Hey guys,

This is a min rant as I am so tired of revision. Can’t wait to be done with this paper on the 28th of May!

However I know that once that’s over I might be slightly depressed that my first year at university had just vanished like that. Seems like I just arrived here a couple of weeks ago when I took this picture.

Can’t believe this was taken last September! The first time I arrived in Nottingham.

Anyway I hope all of you are well, and if you have exams I wish you the best of luck!

Much love,

Olivia

So before Easter break I applied to become a student assistant. (for those of you who don’t know, student assistants help out during international welcome week at my university answering queries, and basically just there to help with any problems)

It was such a mad rush because I only found out that I could apply a day before the deadline which was the final day of term. So the night before the deadline I was in a mad rush to not only fill out the application form, but to summon myself to start a CV from scratch. (hell)

This CV and application form had to be submitted by 12pm the following day at Jubilee Campus, (I’m on University Park) and I had a lecture to attend at 12. So of course it decides to snow that day!

Anyway, I thought to myself if I went through all that trouble to get this job and I was unsuccessful I will be truly pissed off. Thankfully the recruitment team saw something in my application and perhaps my exquisitely written CV that they informed me they would like to call back for an interview.

Fast forward to today; I’ve got the job and I can’t wait for September!

On a side note: If anyone reading this is going to be an international/exchange student at The University of Nottingham next year give me shout out!

So I have been neglecting this tumblog quite a bit apart from a few pictures now and then.. So today I’ve decided I shall keep all of you up to date on what has been going on!

A Trip Back Home

So I went home (back to Malaysia) for the holidays in December and it was really good to catch up with my old friends and indulge myself in Malaysian food, after I got over my 3-day jet-lag that is! Strange thing was when I was back home I found myself missing university and Nottingham quite a bit despite the bitter cold here. Heck I was even checking the weather forecast for Nottingham to make sure it didn’t snow while I wasn’t around!

The Last Train

After a little over 3 weeks back home I was Nottingham-bound again! My flight was delayed by about 5 hours in Amsterdam, and it was a mad rush as I had to catch the last train from Birmingham international to Nottingham. I finally ended up arriving at about midnight in Nottingham. Luckily I had a friend to meet me at the train station and another friend who let me crash at her place!

After a few days of rest it was exam time, and luckily us Pharmacy students only had two papers and we had a week off! So on my week off I headed to Manchester to meet up with a friend. Manchester is a pretty massive city compared to Nottingham. I have a few pictures which I will upload shortly.

Dyspepsia

Then it was back to university business on the 28th of January. We started a new module called Dyspepsia (which basically covers like heartburn and stomach ulcers). I must say I really did enjoy this module because all parts of the course were integrated and the way it was structured actually made quite a bit of sense!

A how far I’ve come, today I’ll be having my last lecture of the dyspepsia module, can’t believe 4 weeks of this module just went by like that!

I think that’s it from me this time, as usual my inbox is always open to anyone who wants to ask me anything about the application process/ the University of Nottingham or even pharmacy?

Hope you all had a good week! Cheers!

This is for the anon who asked about applying to the university, I know there are some really basic things on this list but I thought it would be helpful nevertheless to some of you. :)

A - A-Levels (did you do them, if not what are your options)

B - Books (reading up on the course you’re about to take shows that you have great interest in your chosen field, so why not mention it in a personal statement?)

C -Campus (what kind of campus would you like to go to? Nottingham is a Campus University, whereas there are others which are City-based universities, and there’s Compact City too)

D- Deadlines (be aware of these, UCAS deadlines, accommodation deadlines etc.)

E - Email (please, please, please, check your email regularly, it’s where you’ll be notified of your application through UCAS/the university itself. Can’t stress how important this is!)

F - Forums/Facebook (get on them! Like thestudentroom.co.uk, talk to people who in the same situation, who knows, you might make a couple of friends! Some of my friends in uni are the ones I’ve made online!)

G - Grades (can you make the grades to get in?)

H - Higher Education (are you ready for it? If yes, show them that you are!)

I - Interview (some courses require interviews, don’t know about architecture)

J - Jokes (Although, they show a side of your personality, do not include these in your personal statement, things can go downhill pretty fast, if it was taken the wrong way)

K - Keep in touch with the universities of your choice, after you’ve sent in your application they may request transcripts from you or ask that you take admissions tests.

L - Letter of Recommendation (you’ll need one of these when you apply through your school, you can get your teacher/personal tutor to prepare one for you)

M - Money Matters (paying for uni, accommodation and etc..)

N - Nottingham (do some research on the city, do you like it?)

O - Open Days (try to attend these if you can, you’ll get an actual feel of the campus and it puts you in perspective)

P - Personal Statement (if you’re applying through UCAS, be prepared to right a really good personal statement, this is your chance to set yourself apart the other applicants)

Q - Questions (if you’re anything like me, you’d have many questions, why not e-mail the university you want to apply to and ask away, just like you’re asking me now)

R - Rankings (might give you a good idea of which uni is the most suitable for your course)

S - Scholarships (are there any for your course?)

T - Track (where you check on the status of your application after you’ve picked your universities) Log in to Track

U - UCAS (University & College Admissions Service, probably the most important thing on this list!) www.ucas.com

V - Visas (If you’re an international student like me, get them sorted ASAP!)

W - Waiting (you’ll do a lot of waiting to hear back from universities when you apply for university, so be prepared)

X - X-tra (UCAS Extra for people who didn’t receive any offers, and UCAS allows them to apply for courses with vacancies)

Y - (I’ll cheat on this one) Y do you want to come to this university?

Z - Zest (have enthusiasm in your application and or interview and don’t be too disheartened if the universities take longer than usual to reply.. cause they might.. keep that chin up!)

I hope this was helpful to any of you applying. I wish you all the best of luck!