UEA International Student Ambassadors

Would you like to spend a Christmas in a real English estate? I guess, the answer is ‘Yes’. When and where else would you be able to taste, smell and admire a real English Christmas especially a couple of weeks before the real one? Blicking Hall Christmas Event Trip organised by Dean of Students’ Office is a perfect opportunity for the exhausted students to get a piece of holiday in their overloaded with the assignments and tests lives. A mansion situated away from the bustle of city life keeping the secrets of its long history is waiting for those willing to escape to a holiday. Everyone will get their own piece of fairy-tale. For the gourmets there will be traditional festive dishes, a hog roast for example. Picturesque landsacpes covered with deep snow won’t leave anyone indifferent to such beauty! Those who like history and aesthetics of old houses will be able to enjoy the interior of the house. Aren’t these arguments enough to convince you? What could be better than rambling in...

I know, I know, I'm about four days late in saying it, but Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Ever since I moved to the UK, I've forced my housemates and flatmates to celebrate this all-American holiday with me every fourth Thursday of November. It wasn't until I came to England two years ago that I realized nobody outside of America really knows what Thanksgiving is all about, so I thought I'd go ahead and share! Originally - and I'm talking back in 1621 - Thanksgiving was a three-day feast celebrating both the successful harvest of some of America's earliest English settlers and their friendship with the local Native Americans, without the help of whom the settlers would certainly not have survived their first winter. The holiday was traitionally celebrated by Americans and was officially declared a holiday by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. Essentially, Thanksgiving has become a day to simply give thanks for what we've been blessed with, and I...

Snow’s here!! No wonder why I’m excited; 2nd and 3rd year students definitely remember the lovely winter Norwich experienced last year! Everything was covered in white, fluffy snow and the campus looked more impressive than ever. It’s just the right atmosphere to take a break and go out with your friends and be silly; snowfights, sliding down small hills on handmade boards, snowfights again and much more take place when the fed-up-with-coursework students see a snowy scenery such as the campus right now! Others, more artistic, take advantage of this endless amount of raw materials to be creative. Last year I saw some pretty cool stuff being made. Starting from snowmen and little castles, to igloos and proper statues (!), some people actually put a great amount of good-will to add their little detail in the nice atmosphere out there! It’s just the best thing to wake up in the morning and open your curtains to witness a snowy sight outside. Whatever your personality is and whate...

As a student here some of the best memories are carved in the LCR. It is situated in the Union House on campus. Even though it was built over 30 years ago it still is the place to be if you want to party. It hosts a lot of gigs and parties. Acts like Duran Duran, Coldplay, Iron Maiden, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Stereophonics, my all time favourites Eurythmics and many more have graced the stage here. This year we have had an amazing time too, although being a third year student is sometimes difficult to attend all the parties, I tried to go to as many as possible. If you are a first year you should aim not to miss even one :p. Trust me! You won't regret it. This Tuesday we have the Disney LCR and on Thursday the Silent disco and I bought my tickets, so I hope I see you all here. I even got a new party hat. All the best, UEA International Ambassador

Hi! Today I would like to talk about our trip to Paris. This year we arranged time in Easter break to go to Paris. As you know, Paris is one of the biggest cultural centre of the world and we wanted to see that beauty visually :) We have firstly been at Eiffel Tower and it was very exciting to see the flag of my country (Azerbaijan) inside the tower. If you are in Paris you should definitely go to the Louvre Museum. Half of your day will be spent in that museum and you will get an amazing impression from that! And the other place that should be traveled in Paris is famous Sacré-Coeur. From their you can see whole Paris. Finally, the most memorable and interesting thing that we enjoyed in Paris was cycling :) You just pay 4 euro by card machine and you can use it all the day. But dont forget to bring it back on time, as will be charged for that :) There are a lot of bike stops over Paris, so you dont need to go back for that. Have a nice trip in advance :) ...

Recently there were news flooding all over the world about a couple from the UK who were aptured by the Somalian Pirates and held hostage for over 13 months! They were beaten and abused by the pirates and were almost seperated. Death could have been their only way out as a result but luckily they were saved! Earlier this year their captors threatened to kill the couple if their demands for £4.4m were not met. A payment of about $430,000 (£267,000) was made to the pirates in June, but did not result in the release of the Chandlers. A fund-raising campaign had been going on in order to raise money to pay the ransom. Media speculation was thought to have influenced the pirates, and so the family opted for a super-injunction banning media coverage of the kidnap. BBC security correspondent said the ransom paid for their eventual release had been "the best part of $1 million". A time line of the events happening from the time they were captured to the time they were rescued: http:/...

There are loads of definiton worldwide of what a hero is or should be like. Whether or not your ideal hero is spriderman or batman; here is the hero from the real world! Anuradha Koirala , the founder of Maiti Nepal, dedicated herself to helping victims of sex trafficking. Maiti Nepal operates rehabilitation home, transit homes as well as preventive homes in Kathmanfu. The organisation rescued women from brothels in India. The women can stay in the homes run by Maiti Nepal until they are able to go back home or if not accepted by their family they may also stay until they are able to live on their own. More than that, the organisation also provide free medical, psychological assistance as well as legal advice to the victims. How to help ? For people who are in the US, they can join the Friends of Maiti Nepal : Friends of Maiti Nepal is the official US representative of Maiti Nepal. It is a non-profit all-volunteer organization dedicated to addressing the human rights crisis of girl sex...

I've been at UEA for nearly two and a half years now, and to my own shame, last Monday night was the first time I went to an actual gig at the LCR. Don't get me wrong - I've spent plenty a Tuesday and Saturday night either in fancy dress or rocking out to Club Retro, but Monday was the first time I saw a live band play here and I'm pretty sure it was well worth the wait. The LCR has seen many world-famous acts, including Jimmy Eat World, Reel Big Fish, KT Tunstall, and the Fratellis to name a few. I myself had the pleasure of seeing the Goo Goo Dolls. The GOO GOO DOLLS. Forgive the enthusiasm, but I am absolutely in LOVE with them and it was literally amazing to not only see such great band live, but to do so in a venue that I myself have partied at before and that's small enough tha t most any seat in the house is a great one. Doors opened at 7.30 with the opening act (UK band Unkle Bob) coming on around 8.15, and by 9.15, the headliners were on stage rocking the c...

Hi UEA and DEV students, Indonesian society in UEA cordially invites all UEA students to a charitymovie evening event for helping the victims of INDONESIAN TSUNAMI, VOLCANICERUPTION and EARTH QUAKE. Indonesian society in UEA does not charge and does not oblige the participants to contribute certain amount should be given. The participants freely decide how much they want to contribute. In this event, we will present an Indonesian based on true-story movie that is believed has tripled budget allocation for education in 2009. The title: “RAINBOW SQUAD” (with English subtitle) Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes. The synopsis: It shows a real condition of education reality in a remoteisland in Indonesia. The director brings up an inspiring story that tellsa journey of ten elementary students and a teacher who struggle for theirdream to protect their school from being closed down. The trailer with English subtitle, please visit this site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W__0xKZyLI&playnex...

Hello again, I know the weather is not as sunny nor as warm as before as winter has arrived at our doorsteps BUT it's not an excuse to keep yourself warm and comfortable in your rooms or house! It's already mid-November and X'mas is getting nearer and nearer by the day! It's not long before everyone just rush out to any shopping malls to buy all their x'mas gifts on their shopping lists! AND SO, to prevent any overcrowding We should get ourselves together and shop till we drop! There are lots of places now in Norwich giving out very good deals for the perfect x'mas gifts for your beloved ones! :)) Here are a list of a few and get more details by clicking on the websites accordingly: 1) Buy 3 for 2 on 'Perfect Gift Items' in Boots! http://www.boots.com/en/Christmas/ 2) Get up to 25% sales on Items in Debenhams! http://www.debenhams.com/christmas?CMP=KNC-GoogleAd&tmcampid=7&tmad=c&_$ja=kw:sale+christmascgn:Christmascgid:1346888678tsid:16252cn...

Bonjour! Since I have a reading week in week 7, me and my friend went to Belgium to enjoy the last bit of freedom before those courseworks drive us nuts! We went to London King Cross on Monday and decided to stay overnight as our train was in the very early next day morning. Grand Place is the center of Brussels which is surrounded by lots of good restaurants, beer and chocolate shops. You can find a lot of chocolate shop (really A LOT !)here ; and even smell chocolate between streets. Apart from chocolate, Belgium is also very famous with its beers and mussels. We tried the very famous cherry beer as well as Mussels with cream n wine. Both of them taste Yummmy :P Then we went to see the very famous Manneken Pis as well as the Belgium Comics Museum. Two of the famous characters that I knew they are from Belgium are Tintin and the Smurfs !! Venus Yu Hong Kong Ambassador

If you haven't already been to Norwich Castle Museum, now is a great time to go! There is a great exhibition on at the moment called the "Art of Faith" which will run till 23 January 2011. There are more than a hundred awesome artefacts to look at, including a mummified cat, textiles and a couple of torcs. The exhibition displays the history of the diversity of faiths in Norfolk, stretching back to three millenia ago. Don't forget to bring your student ID! It's worth your time signing up for a daily tour of the battlements or the dungeons and you can get discounted entry with it. There are also other galleries with permanent displays: - The Anglo Saxon and Viking Gallery - The Boudica Gallery - The Egyptian Gallery - The Natural History Gallery (I like the birds twittering away) - The Twining Teapot Gallery There's also a nice little cafe if you feel peckish after your little jaunt around the Castle Keep :) Check out the museum's website for more informati...

It was not until this year that I realised that weather is a great topic for discussion. Here, in England, it changes almost every 5 minutes and the only way to predict what will come next is to name something completely opposite to what you can see from your window! However, during the last couple of days it was surprisingly logical in its changes. Someone up there realised that it is November and it is time to switch on North wind, icy rain and to shut the sky with clouds. It is already the third day running that everyone is talking about the upcoming winter, Christmas holidays and the cold breath of winter behind their shoulders. The picture is completed with the short days, lack of sunshine and the abundance of electric lights in our lives. As for me everything is not so depressing. I look forward to the Christmas celebration, fairy-tale-like decorated shop windows and the abundance of the garland lights. Such an early festive mood is complemented by the feeling of freedom and exc...

Last summer, I start realising there are so many people handing these hilarious cameras around their necks. LOMO! And I do believe it is an on going trend. Lomography produces its very own style of lomo camera having the base from a small enigmatic Russian camera . E ach camera has its own specific effect like fisheye (which I am now having), the coloursplash, horizons, etc. Lomo is a very magical type of camera. It is not about how expensive the lomo or the film can be; All that matters is how you determine the flash, the presentation of the photo and the explosures. For more details about the camera or the photos, please refer to the following website: http://uk.shop.lomography.com/ I hope you like it ! Venus Yu

Brace yourselves! Here comes Mister Frost... For those of you living on campus, skip to the bottom of this post as you're probably snug and warm in halls. For those of you living in rented accommodation throughout Norwich, you must already have had to deal with the evils that are condensation, cold rooms and spiders. A further evil: heating bills. Here are some sensible tips to keeping warm: 1. Drink hot drinks regularly such as tea, coffee and soup. Some of you may prefer spirits such as vodka and whiskey. 2. Keep moving - a little exercise will help keep you well even it it's indoors. Hoover or do the dishes. 3. Wrap up warmly whenever you go outside and always dress warmly for bed. 4. Wearing several layers of clothing keeps you warmer than one thick layer. 5. Keeping warm at home is vital. Your home should be heated to a temperature of about 21°C. 6. Close bedroom windows at night to keep the warmth in and the cold air out. 7. Light a reasonable amount of candles. (Don'...