Mike's Personal Page (Wales)
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Before The Haircut During The Haircut
After The Haircut
Here are a few of my favorite links:
(You need to be
able to run JavaScript for this to work - if you can't run Java, then get the newest
edition of Netscape here!).
Here are a few links to my friends homepages. Most are under major construction, but I'm sure
that once they get them working proper (hint, hint) they will be worthy of a visit...
Thanks for visiting my pages! Here's a little info on myself...
I am spending the first semester of my third year in college in Wales. It is an exchange
program through the Computer Science department of my home school, the University of Puget Sound.
So far, my experiences have been quite interesting. After a short stay in London, I made the train
journey to Aberystwyth, Wales. The school I am attending is the University of Wales, at Aberystwyth.
The school houses around 6,000 students, and during the term, this boosts the population of this
small costal town in mid-Wales from 12,000 to around 18,000.
Things here are quite different than in the states as you can imagine. For one, there is quite
a language barrier. When the locals talk fast, it's quite difficult for me to understand them,
but I am getting better. Also, many words have different meaning here...for instance a comforter,
as we know it, is called a duvey (doo-vay) here. There are plenty other examples that I won't go
into quite yet.
So far, my course-load is quite light when compared to my studies at UPS. The main difference is
that here, all students focus on one or two subjects and study nothing but those subjects. So I
am enrolled in 4 Computer Science modules and 1 Drama module. They normally take 6 modules in a
semester, as each module meets, at most, twice a week. There also can be practicals and/or seminars
and/or workshops with each module. These are usually one or two hour sessions where you get a
little more one-on-one attentions with tutors. Studies also only last three years here, but many
students take off the year between their second and third to work in industry - this is called,
suprisingly enough, an industrial year.
I have made quite a few friends already, and it is interesting because most people, while they
have their stereotypes of Americans seem to love to hear me talk about America (especially when
I'm drunk, or pissed as they say). I also think they like to just hear my accent, a concept
which blew my ignorant mind when I first realized the fact that I had one. The biggest stereotype
which I have deemed true about America is that "everything is bigger and better in America."
Now of course this isn't true for everything, but for the most part, we have bigger roads, houses,
land area, cars, etc. The list goes on and on. To tell you the truth though, it has been
a refreshing, as well as an educational change to encounter.
When I return to UPS for Spring Semester, I will be working as a work study student in Howarth 108
Computing Lab once again. If you didn't come
to this page via that link, it is cuskeel.ups.edu [Note the
change in address!]
Just before I came to Britain, I spent the tail end of the summer travelling. Two of my housemates
(Chad and Spanky) and I spent a long weekend in New Orleans. We had a great time. Shortly after
that, I spent another long weekend "back home" in Colorado, courtesy of my mom. And one week
following that I left for London and Wales. So you can imagine how relieved I was to be able to
finally settle down and relax for a week or so until classes started up here.
If you want to find out more about the University that I am at, you can check out
Aberystwyth's homepage.
P.S. The "big hello of the week" goes out to my drinking buddies here in Wales:
Back to Mike's homepage.
If you feel the desire, you can send me suggestions at mib6@aber.ac.uk
Last modified 27/10/96