I should write this one first before writing other posts about Newcastle but I felt that this one is a special one (like Malaysian community at Newcastle) . So I reserved it til the end.
When I was searching for internship opportunities at uni careers service search engine, I came across an advert from university of newcastle. chemical engineering and advanced materials department is offering an opportunity to work with them for 6 weeks during summer vacation. i was really glad to see that advert because i am desperately looking for an internship at that moment. I have made around 13-15 applications since december 2006 but all of them got rejected. I only managed to go to the second round with BP. Others were rejected straight away. ok, we go back to newcastle advert. They also provide a PDF file listing all of the projects available. Selection will be made based on CV and project choice. yess, there is no interview. at that time i was confidence that i have a really good chance.
when i read the project title and introduction, i was attracted straight away with spectroscopy project. i came across that term before when i was looking for journal papers when doing my 3rd year project. semiconductor people also used that device in their research. then, i emailed my CV to the person in-charged. i got the internship offer when i was in library, preparing for my exam.
i did think about accommodation before applying the internship. i still remember hurul ain told me that she has a sister living in newcastle. so, i thought i could contact her sister and asked her help to look for a room. if that does not work, my second plan was to rent a room at the university accommodation. it is a bit expensive but since i will be paid for the internship, i thought i was not a big deal.
a week before i leave sheffield for newcastle, hurul brother in-law called me telling that he already found a place for me. but i need to stay at the living room for a few weeks before one of housemates going back to msia. at first, i was a bit disappointed because i don't think sleeping in the living room for a few weeks is a good idea. so, i bring a sleeping bag with me to newcastle.
at newcastle, i stayed at 80 dilston road. shahneel was the person that open the door when i arrive at his home. his house looks fine. i was glad when i saw that a mattress, pillows and a duvet at the living room. these stuffs must be for me. hehehehe. i found that living at the living room was not so bad. i got good and quality sleep almost everyday. there are 4 persons that live at that house; shahneel, hafiz aka ah seng, tuan fairuz and hisham. all of them are very nice person.
their house is a bit far from university but supermarket, mosque, halal fast food and halal butcher are very near. i have to walked for 30 mins (probably around 2 km) to go to the university. so, i walked around 4 km everyday, 20km a week and 120km for the whole internship. hahahaha.
this is the most important part which is the difference between malaysian community in newcastle and sheffield.
When I was searching for internship opportunities at uni careers service search engine, I came across an advert from university of newcastle. chemical engineering and advanced materials department is offering an opportunity to work with them for 6 weeks during summer vacation. i was really glad to see that advert because i am desperately looking for an internship at that moment. I have made around 13-15 applications since december 2006 but all of them got rejected. I only managed to go to the second round with BP. Others were rejected straight away. ok, we go back to newcastle advert. They also provide a PDF file listing all of the projects available. Selection will be made based on CV and project choice. yess, there is no interview. at that time i was confidence that i have a really good chance.
when i read the project title and introduction, i was attracted straight away with spectroscopy project. i came across that term before when i was looking for journal papers when doing my 3rd year project. semiconductor people also used that device in their research. then, i emailed my CV to the person in-charged. i got the internship offer when i was in library, preparing for my exam.
i did think about accommodation before applying the internship. i still remember hurul ain told me that she has a sister living in newcastle. so, i thought i could contact her sister and asked her help to look for a room. if that does not work, my second plan was to rent a room at the university accommodation. it is a bit expensive but since i will be paid for the internship, i thought i was not a big deal.
a week before i leave sheffield for newcastle, hurul brother in-law called me telling that he already found a place for me. but i need to stay at the living room for a few weeks before one of housemates going back to msia. at first, i was a bit disappointed because i don't think sleeping in the living room for a few weeks is a good idea. so, i bring a sleeping bag with me to newcastle.
at newcastle, i stayed at 80 dilston road. shahneel was the person that open the door when i arrive at his home. his house looks fine. i was glad when i saw that a mattress, pillows and a duvet at the living room. these stuffs must be for me. hehehehe. i found that living at the living room was not so bad. i got good and quality sleep almost everyday. there are 4 persons that live at that house; shahneel, hafiz aka ah seng, tuan fairuz and hisham. all of them are very nice person.
their house is a bit far from university but supermarket, mosque, halal fast food and halal butcher are very near. i have to walked for 30 mins (probably around 2 km) to go to the university. so, i walked around 4 km everyday, 20km a week and 120km for the whole internship. hahahaha.
this is the most important part which is the difference between malaysian community in newcastle and sheffield.
- in sheffield, there are lots of undergraduates and postgraduates. however, in newcastle, most of the msian are postgraduates.
- in sheffield, undergraduates do not really mixed with the postgraduates because we live in separate places. all undergraduates live near the city centre while postgraduates live in darnall which is far from the city. most of the postgraduates live there because the house rent is cheaper. so, it is more convenient for them since majority of them have family. there are lots of occasions when people asked me whether i know their postgraduates friends in sheffield and i said i don't know them. sometimes i feel embarrassed to answer like that because we are the minority at this place, we are not a lot but still i don't know all of them. i only know some of them especially the one who have position in the msian society and those who are studying engineering. in newcastle, undergraduates live at the same area as the postgraduates. so, they very closed to each other. they even play football together. at first, i was quite surprised when the undergraduates talked with the postgraduates using 'kau' and 'aku' even though some of them are in late 20s. i think it is a huge loss if we didn't build relationship with the postgraduates because all of them are professionals and some of them are very important persons in msia. so, if we have good relationship with them, we can absolutely enhance our networking.
- i think it is appropriate to called the msian community in newcastle as generous. during my 6 weeks period at newcastle, i have received about 10 invitations for lunch and dinner. when they know i was about to leave newcastle, they also invited me and my housemates for dinner. i was really 'terharu'(can't think the right word in english) with the warm treatment that i received over there. Unfortunately, this does not happened in sheffield. the main reason is because we lived among the undergraduates. usually undergraduates does not have enough 'kerajinan' to cook for lots of people. most of us only invite friends for food during hari raya. i was quite pleased that during last hari raya, there are lots of open house from undergraduates. when i was in my first and second year, there were not much open house organised by the undergraduates.
i think this article is long enough. lastly, i would like to thank shahneel, hisham, hafiz and tuan for giving me an excellent treatments during my stay. i really appreciate it. even though i only know all of you for several weeks but i feel that we already know each other for years and the bond that we have build is too strong. i am looking forward to seeing you guys again in the future. all of you are always welcomed to sheffield.
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