Zhang Jia Lu
In 2020, the world seemed to have come to a standstill due to the epidemic. We arrived in the UK with high hopes of studying abroad, but we were not expecting to be greeted by a fully online 'home from home' university. As most of the lectures in the business school were in large classrooms of hundreds of people, the school switched to 'cloud classes' for safety reasons and only gradually started to teach offline in the second year.
Learning
When you come to the UK, you can't help but feel that the teaching resources and teaching environment are really advanced. All UK universities have a very comprehensive online learning system, both online and offline, and students can check their recording on the website, which is a great convenience for international students. So it seems that online learning does not particularly compromise the quality of teaching, but it does test our self-discipline. Some students are inert and accumulate a lot of online lessons, failing to follow the lesson plan and digesting the knowledge in class in a timely manner, which greatly reduces the effectiveness of learning and wastes a lot of valuable time. Therefore, self-awareness is a very important quality in learning.
When you check the class schedule, you will find that the group lectures are not very long, with four specialist courses per week, each of which has two hours of class time per week. Although there will be a lot of gaps in the class schedule, this does not mean that we have a lot of time to entertain ourselves. Basically, in a one-hour course, the teacher will finish a chapter, so the knowledge is quite intensive. The large amount of knowledge imparted in a short period of time means that the content covered by the teacher is the most basic and concise concepts, and in order to digest them, we may need to spend exponentially more time looking through English textbooks or searching for relevant materials, and then memorize them in our minds through our own understanding. This is the process of moving from passive acquisition to active reception and understanding, and it takes much longer than an hour to complete this transformation.
The assessment process in SA is similar to that in China, with most courses still using the usual paper-based examinations and a small number of courses using essay-based assessments. In the process of writing a dissertation, we need to learn to use various learning tools and teaching resources to complete the dissertation efficiently. When studying abroad, teachers guide students step by step through seemingly impossible tasks, so active communication with teachers is essential in this process. We can apply the theoretical knowledge from our textbooks by writing essays or finding opportunities to work on our own projects, which will help us to gain a better understanding of the theoretical formulas.
Life
The cold, dry climate and the lack of people on campus added to the loneliness and desolation of life in Southampton. The daily routine of surfing the Internet, cooking and digesting classroom content was limited to the small confines of the dormitory, making life quite boring. I am a person who loves to be around and is afraid of being alone, and I have been devastated by this life a few times, but it goes on. I began to look at myself and seek spiritual solace by reading books to relieve my frustration. This process helps to strengthen the mind, learn to be alone and enjoy solitude. Although there are many friends around me, I have to learn to solve problems independently. You will encounter many unforeseen small problems in your life, most of which are omissions from the school. The problems are not too big or too small, not painful, but they require an excellent mindset to communicate and solve. Learn to be brave and communicate with people, a process that not only takes you out of your comfort zone and hones your spoken English, but also allows you to get effective information and help. So, being brave enough to stand up for your rights and ask for help can make all the difference.
Campus life in Southampton is rich and varied. Every week, there are many public lectures on hot topics in society. By choosing a topic that interests you and participating in them, you can learn about the latest trends in academic research or research methods from scholars around the world. In addition to this, SA has a number of societies and academic groups that organize weekly events and activities. It is a time to relax and unwind after studying, but also to socialize and make new friends.
What I feel most about being abroad is the spontaneity and freedom found in foreigners. This freedom is the quality of being indifferent to fame and fortune and pursuing a unique value in life guided by interests. From primary schools through junior high school, high school and university, studying has long been a task, striving for the top is the accepted social rule, and following the general trend of employment and making a lot of money seems to be success on a material level. With a lot of time gaps and opportunities for solitude, I began to think about my future life plans and make choices that followed my heart. By letting go of a utilitarian heart, perhaps your eyes will be more open and your heart more open-minded, and you will be able to enjoy the process while reaping the fruits of a different kind of life. Everyone is an individual, with different character traits and life aspirations, and it is important to carve out a path that suits you, rather than just repeating someone else's life path and making every choice from your heart.
In the process of studying abroad, the pressure from academics and life is overwhelming, but compared to the passive education I have been receiving, these two years of study abroad provide more time for independent thinking, examining my own strengths and weaknesses, personal traits, interests, and talents, etc. Through quiet contemplation, I take the initiative to find a path that suits me, do things that interest me and are meaningful, and live up to my time. We should take the initiative to find a path that suits us, to do something that interests us and is meaningful, and to live up to our time.
