Malaysians in the University of Essex

boo!

2008-01-09T21:13:00.000Z

happy new year everyone!

CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-04T16:09:00.001Z

DATE: 14/12/2007, FRIDAY.
TIME: 7PM onwards
Venue: To be confirmed
Price: 7 pounds including TWO FREE raffle tickets (members)
8 pounds including TWO FREE raffle tickets (non-members)
18 pounds including TWO FREE raffle tickets ( family package of 2 adults and 2 children)
RSVP: 11/12/2007, TUESDAY

A rough agenda for the event:-

-A selection of GAMES ( there will be PRIZES to be won!)
-A CHRISTMAS CLASSIC OR COMEDY MOVIE
-FOOD and BEVERAGE
-LUCKY DRAW ( PRIZES worth up to 30 POUNDS!!)
- MANY MORE.....!

Just so you know what you would be paying for FOOD and BEVERAGE would include spring rolls,quiche,King prawns,fish,mash potato,yorkshire pudding and filling,salad,Chicken drumsticks and wings,sandwiches,desserts,coffee,tea and soft drinks etc! Raffle tickets can be purchased at 50 pence each if anyone would like to buy more during the night.The more u buy,the higher chances u WIN! Lucky draw will commence just before the Christmas event finishes.It would be a FUN NIGHT and full of CHRISTMAS SPIRIT if all of you ( that's YOU) COME and INVITE YOUR FRIENDS to this party. Not forgetting to celebrate the end of Autumn term and to see each other before we go back to our respective hometowns or bum around during the holidays.So, hurry book your tickets and REPLY TO ALL once you've written your name in the list below.Thank you!! Hope to see everyone soon,take care!

P.S Gifts exchanged will not be part of out itinerary anymore,so please do not get any gifts unless u wish to do so :)

Regards,
Jasmine Ting

copied and pasted from the mail. hee hee hee.

Pot Luck Piccies

2007-10-31T16:29:00.000Z

does anyone even read this blogspot? am i talking to a non existent crowd? oh well.

for photos by Sher, visit her multiply account.

Sher's share of photos.

i KNOW you (yes you!) have photos as well so please share! give us your flickr address, photobucket or email me or whutever so we all have the piccies.

:D

the Raya(not so) Celebration

2007-10-29T16:15:00.000Z

okies. had been telling what it was in the previous previous post, so yeah.

pictures this time. courtesy of dayana.

lol of course there's more. check the facebook group...soon.

main pukul bulu ayam

2007-10-25T16:57:00.001+01:00

Greetings,

Hello everyone a week has passed so fast we are having our weekly badminton games. Last week`s attendance wasnt that good thus we decided to keep it at 1 court for 2hours.

This weeks time

Venue : Sports Centre
Time : 6pm - 8pm
Date : 27 OCT 2007 [Saturday]
Courts : Court 6 [6pm - 7pm]
Court 4 [7pm - 8pm]

Everyone feel free to come, Even if you dont play atleast spend some time chilling out with other malaysian society members get to know one another better :)

thats the purpose of the game after all.

Thank You

Benjamin Miow.

xxxxxxx

direct copy paste from benjamin's email. i know right? i'm awesome.

Nottingham Malaysian Games

2007-10-20T00:21:00.000+01:00

(mahirah's personal rant: okay, i just realised. this web log is crappy. i checked out nottsgames blogspot and they hafe one cool picture header or whutchucallit. i can make one for this blog and stuff, but seriously. i'm very malas. you should know that by now :P)

BTT.

As we all know (to those who don't, just pretend you do), Nott Games is just around the corner ( and if you still don't know what Nott Games is, please click the title, it wil lead you to Nott Games official blogspot. thank you very much.). To those who are interested in participating then the later paragraphs should tell you the basics.

that's a bad jpeg format of the events organised. i know. hee. click the image for a better view. OR BETTER YET please, PLEASE check out http://www.nottsgames.blogspot.com/ and download the registration fees for further information.

Don't worry about the registration forms. All you have to do is decide on an event and form your own teams, and then email it to Benjamin at bcymio@essex.ac.uk and he will fill the registration forms for you. You can also reach to him thru his hp 07515368387. You should contact him to register, for any inquiries and also to pay the registration fees for whatever event you decided on.

i'm tired. =(

Pot Luck (exclamation mark)

2007-10-19T23:16:00.000+01:00

i just checked my inbox and read an email with this subject:

Re: Hari Raya Celebration cum Pot luck!

read the rest, clicked the small X button on the top far left corner of the window and let out a sigh of relief.

not.

a few seconds later, received a text message from unknown-but-soon-to-be-known telling me to announce it in the blog.

yes. thank you for reminding me. no. really.

so for those who didn't receive the email, or too lazy to check their inbox, or claim it as junk, or accidentally deleted it before reading or whutever your reasons are here it is basically:

Date: 26/10/2007, Friday
Time:6pm onwards
Venue: room 5A.101
Dress code: Wear anything- LAH!
Aim: To have an awesome time chatting and eating

Anyone who has no time to bring anything or wished not to do so,it's totally fine! But you will have to pay 3 pounds for entry (to be fair and square)

(if i were you, i'd bring apples. or any leftovers.)

...okay, i kid. don't bring leftovers.

Recent Going Ons

2007-10-14T15:05:00.000+01:00

Hi Mahirah's here. justa short update today. i will have to tell you that i won't be able to give updates immediately (or as i am told to do) because i now hafe three blogs to manage, this one included. =P so say hi to your newest web officer.

*waves*

we had an AGM (Annual General Meeting..?) on Thursday, 11th October 2007, basically to appoint new people into the committee (and replace them 'old ones', basically :P) result of voting are as follows:

President : Wan Zainuddin
Vice : Benjamin Tay
Secretary : Jasmine & Amelia Lau
Treasurer : Loi Mun Mun
Activity Officer : Benjamin Miow & Yeo Yau Zhang
Web Officer: Mahirah

Benjamin told me there's a weekly badminton thingy, and a trip to Holland and Belgium. Will talk about that as soon as i have more information :P

Also, there was a Raya gathering yesterday (Saturday, 13th October 2007). will talk about that later in the next post.

til then, chow shin cheeeeeeeee.

Makan @ Essex Diner

2007-10-03T01:07:00.000+01:00

Hey it's day3 of university! It was really nice meeting some of you randomly on the university campus, and for meals.

If you still read this, we're gonna buka puasa together at Essex Diner (formerly Essex Express) on Square 3 tomorrow (thurs, 4th oct). Come along at 6:30pm! I'll try to be there a little earlier to book seats.

I know it's not the healthiest of places to eat, but the food there is halal and it'll just be good to meet some of the others around on campus you haven't had a chance to meet yet. It'll be harder once everyone begins with their classes, esp the masters students, who I'm sure will hit the floor running next week.

If you're reading this, please spread the news. I'll contact those whose details are with me now.

This Saturday is Freshers Fair, where the campus will spring to life with all the different societies setting up booths and you can walk around and join the clubs to get involved with some extra curricular activities. We'll have a booth for the Malaysian Society. Look for the flag!

Anyone want to host Raya makan next week? :))) if not we just have in classroom lah..

If you still need help moving in, just give me a call 07738954522 or ext 5713. I will bring askar2 yg macho to berkhidmat untuk negara.

Packing

2007-09-19T04:56:00.000+01:00

I've just started packing, and came to realise there are a few items which you may find useful to bring over/nice to have with you over in the UK if you haven't reached the 20 or 30 kg luggage limit already.

- batik/kurung/traditional dress for cultural occasions
- something for formal occasions (suit/dress) if you intend to attend conferences, etc
- misc malaysian souvenirs to give away/show friends (eg postcards)
- you can buy indomie and maggi for about 50p a packet (or less if you buy a whole box) in chinatown in London
- your favourite random spice mixes – eg. adabi chicken curry, rendang, sambal belacan, tom yam, etc. most are available in london’s Chinatown, but you’ll spend about 60p-1+ quid for a small packet. might as well chuck a few small packets into your luggage
- milo can also be bought there. expensive though. i'm bringing over a box of chinese tea leaves.
- kaya! – haven’t come across shops which sell kaya. Fresh kaya normally lasts about 1 month +. If you’re a big fan (like me), it’d help to bring along 1-2 packets.
- Moisturizer? (I didn’t find it too necessary)
- Lip gloss (absolutely necessary)

Computer paraphernalia:
- External hard disk (rm 200 for 80gb. abt 40-50 quid in the UK. useful for backing up your files)
- Usb thumb drive (rm36 for a 1 gb thumb drive. 6-10 quid in UK)
- Usb port extension (if you're like me and find that the 2/3 ports on your pc isn't enough)
- Microphone and earphones (if you intend to skype back home. if you don't have a pc, you can also skype from the computer labs, so these items will be useful anyhow)

All electronic items here are cheaper. Value Added Tax is at 17.5% in the UK. So if you were thinking of getting a digital camera and mp3 player, it’ll be cheaper here.

If you're thinking of getting warm clothing, my advise would be to bring over 1 or 2 sweaters/jackets at most and go shopping for something warmer when you arrive in the UK. It'll be about 12-20 degrees when you arrive, still not too cold. cameron highlands is at 15-24 degrees celsius, if you need a point of reference.

Feel free to add to the list, and all the best packing!

Pre-departure info

2007-08-25T22:56:00.000+01:00

Prepared a very rough guide, "University of Essex for Dummies" (shamelessly ripped off Imperial College), which you can download HERE. Thought it best I post something here for those who can't make it to Mid Valley.

Information there may not be entirely accurate. I would encourage you to refer first to the official university documents (ie the freshers handbook, international students handbook, and undergraduate/postgraduate students handbook. the other two handbooks that will be of interest to you are the accomodations office handbook and the accomodations network handbook. All of them will give you a very comprehensive and detailed guide to settling into university).

Listed below are a few sites which will help you in preparing for the year ahead in the UK.

http://www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/intstuds/prearrival.shtm
a pre-arrival guide to all international students. Contains links to several informative documents – the international students handbook and the freshers handbook. Both will be posted to you shortly after confirmation of your acceptance into Essex.

http://www.essex.ac.uk/international/MYS

contains information specifically for applicants from Malaysia.

http://www.educationuk.org/pre-departure/
British Council’s pre-departure site

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/pages/advice.htm
UK Council for International Student Affairs guide to international students

If still in doubt, google ;)

(l-r): yau zhang, farida, liyana, benjamin, markus. (missing: wan)

nice to finally meet some of you!

get together/pre-departure briefing

2007-08-25T09:51:00.000+01:00

Update! (25 August 2007)

We'll meet in the centre court in Mid Valley Megamall at 1pm tomorrow (sunday). I'll be wearing a blue brazil jersey. Give me a call when you're there

cheers,
Markus
017-304 6073

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I last posted, and I know we've been talking about organising a get-together for some time already. Apologies on my part for dragging my feet. I've been a bit busy.

Let's set two dates to meet up

1. Teh-tarik/Mamak session.

Date: 13 August 2007, Monday
Time: 7pm
Venue: Devi's Corner, Bangsar
Agenda: Dinner and get to know one another

2. Pre-departure Briefing

Date: 26 August 2007, Sunday
Time: 1pm.
Venue: Mid Valley Megamall, TBC
Agenda: Lunch and briefing on preparation to leave for UK.

For the Pre-departure Briefing, let me know if there are any questions/topics you'd like answered there. It's the first time we're doing this, so it'd help if we could know what you'd like to know so we can start looking for those hard answers now

Let me know if you have a better suggestion for time and venue as well. If you need transport also let me know.

Do spread the word. I'll send out an email to all those whose emails are in the msoc email account.

-
Markus

Introduce yourselves : )

2007-08-14T03:59:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, thanks to all who suggested this.

Since everyone doesn't really know everyone, let's start a list.

Drop a comment below - include your name, what course you're studying/will be studying, which year you're in, where you're from, and mention too, when you are flying off to the UK (this way if there are ppl taking the same flight, you can meet up and check-in together and take the bus together at heathrow).

Khazanah Global Lectures

2007-07-04T22:37:00.000+01:00

Dear all,

Here's another event that may prove englightening. Among the speakers are Nobel Prize winners Kofi Annan, Mohd Yunus, and Joseph Stiglitz. The talks are free too!

details here - http://www.kgl.com.my/

Scholarships

2007-07-04T21:33:00.000+01:00

Hi Baiti, I'm not too familiar with the options available for postgraduate study, but here are two links which you may find useful.

Chevening Scholarship and scholarship search engine - http://www.britishcouncil.org/malaysia-uk-education-scholarships-and-funding.htm

University of Essex scholarships - http://www.essex.ac.uk/scholarships/

For undergraduates, there are a couple of websites you may want to check out.

ReCom (worldwide msian student network) - http://recom.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=57
You will have to register as a new user to view the discussions. A lot of posts to filter through but there's a wealth of information there.

Tinkosong.com - http://tinkosong.com/category/scholarship/
much neater than recom. you don't need to sift through the rubbish posts

a website I found with google - http://malaysia-scholarship.net/link/
surprised I didn't know it existed. there's an extensive list of scholarship options here

Just a general piece of advice on applying for scholarship - start NOW! It's always too late and never too early to start applying (/preparing your application). If you know of other scholarships, feel free to drop a comment for the benefit of others.

Malaysian Student Leaders Summit

2007-07-03T07:54:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

Here's a great event for you to attend if you are around in Malaysia. It's FREE! Just email Alia if interested in attending. Postgrads and fresh grads most welcome to attend. Your experience/insight will add value to the discussions.

The event is also open to others so you can drag your friends along too. Apply quick. Places are running out!

cheers,
Markus

-

First Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit
Hotel Nikko Kuala Lumpur (3rd-5th August 2007 )

"Building Malaysia's Future, Today"

The United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students/ Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar Malaysia di United Kingdom dan Ireland, with the support from Y.B Dato Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of Higher Education Malaysia, would like to invite Malaysian student leaders and students from Universities and Colleges in Malaysia and all over the world to participate in the first Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit which will be held tentatively from the 3rd (Friday) August till 5th (Sunday) August 2007 at Nikko Hotel, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

1. Confirmed speakers are:

- Tan Sri Lee Lam Thay ( Chairman, Program Khidmat Negara)
- Dato Seri Lt Jeneral (R) Zaini Mohd Said (Former Army Chief )
- Mr Ho Kay Tat ( Group Editor-in-Chief for Nexnews Bhd which publishes The Edge and The Sun newspaper)
- Tan Sri Wan Zahid Noordin (Chairman, The Higher Education of Malaysia Report Committee - The Zahid Report)
- Dato Seri Jawhar Hassan ( Chairman, Institute of Strategic International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia )
- Dato Johan Raslan ( Chairman, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Malaysia)
- Dato Zarinah Anwar (Chairman, Securities Commission)
- Dato Tony Fernandes (CEO, Air Asia Berhad)
- Tunku Abdul Aziz (former UN special advisor on Ethics)
- Prof Dato Dr Dzulkifli Razak (Vice Chancellor USM, Chairman for the Malaysia 's - Vice Chancellor's Council)
- Prof Emeritus Dr Mohd Ariff Karim ( Director, Msia Institute of Economic Reseach)
- Prof Emeritus Dato' Khoo Kay Kim (Historian,UM)
- Karim Raslan (Prolific Writer/Lawyer-Managing Director of Karim Raslan Associates)
- Karam Singh Walia (Environmental Journalist, TV3)

Other Invited Speakers are:
- Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi
- Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak

2. Constructive discussions on international and national issues, among others:

- Globalisation/Role of 3rd World Countries in the UN
- Malaysia's Foreign Policy
- Malaysia's Economy/Corporate Lessons for the Young and Bright
- Corporate Governance/Ethics/Transparency
- Unity in Diversitzy/Dasar Ekonomi Baru
- Education in Malaysia
- Environmental Governance in Malaysia (Karam Singh Walia)
- Role of Mass Media in Malaysia
- Vision 2020 – Are we on the right track?

3. Networking opportunities with prominent individuals and fellow Malaysian student leaders from all over the world. UKEC is inviting Malaysian student leaders from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Egypt, Jordan, South Korea, Japan, India, Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia and all public and private university students in Malaysia. Compare and relate your experiences with others!

Please contact alia.sidek@ukeconline.com to participate! Places are limited. For further information and enquiries, please contact firdaus@ukeconline.com or ain@ukeconline.com.

United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC)
Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar Malaysia di United Kingdom dan Ireland
Visit our website: http://www.ukeconline.com/
Fax: 00442072215615

The University of Essex Pictures

2007-05-18T18:12:00.001+01:00

Here are some of my collections...hope this might give some basic idea to the prospective student:How The University of Essex looks like?

The University of Essex- comprises of 5 Squares.....
Photo taken in Square 1 at the University of Essex, during a particularly heavy thunderstorm (water droplets on lens). Not bad if I say so myself, obviously the water droplets could be edited out if required.(by:mindfieldz)

My current accomodation:Harwich Court(part of South Court) during winter....snow!!~
Houses:Swaynes, Isaac Rebow, Richard Wood, Thomas Hopper, Anne Knight, and Josephine Butler Houses.

North Towers-from left Rayleigh,Keynes,Tawney and William Morris Towers.

Beautiful scenary-for me la....heheheh
Smile!!!!~
The Wivenhoe Park Hotel near the lakes.Its behind the tree though.
On the left: The Albert Sloman Library.Next to it:The North Towers
The duckss......I likeeeee....=)
Wivenhoe Park Hotel-part of University property
Welcome to The University of Essex!!!~My friends from London and Manchester
Picnic with my beloved friends at Wivenhoe Park-near lakes...
Another posed at the University sign board??hehehhe...location nearSouth Tower.
One of the "arca".But I love the wonderful sky.....

The sunset near Towers.The roof of the University Nursery.

Essex Bosan???Oh, no no no......Essex best!!! location:Colchester Castle Park
Jommmm...jalan².....=)
In front of the Colchester Castle........oh HaPpY day....=)

Questions from Amelia

2007-05-10T16:38:00.000+01:00

Hi guys,

Here's an email from Amelia. Answers anyone?

-

To the Malaysian Society of the University of Essex,

Hi! It's nice to hear from someone i can identify with, and thanks for the warm welcome.

I'd like to take you up on your offer of bombarding you with questions about the university... so, here goes..

what dorm rooms are available? I'd like to get an insiders opinion on which rooms are better for university life or privacy...

when do I have to book accommodation by?

when do classes actually start?

will there be an orientation week prior to starting classes?

what about books and lecture materials?

i know in australia you have to sign up for tutorials and extra classes, is that standard procedure in the university of essec as well?

when are the holidays, and is it possible for a malaysian to travel around europe while being on holiday from university, do we need extra visas?

what is the community around the university like? is it possible to get a job in the surrounding areas?

thanks for your time!

Amelia

Welcome!

2007-05-07T03:28:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Malaysians in the University of Essex group blog!

The blog has been set up with the following objectives:

To inform prospective students in Malaysia and other interested parties about life in the uni/Colchester/UK
To provide a platform for interaction among Malaysian students and dear friends of the Malaysian student community here in the University of Essex.

So if you’re here visiting for information, go ahead and browse through our posts. At present we’ve only just set up, and have yet to develop the critical mass of articles needed to categorise information properly. We hope to be able to cover most of the basic information about uni and life here in Colchester soon.

If you have a question you would like to ask us, please Quiz Us! and we’ll try our level best to provide you an answer.

If you’re here as a student already at the University of Essex, feel free to start posting! Please drop us an email at “msoc [at] essex [dot] ac [dot] uk” if you haven’t already received an invitation for permission to post.

When posting please follow the (loosely defined) guidelines below:

Kindly refrain from baseless criticisms of the University, Colchester, UK or Malaysia. If you want to rant, try to stay reasonable la. Emo posts are not prohibited, but consider the (potentially) wide readership of this blog.
Bearing in mind that one of our objectives is to inform, posts providing relevant information, especially in response to Quiz Us! questions, are encouraged.
Posts about personal experiences encountered here in the UK are most welcome! Share with us your first impressions of the university/UK, your struggles in overcoming homesickness, learning how to survive on your own cooking, managing your finances, getting to grips with the different British accents, adjusting to the different prayer times, and other quirky incidents that have made your life here interesting.
Post lots of pictures too!

To everyone, please respect everyone’s entitlement to his/her opinion and the freedom to voice those opinions.

Whilst we will endeavour to provide the space for your voices, content that is found to racially, sexually, or religiously offensive will be edited/deleted. Other defamatory content will face similar consequences.

The posts published on this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of the Malaysian Students Society of the University of Essex but that of the individual author.

Reproduction of material (be it written or graphic) in posts (comments aside) on this blog is allowed provided:

prior consent is obtained from the author of the post, and
attribution is given to this blog and the author of the post.

You may contact us (the blog administrators) by dropping us an email at:

msoc [at] essex [dot] as [dot] uk

Quiz Us!

2007-05-07T02:22:00.000+01:00

Just drop a comment below if you have a question which you would like to ask us Malaysian students in the University of Essex. If you're a student here, feel free to answer the questions below either as a comment or proper blog-post.

All kinds of questions are welcomed. It can range the from dead serious stuff like "How much money should I deposit into my son/daughter's bank account for living expensese?" and "Is Essex really Britain's top government department?", to the more casual questions like "Will Colchester United ever make it into the Premiership?" and "I'm Singaporean. Will I be able to survive in Essex?" :p

Faces of Essex Uni

2007-05-06T02:34:00.000+01:00

What's the student body like at Essex Uni?

If I had to sum it up in just one word - amazing.

I don't know about most people, but I'm an absolute sucker for close-knit communities. Because the student population here is small compared to other institutions, this makes it relatively easier to get to know the people around you. Be it bumping into them in any of the Squares by chance, or while attending socials at Level 2/Mondo's/SubZero, there's always an opportunity to make random new friends.

And the best part about it, personally, is that they're from all over the world. We're impossibly diverse in makeup, yet at the same time we're also a very integrated bunch. I somehow believe that this is what makes Essex Uni unique. Being part of a student body like this sort of grants you a feeling of security, and more importantly, of belonging.

Yeah, I guess that's what makes our Uni amazing - it makes you feel like you belong.

Visuals

El Presidente (Markus) and his best mate (Joao)

Our Secretary (Bee Nee) with our VP (Wan).

More visuals of Uni and Uni life coming in the next few posts, and to the rest of the MSoc members, if you guys feel like adding to the list of snaps, please do! :)

Dear Yip Jui/'s bro

2007-04-30T17:43:00.000+01:00

Dear Yip Jui/'s bro,

Nice to hear from you! It's always a pleasure to talk to fellow msians interested in coming to essex. There aren't many of us here (20-30).

Essex Uni is a small, cosy campus university about an hour away from central London by train. There's about 7-8000 students here (HELP and Sunway-Monash probably have more!) so by the time you graduate, you will kinda know who's who in uni. To give some idea about the size of the campus – it takes me less than 5 minutes to leave my room for lectures/classes.

International students make up about 50% of the students on campus. There are not many Malaysians here though – between 20 and 30 (including postgraduates and staff). But I guess you learn to make friends with other nationalities, which is great! For example, my closest friend here is from Portugal, and there is a history of msian girls getting together with german guys (3 so far!). ok, you didn't need to know that… but anyway, point is you won't feel alone. There's also a huge number of students from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on campus, so if you can speak mandarin/Cantonese, you'll get along without much trouble.

I think Essex university is severely under-rated. We happen to have some very strong academic departments (especially government, human rights, and economics). Our Econs dept is one of the top 4 research departments in the UK, and one of the few UK unis to receive 24/24 score for teaching. Our government department is the best in Britain, and our human rights centre is one of the first in the world to offer undergraduate studies in human rights. We also pioneer a lot of the work in international human rights, with a number of lecturers being special rapporteurs to the United Nations.

I'm not sure about management, but I know the syllabus for straight economics students is quite rigorous. I study part economics so I can attest to the quality of the education in that department. In fact I do regret a bit for doing a joint degree cos I'm missing out on so many interesting modules!

For a university this size, we have an extremely wide range of extra curricular activities to be involved in. You can pick up rock climbing, gliding, belly dancing, free Japanese and Arabic classes run by students, and audition to act in plays run by the theatre and arts society. There's actually quite a lot to do on campus, but it really depends on the individual student to be as active as he/she wants to. Visit our students union website www.essexstudent.com for more information about the societies and events going on on campus.

The Malaysian society here is rather small (as expected!). We organize some makan sessions during the celebrations – hari raya, deepavali, christmas, and Chinese new year. We also have joint events with other asian societies like Taiwan, Thai, Japanese… we don't have msian nites, sadly ;)

Does your bro have any hobbies/interests that he would like to pursue whilst here? You could ask me, and I'll tell you what the uni/town has to offer.

The university is situated in Colchester, a quaint town, which is apparently the oldest recorded town in Britain. The town centre is about 45 minutes walk away from campus, or 10-15 mins on the busses, which are quite regular. We don't have a Chinatown, but we have two shops in the town centre which sell all the Chinese cooking ingredients you need. If that's not enough, there's also another shop in town that specializes in food from asia and the middle east. So there isn't much need to make the trips to London for food.

There are also quite a number of restaurants, pubs, clubs, a cinema, concert hall, and other places to do your shopping in the town centre. And here's a random fact - Colchester also has one of the highest concentrations of charity shops in towns in the UK (where u can buy stuff ppl donate for dirt cheap). We also have a farmers market every 3rd Saturday of the month in Wivenhoe, which is the nearby town, again within walking distance.

Actually, you don't even need to go to the town centre to get stuff you need. We have a large 24 hour Tesco outlet a short 15 minutes walk from campus.

Essex is a rather flat chunk of land on the East of England. Being on the east coast means less rain than Manchester, which I'm grateful for =) Traditionally, Essex is an agricultural area. It even has a stereotype of its own, where Essex girls are known to be a little naughty, being farmers kids. But things change, of course, and the towns and cities here are developing fast, due to the migration into London, and the rising property prices there. I know quite a few locals who work in London but choose to live here because of that (morning trains into London are always packed!).

Ooh and I'd like to mention too that the university has quite an active society for international students to get used to living in Britain – Friends International. The people there are really friendly, and they are always organising short trips to nearby places for international students. They also have a good host-family program, where you can meet up with a local family once a month or whenever you're both free and get to know a bit about the local culture, food, celebrations, etc. One of the full-time staff workers there spent something like 16 years in Indonesia, so if your bro needs some practice...

Personally, Essex has been good to me. I have no regrets not ending up in LSE, York or Warwick. The academic departments I'm in here are really good. And I feel that coming here, I've learnt so much about Britain itself, and interacted so much with the locals and other internationals. Not taking swipes at Manchester or London, but sometimes when surrounded by so many Malaysians, it's too easy to just hang out with Malaysians and not meet new people, and learn about different cultures and worldviews.

I guess another plus point in being in Essex is that if you're not really the socialite, it's quiet enough for you to do your own thing and just study. Some students (ok, 1 of the 3 singaporeans on campus) complain that life in essex uni is just waayy to slow paced for him, but I'm biased – I like quiet and slow =)

Ok, gripes. What do I not like about Essex Uni? I think the quality of service and education is great! But I don't think I can say the same with equal conviction about the students here. Compared to the larger unis, I think Essex does lack the depth of quality. Perhaps because it is less glamorous than the larger city universities or because of its reputation in England, I don't know. I know for one thing that if you're a top student, you will have a good opportunity to shine here… hmm but that's not too bad a thing either. Talent and hard work is often recognized and well rewarded. Last year, the top graduates in the economics and government departments were both Malaysians. One went on to do her masters in Belgium, after receiving a scholarship from the research institute there. The other, if she weren't bonded to Bank Negara, I suppose, might have gone on to do her masters in Oxford/LSE like a few of her other batch mates.

I find myself wanting to say this again and again - it's almost always the case that your university education is very much more dependent on what you make of it than where you're studying. Essex uni, despite being small (and boring?), is a uni which does offer its students the platform to learn and grow. It's just that us students need to be more proactive in making the most out of the opportunities given to us!

Hmm. I've rambled on enough. If you would like to know more feel free to drop me an email. If you haven't already visited our university website – www.essex.ac.uk for more information, please do. The website is not really a pretty one, but it does contain some useful information if you spend a bit of time scouring its many pages for it.

Hope I wasn't too long winded..

Warm regards,
Markus