept deeply, to expand my brain to more unfamiliar area, and to practice how the knowledge can be applied to analyse the chemical phenomena.

My first lab work was very interesting; making own UV-vis spectrometer with Lego blocks. Arrange and design the spectrometer with my team mate, and figured out the optimal angle to detect the absorbance. Also, chemistry department provides very fun lab experience, called Chemical Kitchen, as the introduction of chemical synthesis. We cooked deep fried egg and cheese. Cooking is totally the sequence of chemical reactions, and we could learn a lot of lab skills and chemistry behind how cheese is made from milk and other chemicals.

Imperial College Londonは非常に国際的な大学として知られており、学生の半数以上が英国外からの留学生であると言われています。そのためか、LGBTQ+、民族、宗教などに対するサポート体制が十分であり、大変素晴らしいものであると思いました。また、この大学は（おそらく英国のほとんどの大学も同様）、すべての学生が機会的平等性を実現し、そのポテンシャルを最大限発揮できるよう、mitigating circumstances と呼ばれるものがあります。 これは、例えば病気（精神的、身体的）や家庭状況、経済状況など自分でコントロールできない要因が学業履修の妨げとなっている際の軽減措置です。理学部（Faculty o Natural Science）の Senior Tutorから、令和六年能登半島地震への支援を申し出るメールから届いたのには大変驚きました。もし何かしらの被害や影響があり、学業に支障が出そうな場合は、mitigating circumstances に申請することも視野に入れているという旨のメールでした。これには大変驚くとともに、サポートの手厚さを感じました。

また学部内には、学生の pastoral care（精神的サポートやその他カウンセリングなど）を専門とするスタッフもいます。ほとんどの教授や講師らは、学生一人一人のパーソナルチューターも兼任しており、学業や進路などに関する相談をすることができます。このような仕組みが、学生がより学業に集中できる環境を整え、また教授やその他スタッフの仕事量を減らし、教授らも研究に集中できる環境が整えられているのだと感じました。