Intro Week

Didn't I say I would post real soon from the previous blogpost? Well here I am! I am going to briefly go over the first two actual weeks of Sheffield after orientation week ended.  
(Edit: yeah I say a lot of things....)

I will first start off with my room! 

Room and Flat:

I am finally in a single room! No more sharing a dorm room with someone or a common area, such as closet and bathroom, with people. Oh how it has made life so much easier for me... I am the one that controls my own living space, it is nice and cozy. The kitchen/lounge I do share though... with flatmates! 

I live in a flat with 5 other gentlemen in which we all get along very well. The kitchen is nice, with two large refrigerators for us to store our food, along with cupboard spaces and a toaster and kettle for all the tea I have been drinking here...Yum!

It is nice to be able to cook/make food on my own and have the chance to kick back in my room anytime I want.... I could get used to this ;-)

Intro Week:

Intro Week came the week after move-in day, when students from UK and elsewhere arrived. It is an entire week dedicated to Uni students jampacked with events and activities for everyone! It allows freshers, or first-year students, to get adjusted to moving into the university; Intro Week is also known as Fresher's Week. There was so much going on each day that at times it was difficult to choose what to do. For the most part I met up with people from International Orientation Week and hung out with them everyday. 

It was the best decision I made to do Orientation beforehand because my best established friend groups are all international students and from that first week in Sheffield. Some of my best memories still come from that first week and it is very special to me...

Anyways...moving on with quick summaries!

I participated in a student BBQ and Fresher's Beach Party the first day... dance clubs at the Student Union are pretty fun and lotta people go to weekly parties that the Uni offers.

On Monday 23/9 I watched the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, saw it back at UB but I loved it so much I enjoyed it again with a group of people for a movie night. Next I headed to the Union's Interval Cafe Bar for Jazz Night! I hung out with some other people and enjoyed music for a while before heading out.

One of the many skills that Cassie has... it is a napkin hat from the night :)















Tuesday I gathered my dorm supplies that I bought in the City Centre and brought it to my kitchen/room. I needed to buy plates, glasses, etc... I went back to City Centre for the afternoon and did some stuff. Here's a selfie :3
<----

Wednesday the 25th,  I did laundry in the morning, much needed laundry after over a week of being in Sheffield. That night I went to another Sheffield party, had a blast and enjoyed dancing a lot!

Thursday was key, course registration and passport screening. This day was also Activities Festival, I joined the Chemical Engineering Society, Photography Society, and Sociedad Hispánica. It was cool getting student discounts at bars and pubs, totally different from home but the deals were really good!

 I was mostly running around everywhere this day. I was also trying to get a email from UB to show the registration people that I was able to enroll in less courses than what I had signed up for because one of my courses conflicted with another one in my schedule. It was frustrating and a very long day for me. The night was a little more relaxed... Mad Mexican night was a hoot!

Poor Thibaut, no mustache for him...guess he needed a drink to grow one....

International kids ... whadup

I was expecting to get Burritos with friends buuuuut they did not have any and the "free nachos" they handed out was for each table. Not per person like one may expect... nonetheless I took a good number of pictures and had a jolly good time ;)

Friday... Took a look at what sports Sheffield has to offer and was interested in playing football but long story short, the group of guys that were interested in playing in a league fell short. So I will just have to look for pickup games during the fall and winter months. Gym membership is too expensive for me me for the 9 months I plan on staying in Sheffield... it costs over $350 and they do not have a running track nor is it big like the gyms I have been to. 

This evening I was trying to sort out my phone situation because I had wanted to sign up with Giffgaff to be able to get unlimited text and data and 250 UK minutes a month (costs just under $20). The phone company was having real issues with the wave of people trying to sign up at the same time so it rang up my credit card twice and my friend's card too but said the bank was declining the cards so the Sim just would not activate. Anyways I went out with friends to get my mind off things and went to a friends small party.

Saturday! I did sign up in advance to take part in two activities that cost money. It is cool how at the Uni, you can buy events for things at a box office for pretty much anything and Sheffield does not hammer students with ridiculous fees in the beginning of the year to cover all expenses. Here students pay for what  events they want to take part of upfront. Although I keep reading how the fees here at high for the Uni but I am not entirely sure.

Dodgeball was the first event I took part of that day... my team did shotty work and we lost all our games. We laughed about it afterwards but it was pretty bad... I had fun though because a bunch of us came out to play.

That night was a flat party at one place and then I went along with the crowd and kinda bounced around the rest of the night. It was alright... nice seeing a bunch of different faces and hanging out with people like this for once. Back home it is much different... here I do moderate partying its alright :)

And finally we have Sunday the 29th of September:

I signed up for speed dating that night thinking with friends that it was more of a way to meet people, but it turned out it was a little more serious than the group of friends I was with had thought of! Oh boy the Interval Cafe was filled with heart shaped balloons and everyone there took it pretty serious...why so serious?    -___- ...  One cool thing came out of that night.. my friends met this cool guy who then has hung out with us several times now. I thought the night was still fun but interesting with the set up of having to fill a score sheet to see if you want to contact those people again...
"Call me maybe?"
...."Don't think so."

Well folks that is about it. I always end up writing more than I thought I was going to and I have been going at this for just under 2 hours wow look at the time! 

Ok take it easy guys~

Late Post (Short)

Hello.... yea this post is really late and I want to say sorry for not posting after like 4 weeks. WARNING This post may be boring so I apologize in advance!

I only heard from a couple people interested in my post from back home that a lot were asking about it. BUT... it would have been nice to know that some of you really want to read more! I do not know who actually reads this stuff or how many of you... I guess I kinda wanted to hear from people from home that you actually like this stuff and want to read more. Don't get me wrong I love posting in my blog just would like hear it from you guys directly than my mom telling me that all the neighbors are wondering about "What happened to Daniel's blog OMG?!?!"

Any who... Hi, hello, yes.... hola.

A lot has happened and it usually takes me over an hour to write an actual post of what my week has been like. 

Let's see... you guys missed out on Intro Week, the first actual week, Peak District, London, Food food food, Spanish Nights, Local Natives, Football and coming up will be Halloween.

So I will break the next few blogs into groups so I can quickly go over them. I will keep them short because it is easier and do not know how much detail I should put into it. Feedback would be nice...

Alrighty I will get back to this blogging business soon, with stories and pictures. See y'all real soon.

Cheers~

International Orientation Programme Summary Part II

Hello All!


In my last post I talked about my orientation week but could not get through all of it because there was so much. I will finish it off starting with Wednesday!

Wednesday:

So if I remember correctly, I skipped a couple of the morning sessions because I needed extra sleep from staying up late the night before after Quiz Night. In addition, my shower was not working for the 2nd straight day and had to wait for a friend to wake up in order to use his buildings shower. This process occurred every day until Saturday, had to shower somewhere else and this was very frustrating. Moving on!....

There were more overviews of the school during the rest of the morning including working in the UK. If I get a job during the year, I would only be able to work full-time when school is not in session. During vacation and in the summer, I would be able to do this. Soon I will see what kind of internships are there for international students like myself ^_^

In the afternoon, I took part in a Treasure Trail activity that was like a savenger hunt all around the City Centre. Going from place to place, it was a way to teach us how to get around on our own. There were many groups participating but not everybody. In total of the orientation, there were at least 300 kids! It was interesting, some of the objectives was to ask how much does a stamp cost at a certain place and then we had to take some pictures in various locations. Our team did pretty well, we guessed on maybe one or two things at most.

City Centre is quite a far walk from where I live in Endcliffe, for some of my friends, you guys are lucky living in Opal!
Moving on to the night!

Wednesday night first consisted of Drinks and Karaoke, where us students got a chance to hang out in the Raynor Lounge. It was pretty awesome being one of the first groups of people to use the club rooms, the uni had just refurnished a good majority of the Union this year.

I sang 'Get Lucky' and 'Wake Me Up' with some people on stage, it was fun. Other songs were played and the crowd sang along to a variety of music. Afterwards they had opened up the dance floor at Fusion near Bar One (the uni's bar on campus). Global Intro Party kicked off around 11PM and I enjoyed my first dance party in the UK. After a few hours a clubbing at school, the night was practically over.

Thursday:

A visit to the Chatsworth House was the main event during the day. In our Orientation Booklet this is what it said about the site:

"One of England's most beautiful and best-loved houses, in a splendid setting on the banks of the River Derwent in the Peak District National Park. Chatsworth is famous the world over for its unrivaled private art collection, state apartments and the garden with cascade and fountains. The present House was built in 1678-1707 for the 1st Duke of Devonshire, with additions by Wyatville for the 6th Duke between 1820 and 1830".

Pretty neat, right?! Yeah there was a lot of artwork I was able to take pictures of and the weather wasn't bad like the previous days, rain off and on and windy. The gardens and areas around the House were really nice. There was quite a lot to see and there was even a maze. Unfortunately, I did not get to see the middle part when I was with a group.






In the evening we had a movie night, which the Union auditorium played Despicable Me 2.  It was a good movie, I enjoyed it. What did impress me was the projector and sound that the theater is capable of. The quality of their movies and everything are topnotch. Also to watch movies during the year, it costs £1.50 . A lot of student organizations and events here cost money, which is different back home with the fees paid before the year caps off. It makes sense having the school having you pay for the events you want to go to and not overcharging students at the beginning of the year like certain schools do. Either way, universities being run by student organizations and societies really make up college life and I am fortunate to study at schools that have such a emphasis on student involvement, as it should be.


Friday:

Almost done...phew!

So Friday was the last full day of activities and part of me had hoped that the following week I would still be able to catch up with friends that I met at Orientation. Football was in the morning and since I was sick, I just wanted to take some cool photos of some matches going on. I managed to meet some more people and had a good time on the sidelines, even though I have been dying to get into action!

Later on this day, we would all have a nice formal dinner together and celebrate what had been a great introduction to the university and the City of Sheffield. I was dressed sharply, hungry and in the mood for some dancing again! The table I sat with had people from around the world and had the opportunity to greet the Lord Mayor of the City of Sheffield, Ms. Vickie Priestley, when she came to our table.

It was a fun-filled night and great way to welcome us to the start of a great year. I am glad I found students that will also be studying abroad here and staying for the year like myself. The next couple days were about moving in and getting essentials for the room. It was quite a busy time.

Next post, I will go over my room and the start of Intro Week! Happy reading guys, and thanks for the support :-)

'Till next time~

International Orientation Programme Summary Part I

Hello gang,

Orientation Week had ended for me not too long ago and yesterday I had moved in to my flat in Millstone C3 in Endcliffe! Every day last week there were jam-packed activities starting from breakfast served at 7:30 to the last activity that would end past 22:00. I will do a quick summary of each day to highlight the days and hopefully do it in just one post:

Monday: The first full day of the programme consisted of tours around the area including the Information Commons, a 24 hour library open for all students.

















For the week, I lived in Stephenson Hall is in Endcliffe Village where some of our activities took place and where they provided us meals.

I had taken some pictures outside of where I was staying for the week in the previous blogpost, so go check that out ;).  I will post the rest on Facebook.

The only problem I had with it was where I was living, we did not have working water for the bathroom. Don't worry I did shower every morning, but I had to go step outside and get into a few of my friends building to use their shared bathrooms. It was not a fun experience that began on Tuesday night and wasn't fixed until end of the programme.

The last thing I did on Monday was take part of a Dance Class. There were two one-hour sessions in which the Sheffield's society of Latin and Ballroom dancing taught us very basic moves for Waltz and the Cha-cha. It was quite fun and I thought I did well.


Tuesday: One of the first main activities I took part of was the Ice Breakers that began at 10:00. Here we did some introductory activities and games to meet people. I am surprised at how many nationalities of students are here from all over.

Afterwards we had a talk about the newly-refurnished Student Union that was awarded as the number one University Union in the UK. That is really impressive and the tour they gave us clearly showed why it was highly reputable.

There are so many club/bar nights during the week that students can go to that makes late night at the uni so worth it all. Many rooms and areas for all sorts of activities. I mostly enjoy the music and dancing so I will try to make the most out of what the school has to offer. Of course, it will be in the evening when I am done with my studies for the day ;-) I will try to talk about night life at Sheffield in some other post in the future.



I had lunch at Interval with some friends and then towards the evening, we were given talks in the auditorium. Lot of helpful information given out, but as a third year student, quite of number of things were familiar to me.

Now on to Quiz Night! Teams of ten students sit together at a table and are given list of trivia questions. Categories include Sheffield, British, International and random knowledge. It was quite fun trying to play to win this game. Learned a few things about Sheffield and that a whale can jump higher than a leopard and a human-I still do not know why....

Lastly, a group of us went to Bar One, the Student Union's bar. Some of us played pool, talked and had some drinks. Good way to end a day.


Well I would write more but I'll save it for a little later. Want to grab some morning grub while I walk past all the freshers moving in today! Part II will be posted soon, take care guys.

Bye~

Video and Pics from Sheffield!

Greetings from Sheffield!

Here is a link to my first Blog video post. I tried putting it here put didnt work.... Anyways, click here!

--> **** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38XT68ghcLI  ****

Some of my favorite pictures from today:

 

Goodbye America

Here we are... I'm waiting at my gate at the airport at JFK in NYC to board my flight to London. Its sinking in more and more that this is real but I am taking one step at a time. I arrive in Manchester after my connecting flight from London; right now Im on alert to make sure everything turns out smoothly. So far so good, had a wonderful time with my family for a couple hours eating lunch and everything. JFK is huge and I love flying and the whole process that goes with it. Taking a bus to get from one terminal to another and looking at what other flight are there in case I change my mind at the last minute ;) I wrote my last FB post for my friends and family to know everything is alright and I am waiting patiently at my gate. A lil relaxation here on my own, collecting my thoughts. Not really nervous or super excited right now because I still need to board so I'm mostly just calm. I look around and witness the rustle and bustle of the crowds of people getting to their next destination. That was me few hours ago! I will have to go through immigration at the LHR airport before flying out to MAN, located an hour outside of Sheffield. I'll be prepared for that. Till then, many thanks for the read. See you in England folks! Cheers~

Last night

Hello couple posts today, one from last night that didnt send through... So here I am, the eve of my departure if you will... many mixed emotions because as you all know I am leaving for Sheffield for a year. I am very excited to make this real because more than a year ago, it was just a thought. A thought that I eventually turned it to reality. Leading up to planning to study abroad is a lot more challenging than I though sounds, with months of planning and many many deciding factors whether to dive into it all. A year ago I was excited to hear from a fellow chemical engineer that he was about to start his year in England and it inspired me to do the same. I was astonished that what he was doing was possible and that I could do the same. I wanted to be like him and spend my year abroad, surrounded by British culture. Now here I am on my last night, after spending nice quality time with family, I couldn't ask for more. Tomorrow is the big day, lets hope for a great one. See you in my next post. Later!~

GenEds GenEds GenEds...

Hey gang!

Still have not left yet, still at home trying to get things in order before I leave the 14th (OMG pinch me! haha). 

Getting my courses to work out for my year abroad has been a lot of work these past two weeks. For starters, Sheffield has a different way of setting up their schedules unlike Buffalo's proactive approach of allowing students to craft their semesters several months before the school year has even ended. Us UB students have been used to looking at our shopping carts midway through a semester with the class times and professors listed waaaaay in advance. Sheffield does not do this, heck they still have not listed which modules (or "mods", what courses are called overseas) will be offered at the end of this month, let alone the location and instructor. In doing so, they will have a complete timetable of the year so students can schedule classes for both Autumn and Spring. I assume you can change your mods once Spring comes rolling around but you know what they say about assumptions...

So this stress has been building up a little bit and I did not post last week because I was in the middle of it all so here I am making up for that! There is this deal with general education courses (GenEds). I need to take one GenEd abroad to fulfill my department's requirement. I have found for Autumn semester three music and one sociology module. Getting a syllabus and having it checked off has been unsuccessful.

Let's dive into my junior year schedule for just a moment... I have been checked off with my Department advisor over at Furnas Hall for the engineering courses I will be taking in Sheffield. For Autumn semester, I have down 5 chemE mods and one intended GenEd mod. As of now, I need 3 GenEds to be fulfilled by graduation: Art, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and American Pluralism. My schedule in Sheffield has space for one GenEd for Autumn semester because Spring is packed with all 6 courses being ChemE courses. Soooo I had asked for a syllabus for several music modules being offered and I managed to get one a while ago. It was denied by UB for it not filling the art requirement. Ok… so then I waited on the other ones to see what would happen. The other two music courses I cannot even try to register because Sheffield says it is not offered to exchange students and that I am not qualified for the 2nd music mod -_- . My next option was through the sociology department, but just my luck, they do not hand out information externally so no syllabus for this guy. 

I decided to contact UB's study abroad office, whom asked me to talk to the college of Arts and Science which advised me to call the Engineering Department at Bonner Hall. Got through with someone in charge of advising and it was a very helpful phone conversation. It gave me an idea on what to do next because while I can still look for different departments for courses myself, I’d like a little more help.... pleaseeee. 

Emails were exchanged and the hunt for a GenEd continues. I was able to give her a link of the Directory of Sheffield Modules to look at all the departments and what they offer. This is the help that I need, someone that knows about what has worked in the past for engineering students and their requirements to look at what department I can contact overseas to get a syllabus. Then send the syllabus to the respective UB department to then forward it to Engineering to have it checked off in my file. This will all resolve soon enough. I needed this little extra something because I am hitting a dead end each time I select a GenEd option that may work.

Thanks for the read friends and family, hopefully I can bring some good news in the future. I am staying positive and proactive :-). I will blog again next week before take off, then I will really have new and exciting things to talk about with pictures! Take care guys and to my friends at school, have a great time at school this year. Miss you all.

Cheers! ~

Got my Ticket Outta Here!

Looks like after every time I post, a couple new things come up the next few days. This time it was payments made out to housing, week long orientation, plane ticket and airport pickup. 

My passport came in the mail last week and it has a UK entry clearance stamped on it: 

With THIS I was able to get through everything else I needed to. Here is the run down guys:

Housing: I had to make a housing deposit by last Friday, 16 Aug, and was waiting on my Charles Swab card that I was expecting it to arrive by then. Since it did not come until after the deadline, I went ahead and paid for housing and everything else that goes into it with a different card. It was a relief having finished the deposit for there were couple details I had to go through carefully.

New Card: My new bank account I had opened up this month sent me a debit card via mail. I will use it to pay for anything that the school needs to charge me, bank transactions and personal expenses. It is nice that I won't be charged with international fees when I use British ATMs.

Plane Ticket: I know the exact times I will be leaving the States and arriving in England.

My flight leaves from JFK, arrives in London and then I take another plane to the Manchester airport. Leaving 14 Sept, at 7:45PM and will eventually arrive in Manchester on 15 Sept, at 10:30AM. Ticket price was not bad at all from Expedia, other airlines will charge you more directly! 

Meet & Greet: I will get picked up at the MAN airport by representatives from Sheffield for some cost, which is cheaper than an hour cab ride to Sheffield. They will be able to take me to Stephenson Hall in Endcliff where I will be staying at for the Residential Orientation Programme.

Orientation: From 15^th September 2013 – 21^st September 2013 

This orientation is the week prior to Intro Week, the main arrivals period, where I will get a chance to meet new students like myself and get to know Sheffield prior to classes beginning. This is very exciting because of what's included! More on that when I arrive ;-)

Glasses: This last one is for myself really, I am so happy with my new glasses. My new look with my confidence is ready to take on the U.K. B-)  

See you on my next post!~

VISA, Housing, Banks and More!

Greetings to my blog followers and readers,

I finally got my Visa to study in the UK for the year! I received an email about it today, and did not realize this because I was trying to figure out my housing deposit situation. Last Friday, I received my Room Contract! I now know where I will be staying, with an address and everything! Woot!

The email read:
Residence Contract- 42 Weeks New Student.
Accommodation: Room 2, being a single furnished en-suite study bedroom in Endcliffe Village.
Residence: Apartment C3 in Millstone Apartments.
Etc...

This means I have to put a deposit down and link it up to my bank account. Which brings me to my next big news: I opened up a bank account that won't charge me internationally and can use to pay to Sheffield! Now with that I have to figure out how to make sure I have my deposit and payment by this Friday. This is giving me a headache because under student payments I am considered an Overseas Student and do not have a British Bank Account, so I have to go through a different method in order to pay. Hopefully UB's Study Abroad Office can help me out again. My advisor back in Buffalo is the best, she has helped me out so much and does her job really well.
Once I set up housing payments and all that "fun" stuff (yeah right....) that goes with it, I will be able to finish off Pre-registration online. Uploading my passport and newly issued Visa to the site.

Phew, that was a lot in a span of 7 days, especially with everything coming in around the weekend. I just hope this process turns out smoothly because I get anxious with all this coming at me at once :S
My parents help with the stress because we are able to look at the forms and documents together, not sure what I'd do without their help! Thanks guys ^^!

Lastly, I just got a new digital SLR camera that I am sooooooo excited to familiarize myself with before I takeoff. It's a Canon Rebel 3Ti with the regular 18-55mm lens AND a 55-250mm lens (can you say closeup much?!). Till next time, thanks for reading!~

Visa

Today I got an email from the consulate in NYC stating that they have received my Visa application and that they will process my documents in a little over a week. This is exciting news because once I have that, I can book my flight for Sept 14th!

Last week or so, I had already completed my biometric appointment which is basically getting finger prints scanned and a photo taken. This was done at a local branch of the NYS Department of Homeland Security, so that was one of the last documents I needed to mail out. Next I would be able to complete my pre-registration profile, I cannot do that now without being issued a UK Visa by the British consulate, afterwards I will take care of my approved courses. Things are moving pretty quickly and I almost have one more month left!

The next few weeks will consist of getting my room contact, which I submitted my accommodation file to Sheffield, and then putting down a deposit for housing. Where I want to live is in Endcliffe Village, but more on that on my next post about housing. Thanks for reading. :)

This is a picture of Endcliffe Village!

First Blog Post

Hello and welcome to my blog! My New Home in Sheffield is my personal blog that I will be sharing with my friends and family so y'all can follow me for the year as I take on the United Kingdom! Wooot! I am so excited to just get there already but I still have to get my Visa. Yeah you know, the important mother of all documents that will allow me to travel and stay in the UK. Without a student visa, I won't be allowed in the country so I need to get everything in order. Time is ticking....

I am applying for a Tier IV (it's what its called, don't worry bout it) Student Visa as we speak and I need to get supporting documents to then send to the consulate in NY. I do not have a plane ticket booked yet, nor do I have housing and all the other fun stuff I have to do this month.... I had my biometrics done yesterday with fingerprints scanned and my picture taken, if you care to hear about that. Anywho,  this process is stressful and everything has to go according to plan. My official UB transcript came in the mail today, I think, and the UB Financial Aid Letter has to arrive real soon so I can mail everything out. But I am not worried, I "Keep Calm and Carry On" as the days get closer to my departure day.

Well that's it for today, hopefully I can get people to actually sit down and read this at some point. Im doing this for myself and everybody back home that I love and will miss. Ok enjoy guys, I'll keep this blog up-to-date on my life. Take care!