The Curious Incident of the Custom Timetable

Last week when I got my timetable, it looked very crowded and busy. It turned out that there were lots of lectures listed that I didn't have to attend because I was in a different group or in the higher maths set. Additionally, not every lecture happens every week, and every week the room, academic or time of the lecture could change. The result was a very confusing timetable.

So I thought it would be a good idea to download the timetable from the Engineering page and edit it so it only had the lectures I had. The result was a timetable half the size that was a lot easier to read.

Last night, after a hard morning of lectures and an afternoon of catching up on things, I realised that I had actually missed a lecture. The reason for this was that I had forgot ot put this particular lecture, on Engineering Design, on my 'Custom Timetable'. Therefore, as far as I was concerned, I didn't have it. So I was faced with the fact that, on my first day, I had missed a lecture already.

But, luckily the lecture was repeated today at 1pm. It had the same name, room and lecturer so I assumed it would be the same one. So all I had to do was go along to this lecture instead. Sorted.

When I get there, the lecturer said that the lecture was optional and that today we would be leaning the basics of using Word. She then proceeded to direct us all to an online tutorial on how to use Word. The tutorial starte with "this is an icon, this is the taskbar, this is the start button, ..."

Needless to say I didn't stick around. Not only was the lecture optional and very, very basic. But the whole lecture was going through online tutorials that I could choose to complete in my own time, if at all.

Looks like I chose a good lecture to miss!

Coulombs, Safety, C and WIRES

My first day of lectures has gone very well. I had a lecture this mornign introducing me to the electronics course. The first topic is resistance. I will get some questions to answer at some point by e-mail, but for now I just have to try and understand my notes!

The other two lectues were a lot easier to understand. One was essentially a health and safety lecture and the other was an intorduction to the programming course which i'm really looking forward to.

This afternoon I did some laundry, which was an experience. The laundrette was quite busy and then the whole "what do I do" fiasco. But I got there in the end and my clothes aren't ruined so that's a bonus.

In the evening I went to a meeting about joining the Stage Crew Society who basically orgainise all the technical side of all the union events. They cover sound, lighting and video. I'm going to be helping out and learning how they do everything. Very excited about all of that!

So all is well, just had a nice stir fry, so still eating and alive. Bring on the FUTURE!

My Room (taken 21/09/08)

More Pictures Of River Sports Day

Picture 1 - Canoeing

Picture 2 - More Canoeing

Picture 3 - Left to right: Heather, Lauren, Sophie, Me

Picture 4 - Releasing the ducks for the duck race

Picture 5 - Tug Of War

My First Full Weekend

Saturday

Went to river sports day. It was an event held down by the river in town where teams competed in several events including canoeing, tug of war and water gladiators. You can see one of the canoe races in the first picture.

In the evening, we had a big game of Monopoly in the kitchen, see picture 2. Needless to say it went on for about 3 hours before we gave up and went to bed.

Sunday

Went to Tesco in the morning for my weekly shop. Then made a cheesecake. Watched the Grand Prix. James came over and we had lunch in the Chancellors, the union bar. Showed him round the campus and intorduced him to a few people. Once James left, I got myself ready for the start of my lectures tomorrow and ate some cheesecake.

Tomorrow

Lectures start at 9am and finish at 1pm. Will be interesting to see the format and how much work i'm given. I'm excited about it, but also know it will be the start of a lot of hard work.

Friday

Yesterday was a good day to catch up on sleep. I got up at 11am and went swimming at the Guildford Spectrum with Josh. It was good fun. Next time I'll have to go ice skating there. The rest of the day I spent relaxing.

In the evening I went out with a dozen other people to School Disco at Rubix. Queued for an hour and a half to get in but then had a really good night dancing and watching someone get gunged.

Today I'm going down to the river to watch river sports day. Will be fun to watch people get wet and make a fool of themselves!

Day 5

Today I had my BIG introduction to my course. Basically, there is a common first year, so I can swap if I want to at the end of the year to another Electronic Engineering course.

 

I'm in the higher group for maths, which means I have about 2.5 hours less lectures a week in maths!

 

The rest of the day I had various things, tour of the media labs which were very exciting.

 

This evening I went out to Open Mic Night at Chancellors bar. It was a good night. I'll admit now that I did have my first sip of alcohol tonight, a Smirnoff Ice and a Snake Bite.

 

Tomorrow I have a free day, so me and Josh are going swimming at the Guildford Spectrum. Should also get my loan money tomorrow.

 

Sorry if this post is not readable, its 1am and i've had a bit to drink.

 

The picture above is of Josh filling out a form in a lecture we had today.

Day 4: Explained

Right. So this morning I had a computer briefing, basically got to register so I can use the computers in the Electronic Engineering department. Very boring but had to be done.

Met my tutor at 12, we were put into about a dozen groups and im in group Q. I still can't read my timetable, but I get an explanation as to how to do that in the morning at my very long intorductory lecture.

The picutes from the last post are of freshers fayre which was in a huge tent (pic 1) in the main field on campus (background in pic 3). As you can see, it was very busy in the tent, mainly because it was raining outside when it started.

In the second picture you can see one of my room-mates, Mariana, in a giant pants.

Third picture is of my three female house-mates, left to right: Lauren, Sophie, Mariana

Final picture is of one of the events they had outside, those two guys were really going for it!

Since my last post i've been out to Wates House, which is the same place I went to for the comedy night yesterday. Its really good place. It is small, but its also a bit of the beaten track and very close to my halls, so very handy.

The picture in this post is of the band playing at Wates House tonight.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, plenty to do and even more to think about.

Freshers Fayre!

WOOOOO!!!!! FRESHERS FAYRE!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!

 

OK, it was cool. You can see some pictures above. Joined a load a clubs: radio, badminton, climbing (yay) and stage crew (for union). Going out to a club so i'll do a full report later.

Day 3

Had a really, really good day today. The live guide this morning was very funny. Registration was seamless and now I have a campus card!

The afternoon presentations very very informative and interesting, told me a lot about the sports and languages facilities available.

Got some fresh food from Tesco: cucumber, salad, ham, mince, etc. Only a few things for the next few days.

This evening I went to the comedy night, very funny stuff. All around been a great day, feel great, people great and can't wait for Fresher's Fayre tomorrow (or today technically).

Internet working now so I managed to read your comments and get emails.

Got Computer Registration at 9am so better get some shut-eye.

A Quiet Night In

The rest of the day went smoothly. The job shop was busy, but I'll find out on friday if I've got a job at the union.

 

The meet and greet was fun, met some new people and hung out with Josh & Nnaoma, who are both doing Media Engineering as well.

 

After the meet, which went on until 6:45pm, I came back to base to relax. The evening was spent finishing the unpacking (now I just have to put eveything somewhere) and talking with the girls on my floor.

 

The people on my floor:

 

Adam, studying Business Management

Chris, studying Business Management

Mariana, Portuguese, studying Psychology

Sophie, studying Dance

Lauren, studying English

 

So a good mix of people. They are all very friendly and we're getting on very well so far.

 

Last night, the boys went out to the SU (called Rubix) and the rest of us had a quiet night in.

 

Today:

 

09:00am - Health & Safety Lecture

10:00am - Live Guide (presentation about alot of fun stuff)

01:30pm - Registration (get Campus Card and hopefully loan monies)

04:30pm - Sports presentation

05:15pm - Languages presentation

 

This evening I plan to go out to Rubix for Comedy Night.

 

Speak to you soon!

Getting Better

Just to let you all know that I feel a lot better now, still have the odd moment, but on the whole feeling more like myself.

 

The morning's activities were exciting. I had an introductory talk to welcome the Electronic Engineers into the Faculty. They said the usual stuff about how university was about managing work and leisure, and a few things about how the course works. Then had a wonder around before having a few more talks about Mentoring, the Library and the Students Union. All very valuable.

 

I'm having trouble with the Internet at the moment, apparently the switch that serves my court is not working properly, so I can access some websites, but not others. Skype works, but I can't got onto the St Mary's Website or Google. I can get on my blog, however. Hopefully everything will be up and running in the next few hours.

 

As for the maths test, It was fairly straight forward. It was done on computers, so you get your score immediately. I've got 84% (21 out of 25) which will hopefully be enough to get me on the higher maths lectures. I only want to do this because the lower maths group have more lectures, and a few quite early in the morning. I find out which group i'm in on wednesday, so I will update you then as to how my timetable looks.

 

For the rest of the day i'm going to a Job Shop at 4pm and then another meet & greet at 5pm. After that I have to do some shopping and maybe have a look around town.

The BIG Day

Got up at 8:45am, after getting myself organised and packing a few last things (coat) I went to church.
Church was great! The sermon was about learning to let go and go for something, very approapriate. There was also a notice for me and I got given two st mary's mugs.
After church, and saying my goodbyes, we returned home to pack the car. After much thought and careful planning, the car was full and ready to go.
At 2pm we arrived at Uni. By this point I was feeling a bit sick, but we still managed to unload the car into a big tent. We then walked to reception and I got my keys, ect.
Then we moved all my things (21 boxes in total) into my new home. Met a few of my new room-mates (more on those another time) and got unpacking. The unpacking process was very emotional for me, it was the moment when everything dawned on me and I was very overwhelmed for about 20 minutes. Eventually, we got the room into a liveable state with most things unpacked.
Goodbyes. Now this was alot more difficult than I thought is was going to be. I won't go into specifics because I think you can all figure out what that means.
Parents finally left me outside my faculty building where I went to meet people on my course. Still feeling uneasy. I met two other people and we hung out for about an hour talking. I started to feel a bit better. We then went for a walk around, to the shop on campus and then the kitchen of one of my new friends. We stayed there, talking for another hour. Finally went back to my room about 6:30 and properly met with my room-mates.
At 7:15 we had a briefing about living in halls, fire safety and the Student's Union. When that finished at about 8pm we went back to our room.
By this point I felt comfortable nough to force-feed myself a pot noodle. At 9:45pm I went out, with a load of girls in my house and another house nearby, to Rubix, the Student's Union nightclub. Because I still wasn't feeling 100% I didn't hae anything to drink. It was a good night talking and dancing.
Getting back to my room about 1am and went straight to bed. The nights sleep was awful, I kept waking up and feeling queasy.
Got up this morning at 8am, force-fed myself some cereal and orange juice. I now have a full day planned, staring with a welcome talk at 9:30am. Maths test this afternoon that I need to be awake for and then another meet and greet in the evening.
Hope I survive. I am really enjoying myself, but my stomach seems pretty intent on spoiling the party. If I was a betting man I would say is was home-sickness, but whatever it is, it better not outstay its welcome.
A short video of yesterday's events to follow soon.

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

Cya Later! I'm off!

 

OK, OK. You got me. I'm still here, but only for a few more hours, come lunchtime sunday, I'm on the long road to Guildford!

 

I've taken a few pictures of all my valuables in boxes and bags for your viewing pleasure. Its quite a sad sight, but very exciting at the same time. Ohhh, it's an emotional puzzle!

 

I'll hopefully get some video tomorrow to share with you all. The adventure is really about to begin!

Packing Update

Today has been the first day i've actually felt that i've got somewhere with the packing. I've now got all of my clothes sorted except the coat hangers, and who knows what i'm going to do with those. I also went shopping for a few kitchen items I didn't have, like a baking tray and a knife. While I was out I bought food for the first few days of university: just pasta, biscuits and a pot noodle, what more do you need!

As for everything else, which at the moment is pretty much everthing, it is mostly lying on by bedroom floor waiting to be directed into boxes. The main effort is going to happen tomorrow, so its just preporations for then when eveything needs to be sorted, boxed or bagged and then labelled. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Only two days to go now!

The Course & Campus

The University of Surrey campus is located a mere 10 minutes walk from Guildford train station. The town centre is only 15 minutes walk away and there is a Tesco 5 minutes in the other direction. But, if your not keen on walking, the campus as a fair few tricks of its own. There is a students union (called Rubix) along with a number of restaurants, cafés and bars. The gym on campus is going to be one of my favourite places to be because of its HUGE climbing wall surrounding the basketball court. The gym also has all the usual facilities you can expect such as weights, courts, machines and courses. The university are currently building a new gym and other sports facilities in a brand new complex just off campus that will include, amongst other things, a new climbing wall and full-sized olympic swimming pool. You can find out more about this project at http://www.surreycentreforsport.org.uk. I will hopefully find out more about the clubs and such on offer at the gym during the next week or so.

As for the course, I am studying Digital Media Engineering MEng, which is essentially Electronic Engineering with modules on Audio and Visual Media. The media part of the course is focused on how to utilise modern technology to create digital media that can entertain, engage and educate an audience. The term 'digital media' can be used to describe animation, broadcasts, film, online video, special effects, websites, games and motion capture. However, the media side of the course is less apparent in the first year of study where the focus is learning the basics of electronic and signal engineering and mathematical engineering concepts.

In total, the couse is 5 years long. That breaks down as 3 years for the core course, a year out in industry and a final year for the masters course. The way they work it is that the year in industry happens in my 3rd year, essentially splitting up the couse into:

Year 1  --  Year 2  --  Year In Industry  --  Year 3  --  Masters Year

For me, the course and the campus were the two key features of Surrey that stood it apart from anywhere else. The course is only in its 4th year, but it was created to meet the demands of companies who had been asking for a course like it for years. And the campus is very self-contained, and where is doesn't provide, local facilities are only a stone's throw away.

What Does a Student Need?

It's an age-old question, albeit a young age: What does a student need nowadays? A 52-inch widescreen plasma TV with Sky HD, 12.1 Surround sound, the latest £4,000 laptop and, of course, a pillow. But what else?

The popular choice is cooking equipment, and everyone has their favourites. I've gone for a very basic sandwich toaster for two simple reasons:

1) I got one for my birthday, and

2) It doesn't require a degree in food technology to use! Perfect!

Besides from that I have also got the usual suspects: Cutlery, pots, pans, a whisk (now there's a story), bottle opener (essential, apparently) and a can opener (otherwise how would I open the beans?)

Onto the bathroom! Shaver (because women love a close shave) and a towel. Seriously, what else do you need?

Finally, the most important room for any student, the bedroom. Technology-wise I am equipped with a desktop, laptop, camcorder and MP3 player. Most people would see this as overkill but because I am studying a relatively technology-rich course I have opted to take both a laptop for lecture notes and on the move, and a desktop for the serious coursework.

An obvious omission from this list is a TV, and this is because my computer can now double-up as a TV, to save space. This is an interesting decision actually. Because of the small nature of a student room it would be ridiculous to have a computer and a TV, so the decision is instead to either get a TV tuner card for your computer or forgo the TV altogether and use BBC iPlayer and the TV in the common room or your friend's room to watch the occasional programme. The advantage of the latter is cost: you don't need to pay for a TV licence. For now I am decided on the first option, but I will hold off and see if I get a good enough TV signal in my room before I start to pay the TV licence fee.

Whether I need all of the items above are debateable but I'd guess that you have most, if not all, of the thing listed.

The countdown is down to 4 days, and I still have a lot to do.

Charles

Becky's Cats - Millie & Daisy

What To Expect

The start of university is going to be full of surprises, but there are a few details I know already. I will arrive at the campus on Sunday and move into my room. In the evening I am invited to an informal welcome where I can meet a few staff and other students on my course and then another to meet people living in the same court as me. The rest of the week is packed with everything from welcomes to talks, tests to fairs and much, much more. Its fair to say that I'll have plenty to be getting on with.

 

As for my room, my accommodation has been organized for about a month now. I am staying on part of the campus called Cathedral Court, which, incidentally, is next to the cathedral. It has about 7 blocks of rooms with 2 "houses" on each floor. Each house has 6 or 7 people living in it sharing two bathrooms and a kitchen. I'm living on the ground floor and am sharing with 5 other people. They mix everyone up so I will be sharing with people studying all sorts of things.

 

As for what else to expect, I'll have to wait and see! Only 5 days to go now!

The Story So Far

University is only a week away now, and now is a good time to take stock of where I am and what I've got. The last few months have been very peaceful. After finishing Sixth form in July I have indicated my way into the slow lane and comfortably stayed there for the past two months.

 

In July, I and four friends spent two weeks on the boat having a great time. We went round the canals in Birmingham and stopped off at Drayton Manor on the way. Really, it was the basis of the whole trip as we effectively just went there and back in a big circle).

 

The remainder of the holiday has largely been spent sleeping (I wish!) with exception of the night before results day. But, never fear the news was good and AAB was the exact result I needed to get into Surrey. And for those who want a detailed breakdown of my results, you're very unusual. 

 

Two weeks ago I went to Sheffield to visit my sister, Becky, in her new, very cool, house. I really enjoyed it because I got to witness the arrival of two cats (Millie & Daisy) who are so cute (I'll add a video later), Jordan's first day at school, Alastair's first day at nursery, plenty of trips to the swimming pool (three in total) and a grand mish-mash of family for my birthday party on Saturday. The whole time over the last two weeks has been amazing and really fun.

 

Arriving back to London on Sunday night gave me the opportunity to go to Thorpe Park one last time (well, until October) with some friends before we all go our separate ways and never see each other again.

 

So now it's down to business. With a mountain of packing to do and an Everest of paperwork to get around, I certainly won't be sleeping much for the next few days.

 

I'll be keeping you up-to-date with my latest goings-on and giving you more details of the first week of my new life in the coming days. I hope you find this blog as much fun to read as I do writing it.

 

Charles