Welcome back everyone

Congratulations to you all for coming this far.  Isn't it good to be back at university on the way to finishing your degree course?  Even if you are retaking the year; which I know at least two people are, it is still good as there is a second chance for you to still progress to reach the goal of passing and achieve a good classification of your degree.  To all our new direct entry students, I also would like to extend my welcome to you.  Thank you for coming to study with us.  You’re going to love it here.  University life here involves putting in the hard work but also having fun.  Everyone needs some fun in his or her life so we cater that here also.  After working hard, we students like to take a break at least to rest our minds for a little while then go back to work.  There are facilities at every campus at this university.  As the School of Engineering is based in Medway, we have an on-site campus bar called, “Coopers”.  This bar is shared for all the universities based at the Medway campus.  They are known as the Universities at Medway: University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, and University of Greenwich.

I’m guessing everyone is settling down or at least getting back into the routine of being back at university.  You can probably see old and new faces roaming around campus for example in your classes, in the library, walking by etc. but please make them all feel welcome as you would like them to show a welcoming attitude towards you.  

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFwPDHTuJvX71TdfV9N-KvbGWrFB9pjsPg0D-Jz06WLDueu9Wt-whCN0wdMEhHfqzDyR0CcgpllvgH0oGUwNY3H1apSATgIVNENuXLR-rc5glOpPR2c9i2G_vdc8l-U-c0oBeow8O9axpa/s1600/back+to+university+Kopie.jpg

New Timetable, Third year here I come

Guess what guys and girls! My timetable is up on portal and it is looking great! I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it.  The third year timetable looks quite decent in terms of the number of hours and days we third year students have to attend lectures and/or lab sessions.

I am all registered and ready to go back. I will miss the freedom I had over the summer but getting my good degree class is top priority in my eyes. I can’t wait to get cracking on my final year of the course so I can develop my knowledge more, experience new interesting things, and finish my course.   My main goal is to get my good overall degree classification in BEng Computer System Software Engineering.

So back to the topic on my new timetable which I like so much.  I feel there are mainly advantages and moreover benefits for me as a third year student from the basis of my university timetable.  It is not overpowering with so many lectures or lab times or sessions which is a huge advantage.  I believe it has taken into account the final year project a bit as well as the other assignments or projects we’ll have to face over the terms across the course.

I plan to manage my time very effectively this year as there will be, I’m guessing at least 3 projects to hand in one after the other if not at the same time.  It’s going to be a lot of work but with time management and focus, everything should be great.  I’m sticking to my timetable, attending all lectures unless I fall ill then I’ll send in my absence note to my lecturer of the lecture I missed and I will definitely catch up.

Well that’s it for now.  Have a great day and good read of my other blogs found on the student blogs website/ webpage.

Second to Third year

Although I have opted out of undertaking the sandwich course, I believe it was probably the best decision I made now.  This is because when continuing onto my third year at university, I can gain all the knowledge from my lecturers and then be able to decide in what field or area I would like to get my practical experience.  For those of you that do not know what the sandwich course is, well I can tell you.  The sandwich course is an additional year added to the normal 3 year undergraduate programme.  Furthermore, a sandwich course is referred to as the 4 year course (1 year industrial placement included).  It is where you can take a year out of your university studies between the end of second year and start of third year at university to join a company on a work placement.  

Even though I have not gone for the year industrial placement, for a month over the summer holiday I got a part-time work experience in a small organisation where I could develop and project my skills related to IT.

For third year, I have seen the modules that I will be doing.  Ahh my worst nightmare is back… Hardware is back in my life and guess what? It’s Advanced Hardware.  Although I did ok overall for my theory exam, assignments and my practical exam was as I expected, I still don’t like it much.  I preferred every other module in second year even though my hardware lecturer made the module very engaging; my mind rejected it to an extent.  I thought I would never have to do that module or anything to do with Hardware again because I found it more to be on the electronic side of the hardware with the main part of getting down to the core of the hardware which wasn’t so bad.  Overall experience of second year was good especially gaining knowledge and friends from the electronics course.  They knew loads when it came to the Hardware lectures.  I was amazed.  I can take away a few bits from Hardware in terms of the different levels of a system i.e. low level to high level.

The first year to second year experience was a quite a change compared to going from college to first year at university.  In a way, the first year to university experience was easier to adapt to rather than moving from first to second year.  Hopefully, second to third year will be good.  Thinking positively.

First to Second year

Before I begin this blog, I just wanted to say congratulations to all second year students now for passing your first year.  Although the first year of the course does not count towards your final degree mark/ class, it is still a good indication for you to see how hard you have worked to achieve the result you have received for your first year.  Also, if you were not so happy with your first year marks and the result wasn't as you expected, you have an inclination as to what you need to do to improve your performance to achieve a better and more deserved grade for your second year and even your final year.  As your overall first year result does not go towards your overall degree class, there is no pressure if you did not do as well as you had hoped.  There is still hope so please don’t feel disheartened or worried that you are not going to do well overall in your degree.  Time is still at hand for you to turn the outcome around.  You need to look at the key areas in which you didn't do so well in and work on them.  That’s the first thing.  The second thing is to know what modules you will be doing in your second year.  Get an understanding of what it entails.  It is best to know what modules you will be most comfortable with (if any).  If you found first year hard then that’s a shame.  I guess you need to focus more.  Second year will not be as easy as first year.  The work begins there.  Spend time on your work to go far.

Comparison of First year to Second year

First year was the basic foundation of your course.  It shows you the weakness and strengths you hold to continue on the course.  It is vital that you grasp the first year to progress quite confidently onto your second year.  For me, I loved my first year so much. It felt more relaxed compared to just doing my A-levels.  In my mind before I entered university, I believed it required more work from me especially at the start of the course but it didn't.  Clearly wasn't as I expected.  I enjoyed it immensely.  I just hope that the first year students do too.

If you’re in your first year, treasure those moments thoroughly as you won’t get them back.  After your vacation in first year where you are breezing through, be prepared for a whirlwind in second and third year.  The calamity of work and pressure that will come over you might be quite overwhelming.  Sorry if this seems to scare you but it is the absolute truth.  Sometimes the truth is harsh to bare.

Second year was quite overpowering and a drastic shock from first year to second year.  The work load got more intense and deadlines got closer.  Although there was good support and guidance from the lecturers, I believe there was too much to do in such little time. 

If I had one wish to go back to the easy first year again and pass my degree with this ease I would take it 100%.  Miss those nice and stress-free days but I guess it’s the fact of life to face some difficult days but to try and strive through them.

Summer

Oh how I love this season.  I think it is one of the best seasons out of the four.  When I hear the word “summer”, flowers, sunshine, and butterflies come to mind as well as the fact that my birthday is on its way.  If you haven’t already figured it out, then surprise! I’m a summer baby.  I guess you could probably say I am a little bit biased towards my love of the summer season over the other seasons but…

Can you blame me?

Everything happens in summer.  Parties (mellow and very wild ones), family and friend gatherings, BBQ’s, water fights, camp outs, theme park trips, adventures, and most importantly of them all, VACATIONS ABROAD!

I love the sun shining down; it always puts a smile on my face.  I've realised a lot; if not all the people I encounter with during summer are happier, smiling people.  You can hardly find a grumpy face around at this time.  Seeing other people smiling and happy enjoying the summer makes me happy and it always makes my day.

There are many things to do around town but even more events are put on in the summer such as carnival, festivals etc.  Just get out and explore.  I can assure you that you will have a brilliant summer with all the entertainment that is in store.  If you don’t find great fun in shopping then you can’t turn down a party or going off to the cinema. As you probably know or have gathered from my previous blog on Movies, you may have concluded that I love my movies.  Nothing can beat a good romcom or action movie.  I have just recently, seen the Wolverine movie out in cinema with one of my good friends and that was awesome.  It does have a few scary parts in it but overall it was a very good movie.  MUST SEE!!

Movies

Maybe you don’t know this but I’m a movie fanatic.

I love movies so much because they make my day.  My favourite types of movies are: COMEDY, ROMCOMS, THRILLERS, ACTION, and DRAMA.  These might be common for you and others too or maybe different. It all depends on you as a person as well as the most important factor of what you like.  I believe the company in which you are around whilst watching the movie(s) is a number one factor for me to enjoy the movie.  Having great company and watching a really good movie is a bonus.  Having poor company and watching a good movie isn't that great as the mood or atmosphere changes my perception of the movie regardless if it is something I like.

One thing you should know about me, I can watch movies all day long with or without people round me.  All I need is a comfortable place to sit, no distractions and lots and lots of popcorn and sometimes ice cream.

As I am writing this blog, I have dual screen meaning I can type and watch one of my all-time favourite movies: “Rush Hour”.  In addition to that, I have the privilege of indulging in eating one of my favourite foods which is ice cream.  So it is a great time right now to be blogging, watching a movie and eating ice cream with nobody around.  It is absolutely great stuff.

This is the life to chill and enjoy the entertainment.  Instead of going to the cinema now and again, I like to chill at home and go through my movie collections which always bring back good memories.  I can hold my hands up and say I am sometimes “the person” that quotes script lines from scenes of the movie I like and have watched over a number of times.  It’s a terrible habit of mine which I have recently developed.  Didn't notice it so much until my friend pointed it out.  Oops *shy face* I promise I’ll keep it zipped.

It’s a different story when I’m out at the cinema though.  I can assure everyone that I am on my best behaviour when it comes to watching a new movie.  There are quite a few good movies out showing at the cinema nowadays.  I have recently seen the new Superman: Man of Steel movie which I would give a rating of 8 out of 10 for the overall story-line and effects. 

One quick moan though before I go comes down to the fact that if you haven’t seen a movie yet and the person you are with has seen the movie already and knows that you haven’t seen the movie yet but in their head they still like to spoil it for you anyway and tell you all the good parts of the movie, that is a no no.  Mind you this doesn't happen often to me because I like to be one of the first to see a new movie if it’s worth spending money and time to see it.

Well that’s all I have to say about this and movies.