First Steps to the UK

 I had been studying mechanical engineering in Istanbul, Turkey. I had several work placements but I didn’t really like the actual engineering and that affected my performance at the university. My grades fell and school life became a nightmare. I thought that I needed a change. I wasn’t really sure what it was; may be place or subject to study. When I was thinking about what to do, a friend of mine recommended me to check universities and their programmes in abroad. I made a research on the internet. First of all I checked a lot of different universities, different courses that I can study and what I can do, if I graduate from these courses. The most suitable one for me was business studies so I made my mind and went to Bournemouth, the UK in the last quarter of 2009 and studied general and academic English there till 2010 summer. While I was studying English, I had chance to visit different cities and universities. I had chance to talk students of these universities and these small interviews gave me the best idea about those universities. In summer when I went back to Turkey, I decided to study Business Studies at City University London, and finally figured out that the best pathway to study at City University London is studying foundation at INTO Centre London.  

I found an agency which was working with INTO. I sent my details and approximately in 15 days I received an offer. After that everything developed smoothly.

On September 2010, I started studying at INTO Centre London. I remember my first day at INTO. I was really excited. I went to the Centre and it was rather easy to find the place because it’s quite central. Transport is extremely good to Liverpool Street. I went there by central line. When I entered the centre, two members of INTO staff greeted and redirected me to the welcome desk on the first floor. On the first floor, I was registered and my details and some documents were taken such as copy of passport, high school diploma and IELTS certificate.

First week, we had orientation week. Our lecturers explained the subjects and then we chose pathways depending on what we want to study at City University London with our lecturers’ help. After that lectures started. Sometimes, it was easy, sometimes challenging but really interesting. First three months passed really swiftly. To be honest, I didn’t understand, it was like blink of an eye. I think it’s because, I was enjoying what I had been doing.

Two weeks ago we had our end term exams. It was a really stressful period of time. Everybody was seriously studying. Resource centre at INTO Centre and library at City University were full of foundation students. People were sharing notes and ideas what the questions might have been and a few weeks later we had our exams. They were nothing to scare. Most of us spent long time to study and everybody was smiling after exams. Probably most of us will have good results. Here I tried to give you an idea about my first term at INTO centre. See you next time.