It's another 20 minutes to my next lecture so I'm hoping that I get this done by then. If not, I'll finish it later haha. For those of you who have not popped that question yet, yes Warwick is fine. It's a huge place (750 acres!!) with fantastic sports facilities (apparently the Olympic tennis team for 2012 is going to train here) which is splat in the middle of nowhere. Sounds familiar? Well in a way it's like KTJ extended, along with sprawling fields and a lot more walking to do if you want to travel to places. My room in Tocil is almost as big as the room at home, and I'm sharing that with my brother! It doesn't have on suite bathrooms though, but there's a shower and bathtub that six of us in the apartment share, so it's not that bad. For those of you who still DON'T know where the University of Warwick is, it's 20 minutes off Coventry and Birmingham, and about two hours' drive from London. No, it's not in Warwickshire, so don't bother looking there. You won't find it haha.
Coventry is basically the nearest town, and there's regular bus services there everyday for people to do their shopping and stuff. Almost everything is available there, except for the Chinese/Asian stuff which is available in Birmingham. Usually we do shopping at Tesco's or Costcutters though, which is located on campus. The living halls are self-catered, so people usually group together to cook up gastronomic delights (or disasters if you prefer). Seriously it's not that bad. Nine of us Malaysians whipped up bah kut teh the other day and it was authentic enough haha. So far fried rice seems to be the most popular dish, but maybe I'm going to try my hand at curry tonight? Any takers? Haha.
The lectures just started and I guess it's not bad. They're still revising some A Levels stuff and so there's not been much excitement now. Apparently some people in math course can't integrate or differentiate to save their lives, so yea, we're revising. I was quite pleased actually that there was a topic on the Theorem of Infinite Primes, which we proved (if people can remember) in Further Math class last term or the term before. That was by far the most interesting topic so far and hopefully the other lectures will start to gather up speed and get to the exciting stuff. I'm taking something like 171.5 CATS now, which apparently is suicide (the minimum is 120 and maximum is 180. 1 CAT is equivalent to about 3 hours of study). Oh well, blame it on my broad range of interests. AND I'm actually trying to pick up some French this year, which counts for 24 CATS and have nothing to do with my course. I have a nagging feeling I'm going to drop some of those option modules if I find them not to my liking or that I have a tendency to doze off half way. Lectures are conducted in one hour sessions and rarely continuously, making them compact and easier for students to concentrate, which is a good thing. There's also support classes, supervisions and tutorials but they've not started yet.
So far the company here's been great. Everybody (who are not Asians) seems to be fascinated at the Malaysian weather. It's not been that nice here though. Imagine the sun shining down on you but you feel that your hands are freezing, not to mention that the wind seems bent on blowing you away. I'm waking up with cramps in my legs some days when it gets too cold but well, nothing too serious. Probably will get an extra duvet to make it feel more cozy and roomy in bed haha. Other than that, the weather's been good to my skin and there's no sign of any eczema outbursts anywhere. Quine you should come here, solves the problem for once haha. Either way, the climate's still bearable so I'm not complaining... yet... The Asians are nice too. I have a group of Malaysian friends whom always hang out together for food and fun so it's kinda nice, though none of them are doing math. I think most of the Asians here end up doing courses in Warwick Business School more than anything, especially Accounting and Finance, Law and Economics. Haven't met a local accountant or financier yet, so you can imagine. Despite only making up only 20% of the student population, there's actually a pretty diverse mix of foreigners here. I've met people from places like Germany, Lithuania, China, Mauritius, Bulgaria, India, even Israel. It's interesting to hear groups of people suddenly breaking out in conversation in a language you can't understand, and it really adds to the cosmopolitan atmosphere in the uni.
I actually completed this after dinner of curry and grilled chicken with rice, which was not bad. Looks like I'm picking up some culinary skills along the way here, or maybe it was always in the genes haha. Either way, I'm happy to cook for people if they enjoy the food so much, and are willing to bring in the ingredients for me to work on. I'll try my best to keep this blog posted among hectic classes and replying various e-mails, so do watch this spot. Maybe some day I'll write an article in French, who knows? Haha. Oh well, until then, take care and please let me know how you're getting on. Cheers =)~Zhongy~
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