After a week of intense studying my exams are finished. Friday was my last exam in Strategic Management, hopefully I did well. After the exam we submitted our last assignment for before Christmas, now it's time for Holidays! Friday I booked my ticket back to Holland for Monday, without telling my mother (my father and sister knew about it). So I am spending Christmas at home :).
Therefore Saturday I went shopping in the City Centre and Bullring shopping mall to get my family some presents. Shopping took a little longer than expected and all together I spent about 4 hours walking and looking for some nice gifts, but I found some! When I came back home after shopping I read in the news about terrible frost and blizzards in Holland... making me a little worried about my flight being cancelled.
A little nervous, Sunday morning I checked weather and flights again, and Sunday's flight for Amsterdam was cancelled! Furthermore there was a weather-alarm in Holland, huge troubles on the roads, railways and airports... that didn't look good. Luckily things were better on Monday, with Amsterdam's flight being right on schedule according to Birmingham Airport's website.
Monday, after having a pizza at my place, I went to the airport together with Vikesh, hoping there would not be any surprises. I had checked in online, so didn't had to go to the check-in counter. After some waiting I went to the gate for boarding. At the gate all cabin baggage was checked on size and wait! Literally, every bag for a totally filled airplane. Unbelievable, it took so long. When it was my turn they had a nice surprise:"you can only carry-on 1 bag Sir...", I was having a carry on bag and a laptop, which is even allowed with RyanAir! Not with BmiBaby though... Check-in my small bag with some presents for my family would cost me 30 pound, about the same amount as the value of the presents.
However, I was able to squeeze my laptop bag in my rucksack, squeezing all my presents and stuff. My rucksack became incredibly large, and everybody could see it wouldn't fit within the carry-on baggage size thing. But luckily they tolerated my larger bag, I had some difficulties putting them in the overhead storage though, but with some hard pushing and squeezing an almost breaking the cover I succeeded!
After the 1 hour flight I arrived around 6.30PM at Schiphol airport. The nicest surprise was yet to come... the railway services. After buying my ticket to Eindhoven, which is normally a 1.5 hour direct intercity, I noticed there were no trains going to Eindhoven. The only trains leaving were regional trains stopping at all stations, actually due to the weather everywhere in Holland only the regional stop-trains were going. Therefore I first had to take the train to Amsterdam Central Station, which took me about half an hour. At Amsterdam I could take the slow train to Utrecht... this took me again 1 hour. At Utrecht it was freezing cold, but I was very happy to see there was a train scheduled to Eindhoven only 3 minutes after my arrival! Not... the train was cancelled, and I had to wait for another half hour to get the train to Den Bosch. Normally the route Utrecht - Den Bosch takes you about 30 minutes... today 1 hour. On the way to Den Bosch I asked my father whether he could pick me up at Den Bosch station... I was really done with the train at that moment. Arrived at Den Bosch I had 2 large coffees and after about half an hour my father picked me up. On the road home I was amazed by the ammount of snow fallin in Holland, the whole landscape is covered under a 20 centimeter thick cover of white snow. A white Christmas :D!
Finally arrived home my mother was already taking a nap in front of the television. When I came in she stared at me for a second or 3... after she amazed said: "What are you doing here???" She had no idea at all I was coming :). A nice Christmas surprise. Another nice surprise yesterday was that my girlfriend Koy could pick-up her Student-Visa from the UK-embassy in Bangkok! She'll be joining me in Birmingham for an English Language Program in 1 or 2 weeks.
A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE, AND A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
22 December 2009
25 November 2009
Fire Alarms and TATA Crucible
Last week the whole tower was twice waken up early because of fire alarms. Wednesday morning at 5 AM was the first one, everybody had to leave the building and gather in front of the building. Of course there was no real fire, but that didn’t stop the security from personally checking each and every room in the building to make sure everybody left! It took until 6:30 AM, one and a half hours, until we could go back in. Not a particular nice wake-up call… Friday morning we had a similar story, at 7.15 AM the fire alarms went off again. Of course, again, there was no fire but we had to wait again for 1 hour before we could go back in.
This week we also got our exam timetables. I have got 4 exams from the 14th of December until the 18th of December, and then it’s time for holidays. Last Sunday I went with Jaffar to London, my first time in London! We participated in TATA’s Crucible campus quiz, a quiz between UK’s universities in which the winner can win 4000 pounds and a place in the finals in India. Unfortunately I and Jaffar didn’t make it into the finals, but we surely performed quite well in the quiz and even got a certificate which says we are excellent (as did everybody else get…).
On the way to the venue we got to see something of London from the bus, including the (not so) Big Ben. Before the quiz and during the breaks we were offered lots of sandwiches, snacks, coffee and tea. The quiz took until about 8 PM, before we could get back on the coach to Birmingham. The trip back to Birmingham took much longer than expected. A Chinese girl was suffering from traveling sickness and got a panic attack, which made the bus driver stop and her friends even called an ambulance. We have been waiting for the ambulance for 1.5 hours before it arrived; of course the girl was already doing fine after 1.5 hours. I can’t even believe the ambulance turned up for a girl with traveling sickness…
Friday is my first boxing match in Birmingham. 7 boys , including me, from my club are fighting this evening.
This week we also got our exam timetables. I have got 4 exams from the 14th of December until the 18th of December, and then it’s time for holidays. Last Sunday I went with Jaffar to London, my first time in London! We participated in TATA’s Crucible campus quiz, a quiz between UK’s universities in which the winner can win 4000 pounds and a place in the finals in India. Unfortunately I and Jaffar didn’t make it into the finals, but we surely performed quite well in the quiz and even got a certificate which says we are excellent (as did everybody else get…).
On the way to the venue we got to see something of London from the bus, including the (not so) Big Ben. Before the quiz and during the breaks we were offered lots of sandwiches, snacks, coffee and tea. The quiz took until about 8 PM, before we could get back on the coach to Birmingham. The trip back to Birmingham took much longer than expected. A Chinese girl was suffering from traveling sickness and got a panic attack, which made the bus driver stop and her friends even called an ambulance. We have been waiting for the ambulance for 1.5 hours before it arrived; of course the girl was already doing fine after 1.5 hours. I can’t even believe the ambulance turned up for a girl with traveling sickness…
Friday is my first boxing match in Birmingham. 7 boys , including me, from my club are fighting this evening.
14 November 2009
Coursework Submission and Sports Scholarship
This week and coming week are, in some extent, the first weeks of coursework submission. Thursday we had to submit our individual case studies for Strategic Management. My case study was about the Korean mobile phone market, which constraints apply to it and how Apple managed to penetrate it with the iPhone. Friday we have had the presentation of the external analysis which we made for the module “group project”. We, me, Jaffar and Paraskevas (Paris), made an external analysis of the European automotive industries. The presentation went quite well, we managed to bring our point across, and stayed very well within the time limits set by the tutor.
Next week we have to hand in the report on this external analysis, which we have actually already finished. Also next week, I and Jaffar have to hand in our work in progress report for supply chain management. In this project we are investigating the oil supply chain to the European Union and in particularly the aspects of exploration & production of oil and oil transport. Also with this report we are making good progress already. That’s a good thing, since the end of the term is coming closer (18 December). Other work in which we will be very busy the coming week will be a critical literature review which we have to write individually for the module Research Methods. I choose my subject as the key drivers in innovative eco-systems.
Last week my Thai classmate Kate had invited me and Jaffar to have dinner at her home. She had, together with her flat mate, cooked some wonderful Thai food for us, Tom Yum Gung, fried vegetables and a nice Thai style salad with tuna. Both I and Jaffar enjoyed it very much, Kate had been quite careful with the chili peppers though, but probably she didn’t expect us to enjoy spicy food.
Wednesday, a week ago, I have had my medical check for my ABA registration. We were checked quite thoroughly and I was, not surprisingly, approved healthy enough to fight boxing matches. My first fight is coming up within 2 weeks already. Friday evening the 27th I am fighting on an event organized by my boxing club.
Also last week I have had an interview with the Aston University Sports Centre regarding the Sport Scholarships for which I had applied. They were happy enough to email me yesterday that I have been granted the scholarship wish consists of 500 pounds contribution to my boxing expenses. Naturally I am not handed 500 pounds cash, the scholarship consists of a free subscription to the University Sports Centre and Swimming Pool (worth of 230 pounds), the other 270 pounds consists of expenses I make for boxing which I can declare such as equipment etc.
For the rest daily life is going just fine. Lots of studying, mainly working on the coursework assignments, and a lot of training.
Next week we have to hand in the report on this external analysis, which we have actually already finished. Also next week, I and Jaffar have to hand in our work in progress report for supply chain management. In this project we are investigating the oil supply chain to the European Union and in particularly the aspects of exploration & production of oil and oil transport. Also with this report we are making good progress already. That’s a good thing, since the end of the term is coming closer (18 December). Other work in which we will be very busy the coming week will be a critical literature review which we have to write individually for the module Research Methods. I choose my subject as the key drivers in innovative eco-systems.
Last week my Thai classmate Kate had invited me and Jaffar to have dinner at her home. She had, together with her flat mate, cooked some wonderful Thai food for us, Tom Yum Gung, fried vegetables and a nice Thai style salad with tuna. Both I and Jaffar enjoyed it very much, Kate had been quite careful with the chili peppers though, but probably she didn’t expect us to enjoy spicy food.
Wednesday, a week ago, I have had my medical check for my ABA registration. We were checked quite thoroughly and I was, not surprisingly, approved healthy enough to fight boxing matches. My first fight is coming up within 2 weeks already. Friday evening the 27th I am fighting on an event organized by my boxing club.
Also last week I have had an interview with the Aston University Sports Centre regarding the Sport Scholarships for which I had applied. They were happy enough to email me yesterday that I have been granted the scholarship wish consists of 500 pounds contribution to my boxing expenses. Naturally I am not handed 500 pounds cash, the scholarship consists of a free subscription to the University Sports Centre and Swimming Pool (worth of 230 pounds), the other 270 pounds consists of expenses I make for boxing which I can declare such as equipment etc.
For the rest daily life is going just fine. Lots of studying, mainly working on the coursework assignments, and a lot of training.
31 October 2009
Halfway through the first term!
It's weekend again, and we're halfway through the first term. I'm quite busy every day, with all those projects, assignments, lectures and of course boxing. Some deadlines are coming up in November, when we have to hand in several reports for Strategic Management, Supply Chain Management, the Automotive Group Project and Research Methods.
Last week actually nothing special happend, a lot of studying and we are meeting regularly in different groups for the different projects. By the end of this term 13 reports or assignments which are all graded should be submitted. That means not much time for other things than studying and boxing.
I am training regularly at the boxing gym near to Aston University, and on Saturdays I'm training in another gym where my trainer is teaching. This other gym has very good facilities, it is a Mixed Martial Arts gym, with nice shower and even a saune. Of course I spent some time in the suana this morning after a good training with a lot of sparring. Actually we are sparring every training, because there is a match coming up next month, the 28th of November. Next week, probably Wednesday, I will have my medical check-up for boxing, hopefully everything is fine ;).
For my studies everything is going fine as well. The high study load is because I am doing an extra module this term, so I have a module less in the next term. This means in stead of doing 5 modules, I am doing 6 now and can do 4 after Christmas. So after Christmas everything is going to be much more relaxed :)!
Well... that's about it for last week... not much special happend actually and I haven't got too much time anymore to write long stories. I haven't made any photos anymore as well, maybe I will make some this week, but I can't promise...
Last week actually nothing special happend, a lot of studying and we are meeting regularly in different groups for the different projects. By the end of this term 13 reports or assignments which are all graded should be submitted. That means not much time for other things than studying and boxing.
I am training regularly at the boxing gym near to Aston University, and on Saturdays I'm training in another gym where my trainer is teaching. This other gym has very good facilities, it is a Mixed Martial Arts gym, with nice shower and even a saune. Of course I spent some time in the suana this morning after a good training with a lot of sparring. Actually we are sparring every training, because there is a match coming up next month, the 28th of November. Next week, probably Wednesday, I will have my medical check-up for boxing, hopefully everything is fine ;).
For my studies everything is going fine as well. The high study load is because I am doing an extra module this term, so I have a module less in the next term. This means in stead of doing 5 modules, I am doing 6 now and can do 4 after Christmas. So after Christmas everything is going to be much more relaxed :)!
Well... that's about it for last week... not much special happend actually and I haven't got too much time anymore to write long stories. I haven't made any photos anymore as well, maybe I will make some this week, but I can't promise...
21 October 2009
Study, Study, Study.... and some Boxing
Sunday (last week, not last Sunday) I did some studying and preparation for classes next week. After studying I went out for dinner with Vikesh and his cousin, to the Pizza Hut. We shared a large pizza and pasta, which tasted good.
Monday morning I spent doing some homework in the library, before my class started at 2 pm. In the evening I went to boxing class again, where we did some sparring and exercises on the heavy bags. After I came I didn’t have much energy left to study, so I did that Tuesday morning. Tuesday’s class was methods of research, which was about critical literature reviews. After class I immediately went to boxing, because the schedule is quite tight. Class finishes at 5 and boxing starts at 6. At boxing we discussed boxing matches and I’ll be registering with the English Amateur Boxing Association, so I can fight matches in England. I was also invited to go sparring at another club, Birmingham City, on Wednesday.
Wednesday morning my class on strategic finance starts at 10AM, and takes only 2 hours, until 12. After class I went home to make myself some lunch and then I went off to the library, first to chat a little with Koy and to study. At 5 o’clock my trainer Dave picked me up at the Uni to go to the Birmingham City boxing club for the sparring sessions. The sparring session was nice; I sparred with two boxers from other clubs and did quite well.
Over the weekend I did a lot of home and project work. For every module we have at least 1 project which has to be completed by December or earlier, that’s a lot of work to do. Saturday morning I took some time off homework though, to go with my trainer to another gym where he is teaching about 7 km from the Uni. In the very well equipped gym I spent practically the whole morning sparring with big MMA fighter guys, but it was a good work-out. With a lot of studying the weekend passes very quickly, and I even didn’t have the time to write on my blog…
Monday morning we started with a class in research methods, which is quite boring. For this module we are having 2 classes of 3 hours a week now. Monday evening I went to boxing again, where we had a good work-out concentrating on the legs… My legs were hurting a little when I woke up Tuesday morning.
The rest of the week until today had been a lot of studying. Yesterday I had a sparring again; some guys were coming over to our gym to spar. I am training 4 days a week now, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. My ABA boxing license has been ordered and I can probably fight my first match in the end of November, in the middle of December I can participate in the English University Championships.
For now it is a lot of studying, every evening, also after boxing training…
Monday morning I spent doing some homework in the library, before my class started at 2 pm. In the evening I went to boxing class again, where we did some sparring and exercises on the heavy bags. After I came I didn’t have much energy left to study, so I did that Tuesday morning. Tuesday’s class was methods of research, which was about critical literature reviews. After class I immediately went to boxing, because the schedule is quite tight. Class finishes at 5 and boxing starts at 6. At boxing we discussed boxing matches and I’ll be registering with the English Amateur Boxing Association, so I can fight matches in England. I was also invited to go sparring at another club, Birmingham City, on Wednesday.
Wednesday morning my class on strategic finance starts at 10AM, and takes only 2 hours, until 12. After class I went home to make myself some lunch and then I went off to the library, first to chat a little with Koy and to study. At 5 o’clock my trainer Dave picked me up at the Uni to go to the Birmingham City boxing club for the sparring sessions. The sparring session was nice; I sparred with two boxers from other clubs and did quite well.
Over the weekend I did a lot of home and project work. For every module we have at least 1 project which has to be completed by December or earlier, that’s a lot of work to do. Saturday morning I took some time off homework though, to go with my trainer to another gym where he is teaching about 7 km from the Uni. In the very well equipped gym I spent practically the whole morning sparring with big MMA fighter guys, but it was a good work-out. With a lot of studying the weekend passes very quickly, and I even didn’t have the time to write on my blog…
Monday morning we started with a class in research methods, which is quite boring. For this module we are having 2 classes of 3 hours a week now. Monday evening I went to boxing again, where we had a good work-out concentrating on the legs… My legs were hurting a little when I woke up Tuesday morning.
The rest of the week until today had been a lot of studying. Yesterday I had a sparring again; some guys were coming over to our gym to spar. I am training 4 days a week now, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. My ABA boxing license has been ordered and I can probably fight my first match in the end of November, in the middle of December I can participate in the English University Championships.
For now it is a lot of studying, every evening, also after boxing training…
10 October 2009
First academic week
The weekend I was feeling a little better, but still I was not fully recovered. The night from Saturday on Sunday I couldn’t sleep at all, probably because I had been sleeping too much the days before. The only thing I did was going to the fresher’s fair on Sunday. At the fair all the different student societies and sports clubs present themselves. Also the boxing club was presenting, and I signed up for the season’s first training on Monday night.
Monday was my first lecture, Strategic Management. This course doesn’t seem that hard, however we need to read a lot and do a lot for it, it will take a lot of time. But it seems to be a quite interesting class. At night, after my dinner, I went to the library to get some of the books the lecturer wants us to read. A 900pg book, a 500 pg. book and an 800 pg. book, of course we don’t have to read and do everything in those books.
At 8:30 the boxing class started. The class was not really suiting me, since practically all the boxers were beginners. We only got to learn the stance, how to punch and how to skip the rope… I knew that already. After the training I had a talk with the trainer and he suggested I’d come to his boxing club for the next training, that would be Tuesday. When I came home, I made a start with me homework reading the first pages about strategic management.
Tuesday I had lectures again, starting at 2 PM. Therefore I could spend the morning in the library, working on the homework we have got for Strategic Management. We should make a “learning diary”, containing what we learn, what the implications are, which articles we read etc. etc. The afternoon class is about Methods of Research. The materials actually are a little bit boring, but we didn’t get any homework yet. The class was over around 4, which gave me some time to chat with Koy before I went to the boxing club.
The boxing club wasn’t very far away from the university, about 10 minutes by bicycle if you get it the first time right. Obviously I didn’t get it the first time right, at least, the building itself was quite hard to find. However I still was on time for the start of the practice. After some warming up we started sparring right away, which went quite good. After 3 rounds of 3 minutes sparring, we did some pads work out and then the cooling down. The cooling down was including some heavy exercises for the abs.
Wednesday I got the morning class, starting at 10 AM. This class is about Strategic Finance, but the first lecture was really more about corporate strategies. Wednesday afternoon I got the required books for this course from the library and did some reading in the subject.
Thursday is the busiest day of my week, lectures start at 10 AM with Management of New Product Development. This course is quite nice, considering al l the different aspects of product development and how complicated very simple things actually are. After a 1 hour break, which is just enough to run home and make myself a sandwich or something, in the afternoon we got the introduction to a group project. This project is about penetrating the European market as a Korean auto maker; this project had the potential to become some fun as well.
In the afternoon we had our class in Supply Chain Management. This class is given by a French guy with a French accent from here to… well… let’s say Paris. But the materials are quite interesting and also this course involves a project, which is about the supply chain of oil to the UK. After class I quickly went home to pack my stuff and go to the boxing club. However, when I arrived at the bicycle stall... I found I had a flat front tire . Therefore I took the bus to the boxing club, but unfortunately I took it to the wrong direction and got a tour around town before arriving at the boxing club. Luckily I was not very late (only a few minutes) which allowed me just to join the warming up. After the training, which had a lot of short, intensive exercises, I went back to the Uni jogging.
Friday morning I did my laundry filling up the 7 kg laundry machine, and I got it all stuffed! After doing the laundry and putting my stuff in the tumble dryer, I went with Vikesh to a bicycle repair shop, not too far from here, to get my bike fixed. I’ll pick it up Saturday. For the rest I have been cleaning my room, doing some studying and chatting with Koy on Friday.
Today (Saturday) Koy woke me up at 8:30 with a phone call . After I woke up, I put my sports clothes on to go jogging the 20 story building in which I live from Ground 0 to the 20th. After doing some studying in the morning and having my lunch (a baguette with boiled egg, cheese, meat, salad and tomato!), I went to pick up my bike from the bicycle repair shop. For 6 pounds they had put in a new inner tube.
Monday was my first lecture, Strategic Management. This course doesn’t seem that hard, however we need to read a lot and do a lot for it, it will take a lot of time. But it seems to be a quite interesting class. At night, after my dinner, I went to the library to get some of the books the lecturer wants us to read. A 900pg book, a 500 pg. book and an 800 pg. book, of course we don’t have to read and do everything in those books.
At 8:30 the boxing class started. The class was not really suiting me, since practically all the boxers were beginners. We only got to learn the stance, how to punch and how to skip the rope… I knew that already. After the training I had a talk with the trainer and he suggested I’d come to his boxing club for the next training, that would be Tuesday. When I came home, I made a start with me homework reading the first pages about strategic management.
Tuesday I had lectures again, starting at 2 PM. Therefore I could spend the morning in the library, working on the homework we have got for Strategic Management. We should make a “learning diary”, containing what we learn, what the implications are, which articles we read etc. etc. The afternoon class is about Methods of Research. The materials actually are a little bit boring, but we didn’t get any homework yet. The class was over around 4, which gave me some time to chat with Koy before I went to the boxing club.
The boxing club wasn’t very far away from the university, about 10 minutes by bicycle if you get it the first time right. Obviously I didn’t get it the first time right, at least, the building itself was quite hard to find. However I still was on time for the start of the practice. After some warming up we started sparring right away, which went quite good. After 3 rounds of 3 minutes sparring, we did some pads work out and then the cooling down. The cooling down was including some heavy exercises for the abs.
Wednesday I got the morning class, starting at 10 AM. This class is about Strategic Finance, but the first lecture was really more about corporate strategies. Wednesday afternoon I got the required books for this course from the library and did some reading in the subject.
Thursday is the busiest day of my week, lectures start at 10 AM with Management of New Product Development. This course is quite nice, considering al l the different aspects of product development and how complicated very simple things actually are. After a 1 hour break, which is just enough to run home and make myself a sandwich or something, in the afternoon we got the introduction to a group project. This project is about penetrating the European market as a Korean auto maker; this project had the potential to become some fun as well.
In the afternoon we had our class in Supply Chain Management. This class is given by a French guy with a French accent from here to… well… let’s say Paris. But the materials are quite interesting and also this course involves a project, which is about the supply chain of oil to the UK. After class I quickly went home to pack my stuff and go to the boxing club. However, when I arrived at the bicycle stall... I found I had a flat front tire . Therefore I took the bus to the boxing club, but unfortunately I took it to the wrong direction and got a tour around town before arriving at the boxing club. Luckily I was not very late (only a few minutes) which allowed me just to join the warming up. After the training, which had a lot of short, intensive exercises, I went back to the Uni jogging.
Friday morning I did my laundry filling up the 7 kg laundry machine, and I got it all stuffed! After doing the laundry and putting my stuff in the tumble dryer, I went with Vikesh to a bicycle repair shop, not too far from here, to get my bike fixed. I’ll pick it up Saturday. For the rest I have been cleaning my room, doing some studying and chatting with Koy on Friday.
Today (Saturday) Koy woke me up at 8:30 with a phone call . After I woke up, I put my sports clothes on to go jogging the 20 story building in which I live from Ground 0 to the 20th. After doing some studying in the morning and having my lunch (a baguette with boiled egg, cheese, meat, salad and tomato!), I went to pick up my bike from the bicycle repair shop. For 6 pounds they had put in a new inner tube.
3 October 2009
Fresher's week
Saturday all the new UK students started coming… there were large queues in front of the elevators with students and their parents with more stuff than you can ever imagine. Of course I didn’t wait in the queue every time I wanted to go to my room, but I just took the stairways. Saturday I didn’t do much special anymore, the afternoon I spent for a large part in one of my new friends’ (Vikesh) room, watching sports matches. For the evening we wanted to watch match of the day, the English premier league football show on BBC, but unfortunately the TV room downstairs in my dormitory already closes at 10 PM.
Saturday night there were a lot of parties going on and noisy , drunk students walking around campus keeping everybody awake who wanted to get some rest. But that’s part of the fresher’s week I guess. Sunday morning Koy waked me up with a phone call around 8 AM. She just received my message that I was trying to call her and called already 10 times but her phone wasn’t working… I sent this message 2 days before, hehe. But never mind, I’d rather be woken up by my girlfriend calling me than by the accommodation services knocking on my door and telling me I have to move out (like on Saturday).
On the campus there was some kind of small fair going on, including a barbeque. Me, Jaffer and Vikesh participated in some games and even won some prizes. I won a cute little lion teddy and I got a great balloon in the shape of a sausage dog. At the BBQ I bought myself a nice and fresh hamburger with onions and cheese. Don’t worry about my diet, I’m taking good care of myself eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and of course my fromage frais with muesli and fruit for breakfast.
Monday morning there were no activities scheduled by the university. Therefore I took this time to visit the English Language School where Koy wants to study English for 2 terms, The Brasshouse. The school is about 20-30 minutes walking from my university, just past the city centre. At the school I received some information about the courses which are provided and the visa, which should be no problem.
In the afternoon the University planned a welcome talk for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where I study. The talk was given by the CEO of the University and wasn’t all that special. After the welcome talk we went to the fire safety talk, which seemed to be endless. All the rules regarding fire safety in the University were explained to us thoroughly and often with examples. Listening to two long non interesting talks a day is quite exhausting…
As was the party the same night, to which I had me talked in to by Vikesh. The partyLoaded @ Gatecrasher, was held in Birmingham’s largest club/disco Gatecrasher. As you all know me, I danced the roof off the place the whole night (not ), but after all it wasn’t too bad. Around 2 Am we arrived home, because we had to wake up early the day after.
Tuesday morning the enrollment for the engineering students started at 9 AM. There was quite a queue of people for the enrollment and it took me about 30 minutes before it was my turn. After all the information I had given was checked I could continue to the next queue, to pick up my brand new Aston University Student ID. As from now I am officially an Aston University Post Graduate student!
After I was finished with my enrollment I went to the market to buy me some food and things. The market is about 10 minutes from the university, next to the large Bullring shopping centre. I bought tomatoes, peppers, bread, bananas, apples, eggs and a pot to boil my eggs.
Later on the day there was a information market in the Great Hall (the main hall of the university), with all sorts of promotions and stuff and a lot of freebies including a Philips energy saving lamp (unfortunately I don’t have a desk light to put it in), bags, pens, key chains and candy. After the information market I went with Vikesh to a food cookery demonstration for students, which was held on the campus in a party tent outside the main building. The lady doing the demonstration wasn’t that good of a cook; after tasting her smoothie, bean casserole and stir fried something… we figured we can do much better.
When I wanted to go back to my dormitory after the disappointing food, the fire alarm in my building had just gone off. This meant I couldn’t go in and had to wait for about 45 minutes. It was just a practice, and nothing was going on actually. At home I made myself a nice salad with tomatoes, a pepper, apple and egg, much better than what we had on the food cookery demonstration. At night we wanted to watch the Champions League football match downstairs in the TV lounge. Unfortunately it wasn’t broadcasted on the public channels, why we ended up watching the match on a laptop in Vikesh’ room. Wednesday’s match will be broadcasted on a public channel, so we’ll watch that one on a large screen in the TV lounge!
Wednesday morning the Engineering Postgraduate students had a workshop in BlackBoard, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment. It was all quite easy actually… Before the workshop we were all given our 2nd USB flash drive since we’re here, the first one we got during the library tour. Halfway the workshop I got a call from a truck driver he was parked in front of Aston Business School, with my suit case! It wasn’t hard to find the large truck in front of the Uni, as it wasn’t hard to find the fat tattooed truck driver without teeth either! I brought my suitcase to my room and then headed off for school again, since we had a welcome talk from our program director David Carpenter.
The welcome talk was mainly about the contents of the course and the planning of the course. I will be studying and doing normal coursework until the end of March, and then I’ll have to start my project and dissertation from April and finish it in September 2010. In March 2011 will be the official graduation of the M.Sc. in Engineering Management program. After the welcome talk we got (again) a free USB flash drive, which means we all have 3 Aston University USB flash drives!
After the welcome talk I went to the fair which is still going on on campus, because today they’ll be selling second hand bikes. The second hand bikes came from the police who got them from I don’t know where (probably found them, or they were stolen and not reclaimed or something). Anyways, I bought myself a very nice mountain bike in superb condition for only 40 pounds (45 euro)! The guy selling them could surprisingly speak a little Dutch, since he had been a semi-professional cyclist in Maastricht. The University was also selling by the police subsidized padlocks to secure the bike in the bicycle stalls, so of course I also bought one of these. In the afternoon I had to register with the National Health Service (NHS). Who gave me a vaccine against meningitis. At night we watched the Man Utd footbal match, downstairs in th TV room.
Thursday I went with Vikesh and his cousin, who also studied in Aston, for a lunch In the city centre. We went to a place called “Nando’s” where they sell all kinds of grilled chicken. I had an extra hot pita with chicken breast, which wasn’t really that hot, but tasted very good. That night I became really ill, my eyes were hurting, all my muscles were hurting, my throat and nose were hurting and I had headaches. Friday I have spent the whole day in my bed and luckily I’m feeling a little better now.
Saturday night there were a lot of parties going on and noisy , drunk students walking around campus keeping everybody awake who wanted to get some rest. But that’s part of the fresher’s week I guess. Sunday morning Koy waked me up with a phone call around 8 AM. She just received my message that I was trying to call her and called already 10 times but her phone wasn’t working… I sent this message 2 days before, hehe. But never mind, I’d rather be woken up by my girlfriend calling me than by the accommodation services knocking on my door and telling me I have to move out (like on Saturday).
On the campus there was some kind of small fair going on, including a barbeque. Me, Jaffer and Vikesh participated in some games and even won some prizes. I won a cute little lion teddy and I got a great balloon in the shape of a sausage dog. At the BBQ I bought myself a nice and fresh hamburger with onions and cheese. Don’t worry about my diet, I’m taking good care of myself eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and of course my fromage frais with muesli and fruit for breakfast.
Monday morning there were no activities scheduled by the university. Therefore I took this time to visit the English Language School where Koy wants to study English for 2 terms, The Brasshouse. The school is about 20-30 minutes walking from my university, just past the city centre. At the school I received some information about the courses which are provided and the visa, which should be no problem.
In the afternoon the University planned a welcome talk for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where I study. The talk was given by the CEO of the University and wasn’t all that special. After the welcome talk we went to the fire safety talk, which seemed to be endless. All the rules regarding fire safety in the University were explained to us thoroughly and often with examples. Listening to two long non interesting talks a day is quite exhausting…
As was the party the same night, to which I had me talked in to by Vikesh. The partyLoaded @ Gatecrasher, was held in Birmingham’s largest club/disco Gatecrasher. As you all know me, I danced the roof off the place the whole night (not ), but after all it wasn’t too bad. Around 2 Am we arrived home, because we had to wake up early the day after.
Tuesday morning the enrollment for the engineering students started at 9 AM. There was quite a queue of people for the enrollment and it took me about 30 minutes before it was my turn. After all the information I had given was checked I could continue to the next queue, to pick up my brand new Aston University Student ID. As from now I am officially an Aston University Post Graduate student!
After I was finished with my enrollment I went to the market to buy me some food and things. The market is about 10 minutes from the university, next to the large Bullring shopping centre. I bought tomatoes, peppers, bread, bananas, apples, eggs and a pot to boil my eggs.
Later on the day there was a information market in the Great Hall (the main hall of the university), with all sorts of promotions and stuff and a lot of freebies including a Philips energy saving lamp (unfortunately I don’t have a desk light to put it in), bags, pens, key chains and candy. After the information market I went with Vikesh to a food cookery demonstration for students, which was held on the campus in a party tent outside the main building. The lady doing the demonstration wasn’t that good of a cook; after tasting her smoothie, bean casserole and stir fried something… we figured we can do much better.
When I wanted to go back to my dormitory after the disappointing food, the fire alarm in my building had just gone off. This meant I couldn’t go in and had to wait for about 45 minutes. It was just a practice, and nothing was going on actually. At home I made myself a nice salad with tomatoes, a pepper, apple and egg, much better than what we had on the food cookery demonstration. At night we wanted to watch the Champions League football match downstairs in the TV lounge. Unfortunately it wasn’t broadcasted on the public channels, why we ended up watching the match on a laptop in Vikesh’ room. Wednesday’s match will be broadcasted on a public channel, so we’ll watch that one on a large screen in the TV lounge!
Wednesday morning the Engineering Postgraduate students had a workshop in BlackBoard, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment. It was all quite easy actually… Before the workshop we were all given our 2nd USB flash drive since we’re here, the first one we got during the library tour. Halfway the workshop I got a call from a truck driver he was parked in front of Aston Business School, with my suit case! It wasn’t hard to find the large truck in front of the Uni, as it wasn’t hard to find the fat tattooed truck driver without teeth either! I brought my suitcase to my room and then headed off for school again, since we had a welcome talk from our program director David Carpenter.
The welcome talk was mainly about the contents of the course and the planning of the course. I will be studying and doing normal coursework until the end of March, and then I’ll have to start my project and dissertation from April and finish it in September 2010. In March 2011 will be the official graduation of the M.Sc. in Engineering Management program. After the welcome talk we got (again) a free USB flash drive, which means we all have 3 Aston University USB flash drives!
After the welcome talk I went to the fair which is still going on on campus, because today they’ll be selling second hand bikes. The second hand bikes came from the police who got them from I don’t know where (probably found them, or they were stolen and not reclaimed or something). Anyways, I bought myself a very nice mountain bike in superb condition for only 40 pounds (45 euro)! The guy selling them could surprisingly speak a little Dutch, since he had been a semi-professional cyclist in Maastricht. The University was also selling by the police subsidized padlocks to secure the bike in the bicycle stalls, so of course I also bought one of these. In the afternoon I had to register with the National Health Service (NHS). Who gave me a vaccine against meningitis. At night we watched the Man Utd footbal match, downstairs in th TV room.
Thursday I went with Vikesh and his cousin, who also studied in Aston, for a lunch In the city centre. We went to a place called “Nando’s” where they sell all kinds of grilled chicken. I had an extra hot pita with chicken breast, which wasn’t really that hot, but tasted very good. That night I became really ill, my eyes were hurting, all my muscles were hurting, my throat and nose were hurting and I had headaches. Friday I have spent the whole day in my bed and luckily I’m feeling a little better now.
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