What a Year

Words just cannot describe how I feel about the fact that I am coming home for Christmas after 6 months of being miles and miles away from my family.

Coming home

It is such a strange feeling... I couldn't sleep the night before my departure, as I was thinking about everything that has happened to me during the last 6 months. Sometimes I really miss Poland, but I can't imagine that I could leave everything and come back to my homeland. Strangely, I left everything and came to Scotland. I cannot believe that I did it:D

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had stayed in Poland. That's interesting... Obviously, I would not write this post at Frankfurt Airport while waiting for my flight to Munich. Undoubtedly, I would not be a UCAS blogger writing posts about my experience as a student of the Robert Gordon University.
Thanks to this blog, I have met a number of wonderful people who are in the same situation as me a year ago. Some of them asked me to check their Personal Statements, told me about their problems, ask for some advice. When I chat with them, I think: God, I was heading down the same road, I had the same worries and the same goals. What can I tell you? Remember that you can always come back home, but you might never get such a wonderful chance again!

But let's come back to my university experience... I have already received results of all the exams that I have taken so far. I am always very impatient about exams but this time I knew that everything was fine. Luckily, I got 4 A's despite my illness:) I feel even more confident about my January exam, as I will have more time to study (hopefully) and I borrowed course-books from the university library:) Obviously all books can be found online, but I prefer real books:)

Last photo taken at uni in 2012

Oh, I am in Poland. Finally!

It is 28th December and I am a bit disappointed by myself, because I have not really stared revising for my exams... But, I have had only 2 weeks to enjoy Poland, and I couldn't spend Christmas reading my course-books. I have already had a party in Krakow (where I prepared sushi for my friends), met my classmates (from my High School), visited my family and now I am waiting for the New Years Party in Krakow:)
I have just realised that it has been a year since I started writing my first blog /http://timeforbritain.wordpress.com/.

Last night

In the morning I was reading a chapter about planning, and it looks like I am brilliant at planning and organising, as I managed to achieve all of my goals in 2012. I passed my driving licence, IELTS and my school-leaving examination, I came to Aberdeen, became RGU student and a UCAS blogger.
And... my business idea has been put forward to the national round of the SIE New Ideas Competition. Just before Christmas' Eve, I received the below e-mail:

"In the new year, you will receive an invitation (by email) to our Start-up Day on Saturday 9th February 2013 which will be held at the Westpark Conference Centre in Dundee. You will join the other finalists from all Scottish higher education institutions for a day designed to help you think about further developing your idea and teach you more about entrepreneurship."

I am unbelievably happy, because thanks to my idea, I received the first award in ”Do Business in Tarnow“ Competition in 2011. Now I have a chance to present it in Scotland, and maybe turn it into a successful business. Hopefully, it will be a wonderful year for me!


I hope that all of your dreams will come true in 2013. I wish you all the best, be happy, passionate about life, curious about the future, never scared of unknown. Remember about other people, enjoy your life, never give up and don't be afraid of anything. I wish you luck in life and success in your application, exams, career and everything!

All the best in 2013

Exams, Halloween... Xmass:)

Aberdeen Business School at 5 pm

Exams... It is such a wonderful feeling when you can go to sleep at 10 pm without thinking about coursework, exams and deadlines.
Unfortunately, I became ill 3 weeks before my first exam. Instead of going to the doctor, I decided to heal myself with painkillers, which I was taking for a week. Never do it! 2 weeks before my first exam, I felt really bad I had to make an appointment to the doctor. Nothing can describe how I felt when they told me that I would have to wait 3 weeks! Since I was desperate, I called my Local Clinic again, then I called hospital and National Health Service, went to my Chemist's and Local Clinic, talked to my GP and I had an appointment in 3 hours.

Autumn in Scotland

So, because of my illness, I started revising for Financial Environment just one week before the exam. I wrote my marketing plan (coursework) in about 4 days, and it took me approximately  20 hours (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) to write my coursework for Management Concepts. Consequently, I had only 2 days left (Monday, Tuesday) for my last exam (Business Ethics).
However, I have been learning regularly since the commencing of the year. It is very important to read case studies before each tutorial, take notes during lectures, and get familiar with the coursework at least a month before submission. It is worthwhile starting research ASAP, because it is much easier to sit down and actually write your report/essay when you know a lot about the topic and have some materials/references.
My advice for prospective students: You should learn how to reference and write reports and essays (which are much longer and more demanding than IELTS writing tasks) before you start studying.

 
Overall, I really enjoyed my marketing assignment. It was a group work and my team developed an amazing marketing plan proposal of around 3,000 words for a product of our own choice (Range Rover Evoque). I was responsible for marketing mix: product/promotional/pricing/distribution plan, implementation and control and conclusion. 
Management Concept assignment was more complicated, as I had to select one firm which is widely perceived to be performing well in the current economic conditions and meet many requirements, for instance: apply the PESTEL framework to the firm or describe the activities of the firm by applying elements of "Strategic Group Analysis framework".
Financial Environment has been my favourite subject ever, so I really enjoyed preparing for the exam, which consisted of 15 multiple choice questions and 3 essay question, such as:

"Statement of financial Position must always balance"
Discuss the above statement using definitions and relevant examples.

Studying for Business Ethics-my last exam

I really feel that studying this subject has taught me a lot! I can't believe that 2 months ago, I knew almost nothing about Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Statements of changes in equity, dividends, depreciation, shareholders' funds, different kinds of profit, FIFO, inventories, receivables, accrual basis, going concern, share capital, preference or ordinary shares. Fortunately, now it seems so easy:)

Because of my illness, exams and work, I did not really enjoy Halloween (31 December) and Guy Fawkes Day (5 November). Yet, I love Christmas and I am so excited, because there are Christmas decorations everywhere. And I am going to Poland next week (17th December for 2 weeks). I have exams in January, so maybe it is better to start revising here and have a rest in Poland?:D:D

Oh, I prepared the presentation for representatives of Erasmus Universities, who visited RGU during our international week. You can take a lot at this. It is not professional, since I was unable to spend more than one hour to prepare it. Anyway, maybe you will enjoy it. You can find it at the end of this post WORDPRESS BLOG.

Christmas in Aberdeen