A warm welcome

Hello everyone ! 

Picture of all the international students

I’m going to write an article about a very good surprise we had one week ago.
Indeed, we’ve been invited by the University to a dinner for international students. So the dinner started at 6:00 pm, we were at a table where there were different international students and in the room there were so many nationalities! India, Pakistan, Germany, Norway…etc. It was great because we could talk a little with these people to improve our English.

Then, about the food, there was such different food. French food for example (it was the typical beef bourguignon), rice (Chinese food), spicy food (Indian food), and other kind of food. For the dessert it was two types of cake. It was a really good meal!
After the dinner, we took good time talking with people, they’re really pleasant and really understanding, they help me to feel in confidence and so I can speak English with them, even if I have some difficulties to speak. We’ve met also people coming from the ESAIP Angers at this party. 

Dining room

All these parties can help our circle of friends to grow and we thank the University for this great party, it’s really a good idea, it allowed us to met the other people of different nationalities living on the Campus. 

See you !

The UK is not France

The UK is not France 

We were surprised to see so many differences between these two countries while only tens of kilometres separate them. Firstly the language but we already knew it. In the UK, people drive on the right-hand side of the road and we also know this habit. But we ignored that it will be troublesome to cross roads because we have to forget our habits and look before on the left side then the right. During one of the first days, we were astonished to see a child driving a big car, before understanding he was on the passenger seat.

At home, the differences still are visible. The switches fall from the ceiling whereas in France are fixed on the wall. The first day I used the toilet in the dark. It’s all about the bathroom. There are two taps on each sink, one for hot water and the other for the cold. So to use it we open both taps and we try to get water from the both to get lukewarm water , no jealous !! The flush is different but is easy to use. Moreover the sockets are different from ours. To use it, it's not finger in the nose like french say because there are three metal rods. To load our laptop or our mobiles we use an adapter which enables us to plug our appliances directly in the socket.  

At the Uni, it was funny to call our teachers by their forename. In France it's just impossible. Our timetable is very light compare to our in France. We learned that in the UK, the students spend a lot of time in the library and they can get access to their lectures from the Uni website and from what they call BLACKBOARD. The library closes at 02 am !! It’s great for a student like me who likes to study during the night. 

The fist day in Stoke !

Hello everyone ! 

 

At the Liverpool airport

We arrived in Stoke on the 23th at noon, it was a bit complicated because we took a bus and then 2 different trains with all our luggage !

The first contact is very cold but it's not snowing yet ! We went to the reception of the Campus to get our keys and we discovered our accommodation which is not the same one for each person of ESAIP school.

After that, we met three Indian people who helped us to discover the campus which is huge ! There is a night club, a bar, a dispenser and also a gym ! At the evening we ate in a restaurant and after we stayed with indian people and chinese people for practise our english, they're very comprehensive and they always try to make us understand what they say.

it was a very good first day in fact. People on the campus are very kind and friendly.

Stoke is really a nice town and we are eager to find out more !


Following in the next article !

About our city...

Downtown of Stoke-on-Trent

First of all, a little presentation about our city. Stoke-on-Trent, often abbreviated to Stoke also called the Potteries, is a city in Staffordshire, England. Its population is about 250,000 people. The Staffordshire University, which hosts about 15,000 students is one of the best universities in England. There are two main campuses in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, with other campuses in Lichfield and Shrewbury. 

There are many restaurants, pubs and tea shops in Stoke. In fact, there are some fantastic real-ale pubs to be discovered in Stoke like the Burslem, home of the Titanic Brewery.
Also, Stoke has an unrivalled heritage of Potteries and is officially recognized as the World Capital of Ceramics. There are Pottery attractions, factory shops and also factory tours where you can create your own masterpiece.  Then, there are so many things to do in Stoke, like visit the Monkey Forest or the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition and of course coming to watch a game football at the Britannia Stadium.

About travelling in and around Stoke-on-Trent has a great network of public transport for us to get around once we arrive. In fact, you can go:

• by bus, the National Express connects Stoke with hundreds of towns and cities all over the UK
• by rail with the Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station with regular direct high speed trains from London Euston, Birmingham and Manchester
• by bicycle, Stoke-on-Trent has over 150km of cycle routes including off-road routes such as canal towpaths, river paths and greenways where you can explore the hidden, green areas of the city.
• by taxi, in fact, there are taxi ranks outside Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station and in the City Centre on Stafford Street
• Also by plane, way we’ll take from France to Liverpool airport

Then about the accommodations, some students will stay in the campus which offer cheap rooms with common facilities, the others have chosen colocation with foreigners, English people or Erasmus people! Ultimately, the goal is staying with people who speak English to improve it during the 3 months of studies.

Stoke Campus

Finally, about the student life, there are some pubs, nightclubs in Stoke but the biggest concentration of nightlife is at Hanley, the liveliest of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent. Monday and Tuesday are the main student nights. There is also a Campus life on the campus of Stoke which has two large projection screens showing the major sporting fixtures, and a packed calendar of events including karaoke and quiz nights. It has also a place for food or drink.
 

After this little presentation, we look forward to arriving on site the 23th of January and hope to spend good time with english people.