Orientation day


17th February

 Today we had the orientation organised by Massey for international students. A full day of workshops and lectures on safety, assessments, assignments, English language, cultural nuances etc. With more than 500 international students from across the world, this event made a lot of sense.

 Besides of course Indians and Chinese, there were students from Vietnam, France, US, Iran, Malaysia - at least those I could interact with. But more than two-thirds were either Indians or Chinese without counting those Chinese that weren't able to come because of the Corona virus alert.

 Few things I learnt today:

 1) One can visit the library and fix a time with a consultant to get help on assignment writing.
2) There is a full fledged clinic on campus, free for students, offering all sorts of advice and care.
3) There is a strong plagiarism check on assignments
4) That NZ has two different numbers to call cops - 111 for emergency and 105 for non-emergency (past event, non fatal etc)
5) Teachers are expecting to be called by their first names
6) Library is NOT open 24 hours. (9am to 9pm only. Now that is disappointing!)
7) There is a trading room in the university to trade on stocks!
8) While drinking is OK, smoking is strictly prohibited
9) You tell me about it - its the most bizarre... you will find it in one of the images
10) One must get 50% in his first semester else his visa maybe revoked. 

 This last point set an alarm of sorts... I clarified the point and for a moment felt like Raju from 3 Idiots! 

Gowthamraj from India, Marianne from France and Bekah from US in a group activity
Dean addressing the crowd of international students

Student relax zone - pool table, bean bags, table soccer etc







Comments

  1. Unknown9:44 pm

    Great feel...I know exactly how it deels

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joseph12:21 am

    500 students 😳 that's a lot of them... Place looks great... Have a good time Vineet 😇

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vineet11:09 am

      Thanks Jo... meanwhile were you able to guess - refer to point 9.

      Delete
    2. Monty_Superstar7:16 am

      No 9 is Sex Quiz?

      Delete
    3. Vineet1:54 pm

      Yes... it is! Well done!. Read my recent post on it

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mt. Ruapehu

Image
Technically speaking, winters ended last month. We have spring now and rightly so as you can see wild flowers sprouting on road sides. Soon the barren trees will have leaves and it will mean that I would have witnessed all the four seasons of this beautiful country. So when we were at the peak of winters last month, the boys and I planned a trip to Mt. Ruapehu to witness snow! A five-hour drive , Mario and I took more than seven hours as we kept taking detours, passing through quaint villages and stopping over for coffee and muffins. I got to know more about Mario, a charming and happy young fellow, loves and plays soccer for a local club here. But one second, Mario is not from Brazil but from Borivali. Anyway, we took a shared bus from the foothills as it started to rain and only 4WD or cars with snow chains were allowed on top. Our bus driver was a funny talkative guy named Jongo to told us not to expect too much on the top as most activities were closed owing to the weather. He ...
Read more

Spark makes an offer

Image
A few weeks into work back from the holidays, Spark makes an offer. It is unexpected as I was told earlier that there is a hiring freeze. The offer is good but of course subject to me finishing my course successfully and getting a work visa. Spark, into telecom, is one of the largest companies in New Zealand and my designation is Business Analytics Specialist. Essentially, I am the bridge between the data scientists and data engineers and the business heads. I am supposed to translate a business problem into a data problem and to validate the feasibility of the data solution and translate it back  to a business solution. I had long known the gap between data departments and business teams. So this makes sense. The job will also help me get a foothold in the NZ work market which is difficult to penetrate. It will help build a good base to apply for permanent residency. So, it is good news. And not. We had initially planned that since the borders are not likely to open anytim...
Read more

Finally...

Image
After a year, the final  results were up. The course was above my station. Anyways, am happy it’s over. I am not sure though if I am relieved. The course kept me on my toes, there was knowledge gain and self-discovery, there were challenges and deadlines… I will miss them. So here are the main take outs from the perspective of a middle-aged person after doing a full-time course away from home. Note: I believe that retrospective stories, specially of successes, are over rated. Most of them are dramatized and would be very different if they ended in a disaster. Those stories inspire many but I cringe at them. So, I will try to be as realistic when I am narrating mine:   I had not imagined getting As in all subjects but I think there was some leeway in marking owing to Covid. From the age POV, there was no stigma, at least in NZ or in my course. Few students were older to me and everyone got interesting skills on board. Some excelled in coding and software and others in applic...
Read more