Health Science Reviews

by Kiera Hürlimann

Going into honours this year has been a big leap into the unknown. Not just because I’m starting a whole new degree that is run so completely different from my undergrad but also because I’ve packed up my whole life and moved to a new university, new city, new province, and there is so much to adjust to.  Cape Town feels like a whole other country from Joburg where I grew up and Pretoria where I did my undergrad. Now I have to start all over to make new friends, find new favourite spots and navigate a whole new learning system (sorry UCT but Blackboard was waaayyy better than Vula). Even though this degree intimidates me because of all the unknowns, I’m so excited for what it has in store. I know that an honours year is essentially a training year to bridge the gap between undergrad and postgrad, so I’m expecting a lot of learning and training and to finally be hands on with all the things we do. Through the Medical Cell Biology course I know we are going to learn so many useful lab techniques and really get into the grit of cell biology theory. I’m really excited for the modules we’ll be covering as they all seem so interesting and am especially excited for our research projects. Getting to conduct our very own project that we get to write up ourselves and could be published after? How cool is that?! I know I have a long year ahead of me that’s going to consist of hard work, long days and lots and lots of article reading but I’m also hopeful that I will gain a lot from this year and that I’ll make lots of happy memories and good friends along the way. Here’s to starting honours with bright eyes, an open mind and a hopeful heart! Let’s see where the year takes me!