Impressions and culture shock.

Henrik Lyngås

The first thing I noticed about England was the hot dogs when i arrived hungry at Stansted. They looked strange compared to the ones I'm used to, but tasted nice. I was offered mayonnaise which seems to be the standard instead of ketchup, strangely enough. Secondly driving on the left side of the road was pretty scary the first time. It felt like I was about to crash all the way from Stansted to University. Arriving quite late I just managed to get my key card before the offices closed and got my bags locked up in my room. Next step was meeting lots of new people in the squares and eventually my friend that I knew from before took me to sub-zero. I first met a couple of my roommates at 3 am the first night when I came back to the flat, luckily they didn't mind some noise..  The rest of freshers’ week was awesome; I met lots of cool people and had a great time. The impression freshers left on me about Essex university and the students in general was very good, everyone were nice and friendly, and I feel like this will be a good place to study. I feel like I've been really lucky with my flatmates as well since they're all great people.  Academics have also been good; I find the subjects interesting and teaching methods effective.

First Impressions & Educational Culture Shock

My arrival to university was on 28^th of October, I was bare nervous, didn't know what to expect. I remember when my mum gave me a cuddle and kiss and left me, I came into my room, holding back the tears and I kept telling myself to man up (even though am a woman) lol! I went to kitchen and made myself some pot noodles and met my flat mates, you could tell with our faces we were terrified. But we began speaking and asking each other questions, you know the typical questions fresher’s ask each other, such as: Where you from? What you studying? Blah blah blah….. I was pleased that they were all nice and chilled out people. My imitations about fresher’s week was so different from its reality, it was one crazy and  boisterous week. If you went to fresher’s week and attended all the events, then you know what I mean. Lol!

In my own personal opinion, student life became a reality on week 3 when we had lectures and when I realised I needed to cut down on my spending also time management. Student life for me seems to be exactly how my friends and I perceived it to be, for example: budgeting, going out and also getting smashed.

As much as I hate to say it my teachers were so right and am happy they tried their best to equip us for university. I mean it’s so different from A- levels, lecturers are called by their first name, you ought to complete all you’re assignments and had them in on time, no lecturer hands out notes, so you have to keep up with them when they are speaking and use Moodle. Here no one checks up if you’re revising or not, basically you choose your own pathway in life, suggesting you’re a full grown adult. Which is a bit scary, but you do learn with time.

Tracy M 

first impressions (& educational culture shock) - Priscilla (｡･ω･)ﾉ

finally, I could get this blog working ( ^ v ^ )

here's my blog entry on my first impression on this university and the culture

After two weeks of studying at the University of Essex, I have mixed feelings towards the UK culture and the academic environment. I would like to start sharing about it by talking about the people here, followed by my thoughts on the food, and the academic environment here.

My thoughts towards the people in UK or rather students in this school could be summed up in four words: Loud, drinking, clubbing and undisciplined. I know it is not a very positive image but it seems that most students here, particularly western students seem to love clubs. In Fresher’s week I had such a hard time trying to sleep every single night because my flat mates were so loud after a night of clubbing and drinking. Most of the other students and student support crew from the school told me it was just a Fresher’s thing; however the clubbing activity every night seems to still go on today. There is just something out there every night. And in every club outing, being loud and drunk seems to come hand in hand with the word clubbing.

I have been dragged to the club twice by my new friends, and I did not enjoy a moment of it. The lights were changing colour so fast I got dizzy. The music was so loud I had to shout to talk to the person next to me and still could not make out half of what is being said. The majority of drinks served is alcoholic and were ridiculously overpriced. I still do not understand why people would still be crazed over clubbing after spending 30 pounds a night. Along with some crazy nights like the foam party where people get drenched going back to their rooms in the middle of a cold freezing night. Though I don’t understand any of it, I suppose it is part of the UK culture and main form of entertainment.

The place I came from is a busy city, Hong Kong never goes to sleep, yet I have never seen so much music and clubbing before. It is hard to get used to. Especially since most of the new friends I made were pulling me to the club when I did not even want to go. I got used to lazing in my room with bright lights outside my window at night, so spending the night outside with lots of people in a loud room was definitely outside my comfort zone. Also the main entertainment for us would either be shopping, sports or electronic games, clubbing and staying up all night with friends is considered a rare thing to do and almost never happens unless we are on a school outing trip.

The local students here also seem to lack discipline, not in terms of school rules, after 15 years of disciplined education, they are better than most teenagers from other countries. However, when it comes to day to day, taking care of yourself kind of discipline, UK students did not give me a very good impression. They never fail to keep the kitchen messy with sauces and food all over the floor, table and counter tops. Though most people in Hong Kong do not act much different I do think students need much improvement at taking care of themselves and staying tidy.

That being said, I do find the people here to be really kind and nice, though not all people, the majority of them are willing to help out and accept foreign students. It was nice to have friends to teach you the different currency, the food, how does the buses and trains work, and even how to use the self service. I would imagine it to be so hard if I had to figure all of that out on my own. Compared to where I came from, I would definitely say the people here are a lot kinder and more willing to lend a helping hand. If I was back home, I would probably end up trying to figure things out on my own slowly from embarrassing moments.

With the people out of the way, the next is food. Before I came, I was so excited about the food since this lecturer who came in my high school months ago told me be careful of putting on 15 pounds since all the kids she knew that went to the UK to study came back gaining wait from eating too much fish and chips, pies and so on. It was not until I came and lived with local people that I knew fish and chips, pies, and pizzas were pretty much the only thing they could cook, and take-always is all over the place. No matter who, eating food like that every day would make you fat. These are not the main stream food in china, we eat rice and vegetables most of the time, and we cook it from scratch generally, so it is unusual to see rows and stacks of ready-made frozen meals in Tesco and the SU shop.

The food was not tasty either. I tried the well-known English breakfast and with the sole exception of the scrambled eggs I did not like the rest of it, especially the sausages, never want to eat those again. Pork pies, a traditional food my flat mates introduced me were terrible, well they did give me ready-made ones that came in little packets though, maybe the original would taste better? Good thing I could cook to avoid the food here. The only thing I liked was tea, early grey sure taste good with milk and sugar in it.I lived in a place where the food was great. There are so many different types of food within a 15 minute walking distance from your home, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French. You name it, it is all there! I kind of miss having all those foods just there on the table, now I have to cook it myself to be able to eat a decent meal.

Another thing with a cooked proper meal is they cost so much. For fried rice in the top bar, it cost around 4 pounds; I could make the same thing in the kitchen for less than 35p. it does not taste all that good either. I am guessing because most UK students, at least the ones I know so far, cannot cook, they would still pay the 3 pound premium to get a proper meal. Where I came from the food does not cost a lot, in fact it is almost half the price it is here in the UK. Opening restaurants sure is good business here.

For the academic environment, there is not very much to say as Hong Kong was once a colony of England, the education system is adapted from the UK, though it has changed though out the past 15 years, most of the education structure remains similar. It is also a very international city, so I am used to seeing and studying with people from different countries across the world.

Not directly tied to education, I do find studying in the middle of a park quite usual as I came from a city. Facing the trees and grass half of the time does scare me quite a bit, simply because I am not used to it. Living in the city also means facing technology all the times, and to me Colchester as a whole just seems like I am living on earth 30 years ago, though it seems like I am the only one thinking like that.

In conclusion, the University of Essex is a new challenge to me in many ways, especially in getting used to the lifestyle here. I hope I would be able to get to know my way around the UK culture better and maybe learn to enjoy British food and entertainment one day.

Priscilla (＾∇＾)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS & EDUCATIONAL CULTURE SHOCK

Coming from an accredited international school in Ghana there is not much of an educational shock, however with respect to the teaching methods in Ghana as compared to that of the methods used here in the United Kingdom the is a great difference which I feel has helped me gain some independence.

In Ghana for instance all assignments were hand written and personally handed to the teachers or their assistants. Teachers were more than ready to “chase” you around for their work. Spoon-feeding was another thing that was very common in my school. This took away our freedom in the sense that I lacked some sort of independence. As a result of this I did not really understand fully the importance of firstly independence and secondly time management. The two work hand in hand.  In order to know how to manage your time you need to know how to manage yourself in other words gain independence.

As I walked into my room for the first time I literally wanted to die but in the long run I realized that everything just takes getting used and I must admit I actually really like the school and at this point I cant imagine myself in any other university. Its like home away from home now except the food is different and in this country they don’t cook with salt or spices. I’m more than lucky to have this opportunity because really not everybody will get this chance.

This experience is indeed very different from what I had known and seen back home because the foreigners back home had cultures that had been diluted as a result of the fact that the had embraced the Ghanaian culture and included parts of culture which served as beneficial to them.

I feel that life is really about appreciating the different cultures and embracing parts of that culture, this will help you grow and come to understand that this will create unity and peace and you cannot do all of this until you have lived in a multi-cultural society. This experience is doing that for me.

 FOLASADE KHADIJATU ALI 

                                   FIRST IMPRESSION                                                                                                                                   uhmm well i really dont know where to start from...i came late missed the whole fun freshers week and stuff but its all good tho.. well when i got here it was hard for me to locate the late registration place i got directed by some guy he was really nice and friendly i was happy -______- anyways back to my story uhmm i did the registration thing and went for my key..i was impressed by the card i expected like a normal key. i got to my room and i found this really small thing which was my bed :( i was disappointed abit but the room was cozzy and my kitchen wooow! bee-utiful serzli its really big and so clean u could sleep on the floor :D luckily i share it with one person and its really cool
 First day to go to class was really messed up i didnt know where i was..i was LOST. i was lucky to remember to find my way back to my room...when it comes to like knowing places i suck..well i found some girl and she took me to the information centre and she took me to the class..yh she ws really nice
when i got into class they were like really new faces and i was lost again i dunno why -_- ...my lectures or teachers i dunno what to call them lol they were really nice yhh and i was surprised at their niceness it was weird to me and its still weird now...Like the way they interact with us it's cool its kinda hard to find such in schools in Nigeria...Well i expect to have a nice time here and yhh University of Essex is a really nice school i'm glad i'm here..

             FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND EDUCATIONAL CULTURE SHOCK

          On the very first day i got to my department,i was directed to the registry and i was amazed at the warm welcome by the staff.They were very polite in answering my questions and also gave me directory on what and how to go about finding my lecture rooms.I was delighted to note that the technological advancement here,is very high in terms of academics.It was quite suprising to discover that the lecturers like being addressed by their first names instead of their titles such as Prof.,Dr. etc.The lecturer/student relationship is mutual and cordial in the sense that the lecturers willingly follow up a student academically after a lecture by giving them guidelines and moodles to read for further understanding of that lecture after the student expressed his feelings that he/she did not quite understand the lecture.I also noticed that students hardly greet and may or not return your greeting if you did so.The lecturers and students are time conscious,therefore,keep to time for lectures.The students here,have respect for one anothers rights and opinions.
         In contrast,some members of staff of a college in my country,Nigeria are not corporative and polite.The lecturers like to be addressed by their titles such as Prof.,Dr.etc.The technological literacy in a college in my country is not measurable to that in my school here.In some cases,the lecturer/student relationship is not quite mutual and cordial in the sense that some lecturers are unwilling to follow up a student academically  after lectures.The students greet elderly ones and  their fellow students and also return greetings.The lecturers/students are not quite time conscious.

First Impression

University of Essex hmmm, felt good that I was going to university. The first day I got here I had to go get my accommodation stuff ready. After doing that I was really quite hungry so I went down to get something to eat but there were a lot of people there at the squares and I was happy about that I thought I was going to be boring for and then random people start coming to me asking for my name and stuff about me. So later on that day I met a friend at my flat a good lad if I my say so. Later everyone gathered at Dan’s room.

  Then left after a few hours I went to my room and was thinking of school and how i was going to get on with the people I was meeting. My room is quiet small which I’m not altogether comfortable with but I can deal with it. Then the kitchen in my flat is allows a mess and it still get messy sometime maybe every time LOL.

 My first day at class was not that bad although had serious trouble trying to locate where the seminar was situated. But thanks to the information centre I found my way to the seminar in time.

I have a problem a lot of new students might come across. I CANT COOK!!!!!!!!!

I mean don’t get me wrong, I can cook bread, cereal, tined corned beef you know the usual. I absolutely hate baked beans. Baked beans to me are like light to a bat.

How could you like this!?

Personally I feel like I am a very athletic guy. This is why I signed up many sporting societies. They include the likes of football, basketball, athletics and American football. I didn’t get accepted into anyL, joke I didJ.

In conclusion I’m enjoying the start of this academic year. All my flatmates are good lads, my accommodation is decent although the kitchen is always messy, the lectures/classes/seminars have been great so far and I’m looking forward to the future.

P.S. I CAN COOK REALLY WELL I THINKJ.

Olorunsaiye Kayode.

FIRST IMPRESSION

NEW SCHOOL , NEW FRIENDS AND NEW TEACHERS !!!!

           

     I thought to myself  i would be leaving my country for a long time . This was not the usual travel for holidays . This was quite different , going to a new environment, living with people from different ethnic background . Even though i had a few  relatives in London i haven’t seen them in years so i thought to myself  lets see how things go.

     On my arrival in London i was picked up by my aunt who lives in East Croydon ,on the  drive home , i couldn't help but notice that they had tiny houses and a lot of trees and parks . i though to myself was this the  London i  always heard about ,i kind of expected more.

 When i got school ,tried to settle in , got my stuff unpacked , got ready to do my registration  .. this was going 2 be a long term i thought ...tried to make friends ..get to know my flatmates .... one thing i really  noticed in our flat was the kitchen........quite a mess.

      For most people ,it was quite obvious , they just left home for the first time , some had their parents helping them to settle down .they had to adjust to the system, be independent, plan their budget , learning how to cook.etc .For me it was freedom, i had grown up in a boarding school , so being away from home was nothing new  the only thing new this time was the distance  .

          Another  thing which was quite different from my old school was the fair. We never had fairs . This was my first freshers fair and i noticed  people gave away free stuffs to kind of “bribe” you to signup for society and groups .

It took me a while to the landscape . I cant deny most times i got lost , thank God for the maps ...

      After a week or two in this technology jungle, i got use to the system . i didn’t feel lonely , felt confident and reassured that  could make it through the term .i tried to never  be late for class .the zero tolerence still got me going crazy ..with time i would adjust..........the journey has began...

Temiloluwa Salako

Xoxo

        

BLOG 1 – FIRST IMPRESSIONS (& EDUCATIONAL CULTURE SHOCK)

The subject of our first blog is first impressions (& educational culture shock). Please take time to think about what differences you have noticed between the academic environment here at Essex University at the environment of the school or college etc. where you have just come from. Please plan your thoughts in Word first so you can check you spelling, grammar, punctuation, style etc. before posting. Please feel free to make (respectful and thoughtful) comments on others’ posts. These posts can only be read by myself and the other students in your academic skills class. N.B. Please refrain from insulting or offensive language. I will have to remove it and it may constitute an academic offence.