A classroom of 60 turned into a classroom of 200, a 3 hour flight turned into a 13 hour flight, a 5 ringgit meal turned into a 5 pound meal and the list goes on.
17th of september was an instrumental day for my cohort and I, as it was the day we arrived in the land of Tea, Fish & Chips, The Beatles and of course her majesty the Queen.
This was a much awaited day in all of our lives, and one that we continuously kept speaking about during our 2 year stay in the campus in Malaysia.
Now that we are here, it certainly is still yet difficult to fathom the fact that we actually made it to the UK but all in all the weather continuously reminds us that we certainly are not in South East Asia.
The campus here specifically was an exciting experience for me as there was so much going on every single day, in all parts of the campus. It did take me a few days to get my bearings right and not get lost every time I wanted to search for a building, but with the help of Maps and navigation, I’m getting better each day.
One thing that specifically stood out from the campus in Southampton in comparison to the one in Malaysia, was the flora coupled with the wide array of beautiful greenery on campus, all the way to our halls of residence.
Irrespective of the difference in ways and cultures of the 2 countries, big credit goes to the University and the students who were kind enough to meet and accompany us, the students from USMC from Heathrow to Southampton. I myself hadn’t seen my fellow batch mates till the end of summer break and therefore it was a pleasant surprise to have met them at the airport.
On a personal note, it definitely is a big reinforcement for my academic career for the next 2 years knowing that there are 60 plus students with whom I’ve built a closely knitted friendship I can count on.
The first week in Southampton was surprisingly quiet, mostly because we had arrived a week ahead of the freshers. But on the plus side, we made sure to try out almost all the restaurants nearby, pay a visit to St. Mary’s Football Stadium and a few prominent places around the city of Southampton.
One week passes by, and that is when it started to kick in ! Thousands of students, Hundreds of societies and a countless number of people advertising various products and services by giving us, the students, one thing we are always keen in receiving… Free food !
Few of the highlights of Freshers Week were :
- Bun Fight – Where all clubs and societies opened up booths around the campus for the newly arrived freshers to get to know the clubs/societies in the University a tad bit better
- Fresher’s Fayre – This event of course had much more activity going on as there were leading companies from the restaurant and entertainment industry promoting their brand and products, while giving away freebies in the process.
- Fresher’s Parties – One thing that this particular week didn’t lack, were parties. There were so many social events and gatherings organized by both the Students Union and the Halls Committee to help us make new friends and get to know the people around us.
All in all it was a great welcome week followed by a wide range of exciting activities and events. Nevertheless, we made sure to enjoy while we could, and would continue to do so because once the coursework starts flowing, we would have “missed the bus.” But at the end of the day it was a journey or should I say a story that my colleagues and I began to write exactly 2 years ago, and now that chapter one is over, there is the final more exciting one yet to be written.