₦airaland Forum

Yeah, no sweat!!

Dear Salsera,

I think its safe to say I've fully settled in and even tho my family calls me twice daily (good morning and good night), I think that is even beginning to make me miss them more.

I live in uni halls and its really fabulous. I've got flatemates from all over the world. We've all got different rooms tho.

But franky, I begin to see the advantages of paying so much to study here. Things that were only taught as theory courses back home are things I see with my two naked eyes here. I am proudly Nigerian and would never diss my country for anything or any other place in the world. In fact truth be told, I can't wait to get back home after studying here. At least if nothing else, I dont use public transport at home like I do here. But the fact remains that WAY TOO MUCH WATER HAS GONE UNDER THE BRIDGE, and the world has left us behind. Things happen here, they become facts, then we have to memorise them back home in 9ja, but here, u see them happening. It makes me weep sometimes when I am in the lab and the uni undergraduate students are performing PCR's and I'm like wtf. I no sure say my 9ja brethren back home fit use micro pippete sef bc when I wrote WAEC, na those pippetes wey we dey use our mouth suck the reagent from bottles and stuff, really so much to wish for on 9ja's behalf

Yet, east or west, home is the best, and I miss her like soooooooooooooooo badly, and funny enuf, I've just been barely two months here.

Hello my people,
It would appear some of us do not look at the dates of previous postings before making responses. As a result, some responses to this forum talk in present terms in response to events that have been over taken by events.

Well with regards to the anti malarial treatment. That advice was actually given tome long before I left home and thank God that I heeded it. Despite the fact that I trated malaria shortly before leaving home, i felt the symptoms some weeks after arrival and the Plasmotrim and halfan tablets that I arrived with becme very handy and useful. I believe I migth have been bitten by some more mosquitoes on my last night in 9ja, oh sweet 9ja, I'm missing her already.

There may be no Malraial parasites and hence no anti malrial drugs here in London or the United Kingdom in general but considering that the lag phase of the Malarial parasite in the human blood stream is two weeks, then it makes perfect sense that some of us might actually have walked thru Heathrow and gatwick with enough parasites within us to take us down two weeks thence.

How u guys doing? School no dey gree person rest for here and with regards to the poster talking about talking some smoking garri, well I arrived already, actually like one month before you posted that and I really apprecite the fact that you thot of that.

Cheers my people and special regrads to oga paribus for all the clothing advice, I'd never forget that, and it still means a lot to me.

Sorry folks. Hope u all are doing great. Schools really tough and barely leaves me enough time for myself, but I always remain grateful to this forum tho, 4 life

thanks for all your responses.
The uni is Westminster University in Central London, 309 Regent Street and quite close to the famous oxford street where everyone works so fast as if person dey pursue them

Hello all my peeps in here. Sorry I've been off for a while. Relocating to the Uk was quite enuf work to keep me busy. I got here 6 days ago and have been having a lot of mixed feelings about the place. Actually, I felt like going back home the moment I got here. but i think i am loosening up as the days go by. I did my enrollment yesterday and have a student ID card now. I also just got this laptop at pcworld for 299.99 pounds. why dem no wan talk say na 300 pounds?

Anyway, I've also asked for a letter of introduction from my uni in order to be able to open a bank account here. I'd be going to get that today. After wards, I'd try getting a job that would fit into my school schedule. From the timetable I was given yesterday, I reckon I'd be studying tuesdays, wednesdays and thursdays, 2-5pm.

Sorry for boring you guys with all these but I actually feel like u r my family cos you guys were there during my tension packed entry clearance application.

@funkybaby, paribus, swiftycool, senetee, nkenwanyi, hobGlobin and all the unooficial members of my crew,
thanks for everything. London's a bit cold and wet for me at this time but I guess knowing I've got folk like you actually makes. all the difference.

hasta la vista

Finally, I am billed to arrive London in a couple of days on KLM via amsterdam. However, I need last minute advice on the things to take in terms of clothing. I've heard that the clothes we buy here dont fit there and all that stuff. I hope 4 jean trousers and t shirts aith a leathe jacket and wool cardigan will do? I dont have money to go about buying stuff in London, at least not immediately.

Any further advice?

i think you guys should worry about the accreditation status of these cheap schools cos if they arent listed in the DfES, then you might just be wasting your money. Basically, the school should be a bona fide memeber of DfES and should typically have a webaddress or email that ends in .ac.uk.

Please be careful, people

@guseman
exactly!!!!!!!!!
that was the reason why I chose KLM, Imagine the thrill of going to London via Armsterdam, Killing two birds with one shot, thats actually why I chose KLM. However, I havew looked closely a the ticket, we'd leave lagos around 21:40, arrive amsterdam at 5:30 the next morning and then depart for London Heathrow at 7:15 and arrive heathrow at 7:40, imagine the fun of being inamsterdam for almost two hours. Now I'm actually wondering how the flight from amsterdam to heathrow is going to take just 25 minutes. does that mean its shorter than owerri to lagos or abuja?, na waa ohhh

@salsera
I'm sorry I forgot to mention that. Yes, it is a one way ticket. r u travelling soon too?

@bignsirim
nothing do you my brother.

I personallyhave a KLM ticket for the 14th and it cost me just 110k. we'd have to transit thru amsterdam though but i was told that since i've got a uk study visa, i wouldnt require a dutch airside transit visa to transit thru armsterdam. hope that helps for ur purposes

@guseman
I'm afraid not. I'd be studying at the University of Westminster, in London's west end.

@everyone else
Sorry I've bin off for a while. I have been very busy with travel arrangements that I havent been able to drop a line here. But I always read your notes and they keep me going.

@bignsirim
nwanne gini mere really? what reasons did they give you for the denial. O ga adicha mma. Lets know what the reasons are and we can take it from there.

@dapsycool
abeg tell me more jare. I really need to know more about that aspect of life in the uk. ELUCIDATE OOHHHHHHH. tell me about the racism abound with the white chiks?

hey whats with the attitude mate?

the health care job doesnt seem like a bad idea at all. Anyways, I guess I need to arrive first and get to know what my school shedule is lkike before getting into all that stuff. can anyone tell me if 400 pounds is enuf money to get into london with on a student visa, studying in central london, but living in the north east (pitfield). how long can i go on that. also am i gonna have problems with immigaration if i go with my laptop from here?

@funkybaby
hey sis this isnt fair. u've given this guy more survival lessons than you've given me. remember we had deal, not fairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

@hob_globin
I'll try see the link shortly. I'm actually in a little bit of a dillema booking myflight bc of my mum.

mumsi doesnt want me to fly from abuja because nobody she knows has and i am not going to be an experiment.

mumsi doesnt want me to fly british airways because its a night flight and why travel at night if you can travel during the day

mumsi doesnt want me to fly KLM or any flight that isnt non stop because she doesnht want me stuck up in amsterdam or frankfurt or doha or dubai for longer than necessary without having a transit visa for that country.

mumsi doesnt want me to travel via virgin nigeria cos that means i'm entering london via gatwick and she recalls a bad experience she had there once.

so i am left with travelling via virgin atlantic cos that s the only flight i can get now flying from lagos, during the day, direct to london heathrow, all because my mum is simply, my mum.

@pablo and Hob_globin
my school starts september 17th buth the induction program is on the 11th, 12th and 13th so I am planning to arrive around the 8th of september. I'm still trying to get a good deal on a reasonable flight. Is anyone of you intending to travel around that period/ which flighht are you taking?

With regards to the money transfer thing, my dad has a dormiciliary account with UBA and it was from there that he wired my school fees into the uni's account. So as soon as I am able to open a student account in the Uk, he can wire monbey to me at any time straight from hisaccount into my account inthe uk. no western union shit. I can also transfer money from my account straight into his dormiciliary accont too, no western union shit. all u need is the account number, sort code, swift code etc.

@funkybaby
I'm actually in your age bracket I think but I really have loads of respect for you cos u r quite astute. like i told you in my thread, let the brawlers brawl

@funkybaby
hey sis, u should know when someone or somepeople are obviously trying to et you into a brawl. Please dont be a party to ruining my joy. Let them be ok? Please tell me about booking flights and which airliner you'd advise

why is everyone being so hostile to funkybaby. I actually see her quite differently. Please is there something that I'm missing? Vicjustice you might want to comment on that cos I notice you are really hostile to her

@funkybaby
Thanks for the compliments. I intend staying alone. In fact I have spoken to a couple of lanlords on the phone and have emailed a good lot as well. Presently, the university Halls of residence seem an expensive option for me cos I have come to realize that some landords offer rooms with shared facilities for about 80 pounds a week outside travel zone 1. Presently, my cousin would be airborne in about three hours on his way to london. I have given him some money to source for reasonable accommodation and make any neccessary deposits pending my arrival around the 8th of september.

Hello everyone,
Have you seen my new thread annoucing my visa? I'm so happy guysssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Hello everyone,
Have you seen my new thread annoucing my visa? I'm so happy guysssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my singular honour and priviledge, to announce to all of you, that my much awaited student visa application has finally come through. Funny enough, the validity of myvisa was way much longer than I asked for. I was given till January 2009. My course actually ends in Sept, 2008. However, the effective date on the visa is September 1, 2007. I wasnt hoping to travel before then anyway. I swear to God almighty, I NO FIT SHOUT.

@funkybaby
Dear sis, let the much awaited survival lessons begin, thanks for being there.

@mr  pataki, VOR, Akolawole
I may not have had any direct conversations with you, but I did read a lot f your advices to peope in my kind of shoes and that helped in their own little ways.

@swiftycool
enjoy your trip to scotland, who knows, one of these days you might come down south to england and to use your own words, "see u when we get there"

@hob_globin
Hope you picked up your passport today. Its an honor picking my visa on the same day with you.

@nkenwanyi
Heavens alone can tell the relief I got about two weeks ago when I read on Nairaland that you had also submmited your application at PHC but was also long overdue for a response. That made me realize that I wasnt really alone in the waiting game. Now look how it turned out. Thank God.

@Senetee
My brother, I no fit shout

@GOD ALMIGHTY
For the gift of all the people I mentioned here, and I lot more, a million thanks FATHER. I am so grateful.

@everyone else who has also made valuable contribution on UK student visa applications on nairaland,
I am very indebted to you and thank you for your efforts.

So is anyone going sorry coming(i feel like I'm there already) to the University of Westminster in London this September? Then I'm your pal because thats where I'm going.
So talk to you guys later, I've got to go book that flight.

Nagode Allah, Ese o Baba, Chukwu Daalu, THANK GOD

@hob_globin
Congratulations, Iam also very proud of you

@everyone else
I called 33505 again this morning, guess what? They told me my application is ready. My joy knew no bounds. I drove all the way to PHC were I submmited the application at the VAC, just to be told that they arent on today becasue ofthe crisis in Portharcourt. Can you guys imagine that. Considering that I drove for mre than 2 hours to get there. They guys on 33505 couldnt even tell me that the office in PHC is locked down. Well the guards there say they would be on on monday.

Believe me, this weekend would definitely feel like eternity. Hopefully, I would be the next person posting testimonies here just like everyone else. It's just that I wasnt called for an inerview like u guys. But having wasted so much time (26 working days), I hope they have good news inside that envelope lying in portharcourt and waiting for me to rip it open.

For whatever itsworth, Guys, pleasssssssssssssssssse keep the parayers up for a very fast weekend. There are loads of things I could do to pass time but I actually told God that I'd keep away from most of those things untill my application came thru. I am not about breaking that promise now. My best bet is to keep busy on nairaland.com

I'm counting on you guys.

@nkenwanyi,
Congrats. Iam indeed proud of you. Na only me remain for this waiting game oh. No call for interview, no call of sponsors, no call of applicant, already 24 working days and yet to result yet, Even Senetee bros don get him own. E remain hob_globin and myself. E fit be say hob_globin don get him own sef. NA wa ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

@funkybaby
Sorry its taken a while for me to write back. I've been having some problems with my isp. They no longer have a fixed tariff. Sometimes the charge me ridiculously high for a very short time online. And I'm scared of going to the cafes, EFCC is taking every young boy they see there, driving a car, claiming that he looks like a yahoo boy, Nigeria we hail thee.

I still called the VAC again this morning and they say it is still not ready for collection. I really dont know if it has anything to do with the crises in Portharcourt cos thats where I submmitted. The anxiety is really unbearable. The beef I had with my ISP peope was actually a welcome development cosit took my mind of these BHC people for a while.

And yes, my dad actually paid my entire tuition in full and got a 3% discount for doing that. Also he has promised to pay my accommodation fee for one semester (Sept to DEC/Jan) as soon as I get the visa so I guess I'm a bit lucky. It doesnt mean I still dont need those sisterly lessons of yours. I'm really looking for ward to breaking the news here one day as if say na CNN BReaking NEWS

@funkybaby
Thanks, you really sound like a sister.
Well I guess I'm hoping that I get a response from those guys next week. I wonder if I could wait a second longer. And I really look forward to the "survival lessons" from you and all other pro's in the house.

@azoriju
you points are noted. I guess they've also been noted in funkybaby's survival dairies

@funkybaby
no I am yet to. but I am quite hopeful. People who I havent spoken to for ages keep calling me up and telling me that something big is coming up for me. I'm quite hopeful really.

@Siena
Thanks for the info. I was also wondering the typical cost of accommodation in travel zones2-3. I understand accommodation could be quite expensive in central london but a lot cheaper in places like South West, East and maybe North Central. Any ideas?

How much does typical parttime work pay for studnets in London? Any ideas?

the amount you should write there is the cost of tuiton + the cost of living for the duration of the programme. For some one schooling in London, the COL could be quite higher in excess of 8000 pounds or so. So if you add that to you Tuition fees it boils down to about 20,000. It depends on tution fees sha. mine is 12500. So you do the math