Something interesting out of the boring(and stress-filled) uni life

Harlo! It's been a loooooooong while since anybody posted. Let me refresh the blog with a new entry then :)

3rd year in NUS is quite slack for me. Haha! My research module was not time consuming at all, contrary to popular belief. Maybe it's the prof. Hmmm. Physics modules was stress-filled as usual, competing with all the brainy and crazy people. But amidst all the stress-filled hours in a week, the one thing I look forward to most is Japanese class. Yeah, I don't think anybody(except cL) knows that I'm studying Japanese here in NUS, unless you peeked at my FB page. Japanese class is like the star shining brightly among the dark sky that is uni life. I enjoyed the classes most, the lecturers were fun and the students, simply great. :D

Below is a story of my journey. Shall we begin? :)
I started out from Japanese 3, having passed the placement test. That was first year, semester 2(Jan 2009). Being a first year in Japanese 3 was not easy, I don't know anybody in the class. There seem to be cliques, people who have taken Japanese 1 and 2 will crowd and sit together. I just sat at some unnoticeable corner of the lecture theater. Yes, I enjoy being nobody. Don't like attention much anyway.

The workload was crazy: homework every week non-stop, quizzes every tutorial class, projects+presentations. Not used to the teaching methods, I got some sort of culture shock when the focus on conversational skills was quite heavy. I stuttered A LOT during practices. Despite that, I never thought of quitting, because the classes were too enjoyable to quit.

There are 3 tutorials per week plus a 2hr lecture. Total hours spent per week is 7. The tutorial class I enjoyed the most was this. We laughed almost every minute of the tutorial because the skits(and the people) were too funny.


Then I continued on to Japanese 4 the next semester(Aug 2009). Hmmm, not much pictures taken. In fact, this is the only one I have. Graduation from Japanese 4 :) Teacher was super lenient compared to Japanese 3.


After that I took a break for a semester from Japanese, and returned to take it this semester(Aug 2010). This is the best Japanese class I've ever had. It's a relatively small class and the students get to know each other better. Workload is crazy as usual, weekly grammar practices(have to make sentences with new grammar), projects, presentations, and most interesting of it all, interaction sessions with Japanese.

Interaction session with Aichi Shukutoku University students.


Interaction session with Kyoto University Alumni. They were a great bunch of interesting people! Even more healthier than us all, they only drink water when I asked if they wanted coffee or tea.


The main project is to interview Japanese people about a chosen topic and present to the class in the last lecture. My group decided on "discrimination". We got the first place!! Yeahhhh~~~! I have the best groupmates in the world.


What's this below? Well, best speaker award. :) I gave the plushie to my groupmate. She wants it very much and this has been our motivation to win the "contest".


I love this class <3 (My last chance to hold the plushie before I officially give it away)


Does the journey end here? Of course not! There is still Japanese 6, the final module NUS has to offer for this language. Throughout this journey, I made a lot of friends who share the same interest in the language(and also anime XD). I never regretted learning Japanese. It truly is a satisfying experience indeed. The best part of university life.

That's my story, what's yours? :3

Post Number 100! YAY!!!

Yay, finally I decided to share bits of my life here in NUS. It’s been a long while since Ivy’s last post on her MMU experience. It seems that everyone is busy with studies, eh?

Where should I start? Let’s see...the first day I checked-in to my hostel is a good way to start off. I came with my parents. After putting down all my stuff, I went out to by a LAN cable (apparently, to connect to the internet in rooms, a LAN cable is essential). Dinner I had together with the people know as MSL (Malaysian Students League). CL was late for the dinner but fortunately the seniors were very welcoming.
MSL’s activities started the next day. It’s called the UFO (University Freshmen Orientation). I can’t remember the sequence of the places we went but if you’re interested, you can go to my facebook page and see. I was tagged b my friend in photographs. For the first day, I was in the group of freshmen who has done their bank accounts but not their medical check-up. After waiting for my group to finish their medical check-up, we all went to IKEA to shop for some stuff to add into our rooms.

On the following day, groups are formed. All freshmen were divided into groups. I was in the group called Sei Ngan Zai (again, refer to my facebook to see the members of the Sei Ngan Zai). As my OGL (orientation group leader) said in his blog, we were the quietest group. But still, I’m very happy to be in this group. My friends are great! The next few days went by quickly as we went to Chinatown, Clarke Quay, Marina Bay (where the merlion is), etc etc and the best part of it all is that we went to Sentosa! Tried the Luge ride and the Skyride. Sentosa day was the highlight of UFO (at least I think so ;D) because other than playing games and having loads of fun, we watched “Songs of the Sea”, a performance with water, lights, fire and fireworks. Dunno how much money went into those fireworks but the performance was spectacular. U_U

About the food here, I find it surprisingly okay, not as bad as I thought it to be. XD The price of campus food is considered cheap compared to those outside. A plate of rice costs at average SGD 2.40. Yes, I know, if I do the conversion, it’s about RM5.76, but if I keep doing conversion before buying, I’ll die of hunger even before I graduate.

Public transport here is really efficient. The buses are frequent and the MRTs are great (except during peak hours). To travel around, you just need an Ez-link card which works like a cashcard. Tap it at the entrance of the MRT or in the bus and tap it again when alighting. When credit is low, simply top up at the MRT station.

In NUS, the earliest time people go to bed is 12midnight. On average, students sleep 3-4 hours per day. Really ‘kiasu’ people we have here...

Okay, I think that’s all from me. I’m passing the baton to cL to report on hall life.