My name is Mei Lin and I study architecture.
I'm a second year student right now.
I'm from Valkeakoski, Finland, but I come
from a multicultural family, so my dad's Finnish, my mom's Chinese.
So I've also lived in China for five years.
So I started school there
and then I moved to Finland for the rest of my education.
I did Finnish high school
and then after that I just came straight to Nottingham University.
I think my biggest passion is traveling, so that's one of the reasons
why I moved abroad to study.
So yeah, and like that kind of relates
to my course then too, because when I travel
I saw like all these different kinds of buildings
that fascinated me and then kind of led me to want to study architecture.
Since a young age I knew I want to go to university because I enjoy studying.
I did well on it and I chose University of Nottingham
because I really liked how green the campus was
and also I like the look of the city because it's just the right size for me.
It's not too big, not too small.
Before I started studying architecture, I thought the course would be
a bit more academic than I found out it was.
So for us it's really design based,
which it's really nice, but I found a bit surprising at first,
so I thought there would be a bit more like maths and physics,
which is really a small part, it's like one lecture series that we have
that includes physics and maths so, then
in a way, yeah, it's less academic than I thought it would be.
I think my first day of second year
in studio was really memorable because
for second year we get to choose our own unit.
And I got into the South Africa Build Project Unit.
So with that, like I feel like
everyone was just really excited for the project we're doing.
So we're designing a day care
in South Africa and then in spring we'll fly there and build it.
So I think everyone was just really excited about the whole project
and just meeting people
and like knowing their group that they're going to travel with.
So for my first year it was during COVID, so we didn't have the normal
university formals,
but because everyone was just
excited to just kind of have a bigger gathering.
So we went to normal dinner, but everyone dressed up fancy
without having that fancy meal and just
it was still a normal dinner, but we weren't just dressed up
and then it just became a bigger thing, just talking with people,
still having trying to get a normal life in the middle of COVID.
I think the campus has a lot of like kind of photogenic spots
and just nice places to walk around.
So one of my favourite spots is the stepping stones in the University Lake
and then there's also the big Nottingham
sign, which is great for photos.
And then there's also the Millennium Garden,
which is really nice just to just sit there and chill for a while.
One of my favourite restaurants in Nottingham
is the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, which is said to be the oldest pub.
And in there you get to like dine in a cave, which is pretty cool.
And then
otherwise nice one is the picture and piano,
which is this old like Catholic Church, I think.
And it's just turned into a restaurant.
So you can see these stained glass windows, but then there's
a have like a cocktail bar and it's just a really cool place.
I really like living in halls because
it was kind of like a stepping stone
to like completely independent because
it was catered and like they cleaned out toilets.
It was a bit less out of our minds.
And then for me, the commute to architecture department
was like 3 minutes.
So that was great when carrying our like
models and our big drawing boards and all the equipment.
So that made it really easy first year and just kind of focusing
on starting university and not about the chores
we need to do and spending like half an hour a day to commute.
By being a student and University of Nottingham.
I liked how like
I was part of this community that had a lot of international students
because they also have the two other campuses in Malaysia and China.
So then that was like, I want it to be an international community
coming from abroad.
And I also liked
how like it's
a prestigious university, it's part the Russell Group,
which kind of was an important factor for me, and also how much the University
focuses on sustainability, which I found really important.
I think the best thing about my course is the projects
we have, which I find really interesting, especially our current project
with the design build project in South Africa.
So it's designing this day
care for a local community in rural South Africa,
and then we get to design it in groups and then show it to the head teacher
and then they get to
pick which design they like the best and they get approved
from the local organisation that can be built.
Then we get to travel to South Africa as a group
and then see this incredible project actually execute it and come to life
and then how the local community gets to use it.
At university, I've met a lot of friendly people.
For example, my neighbour in halls,
she offered me to stay at her family's house
over the Easter break, which
felt like I was really supported abroad, which was really nice.
I really like the group of students we have in our studio unit
because it's just inspiring to see each other's work.
And like ask, how's your project coming along
and kind of giving each other ideas how to improve it,
which really has helped me along with most of my own projects.
I'm part of the tennis club, so they do sessions every Wednesday and Saturday.
So when I feel like I just go and play some tennis with other people that show up
and it's just this chill thing to get your mind out of work.
And another thing that I do is travel society, which I find,
which is a really good opportunity to international students to see the UK.
And it's really affordable too with the day trip prices being only £12.
While coming to university, I've realised
how the independent I have come become in the process
because now it's like I need to figure out housing by myself, bills,
and sometimes it can be a bit much, but then we figure it out together
as a friend group, which we live together with.
So I'm not with the problems alone, which is good.
Through my course, I've been able to develop my presenting skills.
So at the beginning of the project we'll have tutorials with our tutors
and then kind of talk through our initial ideas.
And then we do that
for the next few weeks or months, depending how long the project is.
And then because we do it so often, just talking about our own project,
it helps us to get used to because we just do it so often.
So by the end of it, for the final presentation
that we
talk to the whole class, it's just easier by that point.
And for me, like by the end of it, I was talking half an hour
just on my own project and my design process.
My biggest difficulty in university
is how we need to timetable everything ourselves.
So we have these big projects that can take like two months,
and it's up to us to kind of keep ourselves in track
that we're moving the project along according to the right time,
which was difficult for me because I'm
a bit of a procrastinator, so leave a lot at work to the end.
So I'm just trying to get better at it because then at the end it's
just it gets pretty bad with like 3 hours of sleep.
Our course really emphasises on us not to stress
too much about the projects and not leave things for the last minute.
So we even have like a lecture about like timetabling
and then how not to procrastinate
and have those like working till 3am and how to avoid that.
So the architecture course in the UK in total
is seven years, three years bachelors, one year work practice, two years
masters and one year work practice to officially become an architect.
For me, being an
international student, I wanted to do my bachelors here
and then I also want to get some work practice.
So through that, through the university, they helped me find a work practice
and I just find that really useful to just have that one year
in industry and gain invaluable experience.
My personal tutor has helped me kind of decide what I wanted to do
for the summer vacation between second and third year,
which I thought is a valuable time to like
get experience related to architecture.
So they've recommended me
like applying for architecture firms or internships
or then just kind of doing labour work at a construction site,
which is also important for architects to learn how to actually build a building.
I'm sure the friends that I make here at university I'll still be in touch with
with the years to come.
Whenever I come back to the UK and I'll visit them and through my course
I've learned valuable skills which I'm sure will help me throughout my career
a lot.
My dream after graduating university is become an architect
in the big city but like focus on sustainable design.
So how to make cities more sustainable and
economically friendly.