Half of the first term is gone

I wouldn´t even say that I have already been in UK for 2 months, studying at the University of Derby and now I am writing my first blog article. Everything above mentioned is mainly thanks to The Kellner Family Foundation for what I want to say a big THANKS once more yet before I start describing how I am doing in UK.

I am staying in the St Christopher´s Court which is one out of eight University Halls of Residence. Basically this kind of accommodation is only for student and is made out of 2 flats on each floor and 5 to 6 rooms in each flat. My room´s category is “Standard” which means I share the bathroom and the kitchen with other 5 students. I was very lucky with the room election as I got 5 Britons who are great, funny people and are very keen in improving my English vocabulary from all aspects of live.  I find this very helpful because really does not matter how good your vocabulary is because appearing between native speakers was quite shock for me.

My timetable is full of lectures, seminars and workshops. I spend approximately 3 to 4 hours in Uni every day. The most favourite of mine are the above mentioned workshop sessions. Every Wednesday, from 9 am to 1 pm in Uni workshops, working on every single part in a car, studying components and taking apart everything what we get i.e. gearbox, differential, engine, everything what we had heard before at the seminars we now can discover with hands on. I find this way of learning new stuff and gaining new experience very helpful because things seem to be less complicated when you have a theoretical background from a seminar or a lecture. Than you walk in the workshop and have the opportunity to prove the theory in practice whether it is from the Applied Scientific Methods or Technical Application lectures. Also the independent study gets more interesting and when you get to some kind of problem during reading “it makes sense” because you had already known before that for example the synchro levers in synchro sleeves in gearboxes are spring loaded and that they will fly all way around if you will not be careful.  

Despite of how the Uni makes us busy it is possible to save some free time. Regularly I try to go to the Uni gym, I signed for the Academic English Lessons for international students provided by the Uni, became a member of The Engineering and Math Society and if possible try to attend all the organised events. Since the November commenced the Formula Student Rookie project for the first years also runs and gives us an opportunity to make a proposal for our own race car which literally mean more of the independent study and some more stuff which I will not list here.

The “Unilife” has already changed my life and overall the way how I think about different things. All the assessments are based on whole-term study and its everyone´s responsibility how can deal with it. All the lectures are willing to help with every problem or query when needed. This way of how the education works in the UK definitely has a very huge impact on improving my time management, discipline and the way how I organise my time. As soon as you can get to use to this you can get not only from the Uni maximum but also from the “UK experience”.