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
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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~

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~