Happy Days

As assignments are being handed in and the May examination timetable has been released, it means my second year is drawing to an end.  Reflecting on my second year at University of Greenwich, I can say it has been a great time spent in my second year.  I have never been worked so hard before in my life however, a lot has been learnt and I can take away a vast amount of information that will impact me on my career path.  Now I know I have the strength and ability to strive through tough times from just completing my second year at university.  Friendships have been made, relationships have grown, and respect has been obtained.  All in all, great things have happened throughout the year at this university.

With that in mind, a time of pleasure was on the cards after the pressure of doing university work therefore my bff and I decided to plan two nights for chilling.  There has been a few good movies that have been released in the cinema this time such as the new Bruce Willis movie: A Good Day To Die Hard, and Beautiful Creatures. So, we went off to watch Beautiful Creatures and on another night, we went to enjoy the new Die Hard movie.  On both occasions, I enjoyed myself thoroughly, had a good time at the movies, and felt good to finally spend some quality time with my bff just hanging out and having fun.  A Good Day To Die Hard was the movie we both wanted to see so, it was an absolute must!  In the end, the movie was good, the company was great, and the freedom was so sweet.  No guilt came, no pressure, just fun.

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The strangest weather EVER!!

Winter conditions in Spring and Summer? How bizarre!  Not only is it cold and raining in Spring/ early days of Summer, it is also snowing.  Come on, SNOW in Summer is beyond me.  Only God can explain this. 

It is just a little TOO MUCH.  

The funniest thing that happened on the same day from one of my weather experiences was having the morning lecture cancelled because of the heavy snow fall but then have the afternoon lecture as planned because the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  Still till this day, I cannot get my head around the fact that the snow was falling so heavily in the morning but by the afternoon, the snow disappeared and no one would have ever known it snowed heavily in the morning of the same day.  To me it is very, very bizarre!

One minute it is raining and windy, then snowing, then sunny, then raining again.  Ahh this is some crazy weather.  It’s not just me that thinks it is very hard to plan what to wear out.  You can experience all the seasons in one day when living in England.  Like most people say, “That’s the English weather for you”.  It is very unpredictable.  You can never know what to wear that will be ideal in the weather conditions.  I know that my mum always has a brolly with her in the bottom of her handbag wherever she goes.  I believe it has now become a habit for her to make sure there is an umbrella with her in whichever handbag she chooses to carry on her days out and about.  I should probably start doing that but I know that won’t happen.

Most times when I see a grey and dull day, I like to wrap up warm in my blanket, read a book or watch a home movie and enjoy the warmth rather than being outside in the cold and pouring rain. 

Can you blame me? I’m a summer baby.  The cold is not good for me.  I definitely prefer the sunshine and temperatures from warm to hot.  

Saying Positive

Many times, life can get you down but the only person to stop that is you.  By thinking and staying positive in every situation that you go through in your life, it will make your life at least five times better.  Regardless of the bad outcome, I am positive that the bad situations will turn around for good.  It is true and obvious that bad things happen in life, but that is just what happens.  It is your turn to change things around and see the bigger picture in all situations.  It is no good staying negative and being sad and depressed.  The best thing I can definitely recommend is to take some time out, relax, enjoy your life (even if it is not how you planned it to be right now), and be around people that will uplift you/ make you happy again.  In order for you to turn your bad situation around, you need to take action and control over it.  I am 100% sure that you will feel ten times better.  A difference will be seen in your life through other people’s eye.

My friends and I always say, “Be positive and positivity will reflect on the outside”.  That is one thing that I like to be, POSITIVE!!

Before I end this blog, these are my last few words to you today …

Stay positive

Be around positive people

Change how you see things

Change your mind-set

Think and look at the bigger picture

Life isn't that bad, I’m positive of that. J

                        If you do these few things, let me know how it works out for you.

Challenges

In your second year, there will be a lot of challenges.  Some past engineer students I have spoken to have said their second year of the engineering course was the hardest year for them in terms of the work load and the demand the lecturers had on them.  I can see what these past engineer students were talking about.  No matter how organised and how early you start your assignments, other things come up at the same time.  Things such as tests, quizzes, and presentations are just additional methods lecturers use to assess how well you are doing on the course and where both you and the lecturer(s) can examine which areas you need to improve on.  In a way, they are beneficial for you to work hard but the fact that you have to revise for the tests and quizzes or prepare and present a presentation on top of having to do assignments is quite a lot of work to do for one person.  If you did not know this before, well now you know this is the pressure of university.  

The BEng Computer Systems and Software Engineering course has five modules.  Hardware being one module in particular that is not my best module of the course due to the fact that it is not so much in my interest.  Whereas, my other modules i.e. programming, database systems, software project management and UNIX systems modules are all modules I love.  Anything to do with project management, programming or database and I can tell you what you need to know.  These are my main modules of the course in which I look forward to during the week.

If you have any questions or advice needed, please feel free to leave them in the post comments area and I’ll get back to you.

The Key to Success (Part 1)

Success is such a powerful word.  The word “Success” means an accomplishment/ achievement of an aim or purpose.

Before I continue my views on success, I would like to ask you a question.

Question

Do you know anyone that does not want to achieve and become successful (especially those at university)? Anyone?  …

  

… I didn’t think so.  In life everyone goes through different aspects of success but before succeeding, challenges are faced along the way.  An example of success and an achievement for most people in life is to be at university.  This as well as receiving a really good degree; which is another achievement in itself, is the step before you start your successful career.  I am sure that a lot of effort and work went into your studying in order for you to get into university and also to complete your first, second and third years of university.

Key points to succeed are:

1.      Be motivated – self motivation is always good

2.      Be organised – organisation skills are required for anything and everything

3.      Plan ahead – set goals and work at them

4.      Know what you want out of life – only you can decide where your future lies

If you want to read more on “The Key to Success”, a part 2 is available.

 

Any questions on “The Key to Success” please feel free to post your comments and I will definitely get back to you with my response.  If not then, I hope you have taken away a valid message from this blog today.  Thank you for reading and please continue to do so on the next blogs to come.

Group Project

In your second year there is one module where you will have to be in a group to produce a group project report.  This is in the Software and Project Management module of the engineering course.  The group can be made up of 5 or 6 people.  My group contains 6 people including myself.  In order for any group to be successful, firstly there needs to be a group leader.  This is known as the “Project Manager”.  

This week we had the introduction to the implementation stage of the project.  For your information, this is the 4^th stage of the Waterfall Development Lifecycle that organisations use on a daily basis.  Having to produce this implementation for the project is a top priority for all of us on the course and especially within my group.  We were preparing for the hectic weeks ahead.  There is so much to do but, not much time to do everything therefore, we need to have great focus on the project in order to be successful.  

Setting objectives is an outline goal in which allows each member to understand what is going to happen and where we all need to be.  By doing this, it is the second way for any group to be successful.

The objective for the group to complete this project is: to complete the implementation and then testing stage (5^th stage) of the Waterfall Development Lifecycle within a month period to the highest standard.

To begin the process of completing the project, it is very wise to understand every member of the group’s skills and their individual ability to carry out certain assigned tasks.  From clarifying the group member skills, tasks can be given to the right person to develop and produce an outstanding piece of work.  Once the tasks have been completed, they can be merged together into the final full report document, edited and reviewed a number of times and then sent off to the client/stakeholder.  In this case as it is a University group project, the client/stakeholder is the lecturer.

Good Week, Good Results

This week has been absolutely great! It has been a much better start to the second year in the second term.  I received lots of good news and results this week – from both university and my industrial placement that I applied for.  Things are looking up. 

This weekend is going to be a well-deserved resting period however; I will be celebrating first and resting later.  Going out with my friends and having a good time is so long overdue and a definite MUST!

Good week + Good Results = CELEBRATION!!

Time to party, have loads of fun and live the uni life that I had in first year.  (Not too crazy though).

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At this moment in time at university, I have no assignments and exams/test coming up anytime soon so that’s a relief.  On the other hand, in the back of my head I know there will be one or two set in the coming week.  By checking the course handbook, it clarifies the schedule that the lecturers are following.  It shows the week beginning of when the lecturers are planning to set the assignments and the assignment due dates for which they needed to be handed in.  It is very handy to go by these dates so you can prioritise your work and maybe involve your social life in the timescale(s).

It is always a good feeling to know you have finished work and you are now able to relax but not for too long because there is always more work coming just around the corner.  It is never ending university work.  In the long term, it will all pay off so don’t feel discouraged or think, “When is this going to end?”, because it will eventually.

That’s enough about my happy times for this week. I’ll keep you guys posted. Hope you have enjoyed my blog.