Posts Tagged ‘uni-life’
Beatrice Hendra
BSc (Hons) Psychology
let’s talk about FOOD
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012I’ve never cooked, ever, before I came to the UK. Well technically I have if boiling water in a pot, frying egg, and making instant noodles count. But besides that nah, even holding kitchen knife makes me trembling.
Then I started university and I don’t have anyone to cook for me anymore. At the beginning I thought I can survive by just eating outside. But I got poorer and poorer and realised I need to start eating in. So I did.
Just like everyone else, I started to eat oven/microwave food. But eventually I got sick eating instant food all the time and realised I need to start cooking. So I did.
As practice makes perfect, I now announce myself as a ‘good’ cook. HAHAHA. 
Ok, forgive me for my nonsense. But I do enjoy cooking now. As what my friend Michael said in his blog (check out his blog to see amazing recipes!), “I find home-cooked meals are the best excuse to gather people around and the easiest way to make any good times even better”. I can’t agree more with him.
Anyway, the moral of the post is: University life is fun. Being in University and far away from your family doesn’t only load you with knowledge and experience, but it indirectly teaches you a lot of surviving skills, like cooking for instance. You’ll never try to cook unless you don’t have any other choice, and when you do that’s when you discover your ability. x
Diversity Meeting
Friday, November 4th, 2011Just got back from a diversity meeting with Adarsh and Adam! For you who haven’t aware yet, our University will have a diversity week in 2 weeks time. One of the events that was always a success every year is the Diversity Celebration Evening which will be held in North Shore on the 18th of November this year.
You might wonder what will be there on the event, basically there will be people giving presentation about their country, and then there will be performances of people singing a song in their language or dancing their traditional songs etc, and what everybody is looking for: the traditional food for dinner.
Indonesia didn’t participate in the event last year since we knew about it late, but I was determined to participate this year since I found the event really interesting and entertaining. Here are some photos from last year:
-
- OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Therefore this year, since I am now the vice president of the Indonesian Society I raised my hand up quickly when they asked who wants to participate :p. Now that the plan is all set come to the Diversity Celebration Evening and learn more about Indonesia (not to mention you’ll get to try Indonesian food too)! x
The Thing
Friday, October 28th, 2011Another good thing about being a student in University of Sunderland: a lot of free movie night!
Yes, I just got back from another movie night. Since it’s near halloween the movie they were showing tonight in the university’s cinema was The Thing. Not only that there is no entry fee, the university was giving a full service by providing loads of popcorns as well :9. Moverover, we were asked to write our name on our ticket when we get in to be raffled off for the DVD blueray at the end of the movie. What else can you ask for? x
Placement Fair, NEC Birmingham
Friday, October 28th, 2011As you might have gathered, I am doing a computing degree at the University and my course is subject to a sandwich programme. It means we are really encouraged to go for a placement after finishing our second year, and then return back to Uni after a year to continue to the final year.
There is obviously pros and cons about the idea which results in two groups of students, those who are excited for it and those who’s declaring out. One of the most popular con-reasons is the idea that it is better to finish the degree sooner and get a decent graduate job after, rather than wasting a year doing only a placement job. But for me myself, I am more keen on the idea of doing the placement simply because I think it would be a priceless exeperience. I believe it would be a good opportunity for us to see whether the real working environment out there (and in that particular field) is really like what we expect and we want. Besides, we can gain more skills and learning a lot of new things, and not to mention the a advantage we’ll have when we graduate since we already have the work experience. Having said that, I’m not sure if I’m really gonna go to go for it actually :p
So yesterday, the Computing Department along with the Tourism Department organised a trip to Birmingham to help its students who are interested in doing the placement to attend a placement fair. We left St Peter’s campus at about half 7 and went straight to the placemet fair place by a coach. Once we got there we really had the freedom to do anything we want.
Some of the companies present that offered placement in IT section are: BAE Systems, Cummins, ExxonMobil, GE Aviation, Gist, IBM, Mars UK, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, PepsiCo, and PSA – Peugeot Citroen.
To be completely honest it wasn’t exactly like we expected. According to the website we were supposed to wear formal clothes, prepare good questions to impress and bring our cv. But it turned out that there were no managers/recruiters present (exhibitors there were also interns!) and there was no chance to drop off the cv. However, I still think that it was worth it to go since it was such an eye opening for me about the extent of competitions out there and that we really should’ve started applying from now if we want a placement.
Way to go. Wish us luck 
. x
Fresher’s Welcome Team Award
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011After all the hard work by the Freshers Welcome Team, now here it is: Fresher’s Welcome Team Awards.
It wasn’t a formal award ceremony as such, just an event for fun to celebrate the success of the freshers week 2011. Basically what happened was, the executive officer spoke one by one about their experience during the freshers week continued by giving out the award nominations and the winner for each of their team.
It was quite fun since the nominations were not only like ‘who worked with most hours’ or ‘who took people out the most’ but also like ‘who never missed a single night’, ‘the bigamist’, ‘the playboy’, etc. And instead of a boring certificate they the winner got a souvenier or small gift.
After having a good laugh and applause with all the awards presented, we carried on with a great buffet and general drinkage fun. It was nice to be involved in the freshers welcome team! x
African Drumming Class
Thursday, October 13th, 2011Woohoo! I tried something new yesterday, the African Drumming Class.
I watched people playing African drum for the first time last year when they performed at the African Caribbean Society’s welcome party and they already got my attention. They didn’t play the same rythm, like each of them played differently but when they played together it was so breathtaking. Not to mention about their perfect timing and spirit as well.
So last week I saw my friend Jen posting a notification on facebook about free African Drumming class, and so I just gave it a try! There were only two newbies in the class and the teachers were students as well. It was really fun how they taught us to remember the rhythm with mnemonics like “i really like mashed potato” etc. I enjoyed the class and I think I’m gonna come again next week. If you’re interested in joining too, you can just come to the Priestmann Building every Wednesday at 5 pm. Its open and free for students x
Burger and Bowling
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011I went to another Connect’s event yesterday: Burger and Bowling. And you know what – we just have to pay £2 for a burger and two games of bowling, how cool is that 
!
So yesterday we all gathered in North Shore at about 4pm to have the burger and split up into teams. We then walked together to the bowling alley for the game, in which we got 2 games to play.
Ask me how many times I played bowling here. Zero. Hahahaha! I played bowling before though (twice maybe?), but that’s just not my thing so I never looked for it. And as expected, I kept on getting gutter ball ! Lol. Ah whatever, at least we had fun yesterday! x
University Open Day
Thursday, October 6th, 2011Yesterday was one of the 4 University of Sunderland’s Open Days!
Okay, I’m gonna tell you a very funny story of mine lol. Yesterday, I wandered around the Prospect Building during the open day looking for the Lives Online stand because I was asked to come. I couldn’t find it.
I tried to ask some student ambassadors who were working there but they said they didn’t see Lives Online stand too. Then I asked the event organiser, but they were not sure as well. However they suggested that maybe the Lives Online team doesn’t have a stand and that they just walking around giving flyers and talking to people. Since the idea made so much sense to me, I started to walk around and around again but looking for the people this time. Still getting no result I started to think about other possibilities, that maybe they would come after lunch time and stuff, and whether I should wait lol.
Soooo, it turns out that there was a miscommunication; the team decided to not go for it because of some reasons. HAHA! I still feel like laughing whenever I think about it. Lesson learnt, next time confirm before you do something and at least have one of the members’ phone number with you, silly Beatrice! :p
Anyway, if you’re interested in studying in University of Sunderland then I really recommend you to come for the open days. They have stands for all the faculties, accommodations, students union, and any other University Services. They provide campus and accommodation tour as well!
“If you like the sound of Sunderland then find out more. Visit us at an Undergraduate Open Day and see for yourself what the University and the city really have to offer.” – http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/ug/opendays//
University Transport
Monday, October 3rd, 2011I just got my metro card for £40 today woop!
Haha I know I’m a lazy ass! But come on, I stay in Precinct and my classes are in St. Peter’s. Not to mention, they all start at 9 everyday. I really can’t be bothered to walk :p.
I’m aware that the University provides free campus buses for transport between its two campuses and all its halls (except Clanny House), but I really don’t want to take the risk of waiting in the bus stop and finding out that the bus is full since it only accommodates 16 people. While for the Connect Bus that is free for students, although this bus is somewhat better since you can stop in a lot of places (city center, Parklane, etc) it is not suitable if you’re in a rush for a class.
Sooooo, Metro it my solution. Amazingly the University also has an agreement with Nexus which allows all its students to get a metro card (only valid on weekdays, between Brockley Whins and South Hylton) that is valid for a year for only £40. Now I have 4 options to get to my classes everyday. x
Connect’s Welcome Party
Thursday, September 29th, 2011The Connect’s Welcome Party last night was actually just like a gathering, with games and food. It was a really really good chance to get to know more people though. Guess since that is actually the real vision of the group it specially arranged the game and activities that require us to talk to each other and work in a team.
Oh and for you who doesnt know what Connect is,
.
CONNECT is a Students’ Union social group that meets on a regular basis. It is open to all students and is a great way to meet new people, make friends and have lots of fun.
Activities include going to the Cinema, Ten Pin Bowling, barbecues, trips, museum visit, sport evenings etc. You can even input your own ideas for events you would like to participate in.
There is NO FEE to join CONNECT, but students are expected to pay for the activities they want to participate in (most of them are free or at a discounted student friendly rate).
If you are struggling to make friends, board, wanting to try new things or simply want to CONNECT, then join in! Email su.contact-officer@sunderland.ac.uk or check out http://www.sunderlandsu.co.uk/clubs/connect
.
Okay back to the party. So after all the ice breaking games where we had to talk to everyone and stuff, we played the main game which was building a tower from papers. The group with the tallest tower that is still standing after 30 mins would win. My group’s tower was the second highest fyi but well, it only last 3 minutes lol. Well it was pretty intense and everyone seemed to be absorbed in the game! The dinner followed after and then we had a quiz at the end. It was a good night. x
