To sum up my first week at Reading, UK, I’ll give you the highlights:
- Enjoying night life (involving bollywood dancing and alcohol)
- Met a Minister
- Had an injection
- Lost in the town centre, lost in the town suburb
- Fire
Enjoying night life
Yes, I went to a nightclub and the next day to a pub. And no, I didn’t drink anything alcoholic. I did order a bottled water and the guy at the bar just gave me a strange look.
The university student’s union actually have a nightclub and that is the place where the international welcome nights were held. There were Quiz Night (I missed that, too tired after a long flight) and Bollywood Night (I came to this one and had some serious bollywood dancing). The other night, when people started coming to the university, we walked to the town centre, to look for a pub.
One thing I still don’t get about everybody here, is the idea of having fun by consuming alcohol. I just don’t get it.
Met a Minister
I met the Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia at the university. He was giving a lecture on palm oil, and I just showed up to him and said that I’m a new student from Indonesia. Actually, my father and the minister went to university (IPB) and shared house with my father. So, it is a small world.
Had an injection
I had a meningitis immunization when I registered to the Medical Practice. My mother said that in Indonesia, a meningitis immunization is expensive so it’s not mandatory unlike polio vaccination. My hand still feels stiff because of the injection. But it’s for health, and it’s for free, so I just enjoyed it.
Lost where ever I go
I’m not good with directions, so I got lost easily. Fortunately with the help of a not-so-detailed map, I managed to go back to the hall. At Reading, most of the shop close at 5 or 6 PM. And generally, that time is also the time for the last bus. It’s too early!
Fire
Yes kind reader, yours truly survived a fire last night. A fire alarm actually. A false one.
Having attended a fire safety talk for new students, I know that the university take fire safety seriously. The talk was given by a really funny-but-nonetheless-serious fireman from the Fire Service. At the end of the talk, I remember he guaranteed us something like this: at least two students will die or seriously injured at the end of the year because of fire-related incidents, and the fire alarm will sound for whatever reason: cooking accident, smoke, vandalizing, etc, at the end of the month.
Lo and behold, at that same night, the alarm rang and forced us all to evacuate from the hall to the nearest open field. In just minutes, the firemen came and inspected the building, especially the area where the alarm was triggered. I fell asleep before it happened, and forced to wake up and evacuate with just a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and slippers. The temperature outside is about 10 degrees Celcius last night.
But all is well now. I’ve found a shop nearby that sells halal food. I’ve memorized the bus route and some of it’s schedule to go to a supermarket. And today I (and the rest of the class) will meet the Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Network and e-Business Centred Computing.
