Singapore one year ago!

Abroad
01.08 AM

In the middle of doing research for one of my assignment Global Business Environment in silent while all of my flatmates are going to a party and will be back in a few hours.

Looking to the photo album in my laptop. Really really miss my bestfriends.

We went to Singapore one year ago for holiday.

 




Cadbury Chocolate Cookies

baking
Baking is not my speciality but since I have all the ingredients that I used before for another receipe so let's bake something!

Maybe I can say this is my first time baking. I found it good and few of my friends gave a compliment about this and asking for the receipe. Here's what you need:

200gr baking butter in room temperature (or any unsalted butter)
300gr caster sugar
1 large egg
275gr self-raising flour
75gr cocoa powder (cadbury bournville cocoa)
Cadbury chocolate bar (this is optional! one bar is enough but you can mix with white chocolate or anything you like

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
  2. Mix the baking butter with the caster sugar in a  mixing bowl. You can use electric mixer or just use any tool that you find useful
  3. Add the large egg and mix. You need to mix it step by step to sure that the ingredients are mixed well.
  4. Add the self-raising flour and mix.
  5. Add the cocoa powder and mix
  6. Put the chocolate as much as your wish. 
  7. Make a small dough. In my case, I put a piece of chocolate in the center of the dough so it can be melted later.
  8. Do not make it too big and give a space a little bit between the dough, when it gets to the oven, the dough will be open out.
  9. Bake it for 12-15 minutes

Goodluck! Happy Baking :)

My Uni'

Abroad
Yes! My Uni'. Thats how they called the university in here, not university but Uni'. Like I mentioned before in my previous blog that now I am attending Leeds Beckett University for my master degree. I have lecturing three days in a week. I am studying 4 modules. I am taking Strategic Communication Planning, Global Business Environment, Corporate Communication in Intercultural Context and Research Methods. My classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday so I have long weekend from Saturday to the next Monday, sometimes I use it for travelling especially on my first month in UK, I am travelling quite a lot.

Anyway after the news about me moving to UK, I got a lot of questions from my friends in Indonesia and even from here. So here it is.

Why are you getting Master?
When I was doing my research for my undergrad. Mom asked me what I am going to do next? my parents suggested to continue my education. I haven't thinking about it seriously at that time because all the hectic activities, doing internship and the thesis in the same time while still having class to attend. And when I almost finish my thesis, I made my decision to continue my degree and all the process went on.

Why study abroad, not in Indonesia?
Well, at the first time I have thought about several university in Indonesia but then why not going abroad?

Why UK?
It's always been dream to be in UK. Before moving to England, I was studying french for a short time. Thinking about how beautiful this country made me eager to come here. And to studying in international country is a great experience.

Why Leeds?
To be honest, I didn't put too much attention about choosing the city. I chose based on the university. And here I am, in Leeds. The cost of living in Leeds is cheaper too than in London so i guess being here is not bad at all.

Why Leeds Beckett University?
I did a lot of research before, I am not just randomly chose the university. There're dozens reasons I am studying in this university now. Google it and check their website then you'll know!. But from what I see, Leeds Beckett is an international university, they have a lot of international students in here. Students are coming from China, Thailand, Nigeria, Spain, Bulgaria, USA, Netherlands, India, Malaysia, Mexico and many else. In my class, there are more than 24 nationality.

Why Public Relation and Strategic Communication?
I graduated in Bachelor of Communication. My concentrate was Public Relations maybe this is the main reason why I chose this program again and the other reason I already explained it in my personal statement when I applied to uni.

So do you have any relationship now? LDR?
Yes, I do. I have a boyfriend in Indonesia. We're still together now. I believe our relationship is not to interfere my education but to support me. And I knew he did. As long as they communication still exists, I think there will be no problem with LDR. We have 7 hours different time within UK and Indonesia but until now we can still manage to chat and videocall.

When will you come back?
My friends are expecting me to come back for christmas or holidays but NO. I will be back next year at least after I finish my course. While I am here, I guess its better to use the break for travelling around rather than going back to Indonesia and the tickets are freaking expensive to go back. 

Review Accomodation in Leeds: The Plaza

Abroad

The Plaza is a student accommodation in Leeds. Basically, I found this accommodation from university website when looking for my accommodation. The flats for 5-6 students to share. My flat in Block B, in the same building with the reception desk, laundry room and gym.

All the bedroom is ensuite which in each room have own toilet, shower and wash basin. Bedroom is well furnished with a double bed, wardrobe, study desk, chair, shelving and have bed storange (that I just found recently!!). Heather is provided in the bedroom, you'll need this especially for winter, in my room the heather is turn off every 15-20 minutes, not sure about the other rooms but I guess it must b same so I need extra heather in my room because I am not used to this weather.

The kitchen is for shared with other flatmates, for me the kitchen is quite complete, have an electric oven and hob, fridge freezer, kettle, toaster, microwave, vacuum cleaner, iron and ironing board. And the cleaner will come once in two weeks to clean the kitchen.

We do have a living room in the kitchen, it's quite small but it's enough for 5 people to hangout in there and party??! My flatmates are partying a lot so I think it's should be fine for throwing a party in that space.

To do the laundry, you have to go to the laundry room on the first floor. And the laundry is not for free, have to use it with pre-paid card that can be topped up online and you can get the card on a machine near the reception desk. The price to do laundry is £3.30 for washing and £1.20 for drying, tips from me for saving money: I bought the airers for +/- £9 and put in near the heather so I can saving my money for drying everytime I do washes.

The most advantages from staying in university accommodation is the bills included in the rent price. All the water and electricity usage + internet are included in your rent. 

Each flat has their own postbox near the entrance door, but you have to share it with your flatmates. If you have parcels, you have to take it from reception desk and they will give you an email if you get one.

The location is super close to Leeds Beckett University, just walk for 5 minutes to the rosebowl campus and 10 minutes to Leeds University. The city center is about 15 minutes from here and there is local store beside the building that open until midnight. The closest supermarket is about 7 minutes from here.

Here some perks before choosing your accommodation in here. Most of the time, the plaza is always full booked before the class start but when you fill your form for accommodation, make sure the criteria you want. For example, do you prefer to share the flat with only woman or mixed? and quite or not? because students in here are mostly like partying and what you choose will make an impact with who is gonna be your flatmate for the whole year.

Things about United Kingdom

Abroad
So now, I am living in Leeds, United Kingdom. I am attending Leeds Beckett University for the Masters of Arts in Public Relations and Strategic Communication. I am in class with 33 other students and in total more than 20 other countries, the interesting part is only two from UK. My course is full-time program for one year, I started it from September 2015 so will finish it on September 2016. Living in a shared flat with four girls from UK.

I have been here in Leeds for almost 3 months now. So, here the things that i have learned about UK so far.
  1. Yes! they do have british accent. First time i got here, i went to asian restaurant, the cashier asked "medium or large?" and i totally lost.
  2. Tap water! they drinks straightly from the tap.
  3. Frozen Food. They have everything in frozen, you name it!
  4. The weather is super cold. I need to turn on my heather almost all the time.
  5. Always bring an umbrella. It's always raining but the wind in here is super horrible. I've broke mine two so prefer to use hoodie.
  6. Cheers and TA is another way to say thankyou. 
  7. Lots of coin.
  8. People use public transportations to travel, trains and bus it's very easy to figure out.
  9. British are tend to walk a lot.
  10. There's slightly different in their word, example: fries = chips.
  11. Girls in UK wear a lot of make up. I don't think they can go out without makeup.
  12. They're so fashionable in here. They dressed super pretty and branded!
  13. If there're no cars or no car approaching near, just go and across the street. they don't wait for the green light.
  14. Now because it's winter, the sun sets really early. You can find its already dark at 4pm.