Happy Easter Season to everyone…
I’m simply fulfilling my promise to talk about the 3C’s as mentioned in my last post and which I ‘found’ a bit fascinating on my arrival at Surrey and they are…
The Cold…
It’s not news that a country like the UK is cold. I have come to the UK for conferences and stayed for a couple of days and didn’t think much of the cold but living and schooling here is a different ball game altogether. Waking up every morning – not knowing whether it would rain, snow or be sunny is one thing… the other thing is the huge struggle to get out of bed as I’d rather have classes under the duvet all cuddled up in one small bundle (lol). What do you think of this picture when the temperature is like 0 or -1 degree?
But we know it’s not possible, right? You have to attend classes and the earliest class starts at 8am and others by 9am. My classes starts by 9am but we often have business breakfast meetings (very rarely though) which starts by 8am.
There’s no point wishing it away, the cold is here to stay…luckily we are not in Canada but we are definitely NOT in Nigeria soooo….
At some point, I even got angry with the inability to show off some of my nice tops or wear some of my lovely dresses I brought from Nigeria because I had to be properly covered from head to toe to avoid exposure to the cold. Well, I got to understand that my health (staying clear of cold or catarrh) was more important than my so-called fashion/wardrobe show-off so I chilled…
But you know it’s even beyond the cold. When winter was officially ‘launched’ (for want of a better word), the time changed and by 4pm, it was dark – just like it was 7pm. That in itself was depressing. Luckily I had heard that this happens at a particular time of the year so I guess I was a little prepared for it. My small talk concerning the cold and weather is to understand that it’s part of the journey and a feature in the studying abroad story…
Coffee…
Hmmmh, you know it sounded strange to me when lecturers gave us some minutes break – say 10 to 15minutes to stretch and told us to go for a coffee. This usually happens once in between the 3 and 1/2 hours of morning or afternoon lectures. (Note that this long stretch of hours is not the usual for undergraduate and probably some postgraduate programs but remember I’m running the MBA program and this is what happens).
I understood the need to stretch in between the sessions but to go and get Coffee? Initially, I felt that it was just a fad when you see people holding paper cups with coffee and chatting away. I later realised that it was a life-saver not only to stay warm but also to stay awake in class! This was the hangout spot for our short breaks…
I got this message and went overboard by getting a hot flask, (I brought this from Nigeria by the way) and made my coffee which stayed hotter for a longer period. The rationale behind my hot flask though was besides my coffee staying hot for a longer period. I did a quick math and calculated how much would be spent on coffee at the end of the month. If a cup goes for 1pound 20pence and you have 2 cups (at the least) per day and you had this for 5 days and then for 4 weeks in a month…how much do you think you would have spent? I’d leave that to you….So even though I recommend coffee, please be smart with your spending as well.
…& Classes
Classes for me have been fair and fun. I made a personal decision not to miss classes except for ‘extenuating’ circumstances. You would hear this word ‘extenuating’ quite a lot once on campus. Although like I mentioned in an earlier post, my best times are usually at the library (didn’t mention the library though)… but the assessment week is where you have a 1 week break for personal studies and revision which could be done in the library or your personal study space probably your room. As much as I liked my private studies, I told myself that attending classes was non-negotiable otherwise I would have registered for an online program. So as long as ‘you’ did not register for an online program and you’re on Campus, you must attend classes. Yes? YES…
What about Class engagement and Participation? Well that is another topic altogether…I’d probably talk about that in my next blog post. Please look out for it…
