Hi everyone, I’m back with another blog and more fun topics to discuss! To continue from my Welcome to Surrey post, I will be focusing this post on the social activities and providing more details about my course, Aerospace Engineering, as well as make you aware of all the on-campus study spaces available at the university. The social aspect I will be covering includes clubbing, social spaces on campus and events that you can attend while at the university to meet new friends and have fun.

The course, Aerospace Engineering, is common to the other MES courses in the first year, those courses include Automotive, Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering. This means that at the end of the first year, you will be able to move to any of those courses having completed the year successfully. In the first year, you will be covering mathematics, solid mechanics, dynamics, material science and computer-aided design (CAD) among other modules. These skills are the basics required for the remainder of your university studies in this department.

I found the first year difficult, and despite it being the least academically challenging year, I got the worst mark for it (58%). This performance was due to me dealing with homesickness, anxiety, and depression at the time – leading to me not absorbing information well and over-procrastinating. Part of why I am writing this blog is to make students aware of this and all the support systems available to help prospective and current students with this issue, such as the homesickness leaflet, which explains all the methods by which you can help yourself when dealing with homesickness. More information can be found on the MySurrey website, which you can access with your university credentials.

Since the first year is shared across the modules, you will be able to find friends from all the MES courses, with which you will have the chance to socialise. There are several social study spaces at Surrey, like the 4^th floor in the library, which is a group study area, likewise, there is the Hive, the Nest and Spark. All are new spaces available 24 hours 7 days a week to study in. The social spaces in Surrey include the common room under the library, which has a public microwave, the Hideout, which is a coffee shop at the far end of the campus, Hillside restaurant, which includes a social area, Wates pub and the Marquee. You can decide to hang out with your friends at these places, however, Town Centre is just a 10-minute walk away from campus, where you will find pubs, bars, cafes, and shops.

I prefer studying on the 4^th floor of the library because I feel like I can focus there. Others prefer the silent study spaces that can be found on the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 5^th floors, where you are not allowed to make any noise at all. My course is very demanding, and so a lot of the time I spend is studying, revising content for next week or working on the group project, which this year is going to an IMechE university competition. On the Aerospace Engineering course, you have the chance to apply the knowledge you gained to build a fully autonomous RC plane – which is my project this year. Also, I would recommend anyone interested in space systems or satellite technology to take this course, as there is the option to take space-related modules that are extremely interesting (coming from a space nerd).

In other words, I am happy with my decision, as, in the end, I went with my gut. I hope that the course that you choose will be the one you are satisfied with, however, even if you realise that the course you chose isn’t for you, you always have the option to discuss this with your personal tutor (a member of staff assigned to you to confide in/ask for help) and have the opportunity to change. Another option for prospective students is to take a Foundation year. This year covers the basics of the department that you chose and will give you a basic introduction to what you will be learning at the university. You can find more information about my course by clicking the following link:

https://www.surrey.ac.uk/undergraduate/aerospace-engineering

Thank you for reading this! I hope that your journey at Surrey University will be enjoyable and eventful! If you haven’t seen the university yet, I would suggest attending the Open Day and flying in to see the university. My next post will be focusing on the societies and sports clubs that you can find at the university, the activities and events that are organised by the University and Surrey Students’ Union. Good luck!