Life at Bellerbys College

A Gist of Term One at Bellerbys

Posted by David

Arriving at this alien country for the first time on my own finally seemed surreal when I stepped out of the taxi, sighting the residence door with Pauline (our residence supervisor) welcoming me and my friends. Having put down what seemed like 5 tons of luggage in my new home, I was instructed to proceed to the office for some registration work. 

Seconds after that, the ‘Term 1’ timetable was given to me.  As I briefly skimmed through my schedule, I spotted : English class, 2.20 pm. I literally sprung up and marched aimlessly into my first class which was starting in 5 minutes, whilst downing a sandwich in three bites. 

This totally epitomises the frenetic ambience of my first term.  It certainly did not help that I was still getting used to the time difference; I woke up at 4am everyday and slept at 6.00 pm for the whole first week!  How I wished I could arrive earlier instead of the second day of Term 1.

FES 1, Pure Maths 1, Mechanics 1, Matters & Waves and Art.  These were my subjects during the term. Mr Bentham, my jocular Mechanics teacher, is also my personal tutor, who has helped me in every possible way throughout my UCAS application procedure.  Ms Jenkins, (we call her Lorna), was my zestful yet systematic English teacher who never fails to amuse me in every classes.  I was also lucky enough to have Dr Grant, an extremely ardent physicist, as my Matters & Waves teacher. 

The remaining teachers (Art, Pure Maths) were the quick-witted Mr Nix and the amazing mathematician, Mr Jepps, who coincidentally have the same first name as me; David. How weird is that?  I have three ‘Davids’ in my term reports, where two Davids report about the other.  In general, I think that all British teachers are naturally affable and convivial.

Now that I have mentioned term reports, we receive two reports by the end of a term.  They respectively outline our academic performance as well as our conduct in class in the first half of the term and the remaining half.  We also had a mid term test (we call it ‘mocks’) along the way.  Moreover, due to Bellerbys partnership with ‘billions’ of universities, we were privileged and lucky enough to be able to attend a convention held at Bellerbys Cambridge.  During that time, students had the opportunity to know more about their choices of universities first-handedly and at the same time, catch a glimpse of the sister campus.

In my opinion, the principal challenge of this cardinal term was to get my portfolio prepared.  In contrast with the other courses, architecture students are expected to send a portfolio of their work to the universities of their choice, besides the grades from the exams.  Consequently, I have spent quite a couple of weeks squeezing out all the creativity I possibly have to create a versatile range of work in hopes to impress the universities.  Despite the countless drawings, colourings, modeling, you name it, it was a rather fun process.  I will blog an insight into my portfolio as one of my future entries so as to share with you my experience.

By the end of Term 1, I sat for the Foundation Exams.  I was rather let down by my Mechanics and FES papers, especially when the errors made were extremely careless ones.  It had definitely been a long time since the last exam I have taken in Malaysia.  Nevertheless, I am still grateful with my accomplishment and looking forward to push myself even harder in Term 2. Kudos to all my dear teachers, who have skillfully woven those extensive syllabus into my brain in such a short time.

That’s all from me now. More to come : my daily routine, an insight into my architecture portfolio, kickstarting Term 2 etc.

Thank you for reading.  Au revoir!

P.S : I just finished my Maths test a few seconds ago.  Having an Electricity test tomorrow and an English test on the following day.  Term 2 is definitely not as sparing as I thought in terms of time.

Signing off.

 

David is studying Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys Brighton.

Defining Myself :)

Posted by David, studying Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys Brighton

HELLO readers!!

I feel ecstatic and well beyond honoured to blog on behalf of Bellerbys.  Before I introduce myself and officially pen entries about my life in Bellerbys, I must thank everyone who had made this possible for me. Mr Addison, Mr Corcut, and Ms Courtney.

Last but not least, Mr Beer, who also approached me about this matter, not to mention the countless assistance he had already given me and Mrs Chris who has been instrumental in hastening this opportunity.
 
If you are in the Brighton campus, spot this typical Malaysian guy who smiles so wide for absolutely no reasons, usually donning ties and vests paired with jeans, strapped with an obviously undersized backpack for the amount of things he put inside and a water bottle. That would be me, always pacing very briskly between the corridors of the art and science department.

My name is David Kam, an Engineering Foundation student fresh from Term 1, pursuing Architecture. Evidently, this would mean that I am deeply intrigued by the wonders of architecture.  It was a rather late passion though, paradoxically developed from my interest in fashion designing.  I just generally like peculiar geometrics.  The art of photography is also something I greatly appreciate.  Not only that, I do not mind calculations and simple physics.  However, should I continue listing the number of things I find engrossing, you would never see the end of this post.  I just like.....everything.  Nothing could seem boring.

As for my hobbies, I get very enthusiastic about the little things in life.  (It has become my nature.)  I am also infatuated with dancing, yoga, hitting the gym and listening to music.  Of course, like everyone else, I love hanging out with my friends.

I like trying out various new things too.  Throughout my high school years, I have earned a Diving License and a Life-Saving Proficiency Medal (It was arduous for me to overcome my hydrophobia), scaled the highest mountain in my country, kayaked, abseiled and even eaten raw goat’s liver (as part of some Fear Factor-like challenge).  These experiences are truly memorable and they encourage me to take on more challenges.  But if you know me enough, the one thing I absolutely would not do is to eat cucumber.  Its smell just disturbs me.  Yes, I am a rather random person.

Having already been in Bellerbys for a few months, I have adapted well to the college.  I quite like the way it is designed where departments of different subjects are located in respective floors, making it so simple for us students to navigate our ways to the classes.  It certainly helps me as I have no sense of direction at all.  I am happy with the library as well as the ever so resourceful Mrs Peers (our librarian).  The ample amount of books, especially books on architecture, in the library is just so tempting.  I have to admit that I am a tad bit geeky.  The canteen, on the other hand, is fine.  It is definitely a cosy place where I hang out with my friends the most.

Speaking about cosy, nothing beats my residential room here in Bellerbys.  As time flies, this room of mine has become so functional and dear to me that I fear I would have a tough time vacating it by the end of my time here.  It is just so perfect.  Location wise, it is situated facing the railway station, but the minimal noise did not seem to affect me at all.  Maybe I am just a heavy sleeper.  The fact that my room number (165) is also the date of my birthday, 16th May, is definitely the icing on the cake.  This new home of mine is trademarked with montages of pictures depicting my life back in Malaysia as well as moments in Bellerbys.

Friends!  I must say, this aspect of entering a new environment is usually something which everyone would worry about.  I was fortunate enough to have instantly befriended the people in Bellerbys.  Regardless of their race, Russians, Kazakhs, Nigerians, Vietnamese, Hong Kongers, Chinese, Singaporeans, Thai etc, they are all so amiable!  There are also quite a number of Malaysians here whom I have become quite close to.  In my class, however, I am the only Malaysian.  In addition to that, our class is made up of only boys.  It seemed that no girls were interested in pursuing engineering this year.  How unfortunate!

This new undertaking elates me, previously being the Co-Editor in Chief of my high school’s online magazine.  It is not only something I would enjoy doing during my leisure times while briefly practising my writing skills (I hope you’re reading this, Ms Lorna and Mr Ben) as I sincerely hope that through my views and experiences in my daily scoop of life, I could connect and relate to people, in and outside of Bellerbys.

I just have so many things to share with you readers that it is practically impossible to include everything in my introductory post. I hope you have enjoyed my penning.  I am glad to be able to share my experiences with you readers.  I have also included some pictures of my experience in Term 1.  Stay tuned for my future entries : kick-starting Term 1 and 2, an insight of my architecture portfolio, etc.  Should you have any enquiries at all, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at davidkam09@gmail.com.

And thank you once again for reading. Adieu!

Signing off.

Meet David, Our New Bellerbys Brighton Blogger!

We are delighted to welcome a new student blogger to represent Bellerbys College Brighton.

Say hello to David Kam from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

David is 17 and studying Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys Brighton.  He hopes to study Architecture at Sheffield University in September.

David leads a very active life outside of the classroom and lists spending time with friends, drawing, fashion designing, photography, yoga, dancing, music and going to the gym as his hobbies.  Phew!

Check the blog very soon to read his first post about settling in to life studying Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys College Brighton.

An Overview of My Time at Bellerbys So Far

Posted by Sebasatian, studying Law Foundation at Bellerbys Oxford

Hello readers and welcome to my first entry.

As you have probably already read I am studying Law Foundation at Bellerbys Oxford and am now in my third and last term.  I started this course in September 2009 and have been asked if I would be interested in blogging for Bellerbys.  I certainly was but there were a number of reasons why I then decided to do it later. Well, more or less it was always an excuse not to do it.  However, when I first started Foundation I did not expect that this course will be so intense which I soon found out. Although I only had three subjects (Law, Politics and FES) in my first term, the amount of work you have to do is quite a lot.  I cannot remember exactly how many essays we had to write but there was at least one per week.

My teacher Ian always kept us going and tried to motivate us even when we were at point where we thought that we cannot take any more.  I would have never thought that it was like this and then there were also the December exams.  closer they were coming the more worried we became.  Furthermore my UCAS application needed to be done and I decided to take my IELTS exam as soon as possible.  So I already felt a bit miserable at the end of this first third.

Luckily I can always enjoy very good support from my parents and friends.  They gave me the strength and the courage to get trough all of these difficult passages.  And in the end it all went well and after we had finished our first set of exams I think we were the happiest persons in Oxford which we also celebrated greatly in a pub.

The second term I must say was then different from the first one in many aspects. Firstly, our class grew in number.  In the beginning our course was really small.  It just counted 5 students.  Here I must say I enjoy being in a smaller class because the teacher is able to address and to talk to people individually which is a good thing.  So for this second term we were told that we will have 5 new people joining us.  I was very excited about this because this is always a good chance to meet new people.  Thus the first week was more or less introduction for the newcomers.  One more positive thing I can add is that our class consists of people that are all from different countries which gives a very international feeling.  Also because of this we often have quite lively discussions in Politics for example and it is just fascinating to hear about how things are in other countries.

Secondly, I had to do one more subject which was CIT – another reason to delay writing the blog.  I felt relaxed and happy in the CIT classes.  This was because my teacher Peter made classes enjoyable and funny, so you never felt that work is overwhelming.  The only thing I disliked about it was that my timetable grew and I had less free time.  It was also awkward to wait for the CIT classes sometimes because on a Friday there was a three hours gap between my first class and CIT and you fancy going home for the weekend.  However, I think CIT was a good module for two reasons.  The stuff you do will not overload your mind and you are always shown how to do it, so not too hard and moreover it is a good module to push your marks up, considering that you always went to those classes and did your work thoroughly.

In addition I have moved to another host family which marked a third change of circumstance for me.  I think this also helped me to settle here in Oxford and gave me some peace.  I always remember the day when I first came to my first host family and my parents and aunts were with me as we enjoyed the last days together in England.  When the door opened they probably did not expect that they were with me which was very funny.  However it was not quite what I thought it should have been and so I finally decided to make that move after thinking about it a lot and I do not regret it.  I am now living with two other guys who are very friendly and nice in another family.  I really enjoy my room as it is not only bigger but also I like the furniture(lots of storage room) and the way it is set up. It just gives me the feeling that I am at home here and when there is any interesting football match for instance I can watch it on the TV in my room – so go Bayern Munich!

All in all the second term was better for me and I then knew better how to do my work and not get stressed.  I just told myself to slow down a bit and not to think about everything so much which in the end gave me some confidence and I was able to improve my overall average about 5% from 70 to 75%.  It makes me a little bit proud of course.

In addition I think in the second term it was different how you saw the people around you.  Because of the fact that you have been with all this people for one term already you were happy to see them again and in the meanwhile you got used to them and made friends.  In my opinion to have friends in an unknown environment is the key to be happy and do a good job and was also one of the reasons maybe why I was not completely happy before.  I put down my head only to work and then forgot that there is also the other side of the medal which is to enjoy yourself and simply to have fun and party. 

Perhaps it was also because I was a bit shy in the beginning and did not want to ask anybody. Luckily this has changed now and there is one thing in which Bellerbys Oxford is outstanding and I value a lot.  It is the fact that it actually consists of two schools joint together, so Embassy CES and Bellerbys.  This allows you even to meet more people and make new friends due to the fact that students studying at Embassy do change from time to time.  However in some cases you would have wanted that they could have stayed a bit longer.

The most release of tension in my opinion was the arrival of my offer from Oxford Brookes, my preferred choice!  The offer came really quick so I was very happy when I saw it, another good reason to celebrate of course.  I also went to an open day of this uni and after I have been there I really really want to study there and I know it will be the right place for me.  It also gave me motivation to do good in my exams.

So now I have arrived in my last term here at Bellerbys and in the meantime many things happened and events took place and my feeling says that this term again will hold some surprises ready and will be different from before again.  The first week is over now and I saw a quick start into the topics of my subjects.  No time for long introduction, really jumping in what is on the syllabus.

In Law this is the law of tort and can you believe we have already had over 25 cases in just the first week.  Fortunately I am now aware of that your teacher can bombard you with information and I just take it easy.  Whereby in FES 3 this term I may find the most difficult because students have to do their own research essay.  Even finding a good title gives me some trouble and then going to the library and look for the information about this topic can be pain, for example if you are looking for books for one hour and then admit that you probably have to change your title as you did not find any relevant information at all.  And of course the nice weather at the moment keeps me from entering a library, so I decided after 4 hours of research that I will relax now and then met two friends at Oxford Castle.  It is a lovely place because there is a big hill that you can go up to and it gives you a very nice view and it is located in the middle of the city. 

Actually I wanted to go play some football as the school always organises a friendly between Embassy CES and Bellerbys but I can also go there next week.  Weekends for me will probably involve a good amount of time being in the library to do my research which I hope I will enjoy more in the future but I was told that this will be the way it is in university but at least they will give me the title.

Well I think that this is enough information for now.  I hope that you enjoyed it.  I just wanted you to give an overview of how I felt during the time I have been here since September and how this will continue.  I am happy to share some of my thoughts with you! 

I will also provide some pictures from my hometown in Germany to give you a little idea of how it looks where I come from.  They will appear all over the blog not to make it look like a wall of text.

See you next time, stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Learn more about studying at Bellerbys College Oxford.

Say Hello to Sebastian, Our New Bellerbys College Oxford Blogger!

We are delighted to welcome a new student blogger to represent Bellerbys College Oxford.

Say hello to Sebastian Walch from Blieskastel in Germany. 

Sebastian is studying Law Foundation at Bellerbys Oxford and hopes to study Law or International Relations at university, preferably at Oxford Brookes University.

Outside of the classroom Sebastian enjoys "meeting friends, going to the cinema, going to a nightclub or a pub, reading, PC and just relaxing."

Visit the blog again soon to read his first post about settling in to life studying Law Foundation at Bellerbys Oxford.