October 3, 2016, by Danny Bav

Snapshot of my week one

I have no idea what it is about writing blog posts on trains, for some reason my mind just pours out words and is like yep, these words sound good together! I’ve had a pretty hectic week, but I’m slowly coming back to reality as lectures start this week. I wanted to get my thoughts down on a page from this week, so below is a snapshot view of my week.

Thursday & Friday (22nd, 23rd):

Picture a line of 300+ international students, all flown in from different areas of the world lining up outside of Cripps Hall to register to a university they’ve only just set foot in. Campus was bustling with the new international students which made Thursday and Friday a great time to run the international welcome programme.

We toured international students around the uni and as the tours went on the students started to get more creative. “Show us some cool hidden places on campus” or “tell us about some campus stories and famous locations”. This let us have slight detours in our tours, we took one group to the hidden underground tunnel between Portland and Trent building and another group around the lake.

The weather was still pretty summery at this point, it’s weird to think the weather has switched from summery to cool and autumnal in just over just a week. We also hit up Prizm in the evening, which is the new ‘Oceania’ and I’d say check it out if you get a chance this year!

Monday & Tuesday (26th, 27th):

The weird and wonderful Freshers fair began today and I was promoting the Contemporary China society which is made up of a mix of Chinese learners and native Chinese speakers. It was pretty hilarious since the Vice President and I aren’t native Chinese, so a lot of the Chinese students walked past and gave us confused looks. Then we greeted them in Chinese and they were even more surprised!

I’m going to do a sly promotion of my society, but if any of you readers are interested in Chinese culture and want to experience more (food, we eat a lot of food) then join our Facebook group!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/contemporarychinasociety/

During the fair I also signed up to my Mandarin module for this year and I’m going to try Spanish 1A this year, so don’t be surprised if you see some Español slipping in here and there in my blogs 😉

Wednesday (28th):

Stress and panic day!

I went to an Economics talk in the morning (my course), and realised some of the modules I wanted to do weren’t available anymore – urgh. So I went over my timetable and picked a new set of modules that didn’t clash and were perfect, but then realised I hadn’t had the prerequisite for one of the modules. I sat in my room armed with pages of timetables and a cup of tea and began to work out what modules fit where and which modules out of the 20+ to choose from that I wanted to do. By around 11pm and much research on surveys, exams, content and asking friends for their opinions I had my modules set – I was ready for the new year ahead!

I also had a study abroad peer adviser talk which was great, I’m going to be working for the international office promoting study abroad experiences, so if any of you want to know about where or when you can study abroad, I’m your guy.

If you’re interested in studying abroad, pencil this date in:

Study abroad fair: Wednesday 16 November 2016 – 12pm – Portland Atrium

Thursday (29th):

I met Paul, one of the media team members and me and a couple of others worked as a digital amabassador on the blogging and vlogging stand! We got tons of interest trying to reel in new bloggers, vloggers, snapchatters and instagrammers for the uni. It’s a fully paid job and hours are quite flexible, so it’s great as a student job. The highlight was probably the free buffet lunch with unlimited tea, and we got to play around with a cool 360 degree camera and take snapshots.

A follow up from this, if anybody is interested in becoming a digital ambassador for the uni or want more information then e-mail the following: digicomms@nottingham.ac.uk

Friday (30th):

In the morning I attended a focus group for a new virtual open day that they’re creating at the uni. It was great to hear some of their ideas for the future and to also express our opinions on the project and what we think may or may not work. My girlfriend then came down to visit and we collected a few of my housemates and all went to the BlogSoc taster session. It was great to meet a bunch of like-minded people, many who want to start a blog or are just looking for advice. So, for another cheeky promotion, if you’re interested in blogging or vlogging and want to meet some new friends, get yourself down to BlogSoc!

https://www.facebook.com/UoNBlogSoc/

In the evening we went out for a friend’s birthday, the cocktails were pretty great and we managed to sneak a cake to the waiter who brought it out for our friend – it was a great night of food and drinks. However, we didn’t stay out too late since a few of us were heading to London the day after for a day trip, so we head back to sleep, ready for our early train tomorrow.

Saturday (1st):

I’m sat daydreaming on a train…

I’m going to have a relaxed weekend before getting into studying again. I’ve bought new stationery, decorated my uni room and bought lots of tea so I think it’s safe to say I’m ready for the uni term to start and Autumn to begin.

(I can’t wait for Halloween eeeeeeee)

So that’s a snapshot of my week, remember to check out of some of the things mentioned above if they interest you and hope you have a great start to the year!

🙂

*LIFE HACK:

This life hack was told to me by a friend Max. If you ever want to book train tickets from Nottingham to London (or back) book the following ticket:

Nottingham to Cambridge via London

You then hop of the first leg of the trip from Nottingham to London, and don’t get on the second leg train to Cambridge. For some reason, going to Cambridge instead of London takes 50% off the price, so between 3 of us we saved around £60!

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