Coffee beans get you through those early morning lectures.
London. It’s the big apple of Europe, the city that’s always buzzing: but unlike the concrete jungle of New York, we have the added luxury of having some of the finest greenery. So why study in London? And more importantly, why choose King’s College London? Well, if you want a true taste of the capital, it makes sense to go to the most central university in the city! Its vibrant, upbeat atmosphere and colourful mix of students is something that makes the university one of the best in the country from a student’s prospective, as well as excelling in all fields of academia. But the one I’m drawing to your attention is the scientific field.
You might ask yourself what gives the students of King’s College a drive to succeed, and in general, what gives Londoners that lively edge? A big contributing factor is caffeine. This is just a minute fraction of what our health and science schools have to offer in terms of study. If you’re interested in rocket science, we have the Centre of Human and Aerospace Physiological Science, but if the newest rapidly advancing field of science, neuroscience, takes your fancy, we’ve got that too! We have a department, a centre or an institute in each scientific discipline to suit everyone. Not only do we ensure our teaching is more than up to scratch, but we make sure we stay on top of our research. Our lecturers have the superhuman ability of being able to articulate complex scientific ideas to students, as well as investigating the neural pathways of learning new words or building a computer model of an epileptic brain.
Nevertheless, caffeine acts for many students as the fuel for uni life. But what is caffeine actually doing to our students? Caffeine is a molecule that travels from our stomach into our bloodstream and eventually makes it into our brain. Our brain cells have specific receptors that sit on the outside and detect the molecule Adenosine. This molecule is responsible for making us feel sleepy!
Caffeine has a very similar shape to adenosine, so when we drink our latte, we effectively block those receptors with the caffeine molecule so that adenosine can’t bind, and voilà ! We no longer feel tired!
Now, we don’t all have to love coffee to have our caffeine hit. We’ve got the energy drinks, cans of Coca Cola, and there are even caffeine pills! But even if caffeine isn’t your thing, don’t let that put you off: the best thing about studying in such a vast city like London is that you will definitely find someone like you. Don’t listen to the anxious tales and stories. Thousands of students flock to the capital, come to King’s and have the time of their lives. Let that be you!
