Sandy's diary in Manchester (Sept, 2001)

Just click on any of the following underlined dates and you can get to know what's going on with me that day.

1st Sept, 01 (Sat)

Oh! How brilliant Michael Owen is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One could imagine how excited English football fans were, after England beat Germany by five goals to one, No, I'm not kidding. A lot of attention had already been paid to the match before the kick-off and after the final whistle - the question of whether David Beckham would play for England in this crucial qualifier? was asked frequently; the message that the match was a big one was sent repeatedly by the media; almost all the discussions on radio phone-in programmes and on the Internet were about the match. 

The reasons why the match at the Olympia Stadium in Germany (Munich) was so important are, first, it can be very decisive for England's future at World Cup 2002 and a win over Germany would greatly increase its chance of automatic qualification for a place in Korea and Japan. Second, even without the World Cup element, any match between Germany and England is a big thing; they're long-time enemies in football terms and it's been 38 years since England last beat Germany (in 1965). Third, at the bottom, in English culture, football is part of life and it's kind of glory.

The 5-1 score line has important implications and what surprised people are: no such big difference seems to have happened for a long time between the two teams (beyond any expectation!), and Michael Owen scored a hat-trick in such an important game as the youngest player who has done so!

I was lucky to watch the second half of this exciting and nerve racking match on TV, thanks to my flatmate who was given a big colour TV by her friend. 

4th Sept, 01 (Tue)

Graduation... photos only

I was invited to take a photo with my friends, who had hired graduation robes as they would not attend the December graduation ceremony. This reminded me of year three of my undergraduate study when it was a custom that students took graduation pictures with their family and friends in their final year.

While some of us who were invited didn't dress up, we were surprised by the new look of my flatmate, who had made-up and wore a colourful dress for the occasion. 'Wow...' was my response. No Champaign, no bunches of flowers, nor any dolls; only a few postgraduates who were waiting to take photos with the main characters of the occasion. But it was still nice to see my friends wearing the robes, thinking that I might wear the same clothes in December. Would the graduation ceremony be the same as the one I had as an undergraduate in Hong Kong? I don't know. But at least the feelings would be different. While I was looking forward to the ceremony, the first thing I had to do now was finish my dissertation!

5th Sept, 01 (Wed)

English's one step forward on the World Cup qualifier

From the verge of being knocked out of the World Cup 2002 after being beaten by Germany at Wembley Stadium and drawing with Finland to the appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson as the first foreign manager of England national team and the team's successive victories over Finland, Albania, Greece and (surprisingly!) Germany, the England national team was progressing towards gaining an automatic qualification of World Cup 2002 after beating Albania by two goals. Coincidentally the only two goals in the match were scored by Liverpool players - Robbie Fowler and my fave footballer, Michael Owen!

6th Sept, 01 (Thur)

Goodbye to Laurel... and my room soon

A feeling of sadness has started filling in everywhere since September. Laurel, my friend's flatmate, is flying back to China with her parents today. I first got to know her through my friend in a welcome party for international students, as an occasion when we could have a bite of food (though not delicious). Quite sad to see her leave. What a nice girl she is! Laurel, wish you all the best and hope to see you again!

I also need to say goodbye to my room this coming Saturday, the due date of the contract of our university accommodation. I've started packing up things and wonder how to move out with all the stuff. But a new accommodation still needs to be sorted out first now (do I need to be a street sleeper?)..

8th Sept, 01 (Sat)

My new home

What a contrasting experience of moving in and moving out today! Words that I'd use to describe my moving out are: sad (It's my first home in England), troublesome (too many stuff), expensive (taxi fare), exhausting (only two girls were involved) and chaotic (I just got the key in the last minute before I moved in). My moving in? Exciting (of course, it's a new room to me), surprising (to be honest, it's much better than my old home; it's bigger, cleaner, more modern with a good view on the 14th floor of the building), puzzled (wondering if I'll live until December) and curious ('Who'll be my flatmates?').

10th Sept, 01 (Mon)

A baby-to-be?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not pregnant nor is any of my friends (to my knowledge). The 'baby' to be born is my dissertation. After three months of pregnancy, I finished its first draft and handed it in to my supervisor for a quick look. Hopefully it'll be fine, though I'm prepared for any severe criticisms from my supervisor on it...

(What would be my 'baby' like? or ?)

11th Sept, 01 (Tue)

Attack on the US (you know it!)... and on me!

What happened to the World Trade Centre in the US today would certainly make a big page on the world history and change many people's life (by the time you read this there should be some developments on the event). I was first not aware of the seriousness of the attack and the damage by the air crashes - in terms of the number of casualties and economic losses. Later I couldn't wait to try to find a friend of mine who's working in New York and I was relieved when I got to know that she's fine, but it's still quite worrying. I'm not for or against the US (well, I should be careful with what's being written?!) but I just think those people who were then in the buildings are innocent. What makes things worse is a lot of them are elites or the future social pillars. The attack is really terrifying...

At the other end of the world, I got the response of my supervisor on my dissertation this morning. I was a bit frightened and worried when opening his email to me, wondering what he'd think of my dissertation. The result is, there's still a room for improvement and it seems the road to the accomplishment of my dissertation is still long.

15th Sept, 01 (Sat)

Became a student of another university?

The closure of my university's computer centre forced me to be a student of my friend's university - for the time being. After returning the ccomputer I had rented from the computer centre, I couldn't afford to waste two days without doing anything on my dissertation. So, with the help from my friend and my flatmate, I could use the computer of their lab and tried to work hard on my dissertation.

As the new term is about to start, many students are moving in their accommodation.  I had a short chat with one of my two new German flatmates today. A good start.

17th Sept, 01 (Mon)

Manchester became crowded again

The start of the new academic year in all the universities in Manchester and Salford made the city crowded, and more importantly, lively again. Lots of cars and people on the streets. A long queue was found in the corridor of my department. Most of the students asked about the courses they'd be taking and the timetable. I also got a chance to see some of the new MA students. Instead of showing how good the course was, I told them the difficulty of my dissertation...

Today is also an anniversary of my stay in England.

19th Sept, 01 (Wed)

The second or final draft?!

It's not easy to give birth to my 'baby'. Having struggled with the format and the content, I printed out the second draft of my dissertation, in a hope that my supervisor could give me some comments. In fact what I needed was his approval of it, so that I could go ahead with the binding. Maybe it's too late? At such a busy time of a year for schools,  it's understandable that my supervisor couldn't find time to go through my second draft.

20th Sept, 01 (Thur)

Football match tickets

Quite nervous today. I had promised my friend to buy the tickets for the match between Liverpool and Leeds United, and today is the time for phone and postal application from the public. Perhaps I was in good luck today (I forgot to buy a national lottery ticket!). Within fifteen minutes since the Internal sales started, I successfully booked the tickets through the Internet. I still couldn't believe it when the whole booking procedure had finished.  

21st Sept, 01 (Fri)

Time has flown fast...

Tonight I had dinner with my two friends, the first two I had made here, on the first day of my arrival. How fast the time has passed by! The day we would depart from each other was not far away... :(

22nd Sept, 01 (Sat)

Close to the Nature

Lake District is considered one of the must-go places in England. However today we chose Peak District instead, which is close to Manchester. The English typical weather - cloudy and rainy in the early part of the day but clear with sunny spells later on - affected our walking tour. It was misty in the early morning and the soil ground was still wet, after one night's rain. At the beginning, everything was still okay but when we were walking on a small hill, we found there were some small rivers. 'Let me go first' said my brave flatmate but we finally decided to give up, not to go any further (oh...). In total we spent only one and half an hour walking around the area before sitting down to have a cup of hot drink. Uncle Sunny didn't show up until the afternoon. For fear that we might miss a train, we walked for only a short distance before returning to the brick city. After this trip, I still think Scotland is the most beautiful.

24th Sept, 01 (Mon)

Start of a busy week

A busy week was ensuing with tons of things to be dealt with. My dissertation and preparations for our coach tour to Europe and my Hong Kong friend's meeting with me. Thousands of thanks would never be enough to show my gratitude to my friend, Pat (even though I've already acknowledge her help in my dissertation). Pat, thanks to you for your tolerance of my frequent visits to your home!

26th Sept, 01 (Wed)

Binding

Could I have a big breath of relief after sending my dissertation for binding today? No, not yet. It'd take two days to bind it, which means I would not see its outlook since I'd be in Europe when it's ready for collection. Another thanks to my friend, Carolyn Chan, for submitting it to my department! (Sooner or later this website would become the one for showing gratitude!)

28th Sept, 01 (Fri)

Leaving Manchester... for two weeks!

Finally I could leave the UK... for two weeks!  This trip is the longest I ever had since I came here. I couldn't wait to start it when I woke up. The trip actually would start the next day but we came to London for one night as the next morning we needed to go to the meeting point of the tour very early. 

We had an overnight stay at my friend's friend's home (thank you Patrick). I wish one day I could have a home like his...

29th Sept, 01 (Sat)

Hello, Europe!

I was lucky to watch the second half of this exciting and nerve racking match on TV, thanks to my flatmate who was given a big colour TV by her friend. 

A new chapter of my life will soon begin... What am I going to do? What'll be my 'new' life like? Keep an eye on the coming of soon-to-be-updated diary!!!

This page was last updated on Thursday, 16 October 2003.

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