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...
31 October 2009
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.
26 September 2009
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.
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.
21 September 2009
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.
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.
18 September 2009
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!
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!
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