@tru
Thank you very much for your reply. It is very useful to me.
Speaking of workload, though, I now hope to finish my Phd in 4 years (3 years maybe possible for some but it's too much stressful to me).
And I am pretty sure that I will still be able to work academically when I am away. I did my MA in the UK and I literally only spent about 7 months in the country during that year of study. I was almost only in the UK in term time. But I was still able to get a high distinction. That said, I am fully aware that phd is something totally different from an MA.
Actually I feel that I was able to work much better in my own country because there were no drunken brits who would regularly wake me up at 1-3 in the morning, and I can save a lot of time on cooking because the local restaurant food in my country is much cheaper, more to my taste and can be delivered to my door within 15 minutes for 0.3 pound, and for many other reasons. And if you ask me why I choose to study in the UK instead of just in my country, my answer is that the academic enviroment in the UK is so much better in my country China. There is too much academic corruption in my country.

Thank you for your reply.
Then suddenly another question occurs to me. When I go back to the UK, does the immigration officer actually know when I left? It seems there is no immigration record upon exit.

Hi everyone. I am a first-year full-time international phd student in the UK.
I read the university rules on holidays very carefully, and find that I am entitled to a maximum of 8 weeks of holidays annually. I think this is quite common among many phds in the UK.
However I would really love to go back to my own country during Christmas, Easter and summer to spend time with my mom, who is not in very good health conditions, and I expect the total time abroad to be exceeding 8 weeks per year. I am not that bad in self-decipline and I am confident that I will still be working in my own country.
I have spoken to the university advisor and he told me that I can go back home in Christmas and Easter without application for leave and apply for 8 weeks in the summer, but that is contradicting the university rules which state very clearly that postgraduate research students are not entitled to the holidays that undergraduates enjoy, such as Christmas and Easter. That said, my supervisor had made it clear that it will only be the term time when she will provide supervision to me and I can contact her, unless under very special circumstances
So here are a few questions to fellow international phd students:
1. Do you officially ask for the university and supervisor' permission every time you leave the UK? (Even in Christmas)
2. Have you ever been asked to provide any proof that you got such permission at the border control when you go back to the UK from your holidays?
3. Do you have any suggestion to me on my situation? Such as whether I should abide by the univeristy rules and control my time away to be within the 8 weeks, and whether I should ask permission for leave officially every time.

Thank you very much in advance.

Many thanks to you all, Tudor_Queen, laebae and profkmorrell.
I think I am just getting all too nervous maybe because I have lived the recent year in my own country (China) where I sometimes have to read between lines or else I will find myself in trouble. I got a bit of reverse cultural shock on that when I came back from the UK to China. And now seems it's time to adjust myself to the UK style once again.

I got an offer from a uni from the UK, and I am almost determined to accept the offer although I still have two more alternatives. I emailed my supervisor during my MA study to let her know my intention. She is an experienced lecturer who definitely knows a lot about the universities in the UK.

And here is an excerpt from her reply：

Congratulations on the PhD place at XXX - a great university, you'll be well looked after there. It's good that you have supervision on the area you are so interested in. You're not too far from XXX so perhaps you'll pop over for a visit some time! In fact you could come and talk to our MAs about moving from Masters to PhD, reasons for doing it, finding an area of interest, the whole process of applying etc!

What I am worried about is the sentence "you'll be well looked after there". Does it imply anything or should be understood literally? I know she LOVES to use euphemism in her speech. As I am a non-native speaker of English, I am not very sure about how I can interpret this sentence and would like to seek your advice.

Thank you very much in advance.

Tudor_Queen and bewildered. Thank you very much for your advice. I now seem to know what to write in the emails of enquiry to the two potential supervisors.

Hi all,
I now got two unconditional phd offers which I find difficult to choose from. My area is in social science. There are many factors I have considered in making my decision, but overall the scale is still quite balanced, like the two university has similar rankings, and although Supervisor A's faculty seems to be stronger, supervisor B appears to have more academic achievements in the area. And I have taken skype interviews with them both and they both strike me as sensible and easy-going people (I am aware though that half an hour of skype interview cannot tell much), although supervisor A is quite critical in my RP while supervisor B just says that my RP is very good.
So now I think of factors that really help me make decisions.
1. I am the kind of person who enjoy working independently and has the ability to do so. As I already have ten years of working experience, I dare say this is quite a fair evaluation of myself. So I prefer a supervisor who gives less interference to my research rather than a bossy one, even if the former may offer me less support and advice.
2. I really hope to spend many days (like 3 months in a year) outside the UK during my phd study. That's largely because I am an international student and I want to accompany my mom in my home country, who fully supports my phd study financially and mentally, but would be really alone if I am away. I am quite confident that going back to my own country would not affect my study.
So now I am thinking about what I can do to check who is more compatible with me. Is it approapriate to simply send them emails and simply tell them about my concern and ask for their attitudes?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!