Help me, I am student!

Finally, back in my home country

2010-01-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

Today I arrived in my home country Bulgaria, after 4 months and 9 days away from my relatives, friends and.. my cat of course.
I was flying with easyjet because only they offered a suitable flight for me (Manchester>Sofia).
The funniest thing about my adventure of taking a plane from Manchester to Sofia, taking a bus from Sofia's airport to Sofia's railway station and then taking a train from Sofia to Varna, was that I almost missed the first branch of the chain. I was with two friends of mine which decided to drink some beer before going to the plane, and I waited for them, then suddenly we heard a voice, announcing "Last call for Sofia", and we ran for the plane. Unfortunately, gates were closed, and if it wasn't one good man to open them, my luggage would be sent in Sofia, without me, and I would be very angry.:)
So everything went fine, even in the train where I spent 9 hours alone with a very strange young man, who didn't stop talking about himself. It was nice though..
So I'm now with my family, and I'm really happy of spending my time between semesters with them.

Not only money matters, but exams too..

2010-01-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

Maybe for most of us the most important thing in our so-called student life is money. Yes, you need it, but not more than your study. Your journey began just for you to get a diploma, do not forget this.
So, if you want a successful career, I advice you to think for your money problems less rather than your studies.     Beneath, I've tried to summarize some advices for you of how to cope with our lectures, studies and exams.

     1. Organize your lectures in folders. Believe me, this helps a lot. I haven't done it yet, and that's why, now, when I decide to study, I can't find my notes, and even if I do, they are not arranged. Include the fact that your accommodation room won't be that big, just try to imagine, how messy will be everything in your room.
2. Do not study each subject for one day. You will explode and eventually forget everything you learned, just on the exam. It's easier to study one subject in the morning, another in the afternoon and evening. That way, I can guarantee you that you will be able to memorize your studies for much longer time and that you won't get to the point, we all hate, in which you forget everything.
    3. Make yourself a personal study table for the exams. You just separate each subject in key points and input them in separate fields. That way you have all your graphic scheduled and for example when you finish with a key point you simply crossover it on the table. In the end you should get one ugly table!
     4. Don't postpone your studies for the end of the night. Believe me, it's not worthed doing it, because eventually, most of the time, you'll be falling asleep on the couch, while trying to focus, because you are tired after spending the day with not necessary stuff.
     5. Don't forget that your reports weight a lot. Do not think that if you do well on the exam, you'll surely pass. Most of the universities demand reports and projects, to be done about a certain courses, which will also have weight on your final mark. So, just try to focus on them!
    6. Be neat. If you are not neat, while taking notes in your lectures, you'll most probably not understand them afterwards, when you really need them.
   I'm sure there are many more ways to succeed in your studies, but I really think that these 6 advices can help you a lot. Do not be conservative, just try them!

It's sad but money matters..

2010-01-17T09:51:00.001-08:00

   Have you already encountered a point in your student life, where you are asking yourself if you are going to be able to survive these days with that money in your account?
   If you haven't been there yet, you will.
   If you have already been there, congrats that you've made it!
   If you are currently experiencing it, please read my advices of how to reduce your daily living-costs beneath.
   Hope they help you, as they are helping me.

First of everything is working, of course. No one can help you more than yourself.

As a student in some countries you are allowed to work only for a certain amount of hours during the week, but even with that limitation you'll be able to support yourself. For example, I'm allowed to work 20 hrs a week in the UK, and at my current job, I make 5.05 pounds/hr(minimum of the minimum), and still I can make over 60-70 pounds a week. My rent is 65 and my bills go up to 30 pounds per week. But I don't include the money my girlfriend earns which are about the same. So it's easy to maintain our life here, as long as there are no other expenditures and as long as we are able to work.

Second is to gain the maximum of what is available for you as bursaries, scholarships, grants and loans. Almost every university offers bursaries and scholarships, and some countries offer student loans as well. For example, me and my girlfriend are getting 3225 pounds every academic year, to pay our tuition fees. Of course, they are not given to us directly, due to prevention of fraud, but transfered to the university. Applying for this is easy and you can do it from your country by post. As for the bursaries, I'm getting 500 pounds every semester, which makes it 1000 pounds every academic year, just because my university offers a subject bursary. This means that certain courses are entitled to bursaries, no matter student's performance. As for the grants, this is almost the same as the student loan, with the only difference that you don't have to repay it. For example, I'm now applying for a three thousand free pounds for this academic year.

Third is more for the reducing of your costs, rather than earning, but I personally think this is as much important as the earning-money factor.

The most important thing to know about saving money is "always search the deal".

Believe me, this will help you. For example, when I go shopping, I don't do it only in one supermarket. I do it in minimum two. I don't get cucumbers from Tesco but from Lidl, because the second one offers bigger cucumbers for less money. The difference is very small(10-15 pence), but when you add all differences you took advantage from, just by buying something from one shop and another thing from another place, you will see how the number is not so insignificant. Multiply this by all the times you are doing this and you'll see that you are saving hundreds of pounds. Also, go with the most suitable mobile contracts/deals for your needs. For example, I don't need nothing more than free minutes and texts to most of the phone numbers in the UK, so I got Vodafone freedom packs, 10 pounds each, giving me 100 free minutes and 300 free texts, and I'm not committed with any contracts.

Another way of saving is buying something that you use a lot by paying someone else for this. For example, me and my girlfriend bought a printer, so now we can print our reports, not disturbed by all the people in the common computer suite of the university, where all students print out everything, and you have to wait for this, and pay 0.05 p per page. You not only save money in a long-term period, but you raise your coursework efficiency.

Fourth-Always use cashback when you shop online! There are numerous of sites like www.quidco.com for example which offer many cash-back deals for almost every well-known site that sells.

Example:

http://www.quidco.com/virgin-mobile/

Here, you can get up to 30 pounds deduction, when you buy a mobile on a pay-monthly contract.

Five-Use voucher, discount and coupon codes.

Many web sites have on their checkout stage of your purchase, a gap with a "Discount/Voucher/Bonus/Promo Code"  where you can enter a code, which eventually will give you a certain reduction of the product's price. You can get those codes by purchasing something from the site and then getting the code with your delivery, getting codes by e-mail or simply visiting sites like www.moneysavingexpert.com and doing a search for the desired sites or products.
   Six-You don't have to drink and smoke.. It's a bad habbit. For example me and my girlfriend don't smoke. Almost all of our friends do. So they give 4 pounds a day for cigarettes and approximately the same for alcohol. This makes it over 220 pounds a month! It's almost a rent!
   Seven-Always choose the cheapest club when you go clubbing with friends. It doesn't matter where you are, it matters who you are with. But be careful, because many clubs offer free entrances, just to get you in and make you spend more money on their more expensive alcohol.

   Everyone knows these seven tips, but almost no one uses them. Think for yourself, even if you decide to go only with one of them, you still gonna be saving hundreds of money over the year!

Intro

2010-01-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is a blog dedicated to the student. Everything here will be relevant to the survival of a common student, and mainly focused on living away from parents. Here they're going to be discussed many tactics, plans and advices will be given for the successful surviving, examination passing and living as a student. Because, we all have been once, will be or are students, and we know how difficult it is.