Life at Bellerbys College

The Last Week of the Winter Term

Posted by Ksenia

On Monday and Tuesday (15th & 16th December), the Foundation students finished their exams (these lucky people can feel totally relaxed now – I am even a bit jealous). Less and less students have been attending the college and everyone has suddenly started packing and having 'goodbye’ parties.  Being in an almost empty college is quite a strange feeling – however student life was still going on and some places were still very crowded – like the IT suites in the library where I could see lots of my friends printing tons of paper for their holiday revision.

During some lessons we continued to do past papers (not very enthusiastically, as we have done plenty of them already and I had some to take back home – practice makes perfect!) while during the others we just had a great chat with our teachers and classmates, learning new thing about each other.  On the last chemistry lesson we were taking pictures and watching one part of “Doctor Who” especially selected for us by Mr. Loft (who said that it has no connection with Science? You just have to watch it more carefully!).

On Friday I went out with my Chinese classmates to have a lunch in “Good friends” – probably the best Chinese restaurant in Brighton.  Even though I was the only person who could not speak Chinese everybody was talking in English (which was pretty nice to me and helped everybody to practice their speaking!).  The meal was fantastic – so many delicious dishes whose names I cannot pronounce and won’t even try (my Chinese friends were not sure about the English equivalent, however I was constantly asking them to explain me what is the food that I am eating, which was really tricky for them and absolutely fascinating for me. Sometimes our conversation had to be finished by “just try it!” which was probably the best option).

As I was writing before, on Wednesday the 14th I went to an open-day in Bristol.  It’s quite a long way from Brighton – four hours on train so I had to get up really early if I wanted to be there a t 11 o’clock. I took a bus from the station which took me to the university (I was so scared to miss the right stop – after Brighton Bristol seemed to be a very big city and I had no idea at all were I was).  The university itself is very big as well so I had some troubles finding the right building - at first I tried to follow the map but then I realized that I am getting late (no surprises here!) so I decided to use my favorite method of finding things out – to ask people around me questions.  It was definitely the right thing to do as I was just on time to listen for an introductory talk by the admission tutor and go for a coach tour to the residence halls.

The University itself is perfectly located right in the center of the city but the halls are quite far away – at least 30 minutes on bus. There are lots of them in one area where the majority of the students live. We visited one of the halls, and were shown around. Then we went back to the University to have a lunch (which reminded me of the Bellerbys canteen) and several other talks by students and members of staff.

After four o’clock we were all free to go, however I was afraid that I won’t find the bus stop so I joined one of the boys who I met that day. It wasn’t as easy as we thought though, so at the end it took us about an hour to arrive at the station. Nevertheless we had a very nice walk around the city and I realized that I like it very much. The huge number of shops, cafes, people on the streets and Christmas decorations created a very pleasant and vibrant atmosphere. Due to some unknown reasons there were a lot of delays in the rail service so I was back to Brighton only at around 10 o’clock. Anyway it was a very nice day out even though I don’t think that Bristol University is a perfect place for me.

Saturday the 13th of December was my time to go back to Moscow. Three months in Bellerbys have passed very quickly as usual but I am sure that three weeks of holidays will go by even faster, especially because straight after them I will have my exams (something that I am not really looking forward in the next year, but I am sure that the pleasure to see everyone in the college again will balance that). I will try to study at least a bit and obviously have lots of fun))) You too, have a great time!

First Replies From the Universities

Posted by Ksenia

At the moment the majority of A level students have already finished their UCAS applications.  Congratulations to all these hard-working people and I am sure that the ones that haven’t done it yet will do it shortly (by this time you should have written a real masterpiece which could be nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature as your personal statement!  Try to make it quite compact though, you just have 47 lines)))).

Now it’s time for universities to consider our forms and hopefully make lots of nice offers. So during break–times people tend to gather next to the post, checking it again and again in fear to miss an important letter. And if in someone‘s eyes you see the signs of absolute and totally crazy happiness he is probably just received a reply from his first choice.

At first I didn’t receive anything from the UCAS and even was becoming a bit annoyed (it seems so stupid to be constantly checking your mail and only finding letters for your friends) but suddenly I received something from all the five choices. 

The first one to visit was UCL.  I had a day off college and caught a train at Brighton Station quite early as I was really scared to be 'a bit late' (as I usually am).  So as you can probably guess even though there were some delays I was still much earlier then I needed to be. 

The nice thing was that I was definitely not the only one.  At first people tended to remain silent and read the prospectus but it could not last forever.  So by the start of the open day we realised that we are all Oxbridge applicants and have already known quite a few things about each other. 

Then our admission tutor gave several short talks about UCL mentioning its history, facilities, accommodation, our course and living in London as a whole.  He was a great orator with perfect sense of humour, so he made us feel relaxed and comfortable and everybody was constantly laughing.  We were told in advance that in the afternoon one-to one interviews will be held so at first everyone was feeling a bit nervous (I spent the whole time on the train reading scientific news and preparing to talk about them).  But the admission tutor destroyed our fears at once by telling us that we will all receive offers anyway and that interviews are for our benefit only – as a practise of course and also as a chance to be accepted even if we will not quite meet the grades at the end our exams (hopefully this will not happen but who knows?). 

My interview was quite late but my time was not at all wasted as I could have a nice chat with everyone.  My interviewer was a really friendly professor and the interview itself was just 20 minutes long and was more like an interesting conversation about myself, my studies and Biochemistry.  The only real scientific question I was asked was about transport of gases in blood which made me try to remember the staff I studied in Unit 2 last year – which seems quite a long time ago so I was even surprised I could recall the Bohr effect.  By asking me questions my interviewer not only helped me to structure my answer but even explained me the part of the topic I was not too sure before. So this open day was definitely a very useful and interesting experience for me.

The thing I really liked about UCL is that its specialisation is very wide, so you can find an artist, an economist and a scientist having lunch together sharing their ideas with each other, so it’s easy to develop different sides of your personality there.  The campus itself feels like a really warm and cosy place, a bit messy sometimes but you can definitely see people having a great time.

When I sent off my UCAS form, Imperial College hasn’t even acknowledged my application so I was prepared to wait a long time before I will actually hear anything from them.  So you can imagine how happy and surprised I was when I received a letter informing me that I was made an offer.  I was sitting in one of the IT suites in the library and everyone around me seemed to be quite busy with what they were doing.  But when I suddenly started jumping on my chair and thanking my admission tutor out loud (surprisingly I did it in Russian, so even if he could hear me he won’t understand!) everyone stopped looking at their screens and started looking at me.  At the moment I did not care how silly I looked like – I was just absolutely happy because my dream has started to become true!  I was also invited for an open day, so I was definitely going to use that opportunity as I have never been to Imperial before and I was absolutely sure that I will like it.

Even though UCL and Imperial are both situated in central London I really felt like on the other planet. Almost all the buildings in Imperial are brand new or recently reconstructed so everything looks very modern, solid and expensive.  As the university is specialised in more technical subjects, the whole campus seems to be very technological and functional.  But this serious atmosphere doesn’t make you feel bored or depressed, quite the opposite, it gives you inspiration to work as hard as you can and become the best in your field.

Life in Imperial may be quite tough sometimes (who said it will be easy?) but students there definitely succeed in organising their free time (one of the highest number of clubs and societies in the UK) and seem to be enjoying their life and studies.  We had a look at accommodation as well, and the residence halls for the first year students are really impressive – a whole range of different options to suit everybody’s needs and just a few minutes from the main university buildings.

I found both universities to be an excellent place to spend your time in and which one of them to choose really depends on the person.  On the 10th I am going to visit Bristol so I will tell you some more about that in the next post. Have a great time))))

My Love for the Stage

Posted by Maggie

First of all, I would like to apologise for my absence.  I've been really busy over the past few weeks, trying to juggle my skyscraper-high amount of school work, my never-ending extracurricular activities and my social life (yes, it still exists contrary to what you might think).  This is the time of the year where everybody needs to work extremely hard to get more things done and this is also the time of the year where efficient and effective time management is extremely crucial.  That said, let's review all the plays and musicals I've seen so far in London cause that's the purpose of this post.

1. Zorro
A fantastic musical about the story of Zorro.  The little orchestra played Gypsy King's most popular hits such as "Bamboleo" and "Volare" behind the stage.  I enjoyed the music very much and I really appreciated it being played live.  At the end of the musical, everyone stood up and started dancing to the songs.  There was never a moment of boredom.  The musical proceeded smoothly and kept the audience occupied with all its exciting actions like swordfighting.  The choreographed dances were amazing and the actors were amusing.

It was authentic and since the theatre is relatively small, you can see everything clearly.  It is playing at the Garrick Theatre, located just about five minutes walk away from Charing Cross station.  Remember: Don't wear tall hats as it might get caught on fire due to flaming woods swinging right above your head.

Ratings: 4 out of 5

2. Chicago
An adaptation of the film "Chicago" which starred A-list Hollywood actors such as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zelwegger and Richard Gere.  The stage version was scintillating and ultra-sexy.  The dances were sizzling hot and everyone portrayed their roles perfectly.  A must see!

It is playing at the Cambridge Theatre on Earlham Street, a brief walk away from Covent Garden.  If you don't feel like walking (just so you know, it gets pretty confusing trying to search for the theatre as Covent Garden has many little streets branching out everywhere), try to haul a rickshaw.  There are tons around the area so it won't be an issue.  I went on it and it was tons of fun!  But you do have to pay £5 per person.

Ratings: 3 out of 5

3. Mamma Mia
Once again, this is the stage version of the box-office film "Mamma Mia" starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan just to name a few big names.  To be honest, I didn't enjoy it very much.  The female lead (Amanda's role) was not pretty enough to play the role and she seemed very awkward on stage.

In addition, the actors couldn't express their real feelings and the interactions between them felt fake and artificial.  It is playing at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Coventry Street in Piccadilly Circus.  I recommend pigging out at Chinatown post-theatre to appease yourself if you didn't find the musical satisfying.  For me, I found it quite disappointing.  Do look out for the Mom's stereotyped plastic friend.  The only reason I didn't leave the theatre earlier was because of her and ABBA.  You can never say no to "Dancing Queen" now, can you?

Ratings: 2 out of 5

4. Rain Man
One word: JOSH HARNETT.  Okay, so that was two words.  Josh Harnett was extremely sexy in this play, especially when he's angry (which he was for pretty much the whole thing).  I caught three quarter of the girls in the theatre gaping at him and drooling.

First class performance by Adam Godley who portrayed Josh's autistic brother.  At the end, it was so heartwarming that I shed a tear or two.  It is playing at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in Piccadilly Circus.  A hotspot in London - many slick bars and pubs to go to after getting Josh's autograph outside the backdoor of the theatre.  One tiny tip: Run to the backdoor as soon as the play ends if you seriously want an autograph from him or even just to see a close-up Josh!

Ratings: 3/6 out of 5 (3 for the play itself/6 for seeing Josh in person)

5. Piaf
Top notch impersonation of Piaf - "The Little Sparrow" by Elena Rogers. She wowed the whole audience (including me!) with her acting and singing.  If you like Piaf's music, this is definitely worth going to as Rogers carried out the tunes exactly the way Piaf did.  Amongst the numerous great hits were "Mon Dieu" and "Je Ne Regrette Rien".

Despite her excellent performance, I found the stage settings quite dull and the interactions between the actors too fast-paced.  I felt as if they were rushing through her life story, not spending enough time to build the suspense.  It was playing at the Vaudeville Theatre on Strand but I believe they stopped playing it now.  There is a film version of Piaf's rather bumpy and short life called "La Vie En Rose".  Try to look for it because it is an amazing film, perfected by Marion Coutillard's flawless acting.

Ratings: 3 out of 5

6. War Horse
For a little change, I've decided to watch a play at the National Theatre instead of the bustling streets up at the West End.  In a nutshell, War Horse is a story about a boy's love for his horse to the extent where he went to war just to look for his "Joey" (the horse's name).  The play depicted the atmosphere during WWI astoundingly, with the aid of the incredibly real sound and lighting effects.  I was stunned by the grand overall effects of the play - the stage was set magnificently which as a result led to the smooth transitions between scenes.

There was a huge cast that included a lot of interesting and funny characters.  Last but not least, I would like to pay my utmost respect to the brilliant puppeteers who were manoevering Joey and all the other horses, neighing frequently but operating silently.  The horses truly made a difference as they appealed to the audience's emotion factor.  I bawled my eyes out several times throughout the play.  War Horse was hands down, one of the best plays I've ever seen in my life.

Ratings: 5 out of 5

So there you go!  All in all, London's theatre productions for the most part are worth going to albeit some of them can get pretty pricey.  But I love the stage too much to let the financial stuff get in the way. ;)

That's all for now, have a great day everyone!