Of Homework and Exam !

 Sheffield Hallam University (SHU)... Breathing the air in its compound you'll feel smarter already LOL! I love study life, I'm sure of it because I had a short working life right before my Advanced Diploma and although the company and colleagues are good, working life doesn't have as much freedom as study life. So bounded with the working hours you'll have not much time left for your own. That's why from Advanced Diploma onwards, I appreciate my study life to the max, explore as many as I can, travel to as many places as possible and earn some extra pocket money along the way. 

We were so jakun when we saw our attendance list has our face photos in it! "So advanced leh!" It's hilarious when the tutor tried to read out our names but they turned out as something like Foong Foong and Har Har. I'm sure I didn't messed up my last name and first name, or did I?

I hate Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to be frank, the syllabus was hard and most of the things were in codes rather than words which can be easier to understand. Studying in the UK is totally different than in Malaysia, where most of the info are spoon-fed to us. Tutors in the UK required us to do our own research to look for info, do analysis and produce the result or report. We were not used to it, but it is sad to say that this kind of method is the right method. 

Engineering Product Design required us to produce engineering drawings, and a drawing like the one below can take us about 2-3 hours to complete. Every parts and components drawn with utmost precision and detailed calculation. Thanks to the comprehensive self-research, I can now design a hoist and a double wishbone front suspension for a car! 

Luckily we only have Concurrent Engineering subject in our final exam. More on theory than calculation, my favourite! Stocked up some energy drinks (hear: Monster) and Starbucks' instant latte from the nearby Sainsbury and let the burn of midnight oil begin! It was the last exam in my life so I decided to give it all out! Thankfully I didn't fail the subject or else I'll have to sit for it again in Malaysia!

Here's our last day in SHU! Feeling sad and happy at the same time. Sad because that's the end of our study life and it's time to leave Sheffield, but happy because our vacation begins at that instance!

It was hard to leave a place as beautiful as Sheffield after staying there for 3 months. We purposely took a night walk around the city, to enjoy one last night view of the city before we embark on another journey...

NEXT - Europe Trip: Belgium!

Of More Exploration and Classes !

Sitting on the grass is a typical activity in the UK. The soil beneath the grass is not moist or muddy at all, perhaps it's the dry atmosphere and low rain volume helped to create the beautifully grown grass.  Speaking about the atmosphere, the air in the UK is dryer than in Malaysia, that's why people recommended us to bring along lip balm and face moisturiser over there to avoid skin crack. My skin was not used to the air at first, but gradually get used to it after the first month.

My first class in SHU - CAE! Taught by an Indian lecturer who constantly say 'Quid' instead of 'Pound'. The other two subjects I had were Engineering Product Design and Concurrent Engineering. 

No far from Owen Building, a building where most of our classes were held in, there was a mobile coffee stall called 'Motore Cafe'. It was popular among the students of SHU, as it sells coffee ranging from cappuccino to espresso at reasonable price (1 Pound plus)!

There was also an ice-cream truck nearby Owen Building. I love eating cold food or desserts in cold weather! 

It's time to explore out of our comfort zone... Up North of Trigon and SHU are Castle Market and High Street. Supertram is one of the trains available in the UK, however I didn't had a ride in it due to its expensive fee for short distance. The bus service in Sheffield is good and punctual enough to travel anywhere within Sheffield or even to further places! Free Bee buses were also available for free to the public to travel around Sheffield, and yeah, we had plenty of ride in it because it was so convenient!

Primark is available all over of UK, to us it felt like Jusco in our country. If you want to look for affordable clothes, this is the place to pay a visit! The cheapest T-shirt we spotted was 3 Pounds, that's equivalent to RM15! You can barely find an adult-sized T-shirt at RM15 in Malaysia's shopping mall now.

Castle Market, ah... my favourite place to get fresh fruits and cooking ingredients. Affordable pricing for vegetables, fruits, meat and egg. Super cheap chocolates! 1 Pound for 3 renowned chocolate bars! But beware of the expiring date, some are pretty close to your day of purchase! After our departure from Sheffield, a new market located in The Moor has opened. Not sure Castle Market is still open or has moved to The Moor Market though. 

This is the famous London Black Cab, but you can find it in almost everywhere. Its design might be obsolete, but it is a signature of the UK, or should I say an essential part of the UK like the Tower Bridge in London.

Down South is the Sheffield United Football Club Stadium, the oldest stadium in the world that is still holding football matches. As the home of Sheffield United, we had a chance to enter the stadium (no match happening at that moment) when the briefing on Europe Trip by Tong Hang Tour was held there. During our period of stay in Sheffield, there was a match in SUFC Stadium (forgot who versus who, it's unfortunate that I'm not a football fan) where tickets were sold at 10-20 Pounds.

P.S. My small luggage is found and couriered to me FOC about 1 week later... It helped to complete my collection of Cintan mee and biscuits!

NEXT - Garden, garden and more GARDEN!

Simon the Explorer & Orientation Day !

 Above is my room after the bed was made. Let the window ajar and the cold breeze will sip into the room! Eventhough it was summertime, it is still considered cold for many Asians like me. I wish Malaysia's temperature is half as comfy as this! To our surprise, the sky became dark only after 9pm, and it brightened up around 5am. Not sure it's because of jet lag or some other reasons, me and my friends were up at 6am on the second day and unable to fall asleep again! We ended up making a Facebook chat group named 'Sheffield Zou San' (In Cantonese it means 'Good Morning Sheffield'). 

We went out for grocery shopping on the second day to stock up some food for cooking later on. Oriental shops can be found in Sheffield, but price wise... It is wiser to bring over some food seasoner such as soy sauce and chilli sauce from Malaysia if you are here for a long stay. Chilli sauce, a must have in every household in Malaysia, was hard to source for in the UK. Even if u found it, it will costs more than 2 Pounds, a bomb compared to Malaysia.

One of our favourite retail stores - Poundland. As its name suggests, everything sold in Poundland costs only 1 Pound! This includes my all-time favourite 3 bars of Crunchy @ 1 Pound (equivalent to RM5, while Malaysia can only get 1 bar @ RM3), 3 packets of Kinder Bueno @ 1 Pound and even some toiletries!

Here is where our food supply mainly came from - Aldi! Not to be confused with Audi, which has the same pronounciation, Aldi sells refrigerated food and drinks at pretty affordable price, a boon for students staying nearby it. LOVE buying frozen fish fillets & chips here, 2.50 Pounds for 4 frozen fish fillet! Good for 4 meals! The cash-out counter here was super duper fast! The cashier will finish scanning your items before you can dig out the right amount of money to pay for it! That's why we preferred to use debit card when shopping in Aldi! Faster payment and no need to bring out so many cash too!

At the end of the day, this is the masterpiece my house mates created, our first home-cooked meal in Sheffield (BEWARE: Chips will make an appearance in almost every meal photo here in the future!):

Situated in the heart of Sheffield is the Sheffield Town Hall. A huge, beautiful opening space with mini fountains for the kids to play with. Many people will sit (or even lean) on the grass during lunchtime, enjoying the sight and summer's sun.

As a car enthusiast, I enjoyed watching European cars and also some unfamiliar brands such as Vauxhall and Skoda roaming the streets of Sheffield.

Our very own Proton Satria was spotted too!

On my first Monday in the UK, it was the orientation day where students get to explore the precinct of Sheffield Hallam University (SHU). Well, it's not exactly what I'd call a compound but rather clusters of SHU buildings all over the Sheffield city. 

We were sitted in a lecture hall, comprises of students from various programmes. Other international students were having their summer holiday, thus we were a little disappointed since some of us were expecting to get to mingle around students from other countries, to learn more on their culture or perhaps get their another halves, if you know what I mean!

Group pic before the orientation programme starts!

NEXT UP - Classes & more exploration!