Pre-departure

1. Visa Application

I got my CAS number really late (25th August) and sent in my application on that night. Fill in whatever information you have first and just add on the CAS info when you get them. The earliest appointment time I managed to get was on 1st of September, exactly a week after I submitted my application online. I paid for priority (RM1067) because it was too risky to wait for 15 working days. I got a reply on the 8th of September (exactly 5 working days) and I was really grateful that there were no delays and the money I paid was worth it. The University Placement officer (of SU) gave me lots of help and checked through my documents and I was ever grateful for that. I'm sure there are lots of guides etc regarding the visa so should you have any specific question, just drop a comment or contact me via my social medias, I'll try my very best to help.

3. Shopping

I brought a total 56kgs of check-in & hand carry luggage (I cut down alot already ok I'm still quite sad to abandon those things) so I'm definitely not the best person to advise you to travel light HAHA. What you really need to bring over is a rice cooker, hair dryer, stationery, contact lens solution, pads. Well I brought a mini frying pan too cheap deal from Aeon and also milo nestum nescafe greentea sachets (lol don't judge) and of course instant noodles. My dad took out the knife that I was supposed to bring over sigh I still haven't gotten one here it's quite pricy...

4. Haircut

Cut your hair before coming to UK unless you're willing to pay at least 9 pounds for a trim!

***

16 September 2017 (Day 0?)

Be at the airport really early especially during the peak period where everyone flies. I reached 3 hours before my flight but the queue for baggage drop was really long already. Just come 4 hours earlier. I was so frustrated I didn't even feel emotional lol after queuing for 40 minutes. I was so relieved because the lady at the check-in counter didn't pick on my extra 3.5kgs!!!

Thanks for coming guys xx my hardest goodbyes :(



Photo taken at Hamad International Airport, Doha. Transiting was no big deal, just follow the signs and you'll find your gate easily.

 I didn't really sleep well in the first flight and hence I slept through the second one. The second plane is bigger and more canggih and the food was pretty unique too.

I was so glad that I wasn't flying alone!!! The long journey was much more bearable with them :')

Day 1: 17 September 2017

I queued at the custom for around an hour upon arrival, immediately collected my baggage and went to the arrivals hall. I booked the Airport Pickup by the university and I was so glad I did (although not cheap) because they helped alot with my luggage :''') No way I can do it by myself without a trolley. After waiting for another hour we departed to uni, less than an hour's bus ride. Huge shoutout to the student volunteers for helping me with my 2 large luggage, couldn't thank them enough for that.


My accommodation (5 bedrooms Parkwood Houses) is on campus, at one end of the campus as Parkwood is considered as a student village.
2 rooms, a kitchen and a toilet downstairs; 3 rooms, a toilet with shower upstairs.

AND I FINALLY REACHED MY ROOM AFTER 23 HOURS.
I'm really lucky because my court is newly refurbished! My room uses a fob instead of a key too which means it's quite a new house on campus :D

The kitchen-
It's really really really small well I applied for the cheapest accommodation I can't expect much c:

View from the kitchen-

The bus stop is just 2 minutes' walk away from my back door. Just go straight to the main road and turn right.

The mirror in the toilet upstairs has wave-censored lights ok pretty cool.

I unpacked a lil' and then proceeded to the Sports Center to register and collect my BRP. 

After that, I headed to central campus with my friends and there was a stall giving out free coffee/tea :>

After getting our bus pass, ZH and I ran to town to get the duvets because we didn't bring any nor purchase it from the uni (too expensive). We reached town around 4pm and Wilko closes at 4:30pm on a Sunday lmao. PLUS, they were all sold out, went in several shops and the racks were all empty. So yea we headed back to uni after grabbing some toiletries from Boots. ZH's sister then helped us to order duvets later on from Argos but they will only arrive on the next day. (The duvet cover is more expensive then the duvet idgi) And we survived one night with the thin blanket from the plane LOL.


Day 2: 18 September 2017
We woke up pretty late and attended the campus tour held by our school at 11.
Sibson building holds 2 schools, Kent Business School & School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS). It was newly built less than half a year ago! Plus it's the nearest academic building to parkwood, 7 minutes' walk from my house.

 We went to the sports center, some colleges and the bank on campus.

Santander is the only bank on campus so most of us applied for the basic current account with Santander because it'll be convenient. The process was quick as well, we filled up a form and gave them our student id and brp and that's it! Other banks may require you to book an appointment beforehand and bring a student status letter, accommodation, passport etc.

 We grabbed a quick lunch at Essentials (a mini market on campus (I wouldn't recommend you to get your groceries here), they do sell hot food and pastries too). Had this bolognese pasta for £2.60. (Why did I even spend £4 on the day before...) The taste was okay but the pasta was too soft maybe because it was heated for quite a long time.

Welcome talk at 2pm-

The welcoming activities were at a whole new level from what I experienced throughout the years omg my brain was so tired. We had to solve "mysteries" to open the briefcase, had some games involving playdough but which were related to maths concepts, more maths, and lastly stacking blocks.





After that, free food! Whole new level from Sunway's too omg tables of assorted desserts!

And our welcome pack which consists of a travel mug, recycle bag, lanyard & powerbank!

After the event, we headed to town for groceries because we had nothing to eat at all.
Favourite town view from uni taken from the bus, will try to take a proper one next time while chilling on the grass HAHA

Whitefriars is located right beside the city center bus stop. We spent quite some time in tesco figuring out what to buy and cook.

And our dinner was mhmmm quite sad lolll


Day 3: 19 September 2017

Right after that, we headed to Colyer-Fergusson building for the Global Hangout event. Mainly a space for international students to meet new people, eat free food and play some games.
 

This welcome box has a recycle bag, vouchers and also a leaflet showing us the confusing uk coins hahah




Took me 45minutes to find people to complete this x_x

After that, we headed back to Sibson for a talk for new stage 2 students. We then went back for a quick dinner and headed to the field outside Gulbenkian Theater because they did a outdoor cinema thingy screening Jurassic Park.

And later on, we went to the club on campus, The Venue. My first clubbing experience hahaha we were finally less tired compared to the previous days and decided to give this a try. There were different themes throughout the freshers' week and we went for the International Party. We went in quite early because it says that it'll start at 9 but the club was sooooo empty. We were so afraid that no people will come and our £6 will fly away just like that LOL. After an hour it was more filled up and the atmosphere was pretty great. The dance floor was so freaking squeezy after awhile and we left at 1am whilst others continue to party till like 3am.


 Day 4: 20 September 2017
This day is finally more chill, only an hour's talk for the whole day. We headed to central campus as there were many food stalls and gave this Meaty Chips a try. Not bad at all.



After that, we headed to town for shoppinggggggg. Finally bought most of the things I really need phew.

 My accoms court is under Eliot College and there were buffets at all colleges and you just go to the college you were assigned to.
We went there half an hour late and there weren't much food left and students were carrying the big aluminum plates away because they want to clear up the space for another party at night... we started to grab a plate and filled it with whatever food left hahha and it was quite disappointing because the buffet here isn't like the ones back in Malaysia (you know, catered food with fried rice fried noodles assorted vege chicken wings fish etc lmao).

We were asian enough to go to another college for round 2 of buffet because half of my friends were assigned there HAHAHA thank god it started later so we managed to eat lots of chicken wings and even dapao for next day's lunch and dinner.

Got a free miso soup and green tea voucher after doing this "lucky draw"- pick the gold chopstick.

Free coke! and a voucher to redeem another bottle of coke!

It was really really packed and the queue to enter the tent where the booths were set up was soooooo long.


HAHAHA my friend applied for this card, there's a QR code at the back and he can go redeem condoms at pharmacies/ supermarkets etc up to the age of 25!


Free pizzaaaaaa (well not really because we paid 10p to send a text to dominos)
Well of course we did not take only one slice c:

We went to WJ's house for dinner, our leftover chicken tasted so good after heating them up!!!



We went to the library induction tour after the talk in the morning. It was rather interesting as we explored and look for stations/ clues to complete the crossword puzzle.


At the end of the tour, we submitted the form and redeemed our freebies! (Another) thermal mug and free drink voucher(S) *wink*

After that, we headed to day 2 of the freshers' fair. The clubs and societies were totally different than those in the previous day.

Free cotton candy!

Free drink voucher after following their ig and spinning the thingy at the back.

We headed to town after that and we came across this shop! Absolutely in love with it cuz it's so aesthetically pleasing.


We were kinda hungry after having the free pizza (again) at freshers' fair hence the 3 of us shared a burger and mc flurry. We just gotta order on the screen and pay by card or at the cashier then collect it at the other counter. First mcd in uk!



Look it's crooked!


We went home after that and cooked spaghetti for dinner. Sobs I miss Prego so so so so much.
And these are part of my freshers' week freebies! Signed up for a club that we have no interest in just for the baked beans and drawstring bag hahahahhaha


You weigh your fruits by yourselves over here! Most of the vege are already packed and priced. Same goes to the meat, no strong smells when passing by the fish section.


We went to the Leeds Castle trip on this day. I'll do a separate post for this because there're quite a number of photos :x



Thanks for reading!