It's been more than five months now...

It's been more than five months now, I came to England. Thus thought to write to you.

First of all, I'm getting acclimatised to the cold weather of this country. Yes, weather is nice and comfortable for me when it is 4 to 5 degrees and just a little bit cold when it goes to -1 or -2 degrees.. hehe.. I used to shiver in 16-17 degrees back home..

In the beginning of the academic year, I got nominated as the Student Representative of my course for this year. My British classmates nominated me. It was a nice beginning of the academic year.

I celebrated Christmas and the New Year with a British family under the HOST UK scheme of the British Government. I have registered myself for this scheme. This scheme is meant for all international students to make us familiar with the local culture and life style. I stayed with a nice family in Scotland. It was a lifetime experience, I would say. I could observe many things about their living style. And I also shared a lot about our culture.

Then about my studies! My results for the first semester are out. I got 63%, 63% and 67% in three different modules. I'll try to keep this track through out all the next semesters.

And here is something extra than just studies.. We have a Community Radio station called Utopia FM. When I arrived here in September, I felt that there is not enough representation of international community on this radio station. I talked to the Head of Radio and to the Station Manager about it. They asked if I would like to run a position for the next election for its management body. Last week, there was an election for the management body of the radio station. I did run a position of 'Head of International Programming', and, I won!! So, now I will look after the representation of an international community on the radio station, will involve them in making radio programmes and I'm also planning to produce and present regular radio shows based on Indian themes. So that they should no more about India, than just BHANGRA.

I am also working in a major research project of one of my tutors. She is starting the work of a two-year project funded by European Communities this month. It's about migrants in UK and in Europe. She asked me if I can work with her in this project. I have accepted it. I feel it would be a good experience to work with migrant communities in UK and in 8 European countries.

And now on the home front! Amol is getting ready to join me here. It got delayed as my documents reached him after one month.. the Postal Service..hehe.. I get parcels sent by him in 4 days.. and from here to Pune, it's one month. A good news is that he got Band 8 (out of 9..) for IELTS. So things are moving ahead.

I got many friends from different countries all over the world. It's so nice to have such a variety of friends from different cultures. But I also miss all of you and our own homeland!

Christmas in England!

Today, I spent a whole day with a local British Smith family to celebrate Christmas. It was a wonderful experience of my life and I can never forget it.
I will going to Scotland for the New Year celebration.. and am looking forward to it.
Cheers..and Merry Christmas!!

After reaching Sunderland, my dream destination..

Finally I reached Sunderland, my dream destination for my further studies.. After whole year of perseverance..

Sunderland is a town, and thus a tidy one. I can see here most of the things are well organized, disciplined and thus easy to follow. My accommodation is also very comfortable. I do cook on my own. (hehe..no maids here..) I can see the river Wear and the North Sea, both, from my home as well as from my Media Centre. I have started walking a lot after coming here..and I enjoy it too (no other option..), as the vehicles and pedestrians follow the traffic rules.

There are nice Victorian buildings, bridge across the river, trees and lawns..greenery everywhere. It rains anytime..the weather is totally unpredictable. It's windy because of the sea. It's beautiful!

My classes started from yesterday and it's a great feeling to be a student again. The teachers are friendly. They are knowledgeable; one can see that after interacting with them as well as after going through the books they have written. The guest faculty includes practicing radio experts from BBC and other national and local radio stations.

The technology is amazing. We are having 5 radio studios with the latest equipments. You can borrow recording equipments easily. And, you can borrow 15 books, 3 audio visual sets at a time from a huge library. There are total 3 libraries. That's really fantastic! The university's community radio station is going to become 24/7 this coming Saturday and each one of us from Radio course will be getting enough space to run the shows on it. My classmates are from different countries, right from UK to Australia to Africa.

The whole university campus is Wi-Fi. I have an Internet connection in my flat as well.

Tomorrow we are visiting two radio stations, one of them is BBC!!

That's all for now..