Gair Rhydd

Culture clash? International students share their experiences

The first few weeks of student life are always hectic for everyone, but for international students there is the extra stress of adjusting to life in a new country. This week two students share their experiences...

“Everything is going to be different to what you are used to.” As I waited to leave at the airport, my father’s words came back to me. My father failed to be funny, but I noticed his anxiety about the departure of his one and only beloved daughter.

Even after living 500 miles away from my parents for two years, barely visiting my family, he didn’t seem too pleased that I had decided to study abroad for 10 months. Before the start of my big trip, I had come home to Berlin for a couple of days and I realised during this time why I’d chosen to leave my parents. Being an only child can be rather irritating, although I guess it’s the same in the UK.

Culture clash? International students share their experiences

The first few weeks of student life are always hectic for everyone, but for international students there is the extra stress of adjusting to life in a new country. This week two students share their experiences...

I love Cardiff. Please forgive me if this is somewhat a blunt introduction. It has only been a month since I left Germany, yet I feel I can already speak of big emotions here.

So far, my first weeks in Cardiff have been brilliant; the start was smooth – some might say “easy as pie” – and it has gotten better everyday. I am happy to share my love story, and here is what has happened so far.

Diving for treasure

Life's tricky enough without having to pay for your weekly shop. gair rhydd delves deep to find another way: 'Dumpster Diving'

I’m standing on a mattress with a torch in my mouth surveying the large plastic bags surrounding my feet. The mattress is covered with a layer of mushy pears; it sits at the bottom of a large industrial dumpster.

I lift the bags one by one, testing their weight. The light ones I put aside, the heavy ones I take and lift over the lip of the dumpster, carefully lowering them to the ground.

‘Hell-co’ yr iaith Gymraeg?

Ymddengys fod LCO (‘Legislative Competence Order’) yr iaith Gymraeg wedi ei rwystro unwaith yn rhagor gan y broses hirwyntog o geisio sicrhau mwy o bwerau i’r Cynulliad yma yng Nghaerdydd.

Mae siomedigaeth fawr ynglyn â’r broses hon gan mai dim ond pedair LCO sydd wedi eu cytuno ers i’r system gael ei greu fel rhan o’r Ddeddf Llywodraeth Cymru 2006. Mae LCO (neu’r ‘Hell-co’, fel dywed Betsan Powys yn ei blog yn ddiweddar) yn rhoi pwer i’r Cynulliad greu mesur newydd i ddeddfu arno.

Newsbites

Cardiff Cancer Centre Launched

Cancer Research UK has opened one of its network of research centres in conjunction with Cardiff University.

A dimmer sun will not help our global warming woes

The Sun is the dimmest it has been for half a century but global temperatures have continued to rise. Are solar activity and the climate linked?

NASA data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) suggests that in 2008/9 the Sun was the dimmest it has been for over 50 years. The observed reduction in solar activity runs counter to solar researchers’ expectations that the sun’s activity should now be intensifying after a quiet period.

The sun’s normal activity cycle builds up to an 11-year maximum, when huge solar flares erupt from the sun’s surface, powered by the sudden release of stored magnetic energy from the Sun’s corona. Solar flares are associated with sunspots, areas of slightly reduced temperature on the sun’s surface which are caused by intense magnetic activity.

Live cheap but live well

After lots of digging around, Jobs & Money have found some ingenious ways to save you lots of money

In the spirit of the credit crunch I have decided to put together a few little tips to help you students save a bit of cash, just by pointing you in a cheaper direction.

ASOS: www.asos.com is a great little website where you can shop for clothes, accessories and cosmetics at a much cheaper price than you can in stores. They have fantastic sales and sometimes have free delivery offers.