I have now managed to do a quick video blog using my digital camera's video facility. Could not use my laptops webcam as I haven't got any software to get it to work and being very busy, cannot sort it out. Hope you enjoy this first attempt at "vlogging".
Sorry for the delay in keeping you up to date with my life at Loughborough. As you may have figured out by now, I was very busy during the last 7 weeks. I was doing what most people do once they are out in the real world - juggling education, work, society, life and emotions (obviously education plays a minute role in the real world to some extent). There were lots of ups and downs, but I've got through it and since Saturday 13 December 2008, I've been back at home.
However, it feels different. So different that the few couple of days I thought I should go back to Loughborough rather than stay home in London. This has changed now, but I haven't managed to get any coursework out of the way yet, which is not good. I've got over 2 weeks to complete 3 pieces of coursework, do a mock paper, and get up to date with the work that we have done as I've been attending lectures physically, but not psychologically.
What have I done since I've been back in London? Worked for someone I know for a couple of days, but lost interest; watched various films (with a list that is updated on Facebook); started reading fiction books after 12 months or so - trying to finish the Fearless series of books, with book 29 complete today; randomly eating after breakfast until dinner time; sleeping random times as a result of watching films.
I think I will round it off here as I seem to be rambling rather than mentioning anything constructive, but I will say this about Loughborough:
If you don't drink, unfortunately, your life will be miserable at many points as its not your ethics & morals and you've been brought up culturally which many don't seem to have at university, unless they strip themselves of any to try and fit in. Although its not noticeable, there are forms of racism which exist to this day, at Loughborough University.
Peace.
Where do I begin? I'm now behind 3 weeks in keeping you updated. So it looks like I'll have to summarise any main points that I can remember for the 2 weeks that I missed out and then try and keep this week brief, if possible!
Week 2 (beginning 06/10/2008) is quite self-explanatory with my Google Calendar. The only problem most probably would have been the occasional disruption due to noise. I did go shopping on Tuesday 7 October 08 to Sainsbury's and spent £3.12p. (Thanks go to myself for keeping the receipts!) Also, there was a student night in Wilkinsons on Thursday 9 October 08, where a number of items were reduced to a really low price. I was working that night so I asked my friend if he could go and get me an A4 Ream of Paper for 50p! Also, one thing not noted on my calendar was that I attended my first LSU Shotokan Karate lesson on Tuesday. It was quite late, however there was nothing else planned for the night so it was okay. Quite different in some cases but the application was the same.
Week 3 (beginning 13/10/2008) was one packed week! Look at the calendar and it will reveal all. Two labs and the first tutorial of the year in a day! I didn't attend Loughborough People and Planet & Amnesty International as I was knackered and couldn't get proper sleep on the weekend. Unfortunately, this caused the rest of the week to be sluggish as I couldn't recover and started falling asleep in lectures. I had to force myself out of bed and out of the room to do anything for a start in the morning. I then had to resist the temptation of going back to sleep and missing lectures by telling myself, "If I miss a key word or phrase that could be related to my exam, then I might fail."
You must be wondering where am I working now as I didn't get a transfer from Greggs in Stockley Park. I'm working for Imago Services, which is part of the university and provides all types of services ranging from food for catered halls all the way to a cycle shop! I've got a temporary job at present which involves me working anywhere on campus where they need me as long as I'm available. The position is a kitchen porter at present, working in Faraday/Royce kitchens mainly washing pots and pans and other utensils between the hours of 17:00 - 19:15. I think of it as covering permanent staff who are not available - which is what it is in essence.
I went to Sainsbury's twice during the week, and spent £2.70 at the beginning of the week and then spent £6.07 on Saturday 18 October 08. I also had a 10% off voucher from the Islamic Society to use at Maxin Chicken, and so I did and got a chicken burger meal which included fries and a can of Fanta Orange for £3.15 on Friday 17 October 08. This was after I had gone to Wilkinson's to buy an A4 Refill Pack of 150 sheets for 74p. During the week, I had to spend £79.00 on signing up to societies & sports clubs which included paying for insurance - mandatory by the Union. £52.00 of it was spent on LSU Shotokan Karate membership which includes the training fees for the whole year.
Week 4 (beginning 20/10/2008) saw me going from 100% down to less than 50% by Thursday. I again had issues sleeping (this also happened in the previous week) and for some odd reason (that I do not know yet) I kept on waking up at 06:00. My alarm was set for 07:00 as well. I don't know if its the surroundings or my body or anything else that is causing this issue, however I will have to get to the root of it very soon. I'm trying to stick to my routine of waking up, praying, having breakfast, making lunch (if I haven't done it the night before), jumping on my bike and rushing to labs/lectures, having lunch at Falk Egg (home) and getting changed into work clothes if I'm working, going back to labs/lectures, then going to work if I've been scheduled, praying/dinner, rushing off to societies, finishing at 22:00 or so and getting back home, have a shower and snack (if hungry) and then go to bed by 23:00 hopefully. Maybe I'll need to alter this somehow...
Hopefully I'll try and get my history out to you each week as its easier (had to do this over two nights) and more detailed. Maybe I might start vlogging, but not sure yet. Please do comment and let me know about any typos!
Being at home is in the past as I now reside in Loughborough (for 39 weeks) at Falker Eggington - more commonly known as Falk Egg. When I arrived on Wednesday 1 October 2008, it was about 12:30, so most people would have finished lectures by then (if they had any that day!). I started unloading from the car and moving everything into the room where I will sleep, pray, work, chill and eat (occasionally). My mum dropped me off, so she helped me unpack essentials and sort out how to get the food (roti and curries) into the freezer that she had made over the past month or so during her spare time. I thank her for this as it makes my life easier and don't exactly have to cook for a few months at least. I got to meet Steve, my next door roommate who told me a few things and helped make some space in a cupboard so I could put my kitchen "stuff" in. Once this was done, I had to fill in an audit form regarding the room and another for the rest of the hall and then hand them back to the hall manager ASAP. After this was complete, my mum left (with hugs and tears) and I was left to stand on my two feet.
Where do I start? I thought I may as well pray as it was time, and then sort out a few things before it was time to have dinner - alone. Eventually this day came to a close as I went to sleep at 23:15. To my disappointment, it did not end there as it was the 2nd week of fresher's week and people were still in the partying mood (with events still at the student union [SU]). My sleep was interrupted at about 01:30, and I couldn't go to sleep until 02:00 as they kept on talking. They would be someone in this block of halls, however I didn't know. So Thursday morning arrived, and I was very tired as I couldn't recover fully and guess what? A full day of lectures ahead. I wonder how I managed to get anything done, but lucky I had a friend from college, Aditya, who helped me out however he could. He's doing Systems Engineering which comes under the EEE department, so all our modules are same except one for the first year. Once I was back "home" I remembered that I had to sign up for the extra-curricular language programme and needed to do some research on it before the deadline which was the next day. There were two options of my interest - either French 3A which is rusty GCSE French or Arabic 1 which is for beginners. Then I had to call it a day and went to sleep at 23:20 and luckily no disturbed sleep!
Friday came and went so quickly as most lectures did not happen on Friday and were only scheduled if there became a need to use it, e.g. for coursework workshops. So we had two lectures and even the 2nd one was cancelled - in effect there was only one lecture given. I had to find out about a safety lecture which was regarding labs before my lab session on Monday and so was given a brief overview of what to do in case of an emergency by the lecturer. After this, I rushed off to sign up for the language course, but all beginner's courses were full, so I took the backup option, French 3A and paid £45 for the course. This was the first expense that I had made since being at university. I had everything else I needed as I brought it all from home, including breakfast, lunch (simple) and dinner. Can you see a trend? I had to sort out notes and read the department handbook, however hardly any of it happened. Needed some sleep and so went to sleep at 23:00. Unfortunately my sleep was disturbed again at 01:45 for at least an hour, and so I called Security but they could not dispatch anyone as patrol were already attending another case of noise nuisance elsewhere on campus. So I suffered until 02:45 and eventually the group split up and by then, I fell asleep.
Saturday was Athletic Union Bazaar day and so I checked out what I wanted: LSU Shotokan Karate before I checked out the other sporting events. This was the only interest I had at the time. Free pizza leaflets were handed out from Domino's along with free pizza tasters, and Wilkinson's handed out a goody bag which consisted of a £1 voucher, Kitchen Spatula and other stationary. Ryman offered a "discount card" which you had to present along with a student identity card. In effect you only needed student ID and you could get 10% off. Abbey National were also present who mentioned that they only opened a branch this year on campus and told me to sign up to a student bank account, etc... The usual promotional tactics. I made an appointment with them anyways as I have accounts which required sorting out. Who did I see? Hassan with another guy, Yusuf. It was a short conversation. I spent the rest of the day surfing the net, and sorting out the laptop I had been given. I prayed, had dinner, carried on surfing and then went to sleep. Did I sleep well? I believe I did.
Sunday was both Union and Athletic Bazaar, however I mainly attended the Union Bazaar as I wanted to join a few societies - mainly People & Planet and Amensty International (that's one society) and the Islamic Society. Got lots of freebies, got my bike registered by security on campus, and had some sweets at the Indian Society! Met up with Aditya who wanted a look at the AU Bazaar again, so I went and grabbed another Wilko bag whilst I could. :P Went to Aditya's place and chilled out before going back to mine to just get bored. The rest of the night wasn't exciting and so that's the end of MY first week. I'll try and blog what happened this week tomorrow, but hopefully this was a good enough insight into university life at least for the first week. Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know as there is bound to be something important I have missed out.
For tonight, goodnight!
Most of the paperwork for Loughborough and NatWest have been completed. As far as I'm aware, there is only one more piece to sign, and that's when I actually get to Loughborough University. Since then, I have been frequenting the Facebook group - The Official Loughborough Freshers 2008-09 Group - reading the Wall to see if there's anything important and checking out the discussions, trying to get some answers and helping others where possible. I go on it at least once a day!
August is now over, and so the regular visit to the gym has come to a close with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Fasting was okay the first day, however it seems to be getting a little difficult day by day and usually its the opposite. Maybe its because I'm working in a company where all I deal with is food, however I don't think its affected me that much. I hope to get back into training straight away after Eid with karate being at the top of my list due to me "quitting" since April due to exams and not going back. At least that's one thing that will be cheap - £50 for the whole academic year!
I'll also need to join one other thing sports wise and it might be the gym or it could be athletics with endurance running in my sight. Olympics are not far away with less than 4 years to go, and if I put enough effort into it, I could be in with a chance of being part of Team GB for London 2012! :)
Finally, I've been thinking ahead, and thought that to save myself from buying a television set for watching programmes and playing my old school Playstation 2, I would buy a USB TV Tuner with an AV connection so I can hook up my games console to my TFT Monitor. I didn't know at first if they existed or not, so after spending some time doing research on eBay and Google, I came across this: KWORLD DVB-T Dongle USB TV - Not going to find a TV with Freeview this cheap now am I? So that's me sorted in terms of entertainment! Furthermore, Loughborough University have Freewire on their HallNet network, which actually allows you to watch Freeview channels using your PC, so if you don't have a TV, you won't suffer as you'll have this - but I was thinking long term as then in the other years I may not be on campus, thus not being able to benefit from these services. On a side note - you need a TV license for whatever way you watch TV, even if your not watching the BBC.
Now its time to sign off, with a little treat for myself - Happy Birthday! :)
