Student Profile - Christopher Wilson

BA Culinary Arts Management Final Year

I'm originally from St Catherine but studied at Brown's Town community College in St Ann's, doing an Associate Degree in Culinary arts, it was there a teacher told me about University College Birmingham and I decided I would come here to complete the final year of a BA (Hons) Degree.

The visa application was a lot of paperwork but once that was completed it was a simple enough process and I arrived at UCB in February 2009. It was my first time in the UK and I remember feeling very small with all of the tall buildings in Birmingham City Centre, however the Orientation programme helped me find my way around and I now really like the order of the City and feel safe walking round at any time of day or night.

I have a part time job in a vegetarian restaurant which has been a real experience as I've not had much experience of vegetarian cookery before. I've also joined the Jitsu Society (Jitsu is a martial art) which has meant I've visited other colleges across the region when we compete and do our grading.

The course has been really interesting so far, the final year is really geared towards the management side of the industry which complements the studies I did at home. I'm enjoying writing my dissertation which is on the linkage between the agriculture and hotel sectors in Jamaica, looking at how hotels are bringing in produce from overseas rather than use smaller local producers.

I hope to stay in the UK for a year after my studies to gain some more work experience and then I plan to open a restaurant in Jamaica serving a fusion of Jamaican and other cuisines.