I’m pleased to announce that once again Imperial has been very helpful to me this year. Applying for Hardship Fund was never an easy decision to make, as obviously there are people in need of the money more than me, and so, I’m never one who expects anything from my application eversince my first year attempt to do so. Fortunately for me, after the Board’s assessment of my situation which involves a whole complicated issue, I’ve been receiving funds from them amounting to about 800 pounds a year. The amount may seem negligible comparing to the hefty internation tuition fee totalling to about 17K pounds a year, but trust me, it really did put off a load of a burden from both mine and my parent’s chest.

This year was no exception: in fact, I’ve never been more surprised myself. Joanne Harding, the woman in charge of the Hardship Fund Trust, wanted to interview me again, which has never happened before. In two weeks time, I received a letter from her, stating:

• I was granted a total sum of £1,000 for the academic year 2006-2007
• I was granted a waive off the 4% instalment charge on my tuition fees for dual instalments, equivalent to about £700

Now that’s a whopping total of £1,700, and I’ve never been so shocked in my life. I’m very thankful to my personal tutors, my Senior Tutor Margaret Cunningham and Lynda White for their testimonies, my friends, ever supportive family and granduncle, and of course, God. This is truly a blessing, and with this I then spent my housemates a round of…. SUSHI!
(As usual, *click* to enlarge)

That was how I felt when I was having lunch at Holborn’s Oasadal. Enough, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Sparkling moments can never truly be expressed in as many words.