Just Fab...

There are very few wise people that I know and that is probably just my luck. For starters, my parents are not really wise yet, I mean, they are still living their mistakes and making even more. They will become wise one day, hopefully. For now their mistakes just make them more fun. So I cannot really talk wisely ever, yet sometimes I just see the light in the end of the tunnel, if you know what I mean.

I just got off chatting with one of the very few fab (and probably one of the wisest) people I know and she is fab, believe me, successful, renowned, fabulous. She walks into the room and every eye is on her, opens her mouth and instantly gets the attention.... I have already told you a lot about Fannie and it is not only because she is, well, quite important to me; there is more and I bet you did not expect it... (I actually had something in mind)

Fannie has lived and studied in the UK and has quite a lot of tips for any prospective student, like you guys. Today she taught me a lesson, a lesson she had learned when she was doing what I am doing right now, and what you will be doing soon - do not get absorbed by the whole English nightlife culture... what do I mean? Let me tell you a story...

I am currently spending my fist ever fully independent summer. I live alone, get my own money... do whatever I want to. After my traditional recap yesterday I realised that I am actually not doing that good. My routine is simple: I work every evening, finish at 12, have a pint after work, go home, have a pint with a flatmate in front of the TV and go to bed; next morning I wake up, have a shower, breakfast, lunch, a pint with the lunch, go to work again... Did you notice how many times the word pint was in that long sentence. Remember, this is one day. I bet my colleagues would not notice the problem, they have lived like this their whole lives but for me this is new... And England is not about the drinking seshes or the night and the partying till dawn... it is about everything else... history, culture, politics... Read a contemporary English book and you will probably not see the word pint in it, or booze, or bear, or alcohol... at least not that as much as in this post. Have a walk on the street, try to notice the unique architecture. Go to the park, see the year-long greenness (it rains this much in very few countries). Go to a bookshop get an interesting book and see something you missed while having a walk. Turn on the TV absorb the media culture. Buy the Sunday Times and absorb even more media culture. See why is it that the United Kingdom is so different from every other European country.

So, to make a point: if you are a current student get a grip on your self, if you are prospective student, do not let go that grip, ever! Have fun and try to remember the years of Uni, I mean the more you drink, the more precious once of a lifetime moments you are going to miss...

In the weeks to follow I am going to make you several descriptions of typical Aston students and I bet after I am finished you will all want to come here, it is just diverse, interesting, surprising and always fun!

The 10th Tip

Unlike recently, the weather today in Birmingham is dreadful, gloomy and wet, it feel like it is Autumn already. Still, the phenomenal book I am reading is keeping me positive - ''Number Ten'' by Sue Townsend.

What I have missed to share with you was my moving to my new house. Now I live in House 30 in Aston Brook Green. It is definitely the second most popular accommodation after the campus towers and Lake Side. The whole moving, cleaning and painting process too us a week. Me and Gosia started on Saturday 14th June and Karolina joined us on Sunday 15th June. By next Saturday me and Kara could not walk. We had been cleaning every bloody day and don't forget work. We were both either at the pub or at the house. Thinking about it now it sounds ages ago, though.

I haven't given you any tips lately and since I have finally reached my tenth one (I feel so wise ha-ha-ha) it is special so this post is going to me my TIP 10 FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS! It is all going to be about where to shop, how to find the cheap deals an' stuff. And this is very important for an average student, innit.

The food is easy to buy; you have Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Aldi, The Rad Market, The 99p Shop, Poundland, there's just plenty. But what if you need paint or a chair, or a set of nice pillows, or a desk, or a bed. Here is the Top 5 of the shops I used to arrange my current room (the first being the most shopped from and the last being the one I have used the less)

1) Latiff's - It is a huge warehouse behind Moor Station. A little doggy from the outside, Latiff's is perfect for a new home owner.
2) Matalan - The moment I discovered Matalan I fell in love with it. So near Uni and so many stuff. Matalan is a little bit more expensive but has really nice stuff.
3) The Clearance Shop in front of the Carling Academy - this is the place where you can find the cheapest stuff ever, but you have to be very careful, some of them are broken or stained.
4) Primark - the good old Primark's home stuff are quite cheap and quite near the Uni. Yes, you cannot buy a bed there but you can get sheets and stuff.
5) All the 1£ something shops - you can find so many stuff in all the quid shops in Birmingham; one of my mirrors is actually from 'Everything for 1 or 2£'

So dear prospective students, I am not doing an advertisement for shops in Birmingham, I am giving you a free advice. I had to spend a year gathering all this information. Now you are so much better prepared than me, when I came to Uni.


Furniture and house stuff: I have made a Top 3 of the places I have use to buy all my stuff and I am going t

Exam Results Time

I am finally back in the UK after a two week 'holiday' in Bulgaria. Not much is happening in Burmingham. The only change in the scene at Uni is the 'EXAM RESULTS POST' on Aston Map - our student account @ the Uni webpage! Now every prospective student should now that the wait for results here is EPIC! We all have been waiting for almost two months and now only the general decision is posted.

I heard about the EXAM RESULTS POST yesterday and immediately took Karolina's laptop to check what my faith was. As I typed the Aston Map homepage I felt that this was going to be the longest ten seconds of my life...

...and it still has not finished generating
(Kara is already screaming)
- 'What happened?'
- 'I am still waiting for the f*** Aston Map to generate!'

...and just there the magic happened - the page generated, I could already feel the results were in there. *Have you noticed that when you receive a very important letter it always takes ages to open it because you are too nervous. Well, it took me ages to find where the General Decision link was...

- and there it was the long craved - 'YOU PASSED'

Now I am waiting for the actual results but at least I know I have successfully graduated my first year in Aston. I can still call myself an Aston Student. So, to all prospective students: I am still going to be here to say 'Hi' next year :D

The Guild /continued/

Around a year and a half ago I had to make one of the toughest choices of my life - chose a university to study in. I have always known that this is a very important decision, not because of the diploma, but because the university has an amasing impact on a person's life perseption and philosophies. Furthermore, every university is like a small society and the students have an invisible bond that is there for years after graduation. In other words, I had to make a very important and difficult decision. I have seen that every university says that it is the best in the world, well, not every but that is the policy of most. What I liked about Aston was the directness and honesty of the university's description. For example, when reading the website I could hear 'we may not be number one in ranking but we will give you perfect training and preparation for the business world', or 'we are the best at this special part of teaching'... details that I found important. See, I alredy new that y results could not get me in Harvard or Cambridge and I wanted a university that would do the best out of the material that was me one year ago. I dunno if that is what every student felt, that was what I felt. I saw a kind of security in tha direct way of showing the university's strengths.

Anyway, it was only after I actually set foot on the Aston University Campus that I saw a unique feature that is, for me, Aston's Ace in the set of cards - The Guild. It is not the exstence of the Guild that is amazing or unique; every university has a student union; it was the impact the Guild has on our, student's, lifes. I have talked with a lot of people from universities around the world, students from some of the best universities in Europe, or in America, like Yale and Princeton and no one has ever felt such a strong student union in their university. Yes, a union that makes parties or events, but not a union like ours.

I already mentioned in Part I of my post that the Guild had a big impact on me in the beginning of the first term and that it is the place for us to escape from boredom and studying but that is not all. The uniqunes of the Guild is hidden in the diversity of activities.

It houses the different student clubs and societies; it houses soial events like charities and parties, houses a restaurant, a pub, a bank, an accommodation supplier, a supermarket. You can find everything there, whatever you need. I have already used the job-shop in the Guild and the student counseling services (I needed advice about paying my tuition in installments). And that is just half of all the places there.

Not an amazingly active student, I have not even made an effort to discover all of the 'secrets' that the Guild hides or the 'wishes' that it can grants. There is still more to see. Probably that is why this will be the first post I will leave open, to finish next year. I will wait to see the new changes and updates that are happening or have happened in th padt sic months. Hopefully next year I will have more to say about the guild; hopefully, there are going to be more and sooner changes on the Guild to spice up the upcoming year.

The Guild

Right now I am writing from Bugaria. I came here for two weeks on Sturday and, as usual, now I have to help my father with his boring office work. I've discoverred that here I miss my UK freedom so much. It is the fact that you do everything on your watch - wake up, go to sleep, go out, eat, drink, shower whenever you wish. If I want to eat at four in the morning I just go to my kitchen, while here I have to constantly try to be as quiet as possible not to wake someone up. And the worse is that everyone sleep at different time. My mother goes to sleep at ten, my father always takes a nap after work so around six, and my sister goes to bed late and sleeps till late morning. This leave me one hour of loudness after 'work'(here I finish at five).

Anyway, yesterday while I was watching a boring movie at home I discoverred there is something I have grown used to during term-time that I desperately need and want not - The Aston Student's Guild. It is the place where you go whenever yu don't have plans but want to party or like me, hate staying home alone.

For those who have never heard of the Aston Student's Guild let me make a quick description. Unlike other student unions the Aston Guild has always been really influentian inside the Uni and, now I can finally say WE, the students have always been really proud of it. The Guild is the ultimate place to search for help when you needed it; the ultimate place to party when you want to; the ultimate place to hang out when you don't want to be in your small room or leave campus.

I still remember the first time I saw the Guild's building. It is nothing impresive, nothing massive or shiny, nothing incredibly posh or sophisticated, but it had a 'hommie' atmosphere around it. A spirit that made me feel safe there. I dunno if it is just me but I loved to hand out there. Especially in my first several weeks I used to have breakfast , lunch , party .... LIVE there.

I will continue my story about the Guild later, unlike all the other places on campus the Guild has been closest to me this year... and it deserves a bigger story.