Warwick castle & Stratford (Aug30th)

Fortunately I can wake up early in the morning and then accompanied with “Big Bird” to have a new journey to Warwick castle. We got on the bus at 9:15 but it was very strange that a majority of our classmates had not got here. Maybe they had a good experience tonight.
As the biggest castle in the world, Warwick castle has a very long history. Though it is such an old and big building, Warwick castle is saved much completely than most of the other castles. Many people said that if you saw Warwick castle, all of the castles could not be seen. Such as “看了黄山不看山”
However, the most deeply impression I had is that we can close to the nature more. On such a green lawn, there are a great number of animals such as horses, ducks and even hawks, peacocks and swans. They were so close to us that we can even touch them. In addition, there are so many viewpoints here so we can take lots of photos surrounding the castle. And the castle seemed to teach us ancient British culture and history like an old man.
The next station is Stratford, which is the hometown of Shakespeare. Nowadays this small town becomes so prosperous. We just had a look at the street performance the next hour and that was very interesting.
What a busy day it is today! I need to sleep now…

Bristol

What a busy day it is today!
We were organized to visit Bristol city at 9:15 am. It takes us about two and a half hours to get there by bus.
Before I visit there, I just know that Bristol is famous for its University. But now I know the "Brunel's SS Great Britain". That's the world's first great ocean liner. We took photos on the liner, in the liner and under the liner.
Bristol is a small city with such a long river in it. I haven’t seen a river for a long time because of Birmingham’s special location. After visiting the liner, we walked along the river to go to the city centre. There were not many people in the city centre because that today is bank holiday. Many shops were closed so we can just visit some viewpoints to take some photos again. There were so many magnificent ancient buildings here such as castles that our eyes even can’t have a rest.
After we got home it’s seven o’clock already. Though most of us felt very tired, we had a happy journey again.

Bank Application

We spent the whole afternoon in the city centre to apply for the bank card. That's very terrible. "Little Fat", "Big Bird", "Master Huo" and Wang Shengyang accompanied with me so we can just got a family ticket to get on a bus. All of us chose the “NatWest” bank when we applied for the school proof through the internet. But because of choosing the different branch, “Little Fat”, “Big Bird” and I went to the “Birmingham City Centre” bank together. And the other two went to the “New street” bank. So we must separate when the bus stopped.

I was the first one to be served when we went into the bank. But when I knew that the proof can’t be accepted, I tried my best to explain everything to that woman. She meant that because of no address below the name, they can’t accept the proof from school. But the address is printed in the middle of the paper. They had been printed but weren't printed on the right place. So she said she can't accept this one. I deemed that the bank in UK were very rigid. Unfortunately, she couldn’t be persuaded.

“Master Huo” met the same problem in the other bank branch so we called him to come here. But it was very strange that “Little Fat” and “Big Bird” did’t have this problem. They were just be served by the other manager after I went into the room and he said our proof can be accepted. Then we apply for the card one by one. It took such a long time that we can see the man was very tired finally.

We asked him lots of details about “NatWest” bank and got much useful information. I began to have confidence on my spoken language. From my perspective, if we want to practice our listening and speaking more, we must communicate with local people more and try our best to look for chances.

I will get the card in about ten days! That's very cool!

journey begins here

Nowadays we have only a little time to look for our "Future Nest" because of such a great number of boring lessons should be had every day. Fortunately, with the network in our accommodation, we can search information through the internet.
There are two choices for me now. One is living in a house with my about five good partners, and the other one is living in the flat with my old accommodation partner in Nanjing named " little fat", who chose the same major as mine. After a long-time struggling, I decided to live in a flat.
We chose a very beautiful one named Opal 1 after a tiny and careful consideration, which located near the city centre. It takes only about twenty minutes on foot between the flat and TIC. There are excellent security with CCTV, electronic access and 24 hour staff presence. The most attraction for me is that there are Gymnasium and Pool in it, so I can take some exercises and swim in my free time. I heard there are also Jaccuzi, Steam Room and Sauna in the building, oh that very fantastic!
Everything is OK but the most disadvantage is the money. It's so expensive that some of my classmate can't accept that. My best friend Tianyu and the other good partners want to live in a house because of the low price. But the security and distance are not very ideal, and if we want to find a more ideal house, that's very difficult because that needs time to look for.
Another advantage to live in the flat is that we can make more friends with local English people. More communication means there are more chances for us to improve our spoken English.

初窥门径

不知不觉已经来到伯明翰一个星期,一大早组织去市中心,兴奋噢~
漫步在莫大的市中心里,虽说人群稠密,不过丝毫没有吵杂和拥挤的感觉,一切尽是那么的井井有条大,真大,这里大概有3~4个苏州观前那么宏伟,幸好有北广的一位大姐为向导,否则面临迷路危险的我们不就变为待宰的羔羊?


西方的建筑风格是那么的新奇,一些教堂式的古老建筑则向我们诉说着城市的古老和沧桑,而当看到Bullring时,在哪个角度拍摄它都很美很壮观.新生的现代建筑夹杂在众多古老的建筑群中反差是如此之大以至于显得它更加耀眼夺目.

市中心是这里人们购物娱乐休闲的宝地,在这里我们看到了兰博基尼和阿斯顿.马丁等众多在国内几乎绝迹的车辆,在China Town我们看到了久违的统一冰红茶和那么多中国人,品尝到了可口的中餐.在Bullring那么大的购物场,1、2个小时跑圈根本就逛不到什么。。。而这里距TIC是那么的近，可以想象今后买菜购物等是多么的方便~

小试牛刀

吃饭问题咋解决?我们很好很强大
出国前一直担心自己烧菜不行肯定会吃亏,而当天宇兄小露身手后,掌厨猛男就此诞生了
烧饭等当下手事是我专利,偶尔帮抄下,感觉颇好
集体购物公有平摊私有分赃,ASDA和TESCO这2大天皇都离宿舍那么近,还愁买不到东西?
当一道道凝聚自己汗水的菜出炉上桌时,不管好不好吃,心里的滋味是甜美的~

初出茅庐

4天过去了,一切都是那么的顺利,以至于没有身处异地的感觉...
上午考试,也就是先给我们的英语水平作个评估,考试方法很特别,卷子很强大...
中午赶个时间和老娘Skype...聊了1个小时...详细情况一个不漏说了,她终于放心了...
聊完去学校上堂不正规课,接触了不同国家的学生,很佩服老外上课的方法,感叹ING...
明天开始分班正式上课了,语言培训?...期待ING

初来乍到

8 8 , 和奥运说 拜拜
历经12个小时到荷兰阿姆斯特丹,1个小时转伯明翰,终于身处万里之外的异国他乡
除晚9点到凌晨3点是黑暗的在英国17个多小时都是阳光普照...,这让我轻松的将时差颠倒过来
一切都是陌生的,到处都是黑人和白人的世界,因而有舍友相伴的日子还是挺幸福的
刚搬进的宿舍是那么的温馨,让我有回到家的感觉
在那么遥远的地方和父母通话感觉是那么的美好,报个平安,放心吧,我很好
MISSING U ALL!!!
我的留学生涯开始了...