Applying to Warwick IFP was the best decision I made as it offered an excellent opportunity to further my learning in a new and challenging environment. Furthermore, being born in the United Arab Emirates, with parents from UAE and Romania, I feel my background has given me an internationally diverse outlook. I was really curious about the UK itself, mainly because it would offer a great traveling experience for me. Traveling and living alone in a completely unique atmosphere and environment would definitely help me become more confident, assertive and decisive.

Creating a research question, researching the topic I chose, designing a template, then presenting my work for the Inquiry and Research based module was the highlight and most rewarding time of the year. Of course, the topic of Macroeconomics has always been intriguing to me as the affluence of strong economy of the UAE and the striving economy existing currently in Romania compelled me to seek an understanding of the forces that drive the world economy. The English for Academic Purposes module was very engaging as there would be times we had to do group presentations.

Due to the strict restrictions in 2020/21, societies were not able to organise many events. However, that all changed in my first year! As the restrictions were being lifted, events from different societies started to fill my Instagram feeds. This excited me tremendously as I was able to finally attend unique events ranging from academic (e.g. Economics society) to cultural (e.g. Arab Society) ones. My experience with societies during my first year is going fantastically well! In September, I applied for the Head of Marketing for the IFP Society and was interviewed by the Vice-President. Soon after the interview, I managed to get the position and started working by creating and designing content, then sharing it online.

My advice... Practice time-management by creating a schedule the night before. The schedule can consist of anything, whether it is studying for a particular module, grocery shopping, going out, or having a break. If you would like to set a goal time, I’d recommend having an end time, instead of a start time. For example, instead of saying I will start studying for Maths – ‘Differentiation’ at 1PM, it’ll be more beneficial to say, I will complete Maths – Differentiation by 1PM. This can, hopefully, will motivate you to finishing the work before the deadline that you have set, so you can proceed with the other unfinished tasks for that day.