MY project:

Help me raise £6700 to partially fund my studies in Clinical Neuroscience at King's College!!

I recently received an offer to continue my academic education with a Masters in Clinical Neuroscience at King's College London. After a degree in Nursing and one in Neuroscience it is time for me to combine together my clinical experience with my neuroscience studies. Unfortunately, as we all know, (almost) any amazing thing comes with a price tag :S and Masters specifically tend to be very expensive. As I realised I cannot cover on my own the entirety of the costs: I'm asking for your help!

What is Neuroscience?

Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary science that aims to unravel the mysteries of the brain and the nervous system, in order to understand how things work under normal circumstances (physiologically), and what goes wrong and gives rise to illnesses (pathological states). Neuroscience research today, amongst many many other applications, allows to outline new ways to defy illnesses against which we don't have cure/effective treatments yet, some examples are: various forms of dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis and many others.

I am particularly interested in dementia and this masters is a great opportunity to gain the skills to become a clinical researchers. Ultimately, my dream is to contribute to the current knowledge and, who knows, one day improve the quality of life of people suffering from early onset dementia!

My story

I promise I'll keep it short ...My story, or better, my relevant story, began when I was a very stubborn 17 years old and I moved to Spain. I obtained a scholarship for an exchange year and I was sent to this beautiful and sunny country. While I was there, I begged the dean of the school to allow me to do the final high school exam, which exchange student, for obvious reasons, never do. I did the exam (called PAU) and I passed it with good marks! Although I was still supposed to attend my final year of high school in Italy, I felt I was ready to go to Uni, therefore I skipped my last year of high school in Italy and I entered the Nursing school at University of Pavia. In the middle of my Nursing Degree I realised that I wanted to learn more about physiology and, thanks to an internship in a psychiatric ward, I became extremely fascinated by the brain. I therefore started looking around for opportunities to follow this area of science.

Well, here the story gets interesting: after a long and exhausting Uni/courses hunting I came across The University of Leeds and its course in Neuroscience. Bear in mind that at that time I didn't know where in the UK Leeds was, I just clicked the UCAS button and I applied...that course was too interesting! Few months after graduating in Nursing, I left my country, my family, my same-language-speaking-friends, my comfort zone, and I moved to Leeds. Three years later I happily graduated in Neuroscience from one of the top 100 Universities in the world with a 2:1! As you can notice from the title of the project, I am not done learning, but at this time I need your help.

Now, if you read until here..well done and thank you! If you haven't here is the take-home-message : throughout the last 9 years I followed my dreams with persistence and determination. I learnt to be brave and that my aspirations matter, and most importantly I learnt not to get discouraged when facing difficulties. A very wise scientist once told me: "Cristina, overcoming difficulties is your thing!"; I agree, it is my thing...but this time I can't do it alone!

Let's talk ABOUT MONEY!

The breakdown of the cost of my masters is very simple:

- £12000 of fees

- £6700 of accommodation

-£6000 other living costs/studying materials costs

The contribution I'm asking for is £6700 which is the cost of the accommodation for one year. The remaining costs are taken care by me with savings and/or loans.

As simple as that.

Rewards

In order to thank the supporters, depending on the amount donated, there are special rewards! Your help is truly appreciated and I hope that the rewards, even if little, will remind you of how grateful I am for your support.

Help me succeed!

Please remember that donating is not the only way to support me! Even if you can't donate, you can still share with friends and relatives my campaign through Facebook or by email.