Istanbul

As I mentioned before in my blog post Lingue Mundi, I have been learning the Turkish language, in preparation for my Erasmus travels. On completion of the course, a trip to Istanbul was arranged to allow us to test out our new language and skills in communicating. It gave us the chance to experience the culture, religion and food in the heart of Turkey, meeting students from the university there being our guides we were to experience local life too. The trip was fascinating and a great way to bond with everyone from our class more, I felt lucky to have such a fun trip and see so much.

  

Our day of cycling round Princes Island

 

Inside the Blue Mosque 

NAP x

Cyprus here I come...

Today I finally received my acceptance letter for Frederick University in Nicosia, Cyprus. Apartment hunting is a go!

 

NAP x

Live Brief & Degree Show

So the time has come to end my second year here at Coventry, a week of work and presentations are finished. Recently I have been working on a live brief for a client to produce a blog style website as part of a partnership to contribute to producing a website. Our client was an artist currently studying her masters here at Coventry University and wanted to promote herself, her work and her interests in a blog style website. As I felt this an easy task to complete, I wanted to try and challenge myself so suggested a creative CV to work alongside her website when it came to promoting her as an artist.

We created the website together with contributions from our client and designed a creative CV for her to math the branding we created inspired by her own artwork.

Business Card

 CV 

This week was also the opening night of the third year graphic design final degree show and in support we all attended. We had all made some great friends in a few from the year above us from sharing the experience in China, so it felt only right to support them for the night and celebrate their hard work. It was great to see their work on display and it really sunk into myself how fast it will come around and be my turn to graduate. I am currently planning to defer my last year to take a year out studying abroad and gaining more experience and confidence in myself.

NAP x

Lingue Mundi

 

I have recently began Lingue Mundi classes in Turkish, learning the language in case it may benefit me and my studies whilst in Cyprus. As the city I shall be living in is split half Cypriot-Turkish and Half Cypriot-Greek the language will be a mix. There was no option to learn Greek here in Coventry but hopefully there will be an opportunity at the university there, or by meeting new people to pick up new language skills. 

As part of the classes there is an organized trip to Istanbul at the end of classes to visit a partnering university there and plenty of chances to put our knowledge to the test. We were told the trip would be full of activities such as sight seeing, exploring Islands all with our Turkish tour guides so we can practice our language skills. 

After visiting China and the partnering university there, I now feel a lot more confident in traveling, meeting new people and trying to speak their language. It seems I have caught the traveling bug now and I don't know when it will end! This year is shaping up to be a very promising year of experience for me. 

NAP x

#ChinainCov

So it was our chance to host our Chinese friends these past two weeks and help them experience England and all of our quirky traditions and culture differences.We had planned lots of events and where to go in advance of their visit to make the most of their time and try to show them as much as they showed us on our visit.

We had plenty of day trips to London, Oxford, Birmingham to try and show them and help them experience our English culture in all its glory, amidst our traditional April showers. We offered them a mix of traditional English foods to our take on Chinese food which wasn't received all to greatly in honesty. Throughout their stay here in Coventry we split our time once again between free time and working on an our poster project and creating an exhibition space.

Overall this whole experience has been life changing for me and my outlook in my professional and personal life. Its been a wonderful opportunity to meet so many lovely people and see a different side to our world. I high recommend every student to travel whilst they can and experience everything their university offers. My university and course has given me so much with their outlook they have on traveling to gain experience. In the years I have to come left of my course here at Coventry, I hope to return to China and take all the opportunities I can to gain some experience abroad and see the world whilst i can.

NAP x

Erasmus

This week I have been planing my departure for and arrival in Cyprus ready for my Erasmus year there studying at a partnering university in Nicosia. I will be deferring my third and final year at Coventry to pursue this experience. I have been informed that I shall be attending Frederick University in Nicosia, with some friends from my course, to study Graphic Design. 

I hope to gain some experience and new skills from learning abroad and also create some new pieces of work for portfolio. I really want to use this year to benefit my final year of studies in Coventry and hopefully use it as an advantage for future job prospects and opportunities by building upon my portfolio, skills set and contacts.

NAP x

#CovinChina

I'm back from China and jet lag free now and  I couldn't wait to share my experience with you. The past two weeks in China have opened my eyes to so much. From the different landscapes, food, culture, people and the way their live their lives has been extraordinary to see for myself and experience. 

These past 2 weeks have been full of eye opening experiences for me, from trying out new food, to learning about their culture and history. I feel like I've gained more confidence than I ever thought I would not only in myself but my work. There were a lot of presenting and talking involved in front of lots of Chinese students, their very polite manner and the fact that some didn't understand a word we were saying helped me greatly in growing. They were all so grateful to have us there and some students were quite emotional to see us and have the chance to meet us, It was a really humbling experience meeting them. 

I had the please of taking part in lectures and seminars with the Chinese students and share our work from a project we had both been given to work on and see how difference in work techniques and styles. I was also lucky enough to be part of some workshops they held for us in calligraphy and visiting artists studios. I was very fortunate to be given a painting as a gift for visiting and speaking with the artists. A group of us were invited to see another artists studio along with the Chinese students which I unbelievably was given another painting as a gift. Their gratitude and welcoming attention to all of us from their culture had us all astonished and we all felt very overwhelmed towards the end of our experience from the welcome we received during our stay. 

Whilst their to work and study we also had plenty of opportunities to have our own free time to explore Changsha. The Chinese hosts took us to places to shop, eat and enjoy some activities such as Karaoke and see some of their culture. As part of our stay our host Professor took us away for a few days to see Zhangjaijie mountains, the place where avatar was set and filmed around. It was fascinating to see such a beautiful landscape against the city we had been staying in. We learnt so much about their culture and traditions from a traditional performance of dances and songs we attended one night of our stay in the mountains. 

Some of my fellow students put together a summary video of our experience. 

  

NAP x