Wow, I eventually finished my Michaelmas Term in this week. On Monday, I handed in the report for Ac.F 211 and on Thursday I took the test of ECON 207. At first, I thought I was the busy one that in one week need to finish two pieces of coursework. After having a  lovely afternoon tea with my friend on Saturday, I changed my mind completely. She really had a such tough week last week. She had a report handed in on Monday and finished  a test on the same day. And on Thursday and Friday she took a test respectively. I have no idea how she did survive. She made a joke that as long as you chose a ‘right’ course, you take Gaokao every term.

This week I was not only busy with the coursework but also busy with planning an event. This can be the first event I hold after joining the society. I really want to show a good result. Booking the field, doing the advertising, calculating the costs and selling the tickets….. So many things need to be done. I made a mistake when I was booking the field. The package we ordered did not include the free lunch actually. It was pretty tricky.  When you see it on the home page which includes the free lunch, but if you click in the Preston, the free lunch disappears. And then on the page of payment, the free lunch shows again. As the ticket we sold includes the free lunch, if the firm did not prepare it for free, we need to buy the lunch at our own expense. It increases the costs and causes a loss. I must say it is lucky to realize the problem before, not on the day of the event. After that, I tried to offset that part of loses by negotiating with the firm for extra discounts. It failed. Then I keep in touch with the coach company instead of hiring the taxies. It helps save a great amount of money, which is enough for the lunch. So proud of myself.

Until this Friday, I finally adapted the time difference. The problem of jet lag is especially serious for me this time. Usually I just need one to three days to cope with jet lag. During past half month, I went to bed before 10 o’clock and woke up at around 6 o’clock. Such a healthy bedtime. During my journey to Los Angles, I had a similar experience that whenever I fell sleep, I would wake up at around 7 o’clock in the morning. However, although I woke up so early, I did not get out of bed and do something meaningful. It was dark outside , which made me do not want to move.

After returning Lancaster, I always kept looking for an exquisite postcard which shows the scene of Lancaster. I have a habit of sending a postcard of local view to home during travelling. This time I would like to send it to my friend in Los Angles to express my appreciation for taking me out. I found there were limited types of postcards. I guess this is because Lancaster is not a tourist city. Among them, I only recognize one scenic spot, Lancaster Castle. I visited it once when I was in Foundation Year during the fresher week. Last year, the Queen of England has been here also. Haha, I still remember, it was a rainy day. The design of the postcard is oil-painting style. Hope she will like it.

 

I arrived at London Heathrow Airport on January 8^th. I took only 1 hour and 50 minutes to take the train, go through immigration, pass security check and finish the flight connecting. That is unbelievable! However, I would never ever put myself into this kind of situation. I was anxious while waiting in a long queue, just like ants in a hot pan. When I run to the boarding gate, the plane was delayed 30 minutes. Haha, I was so lucky, wasn’t I? And my ‘good’ luck did not end up. When I got off the plane, I received an email which informed me that my checked-in baggage did not reach Manchester Airport with me. It would be delivered to me tomorrow. I had no idea to describe how my feeling was at that moment. I think I was a little bit happy since I need not to move my baggage of 20 kg from Manchester Airport to home. And it came with a few worry. I worried whether the baggage was missing or not and whether I can receive it tomorrow. Thanks God, finally I got it.

The new term begins. The total image of Week 11 is why the library is always full of people. I guess it must be the power of deadline. Since all the deadlines and tests in Week 10 are put off to Week 12, it must be super busy in Week 11 for most of us. There is no doubt that I did not finish my report and review the test during Christmas Holiday although I actually brought the computer to Los Angles. Before leaving Lancaster, I lost my USB which carried my half done report. On Sunday I just chanced my luck to ask the librarian whether my USB is lost in the library or not. Haha, I found it. I was so excited that the pressure of deadline could be reduced to some extent. I love the librarians! There were quite huge numbers of USB which lost in the library. One of them is Baymax. Pretty cute one.

It was a tough week for me. 4 extra lectures were rescheduled. On Saturday, I still need to come to University for lectures. There are 4 courses for this term, like last term. I quite enjoy the pronunciation of Ac.F 212 lecturer. His speaking speed for me is a little bit fast, but it can be accepted. Ac.F 213 lecturer has taught me in Year 1. It is a piece of cake to adapt his teaching style. However, for ECON 212, it is a little bit difficult for me to catch the lecture’s word. I need to take some time to become familiar with her accent. The lecturer of MSCI 224 explained the content in detailed, which helps me understand them easily.

The biggest news for this week is that it snows in Lancaster. However, it lasted only one day. I love snow crazily! I feel very peaceful when it snows. During the Christmas Holiday, I went to Big Bear and played the snowboard. It was amazing although I felt sore and ache all over the next day. Hope there will be a snow shower in Lancaster, like last year.

Lent Term – Blog 1

So the end of last term was quite a bit different than normal, due to the flooding University ended a week early and I didn’t end up doing a final blog for the term! That being said I hope everyone had a lovely relaxing break and Happy New year to you all.

 

2016. The year of graduation. Scary. When midnight struck and 2016 started, it finally dawned on me that this really was my final year at Lancaster and, to be honest with you, I am gutted. I absolutely love it here in Lancaster; the place, the Uni, the people, everything has been amazing. I was very unsure about coming to University at all in sixth form but I decided to visit a few places and, I’m sure I’ve said this before, but as soon as I visited Lancaster I knew it was the place for me. Things can be tough at University, not just the work but living the independent life, doing many new things can be really challenging, but it’s worth it. I’m really proud of the person I’ve become and I can only thank Lancaster for the amazing time I’ve had, but it’s not quite over yet!

 

Lent term for me means three new modules to learn and get to grips with but also not to forget about last term either. It’s important to remember that in Summer Term you are examined, normally, on every module you’ve taken so it’s important not to neglect any. I have a timetable for this term, geeky I know, which ensures I’m still fitting time in to keep working on questions and sections from my Michaelmas Term modules. I think this is necessary as if you have any questions it’s much easier to speak to your lectures now than via email over the Easter break or in a rush during those last few weeks before exam season!

 

Lectures and seminars are vital to attend but just as important is your own self-study, especially at the start of a term.  There are always extra things to read and questions to try to improve your understanding and these are really important. They help to check that you truly understand the subject matter and can help you clarify exactly what you need to work on and the questions you need to ask. It’s really not helpful to leave all the reading and exercises till week 10, realise you don’t get it and then not have time to sit down with your lecturer and understand fully.

 

Notes are something that I find useful, but other people don’t. It’s really important to truly understand the type of learner that you are so you can maximise what you get out of your studying. There are loads of quizzes online that can help or just how you pick things up quickest can tell you how you learn best. It really doesn’t matter if someone has books full of notes and you have a few pages of mind maps- whatever works for you is the answer. You also need to really understand your subject material, it’s not just about memorising the lectures notes and then regurgitating then in an exam. It’s fine to really learn the facts, but if you can’t apply them to an exam answer you may find yourself in a panic during a test and that isn’t a good thing.

 

Later in the term I will begin to talk in detail about the dreaded word (exams) but for now I just wanted to mention that you shouldn’t forget about them. You will, most likely, have a number of exams in Summer Term and if you keep your focus weekly on truly learning something so you could write about it/calculate it in the exam, then you will set yourself in good stead when it comes to revision. Also, if you understand and work through it now, there will be a lot less worry on your mind when approaching revision and it’ll be a lot easier to go over those tough sections and really understand the key points before the final exam.

 

Now, a little bit about something else: Refresher’s fair is coming up in week 2 and I would suggest everyone should go! I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again now, everyone should join a society/do something fun/something they enjoy as it is a great break from work and, if you have something to look forward to on an evening, it becomes a lot easier to do work, knowing you will be up to something fun later on. There are plenty of different activities to do and there is something for everyone, so hopefully you’ll find a really great society and make some awesome friends at the same time – win win!

 

Well it’s great to be back, thanks again for reading my ramblings and I hope you have a wonderful week!! Hope the start of term has been great, Jen J