Happy New Year!!!

A Happy New Year!!! It’s been a while since my last post…I have a lot to write about. But before talking about my fantastic New Year at home, I’ll briefly look back my first undergraduate semester.

In short, it was a challenging and fast-running time for me. This is my second autumn term at Stirling but the same 3 months past absolutely faster this year or at least I felt so. I started my major degree Journalism and Politics and Law as minor modules. It was a lot of reading to catch up all the modules but especially Journalism! I think this was the least covered area in the ISC and also the least knowledge I had among the others (this doesn’t mean I haven’t done anything before I start the degree!).

Anyways, what I noticed was the diversity of the backgrounds of the students in the seminar. There are some students seem to have studied the faculty before or even worked somewhere before and not all the students were at the same age. At the beginning I was sort of intimidated by the confident looking students (just to avoid misleading, this is how it looked to me personally) and this made it difficult for me to speak up in the seminar.

To be honest, I thought I put all my effort to this module throughout the semester to achieve my best but the turnout didn’t always reflect it. Because of that now I feel even more motivated and positive about next semester! It is always those difficult and challenging situations that make me tougher and smarter. The thing is that I let myself do the best I could do at that time and with that little step up, now I can go to the next level to get closer to my dream. I’m not fallen yet!

So I came home and what had been waiting for me was this lovely New Year. Japanese style is you prepare many New Year’s dishes in small portion and set all of them beautifully in the special box which usually has three levels. The food we had included chestnut paste, black beans, fish meat, omelette, white radish and carrot pickles and so on. It’s different in each family and that’s why you miss your own family’s taste! You can also buy a decent New Year’s box from stores but obviously the best is home-made ones. Nothing can be compared!

We also have a bowl of soup called Ozoni with rice cake. This is also fun because the making of the stock has its originality not only in that family but also the region as well. I noticed this when I moved around the country. To carry on this very Japanese talk, 2010 is the year of tiger and this is my year. So I wish I’ll have the greatest time ever with all the people I’m connected, to meet new amazing people, also to do well in my study life and finally the same will come true to you too.

Again A Very Happy New Year everyone Let’s enjoy this to create more joys and happiness to everyone everywhere in the world.

Who cares about a university certificate?

After successfully completing the Undergraduate Certificate at the ISC, I’m now officially an undergraduate student!

Just after I settled things, I came along to this lecture event where we had a Zimbabwean journalist as a guest. He is a Zimbabwean journalist as well as the editor and founder of the country’s most circulated newspaper. He gave us a talk on democracy and journalism as he and his journalists have been experiencing the government’s violent pressure on the newspaper in Zimbabwe. He still continues to inform Zimbabweans what is happening in the country with his passion of ‘I want to see better Zimbabwe’.

He answered some questions thrown from the audience at the end of the talk. What caught my mind was when he said his journalists are not qualified, meaning given that the tense political situation where government taking over the press and media institutions, it is hard to exist for journalists who fight for democracy. Therefore not to be arrested by the police, his journalists are not ‘qualified’ so they could be invisible.

I was so impressed and at the same time learned that qualifications don’t mean anything in some circumstances. Of course, to be a journalist, you have to study, examine and question. I thought this was the perception for potential journalists to have a degree! I realized how small what is called the capitalistic world is. It’s just some part of the world and I was just happened to be born in one of those countries where higher education is crucial to your career.

More interestingly, I thought I travelled quite a lot having come to the UK but the world is still so broad. Seems I just moved within the places where I’m aware of how things work. I wouldn’t say that in Zimbabwe anyone can be a journalist though. There probably are other conventions or rules you’d have to overcome. But I definitely saw the world that I have never been and this sort of encounters encourage me to study forward because then I come up with more questions like ‘so why do I study here?’, ‘How far are they applicable these theories I’m learning at the moment?’, and ‘why journalism?’ I think having those questions and tackling them on the way, are all about what you do at university and that’s probably what I have to do.

Click here for more information on the International Study Centre at Stirling University

NOOO WAY that we are finished the undergraduate certificate!

Celebrating the end of the course

I’m writing this in my room right now before going to bed. I’m leaving Stirling tomorrow morning. All my stuff is packed and my room is empty just like last September. I don’t really feel like that I have already spent a year in this room on campus. It was unbelievably quick, enjoyable and valuable. The ISC in the University of Stirling organised a party for us to say good bye to each other and to give us a chance to make some memories all together. I’m putting up some nice photos from the party here.

The ISC organised a leaving party

So what do I feel now? Actually I don’t know at all! But I’m going to miss my friends during the summer for sure. How the time gets quicker to pass surprises me a lot. It is strange that I can still remember how I felt when I arrived to my room and started the foundation course as if it were only yesterday, but actually a year already passed. The time at the ISC was truly precious and important for me in terms of getting know people in the university as well as preparing myself for a degree. The classes were demanding, especially we were extremely busy in the last term but we had lots to gain from what was offered. At the same time, the high pressure from a large amount of the course works brought us even closer to each other. We shared worries, we studied together and of course it was the best support to have friends around all the time.

The course brought us all together

I must say that we have been very lucky to have such a well-organised preparation course and an amazingly beautiful campus with ducks and rabbits which I always appreciated I’m already so excited to come back next year even though I have little worry to go onto undergraduate. But I’ll just do my best. Thank you ISC and all the people I have met here for offering me a great time. I’ll still be writing the blog next year, but until then have a great summer to you all and SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER when we start our new academic year!!

Click here for more information on the International Study Centre at Stirling University

What a lovely day!

What a lovely day!

What a lovely day! The last weekend in May, we had such a great weather here in Stirling!! The bright sunshine, a very hot temperature and the clear blue sky without any clouds at all! It was the day just after most of the students on campus have finished the semester and gone home, I had a nice barbeque and sunbathing with my good friends.

Sunbathing on campus

We are such lucky students having this green campus. I feel so especially when we have the day like this. Some of my friends have complained me that there is nothing you can do here because there is no supermarket in a walking distance, only shops in the city centre close at five and it is too quiet!

For me, fields covered with grass, a beautiful lake, the view of mountains and many students living on the same campus are actually the best environment to be in. You couldn’t do a barbeque if you live in a city accommodation and there is nothing much richer than lying in the sun with your friends. I don’t want to go for shopping in such a fantastic day. What we have can maximise what we can do according to our feelings. Well, I think it totally depends on whether you like the campus like this. But I just like it!

The sun setting at Stirling

At the barbeque, we had so much food. The sunshine was getting stronger as it became late afternoon. The temperature went up to 23 degrees which is the best to enjoy sunbathing!! Talking about sunbathing, I noticed that people like to go suntanned in Europe while people in my country, Japan, try their best to not to go any browner during the summer.

Presumably the reason is our culture is very much westernised and it is thought that being white is beautiful for especially young people although there are some sub cultures that have different views of beauty. But it is probably more understandable that the Japanese are generally crazy about how to keep their skin white when I say that I was very surprised to have found a bottle of sun protection cream here which contains five times more but costs the same in Japan. Of course I brought a couple of them so I don’t have to buy it for a ridiculous price when I go home.

I’m not particularly obsessed with being white but it is better to use some cream if you don’t want to be burned as the sun is really strong in my country. Anyway, we enjoyed the sun and nice food so much! Less than 3 weeks to go, keep concentrate but let’s enjoy the time we have together now

Click here for more information on the International Study Centre at Stirling University

Things I Will Miss About Stirling

 

A month to go!  I can’t believe it’s already been eight months since I came here! 

The weather in Scotland is so beautiful in May… it’s perfect to have a picnic, a barbeque or just lie in the sunshine!  The undergraduates are almost finished their semester and I can see them enjoying freedom.  I will be free in a month time too.  It’s such a strange feeling that I go home soon.  I haven’t seen my family’s faces for almost a year.  I wonder if they have changed at all.  It’ll be so much fun back home but at the same time, I’ll miss many things here.

First, partying with my friends is something I’ll definitely miss.  Stay up all night and chat, listen to music, sometimes go for dancing and have lots of fun!  Oh, I have no idea how I’ll spend my night time without them.

Second, eating with my friends!  Wherever it is, in canteen, halls, restaurants and cafes, it’s so nice to have meals with them.  Especially at university, you get much closer with your friends because you live with them.  For me, it became a very important time of the day to eat together and have a chat what we did on that day.

The beautiful countryside around Stirling

Third, the campus!  As my friend mentioned, Stirling University has a beautiful campus like a national park!  I’ll miss this wonderful view of the loch, mountains and also rabbits and ducks running on the grass.  I really feel myself being part of this environment.  I just love it so much!

Forth, this is slightly less important compare to the others, but CHIPS!! I’m badly addicted to French fries here. It’s very cheap and sold everywhere so I just have them all the time….I hope I’m not going to McDonald’s everyday in my country just to get chips.

Stirling Dance Society

Lastly and importantly, dance!  Our dance society has just had an annual show.  It was absolutely lovely and I’m sad that it’s finished for this year.  I loved our dance so much.  Made lots of good memories!

When I arrived to university last September I was so scared and nervous but now I can’t believe that I’ve been here only for a year.  It seems longer than that.  I’m enjoying it so much that now I even forgot how to speak my language properly!   Anyway, I still have many assignments to go through and final exams.  Keep alerted and concentrate!  But before that, I think I’ll go for a picnic with my friends on this weekend just to recharge myself!

I want to eat proper food!

What is it so much about organic and mass produced food?

I usually find supermarkets to be convenient and useful place to do grocery shopping. The reason is as simple as they have everything I need so I don’t need to go around other shops. But at the same time, I always have this dream to live in a small town in countryside where local shops supply fresh seasonal food. I think I had pretty much influence from mother about this dream. We always lived in big cities with supermarkets in, but my mother had a sort of similar desire to be accessible to naturally made food and that is why we would have some organic food at least a couple of times a month. But how did we do it?

Probably after globalization lost its power, there has been a new growing phenomenon in Japan. A number of organizations that connect city people and farmers in countryside, made a business of organic food delivery services.

Lovely, fresh, organic, apples. Mmmmmm

With a slogan of ‘slow food’, that is to consume and farm crops in natural environment with chemical-free therefore crops will grow slowly but healthier to both humans and the environment, this business has been very successful and now the idea is expanded into other basic products such as clothes, towels, toys, detergents and washing soap etc… So my mother was one of the people who liked the idea and decided to feed her children as healthily as safely as possible. I remember strongly that especially the fruits arrived from the organization were so much tastier than ones at the supermarket. I found that everything came from domestic farms seasonally was richer in taste. It was also making us feel very good when they deliver the goods with cards telling us the address and the name of farms they had been grown. They had domestic goods only.

I crave healthy food!

Now I’m a student and unfortunately I don’t really have a local market in our city. I don’t usually mind going to the supermarket to get food. But sometimes I really miss very good food that I used to have. This desire seems to be expanding in my mind since I travelled Italy and Spain and enjoyed markets and locally made dishes. They were so beautiful!! Whatever I’ll be doing in the future, I’m sure I’ll be living in a nice town with good food

A trip to Spain

Gaudi’s Sagurada Familia

During the midterm break, I went to Spain Barcelona with my friend!

As soon as we got off the aeroplane, we were in the very strong sunshine and our complaint caused by the cheap flight at 6 a.m. was vanished.

The sun! Seafood! And what’s more, Gaudi’s Sagurada familia! I really wanted to see it in my eyes since I’ve only known it on TV.

Barcelona has underground like in London but less complicated and this made our journey much simpler. The Sagurada familia was just a few stops away from our accommodation by tram. On the first day, we were quite sleepy and going to have ‘Siesta’ but the weather was too brilliant to be wasted so we went to see one of the greatest Gaudi’s works, the Sagurada familia. It was right next to the tram station and when we climbed up from underground, it was standing just next to us. How big it is! It was so much taller than I thought and was crowded with full of tourists. To try to take a photo I had to lean back but it still seemed impossible to get a full structure of the temple in a photo.

Sculpture at the Sagurada Familia

It has the old part and newer part and was pretty clear to see the differences. I absolutely preferred the old part of it. Though I wondered if I would think the newer entrance is also beautiful when it becomes old. I really wished to see the completion of the Sagurada familia but I don’t think that is going to happen yet at all. I was already happy to touch it with my hand.

I appreciated the fact that Barcelona is on the coast which means I could have a proper Paella-Spanish steamed rice with several kinds of seafood! I remember I didn’t have meat during this travel at all. For the entire three days, I was enjoying so much of steamed mussels with olive oil and herbs, prawns, calamari and paella!

Barcelona is a quite stylish city and has many nice restaurants in the centre so you will never have a problem with looking for a good place to eat, especially they have so-called Tapas. It is like a pub restaurant and basically they have many different kinds of appetizers. People usually go for tapas when they want to not to just drink but nibble or they want to skip dinner and go for drinks. The atmosphere is more relaxed than restaurants but it still makes you happy with lovely food.

Spanish food is the best in the world!

The last day, our plan to go to the sea failed for another nice restaurant in the city which we thought was a better idea at the end! Spain was added on to my list of must-come back.

Apparently I quite like Mediterranean countries.

Maybe I should go to Greece next time!

Journey continued….

Why do we wear the clothes we do?

Today I brought an interesting topic of the sex representation in clothing.

The other day, I and my friend were talking about a picture of my other friends I had taken. Some of them dressed like the opposite sex to theirs and my friend asked me a question which arose the discussion. “Shouldn’t they wear more accordingly to their actual sex?”. I found this question rather uncomfortable than understanding. Because that is their ways of enjoying fashion and showing their identities. My question here was “What decides women or men should look like a certain appearance and why people should follow that theory?”

From my friend’s question, it seemed that there is a model of male and female in the society and many people wear according to these models. This model has an idea of that men should look men alike and women should also look women alike. Looking at clothes advertisements, for instance, it is obvious that there is many sort of codes of clothing. There are more colourful and patterned clothes for women while fewer and darker colours are used for men. Also it is true that unlike men who tend to have loose and over sized trousers, women are encouraged to wear more skinny and tight jeans. Any media pictures like an advertisement show preferable looking referring to the sex like this.

But since fashion guides are around, it does not mean you have to wear as it appears in a magazine. So what is it that makes some people feel unpleasant to see others dressing against these models? The significant point of being aware of these intentional cultural codes is that there is a tendency of unifying people’s preferences in the society. In other words, our choices are already made up to a certain point. For example, when you go for shopping, you go in to a shop and first you would probably choose to go to the section of either men or women according to your sex. This means you subconsciously sacrifice the other sections of the shop because you think these are not for you. That is also why you would possibly have a doubt when you see a girl dresses like a boy, with a oversized t-shirt and loose trousers because you think it is not how she is supposed to look. You have a different picture of a girl that came from media.

This sounds like a normal reaction at once, but it actually reflects the structure of creating a clothing code in the society. Though this system could work in a convenient way like since people share the same understanding of dressing, they are aware of what to wear for a formal party, for example. However, in real life, it is most of the cases that this signals women or men what is to be normal and what is not by clothing discrimination.

My argument is that whether follow it or not, people should recognise the socially made orders. There should not be men alike or women alike clothes despite this concept is too deeply rooted in to our everyday lives. I think individuality should be more valued than what the society think women or men should wear. Therefore the point is people should not really be destructed by such a question like my friend had as clothing is all about how you want to look. My friends in the picture are happy and confident in the way they wear. I would say it is certainly better to be yourself than just a ‘girl’ or ‘boy’.

Studying AND Socialising!

Recently we are so busy studying AND socializing!

I don’t know why, but somehow many people here in the ISC happen to have birthdays in March. So We have many parties this month. We’ve had 2 birthday parties for our friends turning into 19 and 20 so far. Also I heard some other people had their birthdays in one of these weeks and my other friend’s birthday is coming too! On the other hand, for the ISC students, it is also the end of the spring term which means we are actually going to have the exams next week. But before going back to revising for the exams, let me just talk what I think about the party here.

I found that students in this country are always looking for an excuse to have a party. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether it is middle of the week or even Monday, after 10 p.m., I always hear a party going on. Even if you were not a student anymore, people like to have parties for any occasions. Sometimes I go to a party which my friend’s friend organized that means I don’t know the organizer but am invited through the mutual friend. This is something I like about the British culture. They are very open, relaxed and happy to see new people. They share a good time with you. The first several times, when I went to these parties where I hardly know anybody I felt little uncomfortable. It was pretty hard for me to keep conversation going with people whom I’d just met. But I like the idea of meeting new people and having a chance to talk to them. It didn’t take me so much time to get used to enjoy the conversation rather than worrying what to talk.

Another thing I like about the party here is that you dress up slightly formal. Boys wear shirts and girls chose maybe fancy colour dress. Here, the dress code seems to be important and people are quite sensitive about what to put on meeting to the atmosphere whereas in my country, people wear almost always casual clothes apart from very formal occasions such as graduation or wedding. I like the style here so I’ll have to go for shopping to buy different types of clothes! It’s a good excuse indeed.

Students parties are obviously much messier than adults’ ones. They get drunk, make noises and sometimes swim in a lake in a cold winter night. And they just do it all over again in the very next week. What is it so fun about drinking? Getting drunk? Doing crazy things? Why don’t you just have a chat with your friends instead? May be they are still young and immature. But I think it’s kind of a way to feel freedom from everything they carry unconsciously in everyday life like common sense, social class, daily worries, or perhaps an essay due tomorrow. This is probably the way of expressing power of youth. This is to be against things they are socially confined. Or maybe they just do abnormal things so they’ll have some stories to tell to their friends. Whatever the reason is, I quite like being a member of students.

I have to go back to study now.

So after the exams, we can have a big party again!!

I never realise how much I love it – until it ends

The weather has been great and I can see little snowdrops flowering here and there all around the campus. I’m happy that the cold winter is finally coming to an end. But there was something that I was NOT happy to have it end.

YES! We, as a team of the University of Stirling Dance Society, certainly had a great time in the dance competition in Edinburgh!!! More than 10 universities took part in the competition and it was absolutely fantastic. Not only being on stage was exciting, but also the other unions’ performances were tremendous! I got a little nervous while watching their run through before the competition starts because their dances were just so good.

The moment of our performance passed in a flash

We had 5 teams from our university: ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and hip hop. I was in the hip hop. The moment of our performance passed in a flash. After 4 minutes of our dance, we came back to the side of the stage. I felt relieved that everything went good, or perhaps more than just ‘good’. Some of my friends came and visited the competition and they told me ours looked great. I enjoyed our dance so much on the stage! I was so happy to have become a member of the dance society and participated in the event.

I got a little nervous while watching the run throughs

Other unions’ dances were so much worth of watching and simply enjoyable. Some of them struck me as a team with professional passion! They were really skilled in expressing their performances.

After all the dancers showed their best, the judges announced the top three unions for each category and our union won the third place in contemporary! Besides the prizes for the categories, there was another prize for the best dancer of the competition. And that was the moment we, the Stirling, cried out. Believe it or not, one of our members won the prize out of any other dancers there!!!! We were so happy and excited that one of us won the best dancer! This competition was absolutely fantastic to be involved in.

I would definitely love to come back to the competition next year!

When I came back to my room, I was just exhausted and somehow getting sad. The competition was over. It was so much fun to have practices and rehearsals. I never realized until it comes to an end, but actually I loved so much each step we went through all together towards to the competition. I would definitely love to come back to the competition next year!