Christmas dinners and holiday breaks :)

4 more days to Christmas, I can't wait to Christmas  Eve and Christmas Day. I've had such a brilliant time, celebrating Christmas with friends and colleagues. I had a wonderful dinner with INTO staff and teachers last week. Not only having good Christmas food, there was such a nice night to chat and build relationship with all the people I work with. We all had such a lovely evening and I couldn't get it enough :">

You will never stop eating and celebrating in the season of greetings :P I also spent a whole evening cooking and having Christmas feast with my friends. It was fantastic!!!! Lots of laughter and jokes <3

I have 3 week holiday for Christmas and New year which I have to take spend them brilliantly. exams right after New Year :( but anyway, i am gonna make the most of my holiday enjoying and experiencing the time here. 2-3 day breaks don't ruin the results, do they ? :D

Oh, another thing is it hasn't snowed in Belfast just yet :) Well, should I cheer up or should I be sad? The bright side is it's not that cold this winter in comparison to last year. However, I would love a white Christmas which is very very very beautiful <3. Anyway, I always love Christmas, the best time of the year !!!!

Have a lovely Christmas and happy New Year, everyone!!!!

That's me....1st semester is nearly over !!!!

Can't even believe that I've just finished the very first semester of my Msc in Finance and another greeting season is coming very soon :) Take a look back to what I've done,....not bad; handed in two big assignments, several tests and lots of pressure. I've made them through :)

I've been enhancing my skills and knowledge every single day by lectures and group works. Even though the pressure of the course is quite intensive, I still have time to enjoy many social activities organised by myself and other organisation, as well make loads of new lovely friends

Thanks to everyone who has been supporting me and helping me both in work and study. Another half way I need to get through. It's not gonna be easy but everything should be alright if I carry on as I am doing at the moment :).

Anyway, let's take a wee break in a few weeks time to celebrate Xmas and a New Year :) Oh, 2012 is the year of the Dragon ....My year!!! We start to plan how to celebrate Xmas with friends in Belfast. it's gonna be a bold day :D

Christmas Countdown

19 days to Christmas day!!!!! Tik tok...tik tok I was so over the moon when INTO Christmas Party was such successful night. Lots of laugh, lots of amazing dance moves. I hope that everyone had a great night and is excited for coming Xmas season.

On Saturday, I and some INTO students were down town to St George's Market, one of the most oldest market in Belfast. That was such an amazing day. We smell European Christmas very close with hundreds of lovely dishes, traditional Christmas craft fair, etc. I am not sure how may times I've been to St George's Market since I came to Belfast, but still I love this place so much, especially in Xmas time.All the students were really amazed by the local stalls and the atmosphere there that you can not find in any supermarkets :P shopping in market is absolutely fab <3 <3 <3

After spending more than 2 hours in the St George's Market. We headed to Christmas Continental market in City Hall. Packed with hundreds of people, we enjoyed the lively environment with some French crepes and burgers...Ohhh they were yum. i could not get it enough :D

Just remember 1 year ago, how much I enjoyed Xmas. So, think that I can understand and feel the feelings of INTO new students :)

There's gonne be tons of other events in town and in churches. This Sunday I and some students will join the Christmas Carol Service that I nerver get bored of <3 <3 <3

Well, so ecited for the 25th with roast dinner and music with some local and international students. Well, this weekend, think I nee a new outfit :P Hooray!!!

Christmas is coming

28 days count down to Xmas and 3 days count down to INTO Christmas Masquerade party. Time flies in a blink of a eye, remember last year, I had my very first European Christmas which was absolutely amazing. This year, I'm involving in organizing the Christmas party with many supports from INTO staff for students.

Like last year, this event will be held in Europa Hotel in Belfast on Wednesday, 30th November. The reason for celebrating it early is that students may go home after their exams. Anyway, sooner or latter really doesn't matter, having fun is what it matters :) There are lots of things to do for this event, such as planing, approving, hotel room booking, shopping for the events,etc which I feel really interesting for this Xmas. Hopefully for those students who haven't experience the real Xmas atmosphere, this is the chance to help them explore something new and those who celebrates Xmas, this would be another extreme lovely Xmas :)

In order to encourage students to come along, I arranged a free movie night with Christmas film, just to make them feel Christmas incoming very close and. This event went really well with lots of laughters :D

After the INTO Christmas party, there are many others in my list, such as INTO staff Xmas party, dinners with my friends and eventful calendar in the Student Union which I can't wait join in. This's gonna be a really exceptional season of greetings for me in the Uk

An eventful city

For those who think Belfast is not an interesting city, I post this entry just to show how interesting it is and how it can keep me busy all day.

Keep an on the newsletter of Belfast Council, the Student Union or any other organization, I can guarantee  that your diary is full of upcoming events. Recently, the MTW EMA held at City Hall in Belfast was one of the biggest international events. Not only are big cities like London or New York the destinations for those kinds of activities, Belfast, Northern Ireland is also in the list.
I've been here for more than 1 year and think Belfast is such a convenient city which you can have everything and enjoy the world-class activities in a short walk. For example, 30 minutes walk to City Center to meet your favorite celebrities and to cheer with the crowds

                                                          City Hall _MTV EMA

                                                           One of the fans cheering her idols

There are as well so many events for Christmas and I also involve in organizing one of the big events for  INTO students. I really feel like I am a part of this exciting city.
For this week, I am looking forward to seeing the Christmas lights switch on in the heart of Belfast. There will be packed with people and many interesting things. Christmas is coming, there it comes, the Christmas continental market with various kind of food from all over European countries... Whoo hooo, I really enjoyed it last year and can't wait to come to these events this December.

Ps: photos and news will be as well updated :P

Half way through of the 1st semester....and Happy Halloween

I'm in the middle of week 6 of the academic year. Now it's been half of the first semester already. October has just passed and there it comes November, as well I feel Christmas very close. Time really flies in a blink of an eye. I'm still dealing with my assignments and going to school regularly. Now I know almost everyone in my Msc Finance class and they're all very friendly. In Queen's, there are group works for every single module and that's a really fantastic opportunity for you to make friends.
Oh, nearly forget :) yesterday was my first presentation in my course. It was just a wee update for my project but I felt nervous as well :p. Fortunately, everything was going well and we got some positive feedbacks from the lecturer.

Apart from my studying, I'm still working with INTO students and we had a really good time together in the Halloween party up in Elms Village last night. People was well dressed up in their favourite Halloween costumes. We played some traditional games and then watched Insidious movie which was a horror film. All the students and I was really enjoyed that wee night. It seems to be more than enough for my second Halloween in Belfast and I'd better off to do my assignment now :D

Hope this will be a successful November for me and for everyone as well!!!

iFriends

iFriends is an organization created by a group a people from churches. It's been in Belfast for years with the aim to connect and help all international students. With series of "i" program, such as iCafe, iTalk, iSport, iConnect are the bridges between international students and local community.

I've been to those event since the very first week I arrived to Belfast. From there, i've had so many opportunities to make friends with both international and local people from different backgrounds, been to many trips with them, and explored Northern Irish cultures with various activities. Last Sunday we went to iConnect to one of the local families in All Saint church. Honestly, I can't remember how many times I've been joining these events, but every time brings to me such a different feeling...really warm welcome, lots of laughs, lovely food cooked by local people.

I never feel lonely in this country because there are so many things for you to explore and i just wish it would be more than 24hours/day to fulfill my activity list :)

Giant Causeway- Rope bridge- Dunluce castle with INTO students

What a relaxing Saturday with INTO students to Giant Causeway-Rope bridge and Dunluce Castle!!! We had a really good number of students signed up for the trip :)

We had a really nice time with some quizzes from Zaut_one of INTO students and breathtaking scenes. Even though, it was raining a wee bit freezing but nothing could not stop us from having good fun :) I really enjoy the time working at INTO with lovely students <3

This October is full of social events to welcome INTO freshers and I am looking forward to seeing more students in the next trips :)

Ps: Photos will be posted at later time :P

Fre..eeeee lunches :)

Around this time every year, some churches in Belfast organises free lunches for students. Everyone is invited and welcome :) I always love the food there with beautiful hot dogs and lovely soups <3. Every Thursdays and Fridays, students come along to Fisherwick and St Thomas church to get lunches and sit down to chat with awesome background music played by several members from the church.

Thank you everyone who has organised such a good place for us to make friends or we can discuss the projects with our partners. After lunch,...classes start and we're back to lectures with freshness and joy!!! 

Acadamic updates...

It's been 4 weeks from today since I started my Msc. How can i describe my feeling :) ? Well, it's the mixture of excitement and challenge. I'm excited because of learning new things that I haven't done before,...excited to work with tons of new friends both locals and internationals. However, time flies in a blink of an eye with many things on schedule and i gotta try my best to manage them. It is sometimes exhausted but I feel that I am living my life with its best effort to achieve the success :)

4 weeks have passed and I can tell that Queen's school of management is really brilliant with enthusiastic lecturers who are always available to listen to your concerns and give the most honest feedback. in addition, you're provided with the latest news and upcoming events to keep you up-to-date with various opportunities in your career path.

Generally. everything is going in the right track :) and i am happy with the things I'm doing <3

It's been a week...

It was Monday again and my course has started for a week already. I had the very first lectures and tutorials for every single module in this semester. They're all really interesting and challenging. Thanks for the Graduate Diploma course at INTO which provided me with skill sets and relevant knowledge, therefore I feel very confident with my MSc Finance. 

I was assigned to be in a group with 2 local students in Economic and Financial Strategy module. They're all very friendly and helpful. Normally, there is a mixture of students with various backgrounds within a group, so we can share experience among each other. In addition, a small group with 3-4 members would be very efficient and easy to manage. 

I'm going in the right track and everything's perfectly fine so far. It's expected to have more workloads in the next following weeks, but it should be fine once I have reasonable time management. I still can join many social activities organized by International Friends and the Student Union at least twice a week :) It's all about work life balance :D

Right! Hope it's gonna be another good week for everyone and for me as well :) 

My first Msc Finance class

I had got my timetable for my Msc Finance, which is very intensive with 12 hours lectures and tutorials. Unlike Bachelor degree, Master students are required to spend most of the time for self-studying. Around 80 postgraduates are doing a Master at Queen’s Management School and roughly 31 of those are Msc Finance. You can make friends with students from all over the world, such as America,  European countries, China, Vietnam, Middle East, etc. The most important thing is that they are very nice and friendly. In addition, we can share experience not only in academic purposes, but also in cultural perspectives.

My first class was Corporate Finance, which is generally about decision making in corporations and business. It is a really interesting module, which provides me techniques to analyze and explain economic situations happening in daily life. The teacher is really enthusiastic, helpful and experienced in the related field; therefore students could get practical and up-to-date knowledge.

No classes in couples of days but I still need to revise and do some readings for the subject and look forward to the other 2 modules in the first semester!

 I am also looking forward to take part in Queen’s Freshers’ Fair, which is on 28th, and 29^th September.  There will be hundreds of clubs from academic to sports and social ones. Last year, I signed up for photography and music clubs which were really helpful and interesting. So, this year, I am gonna make the most of my time to attend more activities in Queen’s 

Ps: Any pictures will be updated at later point :D

TGIF!!!!

Whoo hoo. It’s Friday again...a busier Friday than usual with lots of things to do and students around the office. Glad that I can somehow help them resolve their concerns. More good news is that the social assistant have just planned another brand new social event in preparation for the new international students who will arrive for induction next week  “ walking treasure hunt programme” which is a good craic to explore Belfast in a dynamic way. Oh, by the way, 'Craic' is a Northern Irish word which means 'fun'.

That is more than enough for my lovely weekend. I’m going to join Ceili (Irish dancing) and an Irish Stew Buffet organised by Queen’s tonight, down in the Whitla Hall which is 5 minutes away from where I live. That’s a great chance to meet new friends and experience Belfast culture.

TGIF and happy weekend everyone!!!

Queen's International Orientation Week

3 months have just passed and that is all for my lovely and busy summer vacation.
This morning was a wee bit different from others...the university street was full of students and we had enough sunshine for the first day back to university :) That was more than enough for my starting point.

I've already missed INTO Queen's University Belfast and my first year memories here at INTO with lots of friends and precious experience. Anyway, I am working for INTO as a social assistant that means I still can keep in touch with my lovely teachers and staff, as well as greeting new international students studying at INTO.

Well, a little nervous even though I have been here for 1 year. Still the same feeling when I first came to Belfast...Excited, curious, nervous and 100% ready for the new challenging path.

Apart from that I am preparing the social event plans for INTO Queen's University Belfast students. Better than anyone else, I know how they're feeling to be away from home and live in a foreign country. So, I'll try my best to help involve them in the colourful student life in Belfast. Hope they will love INTO Queen's and Belfast like I do.