Winter in Glasgow

Hello everybody :)

 New year, new hopes, new assignments, new courses… Yep, this is the second semester!

Just for a quick recap, at the end of the last semester, we had an extraordinary amount of snow and ice; consequently some of the exams from the December exam diet were postponed since the university was closed for 3 days. That is exactly what happened with one of my exams. I can assure that having exams in December is much better than in January, cause then you can just relax and enjoy your winter break.

 I hope that all of us did pretty well on the exams, well, at least from the people I talk to everybody seemed to be quite happy with their results, which apparently is a good indicator of the quality of education here. I hope that all of you had a wonderful winter holiday and a lovely Christmas, just like mine :)

 Now, however, is the time to go back to studying. The deadline for the first essays is approaching and some people /like me/ are having class tests next week. Having gathered a lot of wonderful emotions from the Christmas holiday and the ReFreshers’ week, it’s time to delve back to the piles of books

And now – some unilife  news and gossip. Last week the Sports Association organized a Health Week, a wonderful event which allowed all students at the university to embark on a healthy lifestyle… even just for a week :) This included a free access to the sports facilities to all students and staff members. And indeed, the gym was pretty crowded that week, but it is definitely encouraging to see so many people in the middle of an intense workout.

The event was very successful since a lot of non-members came to try the various classes and facilities offered by the Sports Association and almost everybody had a very enjoyable time.

So, even though the Health Week is over, going to the gym is undoubtedly the best way to combat the stress related to writing essays and dissertations or preparing for tests and exams. Plus, it is a brilliant way to get to know more people, especially if you join one of the clubs, or even to go for a run with a friend.

Wish you all a very enjoyable second semester!!!!

second year – second chance to enjoys the beauties of uni life :)

Hey guys

Hope that everyone is doing well and that you are all stress-free after the massive push related to submission of essays, assignments, etc.

I have to admit that it has been pretty busy around me, with essays to write /one of which was a group assignment, and as you can imagine deciding on the plan to write a 2500-word essay, the structure of each question, allocating tasks, and keeping everything on track can be quite tricky!!! We all were ambivalent at the beginning how to approach the topic, and how we would manage to work together. However, today we all submitted our invaluable creation, so everybody had mixed feelings – happiness and relief that it is all over J, but also a bit of tearfulness that we won’t be working together anymore/.

Anyway, the essays are all submitted now and it is to look ahead at the exams… only 3 weeks to the start of the exam diet… goodness, how quickly the time has passed by!!!

What I want to say with this post is mainly to summarize my experience as a second-year undergraduate at the University of Glasgow, and honestly this is even better than being a fresher!!! First of all, you already are familiar with the place, people, services, buildings, etc and know your way around. Therefore, when it comes to registration, meetings with the advisor of studies, you know what/when/how to do it, so you won’t waste time wondering what you are supposed to do. Then, you still benefit from the wonderful freebies offered generously at the Freshers’ Fair. However, this time you know where you can find the best freebies

Another advantage of being in second year is the fact that you already know the majority of the people in your course, so you feel much more at ease.

Last but not least, I’d like to point out that this year the GUSA /i.e. the gym J/ is offering great variety of sport activities, so there is something for everybody. Not to mention, the pearl in its crown – the new zumba classes, which are extremely popular amongst the students /especially the female part J/ I heartily recommend them for everyone who wants to have fun, reduce the stress and lose a couple of pounds J

Well, hope that this academic year is treating you all well, and if you have any questions/concerns/comments, just get in touch,

Slaveya

new academic year, new experiences, new students, new life…

Hiya J

Hope you all guys had an amazing summer! Personally, my summer was very eventful. Probably the peak was when I went to Barcelona to participate in a music contest together with “The Children of Sevlievo” vocal group – the vocal group I have been with for more than 16 years now. We had an amazing time there not only because Barcelona is completely the opposite of Glasgow, at least as far as weather is concerned, but also because our performance was very successful and we were all happy to sing for the welcoming Catalan audience.

Anyway, now it is the beginning of another challenge – at least for the freshers coming for the first time to uni. I hope that for you guys the freshers week was the most unforgettable and amazing week in your lives. I am convinced that University of Glasgow has a lot to offer, so I’d like to congratulate you with the wise choice you’ve made to come to study here. As it is now almost the end of the freshers week, most of you might be thinking about joining a society, or a sports club. I have a wonderful suggestion for you.

Probably some of you might be thinking of enhancing your chances of finding a good job after graduation. We have heard a lot about the difficult financial situation, spending cuts, recession, and all the gloom and doom especially in the job market. Thus, joining a society will definitely make you stand out from the crowd and help you dazzle the prospective employers. So, a wonderful way to spend your free time at uni /I can tell you from my personal experience that it is difficult to find such J/, and invest some effort in giving something back to society and working on a project that will have a beneficial impact on a lot of people, is joining Freshsight. Freshsight is a professional student organization that provides probono business consulting services to non-profit organizations. What all this means is that upon joining, you will be allocated in a team of 4 or 5 people. You will be working on a project related to enhancing the performance of a charity organization – most likely find efficient way to promote the organization, to attract more volunteers or donors, to facilitate the communication process between the branches of the organization, etc. Then, you will have to put your ideas into paper and present them in front of an industry panel and the charity organization managers. But don’t worry, throughout the whole process you will get support from your team leader, and every week there will be 1-hour training session in which you will be given more ideas on how to fulfill your task as a team.

Trust me, this really is a valuable experience, and after all, it is not only about the work – after a session, we always go to a have a pint J

So, if that seems to be something that you might be interested in, come along on one of our Info Sessions. They will be held on Sept 20^th at 6:30pm at the Bridie Library, GUU and on Sept 21^st at 6:30pm at Committee Room 1, QMU.

Anyway, I wish you all a very fruitful academic year, a lot of unforgettable memories, loads of fun and many many wonderful experiences!!!

and it smells like uni :)

Hello everybody

Long time no see I hope that you all have spent an unforgettable summer, and your are still enjoying the miracles summertime brings us

As it looks like, summer is still here, but we all have the feeling that very soon everything will be over, well – at least me. I still can’t really realize how fast this summer has passed. As it was yesterday when everybody was in the library fully immersed into conscientious studying. Just for the record, last time I was in the library, which was a week ago, I was surprised how many people were in there. I mean, you definitely can’t say that it was overcrowded, but you could see postgraduate students hectically writing the last pages of their dissertations. Of course, you could undoubtedly feel the lack of undergraduates there at that very moment

Next week most of the students will be coming back to Glasgow – some in their recently-rented flats, others – back in the uni halls. I admit that it will be very enjoyable to see all of those people here again, but this feeling also brings with it the sense of  inevitable passing of time and the approaching new semester with all of its beauties – lectures, studying, tutorials, assessments, library, and of course – the inseparable fact of student life – parties and nights out

So, hang on, Glasgow, because students are coming back!

Let the exam session begin!

Hey everybody

So, the exam diet is just about to begin and everybody is sooooo focused on revising /or in some cases just studying new things which you’ve missed during the semester/. The idiosyncratic characteristic of the days before exams start is the unability to find a place in the library, and I don’t mean a free computer, but just a place to sit… really, it is so busy. But that’s what I like so much because being surrounded by people who study, are concentrated and want to do well on their exams, motivates you to put a lot of efforts into your preparation /even though I am still in my first year, as we all know, freshers don’t have the reputation for the most conscientious and meticulous students/.

Anyways, in these days one can sensibly feel the difference in the social life of most of the students – parties /well, not in all, but in most of the cases/ are cut to minimum, though going to the pub is not considered a sin while preparing for the exams.

As fas as I’m concerned, my exams start on the 26th April and finish on the 11th May, and then… I will be freeeeeeeeee

Well, wish everyone GOOD LUCK with the exams!!!!!

and suddenly the semester is over…

Hey everybody,

So, that’s the end of the teaching period of the second semsetr. Really, I couldn’t feel how time flew away! The first couple of weeks after the Christams break were so much fun, people were still trying to adjust after the break, then the first assignments came, so we had to start studying, then there was the pressure around submiting the assignments, and suddenly… the semester is over!

I have to admit that these semester was full of events. To start with, the SRC elections. I don’t know if there were that many people interested in the elections, but surely it was a matter of life and death for those who were running for the different positions available. The campus was full of fliers, banners, brochures, and posters, people in colorful t-shirts were giving freebies and candies to lure some innocent students to vote for their guy… yes, it really was like the Freshers week. Still, it was fun.

Then, the library was agin full of people working on essays, assignments, case studies. This semester was different for me because for the first time in my life as a university studnt I had to work on a group assignment. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, although we weren’t very productive during our meetings – you know, there are a lot of distractions. Then, it was hard to find a time when everybody is free, becase we are all doing different subjects. However, with collective efofrts we managed to churn out a 1500-word report. And to our greatest surprise, we got A3 !!!!!!!!!!!! What can I say, life is strange, when you least expect something, it happens… But at least, we had an unexpectedly positive feedback from this assignment… awesomeness

The exam dates came out and it turned out that my first exam is on the 26th April – the first day of the exam period. Luckily, I don’t have two exams on the same dat, which in fact, happens quite often.

Then, the holiday came and everybody went back home. The hall of residence where I am staying, Cairncross House is almost empty, but I am leaving soon as well. I will be home for one week!!!!!!!!!!! Yupiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, wish you all a wonderful Easter holiday! Have fun!

Slaveya

In case your Thursdays are free…

Hello

As an Economics and Business and Management student, I have certain weaknesses. One of them is called Glasgow University Trading and Investment Club a.k.a. GUTIC.

Honestly, it is a great fun! And don’t think that people there are investing-maniacs, not sleeping in order to keep up with the stock markets in Tokyo, London and NY. And it doesn’t matter if you are doing Accountancy, Economics, or English Lit – the most important thing is to have motivation, some natural flair and will to learn how to make some extra money later on. Quite cool, isn’t it?

For those of you who are afraid that they are going to lose loads of money due to their lack of experience in this field, let me reassure you – you won’t trade with real money, so don’t worry

One of the greatest things in the club is the investment competition – we are separated in teams and each team has to take decision about their investments – what and how much to sell and buy. Currently, my team is ranked #2, so I hope that with a little bit more luck, we might win

Moreover, very often guest speakers from Morgan Stanley, Barclays Wealth, etc. are invited to make presentation, which is a great opportunity to get first-hand information about the current financial situation, and learn interesting strategies and techniques to develop your portfolio.

If you are interested in joining GUTIC, you can find some more information here:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=gutic&init=quick#!/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=37733000935

So, don’t wait… join now and you won’t regret it! The meetings are held every Thursday @ the Adam Smith building.

So you have some free time? Why not join a society???

Here at the University of Glasgow we have a great amount of different societies, clubs and associations, so basically no matter what your interests are, you are definitely going to find a society which matches your interests.

Basically, from the Chivalric Dream Society, Glasgow Student dance Society to Kung Fu Fitness, you are surely going to find your place. In addition, joining a club us a great way to meet new people and make new friends, have fun and… make progress in the area you’ve chosen while exploring the clubs and pubs in Glasgow J

If you are not sure of which society to join, you will find a full list of all the societies and clubs at the University at the web page of SRC. There you can also find some useful info such as what actually the society does and when and where the meetings are held.

So, what you actually need to do in order to join? Basically, you just have to pop up on one of the meetings of the club and say that you want to join. Usually, it is best for you to do this at the beginning of the semester since later on it is difficult to catch up. Well, it depends on the specific club, but for example you won’t be able to join the Choral Society in the middle of the semester since they have already started working on their new repertoire. Some other societies organize different games and teams, so again join in the middle of the semester is not a good idea.

The best thing of being a fresher is that you still have more free time than other students, so you can experiment and join a club who does something really different, something you have never done before. If you don’t like it – it is not a problem since you still have time to switch to doing something else. On the other hand, if you really like you do in this society, then you have found a new hobby!!!!!!

I really recommend you to join a club instead of just hanging around with friends because this will really make your time worthwhile and will enable you to experience something different. Finally, joining a club is usually 3 pounds only, but it is really worthy!!!

Here at the University of Glasgow we have a great amount of different societies, clubs and associations, so basically no matter what your interests are, you are definitely going to find a society which matches your interests. Basically, from the Chivalric Dream Society, Glasgow Student dance Society to Kung Fu Fitness, you are surely going to find your place. In addition, joining a club us a great way to meet new people and make new friends, have fun and… make progress in the area you’ve chosen while exploring the clubs and pubs in Glasgow  If you are not sure of which society to join, you will find a full list of all the societies and clubs at the University at the web page of SRC. There you can also find some useful info such as what actually the society does and when and where the meetings are held. So, what you actually need to do in order to join? Basically, you just have to pop up on one of the meetings of the club and say that you want to join. Usually, it is best for you to do this at the beginning of the semester since later on it is difficult to catch up. Well, it depends on the specific club, but for example you won’t be able to join the Choral Society in the middle of the semester since they have already started working on their new repertoire. Some other societies organize different games and teams, so again join in the middle of the semester is not a good idea. The best thing of being a fresher is that you still have more free time than other students, so you can experiment and join a club who does something really different, something you have never done before. If you don’t like it – it is not a problem since you still have time to switch to doing something else. On the other hand, if you really like you do in this society, then you have found a new hobby!!!!!! I really recommend you to join a club instead of just hanging around with friends because this will really make your time worthwhile and will enable you to experience something different. Finally, joining a club is usually 3 pounds only, but it is really worthy!!!

Glasgow, here I come!!!

A lot of prospective students wonder how does it feel when you first arrive at university? What actually do you do immediately after your plane lands at Glasgow International? How do you manage to get everything working on time for you?

Well, at least, these were some of the questions I was asking before I arrived here. I was worried for all those small things which actually can create great problems. It turned out, however, that it is very easy to settle down in Glasgow and start the “new phase” of your life as a uni student.

Step 1 – arriving at Glasgow.
Every year there are students volunteer to be helpers during the Freshers week. They wait students at the airports, stations and help them get to the university hall /or flat/ they are staying in. If, however, you arrive at Glasgow very early or very late, you can always take a taxi to your “new home”. Usually, to get from Glasgow International Airport to the university is about 20 pounds, but there is as well a university minibus service which takes the newly-arrived students to the university /there usually is a timetable for that at the website of the university/.

Step 2 – your new home for the next year.
In my case, this is Cairncross House. If I have to recommend a university hall to prospective students – that would be Cairncross House. It is not because I am staying here, but because it had a great location, and it is clean and quiet. It takes you 15 min walk to get from Cairncross House to the university /main campus/, and about 20-25 min walk to get to the city center. In comparison, Murano is about 20 min walk from the university, and to get to the city center, students usually take the bus.
Moreover, Cairncross is much cleaner than other halls, though the most fancy hall is Queen Margaret. But it is farther away from the uni and city center.
So, when you get to your hall,  just be yourself, talk to your new kitchen-mates and neighbours, and make friends, even though, you may not continue hanging out with these people. That is why staying at halls is so great – you meet people.  Since everybody is new, everybody tries to speak to as many people as possible! Which is perfectly cool!

Step 3 – Freshers’ Week

That’s one of the best events that the university organises. A great focus is put on all freshers. During the freshers week you can enjoy doing sooooooooooooooo many things – from attending cool parties, to joining clubs, societies, sport teams, and even… having some free food. In short, freebies are everywhere, parties are everywhere, so just forget about studies, books, job, and enjoy your first encounter with student life
I would recommend to get the Freshers Pass – it gives you access to all the parties and you’re gonna have a lot of fun!!! Thus, you will have the opportunity to party with your new friends and why not to meet the “man of your life”

Step 4 – First lecture
So, after the exhilaration during the freshers week, we had to go back to reality and do what we are supposed to do here, as students – study The first lecture is usually a very confusing experience, because when you get there you see a lot of people /basically strangers, since you hardly know anyone/, had to fill out a lot of forms, take handouts… But helps you “feel” how is to study at university. And don’t worry, after the first couple of lectures, everything will be OK