Life at Bellerbys College

Unexpected Half-Term

Posted by Ksenia

Usually just before every holiday or half-term I write a post to wish everyone to have a nice time and wondering how quickly the time goes. As I am writing this blog for quite a while it has become some sort of routine. But this time the half-term arrived so unexpectedly so even did not realised that it was time to write the post. And when I see that there are only five weeks left before the Easter holidays I feel that there is definitely something wrong with the calendar.

I guess the feeling is so strange because of the January exams – at first everyone was too busy with revision and taking the actual exams, then everyone was getting back to the usual studying regime (which was quite a difficult task as nobody could stop celebrating the end of this horrible period), then we were very busy again because our teachers gave us plenty of tests and homework to enable them to write the reports.

Even though I was too busy to notice that the half-term is coming I was still able to take part in some of the fascinating things that usually go on in Bellerbys Brighton. For example, we found out that one of the College's economics teachers plays guitar in a band called "No Sweat" and we even had a chance to watch and listen to him live (and take pictures of course). 

     

We were taken to one of the Worthing pubs by a coach where we had a very nice dinner (home-made food is delicious - even though it is English) in a great company before coming downstairs to a small concert hall where the band was ready to perform. As soon as they started playing it was no longer possible to imagine that we are on a school trip. The musicians and the singer in particular were full of drive and energy that instantly passed to the audience. Everyone was just having so much fun!

At first I felt a bit strange to see my teachers (there were a lot of them in the audience) in such an informal atmosphere - it was like becoming a part of their private life - but it was definitely a pleasant feeling. But as the evening progressed the difference between the students and their teachers was becoming less and less significant - people were chatting, dancing, singing and shouting and totally enjoying themselves. It was a pity to leave - but we all agreed that it was a fantastic evening.

On Tuesday we went to the Booth Natural History Museum during our Biology double class. We have just started classification and as there wasn't any practical work to do so our teacher decided to show us different species of birds, insects and other animals. Not alive though - the birds were stuffed, the butterflies dead and the monkeys were looking quite evil as we could only see the skeletons (which as you may have guessed resemble the human ones a lot).

We also had an insight in British history of the Victorian period as we learned a bit about the style of living at that time. The rich people didn't have to work so to entertain themselves they were collecting things - that's where the birds and butterflies come from. Quite a strange hobby from the modern point of view but very fashionable at the time (what can be better than a cage of coloured stuffed birds at the middle of your drawing room?)

The next week the Biology class was quite entertaining as well – we went to the Preston Park (the one where the college photo is usually taken) to do some ecology studies. We spent quite a while trying to find anything that wasn’t just grass or flowers planted by men to do our quadrats – technique used to find the distribution of plants in the area.

As we didn’t quite succeeded in our search due to the time of year we decided to do the percentage of the area covered by grass. The rest of it was like a real study – using random number tables to generate the coordinates of the place to put the quadrats, tabulating our results, plotting the graph and even taking the soil samples. Later in the laboratory we did lots of tests including heating, burning and trying to dissolve our samples. It was much fun though I do not think that the results obtained were really reliable - which is not a problem as long as we are not going to publish our study.

This half-term I was particularly lucky because my mum came to see me. We met in Brighton, had a very nice meal in Havana – a very beautiful place which surprisingly has no connection with Cuba except for its name. We went to London on the next day and I was really happy to be there again – usually I go to the UK capital every other week but after the exams were finished there was so much to do in Brighton veryone was getting together every Friday and week-end so I just could not leave. So after a break I realised that I really missed the place – something I would never believe two years ago. It took me time to get to know the city, to try to understand and appreciate it but now I am definitely in love with it and as I have already mentioned (so many times!) hope to spend my university years there.

I was not doing any studying at all this half-term – too many other things to do and to see – like waking in St. James and be pleasantly surprised about the great weather (I did not carry my umbrella at all and it was raining once only – there is something wrong with a climate of this country!) or revising the English history in the National Portrait Gallery, enjoying tiramisu in my favourite Italian restaurant which I consider even better then those I’ve been to in Italy (a paradox I really cannot explain!) or even finding out about the origins of the Russian orthodox church in the Byzantium exhibition in the Royal Academy of Art.

People who know me will be surprised to know that I did almost no shopping at all - I was a bit sick of the shops after the last time so I tried to convince myself that I don’t need anything at all. However we still went outside the central part of London to see The Westfield shopping centre which can be considered as one of the biggest malls in Europe. It was quite an interesting experience for me because I have never been to places like it before even though there are several of them in Moscow. I found it to be quite a convenient place to do your shopping especially if you need lots of things (which most women usually do even though their men think that they are totally crazy)

Well, bye-bye for now because I see my posts getting longer exponentially so I am really scared to bore you now)

The Crazy Days

Posted by Ksenia

So much has happened recently so there was completely no time to write about it)

On the Monday morning (the 2nd of February – I guess many people will remember this date for a long time), I was as usual regretting the end of the weekend and realizing that I haven’t done the majority of the stuff I planned to do (getting enough sleep was the first one on my list and obviously the goal that I haven’t achieved).  It was snowing the previous night but I still was really surprised to see a layer of snow lying on the ground. It wasn’t too big compared to the amount of snow we can get in one night in Russia but I’ve never seen anything like it before in the UK (and I wasn’t alone – it has been 18 years since it snowed as heavily in England – the fact I didn’t know at the moment, of course).

My host mother had already woken up and asked me if I had to go to the college.  At first I even didn’t understood her question.  Even the idea that Bellerbys can be closed because of several centimetres of snow seemed ridiculous and totally impossible.  It’s an international college – it’s always open!

Now I feel that after spending two and a half years of my life in the UK I really should not be surprised about anything.  One phone call suddenly changed the whole picture - a friend of mine was also saying that there is no college that day.  As I still was thinking that those people are simply making fun of me I called one of my friends from the residence – her voice was sleepy and told me to forget about the lessons and go back to bed.  I was still too excited to do that so I switched on the TV and realize that the whole country was paralyzed – no train service, planes cancelled, roads blocked, taxis, buses and even London tube (!!!! How can snow prevent underground from working? In that case I guess the cold was to blame) were not operating so a lot of people just decided to stay at home.

The ones to really enjoy this force major were the children – the lessons were cancelled everywhere so there was plenty of time to play snowballs and built snowmen!  Students around the country celebrated the weather conditions and made the most of their extended weekend.  I was very happy as well, both for seeing the snow which reminded me of my home country and to have a day-off. 

But even though the feeling was a bit strange – Monday without college is definitely abnormal!  So thanks to the weather I finally got time to write this post (a bit long for an introduction isn’t?) So now I will start to write everything in order (as far as it possible for a girl who has a complete disorder in her head).

The 18th of January was my birthday.  The temptation to have a great party with all my friends who I absolutely adore was huge – but I had to resist it.  The problem was that it was Sunday and the next week (even on the next day) we all had lots of exams.  And I knew from the start that even if I will try to organize a quiet evening and have an early night I will sill disrupt everybody (including myself) from the revision (can you imagine me going to bed early on my own birthday if I am surrounded by friends? I certainly not)).  So I stayed at home and tried to concentrate on my studies. 

But there wasn’t a moment for me to feel lonely - everybody was constantly calling me and leaving messages and all those kind wishes and lots and lots of attention from my friends and relatives made this day very special and happy for me. The words cannot really express how much I love and appreciate all those people!  And then, on Thursday, the exams were finally over so I went straight to London where my parents have already arrived to celebrate my birthday (finally!).

We had just a few days together – I had to go back to college on Monday and they had plane tickets back to Russia but we had a fantastic time.  Even though my mum was a bit ill we still had the most of our stay – a bit of shopping of course, but also lots of walking, meeting people and we even had a chance to visit Victoria & Albert Museum (but not to explore it all obviously) which I highly recommend to everyone who has never been there before.  There is something for everyone – from temporary exhibitions to collections of objects from different époques and counties.

So on Monday I went back to Brighton, but not for long – on Tuesday straight after lessons several other girls and I were on the train to the London Victoria.  We were really excited as we had a great evening in front of us – The Pussycat Dolls concert.  The fact that Ne-Yo and Lady Gaga were also taking part in it was making us even happier!  When we go out of the tube it was impossible not to choose the right direction – everybody was heading towards the O2 Arena. 

Personally, I’ve never been in such a huge concert hall before so even the look of it was really impressive. The energy and excitement that everybody felt was absolutely amazing – the audience was singing and dancing – we all felt like a part of a big whole in total euphoria.  It was so great to see the people whose songs you are passionate about and listen to those idols singing in front of you.

When the concert was coming to the end the audience still didn’t want to let the singers go asking for more and more.  Nobody wanted this unbelievable evening to finish!  I was singing and shouting with everybody else and when we went out of the Arena I felt almost deaf and my voice has gone – but I was still absolutely happy.

It took us quite a while to get back to Brighton but the next day even though I was really sleepy I was (almost!) on time for my 9 o’clock lesson –very proud of myself!!  My voice didn’t quite come back to me during the week – I guess I somehow caught a cold as well.  But we decided to go out on Friday well in advance – to celebrate the end of the exams (some poor people still had them that week) and the birthdays that have past – I wasn’t the only one to miss mine.  No excuses were allowed so I went out as well and had a great time but went back home quite early and spent the rest of the weekend trying to recover from my cold.  Not completely successful yet – but feeling much better now!

Today's Topic - Will-Power

Posted by Theresa

Hello, answer me please!  Password please!  Do not go further until you say it!  I am watching you!

Now today's lesson, students, is on will-power.  This is a very long topic so it would take the whole of February to assimilate.  Who controls you?  I do not know about you but I control myself.  Hey!  If someone is controlling you, tell that culprit to stop that dangerous play.  Right now!

Will-power is having total control in yourself not allowing material things control you.  I know we are human beings and we do make mistakes but it is up to us to correct them or fight the temptation and strive to be better.  Failure is not the end of the world; people who are somebody today, once failed yesterday.  The most brilliant student today was once cried for being a dull student, so do not give up always think of Barack Obama,"yes I can!"

Okay you have had one hour of will-power, take a five minute break.

A conversation between a judge and an obsessed lady:

• Judge: "Lady, why did you hit this driver with your umbrella?"
• Large lady: "When I come down from the bus he shouted 'room for 9 more'!"

Okay students, bring your minds back to class. Always remember, you are in control of your life; no one can do that for you! 

Now go home and think more, I have another class.  Be good, I'm out!

Xin Chao Privet Salem Hola Hello Everybody!!

Posted by Linh

Hi!  I’m a brand new blogger of Bellerbys Oxford!!  My name is Linh and I’m from Vietnam.

It’s quite hard for me to start this first blog and my mind is full of a variety of questions, such as what I should write, what the title and the first sentence would be; I really hope that it will be a good start.  And you know nothing can get done if there is too much perfectionism, that’s why I have not started since receiving an invitation letter for two days.

Then, this morning, when I woke up and had a look through out the window, I just could not believed in my eyes: it seems like the snow has governed all over this beautiful globe and turned it from a blue planet to a white one (lol, believe me, I never hope that it would come true).  It is hard to find a particular word to express my feeling at that time, may be excitement, curiosity or freshness etc. I mean it’s the first time I have ever seen that much snow, how about you guys? Anyway, thank to the snow, I have got some ideas and enthusiasm to start my first blog.

 

As I have introduced before, I’m from Vietnam.  For who does not know, Vietnam is a tropical country located in the south-east of Asia.  You can find it easily on the map by searching for a country whose shape is like the letter S and is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest and Cambodia to the southwest.  If there is more time, I will tell you more about this beautiful country as I think that most of you know Vietnam only like a suffering one due to wars.  And believe me, there are more than that, and properly even more than your imagination.

Now, back to the main purpose of this blog (which is ME), you may want to know about my course at Bellerbys (oh yes you are, ‘cause I know the God has sowed the seed of curiosity into your heart since you were born, who do you think you can fool? lol).  Oh well, I’m studying Foundation Business at Bellerbys Oxford and my subjects at school now are Academic English (Susannah), BusMaths (Phillip), CIT (Peter) and Accounting (Hassan).

It’s pretty great to study in Bellerbys Oxford as it has an outstanding location right in the city centre.  Therefore, it is quite convenient for students to do what they want, such as eating, shopping, visiting some old and famous buildings.

And the most excitement I have found while studying here is you have chances to greet many different students coming from different countries.  That means you also have chances to widen your knowledge about different cultures, different customs and different religions.  Now if you pay a little more attention about my title, you can see that there are some weird words that you might don’t know.  They are, actually, not weird at all, all those words mean ‘hello’.  I will show you concretely which country they come from:

• Xin chao: Vietnamese
• Privet: Russian
• Salem: Kazakh
• Hola: Spanish

That does not mean that there are only those countries in our school.  There are definitely more!  So can you help me to find out other languages that are spoken by other students in our school and have not been mentioned above?

Have a good week my dear friends!  (:-*)

Obama, The Man of the 20th

Posted by Theresa

How many grand balls have you attended in a year?  Probably not even one!

Well, if you wanted to help Obama and his wife out in attending one of the ten balls on the 20th of January 2009, you could have given me a call to connect you direct to him.  Hey!  Why are you squeezing your face like that?  You know you can get old fast by doing that; be careful!  Do you not know that he is my grand father's brother's wife's friend's cousin.

Finally, the human Saviour of America has been issued into the famous white house. "Yes I can, together we can!"  He is the official president of the United States.

This is how my interview with Obama might go.

Theresa - Mr. Obama, how does it feel to be in the White House?
Obama - Great!  This is the first step. Yes, I have heard of Bellerbys College Oxford.  It is a great school. I am even thinking of sending my girls to get a wonderful education there.
Theresa - Oh!  You should, that should be your 2nd step after reforming America!
Obama - Of-course.  It is at Broad Street, Oxford, I would tell my assistant to remind me every month.
Theresa - Can I have an official hand shake, sir?
Obama - Of course, also extend my hand shake to Bellerbys staffs and students!
Theresa -Thank you Obama!
Obama - I will be visiting very soon!

Hey!  Stop squeezing you eyes, of course I was with Obama on the 20th!  I know you are very jealous.  Anyway he extends his greeting to you.  Prepare, you do not want him to catch you unawares!

I'm out!

The Lowdown #2

Posted by Maggie

Dear readers, pardon me for my lack of attentiveness on this blog.  I will make up for lost time by writing more than usual! 

So, exams are at last, over.  Phew.  The relief is irrevocably sweet and I'm absorbing every single moment of it. I had 2 math exams and one economics exam.  Math was rather straightforward except for a couple questions at the end.  Economics was surprisingly easy but I struggled on the last question due to the pressure of time limits.  As students came out of the exam rooms, I observed most walked out looking literally like they've just snapped out of some kind of zombie trance.  The lift of the burden of exams on their shoulders was palpable in the air as they let out long sighs and started discussing the questions that were on the papers. 

However, there was a small amount of students appeared as if they had just finished a lesson, looking all "oh-it's-just-another-day-at-Bellerbys/No-biggie".  I think I belong in the category that's labelled as "thank-God-it's-over".  I don't believe people enjoy exams. I believe people enjoy learning, but exams? Please. So I've gathered some tips from "exam experts" on how to keep yourself "alive" during exam period (tried and tested):

1. Sleep, no matter how badly you wanted to revise.  Not only will you perform better, you will also come to exams looking fresh faced and spots-free.
2. Break down your study schedule into major study blocks and several little breaks so your brain has time to "digest" all the information.
3. Reward yourself after all the hard work and dedication you've put into your revision hours. E.g. movies, chilling with friends, Facebook.
4. Drink lots of water as it flushes out all the toxins in our bodies, eat fish (the omega 3 fats will help us concentrate better) and nuts (they're just generally beneficial for our brains).
5. Revise with your friends using different techniques to stimulate your brain.  E.g Q&A style (my fav) and whatever else you can come up with.  It's a good way to bond with your buddies too.  Just like the British say, "to kill two birds with one stone".
6. Exercise, exercise, exercise.  You could exercise for half an hour a day and that's fine.  Basically, your body and brain becomes more alert once you've sweated stuff out.  You're more ready and capable of absorbing and retaining information.

So, I hope those of you who are facing exams in the near future will have an easier time by following these tips.  Anyways, let's talk about my life since where I've left off on my last post.

Over the Christmas break, I travelled to Japan with my mom.  LET ME JUST WISH EVERYONE A VERY BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!  2009 is going to be a relatively difficult year considering the state of our ailing economy but I hope all of us will have the strength and perserverance to thread through these murky times and come out alright in the end.

      

The Japan trip was awesome!  At first, we went to Hokkaido which is a region up north in Japan.  I could row a boat to Russia and say privet to Ksenia! ;)  Oh, that rhymes.  Moving on.. the area we visited was called Niseko.  It has 3 mountains with lots of runs and trails for us amateur skiiers to experience.  During our stay in Niseko, we lived in a tiny aparthotel (hotel meets apartment accomodation) called J-sekka in the middle of the Hifaru Village (the base of one of the 3 mountains) where all the Aussies chill. I swear to God, it feels like you're somewhere in Australia.  Even our aparthotel is operated by strictly Australians - the compassionate receptionist, the waiter who could pull off as a super male model and the laid-back ski rentals associates.

My mom and I had a pretty great time there.  Our daily routine consists of hitting the slopes real early in the morning (a real challenge for me) and devouring all the delicious Japanese food (the cause of my newly gained weight).  After a long day out battling with mother nature, we would rush to the hotspring facilities in Hirafu village.  They're called onsen.  Absolutely amazing.  Your muscles feel so relaxed after basking in the open air hotspring pool.  On our last day in Niseko, we decided not to ski.  Instead, we took a bus to a nearby factory and shop that sells these "Twinkie-look-alike" spongecakes and ate quite a few of them paired with vanilla ice-cream.  They were oishi (Japanese for delicious)!  Not to mention, you can only get them in Japan.

     

Then, we flew to Tokyo after spending 5 splendid days in Hokkaido. The atmosphere in Tokyo was completely different. You could feel the pace of the lifestyle there is so much faster than Hokkaido. My mom and I spent most of our time rummaging through the racks in all the shops, in search of an investment piece (or pieces). In the end, I bought a new camcorder from this enormous electronics store called Big Camera. I am in love with it! Yes, I have a new found interest in film-making. Let's hope this one will last for more than a month. On top of all the superfluous shopping and dining, my mom and I also visited a rather small cuban cafe close to our hotel in Shiodome on our second last night and danced our night away! We had a basic tango lesson taught by two fantabulous local dancers. There was also an American man in his fifties who danced with us - and let me tell you something, he was a heck of a dancer! Who says age was ever a problem? Tokyo was good fun - I enjoyed it very much. You can never get sick of Japan. That is a fact.

After the Japan trip, I went back to Malaysia (my home!) and spent the remaining days of my break there.  I tried to study but to be honest, it is extremely difficult when your friends are calling you and asking you to go out with them 24/7.  Of course, friends come before studies (right?) so I basically went out everyday, catching up with old friends (and old flames) and had an amazing time.  I certainly missed my kind of food!  Once you've tried Malaysian cuisine, you will always go back to it.

     

New Years Eve party was a blast - my friends and I rented an apartment and partied all night long!  In addition, I went to this Student Fellowship Night where all the young and hip youths meet for an unforgettable night.  Some of my friends from Brunei performed and they were a complete success!  Everyone loved them.  It was ecstatic watching them play.

So that was the summary of my winter break.  I hope yours was even better!  Once I got back to London, I studied everyday.  In a way, I liked it.  It puts things back into perspective.  That is, I'm a student and it's my job to achieve good grades (mom and dad, are you reading this?)  After a well deserved break, I felt so refreshed.  On the other hand, I realized I missed London and Bellerbys and my friends here so much.  It's strange.  I am starting to consider London as one of my homes now.  Anyway, I would like to wish everyone Happy Chinese New Year!  We are transitioning into the year of Ox - may all of us be blessed with a new year of new experiences!

Until the next time we meet, goodbye!