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RECALL MY COLORFUL LIFE IN SOUTHAMPTON(图文)

发布时间:2016-10-27       访问量:

                                                                                                                                 RECALL MY COLORFUL LIFE IN SOUTHAMPTON 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                By CHENG JiaLun

    It has been three years since I first time came to UK. It was a rainy day when I arrived at Southampton, and this bad weather made it difficult for me to take my three pieces of luggage to my dormitory. So when I finally opened the door, sat on my bed, looked around my new bedroom and thought about this new situation, I felt vacant at that moment. I think no one can avoid such feeling when first facing a totally different geographical and cultural background though it was curious and interesting to you. Hopefully, tomorrow is a brand new day. Before term starts University of Southampton provided international students with chance to take part in a range of welcome events and activities where we could learn more about life in the UK and in Southampton and had lots of opportunities to meet people and make new friends as well. The welcome program included walking tours of the campus and local area, information about English language support, talks on British culture, banking in the UK and things to see and do in the area, and the ‘Bunfight’ where we could join student-run clubs and societies. More importantly, this welcome program offered an opportunity to meet our tutors who gave talks on study skills and an introduction to the learning resources or equipment we would be using during our academic studies.

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   During the two years in the Southampton, I have made great progress in strengthening my learning ability. I spent merely one month in adapting myself to the life and study in the UK; as I had to write reports frequently, both my ability to search for and to integrate information was increased. I remember that after my arrival in the UK, in the Money and Banking class, I could understand what the teacher was instructing but had no idea of the way to put the professional knowledge into practice. Having talked with teachers, senior students and classmates, I managed to read basic professional books while obtaining the latest professional knowledge on the Internet. Besides,to familiarize myself with basic knowledge of stock market and securities analysis, I perused CFA textbooks and other reference books, such as Financial Market Analysis, A Random Walk down Wall Street, Capital Ideas Involving. My effort paid off when I could skillfully apply all kinds of financial tools and professional models into practice.
    Besides the academic life, now let’s talk about the city life. Southampton is among the best cities to live and work in the UK placing sixth, above London, in the PwC 2015 Good Growth for Cities Index based on its excellent geographical location (just 75 miles from London) with convenient transport connections with the rest of the UK. Actually, the city itself is charming. It is a harbor city where Titanic set sail. The ultra-modern Sea City Museum celebrates Southampton's seafaring past and the RMS Titanic. Also Southampton sells itself as the shopping capital of the South Coast and the West Quay shopping centre does nothing to dispel you of that opinion.
    I studied at the University of Southampton for two years in the undergraduate period, which made me fall in love with the study atmosphere and learning methods there. And the education quality in the UK ranks top in the world, whose master’s program is short but comprehensive, boasting high cost performance. The study atmosphere and environment is rigorous there and will guarantee my success. Besides, the low teacher-student ratio will offer me more opportunities to exchange ideas with teachers and students. Therefore, I decided to further my graduation study in UK. Imperial College London was my dream school which takes a leading position in British even worldwide education system due to the fact that IC focused on providing students with chances to enhance their leadership and teamwork skills, as well as to cultivate their creativity and give full play to students’ innovative ideas. Fortunately, my sound foundation in such financial knowledge as fixed income securities, asset pricing, derivatives and portfolio as well as the ability to conduct simulation design and testing with statistical software such as Stata and Eviews made me succeed in application process.

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    On 5th September 2014, I was a student in Imperial College Business School. Academic study here was more struggling than Southampton. There were four semesters and fifteen courses in one year compared with Soton’s eight subjects annually. In other words, I have to work very hard so as to finish endless coursework with my team members. To be more specific, not only cooperation but also competition exists among your colleagues. One interesting thing is that Imperial College Business School is situated in the middle of London’s museum district, for example, Natural History museum and Victoria & Albert Museum, and just a short stroll from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park where you can do jogging, biking or just lying on the grass, enjoying sunshine. Life in London is much more wonderful than that in Southampton. As a world-class metropolitan city,London’s fusion of culture and charm will give you experience different from others. You can discover some of the best museums and galleries in the world for free, try food from across the globe, visit a different pub or bar every time you go out – and take advantage of 24/7 bus travel home, watch free gigs from soon-to-be-famous bands, and don’t be surprised if you have a chance encounter with a celebrity or two.Moreover, when it comes to girls, London is regarded as one of the most superb shopping centres in the world. It can satisfy all your needs from high-street brands to luxury brands and from vintage style to chic style etc. in boutiques on Oxford Street, Regent Street, Selfridges and Harrods. With respect to cuisines, Asian tastes like Japanese, Thailand, Malaysian and Chinese taste have gained much popularity in recent years. Last but not the least, every Chinese student will visit China Town where Cantonese restaurants take the largest part.

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    Perhaps the day when you make the decision is so common, but when you someday look backward you will realize that at that day actually you were at your crossroad. I think I have made such a brilliant decision that let me experience such a brilliant world.