Week 12

Last Wednesday we went to the industrial center! It's quite far from the uni so we need to use the bus or a taxi to go there. It's a big upgrade from the workshop in Riamtec. But then again that was a garage workshop while this is a workshop where in-house parts can be made. There were a few experimental cars there including (I hope its ok to mention this) a Myvi free of any fuel consuming components. It was shoved with some kind of hydrogen power train or maybe it was fuel cell powered I don't know.

More importantly though, the reason we went there was for our Formula Student racecar. The only club/society I joined in UoS is Formula Student. Apparently, this season is really important because it is the last chance to save the team. I was impressed at the fact that the uni had a racing team but it seemed that their car didn't run quite well for the past seasons. Because of this fact, if we don't run the car successfully this season, the Formula Student team is highly likely to be disbanded. This all feels like a cliche drama situation lol. I'll help with what I can.

Adding the Formula Student project, I now have 3 projects technically. The final project, the automotive design project and this Formula Student project. Good news though, all of my projects are related because my final project is an electro-magnetic brake system, the automotive design project is about designing a handbrake, and I chose to be in the brake department for the Formula Student team. So everything should work out quite well.

Besides all that not much else to report this week. Ow yea I finally got a Paul Walker sticker. RIP.

As for car spotting this week, I finally saw a Ford Mustang! I heard a loud grumbling noise and turned see to a yellow Mustang with black stripes. I think it was a '05 - '09 model (based on wiki). Didn't get to snap a pic cos I was too busy being in awe. Apparently I missed a 1st gen Dodge Viper just minutes before the Mustang. Besides the Americans, I also saw a VW Corrado which I'm particularly interested in. It's another one of those infamous cars that I like. Oh I also saw this...

Lastly, daylight savings started. So our time is delayed by an hour. Idk how that works but anyway we're an hour later now. Next week is Halloween! Let's see what happens...

Week 11

This is week 11 and really... not much to talk about.

I got a taste of Solid Works and I want more. I've always wanted to use Solid Works but I never had the chance. The closest I had to Solid Works was AutoCAD. Now I have free access to Solid Works at the uni labs! My senior gave a brief intro about how it works and I really like it. I'll need to use it for my projects anyway so I'll have lots of time to play with it,

For cars... I only got a pic of this Mazda Miata NA. There's also a Chevy Corvette C6 but I couldn't snap it.

Let's talk about some culture. The people here are very generous with their thanks. They thank the bus driver, they thank the cashier, they thank you for holding the door open, they thank you for giving way on the pedestrian walkway. Very different from M'sia.

Moving away from that, there are lots of churches in Sunderland. So many. One day I'll snap pics of all of them but for now I only have this. This particular building is St. Peter's.

Before coming here I expected a lot of blondes. Maybe it's because of the university but actually the number of blondes I see here is only less than 50% of the crowd. Lots of brunettes, plenty of black haired people and then there's the random red heads here and there. Quite a few people have dyed hair. When I say dyed, I mean colourful dyes like purple, blue, green, pink or rainbow.

Another thing I noticed here is the culture of wearing headsets in public. I don't usually see this back home but here it's very common. Some aren't even wearing the compact types. Now that I think of it, they kinda work as ear warmers.

Lastly, here's random pic of the library.

Week 10

So... I'm back to weekly blogs. Life is becoming stable and routines are made.

We found this shop the other day. Haven't got the chance to dine there but the reviews on Google map are very good. Maybe too good to be true even.

One day we decided to eat Chinese food. Together with the food were fortune cookies. If I remember correctly this is the 1st fortune cookie I've ever gotten. And if this thing really foretells my future, looks like I'm set for life! But of course, I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

Goodbye Milo. I've found a new favourite.

I'm not much of a coffee person but I do drink it once in a while. One day I decided to buy Cappuccino and the barista asked if I'd like cocoa powder 'sprinkled' on top. I wasn't expecting this. 

I need this back in M'sia. Or anywhere I go for that matter.

I finally gave in to Microsoft and installed Windows 10. It's been ok so far. Interesting to see that "Internet Explorer" changed to "Microsoft Edge".

This week was a mix a rainy, sunny and foggy days. Apparently light rain is normal for British weather because I saw everyone just continuing with their respective activities even though it's raining. Very few umbrellas were held up. But of course they did cover up a little by popping up their hoods (it's sweater season). On a separate note, I really like that art by the river.

Above is a shot of the computer room in the David Goldman building. They even have sections dedicated to Apple computers. I gotta try them in the future.

Here we have Starbucks right in the middle of the Reg Vardy building. Yes a Starbucks in one of the lecture buildings. Elsewhere, you can find Costa and even Greggs.

This is one steep stairway. It's kinda a shortcut from the below to above the bridge connecting the 2 parts of Sunderland. It's not clean and probably rarely used but it was interesting. That's why we explore places.

Car spottings this week: A couple of Impreza, a GTR, a very old car from centuries ago, and the cars below...

Week 9: 2nd half

Not much to say about the remainder of this week.

During the Project lecture on Thursday, we were told to determine our projects before the next Thursday. I already have a rough idea of my project so cheers!

Materials class on Friday was again... very boring. Seriously the whole class was silent with the exception of the lecturer. This subject sure has lots of maths in it though. Various equations included.

Then there was Design class after that. We were given our assignment that we'll be doing throughout the sem. The class was divided to groups of 4 which means some of us needed to separate from our M'sian groupies. I chose to be one of them because I know the M'sian group will be speaking in Chinese almost all the time. Plus, new international friends right?

In terms of car spottings, I saw the 1st gen Toyota MR2 again and this time I made sure to snap a pic. It's a really clean example riding on Konig Rewinds. (Looking at Konig's catalogue, they have quite a few lookalike designs). I also spotted the Red Bull Mini Cooper!

Ow yea I bought more Hotwheels. Such a bittersweet hobby. The fact that Poundland is almost everywhere doesn't help.

And here are some random pics.