ATTENZIONE: dato che il blog ha cominciato a contenere anche altri argomenti oltre che il mio Exchange, ho deciso di creare delle pagine apposite per i tre topic principali per non perdere di vista i discorsi che si vogliono seguire. Quindi, per chi è interessato solo all'Exchange, basta aprire la pagina "My Aussie Exchange" qui sopra. Chi vuole leggere tutto... bhe la home page ("Blog") rimane sempre la solita!
SE ARRIVA QUALCUNO DI NUOVO SUL BLOG: se volete fare domande o commentare qualcosa fatelo pure in qualsiasi post, anche nei periodi in cui io non sto postando nulla :) rispondo lo stesso!

martedì 20 maggio 2014

6 weeks with our roles switched around

Ciao a tutti,

ci ho messo un po' a decidermi a scrivere questo post. Non sapevo esattamente se potesse rientrare nel mio blog, dato che sto cercando di non riempirlo di off-topics (sfogo sull'alfabeto escluso...), ma alla fine ho deciso che si sta benissimo. Quindi eccomi qui a raccontare brevemente di queste sei settimane (finite sabato) in cui la mia Aussie family è stata qui in visita. Perchè sì, avevo già accennato al fatto che sarebbero venuti, penso, ma non ho scritto niente al riguardo e invece mi farebbe piacere spenderci qualche riga (poche, purtroppo, perchè filosofia mi aspetta sulla scrivania)!

Donc, il 6 aprile Marco e Rebecca sono arrivati all'areoporto di Malpensa e io non stavo più nella pelle, come può ben immaginare chi ha letto il resto del blog. E' stato strano, a dir la verità, averli qui, soprattutto in un primo momento, perchè sono abituata a essere io quella in "territorio inesplorato", nonostante per loro l'Italia (e Torino in particolare) non sia affatto territorio inesplorato. Per queste sei settimane ho fatto tutto il possibile per passare più tempo possibile con loro, per enjoy la loro presenza e non perdere tempo, dato che non abbiamo così tante occasione per vederci, compatibilmente of course con i miei impegni scolastici (argh... la quinta è un anno stressante!) e con i loro viaggi i giro per l'Italia e non solo :D Riassumendo in poche parole quel che abbiamo fatto: siamo stati quasi una settimana a Napoli con la mia famiglia per le vacanze di Pasqua, due giorni in Val d'Isere a trovare degli amici australiani e poi un bel po' di tempo qui in giro per Torino. Passeggiate, pranzi vari, cene, anche una lezione di zumba con Rebecca, insomma, di occasioni per stare insieme ce ne sono state abbastanza, anche se è stato ben diverso dal vivere tutti i giorni sotto lo stesso tetto! Però, poi, sono dovuti ripartire, com'è ovvio, e io sono tornata alla vita di tutti i giorni, sentendo di nuovo la loro mancanza...
Strano come queste sei settimane siamo passate così veloci, strano come solo sei settimane e mezzo fa stavo aspettando con ansia che arrivassero (e intanto mi dicevo: "massì, hai un sacco di tempo per fare la tesina"... ultime parole famose!) e adesso è tutto come prima, con loro dall'altra parte del mondo e io qui, a scrivere sul blog e a pensare a come vola il tempo. Strano.


Come ho già detto, non posso dilungarmi, ma vi lascio con qualche foto di questo bellissimo periodo!

See ya :-)

With Giorgia, my best friend (the girl who
came with me to Australia also the second time)
Val d'Isere :D

In the snow! So different from Cairns :P

Making snow-balls
 

Napoli: mum, me, sister and Rebecca!!
Easter lunch with everybody :)
Al castello di Napoli!

Capri *-*

martedì 6 maggio 2014

The alphabet of my life

Lo so che è un post strano da fare adesso, a caso, ma ho trovato l'idea su un altro blog e mi è venuta voglia di provare! Non è facile come sembra :P

A come Australia, Australia e sempre Australia... il mio grande amore e il sogno per cui non smetterò di combattere

B come Banalità, senza cui la vita dopo un po' diventa noiosa

C come Coraggio di inseguire i propri sogni, il coraggio che a volte mi manca, ma che vorrei sempre avere per vivere al meglio ogni giorno; e Creativitá, che dà un pizzico di magia alla vita, che fa parte di me in quanto pseudoscrittrice (in erba, of course)

D come Dreamer, perchè io sono, prima di tutto, una sognatrice

E come Exchange, the best adventure of my life so far, come sanno tutti quello che hanno letto questo blog

F come Fiducia nel Futuro, nella Famiglia e nei Friends

G come Gran Bretagna, il Paese che mi accoglierà a partire da Settembre, il Paese di cui mi sono innamorata a distanza da bambina e che non mi ha mai delusa tutte le volte che ci sono state. Anche se adesso l'Australia ha preso il suo posto dentro di me, non cambia il fatto che io adoro la Gran Bretagna!

H come Home, both of my homes, thousands of kilometres apart, e Hugs, in grado di risollevarmi nei momenti di tristezza

I come Inglese, perchè è solo per il mio amore per questa lingua se ho fatto quel che ho fatto; ma anche Italia, dove sono nata e cresciuta

J come June, il mese tanto atteso ogni anno e tanto temuto adesso che faccio quinta

K come Kids, i bambini che tanto amo

L come Licia Troisi, my idol, la scrittrice che mi ha insegnato a scrivere seriamente e che ammiro più di ogni altra, la persona che senza saperlo mi ha dimostrato che si possono avere grandi cose nella vita e si possono mettere insieme più passioni

M come Musica, la musica che mi accompagna tutti i giorni ed è la mia colonna sonora

N come Notti, notti insonni per l'agitazione, la felicità, la tristezza, la paura o anche solo a chiacchierare con le amiche

O come Ostacoli, quelli superati e quelli che ancora mi aspettano, ma che mi renderanno più forte

P come Paura, di sbagliare, di fallire, di buttarmi, di perdere le persone che amo, di farmi male, di deludere la gente

Q come Quattro passioni che mi fanno sentire me stessa: scrivere, viaggiare, leggere, fotografare

R come Risate, che sistemano ogni cosa e rendono le giornate migliori

S come Scuola, of course, ma anche Skype, che può sembrare strana come parola da scegliere, ma mi permette di tenere i contatti con le persone lontane da me

T come Together, sono quello che sono solo grazie alle persone che mi sono state vicine

U come University, my next challenge

V come Vivere ogni giorno al meglio, per cercare di non pentirsi di niente

W come Writing, la mia compagna di vita, la mia confidente

X come Xmas, tanti Natali pieni di sogni, allegria, risate (a volte lacrime), passati ad aspettare Babbo Natale, a mangiare con la famiglia e scartare i regali delle persone più importanti

Y come Yearning for something all the time, but it's part of life after all

Z come Zoom on positive aspects of things

venerdì 7 marzo 2014

Blog about Uni

Ciao :)

Come avrete notato ormai sto scrivendo sempre di più riguardo all'universitá e in questi giorni mi sono resa conto che questo blog è nato per essere sull'Australia e che non mi va di renderlo un blog sull'uni. E considerando che la Career Advisor della Queen Mary mi ha suggerito di avere un blog in inglese che parli, per ora, del processo per entrare all'uni... ho deciso di crearne uno nuovo apposta! Quindi adesso smetterò di postare qui e continuerò di lá (dove sto pian pian copiando e traducendo i vecchi post con argomento uni), finchè non ci saranno news sull'Australia, ma se avete ancora voglia si seguirmi e leggermi sull'altro blog mi farebbe molto piacere :D
Bhe, se vi va, ecco il nuovo link:

Life is always for living

Ciao a tutti e thanks

giovedì 6 marzo 2014

University of Leicester open day


Hello!

As I said the other day, yesterday my mum and I went to the University of Leicester's open day. This one was a lot longer than Queen Mary's as it started at 10am and went on until mid-afternoon.

The previous night, we had already walked to the uni to check its location, so we knew where to find it and it didn't take us too long to reach it, but we had again enough time to look around and I definitely decided I love the city: it's all so green, airy and handy for students! The campus is spread along London road and it takes a little while to get to the end of it, but it is very pretty looking :)





Anyway, around 9.30am we registered at The Square in the Students' Unions building and we were given badges, pens and brochures. We then waited to be called and in the meanwhile I had a chat with a second year history student who is going to Perth (Australia) next year! At 10am they walked us into a big hall where the Student Recruitment Manager, another staff member and two current students spoke for about 1h30. Before that, though, there was a video with some students talking about their experience at Leicester's university: it showed a lot of liveliness and it made a good impression on me, honestly.The first speaker then related all the uni's achievements, which are many, such as the fact that they connect teaching with researching (researchers are also teachers). She said all very interesting things, but I don't know... she didn't feel the same way to me as the man who said the same at Queen Mary did. The next person speaking mainly exaplined how to deal with finance as students, how to budget and earn money with part time jobs (and full time during the summer holiday). That was a pretty good talk because I finally got to understand how the Government Tuition and Maintenance loan/grant system works (but I will probably make a post about it)! Eventually, it was the students' turn to give us an insight of student's life in Leicester: they talked about working, relaxing, having fun, exercising, socialising and.... of course studying! It all sounded good and enticing, really!

After that, we were split into groups and showed around campus by 'ambassadors'. This time it was a boy and he took us to the library (awesome - it was all so modern and inviting!), the gym & the pool, some of the department buildings (Law, Physics & Astronomy - in front of which there was a brilliant clock showing the time of sunset and the zodiac - and Geology & Geography - where they had a replica of a young T Rex dinosaur), some gardens and the Students Union hall.

Lawn and the Management building

The Law building

Board in the Astronomy department

The "clock" outside the Astronomy building

The white building on the back is the Biology one


Mum and I then had lunch at one of the cafés in that same building (it was good, by the way!) and then walked back to the Geology building where we were talked through the basic info about my course, Biological Sciences. Here are the main topics he covered:
- possibility to swap to any of the other Biological courses (I applied for Genetics, even thought it is not exactly what I want), such as Biochemistry and Zoology, in the first year and the early second;
- in the first year all the undergraduates (about 160 or so) in the Biological Sciences fields follow the same lectures (5 modules I think) which give a broad scientific background, and are then divided in smaller groups for practical lessons and tutorials;
- in the second year you have a change to specialise in one of the main fields, including those listed above (Genetics, etc...);
- the last year is dominated by the big personal research project, allowing students to join any of the research teams on campus;
- possibility to spend a year abroad (for Bio students this means Europe, USA or Japan) or working in industry.

When this introductive speech finished we were divided relatively to our chosen field (Genetics for me) and were led into a room where some of the academic staff talked to us. First, some of use where taken on a department tour and were showed lecture rooms, labs and various places around the science buildings. I then had a one-to-one chat with a professor, who asked me about my interests and other unis I have applied to, talked about his own experience and explained that Leicester really is a student-friendly city. He got me really thinking about the choice I have to make because, as I told him when asked, if I was to chose because of the areas the unis are I would pick Leicester (so pretty and airy)... but he reminded me that the main thing shouls be the course and I am not sure Leicester has the right one for me, especially because it hardly focuses on evolution and it doesn't give me many opportunities to develop some journalistic skills For the next half hour I spoke to a third year Biochemistry student from Singapore who told me about how the uni is, about the Unions and societies and we also discussed about the differences between Singapore, England and Italy! He was really nice :)

Lastly, at 3pm we went on a bus that took us to Oadby Village (3.5km away), where the main halls of residence are. We walked through all of them and were shown inside three places:
- a catered ensuite single room, which was just as big as Queen Mary's one;
- the dining hall for catered rooms;
- a self-catered (therefore with a bigger kitched) non-ensuite room, which was larger but just because the bathroom was not in there.

At 4.30pm it was all over... and we walked back to our hotel to catch a train to Stansted airport.

Soooo, how does all of this lead me? I really liked Leicester as a city and its campus was truly amazing, but I have doubts about the course... because while it does seem good, it just doesn't sound really right for me! I got really confused this morning after seeing how lovely the campus is, but I think I have clearer ideas now... I just have to give it some last thoughts!

Here you go, it's everything :)

I'll be back soon,

Martina

martedì 4 marzo 2014

Queen Mary University open day


Hello again,

Today I went to my first University Open Day ever. It's kind of strange to think about it, you know?! It makes everything feel a lot more real and just about to happen. Anyway, it was really good and it made me change my opinion on Queen Mary University, seen that I hadn't taken it much into consideration in the past.

Let's start from the beginning! Queen Mary is not exactly in the very centre of London, but still on the Central Line of the subway so it's rather easy to reach and move around (that is if you know where to look for it, of course). Anyway, we were early out of the hotel this morning, so we went for a wander near the university and I took lots of photos of the streets and the outside of the uni.

Going to the uni

A squirrel in the middle of the road!

The front  of Queen Mary University of London

Mile End Road, where the uni is


We eventually stopped for a coffee at a place we walked past (if only we had been there last night, it would have saved us from all the spices!) and finally made our way to the entrance of the uni around 11.40am. The registration was meant to start 5 minutes later but they checked us in anyway. I got a sticker with my name and a green circle, standing for "Biology group", and then stood aside waiting with mum. In the meantime an Asian girl started talking to us and saying I would have loved Queen Mary by the end of the tour (she is in second year).
After a while, they walked us to a hall where we sat until everybody (around 25 students plus some parents) arrived and the Senior Admission Officer (I think) started introducing the university. He showed us some data about Queen Mary's rankings among UK unis and told us we are some of the ones who have been chosen amongst all the other applicants who were refused and therefore he hopes we will pick Queen Mary as our first choice.
Later on he passed the microphone to the Director of Studies of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences (Mr Evans), as the Open Day was specifically about this faculty, who related facts about the history of the university, the research carried out at Queen Mary, the Study Abroad possibilities (eg. Australia!!!), etc... All along, both of them were funny and friendly and very down-to-earth so it was impressing, in a good way of course. In the end, the first man who had spoken (can't remember his name!) finished the session with a short introduction to accomodation and possible careers or further study.

After this, we had a lunch break in the back of the room, but I only had some crisps. We were invited to talk to any of the staff members or current students in the room and I had a chat with the responsible for the accomodations, the Career Advisor, that man (yep, always the 'un-named' one) and a student. The first one explained that we are granted a place on campus only of we choose Queen Mary as our firm option, come from further than 1 hour from the uni and we apply for a room before the end of June, but also told me I can't choose a specific house whereas I will have to select five and will be put where they can fit me in. The student and the Career advisor both explained to me what to do if I want to pursue a career in Scientific Journalism: the former said there are specific courses held in the third year (which sounds pretty interesting!) and the latter told me that, while my degree will guarantee for the 'Scientific' part, I should be involved as much as I can in writing activities, such as joining the uni's newspaper and blogging (when I told her I already had a blog she said any topic would be fine, until I have some more Science knowledge to expose, as long as I write in English - which I am trying to do, as you can see). The un-named man just talked about his own experience, as he had started uni wanting to be a Scientific Journalist but had then preferred lab science! They really reassured me about what I want to do, telling me that it is perfectly doable and that it's easier to be a Scientific Journalist with a Science degree than with a Journalism one :)

Around 1.20pm we split up in groups led by a Student Ambassador, in our case a girl named Hannah,  and went for a campus tour. She showed us the various student services (such as the nurse, counsellor, etc...), the gym, different cafés and restaurants, computer labs, the night club, the Biology builiding (where the Bio students spend a lot of their time - it looked great!!), the Chemistry building! It was cool :D Students definitely have no problems in finding food or activities ;)
Lastly, we walked throught the various Houses and another student let us inside a flat shared by 6 people: the common kitchen was small but perfectly usable and it had all that you need, the private bedroom... mmh... a bit small, especially the wardrobe and the washbasin, but nothing terrible ;) It's probably just me used to bigger spaces!
Here you go, some photos of Queen Mary University:







And this is it! At 2pm we were left free and took some time to walk around, before leaving the uni and going back to the hotel to collect our bags to go to Leicester! Tomorrow we will be visiting the University of Leicester, which I really liked from the brochures and the website.

In short, I really changed my mind about Queen Mary and am actually seriously considering the possibility of choosing it as my firm option because of how friendly everybody, staff included, was and how good the university looked and sounded!

Yep, ora ho davvero finito :) Ciao a tutti!!

London!!!


3rd March 2014

Here we go,

We are in London!! Siamo partite oggi pomeriggio under Italian rain e siamo passate alla English rain :P Da London Stansted a qui ci è voluto qualcosa tipo 2h tra treno e subway per raggiungere l'albergo. Now it's time to go exploring around!

View from the window


...later...

L'universitá (dopo esserci perse un po' di volte) l'abbiamo trovata, chiedendo a mille persone diverse e più o meno dovremmo ritrovarla domattina xD Il problema è stato poi la cena... abbiamo girato per tre quarti d'ora e trovato solo take away!!!! Dopo un po' ero esausta e con un male alla schiena terribile (mi sono fatta male sciando) quindi ho trascinato mia mamma in un ristorante turco, l'unico dove ci si potesse sedere, chiamato "Royal Spice"... considerando che entrambe non mangiamo spezie... :P Mmmmmh non è stata la cena migliore del mondo, no... ci siamo salvate solo grazie alle classiche chips e al pane arabo che toglievano un po' del piccante delle costolette!!!!

Spicy Lamb Chops
Ora siamo di nuovo in albergo, tomorrow University :D

domenica 2 marzo 2014

It's time for Open Days

Ciao :)

I'm back con un brevissimo post per dire che domani parto per l'England per qualche giorno perchè martedì e mercoledì sarò in giro per università, rispettivamente Queen Mary University of London e University of Leicester, con mia mamma! It's gonna be fun ;) Sono proprio curiosa di vedere di persone due delle Universities che mi hanno accepted, soprattutto perchè pian piano la Queen Mary mi ispira di più anche se fino a poco fa era quella che consideravo di meno.

Okay, I'll be back to you per raccontarvi delle Unis in the next few days :D

XOXO