Finding this enriching for my professional and personal development
Hello everyone! My Name is Jorge, I am from Mexico and also a student not once, but twice in the UK. The first time I came to the UK was when I started my MSc in Microbiology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. I had the privilege of studying in the University that was considered that very same year as the “ Scottish University of the Year”.
The reason I chose Aberdeen to study my postgrad was due to the history itself of the University as well as the program I was aiming to study and the quality of research that is performed there. Moreover, As time passed and I learned so many things that I was interested in and some others that really opened my eyes into new subjects, I was making friends from every single nationality, language, parts of the world, and I mean this, every continent was represented by various students of diverse countries, finding this enriching for my professional and personal development as well as communication skills! The Scottish accent is something I find fascinating regardless of what many people including the very same British may say about it; nevertheless, at the beginning it was somehow hard to understand when in lectures. It is something no one prepares you for, but definitely enjoy living and learning. Furthermore, finding out that the lecturers that were included in our program or the facilities where we were able to perform our project were in many cases renowned professionals for their skills or state of the art facilities was inspiring, and somehow scary but fun!
Studying at University of Aberdeen was also for me living there, since I stayed at the University´s student accommodation, at Trinity Court, place where I shared many laughs, gatherings and study sessions with my lads but also with my housemates, another excellent place where to meet people from all around the globe and from where I personally made what I consider my best friend so far. Both, Uni and student accommodation are located in a very central part of the Granite city, thus access to supermarkets, leisure places, pubs and sports facilities are very handy.
About my Masters program, it was a course that just as it was full of new experiences also was it full of big challenges, some of them making me develop in record time certain skills needed in order to pass to the next step; that was the research project, a step that once results were obtained and understood what they meant, the sensation of satisfaction was completely worth it with that kind of previous pressure. As a matter of fact, I fell in love with research in such a way that I am currently now doing my second postgrad, here in the UK, my PhD in Microbiology as well, but now at the University of Nottingham.
Finally, some tips that can be truly helpful, small details but they do create a big difference is not to bring so much clothing over here, UK weather is so unpredictable but fortunately UK people have shops for any kind of day, thus, come lightweight and enjoy shopping here. Also change your standard credit/debit for a contactless, and finally avoid much currency exchange, save money, and go contactless for (almost) everything.
- Jorge