Although we did a fair bit of studying we still managed to take some breaks.
On thursday we took some time off studying and went to vote. Even though we are international students, we were still given the ability to vote for the Birmingham member of parliament (Birmingham Council Election) and also for the UK General Election. The night before I managed to take some time out and read up on all of the parties and their varioius policies, since I feel that it's pointless to vote unless you are somewhat informed. I went through the various policies and I found that there was one party in which I agreed with almost all of their policies, well except for one, they wanted to try and crack down on the apparent ease of getting an UK student visa (which they felt had some holes in it .. but after going through the process myself I saw no holes and thought it was quite fair). This issue of student visas is one of the few policies that would effect me directly (other policies being their funding plans for higher education and they're national health service - NHS) and I wasn't really happy with what this party wanted to do with student visas, so I looked at the other parties I ended narrowing it down to two different parties to vote for; the one I agreed with completely except for their crack down on student immigration and another party in which I agreed with about 75% of their policies, and the ones i didn't agree on were ones that didn't affect me directly. On Thursday I ultimately made the decision and voted for the party which I felt would be best for the UK. To actually cast our ballots we went in to the polling station (which was right on campus) and gave them the polling cards and voted. I was kind of surprised that I didn't have to show any proof that I was the person on the polling card, since every time I have voted in the past I have had to show ID. Afterwards I thought that maybe in Canada I always had to show my ID because they didn't think I looked over 18, but then they really should have done the same here, especially since I'm always getting ID'd here every time I go to a pub, even when all I want to order is food and no alcohol. Regardless they gave me the two ballots and I placed my vote on each of the ballots. Apparently there was a lot of problems with the voting this year, although I didn't experience any, and so they didn't end up having the final counts done until 6am Friday morning (even though the polls closed at 10pm)! Ultimately the election resulted in a hung/minority Conservative government (just like in Canada) with the Labour party a close second and the LibDems' a distant 3rd. No one here was happy about having a minority and so there has been alot of talk in the past few days but recently the Conservatives had decided to form a coalition with the LibDems. It sounds like a lot of people I know are happy with this coalition and so I just hope they can make it work. Personally I don't think it could have gone any better for me, since two good parties got in, and before they decided on the coalition the UK pound dropped some more, so I managed to convert some dollars into British pounds at a good rate.
On Friday since we had been doing so well studying and one of my friends in another program just finished the last few major essays, then we decided to go on a road trip to Leicester to visit another friend. We ended up taking the train where we got a decent small group same day off peak ticket rate; I still have no idea what all that means, but just knew that it was cheaper than we expected. We left around 10ish and it took only about an hour and when we got there we were met by our friend who lives near Leicester. We ended up going to the mall in downtown Leicester and then walked around the town.
The town seemed fairly confusing, since it was like every square had like six different streets to choose from, and then you go down one street to the next square and there was six more options, but aside from me loosing my bearings I found that Leicester has quite a nice looking downtown core.
Afterwards we drove out of Leicester and to the small canal side town of Foxton.
We went down to the Foxton locks and had lunch at a really nice resturant which had an out door covered patio which was right on the water. It was a really great place and the owners were really nice and friendly and the food was fantastic.
After lunch we took a stroll part way up the locks, but then it started to sprinkle a bit, so we headed back to the car.
We then drove around the area and our friend took us next to a village called Market Harborough, which has a really nice small town atmosphere. We wandered around a bit and saw it's old school house which was on stilts and next to it was this nice old church.
I looked at the church to see what time it was and was shocked to see it was just one thirty, but I could have sworn that it must have been at least 3 or 4. I then looked closer at the clock and noticed it was really a sundial.
This was the first time I had ever seen a large sundial on the side of a building before! Unfortunately it wasn't sunny, so I couldn't try to figure out the time, but it looked like it would have been fairly confusing to figure out, just judging by where all the numbers on the sundial were located. Our next stop was our friend's home town of Kibworth. When we got back to his place we hung out and chatted with his parents for a bit, before having dinner. They had heard that we hadn't had any good fish and chips yet, so they ended up getting some from their local chipper who has award winning fish and chips. The fish and chips turned out to be by far the best I have had so far while in the UK, or well actually best ever! After the amazing english dinner, we then headed back to the train station and caught the train back to Birmingham.
On Saturday we then started studying again, but managed to take a nice lunch break and went for a walk into town to a pub called the Square Peg, where we met up with another friend and had a nice relaxing lunch break. After lunch we continued studying and by Sunday night we had basically completed the review of the two courses, so to celebrate a few of us ended up going out to cinema, where we had ice cream and watched Iron Man 2. I ended up having chunck monkey ice cream, which I didn't realize until after purchasing that it had banana in it, which I don't usually like, but it turned out to be way better than I expected since I could barely taste the banana. The film turned out to be pretty good, but the theatre was quite empty, as there was maybe 10 people in total that showed up. The small turnout actually worked in our favour, as not only did it mean that it would be quieter, but also if anyone had sat in front of us as we wouldn't have been able to see since the theater was old and the seats are not sloped very well, so if anyone had sat in front of us then it would be hard to see over their head.
It turned out to be a good week with more studying than expected getting done, and with some great adventures too.
Cheers,
Jeff
*Word of the Week: in the UK when people talk about "beaver tails" then are generally referring to truck trailers where the back end folds down to create a ramp.
Hi! I just read through your entire blog and found it veryyy helpful! I'm a canadian as well, hoping to study at manchester this september. Do you think the course is doable for students straight out of high school? also, do you know students in manchester or what their course is like?
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! First off I would just like to apologise to my readers as I'm very sorry I haven't posted anything recently, but I'm a bit busy right now studying, but as soon as they're over I'll update you all on what's being going on.
But right now I'll just quickly reply to this comment for you.
Technically its possible to be able to do the course right out of high school, since it's essentially what most of the first year students here do. That being said, from my interactions with many of my first year classmates, it sounds like their A levels (which is what they call our grade 11 and 12) is extremely comprehensive. I personally found that several of the concepts they learned (related to Biology and Math) I personally did not actually learn until my first year of University. If I were you I personally might consider going over some biology textbooks over the summer and also try to get some experience working in an optical setting (ideally in an optometry clinic that is if you don't already some experience), since both of those things should help you immensely during your first year.
I also have talked with some of the Manchester students and it sounds like their first year is similar to what we learn at Aston, with some very minor differences in Clinical Optometry, but essentially they are the same. Ultimately after the first two years the students at all the UK Universities seem to have the same skills and knowledge base.
Best of luck with your application, and please let me know when you get your acceptance, since it's always nice to know another Canadian over here. Also feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
Cheers,
Jeff
Hi again, thank you for answering so quickly! I do have one year of university done. Just basic, first year Bachelor's of Science courses, although I'm still hesitant of taking the course without biochemistry or calculus. Are they essential in your opinion?
ReplyDeleteI've been accepted already and will most likely confirm my offer for Manchester. Some of the counselors from there I spoke to said they usually have a max of 5 Canadians a year in the course, which is quite low compared to almost a quarter of the class at your school. It's really helpful to know I won't be too behind, considering that the person I talked to at Waterloo that works for the Bridging Program said most students that head out to the UK have a BSc (since it's usually a secondary path). You offered a great suggestion about gaining some experience in an optometry clinic so I'll look into that for the summer.
Thank you again for the advice and best of luck with the end of this school year! :)
Hey, I read about the Tier 1 PSW visa closing. How will you be able to do your pre-registration year if the Tier 1 PSW is closed now? I read international students will need to obtain a Tier 2 visa, but one will not make 20 000 pounds as a pre-registration year optometrist, which is a requirement of obtaining a tier 2 visa. Has the school contacted you to solve this problem? I am planning to go study optometry at Aston this fall, but with the tier 1 PSW closing, would we be even be able to register after one year of working??
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteIt has been mentioned and since it all happened around April nothing has been finalized yet. But many things are in the works. For starters the optometry community (Association {AOP}, optical council {GOC}, college of Optometrists and all 8/9 universities with optometry students) have been lobbying the government to include optometry in the list of exemptions for the 20,000 and make it a more realistic amount (like 12000ish). So there is still hope that way, as the visa changes haven't been completely finalized yet. As well there is a lot of communication with the big multiples (who have most of the pre-reg positions) to see if there is something that we can work out, so that we still can get a pre-reg position. As well I know that Aston University is looking into a way to help the students, but details of their plans haven't been confirmed yet, and in the next month or so I expect them to announce their plan. But the optometry faculty at Aston have assured us that something will be sorted out for our final year. It's unfortunate for me that I'll be the first group to be affected by these changes, but the nice thing for you will be that by the time you get to your pre-reg everything will be running smoothly.
Right now, myself and many other Canadians in the UK are going on as normal by applying, doing interviews, and summer school programs with the various multiples (optometry chains). But in the back of our minds we are anxious to find out how it will all play out (like all canadians studying or wanting to study optometry in the UK).
Ultimately you are right to be concerned, but know that it will be sorted out long before your get to that stage. As I know Aston University is aware that us Canadians usually want to go back to Canada as soon as we can, and so they wouldn't have made you an offer if they believed that you wouldn't be able to get a pre-registration position (or get qualified to come back to Canada one way or another).
I hope that this helps, and I know that it is a bit of a waiting game to see what happens. But as soon as I know what's going on I'll post a new blog on here (although I haven't in the past year, but this is a matter that I know you're not the only one with this question).
Hope this helps, and I hope to see you in October at Aston :)
Thanks for the update Jeff! I really appreciate your help and time! I look forward to reading your next post! Take care!
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff, did you hear that Ontario will no longer recognize international optometry graduates after Sept 2011?
ReplyDelete"An internationally educated applicant who does have a degree in optometry will still be eligible for registration in Ontario upon successful completion of the IOBP Bridging One or IOBP Bridging Two as long as their application was completed, submitted and accepted by the IOBP prior to September 1, 2011."
http://www.collegeoptom.on.ca/registration/internationalgraduates.asp
What are your thoughts on this, as I see you are from Ontario and would probably like to practice there. I am in the same situation as you.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing this to my attention, as I hadn't noticed this change in their regulations as it looks like they very recently updated it. I have e-mailed them to see what they say, but I am expecting that there will likely some way that it will be able to come back and get registered in Ontario. I am thinking that they are just changing the bridging program a bit, in order to include therapeutics. Yet I will let you know what they have to say, when I find out.
Also just to let you know, there has still been no new news on the Visa situation, but will let you know as soon as I hear anything.
On the Visa front...
ReplyDeleteAccording to the UK boarder agency website it looks like mid July they changed the Visa regulations so that there is no longer a requirement to make a certain amount of money in order to get the visa. So switching into the Post Study Work Visa will be just as "smooth" as it was in the past ;)
Of course I'll will confirm this when I get back to the UK and will update this post if this is not actually true. But also feel free to read it yourself and see if you are getting the same as me :)
As for being able to practice in Ontario...
The College of Optometrists of Ontario have amended there past statement by now saying that they will accept applicants as long as there application is in by Sept 1st/11 (prior it said June 15/11). So basically it looks like they're still not sure what they are going to do. But I am still optimistic that nothing will really change, as there main reason was to eliminate people fast tracking into the profession (just doing 4yrs in the UK instead of the 7/8yrs in North America), but in order to get into the IOBP from 2012 on we are required to have a BSc (prior to the Optometry degree) or work for 3yrs (as a fully qualified Optometrist in the UK), so fast tracking is NOT an option. I believe that the College is realizing this, but we'll keep checking there website, and worst case we could always work in any of the other provinces (maybe BC, Alberta or even Newfoundland) ;)
Thanks for the update Jeff.
ReplyDeleteI've e-mailed Aston asking about the VISA change again a couple weeks ago, just to see if any changes have been made and apparently they haven't found a solution yet. Have they contacted you about it yet? Maybe they want a more official solution before going public about it. But from what you've found, I hope that's the case.
Aside from the 20 000 pounds minimum salary, I read that with the Tier 2 VISA, you can only work there if there is a lack of UK citizens working in that profession. Which is not the case for optometry. So I'm still worried about the T2.
Yes I am also planning to work in BC initally and hope Ontario will make changes to allow us to work there in the future.
Also I read you only have 2 chances to get into the IOBP program. Hope we can somehow find some preparatory materials for the test!