Postgrad step-by-step: VISA Application

Salam and good day all!

This time I'll be talking about how to apply for a student VISA. If you're planning to study abroad, you will need a student VISA. For UK, the agency responsible for VISA application is the UK Boarder Agency (UKBA).

To apply, you need to know which visa to apply for. There are many, I'm telling you.

For students like me, it's tier 4 general visa.  You need to pay 429USD for the visa...online payment at the end of your application.

After you've applied online, you need to print out the forms..it will automatically print out two copies, one for you and another for when you apply. Then, you need to book an appointment (online as well). The dates that are available for the appointments can sometimes changes. So, if you book today for example, the available date is not for another 3 weeks, try opening it again the next day, there might be an opening earlier.

After you've booked your appointments, you need to make sure you have all the required documents. The documents that you need is the printed Confirmation of Admission (CAS) number from the university that you will be going to, your passport need to be expired in at least 2 years, visa photos (some stores will know if you tell them photos for UK visa)- the picture will have white background, the printed application and TB test results.

For those who applied to study at UK, you need to take a TB screening. TB screening for UK visa application can only be done at a few selected hospitals such as Gleneagles and Lifecare (where I did mine-at PJ, near UM). I paid RM200 for the screening, basically it's just a chest X-ray if you don't have any problems. The screening took less than an hour...and they will give you a UKBA certificate of health with your information at UK (where you'll be living, you uni and such).

You need this piece of paper when you apply for visa.

The day of your appointment, there will be someone that will check your documents, if it's complete, they will give you a number which you will wait for the officer to process your application. They will ask whether you want your visa to be processed as a priority which you will need to pay extra RM300 and you will receive your visa within 3 working days instead of 15. After this process, the will ask you to go to another room.

Here, they will take your picture and your fingerprints. Those who are wearing scarf, make sure you wear dark coloured scarf. After completing everything, they will give a receipt which you need to bring when collecting your visa. After that, you just need to wait.

You can check the progress of your visa application online or you can request for the info to be sent via sms where there's a charge.

To collect your visa, it's only form 10-2pm, Monday to Friday. It's stated on the receipt that you received earlier.  During your visa collection, the security it tighter. No bags is allowed inside, and nobody can accompany you. Only those with the receipt can enter.

To collect, you don't need to queue or wait for your number. Just give your receipt to the counter and they will fetch your visa. Make sure after you've received your passport, you check your visa first to make sure there's no mistake. Next step is just buying your flight tickets and Bon Voyage!

Hope this helps..

Until next time......

Fuzzy Balls

Salam and good day everyone! During my last trip to Sheffield, I found some threads at Poundland store. Poundland is a store selling all kinds of stuff for only £1! This is what I love to do during my past time...

Arts and crafts..=D

Let me show you a simple tutorial...

Cut out cardboard box or cereal box to ring shapes. The size doesn't matter, if it's small, your ball will be small and vice versa.

Then, take two different colours of thread. You can also use the same colour threads, depending on your design.

Just roll the threads around your ring and continue until there's no more hole in the middle. Half way through, it will look like this...

After you've filled the hole, you need to cut off the threads at the side...like this...

Just continue until you see the cardboard box underneath

 



 

Be careful while doing this...children under 12, make sure an adult help you to do this..or something like this will happen...

 

 

Ouch....

 

After cutting, take another new thread and make a loop at the end

 

To make it look like this...

 



 

This is used to tie around the ball...tie the loose end of the knot around you ball,,.next to the cardboard box.

 

 

You will then need to cut off the cardboard box..like so...

 

 

Throw away the box, and you can begin your trimming to make it look like a ball...

 

 

The finished product...tadaaa.....

 

 

Other designs that you can do

 

 

With different sizes...

 

Try it yourself...and experiment!

 

Until next time.......



Weekend Getaway

Last weekend, my friend and I went to Sheffield to visit some old friends and her cousin. It was an impulsive thing where we just decided to go. We went there by megabus (the cheapest bus fare you can find to travel around UK and some Europe countries!)

We arrived at Meadowhall Interchange around 1pm. The day that we arrive was the day of the Malaysian Sheffield Games. Lucky for us! My friends who's house that we are staying for the weekend were involved with the games. They are selling BBQ chickens and shushi. =) 

So, we had to meet them at the King Edwards Community Sports Center (where the games were held). 

This is Sheffield Interchange..

From Meadowhall, there's actually an easier way to go to the sports center. But, we didn't know it then. So we took a train to Sheffield interchange, and then a bus from there to the center. Luckily, while boarding the train, the conductor didn't charge us for tickets. I just figured it was because it's only for one station. We needed to wait for more than an hour to wait for a bus at the Sheffield interchange because there's only one bus that'll go to the place that we're heading and the gap between each bus is like the Atlantic sea.  Thanks to Google Maps for all the trouble!

The games wasn;t all that interesting to talk about. I didn't even watch any of the matches and because we arrived there quite late. We stayed there until about 4.30pm. At the games, I met with my classmate from IIUM, Damia and we talked for some time, updating our lives abroad. The night ended with little event.

The next day, my friend and I asked Damia to bring us sightseeing around Sheffield. She gave us some suggestions, but we agreed on a place that doesn't require us waking up very early in the morning. hahaha...after all, I'm not a morning person.

We went to her house which located quite near with the house that we're staying in. Around 15 minutes walking distance.

This is her house...We stayed for lunch before beginning our journey..=D

I can't put words to describe this...(^_^)

At that same day there was actually another event which is the Nasyid Extravaganza or NEXT where they invited Faizal Tahir as a special guest..( uh...so?) Wasn't really much into it though..haha..

Damia wanted to take us to Meadowhall Shopping Complex. It was actually very near to the bus stop when we arrived at Sheffield. We just didn't know it back then. haish~

We took a tram to go there. Sheffield is like San Francisco to me because it's hilly and they have trams! huhu...so excited. But the trams here is not like in Frisco. It looked more like a train. I've seen trams when I went to Manchester before, but didn't get a chance to ride them.

This store is called LUSH. Why I think it's special is because of what they are selling, handmade soap and cosmetics.

This is NOT a salad bar ok...it's a lotion or a cream of some sort. 

Soaps....they smell sooooo nice..

This is the reason Damia took us here. To get a taste of the famous South Yorkshire Pudding. When I first heard it, I thought it's a type of dessert. They serve it with either chicken or beef. Seeing that none of it is Halal, so we had to order veges only. It has broccoli, carrots, peas, corns and a choice of either chips, wedges or mash potatoes...plus gravy...yum! It is so filling, we had to share this. The packets beside the plate is mint sauce which you can add with the pudding. I didn't like the taste...

This is the store that sold the pudding....HARPER's

 This is Damia...=D

After that, she took us to the Student Union building..upon request. huhu...just to see where the students usually hung out. The departments of University of Sheffield is scattered around Sheffield city. So this place is like the center or main building for the university.

The store on the right is where you can find the university's souvenirs. It's Sunday..so it's closed.

Malaysia must be here as well...Sheffield is like the 2nd most concentrated Malaysian population in the UK. 1st is Manchester.

 After that, she took us to this restaurant....

 ..to grab a hot chocolate... I was actually full at this time, that's why we only ordered drinks and desserts. Or else she would've had me ordered a main course!

This is American Cheese cake. It was nice. Not too creamy.

This was very nice. I don't remember the name, but it's a three layer ice cream (vanilla, choc, vanilla). It was marvelous!

On the last day only I was able to explore my friends' house...check it out.

They have a basement..looks like the one in Conjuring..uuuuuuuuu...in fact, it looks even more spooky..

 This is the basement. It's cold like a fridge. You can feel the chill to the bone down here..

Their house consist of 7 rooms including the living room. The hallway is all this size. Most houses in the UK is like this. Some have just a slightly bigger hallway or rooms.

The girls cooked us lunch because they felt guilty of not being able to take us sightseeing due to their busy schedule...next time girls..

This is the attic room. The are two rooms in the attic. It's nice..but very troublesome to get down and up everytime. 

Photoshoot before departing...a must! haha...

This is the name of the road of their house.

Before we left, we stopped by Zahirrah's cousin's house for a while. Her cousin lives at Main Road, Sheffield. They had just arrived last month. 

Then, we depart back to London around 5 pm.

Until next time...

Hola España!

Salam and good day readers!

Remember when I told you that I went to Manchester after the Christmas party? Well, that was because my flight to Spain was from Manchester. Why else? Because it's cheaper of course!

My friends and I planned to go to Spain for the winter break, which is from 14th to 19th of December (our trip..not the winter break). We flew with Ryanair. My friend found this flight as to be the cheapest flight to Malaga, Spain. Only £ 71.16 for return flights. I could've got a cheaper flight, but I bought the tickets quite late.

 

We went to Manchester at 1 am on the 14th because our flight ticket was at 4.50pm.

We went to Manchester by Megabus (the cheapest bus fare you can find). I bought 2 one way tickets to Manchester for only £ 12. You can actually find tickets as low as  £1 if you're travelling alone.

This bus is amazing!! Not only that it's cheap, the service is first class... there'll be someone waiting to help with you luggage and this little thing on board.... tech savvies will love this. So did I!! and a john for those who have small bladder. =P

We arrived fairly early in the morning, so we had to meet up with our friends at their house. We took one bus, where the stop is not that near to where we arrived.

My friends' house is very nice... and it's cheap... comparing to London, everything's cheap.

 

 She lived here with another 2 roommates. But they're not coming with us to Spain. They're already on a trip to Italy.

We went to the city to buy some last minute supplies. Her house is only 10 minutes to the city centre by bus. While my friends were busy shopping, I went for a photo shoot with Zahirrah. =D

 

The wind is very strong here. Couldn't get a nice picture without a blowing scarf. (-_-")

 

Afterwards, we went to grab some lunch at this place, where they sell a set of pizza/sub with drinks and a cinnabun at a fairly cheap price. This is the freshly baked buns....mouthwatering~~

 

 

This is original flavour.

 

This is the chocolate flavour. These makes me hungry...

 

After lunch, we went back to my friends' house to get packin'. We met up with the rest of the group to go to the airport together..

 

Group shot...

This is in the transit bus at the airport taking us to our plane...

 

 Our flight...=D

 



 After 3 hours and a half, we touched down at Malaga International Airport...

Until next time....