As the new norm in many countries, including Sri Lanka is the online education I think it is important to talk about this topic. Even though it is a bit too late to write this I thought of publishing this anyway. So let me get things straight. You sit behind your computer and in your very cozy room and teacher cannot see you. There are many things that can go wrong in a situation like this. You can watch tv, you can eat, you can even be sleeping and the teacher will not notice. As students we need to optimise the time we have and use it to the max. So now I will point out shortly what we can do to concentrate on the lecture/class. 01. Have your meals and trips to the toilet before the lecture. This is important because one trip to the kitchen may take hours!  02. Make sure you have everything you need on the table including ...

  Like I always say we all procrastinate. Nobody can be productive 24x7 throughout their entire life time right? For Advanced Level student the consequences of procrastination is life changing as the exam will most probably decide the path of your life for a next couple of decades. (I am not saying your entire life depends on this, but we don't need to look at our past and regret, do we?) So today let me tell you about how to minimize being lazy and get work done, 01. Remove all the distractions and focus on goals. I'm very serious. Do not get yourself into relationships... (I am not against those. You can have a one if you are good at not texting/ day dreaming 24x7 about that person. Most of us are not, so if you can't control yourself then it is better not to get into a relationship this soon.. The world is not gonna end y'all. There are so many nice guys out there.) Be independent. The way I say it is this. Imagine all your friends, relatives are all gone and there i...

     I'm a person who doesn't judge people depending on how they look, but we all are not the same. Sometimes we have our own standards for our bodies and sometimes there are people who bully us into thinking that we look ugly. Whatever the case is, this is for people who are trying to lose some weight. I was struggling with weight for years.. I was called names and being compared to other people. I tried many different things, had cried myself to sleep and hated for being stuck in a very stubborn body. Today I am in the body I always wanted. The kind of body everybody dreams of (this feels like bragging, but hell yeah I earned it... So). So I thought of openly talking about it.

  Hello everyone! This is to update you all about my YouTube channel. I started a channel about an year ago and did not post anything frequently. After moving to Paris a lot of people requested that I should do it actively and here we are. So far I uploaded 2 videos after moving here and one video per week is planned and currently in the process of editing. If you would like to see a glimpse of my life check my channel out from HERE . Don't forget to like and subscribe if you like the content and comment if you have any topics you want me to talk about/ show.

                                    I'm so sure we all heard of "Everybody has a different timeline" quote. And then we tell ourselves "What a bullshit is that, everybody has this and that and nothing ever happens to me!" Well I am not gonna say we all have different timelines today. But I'm gonna tell you how to get everything you ever wanted by doing just a very simple couple of things. You have to trust the process!

  Since I always post about A/Ls I thought about writing about the life after A/Ls. There are two paths to follow after A/Ls.. A job or pursuing higher education. Since I did an undergraduate degree I can only talk about that. If you decide to go for tertiary education instead of directly applying for a job with A/Ls, the next question arises. Where to go? Before that actually there is one more important thing people usually miss and of course later in life they regret. What kind of a job do you wish to have after bachelors? Will you stay in academia or want to join the industry? Your answer to that will help you in determining your university.

                                In the famous study culture students are studying for 9-11 hours a day without sleep and most of us are proud to say that we sacrificed our sleep for studies. I have even seen many teachers advising students that studies are more important than sleep, but is it? In my life sleeping is the number one priority. I'm not even kidding. If I go to an exam without sleep my performance will be worse than a no study proper sleep situation. Sleep actually has a huge impact on how we perform and our levels of concentration. Lets dig in to find out how that works.

  After a break of weeks I am writing again, but not from Sri Lanka, but from France. I was busy with document processing etc and settling down and today I am posting about all that. So as I mentioned in a previous post  I wanted to be a Nuclear Engineer and ended up doing Nuclear Medicine instead. And now finally after going around and around I am finally in the path to becoming a Nuclear Engineer. After trying different universities for different subjects I finally got accepted to Nuclear Engineering at a top 20 university. It was quite a struggle to get through rejections and finally finally get accepted to the university I never thought that would accept me... Life is not easy and it throws us twisted plots and curve balls at us, but in the end we get what we deserve. So do not ever give up. Sometimes waiting gives you the best results. I will stop for today and comeback with informative articles from now onwards. If any of you are interested in knowing anything related to...

                             So this is one of the questions many undergraduate students have and I get asked all the time. So today I thought of answering your question. How to be a TA or an RA. I will start with TA because I was a one for a year.  First of all lets talk about the job role. A TA is responsible for doing all the practicals, marking the reports, invigilating exams and conducting tutorials. It can be undergraduate or sometimes postgraduate. You get paid around 40000 LKR in many government and private universities. Usually after completing the undergraduate degree you can apply for the position in the department you studied and based on the qualifications and the number of vacancies you will be offered a position. In most of the departments the maximum duration is 1 year.  When it comes to RA positions it is not very straightforward as TA positions. Most of the time the RA posts are offere...

  If you are going abroad you will need to get your documents such as birth certificates and educational certificates foreign ministry certified. It's a very long process and it's gonna be very hectic and depressing as well. First of all what is a foreign ministry certified document? They check your original documents and gives you another document with a QR code that says your document is an original and anybody can check it using the QR code. You can take any number of photocopies of the document and those are valid for a year. To where should you go to get them certified? The branch where they certify documents is in the 3rd floor of the Ceylinco Building which is in the opposite side of the World Trade Center. And you have to go there as early as possible because there is gonna be a loooooooong que. They issue a token and it's very important not to lose it as they will check that before taking you in. And make sure to go early as possible too because if you go there by ...

You want to get something done, but feels like you can't? Well this rule will make you do it whether your goal is to lose weight, to study more or to wake up early. The person behind this rule is Mel Robbins and in her book she define 5 second rule as " If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea". I will explain how I follow that advice in my own way and you can adapt it to your requirement as well. In my case whenever I need to get something done I tell myself now its 6.05pm...I will wait till 6.15... I will wait 10 more minutes... And that 10 minutes never come. When I heard about the 5 second rule I was in bed trying to get up. So I decided to use it with reversed counting. Instead of saying 1,2,3,4,5 and get up I counted 5,4,3,2,1... and I suddenly jumped out of bed. Later I got to know it has a psychological explanation. When we start counting from 1 it can go up to infinity, but when we reverse...

 As I always we are what we eat it is really really important to maintain our health as students. So today I am going to be talking about food that will aid you in studies. The nutrients found in these help to boost memory and concentration and try to add these to your diet more often. For those who are interested I will mention the research papers as well. 01. Berries Berries contain flavonoids that improves blood flow to the brain, improve communication between brain cells and helps brain cells to make new connections. (01-02) 02. Fish Fish containing Omega 3 improves the structure of neurons. A Japanese study done with 76 adults showed a correlation with fish intake and better memory performance and better brain health. (03) 03. Dark Chocolate Dark chocolate also contains flavonoids and as mentioned below it benefits us by improving neural pathways. Cocoa intake also reduces brain fatigue and improve the blood flow to the brain as well. (04) 04. Citrus Fruits Citrus fruits conta...

  Well, studying isn't always fun right? (For some of you not fun at all.. I know) But there are times that no matter how we feel we just have to do it. So in this article I will first focus on tips to avoid feeling sleepy to just get this one project/ essay done and then I will move onto the topic of how to not be sleepy in the long run. So you have an exam tomorrow or a deadline and you want to get it done without falling asleep? Here are my quick tips. (If you are looking for a sustainable method skip this and move on to the next part) Caffeine- It's my go to to pull an all nighter  Dark chocolate- Not only it will keep you awake but it will keep you calm too Movements- Move you legs and arms from time to time even while you are sitting Be in a well lit room- Well our bodies are designed to respond to environmental stimulus. So dark equals it's time to sleep Avoid the bedroom- In our brains bedroom is associated with sleeping. So no studies in bed or the bedroom Take a s...

  Growing up, the Little House series was my favourite. It is indeed a childhood memory I hold very close to my heart. Even though I read thousands of books after that, still those words are so much alive in my head. I don't know the reason I cherished the narrative of a little girl living in the 19th century, but the descriptions of nature, the lifestyle of a strongly bonded family, comforted me as a child.  Little House is a series of autobiographical novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder(1867-1957) that describes life in the 19th century United States settlements. Adventure, calm tenacity in the face of hardship, the excitement of the unknown, and the ability to re-establish oneself wherever one may land are all themes that run through her stories. Her father and mother are Charles and Caroline Ingalls, and she had three siblings; Mary, Carrie and Grace. In 1869, they moved from Wisconsin to the Indian country in Kansas after stopping in Missouri. They later moved back to ...

Voice of Nesyamun, a priest that lived 3000 years ago during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses XI, has been brought to life by a group of scientists from Royal Holloway, the University of London and the University of York and Leeds Museum. His body was first unwrapped in 1824, and since then, it has been tested several times using X ray, CT scans, endoscopy and even histology. As this is the only mummy to have been dated from the Ramses XIs reign, it provides essential insights about that era. The medical examinations revealed he had been suffering from gum disease, and his teeth have severely deteriorated. He is believed to have died in his 50s, possibly following a severe allergic reaction. Inscriptions on his coffin showed that his dying wish was to be able to speak after his death and 3000 years after his death, his wish came true. After taking precise measurements of his extant vocal tract with the aid of CT scans, the scientists created a 3D printed model. By using that they were able...

  Four years old Derrick Robie lived in Savona, New York with his mother Doreen, father Dave and his 18 months old younger brother Dalton. In the summer of 1993 he was attending a summer camp very close to their house. The road was a dead end and there were no roads to cross. Still his mother took him to the summer camp and came back everyday. In the morning of 2nd August 1993, Dalton started throwing a fit and Derrick asked if he could go alone so mom could take care of the younger brother. His mom agreed to let him go alone as it was a tight knit community and it was just so close to his house. In the evening Doreen went to the summer camp to pick Derrick only to find out he never arrived.. Panicked mom called the police immediately. Police started searching for him and found his body beaten to a pulp, near a small patch of woods closer to the summer camp. His autopsy revealed that he had multiple skull fractures, cerebral swelling and contusions, extreme tearing in chest tissues...

  Diane Schuler, the perfect mom for 2 children caused one of the most fatal accidents in Westchester County since 1934. There are some  bizarre unansweredquestions around this whole case and different people have different opinions. Diane, her husband, her two children and 3 nieces have been camping at the Hunter Lake campground in Parksville, New York. On July 26th 2009 around 9.30 they left the campsite; Diane with children in her 2003 red Ford minivan and her husband Daniel in their pickup truck with the family dog. On their way home to West Babylon minivan made several stops, first at a McDonald's and several gas stations. However at 11.37am, Diane called her brother to tell him that they are being delayed due to the traffic. While she was calling her brother, several other calls were being made by other drivers who were on the highway. They reported a minivan driving recklessly, flashing headlights, honking and tailgating. Other witnesses who reported seeing a woman bend...

People become vegetarians for many reasons; ethics, religion, health issues, hormones in animals, environmental concerns and the list goes on. I first started being a vegetarian in 2014. Why? Because I lost the very first animal who loved me. His name was Dotty...  A pretty black and white fur ball.. It was a hit and run kinda thing. He was flattened in the middle of the road. He was a kitten and has never ever been to the road before. And the view of dead animals in roadsides is a pretty common thing. Why? Because people don't care. Hitting an animal and a human is not the same according to them. Losing him hit me really hard and it made me think of how the value of a life is relative... If we are not attached to the dead one, we don't feel a thing. But that doesn't mean we can go and kill someones loved ones. That made me feel horrible for eating all the animals for 19 years. And I became a vegetarian. After one year my health went downhill due to lack of proteins in my d...

  Six years ago, an angry teenage boy in Spain decided to dig a hole in the backyard after a fight with his mother. Fourteen years old Andres Canto's mother wanted him to change his clothes before leaving with his friends which he refused. As a punishment she ordered him to stay home. Angry Canto decided to vent his anger by digging a hole. He grabbed his grandfathers pickaxe and started digging which then became an obsession. He used his evenings after school for his newly obsessed excavation project and he even started learning about different methods. The pace of this project drastically changed when his best friend, Andreau also joined with his pneumatic drill and the duo spent 14 hours a week digging almost 10 feet. They removed the soil initially by using a bucket, but as they go deeper and deeper they developed a pulley system. During an interview he said that during the first three years he wanted to see how deep they could dig, and then they got the idea to turn it into a ...

                                   At least once in our lives we have been in a place where we can't make ourselves get the work done. There are tons of things to do, you want to do, but you can't just make yourself start doing them. If this is you right now, then this is for you.

Photo Credits: Wayne Hsieh                        Lalaurie mansion is a house that was built in 1800s and it is famous as one of the most haunted houses in New Orleans. This house and its bloody past will surely remind you of how cruel slavery was back in the day. The house is situated in 1140, Royal street and the owner was Delphine LaLaurie. She was born on 19th March 1787 and she was born to a family of five. Her parents moved to the US from Ireland in 1730s and settled down in New Orleans. When she was four years old the Haitian revolution erupted (1791) and several slaveholders including her uncle was killed by the slaves. That incident lead slaveholders to take extreme measures to discipline their slaves. In 1800 when she was just 13 years old she married a Spanish royal officer and in 1804 he was called to the Spanish court. On the way to Madrid with his now pregnant wife Delphine, he passed away in Havana suddenly. Afte...

  IELTS is a standard English examination which you are supposed to take if you want admission in a foreign university or to apply for some occupations in foreign countries. I face to IELTS exam last year and based on my experience today I am going to give some tips and websites/ YouTube channels I found useful.

  A  911 call from a 17 years old girl on January 14th 2018 revealed a horrifying stories that later made into international headlines. The teenager said twelve siblings, ages ranging from 2 to 29 were held captive in their own house by their own parents and it took her two years of planning to run away... Insane, right? Lets dig into it.

                                               If you have been reading this blog for some time then you know that I am a science graduate and as an undergraduate I did two research projects; a year long final year undergraduate research project and a mini research project. So I thought of giving an insight about how to conduct a research and some websites/tools that might be helpful to anyone who is looking forward to conduct a research.

                             Zodiac killer is one of the most famous, yet so far unidentified serial killers in history. It came back to life in recently when one of his ciphers were cracked. Let me tell you what we know about this mystery man. 

"You look happier!" is in my opinion one of the best compliments a person can get. I do get compliments everyday from my colleagues and friends, but am I happy? I am trying to be... but I kinda am in dark place right now. Why am I telling you this now... Sometimes reading about similar situations helps people. They relate what happens to them with the stories they read and sometimes it is relieving to know that somebody else's story resonates with yours. 

As I previously mentioned I am a Teaching Assistant at the UOC and today I will be sharing with you how I normally spend a day when I don't work. I wake up early. If I go to work I wake up 4 5ish and if not its 5,6ish. The first thing I do as soon as I wake up is downloading things to watch while working out. It can be anything from tedtalks to some episodes of a TV series I like. As you all know I'm living with a slipped disc in my spinal cord and I am given a set of exercises to follow on a daily basis. Therefore I wake up early morning, have a black coffee and exercise. Once I'm done I have a bath because I sweat a lot. haha. I also follow a skincare routine if any one of you are curious. I use several products from different brand though. My face wash is ponds, scrub is prevense, toner is forever and finally moisturiser is shello.

After a long time I decided to review a very useful product I recently purchased. Actually it is a gift from my person. Lately I have turned into a fitness freak and he thought this would be useful to me and he was correct... (Thanks baby💜) I wear it all the time. Like 24x7. Let me introduce you its features one by one.

The new normal, covid 19 has forced us into move all our study sessions;schools, tuition classes and even university lectures into online form. This has its own advantages as well as disadvantages. In my opinion it has provided a platform for students who perform well, to ace the studies while for average or badly performing students to distract themselves more. Therefore I thought of giving you some tips to manage and balance your daily routine and studies more efficiently. Without further ado lets get started.