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 :)