Hello everybody and welcome back to my blog.
Today I am going to write very briefly about the last week of December here in Guildford.
As you may know, it’s Christmas day in two days time on Friday 25th of December. The University feels empty and quiet at the moment since most of the students have gone home to spend the Christmas day with their families. Very few students, mostly international students are staying on campus.
Although the campus feels a bit quite compare to the rest of the academic year, the town in opposite is very busy. Everybody is doing the last minute shopping for food and presents. Only from tomorrow evening, all the shop will be closed at 6 pm and reopen again on Boxing Day that is on Saturday 26th of Dec. Just to clarify Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and some other countries. Boxing Day originated in England in the middle of the nineteenth century under Queen Victoria. For years in which the holiday falls on a weekend, the celebration is moved to make sure workers still get a day off. In the UK, it’s classified as a Bank Holiday. But more recently Boxing Day is becoming a shipping day because almost all the retail shops offer a very good discount to their customers, so most people wake up early on the day to go shopping and get the most of the bargain. I just stay home and watch TV ;). So for a day and a half, there is literally nothing to do neither in town or campus, I would suggest you plan to spend these two days somewhere else rather than the campus.
I have checked the library’s closing time for those of you who are very keen on studying. They will close from tomorrow 24th of Dec at 8 pm and reopen again on 27th of Dec from 8 am – 11 pm. Surprisingly they are even open on 31 of Dec day and 1st and 2nd of January when everywhere else is closed apart from few restaurants in town. During these two weeks the library is very quiet, so it is the best time to revise and make the most of the peace, from 4th of January all the students will be back to prepare for the exams and so it will be packed and busy.
Ok, I am going to wrap up and continue with my Christmas shopping.
Have a good Christmas from all here in International Office:)
