UEA International Student Ambassadors

Two weeks ago, at LCR, the heart of UEA Campus, the annual Go Global- South East Asia event took place with participation of four international societies: Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indonesian and Bruneian (?). Indeed, it was a great opportunities for students coming from abroad to introduce their culture to other people. One of my friend was really excited when she tried on a hijab for the first time in her life (she is the one in the blue hijab). It was an event  of authentic food, traditional drinks, cultural performances. It was an evening of joy, claps and tears of pride. It was also a moment of homesickness..... ....... Despite the peak of coursework and assignments, members of the Vietnamese Society had managed to practice and prepare a  musical performance and a fashion show for the day. As one of people in charge, I knew pretty much how they would perform on stage. But, when my friends started to sing, I couldn't help bursting in emotion

Day 3 in Ireland was a comparison between the Rocky and Sandy shores that outline the Dingle Peninsula. We began at the rocky shores. After a treacherous decent down the edge of a cliff we hobbled across the rocks (trying to avoid the barnacles, mussels and snails) towards the edge of the water.  It is amazing how many different creatures were within each step! Pictured above are species of Snail and limpet (gastropods) and Mussels (bivalves) which are in the same family as a squid and an octopus (Mollusca)! The Barnacles (tiny yellow dots) are actually crustaceans which make them part of the crab family.. Weird! The sandy shores went on for miles. .... .!  On the left of the picture you can just make out the beginning of the dune system, whereas on the right side you can just about see the waters edge. Lucky for us it stayed sunny because we had a long way to run to find shelter if it started raining! We dug deep holes into the sand and sifted through different laye

I fell in love with Massimo Bottura's cooking after watching a TV show documentary, narrating the stories of the best chefs in the world. I enjoyed Massimo the most due to his phenomenal story of his success as a chef after having to deal with the world's rejection at first. Forget all of that for now though and let's focus on the happy joyful recipes he has created for the world to savour and enjoy. P.S: I stole this from madfood website, but its for Christmas sake :P Ingredients Rack of Lamb sectioned into 4 parts Borragine flowers Baked potatoes 8 potatoes 50g sour cream Basil cream 25ml lamb broth 200g washed basil leaves Mint sauce 50g mint 50ml spring water 5g japanese potato flakes Bread crumb discs 300g sour dough bread 150g thyme 1 egg, beaten Method Basil cream Steam 100g of basil leaves for 4-5 seconds (not more) and let cool.Place lamb broth in a thermomix, with the steamed and raw basil. Mix well for 3 minutes. Pass through a sieve

Christmas is only a month away and for anyone who is thinking of the perfect gift, why not whip a batch of freshly baked cookies for your friends and family       Nutella and Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. Sounds like a mouthful but I can guarantee they taste AMAZING and are so easy to make. I found this recipe on YouTube by the SORTED team last year and made these. Because they are so good I don't only make them on Christmas but anytime I feel like baking chocolate cookies.   Ingredients needed 110 g butter 350 g light brown sugar 55 g cocoa powder 2 eggs 1/4 tsp salt 3/4 tsp baking powder 260 g plain flour 100 g milk / dark chocolate chips 1 sprinkle sea salt 8 tbsp Nutella 16 caramel-filled chocolates   Recipe 1. Preheat oven line a baking tray with parchment paper and  preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.                                                                        2. Melt the but

Well, the 3 rd annual UEA Thanksgiving is over and finished with a roaring success. Every year, I (Patrick), along with Study Abroad and the International Office, host a joint Canadian/US Thanksgiving celebration. Typically, this event has been open solely to international students, particularly those on a Study Abroad or full-time North American students. Each year, we’ve seen numbers grow and the event becoming more and more popular. This year was no exception and will make way for wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations for future generations of UEA students.   The event was a stereotypical Thanksgiving with students and staff bringing dishes to share. We had a full turkey and a whole slew of international delicacies, with emphasis on traditional North American Thanksgiving food. This year, UEA provided the Turkey, which was great. In keeping with the Thanksgiving tradition, we aired the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from 2014, an old NFL (American Football) game and the Char

How to source for Scholarships   Schooling abroad has been the dream of so many young chaps, but the discouraging factor for some has always been funding.   Funding and scholarships should not be a problem if you know your way about it. Funding should not stop you from achieving your dreams of schooling in world class institutions. There are so many ways to getting funding and scholarships, but unfortunately, the popular one known to students is scholarship. I will start with Scholarship today and take you round the other mediums in couple of days   1.        Scholarships:   A sum of money or other aid granted to a student, because of merit, need, etc., to pursue his or her studies. (dictionary.reference.com). we have internal and external scholarships; i.e from the institution of learning and outside the institution of learning. The internal scholarship is limited due to fundings, most times, they are part scholarships (eg. 20%, 50% etc) a

Paper for Food? Definitely Delicious!   Vietnamese Rice Paper Salad  My creative rice paper salad Aha, it is a special type of paper which is made of rice :). As you can guess, since it is as thin as paper, when it is translated in English, it becomes "paper". In Vietnamese, it is actually named "cake", or " Bánh tráng" (the literal meaning is the cake made by spreading the flour on the mould- the first word is cake, the second word describes the action of making it :D)   So this recipe is one of the most favourite street food of teenagers and young people in Vietnam. To be honest, some of my aunties are crazy about this dish as well due to its well-blended taste of sweetness, sourness, spiciness, all balanced with the right level of savouriness. It is just perfect!  Various choices of toppings at a street cart in Vietnam      All ingredients before being mixed I have been studied abroad for nearly 5 years and I const

We stayed at Inch Beach on the Dingle Peninsula.         The main shop had a message painted on its wall which I recognized as an allusion to a poem I love by Robert Frost. It is called 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening', follow the link for a quick read - I highly recommend it! http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171621   The shop was located right near the beach which was littered with sandy hills and tussocks known as dunes. Dunes systems develop near to the sea and, because of the ferocious influence of the water and wind, change shape and size frequently.          Dunes provide a unique habitat under which only a few species of plant can survive. This means some are very rare and result in the protection of dune systems - Inch has the largest active dune system in Ireland!       After a lot of walking up and down dunes, with painful legs and slight sun burn, we called it a day and headed to the beach for an afterno

This September I went on a Field Ecology course to Inch, South West Ireland. The landscape was absolutely incredible! From rocky beaches, to dune systems and estuarine habitats all the way up to rolling hills and mountain peaks. My free time was filled with exploring these wonderful places. The course was based around the differences in landscape as found in Norwich, and how these differences relate to differences in habitat structure and therefore surrounding animal and plant life. The first week we spent a day at each habitat exploring the physical and biological processes at play, and had a go developing scientific questions of interest based on interactions we saw or expected to see. Day 1: Woodland My first day was in the woodlands of Killarney National Park. Here, due to geological processes and shifts in plate tectonics, the land is composed of interchanging bands of limestone and sandstone rock. Limestone is alkaline and so Yew, which likes this environment, do