Work, University Open day + Snow!

This week has been crazy! Feels like so much to do in such little time! Spending a lot of my time in the library, more than I would actually like to but hey, it has to be done! Especially when you are in the same boat as me, you know a third year student! The main thing I have been focusing on is reading and taking down a lot of notes, but that tends to get tedious after a few long hours, hence I decided I should just get on with the essays, at least start them off. This way it feels like I am actually moving forward rather than at a standstill point. The first time is coming to an end, which is why the workload is increasing; it is understandable… hmm is it really? No, no it is reasonable amount, well not really! Nevertheless, those are the perquisites of wanting to study Education (!) I need to work on a presentation, do some essaying, work on logs, and my disso. I want to say I am looking forward to my Christmas holidays, but it will not be much of a holiday! I want to be somewhere hot and sunny, ok perhaps not hot because I cannot stand the heat! Don’t I sound like a ray of sunshine? Ha-ha! Truthfully, the heat bugs me; some say depending on where you go the type of heat is different, in some places, it does not feel stuffy and sweaty, not sure how much of that I can believe. Speaking of weather, the big news at the moment is London is going to be hit by Snow this evening, which I highly doubt because we all know what the weather forecasters are like. Although, it is incredibly cold and the temperature has been dropping below Zero degrees, I still feel rather pessimistic. I am not sure if I want it to snow. It has a propensity to be beautiful scenery, the ambience blah blah blah, BUT, a big BUT… the chaos it brings with it (mildly due to the fact that we cannot actually handle a bit of snow) – lack of grit I am afraid makes it a frenzied experience for many of us.

Day 1

Day 2

Moving on to discuss the university open day that we held for potential students, also reminiscing once again how cold and bitter it was! The day itself went especially well, enjoyed meeting and greeting different people. I did about two tours of the Avery Hill campus, which consists of two sites, and in between, sits the Avery Hill Park, which was coated in frosty ice that morning, lovely scenery. :) I layered up thoroughly, well I thought I did! Turns out that I should wear a few more layers of clothing to protect myself from going numb and getting a frostbite! (I didn’t really) However, I must stress and put much emphasis on the fact that it was FREEZING! For those who did come along to the open day, I hope you found it be an enjoyable experience. On the other hand, for others who wanted to grace us with your presence but could not; then our next open day will be held on Saturday 5th February 2011. For any further information, give us a call on 0800 005 006, drop us an email on courseinfo@gre.ac.uk or alternatively you can visit our website at, www.gre.ac.uk/study/opendays.


Ciao for now! xxx

Levant

Below is a picture of the inside restaurant called ‘Levant’ I shall be doing some fine dinning here this evening. Well I say fine, I’ve never actually been there before but it better well be fine with the amount it is going to cost! I am going there for a friends 21st birthday, she is very dear to me which is why paying that little extra more is always worth it! I have had a look at the menu, it seems quite different because some of the dishes look unique, however the obvious vegetarian dishes consist of ‘hummus’ and ‘falafel.’ Some of the more unique ones are called ‘ Batata Harrah’ and ‘Koossa bil tahine’ they sound special, I hope they taste it too!

We’ve also got entertainers organised for her, haha nothing of the obscene type, just a few snake charmers and authentically dressed Entertainers along with Tabla percussionists.

Just to make sure that this will be a positive dining experience for my friend, I have asked some other friends who have previously been there and researched into some of the press and reviews that it has got. Read some great comments, nice to read something ‘good’ for a change in the press haha!

I will update you in my next blog, how the evening was and a general update of my week.

Ciao for now!

xxx

Work, work, deadlines, work!

There is just too much uni overload to take on! Many deadlines are fast approaching, need to start preparing for presentations in advance, therefore it would be easier for me to present when the time comes. I’m trying my hardest to stay on top of things, I’ve got some Log work to do for my course (very similar to this kind of blogging, except more trickier and far more reflective) which is why at the moment, I feel like I’m writing four blogs a week I believe, in fact I know I am! Slightly addicted to this blogging bonanza! It all started when my manager tried to lure me in to blogging, and it has worked! Good on her! I am actually enjoying it very much, very soothing. It is a great idea don’t you think? Get a respectable idea from reading peoples’ blogs about university life, what it is like to work for the university itself, delving deeply into us bloggers’ lives. I do hope we are being informative enough. If you like to know about a particular aspect of student life or the university in general, please leave us comments on here. On the other hand, you know the drill! You could just give us a ding on 0800 005 006 for a personal detailed chat, or drop us an email on courseinfo@gre.ac.uk J.

Well let us move on now ey? What have I been up to? Hmm, aside from doing some university work… to be honest I think that is all I have been doing! Attending classes, in my spare time I have turned a little geeky if I am honest, spending time in the library, taking out loads of books! The Avery Hill campus, (one of the three) have brought in these incredibly cool machines, very unique way of taking books out and returning books, saves time and a queue up too. Different types of zones have been introduced, such as silent, quiet and group zones. They have switched things around and it is definitely for the best!

Let us discuss work, I mean work at the Enquiry Unit, it has been a lot quieter recently, I’m waiting for it to pick up like I expect it to in January. I call it the mini clearing-rush. Phones get a lot busier at this time due to our second intake of students during this month. Either way, I am enjoying my time here, nice and cosy! I even have a fellow blogger working on the same day as me now, Rukon! I am trying my utmost hardest to beat his achievement of numerous numbers if consecutive blogs ha-ha, he missed two recently and it is getting very competitive, well it is a friendly competition. On this note, I shall end my blog and write to you next week!

Ciao xxx

The Festival of Light

This blog is all about light, colours, food & fireworks. All these lovely things are associated with a festival called ‘Diwali’ popularly known as the festival of lights. It is an important five-day festival in the Hindu religion. The name Diwali is contracted from the word ‘Deepavali’ which precisely translates as row of lamps. Diwali involves the lighting of clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the people wear new clothes and share Indian sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.

The reason why I decided to dedicate this blog to this festival is because it’s like Christmas for me. I was celebrating this festival on Friday 5th November. I went out with friends during the day, watched the horror Saw 3D at the o2 arena. The movie was average, I would rate it around 7/10. It was gory and of course violent, however it was not as good as the last previous installment. In the evening, as I got home I was just in time for some fireworks with my family. The fireworks play a significant part during Diwali as it brings excitement and joy to the hearts of people even before it arrives on the new moon day, it involves colour and light which is why fireworks are perfect in relation to this festival.

On Saturday, we all dressed up in our new clothes and set off to go to the temple. We greeted one another, wishing each other a happy new year. According to the Hindu religion, we are now in year 2067. As I mentioned before, that this festival is associated with food, we ate lots of delicious Indian food on this day, visited relatives and friends houses’ and did some more fireworks :-D I was absolutely shattered by the end of the day. Now the next occasion I am looking forward to is Christmas! Gifts, food and Home Alone on TV! Great stuff ;-)

Ciao xxx

Birthday Cakes & Pizzas all week round!

Hi everyone! So my attempt to write a few sentences each day did not go to plan, I did try on Tuesday, last week but it really was not happening for me. Therefore, I took a sensible decision, which is to carry on writing it in one go!

My updates for this week are as follows:

Monday, I went Uni to do some work, looked at some journals that I might use for my essay and dissertation. I also went shopping and ate at Pizza Hut, mmm was absolutely lovely! Then on Tuesday I was at work, it was an enjoyable day, took calls as usual from friendly voices, which I always love! Especially in the morning, nice words make your day, well for me they do! I would like to add that it is important for potential applicants to know that we are running some Masters programmes in January, we tend not to do many undergraduate programmes during this intake, however if you are unsure or would like more information, please do not hesitate to give us a call, we could possibly offer you something different, at another given time :-D

On Wednesday I was back at Uni, although I was on reading week, I still needed to come into do some work, I also picked up my NUS card, student discount is THE best! In addition, for all you lovely people who love shopping, and I mean shopping for clothes… then ASOS have a good sale, and are currently promoting 20% off for students! Woo! Go on, have a little splash! I was looking forward to Thursday, as it was my little nephews’ birthday. Again, we had pizza for dinner at Papa Johns as their pizzas are exceptionally tasty! Along with the cake! It was a fresh cream vanilla sponge cake. My nephew actually hates cake, he is frightened of it to be precise, and the only part he well and truly enjoys is blowing out the candle. He loves the colour orange, so the least we could do was to add orange writing to the cake.

Another birthday celebration took place on Friday and it was for Uzma! She is one of the full-time staff working here for the Enquiry Unit. About seven of us had dinner at the o2 Arena, and I got her a cake, which she knew nothing about. A funny occurrence took place on that Friday evening, the waitress brought out the wrong cake, a tiny chocolate one; they even played music. I thought nooooo that is NOT the cake, so we all gave our fibs to Uzma, covering up that we are not having this dinner for her birthday, and we have not ordered her a cake whatsoever! Finally, when the chosen cake did come out, Uzma went AWOL haha! Oh lovely evening it was! A picture of her cake (which I chose ;-)) Once more, I should express that the cake was YUMMYLICIOUS!

Sentence or two a day!

As I write to you ‘Blogees’ once a week, I feel as if I am forgetting to add some stuff here and there. I think from now on, as I start my week I will jot down a few sentences at the end of the day so I can recall correctly all the things I have done precisely!

Last week Wednesday I had Lecture and Seminars, did a presentation went really well. However, just before I did the presentation, I am extremely positive that I saw a flying creature, and by this I mean a Wasp/Hornet or a Bee. Now for those of you who may know me and my colleagues know this extremely well that I have a major phobia of them things! I can’t concentrate fully if they are around, get all panicky and normally have to get somebody to remove it! Hate summer because of these useless creatures, they serve no purpose. Ok I hear ya, Bee’s = Honey, but seriously surely these scientists are producing artificial honey, that’s good enough for me!

Now if you look at the picture, it really is not a pretty sight! It is evil!!! Evil I say!!!

Moving on swiftly :-D… On Thursday I was working at the enquiry unit, had a little meeting about MA Social Work, Yes that’s right people you read right, we now offer MA SOCIAL WORK! I’ll be a little tease and say if you want to know more about it, give us a ring on 0800 005 006 :-p It was slightly quiet at work at some points during the day, then it peaked a little every now and again. Generally it was a good day at work.

On Friday, I did some work; in fact I did some blogs (journal thingy ma jig) for my course, did a little extra reading too. I also got the chance to indulge in some 19th Century Novels. Weekend went fast, I shopped for my Diwali clothes, picked a nice plum colour to wear.

And today I went shopping, I bought a few things for my little nephews, it’s the little one’s birthday soon and whatever the little one gets the older one wants and vice versa, so it’s literally two of each. Hurts my bank balance but they are totally worth it!

I am very tired, I must stop blogging now, I shall write to you my dears next week.

Toodles x

Reading Week, Further Education, and Finance (& the damn flu-jab)

I think the title of this blog explains everything! I cannot wait to relax a little, do some work… actually do A LOT of work! I need to consider different supervisors who will direct me with my dissertation. I am thinking about the subject area I want to concentrate on, it will most likely be either Psychology, Additional Special Needs in Education or Financial increase in Higher Education and Further Education. Once again, I had an interesting discussion in one of the same classes that I mentioned in my blog last week. This time it was about the University fees increasing and what ‘Class’ the government is focussed on. The unintelligent dim-witted proposal that they are insisting on putting forward, will seriously affect Middle class people because they wont be able to afford University Fees, the wealthy people will be able to have the funds for Further Education, and the Working class well their fees are likely to be funded. Now where is the equality in that? Coalition Government - Abysmal *Puts her nose up in the air* 

Winding back to the Finance discussion, the government insist that financial support is available, so money need not be a barrier. The assistance people would acquire depends on family situation and the type of course one is doing. For those who have experienced a conversation (and I use this word very loosely) with Student Finance of England, or their organisation skills (or the lack of it) is extremely appalling! A migraine that is most certainly not needed.

Interesting read:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=410265

I think the only decent chance perhaps to some, would be the fact that after leaving university, graduates will only begin repaying when they reach annual earnings of over £21,000 a year, up from £15,000 under the current system. A possibility a few may see this as slightly problematic, but once more that is a discussion for another time ;-)

Write to you lovely’s next week!

P.S. I had a flu jab on Friday, and my gosh did it become painful after a few hours! And the stupid nurse (wasn’t my regular) injected me almost near my shoulder, surely injections are not suppose to be that high up? Then come Saturday morning at around 5:45am my arm was paining like mad! Decided to go back to the Doctors, realised they do not open on the weekend, dosed my self with strong pain-killers and stayed in bed staring at the ceiling. Oh the joy (!) Still a little Sore! :’(

xXx
(The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the University of Greenwich - Ed.)