The last year in Durham ahead of me

Now I have two thirds of my studies in Durham successfully behind me. For the last term of my second year I came to Durham two weeks earlier in order to prepare for my exams. This term was structured in the same way as in the last year; the only difference for me was that the exam dates were spaced over all four weeks of the exam period, whereas it was only the first two weeks of the exam period in the last year. The exam timetable for this year was better suited for me as it allowed me to focus more on each exam individually. I believe that this change partly contributed to achieving better results this year compared to the last year. I am happy about my results since they are counted in the final degree classification unlike the results obtained the last year.

I achieved the best evaluation in Complex Analysis, which was my favourite module. We were introduced to many topics: from properties of complex numbers, to complex functions and their derivatives/integrals and to some interesting applications of complex analysis like solving some types of real integrals. This module contained many new topics for me and I enjoyed it very much.
Because of the fact that the exams covered a longer period than in the last year, I had less time for some extracurricular activities before leaving Durham. Nevertheless, I think I made the most of those few weeks. Some of the best experiences were daytrips to Hadrian’s Wall and to Edinburgh and also visits of some concerts of classical music. I was lucky to find out about a piano recital by Ukrainian pianist Olga Zado in the cathedral, which was of the highest standards. Besides this I also attended concerts performed by the Durham University Chamber Choir, the Durham University Classical Ensemble and the Durham University Orchestral Society.
Another event I attended was a one-day conference organised by the “Effective Altruism” Society. The programme contained many talks with topics varying from autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence to living conditions of farm animals. I think it was one of the most thought-provoking events of the year.
The last week of the term, I focused on selecting a topic for my final project, which I will undertake next year. This project is analogous to the bachelor's thesis in other universities. At the end of this year, the University offered us various topics, each being supervised by one or two advisors. Students should make a priority list of 5 most appropriate topics and they will be informed at the end of September, which topic was finally assigned to them. The first part of the project consists of a self-study and team consultations. In the second part, the focus and direction of the project are given by interests and abilities of individual students. The proposed topics were very diverse and included classical as well as modern areas of mathematics and theoretical physics, such as Fourier analysis, clustering methods, chaos theory, theory of general relativity and many more. After discussing some of the topics with the relevant supervisors I chose 5 topics I was most interested in. I am looking forward to working on the project and to the last year of my studies in Durham.

 

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