Life at Bellerbys College

My Daily Routine at Bellerbys

Posted by David, studying Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys Brighton

Aloha everyone!


I was a rather busy student back in Malaysia, being involved in various school activities.  Arriving here in this new environment simply seems like reconstructing my daily routine from scratch.  It really took quite a while for me to rustle up my courage and take part in activities either organised by Bellerbys or outside of the college.  I knew I had to do something during my leisure times to release my indefatigable energy.

Therefore, I have consistently been collecting those pieces of coloured notices listing out the weekly activities in Bellerbys, throughout the term.  I started attending yoga and fitness classes after the college hours.  And I must say that they really do make me sweat!  Apart from that, I go for guitar lessons on Fridays.  It was very considerate of them to organise two different guitar classes - beginners and intermediate for students of different levels of experience in the instrument.

There are so many other activities I would have loved to be involved in if not for the time restriction that I have.  For instance, the Debating Society, martial arts, violin, drumming, table tennis and the Poetry and Books Club.  What I anticipate the most is the dance club, which is going to be established soon.  I cannot wait for the first class!

Not only that, I have become a member of Fitness First (a ten minutes walk from the campus).  It was my first experience possessing a gym membership.  When I was given a tour of their facilities, I had to check and make sure that the equipments were safe enough for a clumsy user like myself.  Ever since watching Final Destination 3, I have never had a good impression of gyms.  (Watch the movie and you will know what I mean!)  Contrary to my beliefs, (or maybe it’s just Fitness First) going to the gym is actually safe and fun!  Not only the equipments have simple-to-follow instructions, the trainers there are very approachable, always more than glad to advise you on the right exercising method to prevent unnecessary injuries.

Nonetheless, what I am most fascinated about this membership is the group classes that they have offered, comprising of cardiovascular exercises, toning regimens, body balancing classes and lastly, DANCE classes!!!!  They organise Street/HipHop, Latin and Strictly Fit classes, where the dance genre would vary from time to time.  If only they have offered contemporary dance classes, this gym would have been perfect.  My personal favourite (besides the dance classes, of course) is the Spinning Classes.  We cycle for our lives during those sessions, pressing our feet against the pedal rapidly to synchronise our speed with the energetic upbeat music.  The pace of our rpm (revolution per minute), in other words, the speed of our feet’s movement is literally like rolling drumsticks.  I never thought that was possible until I actually did it myself.  I never knew the cycling methods could have been this versatile too.  A secret confession to make, I cannot cycle conventionally for nuts.  Thank goodness the gym ones are stable spinners.  Hence, I quote from Mr Bentham, just ‘throw yourself into deep water’.

Despite these self-indulgent ‘everything is good’ ramblings of mine, there is an initially negative aspect of my gym experience.  I would say that I come from a rather conservative country.  So, obviously, you could have imagined how stunned I was when I entered the gym toilet and all I see was exposed male body parts.  Culture shock really hit my brain at that instant.  I got used to it though, eventually.  It was sometimes not even about the awkwardness I felt, but the sheer intimidation from seeing their chiseled bodies.  Well, not all of them, but you get the idea.  The feeling of insecurity was soon channeled into a stronger sense of motivation to increase my fitness level and most importantly, my health.

Did I also tell you that the Fitness First in Brighton has a sauna and steam room?  Okay, enough of the gym, I have recently signed up to volunteer for this charity group called Moving Voices, but yet been able to assist them due to the clashing times with my classes.  I tried searching for other voluntary work too, especially charitable ones.  And I actually heard (vaguely) from my classmate that people can soon volunteer to contribute to the Olympics Games in 2012.  Will definitely post something about it if I have actually stumbled upon this once in a lifetime voluntary program.

Of course, aside from all these activities that I have been doing, my academic performance is still my top priority.  I limit myself to a maximum of three activities a day and study at night.  I firstly complete my homework, then proceed to recapping what I have learnt for the day, before mind-mapping everything during the weekend.  If I still have time, I would do some research about architecture to increase my depth of knowledge in the field.  Weekends are even better as I would be able to hang out with my friends.  I have to give credit to my personal diary designed with such an efficient layout for me to conveniently plan my daily routine.  In my opinion, this habit of scheduling your daily plans is extremely beneficial.  Do try it!

Stay tuned for more David!

Thank you once again for your time in reading this ‘little’ entry of mine.

Till we meet again!

Signing off!

Find out more about studying Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys Brighton.

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.