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~