2006 - 2007

Website Design Crash Course

Date: 10th February 2007
Venue: St. George IT Centre

On Saturday 10th February 2007, SMSA organized a course on the fundamentals of making a website using Macromedia Dreamweaver software. The course, which started from 10.00 a.m till 1.00 p.m, was presented by a SMSA’s member, Mr Azri Mohd Izhar who has been active in the multimedia field since secondary school. The course covers some fundamental concepts in designing a website and techniques on how to familiarize oneselves with the tools provided by the software.

The course received quite an encouraging participation from the members, where 16 people turned up and most of them were females. More people were expected to attend the course, but due to the “Crave-to-Play-Snow Syndrome”, the number of participants that showed up was less than the expected number.

The objective of the course was to teach the attendees to use Dreamweaver software as well as to guide them in creating their own website. However, due to some unforeseen technical problems, the free web hosting was not available at that time, hence; participants did not manage to upload their very own website on the Internet. Apart from that, the three hours allocated for the course was not adequate to cover the wide range of basic techniques available in Dreamweaver software.

Nonetheless, the course managed to help the attendees to get the some basic concepts in using the software to make a website within a limited period of time. A special thanks to all the attendees for making the course a success.

By,
Muhammad Asyraf Syahabuddin Shahabuddin

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International Food Evening

Date: 18th November 2006
Venue: Loxley’s House and Octagon Centre

Ever wonder how sushi tastes like? Or what the Scandinavians usually have on their plate back in Scandinavia? All of these curiosities are answered in the International Food Evening, a grand event annually held by the International Students’ Committee of The University of Sheffield. SMSA was among the selected 13 international societies honored to participate in this meaningful event this year.

Changes had been made to the format of the event this year, in which the foods that are to be sold must be cooked within 2 hours under the supervision of the university’s chef. 4 representatives were sent for this cooking mission. Among the dishes prepared for the event were the scrumptious Nasi Lemak, mouth-watering Rendang Ayam, lip smacking Mee Rebus and not forgetting the appetizing Kek Batik as dessert.

As the 4 girls were desperately fighting a battle in the kitchen, a few of SMSA committee members came along to help to set up the stall. The whole idea was to engrave Malaysian unique identity in the stall set up. Thanks to the creative bunch, the stall was beautifully decorated with bamboo sticks, waus, kain songket and of course, Malaysian flags which perfectly complete the whole image.

The event officially started at 7.30 pm sharp. Fascinatingly, about 1000 enthusiast guests swarmed the event. As to attract customers, we had decided to give away free drinks along with purchase of a meal, and this strategy worked like a charm. Apart from the free drinks, we also gave away some Malaysian ‘kuih raya’ cookies for free. As expected, these successfully lure the customers to our stall.

To our surprise, the crowds this year seems to have a change in their taste buds. Most of them were more interested in Mee Rebus than Nasi Lemak, which is something that we had misjudged. Nevertheless, alhamdulillah, the sell that night was a big hit. We did managed to rake in profit as much as £77.74.

At 10.30 pm, we closed our stall and started to clean up. We did not managed to grab any awards that night, but, we believe we did not walked away empty handed. We firmly believed that we have indeed helped to introduce Malaysia to the international level, and we couldn’t be any more proud of ourselves!

Despite the long hectic hours and tiredness that result from it, the experience that we gained was indisputably priceless.

By,
Nur Aliaa Amirah Romli

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Fresher's Day Out

Date: 23rd September 2006
Venue: Castleton, Peak District

SMSA had held a Fresher’s Day Out for the newcomers on 23rd September 2006. This event was handled under the ‘Sambutan Pelajar Baru’ unit. Surprisingly, the first day of Ramadhan also happened to fall on the exact same day. Realizing that it was impossible to change our plans at the eleventh hour, hence, we decided to proceed with our plan.

The trip to Castleton, Peak District, was joined by 21 juniors, 16 SMSA’s committee members as well as 13 seniors. The journey begun as early as 8.15 a.m... Along the way, our eyes were feasted with phenomenally beautiful sceneries. The views of the green landscapes as wells as the glimpse of goats were simply breathtaking.

At Castleton, we got to do loads of exciting and adventurous activities, such as hill hiking. Fasting certainly did not spoil the vibes since everybody seemed to be exhilarated to reach the top of the hill. Along the way to get to the top of the hill, some of the participants took the chance to snap a few memorable pictures with the astonishingly beautiful landscape as the background.
             
Later on, we visited Peveril Castle. Around 1 pm, all of the participants gathered at the top of the castle. The participants were then divided into 7 smaller groups, where the juniors got to learn more about life in Sheffield from the seniors. The whole trip ended with a photography session.

We left Castleton around 3.10 p.m... Since everyone was tired and most probably starving, food were given to each of the participants for them to break their fast. It was a tiring, yet an unforgettable trip which hopefully will be etched in each and every one of the participants memory forever. Many thanks to those who were involved in making this event a success.

By,
Nur Aliaa Amirah Romli

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SMSA Pre-departure Party

Date: 12th August, 2006
Venue: Romli's Residence

Anxious. Exhilarated. Poignant. Jittery. And the list goes on. These are a few of the immeasurable mixed up feelings that one normally have before leaving to a foreign country, where everything is alien to oneself. Let it be the people, the culture or even the weather; everything is a challenge.

Realizing this, SMSA decided to throw a SMSA Pre-departure Party especially for the newcomers who will be settling in Sheffield this upcoming September. As early as 2.30 pm , students started to flock the Romli's residence. As many as 10 male and 5 female students turned up, all wrapped with eager.

Whilst waiting for all of the guests to arrive, lunch was served. At 3.30 pm sharp, SMSA's president, Amru ‘Irfan opened the ceremony with a welcoming speech. The volunteers, which comprises of 9 SMSA's current committee members and 3 seniors, as well as the new students were given the opportunity to introduce themselves to the crowd.

The event proceeded with a reminder about the necessary tasks that is needed to be done before departing to United Kingdom . Apart from that, the new students had also got the chance to learn more about the real life experience as a student in Sheffield . The talk was an interactive session, where the new students or parents' of the students were allowed to ask questions to any of the seniors present.

Around 5 pm , the crowd was dismissed. To sum it up, the event was a smooth sailing, many thanks to each and everyone that is involved.

By,
Nur Aliaa Amirah Romli

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Moving Day with SMSA

As to help students to move out from university accommodations, the Welfare and Academic Bureau had launched ‘Moving Day’. The service was handled by the Head of Welfare and Academic Bureau, Zakiah Abdul Mutalib with the help of some SMSA members. The program started at 9am and facilitated with 2 cars driven alternately by 3 SMSA members.

10 students were using the service compared to last year 30 students had used it. Since this year the number of students moving out is much less than the previous year, the event ended at 3pm on the same day. The charge for this service is made as low as possible which is £2  for SMSA members and £2.50 for non-members.

The service went well as it should be. Objective has been achieved. Thank you to those who helped. Any feedbacks are most welcome.

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