I recently had a friend who has entered uni life. Ah, another one joins the club. It's the time where most of us leave the comforts and convenience of our parents' care and the government's free education. For those who have gone far away from their cozy hometowns to another state/country to study, this is their chance to be fully independent and go crazy.... ;)
I have a lot of friends and relatives are close to going off to universities and not all of them are fortunate enough to have an older sibling go through it first to tell them what to do/prepare. I may have been in uni for 1+ year only, but I just feel like sharing my experience to the newbies who are anxious and excited to step into their varsity life. Plus, I have always wanted to write about this when I have a blog! So let me tell you my experience and some advice along the way. This is gonna be a LOOOOOONG one!
First of all, I originally intended to enter another top name university but due to it's location and supposedly 'prestigious name', the living expenses and fees would have been too much for my family to bear. So, I was suggested to enter my current uni, MMU, which I hated at first. I never heard of it to begin with and it's located in an area I thought was kinda boring.
ADVICE:
- Start early by thinking what career you want when in secondary school. Start during form 4 or 5. There are counselors that can help you analyze what career path suits you too
- Always pick what you are interested in and passionate about, this is YOUR FUTURE and you are the one going through it, NOT your parents. They may guide and help you but they cant decide for you. (GOD DAMN IMPORTANT ADVICE I'D GIVE TO ANY TEEN)
- Research about your uni of choice and the area it is in! Find info about the degree and all. You can find forums where students talk about the uni dynamics and facilities there, especially about hostels. Also, find out where the basic places are, like places to eat, public transportation stations, shopping markets for you to buy groceries and stuff and entertainment (hey, we gotta hang out somewhere!)
- Go to education fairs, they really are helpful to your inquiries about the uni/course. You can even ask about the estimated fees and expense!
And so, I disgustedly made my trip down to Selangor on the first day of Chinese new year. They just had to make the orientation day on the 4th day of CNY! This was the first time I had to spend CNY out of my home.
ADVICE:
- Dont forget to find out how to go to your uni if you are staying outside of campus! How long does it take to get there? Walking distance? Availability of public transportation?
- Never sign a contract for more than 1 year if you are staying at an apartment!!! Who knows you might not be well adapted to the place or you might hate the people there or you might find a better place in the future? 1 year just to be safe! Contracts can be continued anyway!
- If you have roomates/housemates, it's always better to compromise and tolerate each other. Share the responsibility of bills and cleaning duty. You're not living with your family anymore! If things go sour, then move out if you have to! (You'll be thinking thank goodness you signed the contract for only 1 year!)
After registration, I was put into the orientation organised by the student body over there with other anxious newbies. I was among the youngest age groups over there since I applied with my trial SPM results, so I'm considered starting early for my tertiary education. The orientation felt somewhat familiar because it felt like the facilitators were treating us like kids. You know when you entered a uniform club and you get bossed around in it during secondary school?? Like if you were late, you had to do push ups or be humiliated in front of everyone by some way your leaders find entertaining? Well, this is what we went through in the orientation. (>< Oh my god secondary school all over again!) Fortunately, I didnt have to go through most of it because the activities were conducted at night and my mom wouldnt let me out at night ^^ (Yes, my mom stayed with me for the first 10 days of my uni life coz she was worried. Adoi......-__-)
ADVICE:
- Orientation is a great way to make new friends. Dont just stick to your old friends around you. Get out of your comfort zone! Having a friend helps you to get over the nerves of going to class alone and all. Who knows, you might even meet a potential roommate!
- Do pay attention to the presentations during orientation. Get to know the benefits and facilities available in your uni and use them! You pay for them anyway in your fees. :/
And so, orientation came to an end (thank god!) and we start our very first university lectures! It's quite interesting, I made some new friends and all. Liked some lecturers, hated some. I went through a lot of firsts like walking to class, taking the bus to places, deciding and buying my own food, going out with a bunch of friends at night to a mamak, sleeping at 4am, sleeping at 5am, sleeping at 6am, not sleeping at all to submit an assignment..... These are normal stuff that every student would go through. I learnt new languages, new cultures, seen new people and encountered new problems. Most importantly, I have come to like, maybe even love my uni after getting adjusted to it and knowing how difficult my other friends' were with their own unis and courses. Lucky me! :)
ADVICE:
- Dont fret if you have to sleep late or not sleep at all to finish an assignment because you are going to face it eventually in uni life! ;)
- Dont just be stuck in your room all the time, hang out with your new friends/classmates and get to know them! Of course, STAY AWAY from the dodgy stuff like club-a-holics and drugs and all! Make friends but choose those with a good influence!
Uni life is the time we are fully INDEPENDENT, we have to do everything by ourselves. No more mummy cooking and cleaning for you. No more daddy sending you to school by car either. I pretty much walked the steep hill to uni and took buses to stores and malls for around 2 semesters. I finally got my car with me after that, it may be convenient and even has some perks to owning 1, but there is added responsibility now. Not to mention expenses!
ADVICE:
- If you have a car, find out the nearest place to repair your car just in case. Also, make sure that you have friends who can help you if you are in a bad car situation.
- Calculate how much you need for petrol. And always always regularly check the pressure of your TYRES! EXTREMELY important thing to know if you have a car, girs!
- Make sure you get a parking sticket from your uni and know where to park. I've gotten clamped a few times for 'illegal' parking -____-
- It's time to remember road directions because you'll be the one driving friends to places to hang out!!! Explore new roads and stuff! It's time to learn!!
So, all in all, I am enjoying uni life! I hope I can cope through with future hurdles over here and good luck to those who are going to or have just stepped into this crazy adventure of life. This is all the advice I can give I guess. I hope it is useful to everyone out there :)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A comeback and what's it to blogs?
Wah haha! I cant believe this is my first post for 2011! Aptly enough my last post for 2010 was about Mid winter festival, now i shall start 2011 with the end of Chinese New Year then! You know, to keep with the lunar year theme, eh hem.... I'm not gonna go and start with "sorry for not updating for a long time coz I am lazy and all" lah! It's time for a new start to late blogging.
So, actually I have had some ideas for a post, even written some up but kept it for the 'right' time to post it but I never did! Have you had a moment where you go 'Wow, this is so inspiring and blog-worthy! I need to get this written down when I get home' then you reach your computer at home and you're too tired to write about the 'inspiring' event. -__- that's what happens to me! Oh well.....
But dont fret! I'm on holiday now! So I'll post up stuff that i have managed to reserve in the previous course of time in the future. Does that sentence make sense? I hope so! Since we are talking about blogging 'etiquette' here, I'd like to point out some personal pet peeves. Before writing this post, I went to visit other blogs of people I know, I dont know why but the names that I click on end up bringing me to a black background page with, let's delicately put this, a 'melancholy' blog title/quote/whatever. Ok..... O_O
And i continue reading the posts......from far, I see that most posts are written in stanzas, yes, they looked like stanzas. I thought to myself, wow, these people have gone poetic! Only to know, oh, they are just regular paragraphs but written in a 2 line format.
Gave me the wrong impression
but they were convenient to read!
Maybe that was the
purpose of the format then!
Here's something I wrote in an old 'premature post' (HA! what an oxymoron! 'old' coz it was written some time ago, 'premature' because it never was posted in a blog). Back then I was scrutinizing about blogs that were very personal, I call them online diaries. And I thought that it's so ironic because diaries are private and secretive while online, well it's on the internet, there is no so such thing as keeping things undercover on the internet! It's a gigantic public network! People will eventually see what you wrote, what you vented, what you cursed/swore about. Unless you want the other party to see it, you dont put it online! But then again, maybe these people just need an outlet to tell people how they feel. So what is a blog to them? What is a blog's definition to you? Is it a memoir you write that doesnt need a publisher but you get readers out of it anyway?
So, actually I have had some ideas for a post, even written some up but kept it for the 'right' time to post it but I never did! Have you had a moment where you go 'Wow, this is so inspiring and blog-worthy! I need to get this written down when I get home' then you reach your computer at home and you're too tired to write about the 'inspiring' event. -__- that's what happens to me! Oh well.....
But dont fret! I'm on holiday now! So I'll post up stuff that i have managed to reserve in the previous course of time in the future. Does that sentence make sense? I hope so! Since we are talking about blogging 'etiquette' here, I'd like to point out some personal pet peeves. Before writing this post, I went to visit other blogs of people I know, I dont know why but the names that I click on end up bringing me to a black background page with, let's delicately put this, a 'melancholy' blog title/quote/whatever. Ok..... O_O
And i continue reading the posts......from far, I see that most posts are written in stanzas, yes, they looked like stanzas. I thought to myself, wow, these people have gone poetic! Only to know, oh, they are just regular paragraphs but written in a 2 line format.
Gave me the wrong impression
but they were convenient to read!
Maybe that was the
purpose of the format then!
Here's something I wrote in an old 'premature post' (HA! what an oxymoron! 'old' coz it was written some time ago, 'premature' because it never was posted in a blog). Back then I was scrutinizing about blogs that were very personal, I call them online diaries. And I thought that it's so ironic because diaries are private and secretive while online, well it's on the internet, there is no so such thing as keeping things undercover on the internet! It's a gigantic public network! People will eventually see what you wrote, what you vented, what you cursed/swore about. Unless you want the other party to see it, you dont put it online! But then again, maybe these people just need an outlet to tell people how they feel. So what is a blog to them? What is a blog's definition to you? Is it a memoir you write that doesnt need a publisher but you get readers out of it anyway?
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