MY DIARY in March

1 st March, 2009

It was Sunday here in London. In fact, I do not like weekend in London, because I always have not much to do here, but study. I wish I would have a chance to change the pattern of weekends here sometimes when I have nothing to worry about, even it is study.

2nd March, 2009

I had an evening class, so I got out to University early in the afternoon. I wanted to check my bank account and my tutor fee before class. I was a little appointed when my tutor fee was not transferred to the University's account. I needed to ask someone to check later. I felt more interested in hearing the lecture. In another word, lecture was more enjoyable for me now and I had no more obstacle on listening to the lecturer's explanation about topics set for class. The seminar in the second period of the class was so boring and astonished with speakers who simply said that they did not understand the topic in the lecture, they read something beyond the lesson that I did not understand. Therefore, the second part of the class was not effective and efficient as we expected. Next class of this Module will be witness some changes in organising seminars as our professor said so after we came into a common agreement.

3rd March, 2009

It was another day I spent at home reading. I needed to read some books to gather information for my essays and also presentations. This reading was more interesting than the reading given to prepare for seminars in the class. At the end of the day, I decided to go out for relaxing by walking to a supermarket nearby to buy fruit and vegetable. It was good, wasn't it?

My diary in February

01st February 2009

Having made an appointment with Mr. Duc Xuan Ly, a Vietnamese English man before, I went sightseeing with him around Westminster to witness how Chinese English people organised their Chinese New Year in London. I thought It would be an interesting opportunity to see people' life around. We promised to meet on the Westminster bridge, near the Parliament House, it is a nice bridge in London, standing next to Big Ben. We then went to Trafalgar Square where there were a Chinese ceremony for their new year. It was too crowded there with about a thousand people in the square waiting for a dragon dancing. Unfortunately, Mr. Xuan's Camcorder was not working, we took some photographs and felt boring because we could not see anything standing behind a thousand of people. We could see the performance in a big digital screen, but it was a waste of time. Therefore, Mr. Xuan asked me to visit his friend' family near there. I agreed and went by bus to the agreed place, about 4 km far away from the Square. It was another Vietnamese English family who arrived in London in 1980. We had an afternoon lunch there with Chung cake and a little wine. After lunch, at about 16h00, we watched a football match between Liverpool and Chelsea on TV which resulted 2-0 win for Liverfool. At nearly 17h00, we came back home separately. It was a really interesting afternoon that helped me learn something from normal people'life. I hope I will have another chance.

2nd February, 2009

I had the first class in the target course today from 13h00 until 17h00, then another class at 18h00 until 21h00. I wanted to try all possible options before deciding which modules would be taken this semester. I was ready for the class, but this morning, I was busy writing a letter to my course leader, Prof. Mike Newman, therefore, when I was aware of the time, I thought I would be late for the class. So I rushed out although there was so heavy snow outside that no bus ran in the street. As usual, I took on train to Straford station and then, another train to Highbury Islington. I saw the map in the student handbook and decided to take off the train in Canonbury station to shortcut to the class which was organised in Ladbroke House in Highbury Grove. I walked almost 2 km from the station to the Ladbroke House in order to attend the class in time. In fact, I was nearly 30 minutes late, but to my surprise, there was only on person in the classroom who you could guess was the module leader, Dr. Colin Meade. He and I introduced with each other and He suggested that I needed an international law book to read in order to get some general ideas about the subject we would study: The legal regulation of conflict. Then, we, I meant the class, dismissed.

I went on walking to the university to attend the evening class as I supposed without realizing that the University was closing because of the adverse weather which caused transportation delays in London. I walked more than 3 km to the University to do nothing. Then, I caught a Piccadilly line train from Holloway Road station to King's Cross station with a hope that I would take on a Hammersmith train to Bow Road station. It took me long time waiting in King's Cross station before I realized that there was no train in Hammersmith line. Therefore, I caught a Central line train to Mile End station, then a district line to Bow Road station. It was a long waiting in Mile End station. When I reached Bow Road station and walked more than 1 km to Bow Church station, it was late afternoon. I was not fortunate enough as the train to Lewisham which called on my All Saints station did not stop until It reached Poplar station. I was forced to catch an opposite train to come back, but again, it did not stop at All Saints station. Therefore, again I had to walk back nearly 3 km to my flat under the snowing weather. It was the first day of my MA International Relations Course, but the darkest day since I have been to London.

3nd February, 2009

I stayed at my flat almost all day because I had no class today. The most interesting thing I have been doing is reading a book borrowed in the University library last week, named "Introduction to International Relations" written by Robert Jackson and Goerg Sorensen. I went out shopping in the afternoon to buy food for the rest of week. I thought I had done nothing special rather than reading and sending e-mails. It was a boring day in London. Tomorrow, I had an important appointment with my course leader, Prof. Mike Newman at his office. I need to ask him for his advices about modules I should take this semester, then I will make my own decision. I hope He will make it clear for me tomorrow.

4th February, 2009

I had classes today with 2 modules which I registered after consulting my Course Leader, Prof. Mike Newman about difficulties I would face. I had a short friendly talk with Prof. Newman in his office at about 11h00, through which He confirmed my registration and signed my registration form for me to submit the Post-graduate Center later. He expressed his ideas that I could take any module, but at least I had to take one core module this semester. That was an answer I expected him to speak. Then, I went to library to study and do something to kill the time before the 17h00 class started. I had not learned much, because I did not have any target in reading books or doing things in the library, it was really sleepy. I thought It was ineffective time in the University.

The class started at 17h00 with module GIP028N: Theory and Research Methods. It was a really theoretical subject and I thought a bit boring at first. In fact, it was something like watering off a duck's back, because there were too many information, names, new theories in International Relations that I have not heard about before. I could listen to the lecture, I meant every word, except new words, but I only understood a little. The first class lasted only one hour. The second class was longer, 3 hours long, which was GIP008N: Contemporary International Political Economy. It was better for me, both the study climate and lecture, which I could catch up and understand better. The things I need do are reading, reading and reading, and then reading again.

5th February, 2009

The only morning class is today's, which lasts from 10h00 to 13h00 with Dr. Colin Meade. He speaks a typical British English, a bit fast, but not difficult to understand. I think I have 3 classes, related to International Laws, with him, 1 now and 2 next semester. I feel he is open and easy to get sociable. His class today was like an introduction to Module LLP004N with a historical explanation.

6th February, 2009

It is rainy today. In the morning, it was snowing heavily, fortunately, snowing had lasted for a short time and then raining. Also, in the morning, I went out to go for a walk and buy a shampoo in the market. Then, I stayed in the flat and studied, but I had achieved nothing until the afternoon when I understood a bit better the content of the reading in Module GIP008N (Contemporary International Political Economy). At about 13h30, I went out again to Royal Mail Docklands Delivery Office to get my post parcel which I guessed a book I had ordered online before. However, I did not have it, because I did not return to that Office. I was told to get it late, about 17h00. So I decided to take it tomorrow morning. Then, I had a chance to send the second mail to my wife. The mail contained my report to Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam. I hope It will be sent to my wife next week.

7th February, 2009

Today is another Saturday (07th Feb. 2009, and 13th Feb lunar year) alone again in London where I will have more than 1 year ahead to study. This morning, I got up early as usual at about 7h00, I think waking up or getting up at 7h00 is very early in London where people have to go to work at 10h00 and often stay up late in the previous evening. At about 9h00, I went out to collect my post parcel in Burdett Road, about 3 km far from my flat. As I guessed before, What the parcel contained inside was a book of International law I ordered some days ago and I did not collect yesterday. Then, I came back to my flat and spent whole day studying and reading for the GIP008N which I will have class on Wednesday. This evening, I will pay much attention to another subject: GIP028N, which I will have class on Monday. I think I should try and try more to understand what I am going to do and I am doing.

8th February, 2009

I had a day off with my friend, one guy from Vietnam - Thanh. Also, He is now studying in London MET University, but in other campus, the City Campus. In the morning, I got up, had something for breakfast and then went out. First, I wanted to explore the place around my flat and walked for a morning exercise only. However, when I was out in the market nearby, I found it boring in the morning, maybe it was so early that even shops were not open. Suddenly, I felt tired and tired of studying on Sunday. I decided to go out for a relax day off. Then I thought of my friend, going to visit him and having lunch with him at his flat. In the afternoon, I came back, a bit tired, but I was totally pleased with my decision in the morning. Study is the next to do.

9th February, 2009

It is the most confident day in London I have had so far since I was here. Today was not a special day, but I had a class of GIP028N in the evening from 18h00 to 21h00. Nothing special happened to me in the morning, but chatted with my young bank account and did a book reading. In the afternoon, I decided to go to University early at about 14h30 because I wanted to get my laptop registered with the University in order to use its wireless internet. It was easy, just bring the laptop to an IT main help k in Tower building for them to install a management software and get an account, then I could use wireless internet in the University.

I had more than 2 hours before the class started, so I went to the library to continue my reading. The reading was a bit difficult to understand and it took me longer time. At 17h30, I went to classroom to wait for my 3 hour class. I found out that I was the only student in the classroom until my prof. Gus Fagan came in, saying that I was in wrong classroom because the GIP028N would be taught in another classroom, and he asked me to follow him. At that time, another student joined us to the new classroom. The lecture today was a bit easier to listen and understand the main ideas of the subject. I registered the presentation topic and its date which will be next Monday. I think the time is very quick, but I will do presentation with a very confident female student from Germany, I guessed. I discovered that there is another Vietnamese student in the classroom who has spent a semester here already and now is entering the second term of the course. At the end of the class, I had a talk with her and got some important and useful information about the ways and experience of study here in London MET university. With a good lecture and experience after the class, I am now much more confident with my study that I feel a bit easier in days ahead.

10th February, 2009

I stayed in my flat today, to do nothing but study; I mean I have spent whole day staying at home and doing some book reading and note taking for my presentation and next class. It was a good news that my confidence has improved a little bit since yesterday class with Prof. Gus Fagan and a short talk with a classmate also from Vietnam. Thanks to that, I read books and documents a bit faster with more patience. Another good news is that two key professors in my class have replied my letter which I wrote to make a proposal or request an advice. Even Prof. Gus Fagan gave me an appointment during the next class to talk with me about my problems. I think lecturers take much care for us and all students, fortunately, I am among them. There's light at the end of the tunnel for me, I hope the light will be a starting point for me to lean forward.

11th February, 2009

In the morning, I got up very early with a hope that I would go to Get Ahead conference on time which started at 10h00. I went out of my flat at a quarter to eight to catch trains in order to be at the University before 9h00 to register my attendance. However, it was unfortunate for me when I got to know that all conference participants had to register online before. Once more, I had nothing, but came back home to continue my reading and study. It was a bit expensive experience in term of time waste. In the afternoon, I went to University to attend two lectures from 17h00 to 18h00, then from 18h00 to 19h00. I had nothing especial to talk about the first 3 hours in the class, but the last one hour. It was the one hour seminar, the first seminar in my course. To be honest, it was very useful and effective for my study, this helped me to understand deeply and remember the basic knowledge of the previous class. Although I spent almost time of the seminar listening with some idea expression, I thought I had obtained many achievements in that one-hour.

12th February, 2009

I had another good day with a morning class and a fully worthy money spending afternoon. During the class, I had a talk with Welbeck Abbbey, 47 year-old Ghana guy who has 5 children among whom there are two twins. I think he also likes to befriend with me and so do I. It was good to have more friends here in the cold UK. After class, I went back the main location of the University to have something done in the library. First, I photocopied documents for my reading. Then, I searched in library' catalogue to find books for other modules and I found two books that I needed. I continued to photo, but I dared to photo one chapter from a book, I thought that was enough for today, I would photocopy another chapter in the other book in other day to avoid infringing "copyright" law.

13th February, 2009

I spent nearly whole day at home reading and studying. In the afternoon, I took a break opportunity to go to the Health Care Centre nearby to register. Fortunately, I got what I wanted easily - a form to be filled in and some instructions for registration when I would come back there. Good. Early next week, I will come back there with a fulfiled registration form and be registered. It was a Friday - 13th, but it was a good day for me as well.

14th February, 2009

It is the Valentine day, the festival of Love and Lovers. I thought I would have lived in an atmosphere of love in Europe today, but it was a big mistake. What I had done was shopping for next week, then went out with a hope to enjoy a joyful day in the streets where people in love might go with each other and enjoy. However, as I said, It was nothing special out there in the streets, even I reached the most crowded and busiest street of London, Oxford street, one of the biggest shopping centre in London. I intended to buy a contract phone, but I was not successful again. I thought I might not be destined by fate to get a free phone here in the UK as I wish. Then, I came back to study.

15th February, 2009

I spent the whole day in my flat studying.

16th February, 2009

It was a rememberable day in my academic life in London MET. It was the day I had the first presentation in English on an academic topic on the subject of Theory and Research Methods - a difficult module in London MET in my opinion. Katherine Somova - a Russian student who has spent a semester in London - and I had given the same topic in the Seminar this evening and we were together speaking in front of the class in the seminar hour after the two hour lecture. Each of us got a question, prepared and guided the class in a discussion about the given topic. Katherine was the first speaker as we agreed upon because she prepared a more comprehensive question and I supported her ideas with my question. The seminar went on well. Katherine was the one who inspired her confidence to me so that I was speaking very confidently. I can say I had done better than I ever thought before. It was important for me, not because of the seminar's results, but my confidence I gained after the seminar. Thanks to Katherine's active role in the seminar, all class had a chance to discuss and speak and I thought it was a good moment for us to get together with each other. In the Q&A part, I was asked only a question, but I could answer well, even I thought later that I should have talked more in my answer with more supportive evidents and information. However, It was so good for me in the first academic presentation.

Another good news for me was that my lecturer gave me some good advices to help me to study in the next days. I thought the good advices of my professor should not be made public, I did and I would do this.

It was an happy end of a good day in London.

17th February, 2009

I spent the whole day studying, thinking about my ways of effective reading and study, then studying again. Differently from some days before, I studied better in a comfortable mood (state of mind) with many positive thoughts in my mind. I think I will keep this comfort towards the end of my MA course. That mood of comfort could help me a lot, I hope.

18th February, 2009

I had nothing special during the day. In the evening, I had two classes as usual. They were not as much important as I thought. The first lesson, one hour, was delivered with REFERENCING OR FOOTNOTE in essays or anything academic works. The lecturers gave us a general definition about the topic and then, nothing more. The second class was even more boring. The lecturer was busy or had something else to do, so he did not come to class. Instead, another lecturer came and opened a video disk for us to watch. It lasted one and a half hour before we came back home. The disk told us a very funny story named "YES MAN" about what was called "globalisation".

19th February, 2009

I had a class in Ladbroke house - a building of London MET, about 2 km away from the main buildings like Tower house, rocket building... of the University. The lesson was about International Court of Justice, one principle organ of the United Nations. The second part of the class was Seminar on the topic of ICTY (The International Crime Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) and ICTR (The International Crime Tribunal for Rwanda). The topic was not a big matter, but the problem to be raising later was that "Who did? and Who justise?" - it was my question. I wanted to question what was the justice here with such a kind of tribunal or court. I told the class about the Tiananmen protestors oppression in 1989 and My Lai Massacre (Pinkville) that the US troops killed more than 500 villagers (civilians without weapons, most of them are women and children) in a raid in My Lai village of Vietnam. I raised the question: It was happening in Yugoslavia and Rwanda where someone did something wrong and were brought to justice. However, It was the USA and China who did something more than terrible, so Who did that and Who will set up an International Court like such a court mentioned above to justice. And then, a discussion was taking place.

20th February, 2009

In the morning, I went out to collect my post parcel in which I thought there was a book sent to me because some days before I ordered to buy an online book in Amazon. It was a good book at a good price. The book was suggested to buy by my lecturer who said to me that "as a beginer of the International Relations, You should read that book, it is written for the beginers and easy to understand". And it is true that the book is well understandable. Next in the morning, I prepared something for my next week seminar using the newly bought book. I spent the whole day studying at my flat. Oh, in the afternoon, I went out to relax for more than an hour with shopping, buying mobile phone card (top-up my mobile). The rest of the day was for study.

21th February, 2009

I had nothing to do today, except study and going for a walk for one hour in the afternoon.

22th February, 2009

I had a shopping list to do today, therefore, I decided to go out in the morning to save time for study in the day. Unfortunately, It did not seem a wise decision because today is Sunday, all shops open late and Tesco supermarkets open at 12h00. I went shopping, but it was too early to shop, then I came back to my flat. It was 12h00 I went out shopping again for my next week survival. The last thing to do in the day is to study.

23th February, 2009

Today, I missed an appointment with the Aberfeldy Practice where I intend to ask for a home doctor there. The appointment was at 9h00, but when I remembered to have the appointment, It was too late. Although It was too late, I went to the Aberfeldy Practice hopefully to make another appointment or there would be a lucky opportunity. In fact, I was not as lucky as I was expected, but I got another appointment to meet a doctor or a nurse in the health centre at 10h00, 6th March, 2009. In the afternoon, I went to the University to make some photocopies of reading for my next seminar. I had to spend the whole afternoon in the library, looking for an article of Robert W. Cox in the Millenium: Journal of International Studies Vol. 10, No 2 which was published in 1983. At last, I found that article, but the afternoon had gone and it was time for study in the class.

24th February, 2009

I spent the whole day studying at home, even I did not go out for a walk as usual.

25th February, 2009

I have 2 classes in the evening from 17h00 to 18h00 and from 18h00 to 21h00. The first one-hour class was about a research mothod called as impact assessment. As our lecturer introduced, this kind of method is very important, especially when applying for a job for UN agencies. With this method, you have to assess the impacts on environment, people's life, national development... It sounds good for anyone who want to work for IOs. The second class was also given by Prof. Frank Bouwer, a very good lecturer in my course. He lectures the Module GIP008N - Contemporary International Political Economy. I have found this Module very interesting with him, maybe not with other lecturer. One important thing in the second class was that I had some minutes to ask Frank about my final essay of his Module - Foreign Direct Investment. With his advice, I think I have got a general idea about what I should do and write in my essay. He promised to have a look at my outline when It would have finished. In the seminar this evening, I felt more confident to express some ideas in the spirit of seminars as Prof. Frank said seminars are giving the chances for students to be confident in making speech in the public.

26th February, 2009

I went to University in the morning for the class at 10h00 at Ladbroke house. The class of International Legal Institutions was about the function of maintaining peace and security of the United Nations provided in its Charter. And we had an 1 hour seminar at the end of class, discussing about ICJ functions why it is so busy at the moment and whether or not it should review other UN principle organs. It is an interesting question.

After class, I was called to go to visit my friend' flat where I intend to move in some days later. I think the new flat is better than my flat now with two points: It is situated in a position near my University, about 15 minutes travelling by train and the environment of life the flat is providing is happier. This makes me interesting and really attracts me to move.

27th February, 2009

I spent the whole day at home studying, almost time for reading books and documents. I found study here is devoted to reading. I faced a hard reading concerning with Robert W. Cox.

28th February, 2009

The last day of February would have passed normally unless there was a musical event, VOICE UP, for Vietnamese students in the UK annually organized by the SVUK. First, I was asked to go with my new flat-shared mates. Tickets for the event were normally sold at 15 pound and 25 pound (VIP). We decided to buy VIP tickets to sit together. Fortunately, this afternoon, I was phoned to be informed that there was an invitation for me if I wish to go. It was such a good news that I might save some money by reselling my ticket.

The performance started at about 20h30, one hour and a half late than scheduled time (19h00). Therefore, we were considered as on time. There were 10 songs from 10 contestants represented for all Vietnamese students in the UK among which one was English song and 9 others were Vietnamese songs. I had to say all contestants are so good and professional in performing their chosen songs. I thought it was an excellent evening for Vietnamese students in the UK and a chance to meet people. Some contestants sung from their heart when they performed their songs, I meant they were wholehearted, even moved to sing their origin Vietnamese songs in the UK. At the end, 3 students were chosen to be winners with prides: 1000 pound, 500 pound and 250 pound respectively. The pride was not big, but the show brought a very enjoyable evening for students. That was the biggest pride for us. That was a good end of my second month in London.

The darkest day since I have been to London

The darkest day since I have been to London

I had the first class in the MA International Relations Course on 2nd February, 2009 from 13h00 until 17h00, then another class at 18h00 until 21h00. I wanted to try all possible options before deciding which modules would be taken this semester. I was ready for the class, but in the morning, I was busy writing a letter to my course leader, Prof. Mike Newman, therefore, when I was aware of the time, I thought I would be late for the class. So I rushed out although there was so heavy snow outside that no bus ran in the street.

As usual, I took on train to Straford station and then, another train to Highbury Islington. I saw the map in the student handbook and decided to take off the train in Canonbury station to shortcut to the class which was organised in Ladbroke House in Highbury Grove. I walked almost 2 km from the station to the Ladbroke House in order to attend the class in time. In fact, I was nearly 30 minutes late, but to my surprise, there was only on person in the classroom who you could guess was the module leader, Dr. Colin Meade. He and I introduced with each other and He suggested that I needed an international law book to read in order to get some general ideas about the subject we would study: The legal regulation of conflict. Then, we, I meant the class, dismissed.

I went on walking to the university to attend the evening class as I supposed without realizing that the University was closing because of the adverse weather which caused transportation delays in London. I walked more than 3 km to the University to do nothing. Then, I caught a Piccadilly line train from Holloway Road station to King's Cross station with a hope that I would take on a Hammersmith train to Bow Road station. It took me long time waiting in King's Cross station before I realized that there was no train in Hammersmith line. Therefore, I caught a Central line train to Mile End station, then a district line to Bow Road station. It was a long waiting in Mile End station. When I reached Bow Road station and walked more than 1 km to Bow Church station, it was late afternoon.

I was not fortunate enough as the train to Lewisham which called on my All Saints station did not stop until It reached Poplar station. I was forced to catch an opposite train to come back, but again, it did not stop at All Saints station. Therefore, again I had to walk back nearly 3 km to my flat under the snowing weather. It was the first day of my MA International Relations Course, but the darkest day since I have been to London.

First Impression on University Study

MY FIRST IMPRESSION ON UNIVERSITY STUDY

My experience on the Pre-sessional English course may be included in three words that "MORE THAN EXPECTED". It is enough for me to say: it is great, more than expected, that helps me to understand I have made a right decision of "studying abroad". I feel like turning back an energetic stage of my life more than 10 years ago when I just left the University for a new start. So far, I think, I have been here hopeful to learn something new and useful for my future, and I am right. What I have received after two weeks is a new academic thinking: New access to problems. The education system here is quite different from my country's. Here, I have to work creatively on my own ability and what I have achieved is an improvement in the study method and style.

The Pre-sessional English course is quite different from an IELTS course that I thought I would attend here. I need something beneficial to my knowledge rather than a higher level in IELTS. And I have found it here in the pre-sessional course. Academic writing is difficult for me, but it may be easier after I would have caught the course's meaning which I have tried to obtain so far. I am impressed with the ways my two teachers here give lectures, easy to understand and help students feel very closed and confident. All of above mentioned signals encourage me to learn and also force my brain to work more diligently, and this exprerience is I think very valuable for me and other students in the future study terms in the University. One more thing I have learned is straight or direct expression, and in writing: simple and direct. I wish I had been here longer and I would have had a longer pre-sessional course to be prepared for my MA study. However, I feel more confident to overcome the difficulties in the target course and my experience in this course will be applicable later in the University study. Academic reading is challenging for me as I am expecting to do a lot of intensive readings in the next course. In short, this Pre-sessional English course is very helpful for me.

A glance at Grammar

Grammar

1. Reporting verbs:

In her latest article, Morton explained how information technology was changing society.

Schmidt described the process of language change.

Kon suggested that all poets were influenced by their childhood.

Uvarov claimed/asserted/contended/maintained/declared that the causes of the revolution can be traced back to the 18th century.

Van Ek implied that other historians have misinterpreted the period.

Patel argued that governments should continue to fund space research.

Greenberg emphasised/highlighted/stressed the importance of taking a liberal approach.

Levack observed/noted/commented/pointed out that there were contraditions in Day's interpretation of the poem.

Kim demonstrated/showed how Bach' music drew considerably on earlier conposers work.

Gray proved there was a link between obesity and genes.

In the book, Dean mentioned some new research in the field.

McIntosh pinpointed the key features of the period in question.

Vaz advanced/put forward/proposed a new theory.

Davidson casts doubt on previous research in the field.

Gerhard questioned previous interpretations of the play.

2. Reporting nouns:

Morton provided an explanation as to how information technology was changing society.

Schmidt gave a description of the process of language change.

Kon's suggestion that poets were influenced by their childhood was uncontroversial.

Lee's statement that problems arose earlier than previously thought had been challenged.

Uvarov's claim/assertion/contention that the causes of the revolution could be traced back to the 18th century was worth considerting in some depth.

Van Ek's implication that other historians had misinterpreted the period had caused some controversy.

Patel's argument that goverments should continue to fund space research.

Greenberg's emphasis/strees on the importance of taking a liberal approach was not new.

Levack's observation that there are contraditions in Day's interpretation of the poem had been supported by a number of other scholars.

Kim's demonstration of the way in which Bach's music drew on the work of earlier composers' was fancinating.

Gray's proof of the link between obesity and genes was of considerable interest.

3. Verb + ing

3.1. Common Verb + ing

Eg: As manufacturers consider automating their distribution channels, they should not lose sight of the effectiveness of personal contact.

Auto manufacturers are concerned consumers will postpone buying cars until after next July, when the current 22% sales tax on auto is expected to fall.

Van der Hoeve, CEO of Royal Ahold, spends 50 per cent of his time traveling and getting onto the sales floor as much as possible. As he explains: "I usually get a good feel for the store as I walk around".

6 groups of verbs and phrase + verb-ing

- Admit, consider, deny, describe, imagine, mention, suggest.

- Dislike, enjoy, fancy, (not) mind, like

- Carry on, give up, keep on, put off.

- Can't help, can't bear, can't stand, can't resist, can't face.

- Avoid, delay, finish, involve, keep, miss, postpone, practise, risk.

- It's not worth... Spend/waste time/money....
It's no use/good... There's no point (in)...

3.2. Some verb + ing or can be followed by nouns

Verbs: Admit, deny, imagine, suggest, dislike, enjoy, fancy, keep, mind, practise.

E.g: The Minister admitted taking a bribe.
The Minister admitted his mistake.

3.3. MIND is used in questions and negative sentences

Eg: Do you mind waiting a moment?
No, I don't mind.

3.4. GO and COME + ing form

E.g: Go skiing in the winter.
Come shopping with me.

3.5. Verbs with TO as a preposition

Look forward to, Object to, Get used to, Be used to, Respond to

E.g: I am looking forward to meeting you this afternoon.
After a few months in the UK, I got used to driving in the left.

4. Verbs + To + infinitive

4.1. Some verbs are followed by TO + INFINITIVE

E.g: PCCW has openly stated that it wishes to become the biggest broadband player in Asia... That means it can not afford to stand still.
We are managing to improve the local supply base for all of us.

These verbs include:

- Aim, arrange, choose, decide, intend, plan, prepare

- Demand, deserve, expect, hope, want, wish, would like

- Fail, guarantee, offer, promise, refuse, threaten

- Agree, can/can't afford, learn, manage, pretend, seem, tend, train, wait.

5. Verb + object + to + infinitive

These include: Advise, allow, ask, cause, encourage, expect, forbid, force, help, invite, order, pay, prefer, persuade, remind, teach, tell, train, want, warm

6. MAKE and LET

E.g: I make them check everything very carefully.
They let us have all these free samples.

7. Verb + that clause

E.g: I suggested that we could speak to Eliza about it.
We decided that we could cancel the meeting.
They told us that we should wait.

These verbs include:

- Admit, consider, deny, imagine, mention, suggest

- Decide, plan, demand, promise, expect, hope, wish, agree, learn, pretend, seem.

- Advise, remind, teach, tell, warn

8. Cause and effect

8.1. Verb relating cause and effect

Common verbs relating cause and effect are: Make, cause, create, do , produce, force

Other useful verbs relating cause and effect include: Influence/have influence on; determine, motivate, facilitate, provoke, trigger, account for, spring/stem from, give rise to, contribute to, stimulate, generate, induce, inhibit, derive.

8.2. Nouns relating cause and effect

- CHAIN REACTION: The incident set off a chain reaction which affected us all.

- CONSEQUENCE: The war had major consequences.

- EFFECT/IMPACT: The effect/impact of the film on the audience was very powerful.

- END: Does the end justify the means?

- ORIGIN/SOURCE: The accident was the origin/source of her later problems.

- OUTCOME: We hope for a positive outcome to the discussions.

- PRECEDENT: There are several precedents for taking such a decision.

- REASON: What was the reason for his success?

Presentation: Globalisation at Farmers’ expense

Globalisation at Farmers’ expense

It would appear that Globalization has not done the same with farmers in my country; their situation is different from my suffering. As far as my understanding, more than 20 years ago, farmers led a simple, but happy life; they were satisfied with their low living standard because they could do nothing to help themselves get out of the bad situation. Then, Globalization came to our country when the open economic policies were applied. As a result, foreign investment and technologies have been transferred to my nation at a very rapid pace. Our country’ face is changing.

The farmers’ land which used to be their only means to earn a living has been taken away for national industrialization and modernization such as to establish thousands of industrial zones and manufacturing sites. In order to take the land for that purpose, the government has to compensate farmers for their loss by paying them some money. With money in hand, farmers may have thought of buying something to improve their living quality such as motorbikes, bigger houses, but they forget that they need some training for their future.

As soon as they spent all their compensation, how you think they can earn a living? It is very difficult for them to do that because they have nothing in hand. So are there any ways out for them? Of course, yes:
1) Farmers can make long-term investment for their children to get higher education with a hope that their next generations will have a better position in the society;
2) Some young people may find jobs and work for companies, both domestic and international, in the lands they sold before. They also have to accept to be exploited with long working shifts, from 12 up to 16 hours a day and low payment;

3) Some older people have to join a long queue of unemployment and go to cities to search for seasonal or part-time jobs like baby-sitting, construction works… and whatever to make money.
In my point of view, more or less, globalization has made a number of farmers in my country become paid employees in their lands. However, I do hope they will be paid back when my country move into a better stage of development and this is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you very much. And any questions?

Another experience in banking transaction

The UK looks as extremely old as its conservative and stunted way of doing business!


Here is another humorous story of mine. It took place on 22nd January 2009 when I went to Highbury Corner branch of Lloyds TSB to continue my humorous story about OPENING A BANK ACCOUNT in the UK. It was really an adventure from North to East of London, namely a North-to-East trip in London. I started another banking transaction in the UK with a Lloyds TSB branch near my university with less confidence. I was asked to go to a small room to discuss what I and the bank would do then.

A gentleman received me in the room. It was different from the atmosphere I had experienced before when I first tried to open a bank account. It was a comfortable and happy climate for people to do business. I thought this type of doing business was very good for the old and conservative UK. What we did there was chatting and doing business as friendly as possible. The difficulty in our transaction was about my name, exactly how to write my name correctly. I submitted my second letter to the bank staff in which my name was written in Vietnamese way. He saw my name, asked me which was my family name. Then he wanted to make sure that I understood his requirement by asking me about my brother's name. "NGUYEN NHU DAT" - I answered and wrote the name. He saw it and looked back to mine. He was a bit confused, he said to me.

Then, I understood his confusion and told him about my case and the first letter with my name written in English way, but it was not accepted and I was requested to bring another letter of introduction. I told him that I had to request a University staff to change my name in the computer system in Vietnamese way as mentioned above. To my surprise, he asked me to give him the first letter in place of the second. He got the letter with a pleasure and stated that it was exactly what he was looking for - a letter with my name written in English way. It was a very simple and easy request for me. I said if I got to know him before, I would have not faced any difficulties and my bank account might have been opened for a week. It was the most stupid story I have ever witnessed in my life and of course, it was very humorous, isn't it? I hope there will be a change in the UK, especially a strong change in the way of doing business, starting from BANKING.

Self-study: Clues to present in public

You are going to have a presentation in public? I will have one on Tuesday next week with the subject: Globalisation. You should remember:
- You always have the audience with you, they stand besides you. Listeners will forgive you if you make mistakes in your presentation.
- You should remain eye contacts with the audience and get audience involved.

There are some following clues for you:
1. Remember to do:
- Speak loudly enough and use visual material to make sure every listeners can hear you and follow your presentation.
- You can ask question.
- You sometimes ask the audience whether you need explain something with them, it is a good signal.
- Joking is good and useful.
- Keep you smiling.
2. Remember not to do:
- Vulgar and inappropriate humour,
- Swearing and blasphemy,
- Telling weak jokes and laughing out loud at them,
- Appear to be bored or otherwise, show disrespedt to listeners,
- Overstay your welcome or talk too much.
3. Structure of presentation:
- 10% - 20% introduction,
- 60% - 80% main body,
- 10% - 20% conclusion or summary.
4. Preparation:
- Prepare the content of presentation,
- Practice once at least.
- Prepare Visual aids;
- Check grammar and spelling.
- Keep youself calm, walk, point at things, speek and do things in natural ways.
- Time for questions at the end of presentation.

Steps to write an essay

- Analysing the essay question;
- Carrying out a research for sources of information;
- Read/listen and take notes in your own words;
- Planing the essay;
- Rewriting the essay by editting and proofreading it;
- Submiting the final draft of the essay.

Self-study: one-to-one tutorial

We had one-to-one tutorial on the first Firday of Pre-sessional Academic English course. My tutor asked me 3 questions relating my study and my dificulties:
- Why was it hard for you to decide to study abroad here in London MET university?
I answer: Because I am married and have 2 little boys, 4 years old and 1 year old. I had to leave them all at home, so that it is a heavy responsibility for my wife to look after my kids without my help.
- What was your job before you go to study abroad?
I was a businessman in service sector, but I want to change my job after studying here.
- What do you expect to improve or get after the course?
I answer: I am expecting to get used to studying in the English way, I need to get used to the study and teaching methods here. I used to learn in a different way in our country, I mean the culture of education between our country and England is quite different.


3 point plan to improve English skills


- I set up a self-study blog for me: I write as many writing posts as possible in the blog, I try to write a diary to practice English.

- I wake up early in the morning and listen to BBC News, especially the BBC 4 today, so that I can keep myself updated with news and my listening skill is improving day by day.

- I am trying to do homework and complete all requirements of the Pre-sessional Academic English course.

Final essay: Summarise the main effects of globalisation and discuss to what extent they are beneficial to your subject area

The Doha round appears to resemble a dark-bright coloured picture (Guardian, 2008). In the meeting, world economic leaders were discussing a number of global economic issues related to "trade liberalisation". At the same time, hundreds of thousand protestors gathered outside in an attempt to send warning messages to those leaders. This picture proves a double-faced globalization. On the one hand, more foreign investment and technology transfer have provided developing countries with new jobs and skills, and supported their economic development. According to the World Bank, an extra trade of £145 billion could be generated by 2015, helping to lift some developing countries out of poverty and end the food crisis (Balakrishnan, 2008). On the other hand, workers in these countries have been exploited dramatically with more hours and bad working conditions, but the wealth has been brought back to multinational companies (Pilger, 2006). It would appear that this system has negative impacts mainly on working people in developing countries. Moreover, this has created a wider gap and inequality between the rich and poor, developed and developing countries. In this essay, I will discuss the costs that globalisation has brought to developing countries and also its effects on international relations.

In the globalisation process, developing countries have been continuously requested to further open markets, making their industries vulnerable to foreign competitors. In fact, their newly-established manufacturing industries are likely to face difficulties in competing with giant foreign partners. It is clear that domestic products are less competitive in price, quality and post-sale service due to the low productivity. This can be proved by the US Department of Labour’ statistics (USDL) that hourly compensation costs for production workers in 2006 are $0.1 in the USA, compared with $7.3 in Canada, $17.8 in Brazil, $5.3 in the UK, $17.1 in Singapore and $16.2 in the Philippines (USDL, 2006). Consequently, domestic companies have been forced to merge into foreign companies; therefore, they lost homeland markets.

Another problem is that developing countries are becoming a dumping ground for out-of-date and dirty technologies. Firstly, most transferred technologies should suit these countries’ low standard of production and are beneficial to developed countries; therefore, they have been accepted for granted. Secondly, these technologies may be parts of package aids and investment projects. This is a common way of transferring dirty technologies by developed countries in order to prolong the production circle for more benefits. This case was mentioned by Mr. Phan Dang Tuat, Director of the Institute for Industrial Policies and Strategies of Vietnam, that Vietnam has been transferred and will import many toxic industries, specifically those relating to steel and cement (Vietnamnet, 2008). As a result, this prevents developing countries from improving their productivity and makes them lag behind technologically.

It would appear that not only developing countries are lagging behind, but also considered as lucrative baits to exploit by multi-nationals. On the one hand, they have moved their business to these countries to multiple benefits by paying low wages. They have also had preferential treatment from developing countries’ governments when they first established manufacturing factories. Another thing they expect is to use cheap raw materials in these countries. On the other hand, they have opportunities to exploit workers with longer hours and bad working conditions. GAP is an outstanding example of this kind as it built textile factories in Indonesia where people worked under the heat of 40oC or more with 12 to 18 hour shifts (Pilger, 2006). It would appear that the promising wealth brought by Globalisation is not for working people.

It can be seen that the working people are not beneficial from the investment flows which have been poured into developing countries with several irrefutable conditions. As a matter of fact, these countries need foreign investment, so they may accept unexpected imports of well-paid skilled labours and specialists, even assigned contractors. Otherwise, governments in developing countries are likely to be in a position to make concessions to foreign investors in order to attract more capital for national development. This point was described by Martin Khor that governments of developing countries had no choice for their policies on foreign investments, but had to accept the rules of multilateral investment (Khor, 1998). Even unintentionally accepting these rules, developing countries are considered losing “sovereignty rights” inside their land.

Another example is that the relationship between developing countries and their creditors has changed much more than ever before. According to Mohan Malik, “Multilateralism is a multi-player game played in a spirit of give-and-take” (Malik, 2006). Therefore, the foreign creditors like Japan, China and the USA… will be looking forwards to getting something back after they offer AIDS, ODA or low interest loans to developing countries. In fact, China has been considered a Saviour in the eye of African countries with its “cheque-book diplomacy” in recent years (Mail & Guardian online, 2007). It is not surprised that a rising China will be able to take over the US position in Africa. Otherwise, there is a rumour that in the race to be a permanent UNSC member, instead of India, Japan may have been chosen by many developing countries in the Asia-Pacific due to its long ODA history. Perhaps, it is only a political game to which investment loans have made no small contributions.

In contrast, there are some positive views on benefits that globalisation brings to developing countries. Firstly, many jobs have been created for people in these countries. Secondly, developing countries have extended markets to export their domestic products at relevant prices. Thirdly, their consumers profit from lower prices and more choice of goods, especially consumer products. And last but not least, the investment and capital flows are freely put into circulation by developed countries, making great contributions to the rest of the world’ development.

In conclusion, globalisation has caused a number of negative impacts on developing countries because it requires them to further open markets, making domestic industries uncompetitive with foreign partners. Moreover, these countries have the out-of-date technologies transferred and working people exploited. They also accept some conditions against their will and resign themselves to worse international positions. However, it is undeniable that globalisation has created some favourable conditions for these countries to reach targets of national development. Based on the above findings, we need further investigate the solutions that help developing countries to protect themselves and integrate well into the world economy.




REFERENCE:
1. Balakrishnan A., “The Doha round of WTO talks”, viewed 10th Jan, 2009
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jul/21/globaleconomy.wto
2. Khor M., “The need to regulate foreign investment” (Third World Resurgence No.90/91, Feb-March 1998), viewed 16th January 2009
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/mai1-cn.htm
3. Mail & Guardian online, 2007, “China denies cheque-book diplomacy in Africa”, viewed 16th January 2009
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2007-01-09-china-denies-chequebook-diplomacy-in-africa
4. Malik M., “Multilateralism Shanghaied”, July 14th 2006, viewed 21st January 2009
http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.115/pub_detail.asp
5. Pilger J., “The New rulers of The World”, August 7th 2006, BBC - viewed 10th Jan, 2009
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7932485454526581006&ei=WB1nSa_IO4nojgKqz-DBCg&q=john+pilger
6. Vietnamnet, “Vietnam accepts “dirty” industries” 28/11/2008 (GMT+7), viewed 15th January 2009
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2008/11/815859/
7. United States Department of Labour (USDL), “International comparisons of hourly compensation costs in manufacturing, 2006”, viewed 15th January 2009
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ichcc.pdf
8. Wagner H., “Implications of Globalisation for Monetary Policies”, viewed 15thJan 2009
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2001/wp01184.pdf


Word count: 1053

Self-study: "Internet Detective" Tutorial

For the homework tasks of "Internet Detective" Tutorial, I visited the website of Internet Detective at the following address: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/index.html and found a number of interesting techniques of Internet searching the academic study purposes.

The website tries to introduce a good lesson for using internet effectively in the University. It said, a number of common errors that lead to students' failed examinations or assignments are: (i) Students sometimes obtain needed information for their assignments unintendedly in untrusted websites; (ii) Students do not get all necessary sources of information; (iii) Students got into a trouble called as plagiarism.

To solve the above problem, students should learn to use appropriate internet information for their study by getting to know which website is useful, valuable, up-to-dated, some internet tools to check the quality of internet website, what students need to avoid when searching for information in internet, what students need do to check the content of information and the origin of information and how to do all these things by students themselves. All the things mentioned above will be shaping good skills of Internet searching for students and they are very helpful for students in the University.

The "Internet Detective" also introduces some tips of what students learn by websites' address, plagiarism & copyright, citation & referencing as well as some practice exercises to check students' newly learned lessons, all of which are needed and important for every student in the University.

All the strategies of internet searching mentioned above are not new, but again I find them interesting, useful, helpful and worthy for my University study now and in the future. I will apply this widened knowledge of internet searching to avoid the most common mistakes that the failed students mentioned above committed and this helps me to improve my study results afterward.

An experience of dealing with banks in London

I left the University for my first appointment in the UK. This transaction is important for me because I need to open a bank account for my convenient living here. Thanks to Mr. Steve's permission, I had much time to go to the Lloyds' branch in Commercial Road which took me about 1 hour and a quarter traveling from the University by all means of transportation: on foot, by bus, by overground train, by DLR train and by bus again. When I met a "big" lady, I thought she was over 50 years old, working for that bank, a difficulty arose. I think it is a stupid situation I have never witnessed before. As you know, this difficulty stemmed from my name. It is clear that my name is written differently in Vietnamese and English: NGUYEN NHU DUC, compared with NHU DUC NGUYEN as in English. The bank lady looked at my passport and also the University letter of introduction. Unfortunately, she discovered the difference between two ways of writing my name as above. She asked me again about my surname. "NGUYEN is my surname" - I answered. It looked differently because It was written by different ways - in Vietnamese and English, I explained.

She then walked out to consult her senior manager, I guessed. About 7 or 8 minutes later, She got back and talked with me about my case that my name should have been written or copied exactly the same like It was done in my passport, therefore, She asked me to bring back another letter of introduction with a changed name on it. She ignored every explanation that I tried, at the end, I felt very angry with the way of doing business like this in the UK. I think she is as conservative as Great Britain, maybe with this kind of conservativeness, Great Britain is becoming the Great Backwardness in EU in particular, and even it will be facing a collapse some day in the future. I saw her eyes and attitude showing that she wanted to see me off immediately when I said angrily: "The letter is not wrong, my name is written right in English and Vietnamese". At that moment, I wished my English was so good that I could express my anger softly. I left the bank in a bad mood, but I could not do anything to make the situation better. Even if I spoke more, the situation would have deteriorated. So I'd better leave. Oh, my God.

I came back the University and got another letter of introduction to Lloyds bank with the changed name as I wished. I decided not to come back the bank branch of Lloyds TSB in Commercial Road. I wandered around to ask somebody how I could find a Lloyds bank branch near the University. Finally, I got the answer: there is one at the beginning of Holloway Road. Fortunately, I went there and got another appointment easily, but on next Wednesday, at 3.00 pm. It is likely that I am not lucky and maybe, I was browbeaten in a civilised and highly developed country with "a good record of human rights and nondiscrimination" in the world. Even in my dream, I would not be able to think of that situation. But it is a fact now, and I have to accept that because it is the UK. I do not know if Mr. Steve has ideas about this situation. I went back home late in the afternoon with some confused thoughts about the UK and its businesspersons. In short, today, I had traveled a lot, 5 hours by London transportation means: foot, bus, train, and the result: an 0. Tomorrow, I will go somewhere, maybe some historical landmarks of London to witness the greatness of the UK. Maybe, it will be a different Great Britain tomorrow.

Self-study: Reflecting writing on the Pre-sessional course and university study

Reflecting writing on the Pre-sessional course and University study

Maybe, it is so early to talk about my experience on the Pre-sessional English course because I have gone through the mill for only 2 weeks. However, it is enough for me to say: it is great, more than expected, that helps me to understand I have made a right decision of "studying abroad". I feel like turning back an energetic stage of my life more than 10 years ago when I just left the University for a new start. So far, I think, I have been here hopeful to learn something new and useful for my future, and I am right. What I have received after two weeks is a new academic thinking: New access to problems. The education system here is quite different from my country's. Here, I have to work creatively on my own ability and what I have achieved is an improvement in the study method and style.

The Pre-sessional English course is quite different from an IELTS course that I thought I would attend here. I need something beneficial to my knowledge rather than a higher level in IELTS. And I have found it here in the pre-sessional course. Academic writing is difficult for me, but it may be easier after I would have caught the course's meaning which I have tried to obtain so far. I am impressed with the ways my two teachers here give lectures, easy to understand and help students feel very closed and confident. All of above mentioned signals encourage me to learn and also force my brain to work more diligently, and this exprerience is I think very valuable for me and other students in the future study terms in the University. One more thing I have learned is straight or direct expression, and in writing: simple and direct. I wish I had been here more than two weeks and I would have a longer pre-sessional course to be prepared for my MA study. However, I feel more confident to overcome the difficulties in the target course and my experience in this course will be applicable later in the University study. Academic reading is challenging for me as I am expecting to do a lot of intensive readings in the next course. In short, this Pre-sessional English course is very helpful for me.

What does an introduction need to include in the essay about "Globalisation"?

Essay's introduction is expected to include:

1. What your main idea about globalisation is (are you for it, or against it; if you're for it, you still need to present the argument against which we call 'the counter-argument').

2. At the end of the introduction, you have to introduce what you will be arguing, and what will be the structure of your essay.

3. You need put citations for any facts or arguments that you present that are not obvious (Everyone is worried at the moment about the recession - OBVIOUS, 99.9% of us believe this to be true, doesn't need a citation).

4. Your writing and arguments are clear (sentences not too long).

5. One sentence should be linked to the next sentence (a logical argument).

6. The language you will be writing in the essay must be academic (no slang, no personal words like 'I think', 'I feel').

7. Words are spelt correctly.

8. Your writing must not have anything to be plagiarised.

An example of essay introduction

Introduction

Most economists would agree that due to the credit crunch, global markets are facing potential collapse (Stiglitz, 2008; Monbiot, 2007). As we know, our current recession began in the USA where banks got into the habit of granting mortgages to lenders unable to pay them back. This created a liquidity crisis in the country which banks and government were unable to resolve, and soon these economic difficulties spread to the rest of the world (BBC News, 2008). In this context, the international relations have been affected dramatically. On the one hand, economic relations would be promoted more closely to curb the further recession, except the international investment. On the other hand, political relations would experience a better phrase with eased differences. In every corner of the world, people are to discuss the need of co-operation rather than confrontation at the time of crisis. In this essay, I will argue that we have to radically assess the 20th Century philosophy of free trade and globalisation due to the failures we've experienced recently in global markets. I will begin by looking at how this philosophy was based on an erroneous logic and then go on to describe the ways in which it has set us back with regard to financial efficiency and growth. I will then go on to discuss the ways in which I think this current crisis will affect future research in my subject area - International Relations.

Essay: Summarise the main effects of globalisation and discuss to what extent they are beneficial to your subject area

INTRODUCTION

Doha is well known to people in every corner of the world not for its geographical location, but a WTO trade negotiation round. This round appears to resemble a dark-bright coloured picture. In the meeting, world economic leaders were discussing a number of economic issues related to "the global trade liberalisation". At the same time, hundreds of thousand protestors gathered outside in an attempt to send warning messages to those leaders. This picture proves a double-faced globalization. On the one hand, more foreign investment and technology transfer have provided developing countries with new jobs and skills for people, financing their economies and supporting local development. According to the World Bank, an extra trade of 145 billion pounds could be generated by 2015, helping to lift some developing countries out of poverty and end the food crisis (Guardian, 2008). On the other hand, workers in these countries have been exploited dramatically with more hours and bad working conditions, but the wealth has been brought back to multinational companies (John Pilger - BBC, 2006). It would appear that this liberal trade system has negative impacts mainly on working people in developing countries. Moreover, this has created a wider gap and inequality between the rich and poor, developed and developing countries. In this essay, I will discuss the costs that globalisation has brought to developing countries and also its effects on international relations.

THE OUTLINE OF MY ESSAY
My essay would be divided into 3 main parts as follows:

1. INTRODUCTION (as above)

2. COSTS OF GLOBALISATION FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Before I start my argument, I will give some ideas on what globalisation is.

P1: Developing countries have been requested to open their markets more, so that putting their domestic industries under threat.
- Newly-established domestic industries are facing huge foreign competitors;
- Products are less competitive in price, quality, post-sale service…
- Domestic companies might be forced to merge into foreign companies; therefore, they are losing domestic markets.

P2: The countries may become a dumping ground for out-of-date and dirty technologies.
- Due to the low standard of production, they have to accept these technologies;
- These technologies are parts of package aids or investment projects;
- Being imported suspiciously.

P3: Multi-nationals have considered developing countries as lucrative baits to exploit
- Low wages;
- More initial preferential treatment;
- Easy to exploit workers by longer hours and bad working conditions, even being maltreated.
- Exhausting their natural resources.

P4: Flows of capital and technologies have been with conditions:
- Forced imports of well-paid skilled labours and specialist; even loans are made with assigned project contractors.
- To be squeezed more concessions in their policies and regulations;
- Losing their “sovereignty” inside their land

P5: Many social problems have been rising:
- Increasing unemployed farmers;
- Bad cultural habits have been borrowed, undermining the traditional culture.
- Giving a rise to prostitutions, transmitted diseases, and child workers.

P6: Relationship between loans receiving countries and lending countries has changed
The nature of multi-lateral fora is negotiating and compromising or in another word, “give and take” rules, so loans receiving countries are supporters of landing countries for granted; E.g: If India or Japan to be a UN Security Council permanent member, Japan may have been chosen by many developing countries in Asia-Pacific.

3. CONCLUSION
In the last part, I will present some conclusions and then go on to make some recommendations for further study on the subject after having done this research on globalization.

Self-study: Summary for the lecture on Globalization's negative effects

We are observing the most serious crisis since Great Depression (1929-1930). Mr. Steve explained the whole banking process by which a bank lend a person as much as 5 times his salary for him to buy a flat. The bank sells debt to other for a shared interest and risk that we call CDOs (collateralized debt obligations), CDOs was traded globally. If the house prices fall and other thing is increasing interest rate, people can not pay back their loans and they lose trust in CDOs, therefore the negative effects contagion quickly in the global market. It is the time for Governments to step in, trying to save the banks. In fact, governments may not have enough money for this liquidity crisis, leading to bankruptcy/unemployment. Banks run and the stock markets fall.

Who is blamed? Globalization. The philosophy of Globalization is liberalization in trade, finance, people, free movement, free cross border activities. Therefore, the economic borders have been reduced and old rules have been removed for that kind of liberalization. So freedom for WHO? Only Multi-national company are beneficial to exploit outsources and pay low wage for local workers like GAP in Indonesia. However, Globalization is now not working - the question is whether we need a new philosophy?

Self-study: Notes on Globalization

1. Globalization is defined in many ways, depending on the prospects that it is. Generally, Globalisation is about economic integration and liberal trade around the world with which there have been 2 flows of contrary ideas:
- Supporting idea: Globalisation has some positive impacts as rapid growth and poverty reduction on world development, specially developing countries.
- Oppose idea: Globalisation has some negative effects on developing countries' development as increased inequality and environmental degradation.

2. Globalisation has been promoted by rapid development of technologies, communications, transportation and computer. Globalisation is considered as liberalisation of trade, therefore, it eliminates rules and regulations, undermines local and national politics, creates new markets and wealth. Otherwise, it causes loss, suffering, social disorder and chaos.

3. Globalization can be understood as "a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology, making effects on environment, culture, political systems, economic development and prosperity and human physical well-being".

Globalisation has created a new face for the world econmy, but the factors that help increase liberal trade are: Open policies and technological development, which make cross-border trade, investment and migration so easy in order to create a favourable environment for developing countries to develop their economies nationally and internationall. However, globalization is a controversial subject: it promotes economic development for poor countries and their citizens, so that they have higher and higher standard of living. It creates "an unfettered international free market" that benefits multinationals at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people.

4. Globalization can be defined as "an inevitable phenomenon in human history that's been bringing the world closer through the exchange of goods and products, information, knowledge and culture". Globalisation has been driven faster by unprecedented development of technology, communications, science, transport and industry. However, the process of globalization needs to be adjusted and controlled to bring into full play its positive effects and limit its negative impacts on developing countries and their people's life.

Self-study: MA Subject of International Relations

To who are not subject specialists, the International Relations (IR) may be confined to be the relationships between the world's national governments, conducted by politicians at the highest level. However, the subject of International Relations is something much more complicated than that, the academic subject of International Relations is interdisciplinary, reminding you and me of many related issues, which are, but not limited to, economics, politics, security and history. So IR is not as quite simplistic and narrow as the above definition.

The question you are likely to raise in your mind is whether the IR subject is important for our world. I can not tell you exactly how important it is in our world, however, it includes many internationally concerned issues such as the world peace and war, the traditional and non-traditional security matters, the international co-operation or competition, the relationships between and among two nations. Hereafter, some issues should be mentioned as a part or a related part of International Relations:
- Economics - more specifically, International Political Economy (IPE), what we are studying here is the politics of economic relationships. This involves considering and understanding the trade and financial relations between nations, regions, organizations and North-South issues such as economic dependency and debt, oversea AIDS and investment. The economics or others within IR are not a single matter, it should be considered in a more complicated relationship and they are always interconnected closely with each other. E.g.: The gas transaction between Russia and Ukraine is an international trade matter if considered in the normal perspective, but the recent gas cut is another problem in the International Relations.
- Politics - within the field of IR this covers the political relations between nations and the rising number of international organizations such as UN, EU, NATO, ASEAN, SCO... And now the world is entering a new stage of development where countries are interdependent, therefore, we should look at a political relation between any two or more countries and organizations in a larger context where every relationship is inter-related.
- Security - this involves the traditional IR issues such as war, peace and diplomacy but now increasingly covers many more areas and issues such as economic and environmental security. Especially, after the 11th September terrorist event, countries in the world mention more security issues which even we have never heard before, e.g.: food security, maritime security, container security, air security, terrorism, natural disasters or in short, we can say non-traditional security issues.
- History - in many ways, understanding the main events in international history is integral to the study of IR. Regional and international conflicts were highlighted in the twentieth century, making this period of time unforgettable in the world history and the question is whether or not this trend will continue into the twenty first century. Why is the history still relevant to the understanding of international relations? Simply, it is a basic foundation as in the cause-and-effect relations you should understand first before you go further.

The world is now facing many serious challenges and problems which the subject of International Relations has to deal with, but the most important and also the most controversial issue is the national sovereignty. It is clear that the national sovereignty is the one that countries have taken care of the most and the national sovereignty is forever immutable or untouchable in the International Relations. The first principle in IR is about the national sovereignty. Whatever countries want to do with each other may be OK, but the first exception, among others, is SOVEREIGNTY. It is sensitive enough to be the first to understand when you are studying the subject of International Relations.

In the next few years, the world will change dramatically as it is changing now and of course, the relations within it will be changing as well. Geographical map will be considered with some more key players such as Russia, India, Japan and maybe EU as a united block. Multi-national companies will play a part in the International Relations as the company mergence is becoming a clear trend. The financial crisis which broke out in the United States will be deepened in 2009 and a number of following years, this will cause serious consequences for the world with many more jobless and homeless people. The war and peace continue to be mentioned in the international fora, especially some hot spots such as the Gaza strip, Middle East, Korea peninsula, the South China Sea and maybe the Taiwan Strait will be discussed in many important international conferences. International co-operation will be an important key to success; therefore, no countries should stay alone while the globalization process continues. The mentioned above characteristics will shape our world in the next few years and basically, the IR will develop more or less with them. In short, the subject of International Relations is developing continuously from time to time, dependent on the context and our will.

For further study, please have a look at websites of The Foreign Policy Centre, IMF, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, International Institute for Strategic Studies, International Monetary Fund, International Relations Theory, International Security Policy & Military Affairs information sources, World Bank, US Army Foreign Military Studies Office, US Institute of Peace, Institute of International Strategic Studies...

And you can read some books: "The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology" by Fred Halliday; Social Theory of International Politics by Alexander Wendt; Understanding the International Relations by Christ Brown; Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches by Robert Jackson; The Globalization of World Politics: an Introduction to International Relations by John Baylis; World Politics: Trend and Transformation by Charles Kegley.

Interview CH Tung about China

The 2008 Olympic Games and the earthquake have made China and the world closer with much assistance and encouragement for China.
In 2009, China will continue to reduce the interest rate to stimulate the economy. Otherwise, China will support many programmes such as infrastructure, investment in education, health care and social welfare.

Self-study: Summary for BBC Today, 7h13, 6th Jan, 2009

Dr. Musa told the reporter that on 5th Jan, 2009, Tony Blair headed a convoy to Gaza strip, increasing the diplomatic activities and international efforts here, but the whole challenges have remained and the fighting continues. The Hamas militia and Israel forces exchanged fire and try to catch each other in Gaza. Hamas Islamic fighters were said to use anti-tank weapons, motars to fire with machine guns and they said they would force Israel to pay a heavy price. The casualies are difficult to count, depending on which side's declaration. Hamas said to kill 10 Israel soldiers over night, but Israel dismissed and in contrary, Israel stated to kill more than 130 Hamas fighters over 2 days and captured 100 others, in fact, many civilians wounded to be taken to the hospital.

As a witness saying, the fighting is more serious with many explosions, bombing, especially at night, he heard people call for help. Nothan, representative chief of Gierusalem Bureau assessed that Israel troops tried to reach Hamas military positions and infrastructure, they are now in dangerous situation. They are difficult to know exact targets because they confused Hamas fighters with citizens. Gaza can be discribed as a combination of Iraq and Afghanistan./.

Triumphs and tragedies in 2008

In 2008, Vietnam maintained a attractive and rather comparative economic environment with the growth rate of 6.23 percent, a stable political situation, however, it suffered much from a historical big flood and a castle epidemic. Together with the world economy, Vietnam economy will be affected by the world financial crisis with an expected economic growth rate of about 5.5 percent.Vietnam political environment will be firmly stable and its multi-faceted and multi-lateral co-operation with the world will also be promoted.

A short paragraph for myself

I can tell, in short, about the year 2008 that it is a success for me. Firstly, my family was cozy and happy. My mother was previously sick in the year 2007, I mean the whole year 2007, but she recovered strongly in 2008 to be pretty good in 2008. My second son, who was born in late 2007, experienced a happy year with no health matter, that I considered a great triumph, because he was predicted by doctors to be not strong enough. And my first son was unexpectedly more obedient and wiser as compared with his age of more than 4 years. As a result, my wife and I have been well motivated with much spirit encouragement to promote in our work. Secondly, after a year of preparation, I was successfully accepted to be a student of London Metropolitan University, one of the biggest and famous universities in the United Kingdom. As far as you know, I am here in London for a new stage of my ups and downs life – a student./.

My diary in London MET

5th, Jan 2009
The first day in London MET
I did not expect to learn on the very first day, I guessed we would enroll first and even we would wait for some late students before we start, but everything was different. I went to University on time and saw many students stand in a big open room, waiting for someone responsible for the meeting as we have been informed before. Finally, Mr. Andy Harris appeared in front of the crowd and made some announcement, dividing students who will have to take the pre-sessional English course into some classes and I was put into EMERAL class with Mr. Simon, a teacher of Grammar & Vocabulary, and Mr. Steve, a teacher of English skills (Writing, reading, speaking). And then we started to study English.

The first thing I have realized is a very different way of giving lecture here, I think it is useful and makes students work actively. That is what I need for my future career. In the Simon’s class, I learned to realize some world-wide famous brands: Mc Donald, Hello Magazine, Addidas, Channel, Pepsi, London Underground, Body Shop, Levi’s, Ford, IKEA, Virgin, Paramount, Lego and Mercedes. And then I and my classmates were given how to build up our knowledge and vocabulary with those brands. Steve’s class is different. He introduced students in the class and his subject in a very natural and humorous way. In his class, the old students (who have been studying and staying in London for at least 3 months) and the new students like me (who have been studying and staying in London for not more than a week) exchanged with each other about how everything works in the University such as self-study, computers, social programme, library, photograph… and Steve still raised a question of how to improve English speaking to discuss in the class: Study groups, conversation in public transport means, dating… I think it is good and I will try to follow that for myself. And it is the first time I have known the correct way to say 2.5 years in English: two and half years (instead of two years and a half, I was said to speak in both ways before).

After class, I filled the form and gave it to Mr. Marc Lawlor, one of the most skillful key persons to whom needs help as finance, weblearn, IT, card problems… Next, I and Cuong, a Vietnamese classmate went out for lunch. At 2 o’clock, we, all students, gathered in the big open room where we first met in the morning to go for a tour around the University and heard Andy Harris and Danielle Roche introduce the important places of London MET where you can get information and do things during the student time in the University. My first day ended when we finished the tour. And I took bus and then, tube to come back home with a good impression with London MET and its staff.

6th Jan, 2009
The second day in London MET
The second day seems easier for me because I am now getting used with the study environment and the University. As usual, the class started with Mr. Simon and his task today was to transfer some general knowledge of globalization to us. Most of Simon’s lecture was given with impacts of globalization on countries and people and he urged us to discuss and tell each other about our own opinion on aspects related to globalization such as cheap air fares; chances to work and study abroad; opportunities to enjoy foreign film, music; more power for multi-national companies; workers being exploited in the poorer countries… There have been two more new students in our class today, and I was impressed with Simon’s behavior towards these students, he showed his humorous sense, also his caring and thoroughness. At last, Mr. Simon assigned us homework, a vocabulary exercise through a reading task.

Steve started his lecture today by his own way which is very natural and easy to understand. He let us listen to a piece of radio news, discuss about Mr. CH Tung (Hong Kong, China) assessments on China’s triumphs and tragedies in 2008, its prospects in 2009, some challenges the world is facing and two solutions. The last task we had to do with Mr. Tung’s assessment was summarizing which was a main part of Steve’s lecture. I think summary skill is good for us to understand quickly the text, especially long documents. Hopefully, I will do summarizing better in future work.

During lecture, Mr. Steve spent some minutes talking about his MBA attendance in the City Compus. Due to his plan, our class time will change to fit him, therefore, our Wednesday class will be shorter and finish at 12h15 and we can have two choices on Wednesday: Continue to study in the class until 13h00 or self study elsewhere. However, the Tuesday and Thursday classes will be longer than usual, they may last until 13h30 and Steve promises to work part-time with us if needed. I think it is OK for us to spend time self-studying to meet the requirements of the pre-sessional English course.

7th Jan, 2009
Today, I made a very stupid mistake so that I came to class late, exactly 30 minutes late. I woke up early as usual, even I went out of my flat for University earlier than ever before, but I forgot to take the right DLR train to Stratford station, my first train went to the opposite destination.I came to class and enjoyed the last moment of Mr. Simon's lecture about cautious expressions with: It is likely that; It is unlikely that; I would appear that someone doing something; It is clear that; This will certainly lead to something: That will possibly result in something; or probable - probably; certain - certainly; clear-clearly.... they are interesting expressions in English because sometimes you stand on the fence and therefore, you can not speak out exactly what you want.

Mr. intelligent Steve entered our class with a bit worried feeling, maybe he has been a teacher for a long time and today he is going to be a new student in the City Campus which I guess made him a bit nervous, right? As Steve gave us a notice before, his today lecture would be made shorter so that he had enough time to go to University to make his student time more effective. Steve told us something about blogs where we, and I also, can write something to express opinions and do our self-study. I thought Steve gave us some tips to make blogs easier to read, but it is something difficult for me to understand immediately in the class because it is the first time I have made a blog and I have never had a blog before. Therefore, this afternoon, I tried to set up a blog of my own.

The second task Steve assigned us is to write a paragraph of more than 250 words to introduce our subject area. Of course, he explained step by step and showed us how to do it from taking note in the class, listening to a short presentation of partners, discussing with partners by asking and answering questions on the topic, and spending the whole weekend (If possible) writing the paragraph he assigned. I do not know what a paragraph is going to be if it is 250 or more words long, but intelligent Steve said "A paragraph". That is it.

First, I supposed Mr. Steve would listen to some of our presentation before he left for his class in the City Campus. But it is not that. I paid much attention to discussing with my partner, an Italian guy from Naple where the Napoli FC stations (He is a fan of Napoli FC? maybe), later I turned out to me that Mr. Steve disappeared while we were discussing and exchanging our opinions. Even I did not have time saying "bye, bye" to him. Oh, my God.

8th Jan, 2009
I felt much pressured by pre-sessional English course today with increasing number of homework assigned by Simon and Steve. Their new ways of teaching force me to change my access to study from passive learning to more creative methods, I think it is good for me and my future career. The problem is how quick I am to adapt with this new teaching and learning methods. Maybe, it is the key to success in MA study in London MET.

I have not learned much from Simon's lessons in the field of GRAMMAR and VOCABULARY, it is the same all time, except his ways of transferring knowledge to students. I think I could not do the same as he does if I were a teacher. Brainstorming and note taking are not new sounds to my ear, but how quickly or fast I can is really a question for me. From now on, I have to think thoroughly about the 1000 or more word essay we have to write and submit at the end of the course.

9th Jan, 2009
Today, I have done a lot of things, It is the most effective since I came here a week ago. Early in the morning, I wrote a paragraph of about 300 words introducing my subject area for Mr. intelligent Steve to read and comment. My blog was created yesterday, but I think it is not quite interesting because only my writing pieces have been posted on it. I want to post many more works, including photographs and Video, but I do not know what to do with it. I hope I will have created an interesting and useful blog as Mr. Steve does. As usual, I woke up at 7 am to prepare well for the class. I got out at about 7h50 and it took me about 45 minutes to go to University with the assistance of my feet, a DLR train from ALL SAINT to Stratford, an overground train from Stratford to Highbury@Islington, and a bus to London MET.
Today, Mr. Simon is off, so we had a lot of things to do with Mr. Steve: note-taking, reading, note-taking again, small presentation and an interview with Mr. Steve (New students only). I was the first to have a talk with Mr. Steve. I thought I was OK in the interview, everything I had done in the interview was answering Mr. Steve's questions. The most unforgettable question give to me was that "what is the most important thing I will have expected to get at the end of the course?", I answered "the method of study". I thought Mr. Steve did not expect to have the question answered like this, he was a bit surprised and tried to make clear what I was answering. Then, I came back to my group to continue our discussion about the "Globalization".
I got my student card this morning during the break. After class, I went to the Tower building to get my bank letter (the letter of our University sending to the bank to introduce me with the bank so that I am assured to open a bank account). Of course, I was easy to get the letter I wanted, therefore, tomorrow I can go to open an account for myself. Maybe, I will also apply for an Oyster card tomorrow. It is a good ending of the first week in London for my study, isn't it. Tomorrow, I will kick-start a new effective week, I hope.

10th Jan, 2009
Today, I had a tour around Canary Warf with some purposes, among which I wanted to see a branch of Natwest bank or Loyds bank to open my account. I got out of the flat rather late, nearly 12 o'clock and took a train to Canary Warf. As I was told before, I went down to the underground floor of a big building in a shopping center called Canada Square after getting of the train. I wondered to see a number of shop inside the building and look for banks for the above mentioned purpose. I did not know where the banks were until I asked a local people who was sitting at a bench for a short rest. With his instructions, I went out of the building to an open area nearby to seek for a Natwest branch. Unfortunately, the bank was closed because today is Saturday.

I went on searching a Loyds bank. I asked an Indian British man walking on the street to get the information. I continued with much more confidence and entered again into the Canada Square (as for me, it is a complex rather than a big building). When I was inside the building, I looked around and saw a diagram showing offices in the building, therefore, I thought at least there was a reception office of Natwest bank stationed in the sixth floor of the building. I went to a corridor to see whether there was a lift or not. At the time, a black guard guy saw me there, he approached me to ask if I needed anything. I quickly asked him how I could reach the Natwest bank, he showed me the way towards the Natwest bank branch where I had just escaped from. I was a bit disappointed, but I asked him one more question to get information about the Loyds bank. Hearing my question, another black guard guy appeared and seemed unpleasant with me as I was considered to play a trick on his friend. I asked me angrily whether I wanted to test their knowledge or not about the banks and which banks, Natwest or Loyds, I really wanted to know. I was so unhappy with him and his behavior that I argued with him a little. At the end, I was shown where the Loyds bank was.

Once, I was not lucky with the banks today when the bank staff explained or refused politely my request for a bank account to be opened with a very simple reason that I should go to a Loyds branch near the University for my convenience. I was reasonable, but I felt that banks in England do not pay much attention to me, a new customer. I guessed they was not willing to do business with me because I was only a short-term and small customer. At that time, I did not care for the bank account anymore and it was OK for me to open an account on Monday after class. Therefore, I decided to go shopping in the Tesco supermarket to get some food and drink for next week.

When I had done all with food and drinks, I discovered there was a Tesco club card to support customers shopping in Tesco supermarket. Each pound customers spend on goods in Tesco was equal to a point which would be added to the card by electronic machines at payment counters. As I get 150 points, I will get the goods discounted. With such a big discovery, I got a Tesco card as described above with a hope that my goods will have been discounted one day. I was satisfied with that sudden outcome. It was today I have bought enough for the whole week ahead and learned something interesting in the streets, not given in any book or lecture, even they were not included in the Mr. Steve's lectures. "One day, one lesson" is my approach in getting used with London and London's life.

11th Jan, 2009
Today might be the easiest day in London since I was here on 2nd January, 2009. I was suggested to go to Oxford Street where there was a big shopping centre with many shops and places to shop. I went there because I need to go around to get to know London and its transport system as well as spend one more day away from home. I went out alone and maybe, from now on I will go out alone to remember better roads, train lines or any other transport systems and vehicles. I hope after several days wondering around alone, I will not get lost in London anymore. But is seems not to be an easy task. I took the D6 train from ALL SAINT station to MILE END and continued my trip by central line underground train from MILE END to OXFORD CIRCUS. Then, there was a big open area for shopping in front of me after I escaped out of the tube.

Today, I felt free to enjoy things and surroundings without any difficulties in mind. I kept going from Shop to Shop, searching up and down, there and here for nothing, just for sightseeing. I spent the whole morning and half of the afternoon wondering half right side of Oxford street from the Oxford Circus station with a wish that I had enough money to buy a Rolex (I saw a Rolex shop with many beautiful watches inside, being sold at a terribly expensive price each: more than 3,000 pound at least, especially a DAY-DATE ROLEX to be sold at 17,000 pound) and intended to buy a Channel 5 perfume bottle for my home bank account at the suitable moment before finishing my study here. That was enough for me today, because my trip's main purposes are not shopping, but getting to know the places and people of London, its traffic system and sightseeing. Next week, I think I should go to well known historical spots and scenery places like Big Bell, Birmingham palace, museums, squares...

It is now very cold in Ha Noi. Hopefully, the cold weather will last shortly for some days only. Ha Noi is going to welcome a new lunar year - the YEAR of BUFFALO and It is not a cold year, I hope.

12th January, 2009
I went to University as usual and it takes me about an hour from my flat to the University on foot (from my flat to ALL SAINTS station), by DLR train and overground train, and then by bus. I think it is normal to travel such a long distance to the university in London.

The first lesson of Simon was replaced by a vocabulary test, followed by a lecture on Globalization given by Mr. Steve. As far as I understand, the lecture was given for students to do note-taking. I think it is a very important skill we should learn in order to make my MA study better, but it is difficult for a non-English speaker from a quite different culture of education like me. The lecture introduced a short overview about some negative effects of Globalization. We backed to the classroom to discuss how we summarized the lecture. The class ended with a homework that we had to summarize what the main idea of the lecture was and bring it to the class tomorrow morning.

After class, I did not go home rightly because I wanted to wait for the IT introduction at 2pm. I stayed in the classroom and read a newspaper. Then, I remembered to go to a Natwest branch to open a student account. Therefore, I phoned them and made an appointment for that transaction at 15h30 tomorrow. It did not expect to have done my task of making an appointment as easily as I had done like this with the bank. I hope I will sign a contract with the bank tomorrow. With the IT introduction in the afternoon, I knew about the intra-net of the University and how to log on the net. Finally, I went down to the library to ask a librarian to activate my library card by using my student ID card. Then I ran out and came back home as soon as possible. At Highbury station, I learned another lesson about how to renew an Oyster card with the station staff's assistance. It was OK, wasn't it?

13th January, 2009
As usual, I started a University day with Mr. Simon and his vocabulary & grammar lessons: His today lesson is about Prefixes: Anti- (Against), Pro- (for), Bi- (Two), Ex- (Former), Micro- (Small), Mis- (wrong), Multi- (many), Over- (too much), Post- (after), Pre- (before), Pseudo- (su:dou, fake), Re- (again), Semi- (half), Sub- (Under) and Under- (not nough). Tomorrow, the lesson is about the suffixes and I knew this because our teacher gave us some homework to do to show that, I do not guess. Mr. Simon then gave us some advice about a well balanced structure of our 1000 word essay: Introduction - 150 words, main body - 750 words, and conclusion - 100 words. I think it is a good idea for us to start our writing.

Mr. Steve had further taught us about how to summarise main ideas from a text, he also mentioned "paraphrasing" to avoid plagiarism and asked us to remember to add a reference at the end, not copying. Three steps to writing a good summary are Choose the key ideas, Re-organise, Write and reference. I have approached more to the targeted end of the course after Mr. Steve showed us how to write an introduction to the academic essay. He took his yesterday lecture as the information inputs to advice us some ideas about what we should do in order to write a good introduction. In the end, he wrote a nearly finished introduction for us. My following task is only write two more sentences linking the subject area to Globalisation in the introduction.

Today, I had some more experiences in dealing with banking transactions - OPENING A BANK ACCOUNT. It is more difficult to open an bank account here in the UK. Besides my University' letter of introduction to banks had something wrong with my address in London due to my mistakes when I enrolled, the banks required different documents. The Natwest bank is more restricted for account opening by requesting people to show them a bank statement or a paid bill together with Passport and University letter of introduction. The bank needs to be sure of my term address in the UK, therefore, I can not do anything to get such a document like their requirement. They still suggested that I could open a post account before going to open an account in their bank. That is all very well but I found these annoying. So I decided to open an account in the Loyds TSB bank. I have learned by myself that it is easier for you to have a deal like bank account with Loyds TSB. What I have to do tomorrow is going to a Loyds' branch and get my account opened. I also learned that I have to pay in the account at least 1000 pounds when I open it. Every month, 500 pound should be transferred into the account. It is OK for me, I have enough to meet their requirements. I hope tomorrow is a nice day.

14th January, 2009
Today, when I was sitting in the class, one of my Vietnamese classmate asked my what dates will be Tet holidays, I even did not know how to answer correctly. What a pity! I have not thought about this important event this month. The today lessons did not have much to say about. Mr. Simon had something to show us about "CAUSE & EFFECT expressions". The rememberable information in Mr. Simon's lesson was how to use verbs and nouns to express "Causes & effects". For example:

Driving fast is a danger to other road users.
Lack of time prevents you from doing things you want.
Watching to much TV has negative effects on young people.
Eating plenty of fish decreases the risk of heart disease.

During his short time in the class, Mr. Steve gave us some instructions on what we need to write in our essay's introduction (8 points to be written on). It sounds easy for us to write an introduction in an academic writing, but in fact, it is quite different from what people usually think about. It is a bit difficult. So far, I have not got any idea about How I should start. Tonight, I hope I will have a good answer to that question. In the afternoon, I went to a Loyds branch in Commercial Road (about 20 minutes away from my flat by bus) to book an appointment for my bank account opening. I have made it on Friday, at 13h30 exactly. I am trying to complete this task as quickly as possible, it is a really a waste of time. Friday may be a nice day for me.

15th January, 2009
Today, I had nothing more special than yesterday except I was the first guy to show my face in the class. At the beginning of the day, my student ID card was not working due to some technical errors in the card. So I was asked to see Marc for help and I did, but later. Simon continued the lesson of "CAUSE & EFFECT" that we started yesterday. The things I have learned in this lesson were some new words - verbs and nouns - to be used in CAUSE & EFFECT structures. I think some words I learn are quite beautiful, easy for me to use in the daily life.

Mr. Steve's lesson was quite different because we have been preparing for our final essay - today, we learnt some tips for that, first about how to write an introduction. We had a longer second part of the class which lasted until about 13h30. During the second part, Mr. Steve and we continued to work on the Essay's introduction with some sample writings prepared by students in advance. I think this part of lesson is useful for my essay writing, especially for the final essay of this course. It was clear that I understood more clearly what an introduction needed. Therefore, I imagined what my introduction should be as the deadline for essay's introduction was approaching, it is tomorrow I have to present my essay introduction to Mr. Steve.

After class, I came to the Administration Office to meet Mr. Marc to get my student ID card repaired. He checked my ID card to find errors. Finally, he got the idea of what my problem was. My card was not working this morning because its expired date was set wrong. Mr. Marc did something with his computer and informed me that my card's errors were found and are going to be fixed. Then, my ID card will be working again tomorrow. Afterword,I went back my flat and had a good lunch.

16th January, 2009
The first half of our class time today had gone normally as Mr. Steve gave us some instructions on REFERENCES. It is a bit complicated for me to use references in academic writing which I think to be used frequently throughout my study time here. This lecture is worth listening again, once or twice, as Mr. Steve talked to us in the class. The second half of our class time continued without me as I was allowed to leave the class earlier to go to an interview with a Lloyds bank branch for my bank account opening. I was a bit confused when I asked Mr. Steve for my early leaving because I saw him getting angry after being annoyed by phone inquiries from, I think, a student. It was likely to express anger straightly like this in the UK? It is good to do like this because you are able to show your attitude, even anger, toward somebody. I do not know whether I can, or have a chance, show my angry attitude like Mr. Steve did when I am living here in the UK or not. I hope I can, this suits me. I like this way of feeling expression.

I left the University for my first appointment in the UK. This transaction is important for me because I need to open a bank account for my convenient living here. Thanks to Mr. Steve's permission, I had much time to go to the Lloyds' branch in Commercial Road which took me about 1 hour and a quarter traveling from the University by all means of transportation: on foot, by bus, by overground train, by DLR train and by bus again. When I met a "big" lady, I thought she was over 50 years old, working for that bank, a difficulty arose. I think it is a stupid situation I have never witnessed before. As you know, this difficulty stemmed from my name. It is clear that my name is written differently in Vietnamese and English: NGUYEN NHU DUC, compared with NHU DUC NGUYEN as in English. The bank lady looked at my passport and also the University letter of introduction. Unfortunately, she discovered the difference between two ways of writing my name as above. She asked me again about my surname. "NGUYEN is my surname" - I answered. It looked differently because It was written by different ways - in Vietnamese and English, I explained. She then walked out to consult her senior manager, I guessed. About 7 or 8 minutes later, She got back and talked with me about my case that my name should have been written or copied exactly the same like It was done in my passport, therefore, She asked me to bring back another letter of introduction with a changed name on it. She ignored every explanation that I tried, at the end, I felt very angry with the way of doing business like this in the UK. I think she is as conservative as Great Britain, maybe with this kind of conservativeness, Great Britain is becoming the Great Backwardness in EU in particular, and even it will be facing a collapse some day in the future. I saw her eyes and attitude showing that she wanted to see me off immediately when I said angrily: "The letter is not wrong, my name is written right in English and Vietnamese". At that moment, I wished my English was so good that I could express my anger softly. I left the bank in a bad mood, but I could not do anything to make the situation better. Even if I spoke more, the situation would have deteriorated. So I'd better leave. Oh, my God.

I came back the University and got another letter of introduction to Lloyds bank with the changed name as I wished. I decided not to come back the bank branch of Lloyds TSB in Commercial Road. I wandered around to ask somebody how I could find a Lloyds bank branch near the University. Finally, I got the answer: there is one at the beginning of Holloway Road. Fortunately, I went there and got another appointment easily, but on next Wednesday, at 3.00 pm. It is likely that I am not lucky and maybe, I was browbeaten in a civilised and highly developed country with "a good record of human rights and nondiscrimination" in the world. Even in my dream, I would not be able to think of that situation. But it is a fact now, and I have to accept that because it is the UK. I do not know if Mr. Steve has ideas about this situation. I went back home late in the afternoon with some confused thoughts about the UK and its businesspersons. In short, today, I had traveled a lot, 5 hours by London transportation means: foot, bus, train, and the result: an 0. Tomorrow, I will go somewhere, maybe some historical landmarks of London to witness the greatness of the UK. Maybe, it will be a different Great Britain tomorrow.

17th January, 2009

Today was a busy Saturday as I was going out to visit some of famous landmarks in London. The targets of my Saturday trip were Leicester Square, China Town, Big Ben, the Thames River, Buckingham Palace and 4 famous lions. My trip could not begin as early as I wished because needed to buy a digital camera. Therefore, I went to Oxford street first for my camera. As soon as I bought it, I went on going to Holborn by bus instead of traveling by train in central line as planned. My traveling strategy was going and asking people for directions toward the places I wanted to go and It was useful for me to remember how to travel in London, especially I could remember the London transport system - bus and train. It may be difficult for new comers in London with the tube map reading and traveling by train, but it is easier for travelers after several trips around London, and I had learned the tips of traveling.

I first arrived in Leicester Square. It is not a big square, but many people come here to enjoy walking around and having a portrait by amateur artists. At the time, I was there, 2 people were portrayed and I had a good opportunity to witness some skillful painters doing their job in the open air square. I wandered around and then went to China Town which is a common name for many countries all over the world. China Town is characterized by red lanterns and I heard that there are some trick rules and regulations governing the trade in China Town, but I do not know exactly what they are. I called on a groceries shop in China Town and joined a crowd of people shopping there. I thought there were many things in the shop that a household needed for their delicious meals, especially with Asian families. I saw some Vietnam made food there such as instant noodle, some kinds of seasoning...

The second place I visited was EMBANKMENT where I viewed the Thames from a bridge crossing the river. I had a walk through the bridge to enjoy the beauty of the Thames and took some photograph. And with the view from the bridge, I captured the image of BIG BEN and it was not clear enough for me to describe that scenery landmark. Then, I kept going to Westminster and I had a chance to see the Parliament House and its surroundings. I was tired and decided to come back home.

On the way back, I witnessed a Pro-Palestine and Pro-Gaza peaceful demonstration at Trafalgar Square where 4 Mr. famous lions stood. About a thousand people, mostly Muslim people organised by Muslim Community Britain, gathered in the square and called for support from the international community for Palestine and Gaza. They shouted clamorously and raised the bands of "Stop Ginocide", "Gaza","Massacre"... I had taken some photographs of their demonstration. The demonstration was aimed at drawing concerns from the international community and the UK for Gaza where the Palestinian has suffered from Israel's bombings and rockets. Up to date, more than a thousand Palestinian died due to the bad situation in Gaza Strip. Hundreds of police men and women were there ready to interfere if demonstrators went too far to a violently protested demonstration. I hoped it would not be.

Due to the demonstration, traffic activities around the square got stuck and no traffic means could move, they stationed and waited for a breakthrough. So I had to walk towards Oxford Circus where I could catch a central line train to Mile End station, then to my flat. It was a tired day for me, the most tired day in London since I came here.

18th Jan, 2009
Today is Sunday, but yesterday, I spent nearly the whole day out sightseeing around London, therefore, I did not want to go far away. With this decision, I'd rather visit one or two places in London and then, back home. It was Museum of London where I would go to see and maybe, enjoy the historically eventful stories. I went out with the similar route from my flat to Mile End station in order to get a central line train to Moorgate station. I got off and headed to Museum of London on foot, I thought it was about 10 minute walk. I found the Museum easily at the end of the road. Then, I went on to have the museum discovered by myself. I do not know what kind of London Museum should be, but this is not qualified enough to be considered the Museum of London. It exhibits many archaeological samples like human skulls, labour tools (stone axes, stone knives...), ancient weapons, models and pictures related to many historical events of London as London great fire in 1666 when almost London was in fired and nearly damaged. However, it is my field of interest, so I decided to leave it early to start my second plan of discoveries in the day.

I intended to pay a visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's Embassy to the UK and it was time to realise it. As described in the website of the Embassy, it is located in Victoria Road and the nearest station from its place is High Street Kensington station. Therefore, I took a central line underground train to Notting Hill Gate and then a circle line train to High Street Kensington. It took me about 20 minutes to find the Embassy: walk and asking for directions. Finally, I reached my target - the Embassy in 12 - 14 Victoria Road, London W8 5RD (Tel: 02079371812). It is a bit difficult to find the place, especially with a stranger like me.

The embassy's gate was closed on Sunday as I thought. First, I did not intend to come to visit the Embassy, I just wanted to see and know exactly where it was. When I went along the front of the house from the main gate to the small gate, a distance of about 40 meters long, two senior men in a small 4 seated, 2 door car stationing on the road gave me a signal which I understood that they wanted to ask me if I visited the Embassy. I thought they were the Embassy staff, ready to go somewhere on Sunday, but they found me wondering and they wanted to give me some advices. I knocked the door wind glass and asked them if they were Vietnamese and Embassy staff? They invited me to come inside the car to avoid the coldness outside. I did as they said. Then we had a small talk as an introduction. I knew they were both Vietnamese British, over 60 years old, waiting for the Embassy party of Welcome to the New Lunar Year 2009 which the Embassy was organising to invite a number of British friends, Vietnamese British and Vietnamese oversea students for NEW YEAR CELEBRATION. And they asked me to join the party, I thought it was a good opportunity, but I was a bit shy because I was not among the guests to the party.

I decided to join them to the party, helped them to bring cameras and belongings and come into the Embassy. They were asked to record the party, especially the Ambassador's speed and the award presenting ceremony to some helpful Vietnamese British held by the Ambassador. When all of us were in the house, I helped them to prepared for the recording work later. One work they wanted me to do the most while the ceremony was to bring a camera spotlight and turned it on/off to provide sufficient light for them to record the gathering. I completed my assigned unwilling work, but I was happy to do that. Our playgroup, two senior Vietnamese and I, was so perfect that in the end, another senior Vietnamese British considered me as a son of one of the Vietnamese British in our group. I thought I was successful in that forced play role.

The party came to its end with many activities: Ambassador's speed, Chairman of Overseas Vietnamese Association in the UK, Chairman of the UK-Vietnam Friendship Association, Chairman of SVUK Association (Vietnamese Student Association in the UK), the award presenting ceremony and the last, some songs performed by students. And the second part of the party was enjoying Vietnamese specialties as spring rolls, Chung cake... and drinks.

After the party, together with two other Vietnamese British who hitchhiked home, I was invited to visit two senior Vietnamese British's houses, named as Mr. Minh and Mr. Ly Duc Xuan, respectively. Both of them were Chinese origin Vietnamese, having left our country in 1979 for a new world when the China - Vietnam border war broke out. I heard their story randomly and understood their sad situation at that time. They were all right now with no more feud with our country, but in fact, two of them were unable to forget the miseries they had to suffer in the past when leaving the country. I came to visit both of the cameramen, Xuan and Minh, with an attempt to get to know the Vietnamese British' lives in London. Mr. Xuan was not in a good condition of living as Mr. Minh, but they were both having a good family with matured sons and daughters. One of the most impressive stories I heard about their lives was that: Mr. Xuan intended to ask his son, living next door, to help him to do something, his son said to him that if he (father) wanted something, he should have made an appointment in advance!!!

Mr. Minh had a better living conditions with two owned flats, one for him and the other for his wife with his youngest daughter. Later, his niece considered him a middle class man with such a fortune. I had a big bowl of beef noodle with his family and a Vietnamese British couple who had come with us in the same car from the party back to his flat. I thought it was a joyful evening with a newly established relationship. I was taken to a nearby railway station by Mr. Minh in order to catch a night train to Victoria station where I could catch a district line train to my flat. Sunday finished with a new story with me and I hope I will enjoy another joyful story some day in the future.

19th January, 2009

Monday is a boring day of the week as usual. I started my study with an unexpected test in the so called conveyed programme to understand how interesting a student is when he/she learns new English words conducted by a training Iranian teacher. I though it was a waste of time, but I did not know what to do with that kind of exercise. The next class was feedback given by Mr. intelligent Steve about our essay's introduction. Looking at his feedback, I thought I was not bad at introducing a problem in an academic essay and at least I got a pass. The rest of the class was not very interesting, but not bad. So, my Monday was over with a little progress in English and Tomorrow may be different.

20th January, 2009

Today, we were forced to have an experimental test on English new words learning. We had to do the test because they needed to take a survey in the subject of new word learning. I did not know how it is important, but it was quite bad idea to learn English new words in some minutes and it does not attract students as much as they hope. However, the second part of our class was very useful with a paragraph analysis: Topic sentence with a topic and a supporting idea; supporting reasons; and an optional conclusion. I think it is useful because I have got an idea about how to write my essay. If Mr. intelligent Steve taught this before, we would have improved much better than I am now in academic writing. After learning these tips of academic writing, I will consider revising my essay introduction and some paragraphs in the essay that I am going to write. Maybe, I have to change something in the essay, but it is not much, I hope.

After class, I went to the EF Registry to get another letter of the University to deal with Council Tax Redemption. Then, I went straightforward back my flat and in the afternoon and the whole evening, I tried to search information for my essay, read them and get some necessary information. With the collected information, I tried to imagine a larger picture of what my essay is going to be and what sort of information I should put in it. It was a quite efficient (effective) evening for me, staying alone in my room and trying to write something. At the end, I had finished all homework, including vocabulary-grammar exercise and writing exercise. Moreover, I had written more 3 completed paragraphs for my essay which will consist of 8 paragraphs. To date, I had done half of my work on academic writing.

21th January, 2009

My class was in time at 10h00. As usual, Mr. Simon started lessons by correcting our homework on Reported speech. Simon's today lesson involved much speeking and grammar rather than vocabulary and reading. Maybe, it is good at this time. Later, we had done some excersise and get homework. Mr. Steve ran his lecture more quickly because he had to go to the City Campus for his lesson this afternoon. So I can say foresure that I had nothing special today unless my appointment with Lloyds TSB at 15h00.

It was the luckiest day for me in the UK since more than 2 weeks ago. I finished my class at about 12h15, then I went to the library to do some homework, spending time while I was waiting for my appointment. I went to Highbury Corner branch of Lloyds TSB at the Highbury corner 15 minutes earlier. After entering the bank, I asked the inquiry receptionist whether I could meet a bank staff as I had an appointment in advance. Then I was asked to have a seat and wait for the coming staff. Later, I was lead to a room inside the bank to start my transaction. It was unexpectedly easy to work with the guy in front, asking and explaining what I had to do in order to open a bank account there.

Relating to my letter of introduction, he saw and asked me something about my family's member, such as what my brother' name was and then, he compare to my name to ensure which name was my family name, I guessed. When he got my answer, he said He was confused with my name: First name, surname... I understood what he was going to say next and what he wanted to know about my name. Therefore, I told him my experience of opening a bank account in the UK that once I went to a Lloyds branch in Commercial Road, I was requested to bring another letter of introduction with my name written in Vietnamese way instead of written in English way as in the first letter. He was very surprised and understood my situation. He asked me to show him the first letter with which I was refused a week ago. He took the letter and confirmed it was exactly the letter he wanted. To my surprise, He told me to start the contract of account opening.

I felt very pleased to work with him, he was open and easy. We had a smiling chat while we were discussing the contract. I thought he was persuasive and convincing when he explained some extra benefits when I opened a silver card instead of a debit card (a normal card, no charge). With a silver card, I could use my card as Money Transfer Card and Travel Money Card and have European Travel Insurance, Mobile Phone insurance and AA Roadside Assistance and Accident Management. I did not know exactly how it was beneficial to me in the time to come, but I liked the way he dealt with the transaction, that was it. I finished my banking transaction with a joyful smooth. Before I got out, I still booked an appointment for my friend with the same transaction: OPENING A BANK ACCOUNT. It was a good ending of a funny story here.

22th January

I had two different lessons today. First, instead of studying with Mr. Simon as usual, we had another and the last experimental test on new words learning. It was boring and unbeneficial to me anyway, but I had no choice, even some of my classmates did not come and took part in the test. The second half of class was better and it was more important with Mr. Steve's lecture about what we should work on to improve the final essay in order to submit it in time, the next day. I got more ideas with some clear thoughts of counter-argument and paragraph connection.

Another important thing was that I needed to ask someone to sign in Report No3 which will be sent back to the Ministry of Education and Training after that. Once I got to the Admission room, I discovered that I had to fill in a form in order to enroll in the MA course in International Relations which starts on 2th February and next Monday, the 26th January would be the last chance for me to get enrolled. I was lucky again with this information. Then I was given a form and took it home to fill the gaps in it. That was all good for me.

22th January was the date I knew how to put money to my printing account which I need to print my documents.

23th January 2009

We spent the whole learning hours listening to Mr. Steve's guidance to write the final essay which should be submitted at 2 pm. Mr. Steve went through one by one to get our essays corrected. I had some useful advices about how to write paragraph connections and references. Based on his advice, I completed my essay - 1053 words and submitted it at the end of the class hour. Next, I went to submit the form of enrollment to the Admission staff and also had information about when and who will sign in my report No3 - as soon as I will be accepted to have a place in the MA course. I knew one more thing: Putting money into the photocopy card machine to have a photocopy permission.

24th January, 2009

It was Saturday and the day before the last day of old year. I enjoyed the weekend at my flat. In the morning, I went shopping for the next whole week with food, vegetable, drinking water... They will have been eaten for the whole week. In the afternoon, I went to the airport to see a Vietnamese student off. Everything I did in the afternoon was to carry luggage to the airport and say "bye, bye; see you!". It took me about 4 hours to complete the task. Then, I came back to a new friend' flat to have a dinner party with his family, which we called "the celebration party to see off OLD YEAR and welcome NEW YEAR". I enjoyed a warm family atmosphere there and it was a really delicious party.

25th January, 2009

It was Sunday and the last day of OLD YEAR. I had a date with some other Vietnamese students to have a lunch party as another celebration party to see off OLD YEAR and welcome NEW YEAR. I started to go to my friends' flat where was about 45 minutes away by bus. I was very confident that I could go there by bus as once I had been to. In fact, I had to take two bus for my trip. It was OK for me with the first bus, but there was a problem with the second bus due to my bad memory. I thought I could go to my friends' flat without asking for direction. But I was wrong. I could not remember exactly where I had to get off the bus. It was over an hour after I left my flat, I knew I was lost and passed the friends' flat without any notice. I got off the bus and came back. I arrived one hour late at about 12h00, fortunately, I was in time for the party. At the later party, I was introduced with two new students, one from Shanghai city, China and the other from Japan. They were interesting and friendly. We had a chat and had lunch together. At last, I came back my flat and made some calls to my family to say "HAPPY NEW YEAR".

26th January, 2009

It was the last day before the final presentation and examination of the pre-sessional academic English course. Everything in the class was about the presentation and examination. Both Mr. Simon and Mr. Steve spent time telling and explaining what we need to do in order to get an "A" in the final tests. I thought it was very useful for us to do the last preparation for the tests. At the end of the class, I told Mr. Steve jokily that I was looking toward to receiving a "B" for my presentation next day. He said that I could get an "A", it was a joke I knew. I answered "I'm hoping". I then spent the rest of the day preparing for the final presentation that I wanted to have fun as Mr. Steve had wished.

27th January, 2009

It was the presentation day. We had a random picking to choose presenters. First, two of us were picked up, the first person who gave presentation was CUONG, one of the five Vietnamese student in my class. I was lucky enough to be the forth giving presentation. We did present in order, as soon as one finished his/her presentation, he/she had a period for answering at least two questions. The question time of the previous speaker was the preparation time for the next. Therefore, we made speeches continuously until 13h00 we finished the speaking test. I thought my presentation was not bad and I made it fun and somehow impressive with a strange introduction which was different from others'.

28th January, 2009

It was the final examination day. The exam was not as difficult as I thought it might be. We did the listening and writing tests first, and then the grammar test. It was OK with me. I was quite sure I got a PASS. Tomorrow, I had to go to my class to get my English certificate presented by Mr. Steve and I need to see someone to ensure my place in the MA International Relations course. It is all right.

29th January, 2009

Today, I had many things to do in order to confirm my MA course' place. It was the last day in the Pre-sessional Academic English course. I had feedback for the final examinations I had been attending some days before and I had been presented my certificate of the course. As usual, we started the class at 10h00 and the first discussion was about the 50 million debt situation of London MET university. As for me, it was not a very serious problem. Then, we together checked the grammar tests by dividing the class into two arguing teams: Argue and get points in order to win a chocolate box from Mr. Steve - my team won finally. We continued the grammar correction until nearly 13h00. After 1 hour break, I was the first to do face-to-face tutorials with Mr. Steve. During the tutorial, I was presented my certificate and informed my final result: A - it was great, isn't it. I asked Mr. Steve two questions: How should I do to improve my English by leaps and bounds during my target course? What was the common method of study in London MET. He showed me the ways to improve English, but no answer to the second question, because he was not my tutor in the target course, I understood that.

In the afternoon, I went to Stapleton House to enroll in the MA International Relations course (Interdisciplinary Programme). It took me the whole afternoon to enroll. For the tuition fee, I had to pay for my MA course by two times with 4,500 pounds each. Thanks to the letter of scholarship confirmation, I went through the enrollment process. An interesting thing was that I was the last one in the enrollment queue. Before I came back home, I joined some classmates in a end-course party which I had bought a ticket before with a hope that I would meet someone in the Vietnamese student Union in London MET. It was not really a party, just a get-together for a drink with music and dance. I thought music and dance were the most useful communication means in the world. New students were easy to get acquainted with each other with music and dance. I came back home at about 8h30 pm and it was a good end of the day.

30th January, 2009

I had been informed that I (a new student) would have an introduction meeting at 10h00 today. Therefore, I went to University to attend the first important event in my student life in London. Otherwise, I also wanted to do some other personal works before I started my course on 2nd February, 2009. I followed signals marked by the University staff on the walls leading to the meeting room. I was in the meeting room a bit late, but only some minutes late. I heard a presentation introducing general information about the University and courses. At the end, we gathered in groups due to the courses we would attend, of course, I attended the MA International Relations Group led by prof. Mike Newman, our Course Leader who would follow us from the beginning to the end of the course.

Prof. Mike Newman showed us the way to another room where our group met and exchanged some ideas in an open discussion. My class is expected to include 18 people, but in the first meeting of the class, there were only 8 students from different countries in the world. Also there were 2 old students, Chris and Alex, studying International Relations who had passed their first semester here. They were 2 representative group leaders in their class. Prof. Newman wanted them to join us to introduce their experience in the course and gave us some useful advice. During the first meeting, we asked and exchanged about our course and the first 3 Modules that we had to take this semester.

The International Relations (Interdisciplinary Programme) course includes 4 core Modules with 20 credits each (Compulsory Modules) - Contemporary International Political Economy (GIP008N), International Relations and the Legal Regulation of Conflict (GIP009N), Theory and Research Methods (GIP028N) and The Evolution of the Modern Inter-State System (GIP007); 2 designate Modules with 20 credits each (Optional Modules) to be chosen from 9 Modules; and a 60 credit dissertation. I decided to take 2 core Modules and 1 optional Module this semester, which are GIP009N, GIP028N and one of either International Legal Institutions (LLP004N) or European Integration (GIP020N). Later, I decided to take LLP004N as the third Module this semester. At the end of the meeting, Prof. Newman showed us the room (TMI-37) where the Department of Law, Governance and International Relations was and also his room (TMI-48). Then, about next an hour, Chris and Alex led us around in an introduction tour for the University and answered some necessary questions we expected to have information.

I knew to use the scanner machine in the library when I scanned the last page of my report No3 which would be sent to the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam later.

After the group dismissed, I continued to do personal works: Got my reports signed and sealed at the International Office, a letter of enrollment confirmation from Undergraduate & FE Registry and requested an confirmation e-mail from the student office for my Oyster student photo-card. I got all these works done. I hope I will get my Oyster card next week by which I get 8 pound saving each week from travel cost. It is a good day, isn't it?

31st January, 2009

I thought I would have bought a good mobile phone today when I was determined to go shopping this morning, but it turned out that I had nothing at the end of the day. This morning, I decided to go shopping, so I went to Oxford Circus by taking a central line train. I had some information in Internet about the monthly contract phones before, so I wanted to check different prices of some valuable phone handsets in some shops such as 3, Orange, T-Mobile, Carphone Warehouse... before deciding which phone was the best for me. Finally, I decided to sign a 18 month contract with 3 for a free N95 at 30pound/month. Then, I had a problem that I have been here in the UK only for one month, therefore, when the shop salesman did credit checking, I might not be accepted. I did not know why, but maybe they wanted to know where my monthly income was from. I failed to get a phone contracted today. I will try another contract in another day.