Quick Catch Up

The last time I said I’d try to write back sooner….is a week later good enough??

Realised the other day that i forgot to put up Pictures of the earth science trip!! See Below…

Ok so fireworks night was alright, usually go to a public display like at Glasgow Green or Strathclyde Park….didn ’t bother. Instead I was cheap and watched my neighbours!! Haha they have good taste. It was a dry night though which was good as it usually rains on bonfire night. Now I have realised I need to get cracking with these essays- I’m just after writing my politics essay….1500 words of pure genius – well to me it seems that way.

The exam timetable came out too….I was really worried as well because you get exams on Saturdays and no one really wants an exam then. But luckily they are spaced over 8 days so should be alright. But that means I’m going to have to do my Christmas shopping now. I won’t have time come December – I’ll be frantically cramming every little piece of knowledge into my already overcrowded brain. Its over 6 weeks away but I’ll just wrap them as well…there’s tonnes of bargains on at the moment so you get more for your money buying early. All the shops in Glasgow are already kitted out with Christmas stuff. So is work, I’m getting fed up of people asking me about perfume and make up, after all its not really a thing a guy knows about. My confused look gives me away every time though.

I’m having to ration myself time as well – all this coursework is overwhelming at a glance- I feel like collapsing like a big blob on the floor every time I see the list of stuff I have to do. So I have a system, I need to at least attempt half an hour of work every night- but I had last night off-and instead spent 2 hours printing, organising and colour coordinating lecture notes from the past 3-4 weeks …it was very productive – and yea I know the colour coordinating is sad – but it helps me!!

(Interesting fact: things printed in Yellow help you remember them more easily).

So yea anyway- I’m now away to attempt that very long half hour of work writing an Earth Science essay- wish me luck- I think I might need it!!

Music Club Evening

For those of you who don’t know, I’m in the Music Club Choir and its Chamber Choir. Tonight was Music Club Evening at the Music Department, with performances from various music groups. We performed six songs in total and I think it went well. My roommate and boyfriend came for moral support; I’m so thankful!

Tonight was a very great night. I can’t wait for the Choral Society rehearsal tomorrow night!

- Ruby

I haven’t written on here for awhile!

I’m due for an update!

As you can probably tell, I have been pretty busy since the last time I wrote. I’ve had my 21st birthday, written my first essay at GlasgowU and visited Pitlochry for Halloween!

It’s been raining so much in Glasgow lately; it’s crazy. It was so bad one day that I had to take a cab from campus, back to my apartment. Luckily it only cost me 2 pounds, however, I left a library book in the cab. I’m still trying to track it down at the moment; if I can’t find it, then I will be fined 25 pounds or more to replace it. I’m such an idiot. Note to you all: Make sure you have ALL of your belongings with you when leaving a cab!

My birthday week was great! My roommate and flatmates surprised me with a small gathering at our flat. My boyfriend took me to see Saw VI and get Starbucks (Starbucks is my absolute favorite indulgence.). My sister and her boyfriend have long planned the weekend for me and got us tickets to the Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry, which is a small town northeast of Glasgow. It was on Halloween Night and during the town’s Autumn Festival. All’s been great fun, though I had been having a cold throughout that week.

Alright, I have probably written enough for now. It’s almost 4 am and I really should get some sleep. Before I finish off though, here are some pics from last week:

Poster promoting the Autumn Festival

The Main Street in Pitlochry

The Entrance to the Enchanted Forest

My lovely roommates' surprise on my birthday (presents!)

-Ruby

Octoberfest

Hello!!!!!

How are you!? It’s the start of November and I’ve just finished my first block of second year. It was tough though not as difficult to comprehend as everyone claimed!!! It started with some embryology (admitedly, quite challenging) but ended with a PBL essentially focussed on igniting debate over the social aspects of adolescence and whether puberty was a physical or philosophical concept!!! Brilliant. =]

Moreover, we were given our first piece of second year coursework 2 weeks ago. We were told to read a paper on the differences between breast health problem occurence in HIV-infected and uninfected mothers in rural and suburban areas of South Africa, and to crtically appraise the study. At first, this seemed somewhat silly as we were only given 650 words in which to complete our appraisal and most people thought it would be a cakewalk, and that they could rattle it out of the bag in no time. How wrong they were…. It soon became apparent that, after scrolling through the endless torrent of complicated tables and statistics (analysed through methods no-one had ever heard of) and being none the wiser as to what the hell the study was all about, this was more challenging than first anticipated.

Having said that, I did my best and, like most people,  started to get to grips with it and soon began to understand how I should set about appraising the paper. I think that, out of all of the courseworks we’ve had, this one was the steepest learning curve as nothing at school had prepared me that style of reading. Though I’d done critical appraisal in English in my final year, this was totally different and I felt way out of my depth at first. Not such good times. =[

On balance though, I think that the coursework went well and am hoping that all my hard work will pay off!!!

Outside of that, second year has been almost the same as first year but with more hype.

As a second year Ultimate Frisbee veteran, it fell to me and one of my friends to organise an all-medic team to take to Aberdeen last weekend for SNIMS (Scottish and Northern Irish Medical Schools Sports competition). This was challenging as the tournament was mixed and we needed to have a minimum of 7 girls on our team, and every time we recruited some, they would pull out. We got the team together practically the night before we left, meaning half our team had never played before but we didn't let that dampen our mood!!! We arrived in Aberdeen on the Friday night and were up early on Saturday to commence playing. Honestly, we did extremely well coming in a respectable 3rd position to Aberdeen and Dundee *shakes fist menacingly*!!!! It was absolutely fantastic and we had an awesome weekend! Better yet, we inspired someone to actually come to frisbee training! Way hey!

Aside from that, I've not really being doing much except studying though I did go to the BBC Good Food show with my girlfriend last Saturday to see Gordon Ramsay as she is a massive fan. Now that was AMAZING. If you get a chance to go next year do as it's basically three free meals and, if you're into that, as much alcohol tasters as one can handle though, obviously, I do not condone drinking in any way. =]

 

See you next term!!

Also, HI NIGEL!!!

Rain, Rain – go away!!

Okay so it has been over 2 weeks since my last blog report, and its been a busy 2 weeks. Since I last wrote I was informed of not 1, not 2, but 3 essays I have to do!!! I started to really panic. But I still have some time left to get them finished.

On top of that, earth science decided to take us on a field trip. We went all the way to Edinburgh to experience rocks and rain. Needless to say – being outside for the day climbing formations that can be described as Kilimanjaro’s younger sibling in the wind and rain was not every ones idea of a perfect Saturday. Yes – i did say Saturday. From 9am-5pm we did nothing but geology. It was hard going, but I actually understand some things a lot better now. It was only 1 day and -despite the endless downpour of rain – the people on the trip were really friendly and talkative. it was like a bonding season over how much we hate Scottish weather.

Politics and geography on the other hand have had nothing out of the ordinary happen. The only thing I can think of is that we had an assessment for Geography (worth about 5%) – it was done on the computer and really easy to work your way through if you’d turned up to previous labs.

Halloween was fast approaching, and every club in Glasgow was holding an epic night of fancy dress. Decided to go as a Gladiator!! Obviously I never thought it all out; I was wearing a kilt/skirt thing and earlier that week it had poured with rain everyday. BUT it was dry on Halloween. I went to a flat party with some people who I had met in courses last year – its nice to catch up and see how they’re getting on. After that we spent 10 minutes singing “The wheals on the bus” song while walking from the GU (Glasgow University Union) to Viper on great western road. It was busy…didn’t stay long, went for Pizza instead! Haha

Anyway, it’s fireworks night tonight….I’ll wait and see what I do. Should be fun.
I promise to write back sooner in future and save these really long blogs…

My 21st Birthday

In the States, most people would probably make it a big deal. But I have never had big birthday plans before, so this one is just going to be plain like any other birthdays that I’ve had.

Well I’m going to see Saw VI in theater (I love horror/ thrillers.) and I really want to get Starbucks. That’s all I want for my birthday. Hehe.

Can you believe that at the moment I turned 21, I had the cogito on my mind? Yeah. Philosophy papers rock.

-Ruby

Brief Update During This Hectic Period

Well, I have managed to finish more than half of my philosophy essay this weekend. But right now, I’m having a major knot in my essay, so I’m taking a break from it. Hopefully I will be able to finish it by tomorrow (1 week before due date). Right after I’m done with this essay, I will have to start reading for my history essay, which is due several days after my philosophy paper.

I write paper most efficiently on my own bed, with books and lecture notes surrounding me.

I have to use two of my laptops. The big one freezes randomly when I run too many programs, so it’s for internet browsing (when I need the online dictionary) and playing music (louder speakers). The little one is where I type up my actual paper, since it’s new, it does not act up and my paper should be safe.

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The reason why I’m trying to finish my assignments in advance is that my elder sister is taking me to the Enchanted Forest in the highlands this weekend (to celebrate my birthday which is on the 28th of October). So I’m going to be staying at her house in Stirling. And who wants to work on essays during a weekend of fun?

Should go to bed now. Write more later!

- Ruby

Pressure’s On!

I’m going to be very brief in this entry…

I have a Philosophy essay and a History essay due in the same week in the beginning of November. I refuse to procrastinate, so I’m getting a head-start on the readings and brainstorming of essays.

Wish me luck! Will write more when I have time.

-Ruby

Unexpected Fun Day at Argyle Street

Happy Saturday people!

Have I told you guys about my elder sister yet? She moved to Scotland five years ago from Hong Kong and is currently residing near Stirling. (She works in Glasgow.) I am really thankful that I have her close by, because university life can get lonely sometimes; there will be nights when you just wish your mom or sibling is next to you, no matter how awesome your flatmates are.

Well today, out of nowhere, my sister texted me saying that her boyfriend and her were driving to Glasgow (so that they could buy a chair from Dwell, which is a comtemporary furniture store). I ended up spending a really fun day with them. We walked around Buchanan Street (the main shopping street) and Argyle Street.

My sister took me to the big Primark on Argyle Street, so that I could (hopefully) get a thick jacket. Where I come from, Hong Kong, we don’t have cold winters, so I never own any big jackets; whereas here in Scotland, winters are going to be a lot colder, so I will need a jacket of some sort. I did spot several nice ones, however, all of them were too big. This is a problem that I’m constantly facing here, sometimes I have to shop in the kid’s section for a smaller size selection.

Afterward, we ate at McDonalds. My sister got me a Quarter Pounder meal and the new Carmelicious McFlurry, which I have not been able to afford even since I’m here (because I’m living on a tight budget), so it was kind of a luxury to be able to eat out. (laughs)

Before my sister and her boyfriend leave, they drove me to SeeWoo, which is a huge Asian grocery store in Glasgow to get Chinese snacks. I haven’t taken pictures of them before I ate them, so maybe next time you will get to see what they look like.

All in all, today was so much fun! I have to go organize my notes now though. Till next time, take care!

-Ruby

Your Average First Entry

Hey guys! I’m really excited to be writing here, hopefully I won’t bore you with my on-going ramblings in the near future.

Getting on to the standard getting-to-know-me part: My name’s Ruby and I’m a first year student studying Philosophy from Hong Kong. However, a large amount of people who first met me did ask if I was American, because apparently, I have an American accent. (I travel to the States a lot, probably every summer.)

Anyway, my goal is to be a professor teaching Philosophy someday. Before studying at Glasgow, I finished an Associate Degree in Cultural and Media Studies (which is from the American system) in Hong Kong, during which, I had the opportunity to poke around different subjects. Philosophy happens to be the one subject that never fails to entice me.

As my blog description says, I’m studying Philosophy alongside History and History of Art. I’m also in the Choral Society and the Music Club choir (as well as  the Chamber Choir).

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Although I’m an international student, this is not my first time in Glasgow. Two years ago, I visited my elder sister (who resides near Stirling) and she took me shopping around Buchanan Street. Now, two years later, I am studying here. I’m still a little bit shocked, in a good way. (Thank you Mom for supporting me financially!) The University campus is breathtaking, especially the Main Building. I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie when I first visited the Cloisters!

Before I came to Glasgow, I was afraid that I would not understand the Scottish accent (No offense, you guys are great!), because it is so different from the American accent that I’m used to. Luckily, I seem to be doing fine so far, no embarrassing experience or anything!

Well this should probably be it. I will write more next time!

- Ruby