A Song of Praise to Aston

 

 I Want To Sing Your Praise 
                 Aston!

I want to sing your praise Aston.

Forever your praises shall be on my lips.

Lips that eat salt.

Dreams you make come through.

Aspirations, a reality.

Unconditionally does these lips praise and honour you.

Oh daughter of Birmingham, born in 1895.

Located at the heart of this great city.

Among your sisters, you reign supreme.

A flower you are.

A flower that stands the tests of all seasons.

You never die.

I want to sing your praise Aston.

Oh Queen of earlier generations, that of current generation and generations to come.

Complacent?  You are not.

Your great achievements you embrace as a stepping-stone to greater heights.

The fruits of your womb are proud of you.

Your sons and daughters, your praise they sing.

Aston, excellence is the portion of your fruits.

You equip them with requisite skills.

Your strengths they know; and your weaknesses you set out to improve.

Oh daughter of Birmingham,

Oh Queen of all generations,

Oh Mother of great minds,

Your praise we sing.

Catholic Society-Aston: 2011/2012 Academic Year

CathSoc in picture. WE LOVE THE JOY THAT COMES WITH BEING A MEMBER.

Apart from academic and social supports here at Aston, one may need some spiritual supports as well. And this is where our dynamic and loving chaplains come in. Their selflessness, personally, beats my imagination. Their sense of humour, I think is compared to none. This makes them very approachable, and one may not hesitate to share any form of challenges with them. 

Rev. Fr. Raymond, CathSoc Chaplain, on one lovely Sunday mass.

With regards to CathSoc, OMG, it has been a fantastic time. I shared in one of the blogs about a multicultural mass we had; that is how lovely it is to be a member of the Catholic Society here at Aston.  We have an amazing priest, Rev. Fr. Raymond, who is not only interested in our spiritual welfare but also our academic and social well-being. I can always remember the question: “How is your course going?”. And it is always a pleasure to share both good and challenging times in one’s studies with him and other CathSoc members. He is always there to encourage and to provide us with hope for the best. I truly love my time with CathSoc.

We love CathSoc! We love the Multi-faith chaplaincy! We love Aston!

On one Sunday mass at the Multi-faith Chaplaincy at Aston.

We do not only pray but we break bread too.

New face of Birmingham-Lovely sunny weather...

Now there are new topics for interaction for the past couple of days.

Guess what, it is all about the lovely sunny weather.

“What a lovely day!”

“Let’s enjoy the good weather.”

“Let’s have picnic by the lake.”

“Oh mine!  Let us go for a walk.”

“I will be going out without a jacket on.”

“Ok, let me get my sun cream, it has been ages since I’ve seen it.”

Relaxing by the lakeside of the uni on a lovely sunny day.

These present some new lines of interactions. For the past couple of days, the weather has changed drastically perhaps for a good one.

It is sunny, one can dress pretty casual, and of course have picnic around the lake of the uni.

Now my counts for not wearing jacket to the city centre have increased. Let us start, one, two, three, four, five ; ok I think today is the sixth time. This is how interesting it is to have a lovely sunny weather. We hope this will last for long. Fingers crossed. I love today’s weather!

The face of the new build(student accommodation) on a lovely sunny day.

Term 2 in Aston

After a busy and fulfilling term 2, we had a break for three weeks. The holiday was an interesting one especially during the Easter seasons. I joined the Stations of the Cross from St Michael to St Chad’s Cathedral. With songs and prayers, with the catholic community here in Birmingham, we walked through the city center to the cathedral where we had our final service for the day. There was social gathering in one of the halls at the cathedral where we had time to chart with lovely people from various parishes.

Interestingly, the city center was less busy during the season, which to some extent symbolises the solemnity of the period. In the evenings, there were social events in the city one could attend.

One may not have the holidays entirely free. I may sometimes have to sleep with one eye opened, thus not too much fun. Why? Deadlines are due just upon resumption. No extensions unless for exceptional cases . Sometimes, one may feel quite nervous when the days are getting closer to the deadlines. The available resources and the supports, however, give hope.

The vacation as a whole was interesting.   Meeting up with friends for couple of hours helps to relax for the academic work.

Some Communication and Linguistic Experiences…

Hello, Good morning! Does this always require a reply? Or just a smile back is enough, or a head nod?

Alternatively, does the response require a handshake or a hug? Or maybe a kiss on the chick is the best option in a given setting. And if a kiss on the chick, how many?  Where do one has to start from, right or left. Ok, when gender comes in, how many kisses for a lady or a gentleman. This is how diverse Aston is even just at the level of greetings. I hope you wouldn’t want to know about that of ‘Good afternoon!’ and ‘Good evening!’ They also have their own responses. However, this is what makes life very interesting at any point in time. One gets to learn about different cultures and expected ways of doing things. And I think this is what international exposure is all about, learning new things and appreciating other cultures. This Aston offers both students and workers just under one umbrella.

 

One amazing thing for me here in Aston is address terms for both fellow students and our professors. Those of fellow students are usually easy to negotiate just by referring to the person by the first name. What of our professors? Is it by their first names, surnames, or title and surnames?   When it comes to ‘cultural crossing’ from this perspective, I think I have not crossed yet and I assume some other colleagues too.  Actually, I can admit that culture is a very complex phenomenon, and as far as it is dynamic, one cannot get it all. All these and other experiences make life here in the Uni very interesting.

International Scholars Reception…

Aston from my perspective is so dynamic in many ways.  Guess what, on the 23 January 2012, the university acknowledges over 100 international scholars for their awards of scholarship to study for undergraduate, postgraduate and Phd programmes here at Aston. This day to much extend shows how much culturally diverse the university is.

In her speech, Prof Julia King, Vice Chancellor of the University, acknowledges how much international students contribute to cultural and interpersonal development of home students as these are brought to them right here at Aston without necessarily traveling abroad for such experiences. In the same way, we international students get to learn from home and other international students at every point in time.

All the scholars were issued with certificates bearing their scholarship awards. This is a great honour to all of us. Thank you Aston University for your great acknowledgement and we express our appreciations. We are looking forward to join the great society of Aston Alumni.

Here arrives Term 2…

Good memories of the holidays usher us into the beginning of a new term. The Christmas and the New Year here in Aston cannot be a forgotten experience.  Would you like to know why? Right, Wii and pizza night, curry and movie night, BBQ, day trips to Bath, Warwick and Oxford.  Oh mine, Aston made us feel at home, and all feelings of homesick were swept under the carpet.  City center were full of other events, which one could attend. Fireworks by the Birmingham City Council, I was right there with my friends before midnight to 2012. Exactly midnight, the fireworks began with a loud shout from almost everybody with that communal joy.   Although the fireworks lasted but for a while, it still gives one that feel of communal life.

While enjoying the season, one is not left without academic thoughts. One has exams and assessments due the beginning of term 2 in January.  You may not like to sleep with the two eyes closed. Like a watchdog, a person has to sleep with only one eye. This is where the intensive nature of the programmes come in. One is always warm up with academic experiences and this I think is a good training for further studies.

The term began as per the academic year schedules with exams and assessment submissions. Finally, things get settle down again for classes. We are looking forward to a fantastic term.

Spiritual Supports...

As indicated on the web page of the Martin Luther King Multi-Faith Chaplaincy (MLK), the chaplaincy “is concerned with issues that are religious, international, social and political. ‘They’ seek to help people explore life's great themes of Justice, peace, mutual understanding and the search for the meaning of life. ‘They’ are a support service for staff and students and seek to serve people of all Faiths and none.” These supports I personally experience so far during my time here at Aston.

Rev. Fr. John & Rev. Fr. Daniel in pix with other CathSoc members.



As a Catholic, I am part of CathSoc, which include interesting people from different countries. As the church is a universal one and does everything in the same way, one does not feel left out during celebration of Mass. During the Term 1, we were privileged to have Rev. Fr. John, former chaplain of CathSoc, with us. With his great sense of humour, one cannot wait but to continue listening to him. We had a multicultural mass on that day where different languages were used for different parts of the service. Songs were from Akan, Hausa, Hindi, and prayers were in Ewe, French, Swahili, as well as in English. This reminds me of same multicultural Masses in Ghana.  

After Mass, we had a party for Father and there were chicken curry as well as the vegetarian one all prepared by Rev. Fr. Raymond, our current chaplain. Not only do we have Masses on campus but also attend services at the St. Chad’s Cathedral in the City Centre.

One's spiritual, social and personal needs a catered for by our chaplains, and CathSoc really helps me in this regard.

Catholic Society (CathSoc) in pix