That was quick...

So I am finished my first semester of my masters. Hard to believe that I have been here since September already. Since my last post a few things have happened. Most importantly we took a trip to Portugal. Dejan, Aleks, Melita and I spent 5 days on the Algarve coast in southern Portugal. It was a blast. We stayed in a small town called Porches. With our rental car we were able to travel pretty much along the entire coast, and even made it over to Spain for a day. Overall it was a really fun trip, and was a nice way to start off the Christmas holidays.

Christmas was different for me this year. It was the first time that I spent it away from my family. I was in england with Melita and hers. On Christmas Eve we went to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The orchestra that performed were extremely good. Christmas day was fun, though there was no snow, it was still a memorable day.

The following day was my birthday. We woke up late and sorta lounged around. Later on in the day we decided to go bowling. I won both games, but I have a feeling they may have let me since it was my b-day :)

The next event was New Years. The four of us made the trip into London and found out spot along the embankment about 3.5 hours before the fireworks. Though it was an extremely long wait, the display was totally worth it. Surrounded by over 50,000 people Big Ben rang in the new year. Getting out of the city was a challenge. There were 700,000 people in London that night, and as we were walking up through Trafalgar square we were shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other people. It was a great experience.

The week following New Years was filled with school work. Thats right, my semester did not end before the Christmas break, rather the majority of my assignments were due in the one week after the break. So one test and 4 projects later I am finally finished my first semester of my masters.

I hope to travel a bit in this break, if I am able to I will post some of that on here as well.

And so it begins...

A month into school and I finally feel like a real student. Things are different here. Classes are called Modules, and they are split into 2 sections, Lectures and Tutorials. There are case studies for every tutorial, mini presentations about those cases every class, applying theory from the lecture to it. That aspect of it is fine. The part that will get some taking used to is what they grade you on. I have NO tests or exams, my grades are solely based on coursework. Most modules have only 2 assignments that are to be turned in, both usually include a group presentation and an individual report. They are very concerned with word count, proper referencing and application of theory. The grading system here is different as well. They still have A,B,C but there are 3 levels to each. A1 is the highest you can get, A3 is the lowest of the A grades, and so on. To get an A3 is something like 70%, which sounds pretty simple, but from what i have seen and what i am told that is a difficult achievement.

So what have I done so far? well, I have been reading, attending every class, working in groups in preparation for various presentations, making small presentations in class, and i have finished one paper (which isn't due for another week). i hope that all the advanced preparation will help in the A1 grade that I'm looking for! But with this first paper I also hoping to gain some insight into how they grade, what they look for and how particular they are about things. We shall see. So school wise I have my work cut out for me. It may not sound like much, but i assure you that i will be busy.

Aside from school things are good. I have been working out at the gym here on campus, really nice place, and a good deal for students. I have met a lot of people, it is a very diverse school. There are 24,000 students and the majority of them are international... for instance, my close group of friends from my program are people from, Pakistan, Nigeria, Scotland, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Philippines, and in my flat are people from, Greece, Crete, Poland and the list goes on. I have met a few Canadians, one girl who lives beside me is from Quebec and i met a girl from Vancouver in the airport the day i landed here. There are plenty of social activities here, mostly on the other campus which is a short 5 min bus ride. So yes all is well in that department.

Melita and I are having a great time. It is so nice to finally be close to her! no more long distance is such a good feeling. I spend the weekend at her place with her family, we all get along really well. Throughout the week we see each other a couple night depending on my homework schedule etc. We have already been doing some traveling as you can see below, and we have some more trips planned.... next big one is Portugal in Dec, right before Christmas. That will be a lot of fun. I will be posting after that for sure with a couple pictures and a review of the trip.

Thats if for now
bye

Wessex

Well school still hasn't really started.. it will in a few hours. My first class is at 5pm on Monday, but more about school later. This weekend we (Melita, Dejan, and their mom Esti) went on a little road trip to Wessex. We stopped at a couple places, and for me I finally got to see Stonehenge! It wasn't what I expected, but it was still awesome. I have some pics up on facebook from whats been going on so far. More to come, stay tuned!

Dublin

Last weekend Melita surprised me and booked a trip for the two of us to Dublin for our 1 year anniversary. We woke up at 4:30am on friday, got to the airport and our flight left at 6:25. An hour later we landed in Dublin. It was pouring so we bought an umbrella and tried to find our hostel. Naturally since we were there so early we couldnt get into our room, so we headed out walking. Visited the Guinness brewery museum, walked for hours, then rented bikes and rode around the biggest park in Europe. Phoenix Park. Ate lunch in the palace gardens and later on in the evening had Italian in Temple Bar, an old walking area full of people and food. Saturday we continued walking, this time we went to Trinity College, established in 1592 i think. its old. Perfect day, too bad for us we had to catch the bus at 2 and head back to the airport. A short but eventful trip. Saw a lot of amazing history, hopefully we will go back again.

Arriving

It was a long process to get ready for my trip to England. After all the preparations were made (thankfully without any hassle) all that was left was to wait for the flight. Sept 15 at 11:55pm I flew out of Toronto on route to London/Heathrow. When I arrived at noon on Sunday, I was faced with what I thought would be a challenge at customs. When I got there, the guy spent about 30 seconds asking me some questions and stamped me through without looking at any documentation other than my student visa. Some student from UH (University of Hertfordshire) met me at the terminal and put me on a bus to the campus. About an hour later I arrived and began the process of checking into my room. I moved in and waited to hear from Melita. Finally about 11:00pm she arrived back from Holland and came to visit me.