My viva was on Tuesday 26 July 2005 at 9:30am. The week before my viva I was working like mad. Trying to cram in as much information as I could and finishing some work that I knew would be questioned by the examiners. I was very nervous the day before and on the day itself. Luckily I had Shah, my family and Shah's family praying for my success. I'm not sure how it would have been if they were not there fr me. Especially my husband who is ever by my side helping me all the time. He accompanied me to the room where the viva was held and he gave lots of reassuring words and advice for me.
As soon as I stepped into the room, the external examiner was already there. I was introduced to him by my supervisors and, as soon as we were all seated, the viva proceeded. The external examiner, a professor from Durham University, was very nice and he assured me that he will try and make the viva as enjoyable for me as possible. He asked me about my name and after that he asked me to give a summary of my thesis. From then on came question after question on my thesis. Alhamdulillah, the questions weren't intimidating and whenever I was stuck in answering the exmaminers were helpful and were not angry or anything like that. I was very lucky to have very nice examiners. Time went on without me even realising it. Around 2 and 1/2 hours later one of my supervisors (who sat thru the viva) and I were told to leave the room. The wait between leaving and being called back for the result was nail biting. Luckily Shah was there to soothe me.
About 20 minutes later we were called back for the results. Alhamdulillah, I passed. As usual there are some minor corrections but I was so relieved that it was over. I can't begin to describe how I was feeling. It was very surreal. Even 2 hours after the end of the viva, I was still questioning myself on whether I had actually passed and if I had heard the examiners correctly. Later on in the day I went to see my supervisors, and when they congratulated me was I really sure that I had passed.
But I could not have passed without all the support and du'as from my ever so loving Shah, my family and Shah's family. I am forever grateful to them and I will always remember what they have done for me. I truly appreciate everything and I am very thankful to have such a loving family.
To my Shah, thank you so much for every thing. Nothing I say will be enough to express how grateful I am to have you. You have been very patient with me throughout my sturggle to finish my studies and I am so very touched by what you have done for me. I will do everything I can to show you how I feel. I love you so much!
I would also like to express my thanks to all of you out there who wished me luck and prayed for my success in the viva. I really appreciate it.
Finally, to anyone else out there who are on the journey towards attaining a PhD...just hang in there. Don't give up even though the obstacles keep on coming. God knows I wanted to give up too (I'll probably blog about this in another post) but if you keep striving insyaAllah you'll be rewarded with success.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Shah's parents visit part I
At the graduation ceremony
Shah's parents came to attend his graduation ceremony so I'd just like to put in an entry on what we did with them while they were here. They came from Friday 8/7 until Tuesday 19/7.
Friday 8/7:
As they were due to arrive just a day after the London Bombing incident on 7/7, Shah and I were a bit apprehensive. But we were not as worried since they were scheduled to land in Manchester and not London. Their flight was touching down at Manchester Airport at 4:30pm, so we decided to spend a night in Manchester with them as we thought they might be too tired to travel back to Nottingham on the same day. So that Friday morning Shah and I left Nottingham at around 7:15am and arrived at Manchester Central Bus Station at around 10:30am. We chose to arrive at Manchester early so that we could spend some time walking around the city taking in the sights. Plus we wanted to check in to the hotel before we went to fetch Shah's parents. I loved walking around Manchester because of the many old buildings dotted around the city. I particularly loved the Library and Town Hall buildings. Anyway, after checking in at the Premier Travel Inn hotel on Portland Road, we set of for Manchester Airport. The flight arrived earlier than scheduled so by around 5pm Shah's parents and us were heaed to the train station at the airport to go to Manchester. After dinner that night Shah and I feasted on delicious fruits from Malaysia. Shah's parents brought with them lots of mangoes, rambutan, mangosteen and 'dokong' (I wonder what the English word for 'dokong' is? Do you know?). We slept like a log that night because we were exhausted but also because the hotel was so comfortable and very clean.
Saturday 9/7:
We were due to head back to Nottingham that afternoon at 2pm so before that we brought Shah's parents around Manchester city centre. There was a Farmer's Market taking place near Princess Gardens in Manchester and Shah's parent were very interested to see how they promoted the market since both of them work in the Agricultural sector in Malaysia. Anyway, after lots of walking and lots of picture taking we took the bus back to Nottingham.
The next day we just took them around Nottingham city centre and then just went home and rested.
Tuesday 12/7:
That day we decided to take them to Derby. We initially wantd to go to Birmingham but during the weekend (9-10/7) Birmingham was put on terror alert due to some bombs they found at the nightclub area there. So Derby it was. The city is actually quite small as we expected but there were some interesting places there. I particularly liked the indoor market in Derby which has many stalls selling fresh fruit, fish and a section in the upper level selling lots of second hand stuff. The kind off things you would find at carboot sales and antique markets. I bought myself a lovely brooch for only £1 and a small heart shaped silver trinket box for 50p.
Wednesday 13/7:
We attended Shah's graduation ceremony. It was scheduled to start at 3pm but Shah had to register at 1pm. So we went to the Sports Centre (that's where the ceremony is held every year) at around 12:30pm to be on the safe side. After he registered, we went to have our ictures taken by the professional photographers there. The queue for the photography session was very long but we finished at around 2pm, just in time to grab a drink before shuffling into the hall. The ceremony started right on time, officiated by the Chancellor. There were no long speeches to listen to. Just 1 speech by the Pro Vice Chancellor and then the graduates started filing onto the stage to pay respect to the Chancellor and lecturers of the University seated at the stage. By 4pm it was over and after that we were given light refreshments. Shah, his parents and I then snapped more pictures of our own outside the hall before heading back home. It was a lovely day and I was glad it all went well. You can see the pictures at our fotopage.
Oopppss..I've got to go cook now. I will continue with more stories on when Shah's parents came to visit in the next post.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Thursday 30-06-2005
After the dinner at Bellini's courtesy of Dr Shamruz and Dr Ija, Shah and I wanted to also 'belanja' the 'usual suspects'. So we decided on having dinner at Yod Siam (a Thai restaurant in Beeston, Nottingham). Unfortunately, Shamruz, Ija and Izaty were unable to come. We wanted to have the dinner on a weekend when every one was sure to be free but considering that it is very near to the graduation season and most of the people in the group are graduating this year so many had other plans for the weekends. So due to this we had the dinner on Thursday.
Dinner at Yod Siam
Dinner was excellent. I have to say the food was one of the the best Thai food I have had while here in the UK. We ate seafood tomyum for starters, and for the main course we had Thai Jasmine rice with steamed seabass (I think?), sweet and sour swordfish, red curry prawns and stir fried beancurd with mived vegetables. Later on we bought some ice cream and a chocolate tart at Sainsbury's and headed to our house for dessert, tea and a few rounds of Need for Speed underground racing and Soul Caliber II bashing on the PS2. Shahrein also brought an Oreo's Cheesecake he helped Rizman make which we devoured happily.
Most of the group members will be leaving Nottingham by next week. Shah and I will follow suit towards the end of August. Some will remain here for study or work purposes. So we're all going our seperate ways. I will certainly miss our usual gatherings. But never mind, when Shah and I have settled down in Malaysia, I'll hope to invite all of you over to our place for the usual 'makan-makan' and 'borak-borak' session. Although it won't be as frequent as we always do in Nottingham, I'll make sure to make time and plan one for old times sake. I just hope you guys will make time too!
Dinner at Yod Siam
Dinner was excellent. I have to say the food was one of the the best Thai food I have had while here in the UK. We ate seafood tomyum for starters, and for the main course we had Thai Jasmine rice with steamed seabass (I think?), sweet and sour swordfish, red curry prawns and stir fried beancurd with mived vegetables. Later on we bought some ice cream and a chocolate tart at Sainsbury's and headed to our house for dessert, tea and a few rounds of Need for Speed underground racing and Soul Caliber II bashing on the PS2. Shahrein also brought an Oreo's Cheesecake he helped Rizman make which we devoured happily.
Most of the group members will be leaving Nottingham by next week. Shah and I will follow suit towards the end of August. Some will remain here for study or work purposes. So we're all going our seperate ways. I will certainly miss our usual gatherings. But never mind, when Shah and I have settled down in Malaysia, I'll hope to invite all of you over to our place for the usual 'makan-makan' and 'borak-borak' session. Although it won't be as frequent as we always do in Nottingham, I'll make sure to make time and plan one for old times sake. I just hope you guys will make time too!
Sunday 26-06-2005
Shah and I took Shah's new friends Maurizio (from Columbia) and Pauline (from France) to Nottingham Castle. They have just arrived at Nottingham to start their studies and they wanted to go to the castle. Fortunately for us the Castle had some olden day combat shows and we were just in time to watch the it.
Medieval fight scene re-enacted at Nottingham Castle
We were also able to catch the last cave tour of the day. We were brought through the caves underneath the Castle which were mainly used to bring in food stuff from the bottom of the Castle mount. And, if I remember correctly, according to the tour guide ago King Edward III (and many more famous people of UK monarch and political history) had used the caves underneath as a secret passage way into and out of the Castle. I want to upload the photos we took onto our fotopage but unfortunately Fotopages is going through some maintenance works. So I'll have to find another time to upload them.
Cave under Nottingham Castle
Medieval fight scene re-enacted at Nottingham Castle
We were also able to catch the last cave tour of the day. We were brought through the caves underneath the Castle which were mainly used to bring in food stuff from the bottom of the Castle mount. And, if I remember correctly, according to the tour guide ago King Edward III (and many more famous people of UK monarch and political history) had used the caves underneath as a secret passage way into and out of the Castle. I want to upload the photos we took onto our fotopage but unfortunately Fotopages is going through some maintenance works. So I'll have to find another time to upload them.
Cave under Nottingham Castle
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