The Meadows during Spring!
Hi there chaps!
I guess many of you are very happy about the beginning of Easter Break this week 🙂 I will mostly spend my break on editing my dissertation, BUT when you’ll start your career as a student here in Edinburgh don’t miss out this breakdown list – or you’ll regret it!
1. Read the rest of this entry »
Hi there everyone! I know, I know..it has been a while! The dissertation is taking my time away – and time is running out, too! Submission is less than a month and now I’m about to finish my first draft. Just enough time to start proofreading, editing and printing 🙂
However, today I really wanted to tell you a little more about the weather here in Edinburgh, as lately it has been one of the main Read the rest of this entry »
Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!
This weeks I’d just like to underline another experience that definitely marked my exchange abroad, and that I’ll always be grateful for: my internship with Scent Sciences Corporation, a tech company (startup, at the time!) based in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara.
As soon as Read the rest of this entry »
My friend Ka Wing & I with Phil, our communication lecturer.
As last week I briefly talked about my study abroad/exchange experience, I thought that it was not enough! This week I’d like to give you some more insights about what exchange can offer. Given that, what I’m gonna talk about is the difference in academics and the opportunity to travel.
First of all, the the UK system is really different to what I found in the US. When you start studying at Edinburgh Napier, you must get used to tight deadlines and high-value assessment (e.g. 60% and 40%, or 70% and 30%). Despite there are usually fewer assignments (including exams), research needs to be really deep and thought through. On the other hand, what I found in the US was more frequent coursework and more opportunities to get extra credits (and so to raise your overall grade) – although research did not need to be as detailed as it needs to be at Napier. Grades are another main difference: my average in the US was A – which definitely 
helped my self esteem! 🙂 Here in the UK, you pass with 40%, get a merit with 65% and you’re a genius if you take 70% or more (and even genius grades don’t usually get to over 85%). Now, it may sound scary – but the fact is that if your average is 70% you still can get a degree that is worth it 1:1 (First). So this is a warning for both students who are planning on studying abroad in the US, as well as US students who are coming to study here….just, don’t freak out, you’re fine 😉 In both cases, Read the rest of this entry »
Hi everyone! Last week I talked about meeting friends from all over the world here at Napier, which made me think of the topic for this week: Study Abroad.
The fact that I moved to Edinburgh from Italy was already a sort of ‘study abroad’ experience for me, although I could not resist when I saw all the opportunities offered by the University to expand my studies in another country. Napier offers exchange opportunities for one or two semesters, either in Europe, US, China and even Read the rest of this entry »
When I first moved to Edinburgh I did not know anyone. But that was the engine of my enthusiasm to start with uni and meet all my new friends. If you are about to move to Edinburgh and  don’t really know what’s gonna happen, please keep reading:)
Since the very first Read the rest of this entry »
My shot of Edinburgh, Fall 2012. Copyright carlottazorzi®
Hi there folks!
This week I decided to tell you a little more about why I chose to study specifically in Edinburgh, as I believe there are many of you out there wondering “Why Edinburgh” 🙂
When I started looking into higher education I had 2 criteria to satisfy: degrees offered and city to live in. I looked up at universities in Germany, Ireland, England, Wales, France..and Scotland, obviously. After a long research I came to the conclusion that Edinburgh was what I was looking for. As mentioned in my previous blog post, I found a degree that I simply loved and, particularly, I fell in love with what the city had to offer.
First of all, Read the rest of this entry »
Oh my, I look like a baby here!
Hi lads and lassies out there!
Here I am again. This week I thought I could tell you a little more about myself and how I ended up to study here in Edinburgh.
I was born in Italy 22 years ago (Veneto is my homebase) and I’ve always dreamt of living abroad to improve my language skills and experience a completely new cultural environment. Now, you may argue that Europe is Europe and so cultures are not that different from each other…….well, I would say that probably differences are not like Western-Eastern countries, but believe me: what I found here was very different from what I was used to. Was I happy? Yes. Edinburgh is simply Read the rest of this entry »
A smile from Monterey, CA!
HI THERE! Fancy meeting you here 🙂 My name is Carlotta and I’m a 4th year student at Edinburgh Napier University. I’m studying BA (Hons) Communications, Advertising & Public Relations and I’ll graduate in June 2013 (I can hardly believe it, time has gone by sooo quickly!). Given that, I’ll use this blog to write about my life as a university student in Edinburgh over the next few months. I’ll be happy to answer your questions about university life, Edinburgh, academics, entertainment in the city and so on. Stay tuned!
Carlotta
Update on July, 2013: I’m now a proud Edinburgh Napier Alumn! However, I’ll keep writing this blog because I keep receiving many questions from students from all over the world and would not want any of you to miss out on studying at Napier..! So roll on new blog posts! 🙂
Dissertation Time
Best Dissertation Food Ever
Typical.
I hope you all had a great break and that you’re all ready to go back to your studies. These next six months are going to be intense: things start getting a little stressful here, as it’s time to go crack on with the dissertation, which is an extended research project in a topic that you choose and that relates to your degree. Despite stress, I am very lucky for the support I get from my dissertation supervisor. If you are scared of applying to Napier because of this project, don’t be: there will Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by zorzicarlotta on 23 January 2013 in Academics, Dissertation, Edinburgh, Future, Student Life
Tags: Doctor of Philosophy, Doctorate, edinburgh, Education, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Representation, Napier, Research, student, Technical Papers, Thesis, Topic Maps, Topic–comment, United States