Final Year Project: First Crisis Averted

As I was going to bed yesterday there was one little, long-forgotten thought that burst into my head and stung me like a bee - sh** I forgot to submit my final year project proposal. As I woke up, I decided I would do all that is in my power to fix the situation.

First, I had to print out and fill in the proposal form. Now that was a slight problem as I lost my student card this week. I was at the ISA desk at precisely 8:30, much to the surprise of the staff on duty. Apparently, before one gets a new card out, they need to go through the lost cards record. Well, my card was there! This sorted my first problem as now I could actually go into a computer lab to print out the form.

After printing and filling out the form, though, I had to take it to my supervisor to sign. I was so sure I would not find him before noon and I would miss the deadline. As I was hastily staggering toward the Economics and Strategy department, I came up with a "brilliant" plan. Was I to end up in a situation where I have no supervisor to sign my form, I would knock on every university staff door (if I have to) and ask them to sign my form. It was insane but it could just work.

This is where the dramatic end of my story is lost, as I actually did find my coursework supervisor having coffee in the communal area of the floor. He signed my form and calmed me down so now I am sitting in front of the coursework submission hub. Why am I sitting here waiting until 11:00 you may ask? I don't want to forget about submitting the bl**** form again!

Final Year Project

This year, for the first time so far, I had the opportunity to chose modules. Typically, my Economics &Management course is very structured in a way that we have set subjects that we need to take. So, for my final 20 credits I had the choice to either take two modules or write a 10,000 word coursework. I chose the coursework on the basis of my writing abilities and lack of such in accounting base subjects.

Well, so far my choice has proved extremely challenging. My first topic was unrealistic, considering the available public data. My second topic was too simple and quite obvious and was, more or less, rejected. Nevertheless, after my second attempt I sat down and decided it was time to evaluate my realistic options and ability. As a result, I chose a great final topic.

What was more important through this choosing process, though, was the incredible help I received from the Economics department. I have had the shortest possible e-mail response times and the most motivational advices. This is essentially what one needs to overcome the initial challenges.

Now, as I am at the beginning of the writing process I cannot help but be glad of the choice I have made. I know that it would be tough but I can feel it developing my skills already. Most expectedly, there will be more posts on the subject coming up.

Fire Alarms

Fire alarms have been an issue on campus since the beginning of existence. After having one two weeks in a row I am starting to think that this is indeed a big problem.

But, where do fire alarms come from?

Well, I am far from the idea that the fire alarms are Uni's fault. Big bad uni is to blame because it puts them on! No, I am sorry, but it is not the Uni's fault. The
real cause for the un-ending fire alarms are the various and plentiful "cooks" on campus. I have hears all kinds of stories about their adventures - setting sausages on fire is my personal favorite.

Almost every time when I walk into my kitchen there is an unsupervised pan overflowing on the stove or a pizza burning in the oven. The appropriate question would be, is it so hard to actually put a tiny piece of effort into the whole cooking ordeal? It isn't and the reason people don't care is because they are simply not hungry. If I put rice to boil and I really do want to eat rice, I would't ditch it for an hour in the kitchen - all day, every day!

The solution to the problem (there are three actually). First, obviously you can just watch your meal, or in other words, care about the fact that you are cooking/eating. Second, just do not cook, there is a perfectly well functioning food court in the main building and three discount pubs on campus. Last, and my personal favorite, just starve! OK, so starving isn't a good idea but I think options one and two are plenty (let's also not forget the £1 baguette shop down the street).

The advantage for the "cooks" is that they will escape those horrible fines for setting a fire alarm on. If you think about your cash-flow statement, this one major expense is more than any money you could save by not eating in the food court throughout the year.

So, together we can stop the fire alarms forever and sleep peacefully, all we need is a little common sense.

Back to Company X

I was sitting in my overfilled with stuff room yesterday, reading one of the Bulgarian classics - Tiutiun (Tabacco) when my phone rang. Company X's staffing representative was calling from an unrecognized number to ask me the question that every final year student is waiting for. As a result shall be back in the smaller of towns - Swindon - in August. I have a feeling this would be a great experience!

As we used to say in Company X - Yes, going back!

E-books

After a rookie mistake (put a wrong entry in my outlook calendar) I am currently in the main building downloading my textbooks onto my computer.

The library has gotten so much better now that I don't even need to go there. Apparently, except one, all my textbooks have been uploaded as e-books onto the library catalogue. For me, this means the end of the textbook reservations and the end of chest pain in the beginning of each term. (I get chest pain when paying for some of these greatly overpriced textbooks of ours.)

There is a little catch with the e-books, though, you can only print or save ten pages at a time, so right now my computer is full of P_1-10, P_11-20, etc. files. Nevertheless, this will not stop me from using only (or mostly) the e-books as the year progresses.

Aston Exchange

Apparently the Aston Free Marketplace is not as popular as it was back in the day. I sold all my textbooks from my first and second year through the free website designed to help students exchange textbooks without the amazon and e-bay fees. Check it out at:

http://astonexchange.co.uk/

Placement Essay (Results are out!)

The Placement Essay has brought me so many troubles it is actually ridiculous. After spending so much time writing it, making a mistake submitting it, now I had problems receiving my mark.

Apparently, essays were marked in the beginning of the Summer and results were sent out in August. To make things more interesting my results got lost by the greatly "talented" Bulgarian Postal Services. So there I am in my kitchen, catching up with my flatmate when the question, "so, how much did you get on the essay?" puts me in a most bewildered state. See, I had no way of knowing that the postman was talking on the phone, planning his night out, when he was delivering my letter to the wrong address (hope he had a nice time, though).

I ran off to the Placement office and asked for my results to be re-printed. This time I would pick the letter up myself. On the next day, I am sitting and waiting for my letter... then opening the letter... then (i remember) seeing one sole thing on the whole page... 39.95%...

Yes, this is essentially the lowest you can get to pass but come on. I enjoyed my placement so much and this did not reflect any of my experience. However, under placement on my diploma it would say 39-point-bloody-95. I was not going to leave things there; e-mailed the tutor immediately and asked her to meet me as soon as she can.

On the next day I am sitting in a meeting room in front of the undergraduate office and hearing: "So, I liked your essay, I hope you like your mark. How did the placement go?". WHAT THE FLIP (guys I was not thinking flip). I only had strength to give my tutor the letter I received the previous day. She started laughing and said, "Wait here."; came back with a similar letter 3 minutes later, this time the letter read - 60%. "There must have been a mistake in the system. They could not explain it."

It took me about a minute so assimilate the new situation after spending two days cursing the unfairness of the world we live in. Then I had a nice chat with the tutor about how much I enjoyed the placement and how much I miss being there,.

The Beginning of The Eng

My final year has officially started with my first two lectures this morning. It is a very different experience going back to studying after having had a proper job for a year. The confidence I gained while on placement has totally changed the way I interact with the lecturers. I feel at ease participating in the discussions and as a whole appreciative of the lecturers taking the time to teach me.

Looking back at my first two year I have been late, unprepared and, well, asleep. This year is a new chapter in my uni experience. True, the lecture rooms, the lecturers and the class have not changed, but my attitude has.

This better not be one of them standard student self-motivation talks in the beginning of the new course. Let's see how the rest of this week goes...

God, it's good to be back in uni. This time around I had a goodie bag waiting for me in my amazing lakeside room!

I am currently waiting at Sofia airport for my flight to Birmingham to depart for the very last time. The years I have spent at Aston now seem to have gone by as fleeting as a roller coaster ride. A ride that has changed my life completely. For everyone who has (or even the people who haven't) missed the first three or so years of this blog, this post is all you need to know.

THE COUNTDOWN TO YEAR 4

5. 27 Sep 2002

I was a scared little (or not so little) boy sitting in the back of the class in Sofia's oldest English High School. I was utterly confused by the crazy red haired teacher shouting at me from the other end of the classroom for not knowing how to spell "city". The whole concept of the English language, culture and country was something so foreign and eerie that I could not get my head around it. Still, I had to write "city" 50 times as a punishment for my mistake (this word will be stuck to my head for eternity).

4. 27 Sep 2006

I had spent the Summer trying to make my mind up as to where I want to go to uni. Finally, in September it was clear that I will be going abroad. I spent the 27th trying to find the red haired screaming teacher (from above) and see if she would tutor me. (writing and deleting the rest of this paragraph after deciding it is to over-dramatic)

3. 27 Sep 2007

I was sitting in my Dalton Tower room, putting the last of my stuff in place. I was having the best time of my life. I had arrived in Aston, had met the most amazing people and had discovered what it is to party in the UK.

2. 27 Sep 2008

I was walking towards the Aston Students Guild, and although it was almost midnight I knew the night was still young. I had no idea I would meet life-changing people and spend the rest of Fresher's week running to the Aston campus after work.

1. 27 Sep 2009

Waking up at my usual 7 o'clock I was getting ready to run to the Swindon Flemming Way bus stop. I would have a short gym sesh before going to work. This placement year routine had become second nature to me. I felt like I had lived in Swindon and worked for Intel forever. Had I known I would be crying like a little b**** after leaving.

So, there you go people, I am now a 21-year-old, final year student on his way to return to uni. This year is bound to be the pinnacle of my life-experience so far (or at least I hope so).

Summer Post #2 (Placement Year Feedback)

This is the moment of truth people. Every student on a placement receives feedback on his performance in the end of the year. Today is the time when I found out whether I have done a good job. I am not sat in a meeting room in company "X" waiting for my manager to come in.

Maestro, countdown sound please!

Summer Post #1

The Summer's on but there shall be no break for the Aston students starting their placement in the upcoming weeks. I will be welcoming the new students in company X on Monday. There will be a lot of experience share, advices and training I suppose. We shall have our one little Aston camp!

Astonbury 2010 (Photos)

Here are some of the many photos from Astonbury 2010. I noticed the guild team still have not put theirs on so this is kind of the only source ATM.

The Hoosiers

Mr Hudson

Me and me mates just before getting drenched.

Astonbury (Recap)

Let me start by apologizing for my drunk blogging yesterday. The atmosphere was just overwhelming! In summary the two acts I saw - The Hoosiers and Mr Hudson were spot on! I missed some of the other acts either due to rain or to queues.

The longest queues were definitely in Einies where there were about ten bar staff that were being pressed by the alcohol thirsty mob! Still, I have to say that having mind the ratio bartender to student/customer was much in the latter's advantage I was served quite quickly each time. The food this year was yet again spot on. My mate reportedly had six burgers in the time we spent on the festival site.

The stage was more or less the same as last year. It still seemed quite impressive in the evening. Having in mind we were not on the lake but in front of the guild I expected many problems with space-less-ness and fountain-diving. None such occurred. One of the highlights of the evening was the closing DJ set that really got the blood pumping!

In the end there is nothing more to say than good work Aston Guild (but please make it on the lake next time).

Astonbury (last but one)

The rain can never stop the power! We fired off with The Hoosiers and now we are jamming on a Fugees mix while waiting fir Roll Deep. It does not get better than this! A special shout out to the crew Nasko, Kara, Emi, Sasho & Charlene! God and all Goddesses bless Aston!

Astonbury (continued)

... and then the rains came to try and ruin the party :(

EOY Recap (continued)

As of today the final weekend of academic year 2009/2010 is upon us. Are you ready to party Aston Uni style?

EOY Recap (continued)

I have now spent one week back at good old Aston. There have been so many overwhelming changes on campus.

For starters the gigantic new accommodation looks done. It has been spread across zones that used to be unused thus creating this massive space that I can already see as the best place to chill out in the summer, on the grass, with your mates and some water guns. Well, Dalton and Lawrence will have to get knocked down first but that is life I guess; although Dalton does still hold much sentimental value, I would love to see what will be done with the newly freed space.

There is also this amazing new food court that just lured me in. After getting lost in it I was drawn to the Asian food bar partly by hunger and partly by curiosity. I spent every consecutive morning getting a strawberry, apple and banana smoothy. I can already envision next year as being the year of the smoothy!

When I was starting this post I was thinking - uni is indeed an ever evolving organism; whether the changes will come from new students, staff or simply renovations, there is always some developments to get your head around.

Moving-In//Moving-Out (Warehouse)

Finally the first part of my moving adventures is over. After going to the Black Eyed Peas at the NEC (God bless Birmingham for its venues!) I stayed with my mates on campus and packed up some of my gathered clutter and put it in the Aston Storage facility. This has been the biggest bargain of 2010 for me.

The storage for the whole summer was 30 pounds for four massive boxes or whatever other items that one wants to bring. The moment I was sure of the price (word of mouth because I did not actually read the e-mail I received - oops) I hurried to the finance office and sweatily ordered myself a four box voucher. Then I went back to my mate's and we started eagerly packing. After about two days of postponing and one day of packing I was back at the storage room awaiting my trolley. The one I received was the standard massive cage that we managed to fill over the brim. Let me tell you pushing this trolley was like dragging a cart full of stones; every piece of uneven tiling was like a small Everest, every little rock was like the grand canyon. I just think that the creators of the trolley did not mean for it to carry every single belonging for two shopaholics.

Anyway in the we got to the storage room alright (pushing the trolley through main building's halls was one of the funniest experiences I have ever had). We signed up the boxes, tagged them and they were taken in. Now all I need to do is not lose my receipt (although I assume that even if I do they have my student number so nothing can go wrong).

EOY Recap

As the last bank holiday till August is upon us with a promise of parties and rest for all placement students, back in Aston it is the last exam week. The library is full with students on the verge of insanity eagerly preparing for their last exams. As my second year mates say, "the last exam is the hardest one". I think this has to do not only with the subject of the exam but also with the summer utopia that everyone who finished their exams already have created; it has to do with the end-of-year parties that the student guild has organised; it has to do with the buzz around the lake that seems endless throughout the hot months; and, of course, it has to do with the moving out preparations that everyone is struggling with...

Unfortunately, doing my internship has isolated me from the whole experience that is the end-of-year. But not one can stay away from Aston for too long. That is why on Tuesday I am off to join the Aston crowd in a week of celebration of the last exam. More to be reported soon.

EOY - end of year