An Unfortunate Turn Of Events

It started as an ordinary day. Weather was a little bit gloomy but it wasn’t cold or rainy. I woke up at 07:30 and started to get ready for school. I took a shower, brushed my teeth and had my breakfast. After I finished my breakfast, I went out and walked to Elverson DLR station, got on the first train and went to Bank Station. I decided walk from Bank to Liverpool Street, because it was still early for school. 10 minutes walking and I was at INTO London Centre. I attended Accounting and English classes. After the classes, I felt that I was starving so went out to have a late lunch. I checked my phone to see how much time I had for the next class and noticed a text message from my best friend in the UK. He told me that he needed to talk to me. I immediately called him. Conversation started with everyday matters, but as soon as I heard him, I noticed there was something wrong and he got to the point directly. His visa application due to the course change was rejected because of not having sufficient funds in his account for 28 days but 20 days.

I was thinking about how we had celebrated his acceptance to masters programme. He had studied linguistic in Ukraine so when he first applied for masters in marketing, he had been suggested to study diploma in marketing first and then the institution had guaranteed a place in marketing masters course. However after his first term exam results, his high performance in class and his good assignments, he had been offered a place for masters in marketing.

I felt really lonely at that very moment because another good friend of mine had gone to China due to family matters. It had been a second blow to me. After my Economics class, I went to his house to help him. First we went out and bought plastic boxes to store his belongings such as kitchen ware, towels and beddings. We booked storage from a company and they promised us for free delivery from his flat to actual storage since he had furniture to be delivered. We went back home and started packing everything. It took a while, since there were a lot of things to be packed in 10 tiny boxes. Somehow we managed to fit everything in boxes. The day after that 2 employee of the storage company came with a big lorry. They carried everything to lorry and gave some papers to my friend which so he could take his furniture and other belongings whenever he wanted.

It was his last day in the UK, so we decided to have a dinner after my school. That day I couldn’t really concentrate. I was full of thoughts and a little bit depressed. However at the dinner I concealed my feelings and we had a really nice chat. He told me about his plans for coming back on April and starting the masters. I was relieved because this was only temporary and realised that the visa application process was extremely important and even the smallest detail can’t be overlooked. Everything must have done in advance of application and precisely.

Now he is back in Ukraine and we are in touch. In 3 months time, he will be back and he will continue his studies but I am sure when he is back, he will be more cautious about these kind of matters.

New term starts!

New term at INTO has started. When I went to INTO Centre London, I noticed that we had a lot of new students from all around the world who were starting on January.  INTO City Progression Administrator, Voke was really busy at resource centre by registering new students.

I was really happy to be back. When I saw my friends, we had really nice chat about the holiday. Everybody had good time. Some of them stayed in London and some of them went back to their home countries.

There was something that I had been looking forward to, exam results. Lecturers announced our results one by one over the week. I had 80% from Business, 84% from Economics, 94% from Accounting and 81% from English. Results were really good but reminded me something that I need to keep studying since there are lots of other units waiting us from all subjects as well as written assignments, presentations and final exams.  All of these tasks are important components of our final mark so I can’t afford to overlook any of them.

Last two days of the week I was really busy because I changed my accommodation. I was staying with a host family before I went to holiday. They were really kind and helpful but I decided to change it because I needed more personal space. I moved to a house in Greenwich. Greenwich is a really cosy and nice neighbourhood by the Thames. There is a really big park called Greenwich Park quite close to my house. There is a supermarket and train station nearby so that makes shopping and travelling really easy. It takes 30 minutes from my house to INTO Study Centre and there are some alternative routes.

My room is not really big but I have enough space for everything. I have to share bathroom and kitchen with 3 other people. My first impression about my house mates is really good. They were really helpful when I was moving in. I don’t see them that much since we all have different time tables and they have part time jobs. I need one as well. I am doing my best to find a part time job but no luck so far.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I will clean my room and unpack my luggage. The tenant before me didn’t clean the room when he was leaving. So I couldn’t unpack most of my clothes and books. I need to do shopping as well since I need a duvet, a pillow, and covers for them. Hopefully tomorrow after dinner I will be drinking my tear in my cosy and clean room.

3 Weeks In Istanbul

After 4 hour flight, I arrived at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport. There was a really warm welcome waiting me there. The weather was -8 Celsius in London and it was +18 there. I passed passport check and collected my luggage. I was so happy to be back in home but there was still a long way to go because Sabiha Gokcen Airport is in Asia side of Istanbul and my house is in Europe side. I took the coach to my home.

After another 2 hour journey, I was at home. I knocked the door and my mother opened with a big smile. I could easily read the happiness from her eyes. I had my late dinner and we had a really long conversation meanwhile. They were curious about everything.

The day after my arrival, I jumped INTO my car and drove my way to my friend’s cyber cafe. While I was driving car, I noticed that I missed driving so much. I met most of my friends there. We went to a cafe and spent at least 4 hours there. There were a lot of questions waiting for me to answer and there were a lot of questions to be asked.

On the weekend, I went to a museum called Sakip Sabanci Museum. He has a really good collection of hand written Korans and the tools which are used to write these Korans such as inkpots, ink pads and brushes. Also the museum itself was really impressive because that place was Sabanci family’s accommodation. The place is a seafront mansion with a really big garden. Mansion is furnished with antique furniture and it takes its name from the horse statue in the garden.

I spent my last week in Istanbul by shopping and being lazy. I was sleeping till noon everyday because I needed that somehow. I can say that I was looking forward to go back to London because I was missing my life there, my friends and teachers from INTO Centre. I was surprised with that because I had thought that I would never want to leave Istanbul. I think London became an important part of my life since I am studying here and I will be studying here for 3 more years. I established a life style in here as well. I started to live alone and I submit myself to discipline.

In the end it was a really good holiday and I needed that after 3 months of studying. I am in London now. I relaxed and I am ready for the next term. I am really curious about my exam results. Hopefully I will have good results and I will take another step in the path from INTO Foundation to City University London.

Christmas Shopping and Journey Back To Home

We had our end-term exams last week. It was quite a challenge, but when I had the exam paper I noticed that even without studying hours and days I could have answered most of the questions because I had attended all the classes and I had learnt the subjects in the class. The exams are done in one week so we had one or two exams each day. But I have to say that the best thing about exams is the feeling after exams. I was so relieved and a little bit care free. After all that stress I believe I deserved it.

After the exam week, the holiday which everybody was looking for has started. I was on the top of the world. I had nothing to do and just waiting for my fly back to Istanbul. However I could not stop worrying, since the weather was snowy and some flights were cancelled. It was something out of my control so to keep myself busy I went Christmas shopping with my friend. I wanted to buy a couple of presents for my family and friends in Istanbul. We went to Hammersmith, because there is a great discount store there and you can find all the famous brands for clothing. It was really crowded. Everybody was shopping for the Christmas since there was only one week.

After the shopping we were going back to home and we saw a man selling Christmas trees. We decided to buy one to feel the real Christmas spirit. It was not a good idea because we had to carry it to home and we had to take the tube from Hammersmith to the centre. I was so embarrassed in the tube, because everybody was looking at us, who carries a Christmas tree by tube anyway. But it turned out to be ok apart from my hands covered with mud and resin.

After all that shopping I was really tired and had a flight tomorrow in the morning, so I decided to go bed early.  The day after that I went to Stratford via Central Line and I caught coach from there to Stansted Airport. It was 30 minute journey. I was lucky to fly from Stansted because Heathrow and Gatwick Airports were closed due to heavy snow.

When I went there I checked in immediately and I went to most interesting part of airport, duty free shops. I had a breakfast there and spent two hours shopping. I bought presents for my family and friends, and bought a perfume for myself.

The journey was really good for me because it was in the morning so I was sleepy and I slept for four hours in the aircraft. The seats which are next to me were empty so I can say it was a proper sleep. When I opened my eyes, we were flying above Istanbul. I was so excited because I was going to see my friends and my family after three months.