The Busiest Time of the Year 年中最繁忙的時刻

The busiest time in the past two years has definitely been May and June. Last year, my son was deep into preparing for his GCSE exams, while I was busy planning our summer trip back to Asia. This year’s a bit different, but it’s still all about education.

Recently, my son finished his school internal exams, and after the school’s progress assessment, the subject grades get turned into Predicted Grades used for university applications.

In the UK, most universities hold their first round of Open Days around mid-June. These events give interested students a chance to get to know the university and the courses on offer. Depending on how things go, you might even get the chance to chat with current students and pick up some rare “Insider” information. The downside? Almost all these Open Days happen on the same day, and since the universities are scattered across different regions, it’s pretty much impossible to hit more than one or two in a day. After some thinking, we decided to check out the very first one today!

Early in the morning, we set off from Kingston and drove two hours to a university located right in central England. The place was buzzing — so many people that we had to wait nearly half an hour just to get into the designated parking lot.

Stepping out onto the main campus felt like walking straight into a Christmas carnival — the buzz was absolutely electric!

近兩年最忙的時候是五、六月。上年兒子忙於應考 GCSE，我就準備暑假的亞洲遊；今年雖然不一樣，但仍是環繞於升學事宜。

早前兒子剛完成學校內部考試，而經學校評估後，相關學科評級便會用作報讀大學的預測成績（Predicted Grades)。

英國的大學在每年六月中大都會舉辦第一輪的開方日 (Open Days)，給有興趣的適齡學生對大學及其提供的學科多一點認識。視乎情況，更有機會向現行修讀的學生收集較為難得「內部」資訊。不過令人遺憾的是這些開方日差不多是同日舉行，再加上這些大學多分佈於不同地區，一般都沒可能連走幾埸。幾經考慮後，今天便走訪了第一場！

大清早便從 Kingston 出發，開了兩個小時車到位於英國中部的其中一所，而由於人數非常之多，輪候了差不多半小時才可到達指定停車場。

一走出 main campus ，熱鬧情況有如聖誕嘉年華！

Want to learn more about the university? The simplest way is to go on a campus tour with the Student Ambassadors!

如果想對大學多一點認識，最簡單的就是跟隨 Student Ambassadors 來個校園遊！

For someone as greedy as me, picking up a souvenir is an absolute must!

對於貪心的我，找個紀念品當然是不可或缺啦！