—>Back to university<—
Hey guys,
I apologise for not being active lately with Christmas, exams and reading week I got caught up with work and travelling. But, I am back and I will be blogging weekly from now on, promise it won’t happen again. Therefore, I thought I’d be a good idea to run you through these past 2 months from one semester to the next. So the year ended with me back at home (Cyprus) to spend Christmas with my family (at this point i would strongly advice you to book your flights for the holidays from early on so you don’t end up in the same position as me, of having to pay 200€ for a one way ticket). After that I spent the first week of the new year in Austria with my boyfriend’s family snowboarding. As you can imagine, I was back in England now having done absolutely no revision at all for my upcoming exams. However, there is still over a week to go before the examination period starts and this is why i love Surrey, because even when you do not study over the Christmas break (which I do not recommend) there is still time for endless days in the library, when you get back from your holidays and to me that means getting the best of both worlds. After an intensive January, Surrey can offer you a week off which we like to call “Reading week” because then you can enjoy your own personal reading and if you wish to, start reading the material for next semester. This week is an opportunity to recharge, explore England or maybe even go back home shortly so you can come back ready to tackle whatever semester 2 has to throw at you. Personally, I spent a lot of my reading week on a train travelling around and I must admit that if it wasn’t for my (Railcard) I would have been broke for the rest of the month. (Purchasing a railcard removes a 1/3 of the rail fares on every journey, making a 40 minute train to London only cost 8 pounds. It is for those aged 16 to 25 and it costs £30 for a whole year. However, if you open a student bank account with “Santander”, our bank on campus you receive it for free and do not need to spend £30. https://www.railcard.co.uk/) This year round, over my reading week, I got to visit my best friend in Brighton, my boyfriend in Nottingham and my flatmates in Southampton which from there we took the ferry to the New Forest National Park for a peaceful day full of trees and animals. All three cities are well worth visiting as Brighton will mesmerise you with its sunsets over the Brighton pier and the unique shops in the lanes. Nottingham, the place of Robin Hood as people like to call it, will offer you a variety of things to do and see such as the “Castle Rock”, a good nightlife and shopping. Finally, this was the first time for me in Southampton and I was amazed by the sea which i had missed, the nature at the New Forest and a brand new block of restaurants, where i had the chance of eating at “The Real Greek” an authentic greek restaurant which made me feel like I was back at home for the night. Now, after a lovely week off, the second semester has officially started and it feels odd to be back in lectures awaiting for the exam results which come out on the 23rd of February. A piece of information: results both when it comes to exams and assignments usually take up to three weeks to come out.
At last, its crazy to think that there is only 10 weeks left before second year comes to an end and I, along with most of my psychology course go on placement. A placement year is a year in the industry which takes place in the third year of your studies, Surrey’s placement programme is one of the largest in the world, with over 2,300 partners in the UK and overseas. The process of securing a placement can be very hectic but, don’t worry the university has taken care of any problems you might face in this journey: there is an online applicant portal full of placement adverts across the U.K made available to you, advice on your CV and cover letter at the students services and the freedom to find your own placement if you wish to. So, do not stress, as long as you keep checking on the placement portal, drafting you CV and cover letter and reaching out and sending your application to different places, everything will turn out just fine.
This week’s tip:
Book your flights for Easter from now, stay on top of things, be organised and take advantage of the opportunities available to you (railcard).
Again do not hesitate to comment/email us with any questions!
Till next time. Take care!
Stay tuned!!!
…next week sports and physical health at Surrey: “Mens sana in corpore sano”-Socrates (Healthy mind, healthy body)
Heres a picture from my reading week of the New Forest National Park in Southampton:
