Yahoo! I managed to submit all my assignments in time and was pretty happy with them. Now is the vacation time and it is going to be fun. No harming in hoping that it is going to be fun. Well what can be said about my first Christmas and New Year over here it is not that amazing but anyways I hope you don’t get bored reading this post. You better not! Otherwise you might be in danger of your life.( Hahahaha!)

As it was informed in the previous post about my job at McDonalds I requested a full time employment for the period of my work, without realizing that it is going to be tough. So, now me being stuck at job for most of the week I couldn’t go out anywhere I had planned to go to London and Edinburgh, but don’t think I didn’t go I did the only problem was that it was in my dreams.(lol) Visiting these places was not the only objective of this vacations but there was a bit more planned like to start reading novels, work on my assignments and my portfolio create my personal blog. Well I decided not to go in further details just a bit afraid of showing how good a planner I am. But I should say I did a bit of work on my assignments and started making my own website from scratch so not a complete waste after all.

Before I realized it was Christmas day which I spent alone as all my friends had gone back home, it didn’t turn out to be that sad as I cooked a meal for myself and believe me it was awesome. Have I ever mentioned before that few years back I wanted to be a professional chef and the only reason that I didn’t pursue that career was because I had to work a lot day and night and it would be really tough, that’s what my father had told me it scared the s**t out of me, and I dropped the ideas of being a chef which turns out to be the right one. But I am planning to get a degree in cooking from some local school in Huddersfield just as a hobby. Well let’s see when that happens. This was my New Year don’t you think I am missing anything….yes you got it right shopping. Everything around me including the peoples talk and news had made me believe that the boxing day! Was the best day to shop because there would be sales everywhere? I was disappointed to see the town half dead on that day as it was expected to be very crowded. There were sales on mostly every shop but nothing that great however I had to buy something after it was the so called “BOXING DAY!” and hence I landed up buying novels…..people who know me will be surprised to hear that as I rarely read books. I haven’t started reading these books yet but hopefully very soon I will.

The shift schedule for New Year was out and I was working till late on New Year’s Eve but I was hoping that it wouldn’t ruin my plans of going to Manchester well it did. I missed the last train to Manchester was stranded with my co-workers we all chatted for a while and soon after the New Year left for home. Well obviously it wasn’t a great start to the New Year but it wasn’t bad either it was like any other day. So, the life goes on.

Everyone who reads the news and keeps an eye on the weather around the world would now it is freezing down here. It snows most of the time then stops and the pavements are icy and slippery. It seems good for a while but then just waiting for this period to go by. Another, reason why I want these cold months to pass is because my heater bills are very high. (lol)

The time rolls by and before it was realized University starts again and back to assignments and submissions. Wish me luck. Take care!

P.S: Whoever has not seen Cheers, an old series please watch it. It is amazing and it seems the idea for Friends and other similar series is taken from that.

All of you might be eager to know how I have been doing in the University so far. At present my first term is almost over and it has been pretty amazing. From the time I stepped into the University it felt different very different. It is completely different from our junior and high school and even from the ISC. But still it felt good. Entering the first multimedia design studio class for the year 09/10 was exciting. It got even more exciting when the timetable was handed over to us as we had classes for only three days in a week which at first seemed amazingly good.

However as our classes started passing by we had realized that we are not that free after all. University is all about studying on your own, so most of the time was spend by us in the library or at home working on our portfolio which was very tough. Imagine you are given some random word from the dictionary and asked to make a story around. We had realized that if we want to be successful in this field we had to work very hard as animation and web designing is not an easy task and requires a lot of research. The studio classes that we had were only for any help that we required. This experience was very different for me from the past. The best part of it was there were no written exams sounds good, right! Though, it didn’t make much of a difference as it was compensated by the portfolio assignments.

Last year, the time that was wasted was a lot it didn’t seem much that time but this year working at McDonalds with studies and my cricket simultaneously there was hardly some time left for anything else. Though you can say that being a TV crazy didn’t miss my favorite seasons. The thing that came to my knowledge during this period was that we guys will manage to take out time for anything that is dear and important to us however busy we may be. It came with it downsides as all my friends wanted to kill me as it was very tough to keep in touch with them regularly and my social life suffered.

Oops!!!! You might be wondering no ISC in the view this time right? How long can it stay out of action even for the Ex students. So, it was back on the scales when we received an email from them about the PARTY! It was a graduation cum welcome party. Graduation for the ex’s and welcome for the new students in the ISC who obviously are not as good as our batch. It was great to hear about it and all the ex students were back in contact and ready for the party unfortunately all were not able to make it to the party because it was Eid. Anyhow this didn’t affect the mood of the party goers. It was great fun in the party everyone had a blast out there. It was a great event organized by the ISC. We had a great time it was all a party is supposed to be drink, eat and dance.

As the term was nearing the end New Year, Christmas and assignment submissions were looked forward to. Hopefully everything will go well my first Christmas and New Year in the UK. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to all.

It’s been such a lovely term. But am so happy it’s Christmas time. My first term in Huddersfield University was really fun because I met a lot of new people, lovely and caring teachers, and we had a lot of fun such as going to the cinemas, playing football, and a welcome party for foundation programme.

I was so surprise to see Christmas presents and decoration in a lot of shops. I just couldn’t believe why Christmas presents and decorations were up six weeks before Christmas. While in my country Nigeria Christmas usually starts just two weeks before Christmas day, so it was kind of weird…lol

Some years ago you knew Christmas was round the corner from around December 10 onwards but that has all changed. There are Christmas tunes on the radio and T.V you just can’t escape it.

In Nigeria during Christmas a variety of food and drinks are prepared. My favourite food is Jollof rice and chicken. This is rice mixed with spices and tomatoes. Gifts are also given to friends and family members. It’s not necessarily before Christmas; it could be given before Christmas or after it. But in England the presents are given before Christmas and are put under the Christmas tree, they are opened on Christmas day.

In England on Christmas day everybody is indoors with their families eating and having fun. The roads are usually free. But in Nigeria most people go out with the families to have fun. Some people go to town centre to probably see a show, while some people go to the beach with their friends.

This Christmas will be the second in a row I will be spending with my cousins in London. It’s usually fun because we have a good meal prepared and we all gather together to tell jokes and play board games, my favourite game is monopoly it’s a property trading game it’s really fun because it teaches us how to invest our money properly. CheersJ

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Bassey

BILAL MOHAMED ALSALIB

Hello There :)

My name is Bilal Mohamed Alsalib , My Friends Call Me “Billy” so feel free to call me whatever you like.  I am 22 years old from Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) born in Germany, Studying Computer engineering, in my foundation Year Now and everything going great till now.

I’ve been studying in Malaysia before coming to the UK, been asked by my country ministry of high education to change my previous University and they gave me the opportunity to change the country too, so I chose the UK, for the high quality of education the Universities there  provides for their students .

Huddersfield University was my choice for several reasons, first was the area its build on. Quiet and nice place away from the noisiness of big cities, the people around here kind and friendly, and let’s not forget about the quality of education that the university provides.

More about me and my hobbies xD

I’m a person who loves meeting new people, making new friends, going out having fun, smiling almost all the time, i play football, i go to the gym, love reading, enjoy classical music, hmmm and a lot more when you get to know me. I’m always around, in the ISC or in John’s office. Feel free to talk to me and i hope i can be a good company for you.

Take care.

BASSEY OKODI

My name is Bassey Okodi. I was born in Nigeria, more especially the southern part. I am 18 years old. I am from a family of five, I have one brother and one sister. I am currently studying on the science foundation course at the University of Huddersfield international study centre. I would like to have a degree in pharmacy after my foundation programme.

I got to know about Huddersfield university just after I finished secondary school in Nigeria. I have always wanted to school in UK, my uncle advised me to come to Huddersfield because it is a quiet and peaceful town.

My hobbies are football, travelling, and surfing the net. Before I came to England I was in my country’s u-18 team. I am a huge fan of English football, I support Chelsea football club. I like travelling because I like seeing different places on aeroplanes and buses. My dislike include liars, thieves, etc. I always like having fun with my friends am a friendly person I like making friends.

I would like to pursue a career in the medical field, because I like taking care of people and treating them. I am studying pharmacy because I have been curious about the ways drugs are made. And I have also met great pharmacist.

I guess I had run away from this planet for a few months, I cannot be sure about that as I don’t remember anything. I am sure I would not miss writing my blogs otherwise. But, yes it has been long as after the ISC took us to Flamingo land it was trouble time.

As our exams were approaching and we being students were not prepared for them till the last moment so had to catch with the studies. ISC is not an easy task to finish still all my batch-mates and I successfully completed the ISC. It was very very hectic down at the last moments of ISC but to tell frankly I was thinking more about returning back home rather than the exams. Going back home is that tempting I can’t help it that my mind was more on going back home.

So, I am extremely sorry for not keeping up with my blog but now I am back with a vengeance (haha). Anyways I told you how hectic the exam time was and we completed the exams and it was a great sigh of relief I had decided not touch my books or anything to do with literature for months.

The fun started soon after the exams were over and who else the ISC helped us start the fun. After our exams finished we had a small graduation party which was a wonderful gesture by the ISC and we felt great. All of us were given T-shirts by the ISC, there was a small awards ceremony as well for the Student Of The Year, Most Hard working student, Student with the best progress rate and so on. It was great I can say that as I also got an award.

As soon as the formalities got over it was Pizza Hut and movie time. Oh yes! We couldn’t wait to get to pizza hut. I am quite sure I ate a lot out there as I actually don’t remember which movie we saw after that. I guess due to my heavy stomach I went to sleep. It was awesome all of us had a blast as soon after that all of us were going back home and we didn’t know when we would be meeting again. It was not all over for me yet as I had to get through my interview for this year in multimedia designing. This was one more reason why the end was so hectic as I had to prepare my portfolio as well. Luckily, all went really well for me and I was on the next flight back to India.

In the flight I was very excited as I was going back home to my friends and family but was pretty sure that I will miss ISC as well and the time spent there which is never going to come back. I knew one thing that I would not be out of touch with the ISC as I had to get my reports and documents for my visa extension. I couldn’t help but boast to my family and friends my experience at the ISC, I guess I did a free publicity for them.

Though I was already missing ISC, but I wouldn’t deny that I wasn’t glad to be out of it. I was happy that it is all-over as a year at the ISC was crazy. Now, ISC and UK were out of the seen and I had gone crazy and wild back home having a blast with everyone around me. As we all youngsters promise ourselves of doing some work during the summer but…….don’t land up doing anything. Hence, I wasted my summer but enjoyed it so its fine with me. Anyways India couldn’t have been any better. It was hot and humid out there, but was good for a change.

Oh How can I forget to tell you that I turned 18 during this vacation and I learnt driving. I was so excited to drive a car but was not able to carry on driving for long as my vacations were finishing and I had to get back to University. Unfortunately I don’t have a driving licence in the UK neither do I have a car so I guess I have to wait till I get back home to drive it again.

I bid my farewell to everyone back home and was in the flight back to UK. I was excited tensed and everything same as the first time I came. I wondered why but the same answer as this year was going to be different again I was going to be in the University and not ISC. I was confident of myself that I will get along well and perform well as the ISC had prepared us for the University (their main goal is to make sure we do well in the University). My journey continues in the UK but with a whole new set of experiences coming my way.

Huddersfield ISC Students - September 2009

New videos from the International Study Centre are now on YouTube.

Click here for the latest videos from the ISC including a welcome from international students and campus tours.

Listen to Sports Therapy student Nilesh Shah, from India, talk about how studying at Huddersfield is different to studying in India.

Nilesh Shah Podcast

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Listen to Thai Marketing student Chudee Suwanwong talk about how she is enjoying living in Huddersfield. She even likes the rain!

Chudee Suwanwong Podcast

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Listen to Marketing student, Ahmed Abdel Kader Mohamed from Egypt, talk about the accommodation at Huddersfield and his first impressions of living in the UK.

Ahmed Abdel Kader Mohamed Podcast