Amazing uni

Great

Studying at Cardiff gives one the pleasure of living in an international city where you get to experience a bast range of cultures from different parts of the world whilst learning to embrace the Welsh culture. The locals here are very friendly and will always welcome you with open arms when in need. Throught my 4+ years here, is very easy to forget the felling of walking down High street, visiting the castle or entering the market for the first time. The city feels like to home to anyone stepping in and you soon develop a sense of familiarity with it. When it comes to study, the university is very open and easy to walk throught. You get the opportunity to shared lecturing spaces and areas of study with other courses, meanign that you will get to know people from different disciplines that will share with you fascinating discoveries. For any sports fans, the Student Union's Athletics team is one of the biggest of the country and there are plenty of options to choose from to suit your interests. Also, the relevance of the national football and rugby teams means that all year round, the city gets filled with fans from all parts of the world, cheering for an exciting games. As much as I love the city, there are some downsides to it. I love spending time outdoors and dicovering new locations. The limited afluence of public transport outside of Cardiff, specially as you move north, can make it seem like the city is disconnected from the rest of the country and the opportunities to visit other towns and national parks seem a bit restrictive.

My course gives the opportunity to learn about a subject that is otherwise hard to understand from the outside. What I like about it is the fact that lectures and seminars revolve around a general topic and is up to the student to personalise its learning based on the types or reading they choose from. The small number of participants in class make it so that contact with lecturers is almost constant and encourage one to ask questions. Seminars take place outdoors for some modules, where we get to experience the world of planning practise from a different perspective; being able to dispute planning decisions and learn from real life professionals. However, sometimes it feels like the content of lectures become a bit vague and at times it does not challenge students to be more reflective. When it comes to course hours; the course has a good mix between attending in face lectures and having reading material that must be prepared before attending class.

My experience at halls was a bit mixed. As an international first year student, I got placed on a flat with other international students (I don't know if deliberately) who were on either an exchange programme (Erasmus - 3rd year students) or doing a masters. This limited my social interactions with other students that were living inder the same conditions as I was. In terms of amenities, the flat had a good level of amenties however for 8 people living on a flat, there was barely any chairs in the kitchen, further limiting the opportunity to talk to others.