2012, First Blog and Poland

Sitting there in my own little world and all I hear is, "Jack hurry, we have about ten minutes to catch the plane." These were the wise words from my good friend Craig who I had lived with in my 3rd year at university. "Craig, I am not getting on that plane, I will meet you over there and get the train," was my response. I was in my own little world because I was sitting in the departure lounge at Gatwick Airport, with about ten minutes left to board the aircraft. I was taking diazepam (a prescriptive drug intended to calm one's nerves) like it was going out of fashion and telling my friend I will get the train to Poland.

Looking back this makes me laugh but it's all because I have a great hatred/phobia of flying. I did get on the plane and I did make it to Poland and had a great time.

With that setting the tone I will talk a bit more about Poland later on, but now I would like to introduce myself as this is my first blog. My name's Jack James and I came to Kingston University from Liverpool in 2008 to study engineering. I will be posting a blog every 2 weeks about university life and any topics related, so please do follow and read it, and ask me any questions you wish from the homepage. I hope my blogs will give you an understanding of how university life unfolds as it is new to some people.

So why go to Poland I hear you ask? Especially in January? The answer is simple, firstly the currency is not Euro but Zloty and thus the exchange rate is amazing. The second reason is that I just finished my semester one exams in "Aerodynamics and Propulsion" and "Engineering Mathematics" (yeah you can see why I needed a bit of RnR) and wanted to fit a bit of traveling in before semester 2. Now I love to travel and have seen my fair share of different cultures and places but Poland is so unique, especially Krakow where we were staying. We went for 6 days and stayed right in the heart of the city in a place called Old Town, which was the oldest and most historic part of the city. By day we would visit museums and take in the culture (like tourists) and by night party till 6am (even more like tourists), as that's when the pubs/bars/clubs shut.

The one thing that I love about travelling is the people you meet and engage with; you swap stories, have drinks and act like the best of mates, and when the trip is over you will probably never talk to them again or stay in touch. This is what I love about it though, the uncertainty of it all, and this is what coming to university is like. Most of the people reading this now who are coming to Kingston University in September will have thought, or are currently thinking about the whole dilemma, "will I meet friends" and "what if I don't fit in". The advice I can give is that you have nothing to worry about as the whole first year population are in the same boat, you will actually probably make TOO MANY friends in fresher's week.

Now I mentioned earlier about the whole flying phobia, you can tell I hate the prospect of flying, but what have I gone and booked in March... my licence in SKYDIVING! Yes the lad who is scared of flying is going to be jumping out of a plane! I will try and get a few photos and hopefully post them on here! What I should mention is that I'm getting my skydiving qualifications through Kingston University as it's a sports club that anyone can join. When you arrive at Kingston in fresher's week you'll be able to see all  the sports and societies that the university has to offer, there are hundreds available!

I'll finish my first blog there. On a last note, don't leave UCAS and university applications late (like me deciding whether to board a plane or not!), it may affect your offers.