First week at Aston

Tuesday morning I went out to buy some stuff and make some pictures around the campus. I went to a small Tesco store where I bought some bread, chicken, yoghurt and cereal for breakfast, deodorant, hand soap and shower gel. The neighborhood around campus isn’t that ugly, a lot of old buildings and a quite picturesque atmosphere. On campus there is a lot of green, around the small lake in the middle of the campus. But there is also the huge space occupied by the contractors building new dormitories, which is a quite ugly sight.

After wandering around in taking some pictures around 11 AM the pro-vice chancellor and some other people from the university held a welcome speech for all the international students. She was telling us what a brilliant choice we made, how good Aston University is and how smart this year enrolled international students are. The talking took about 1 hour after which I returned to the dormitory to make myself a sandwich with chicken. After I finished my sandwich I went downstairs, because this afternoon there were trips planned to the large ASDA department store to buy some necessities.

With a van packed with students and driven by a student we were going to ASDA. In the mega-store I bought some things I needed such as a blanket, pillow, bed linen, frying pan, cutting board, plates, cup and some food such as bread, cheese, tomatoes and peppers. And of course I bought an umbrella… the weather still is nice now, the sun is shining, it is not very cold… but I guess it will not take very long before it is raining every day.

Wednesday the student guild had planned a sports afternoon, in which the students could choose to join basketball, football, badminton or a couple of other sports. Of course I went to play football on the campus football pitch. We played with 4 teams of 7 persons each, on a small football field. I didn’t have real football boots, but my jogging shoes were just fine. We played about 3 hours before returning back to the dorms where I took a nice hot shower.

After taking a shower, having a late lunch and having a chat with Koy and mama, I went for a walk to the city centre. Birmingham is a real multi-cultural city, best to be compared with Rotterdam in Holland. Walking around the city centre I bought some things in the English version of “Action” the poundshop, where everything is 1 or 2 pounds. The city centre is less beautiful as the neighborhoods around Aston with more new, but standard “grey” buildings, as far as I could see of course…

After this walk I returned back to the dorms to bring my stuff back home. Later I went out to get some dinner in the Indian fakir’s mini market. I bought an instant microwave curry with rice and some apples and bananas.

Thursday morning at 10 AM I had an intercultural communication workshop, together with about 50 other international students from all over the world. This workshop was mostly about cultural differences and important aspects of the many different cultures represented within the university. At the workshop I met a few of my new classmates for the MSc in Engineering Management course.

After this workshop, in the afternoon the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences had planned a tea party. All international students enrolling in the School of Engineering were invited for this tea party. People I met who are also going to study in the Engineering Management program are from India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Lebanon, but there’ll probably be a few more people of different nationalities which I didn’t meet yet.

Thursday night there was a Karaoke party in the student pub Einstein, which is located on campus. I went there with my Pakistani classmate Jaffer. The pub was very crowded and most of the people couldn’t sing very well. I decided not to show my skills, as I don’t want to embarrass all those bad singers. Jaffer did climb on stage and song a nice song “Words”, which was welcomed with a great round of applause. I didn’t stay too late and decided to go home around 11 PM.

Friday morning I went to do some shopping in the city centre. I walked quite far and eventually ended up at the mega-shopping centre “Bullring”. The shopping centre is huge and contains a lot of shops of which some have really great offers, especially in sportswear. But as Dutch as I am I kept my pennies in my pocket and didn’t buy anything (kijken, kijken, niet kopen). I did go to the market to buy some vegetables, fruit and real French fromage frais (kwark). I also walked in the large Tesco supermarket to get myself some fabric conditioner (wasverzachter) and cups of instant noodles (4 for 2 pounds, what a bargain!).

Then it was time to return back to the dorms… on the way back I came across a whole bunch of people and cameras around a bus. When I took a closer look and asked an old lady what was going on, I was told Birmingham’s strongest man was going to pull a bus filled with students. The mayor of Birmingham was there to as it was some kind of fundraising action. I observed the whole circus until the end, Birmingham’s strongest man managed to pull the bus about 5 meters forward wearing a harness which was connected to the bus with a rope. Of course he was congratulated by the mayor, and they stood still while shaking hands to give the press some time to take pictures.

When I finally decided to go back home I was slightly disoriented. Following the signs I finally ended up at one of Birmingham’s main railway stations where I asked a guy which was the way to Aston University. The guy kindly brought me to the right street, after I only had to walk straight ahead for about 10 minutes.

Friday afternoon I was invited for another tea party. It was the results of the international welcome week quiz/tour and a tea party for all the international students. It was held in a large party tent next to the main building of the University. The first prize of the quiz went to my Pakistani classmate Jaffer, he won a very nice new Canon portable digital camera.

At night a talent show was being organized in the student’s guild: Aston’s got talent. The talent show was including a buffet meal with chips, chicken and sandwiches. There were featuring some nice performances and some very funny performances, including a group of Indian Bollywood style guys calling themselves the “Aston Street Boys”.

After the show I went home, opened the door and I smelled a funny plastic burning smell. When I turned the light on it wasn’t working anymore, on which I of course alarmed the security. The lamp seemed to be burning, that’s why I had to move to another room for this night, while the technical service was fixing the problem. Around 1 AM they found me a room in which I could stay for the night.

Saturday morning I was woken up at 8AM by a lady from the accommodation services who was telling me that I had to move out of the room, because there would be a student coming in this morning. Not a nice way to wake up after a short, cold (I had no blankets) night and the situation of the day before.

I HATE RYAN AIR

A good start at Weeze airport... When I wanted to check in my luggage it seemed it was overweight. Only 15 kg of luggage per person is allowed on the airplan. Never mind I paid 20 euro extra for my second suitcase, 2 suitcases doesn’t mean twice the weight with Ryan Air, it means you can divide your weight over 2 suitcases! I could take my extra suitcase… if I was willing to pay 20 euro per kilo, which would be at least 300 euro, if not more. Of course I don’t want to pay that amount of money to bring some stuff to Birmingham; I can fly to Bangkok for 300 euro’s.

So I started to unpack my suitcases, sort everything out and selected only the most important stuff such as pictures from Koy, my boxing gloves, underwear and clothes. Everything I didn’t take was put in the 2nd suitcases and went home with mama. Luckily enough they didn’t check my overweighted and overseized cabin luggage. After saying goodbye to mama and all the stuff she was taking back home for me such as my brand new old senseo, my pillow, bed linen, suit, clothes and other stuff.

Than the waiting started… for about 1 hour at the gate before I could board. Ryan Air doesn’t work like other airlines, with assigned seat numbers. You just get in and can sit wherever you want, a little bit strange and also unorganized. After the 1.5 hour flight I arrived at Birmingham International Airport, where I was picked up by the so called “aunties”. I had to wait for a couple of other students, before we could take the coach/shuttle bus to the university.

Arrived at the university, I was given the key of my room and a package with information about the campus and Birmingham etc. etc. 6th room on the 6th floor is my room. The first thing I thought when I entered was: so small… It really is small, about 2.5 x 4.5 meters. Inside my room I found a 1 person bed, a desk with chair, a sink with mirror, a closet, a small bedside locker and an armchair. Unfortunately there is no internet in the rooms… well there is, but it costs me 140 pounds for a year. A little expensive… especially when considering I can connect to the internet for free downstairs.

After settling and unpacking my stuff I went downstairs to have a stroll around the neighborhood and to find some small supermarket. Right around the corner I went to this small mini market owned by a Indian guy with a large “tulband” and a long beard. A very friendly guy with who I had my first real chat . I bought a small piece of instant oven pizza, some bananas, yoghurt for breakfast and a coke zero.

Well that was about it for my arrival in Birmingham and at Aston University. My next blog post will be probably at the end of this week, also including some pictures.

Heading for Birmingham

Monday I'll be leaving home again, heading for Birmingham, departing from Weeze with 2 suitcases totally stuffed with clothes n stuff. I'll stay in Birmingham for about 12 months, studying for a Master's degree at Aston University; the program in which I am enrolled is Engineering Management. I'm going to be picked up from Birmingham International Airport and will be dropped off at my dormitory, which is on campus.

My address in Birmingham is:

Lawrence Short Flr 6 Rm 6
Lawrence Tower Aston University
Aston Triangle Birmingham B4 7EA

As soon as I have a telephone number I'll post it here too. At the moment I don't hav much more to inform you about. I will be posting my experiences here now and than. Hope you'll enjoy reading!