UEA International Student Ambassadors

Time goes so quickly I must say… I remember arriving at the congregation hall very anxiously, observing all the different buildings at University. Without attending to any open days did not help the anxiety at all, although I kind of relied on Google map, discovered all the 1960s architecture and walked through campus virtually with my parents. I am a final year student, studying Psychology; this is my 9 th  year studying in the UK! Previously, I have studied in different areas such as Eastbourne, Shrewsbury, Somerset and here I am in Norwich! This year, my dissertation is going to be on psychopathy and empathy and trust me! Designing an experiment and doing all the background research can be quite daunting and overwhelming, but I guess that is the fun part of my degree!    Apart from my academic work, I am in four societies which are Enactus UEA, Headucate, Korean Society and Tedx Society. All these societies have enriched my University life by enhanc...

Having a dog in the UK Having a dog in the UK is quite different like having a dog in Taiwan. This Blog is going to talk about the personal experience that I having a dog in the UK. In Taiwan, we have pet shop in every city, it is very easy to buy a dog in Taiwan. However, when I consider to have a dog in Norwich, I thought it will work much the same way as Taiwan.  It surprised me that, in the UK, there is a pet shop, but they are not selling pet directly in the shop, instant, you have to buy from other platform. If you are planning to buy a dog or cat, I suggest you buy your animal from a reputable supplier – advice on buying a dog or cat is available from a range of animal organisations, such as  Dog Advisory Council ,  Kennel Club , the  Dogs Trust  and the  RSPCA So, I bought my puppy from Kennel Club, on this website, you can find all the different breed in whole the ...

Hello everyone! Starting a new year at uni is always very exciting – whether it’s the excitement of catching up with friends after summer, being a year closer to graduating, or reliving fresher’s week all over again! But it is also important to look back and reflect at the end of each year about what went well and what did not. I like to call these as my “pits and peaks”, and every year my friends and I go for an end-of-year meal and discuss our pits and peaks, and what we learned from them. Looking back, I’d like to say that my year went fairly well – I had a lot of trips to the Norfolk beaches coupled with many country pub lunches with my friends (it was my first-time swimming in the cold British waters!) and I was also able to get involved with the Surgical Society at UEA to organise a National Surgical Conference! I got to learn so much more about UEA with my role here at the International Office, and I loved each bit of my involvement. It is very rewarding to be abl...

Hi everyone. I thought I’d do a short post on some of my scattered thoughts on the climate change situation and how it’s panning out in my home country, Malaysia. Therefore, most of this will be relevant to the current situation there, but even if you’re from another country, it may still be worth a read, as I suspect many of the things, I bring up are relevant in many developing countries across the world. We now exist in what has been deemed a time of climate crisis. The vast majority of people around the world, Malaysia included, are aware that climate change is real and that we have to do something about it to ensure the survival of our species. As some of you may already know, I’m about to enter my third year of study in Energy Engineering at UEA. Over my summer break, I have had the opportunity to take up a two-month internship at a local engineering firm back home in Malaysia. During this time, I have had the chance to meet many engineers from different companies, as ...

Presenting my PhD research at the European Parliament Last month, I was invited to present my PhD work at a symposium organised at....the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France!!!! I honestly have to say I was beyond excited. Here is a photo of me on my way to my presentation day...rainy day...but nonetheless finding Strasbourg beautiful. This was my second time presenting my research at an institution outside UEA and I was thrilled to have such an amazing location and platform to do so. I am in the Faculty of International Development at UEA and in my research I focus on understanding the higher education aspirations of Mexican young people living in poverty. I have been passionate about this topic for a long time now and I started researching about it since I wrote the dissertation for my  MA International Development. I was obviously a bit nervous but I have been working in this topic for more than 3 years now! So I knew what I had to say. My 15-minutes prese...

Most people I've spoken to about this have said one of the main drivers for why they came to university was to increase their level of employability later in life. A few of my close friends would rather have taken a gap year to experience different cultures and returned home to a decent job, but unfortunately many of us nowadays don't believe this is possible so we continue with our education almost like there is no other option. Although I do personally believe that it is becoming gradually harder to find employability without the completion of higher education, I do think there are things many of us want to do but don't think we can that actually build on our employability. UEA's on-campus career central offers an extensive amount of help to current students and continue three years following graduation. The career central offers many events and how to... sessions throughout the year to everyone but the help the provide for those in their final year might be key ...

Staying healthy is extremely important as a student and as much as you might feel it's impossible to keep up with health when you have 1001 essays to write, IT MUST BE DONE! Here are five things to do to keep up the health for very low prices:  1) SKIPPING: Skipping for at least 20 minutes per day will do wonders for your body. You don't have to do it all at once. 10 minutes, twice a day will burn more than 200 calories and that's 1000 calories a week. Talk about being on your way to a sharp, slim trim! 2) SMOOTHIES: No one needs to tell me how hard getting those fives a day are. The best way to curb that problem is with smoothies. You can make them yourself. A perfect ratio of vegetable: fruit: liquid will have you set for the day and if you have it multiple times a day, even better.                                               ...

  Have a guess about the number of species having their habitat at UEA! A wild guess, maybe. 100? 200? Maybe 1000? Incorrect! UEA is home to more than 5000 species! Yes! The grassland is rich enough to host many flora which in turn entice many fauna to come and sustain themselves. Have a look on these naughty bunnies playing together.  And here you can have a delight in seeing an awesome otter on the trail. The wildlife trail is divided into four trails to suit different habitats and is looked after by the students and staff of UEA. Below a young otter dives silently into the water, surfacing seconds later to glide to the reedbed with a fish clamped between its jaws. Wait! poor otter isn't the only one to blame. This little birdie is also having a delicious delight. And dogs have the privilege of enjoying in the meadows as well as in the woodland. So take your dogs for a little science stroll at UEA which is heaven for them. How? Well, university allows do...

A NEW SOCIETY JUST LANDED AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT'S ABOUT TIME! I remember thinking to myself last year. I was like wow, there isn't really a platform for black girls to come together and discuss the societal issues we have (and there are a lot) and how to rise above them. It doesn't even have to be that serious. How about just a place to come together and talk about...I don't know...hair.                                                                                                                          WELL NOW WE HAVE IT! The society launched a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you, it's been great. The first event was a natural hair discussion and there was so much t...

Hi everyone! I am a football lover but lately, my team in Brazil, Flamengo, is not doing bad but it didn't win the main national title since 2009. Because of it, I had stopped watching football. Now that I am living in the land of football - England is considered the country where football was invented - I started to become more interested in that matter. Another reason is that people here are big supporters of the city's team - The Canariens. The funny fact is that Brazil's national team is also known as Canariens, actually, we call them as little Canaries, because Brazilians love to add little to every word in order to make it sound cuter haha Last Saturday, I went to the city center for meeting a friend and I saw this wave of people wearing yellow and green clothes walking toward the stadium. I love a big crowd so now I am supporting the Norwich team and hoping they come back to the Premier League. Go Canariens!

The UEA international office is working on rebranding and strengthening our social media presence. The individual country pages on Facebook are seeing more posts than before trying to keep prospective students in the loop with everything exciting that is going on at UEA and around campus! Currently we have just launched an Instagram campaign that will allow you to get to know the International Student Ambassadors. Every Monday, starting this past Monday, a new ambassador will be introduced to you. We're hoping this will allow you to put a face to a name, but also provide you with a more genuine connection when you are in contact with our student ambassadors leading up to your arrival as well as the duration of your degree. We are always acting as friendly faces, and will be able to answer any questions you have to the best of our abilities. Head on over to our Instagram (@uea_international), and stay tuned for all the introductions to come!

Hi everyone, I would like to share something that I started to realise after these 4 months living in U.K. It makes me laugh a lot because it is so part of the culture that most of the times it sounds a little bit "too much". Here is a list of the most frequent ones: - Boom It's for those moments you are telling a story and it ends up in an expected way but with some dramatization behind it. For example, like a guy has been seeing with this girl all over, chatting all the time, having lunch together until they.. BOOM...she gets pregnant. via GIPHY Happy Days I love this one! Jamie Oliver in his cooking tv shows says it all the time after tasting it. He usually says "Mmmm...happy days!". Sounds silly and cute! via GIPHY ...to be honest British are famous for being polite all the time. So they use this expression to find a safe window to share their thoughts. The thing is that they use it a lot! It sounds like they are not honest ...

Sometimes getting the desired experience in your field can be a little bit tricky. I know that as a psychology student this is something I have definitely struggled with! If you're a psychology student like me or are looking to get into psychology but the limited amount of options are steering you away, keep reading. Over the summer between my first and second year at UEA I learned about SLV.Global . SLV.Global is a volunteer organisation that provides psychology students and graduates from around the world the incredible opportunity to gain practical experience in the mental health sector. These placements not only provide you with valuable experiences but does so while being immersed in a new and exciting culture. Depending on what exactly you're looking for, I can guarantee SLV.Global will have something for you. Travel to India to learn about clinical and ancient psychology over two weeks and get a greater understanding of mental health treatment and how cultural and en...

Having been here for two years now, I would say that I have had my fair share of coffee runs in Norwich. I can vouch for it when i say that Norwich has so many great places to get your coffee fix.            1. Strangers Coffee House  This has to be my favorite coffee place in Norwich, and might I also say, one of my favorite places out of all the places I've been while being in the UK so far. I always find myself heading to the direction of Strangers whenever I'm in the city centre and everytime i tell myself I don't need coffee, I still end up leaving the city with a cup from Strangers anyway.  My go to would be their Mocha which is basically just heaven in a cup. At most places I've been, you don't really taste the chocolate but with strangers, it's an entirely different story. Not only do you get taste the coffee, you also taste the rich chocolate. It is just a must have especially in this cold weather.    ...