2 Years of Sour, Sweet, Salty, and Bitter Experiences

It has been 2 months since I last updated my blog. Well, I purposely did that because I couldn't find any suitable post to write. Arr, actually there're a bunch of stories that I'd like to share, but somehow I just feel that I make to compile them all at a suitable time. I think now is the time.

My 2 years of education International Education Centre (INTEC) wouldn't have been enjoyable if I don't meet a lot of new friends from different programs. I met new friends by joining clubs, societies, volunteer program, or simply met by chance. Most of my friends of course I met in classes. Recalling my earlier days in INTEC, I was just an ordinary girl who's so short and chubby. Looking at my photos, I look younger 2 years ago, freshly graduated high school gal. Now, I look a bit different. There're some changes in my appearances. I think. I notice I don't look as young as I am when I just joined INTEC members in June 2008. I was 16 years and 11 months old back then and when I graduated, I'm 18 years and 10 months.

I still remember how excited some of my friends were when I was about to reach EIGHTEEN (18) years old last year. 18 is like the year of "welcome to the adult world". Until now, I never think of myself as an adult. Even my dad thinks that I'm still her 17 year old daughter. Sweet Seventeen ! One day (this year) he was like, "You're already 18? I thought you're still 17." Well, some people treated me as a young girl because of my body size, and my childish attitude. The word "innocent" is very synonym with me. What to do, I'm small. Even my 2 younger siblings are taller and bigger than me. Phrases like, "Don't dirty her mind.","Faseeha, you need to know this. You're big enough to know this.","OMG, you don't get it ?". What do you expect from someone who went to an all girls school for 2 years when she was 15-16 years old to know a lot about what others know about you-know-what stuffs. Even when I was 13 years old I confused between the word "condo" and "condom" and because of that, some of my prefects fellows laughed at me. I was not exposed back then. Not even at home. When I came to INTEC, I learnt a lot of new things. Then only I realized that I'm such a girl with very few knowledge about things that I should know as a young adult.

I still wonder how those people become so knowledgeable in that area. It's like they've been studying about that particular subject for years that they can become expert in that. And well, I learnt a lot of bad words also. New bad words in other languages as well. Words that I never use at home, or in school last time have been the song of ears everyday especially "Shit" and "F***". My parents strictly ban all of my siblings from using not only those 2 words, but also other bad words. But sometimes we just make exception for words like "Bodoh".

Let's just leave the topic. I'd like to move on with the good things. For 6 semesters I was in INTEC, I went to 6 different classes. Let me just recall.

Fall 2008 : Fargo

Spring 2009 : Glendale

Summer 2009 : Austin

Fall 2009 : Alabama

Spring 2010 : Arkansas

Summer 2010 : Delaware

Now, I'd like to recall the lecturers who taught me.

Fall 2008

Language Awareness : Ms. Farhana

Writing : Ms. Ikhlas

Oral Communication : Mdm Kiran

Reading & Study Skills : Ms. Hanie

Precalculus : Ms. Zuraida

Islamic Studies : Ustz. Azizah

SAT : Datin Minda

TOEFL : Mr. Kamal

Spring 2009

Critical Thinking : Mdm. Ainon

Advanced Composition : Ms. Asma

Speech Communication : Ms. Dhaya

American Cultural Studies : Ms. Anis

Biology I : Mdm. Mimi/Mr. Ishak

Calculus I : Mr. Ikhwan

Islamic Akhlak : Ust. Mus

Summer 2009

Calculus I : Ms. Zulia

Fall 2009

Biology II : Mdm. Mimi

Chemistry I : Ms. Zai

C++ I : Ms. Saidatul

Calculus II : Mdm. Ruzela

Islamic Family Law : Ust. Wan

Spring 2010

Cell Biology : Mdm. Mimi

Chemistry II : Ms. Nubailah

Technical Writing : Mr. Kamal

Psychology : Mdm. Sharifah

Islamic Science : Ust. Wan

Summer 2010

Transaction in Islam : Ustz. Khursiah

Such a long list. I'm glad that I can still remember all of them. Thanks to all my lecturers even some of them who do not remember me as their student. Not their fault. I'm the one who's problem in letting people know of my presence.

I think I've to stop now. I'll continue with some other posts next time, especially when I'm very free this coming July and August. See ya !

BTN camp was totally an experience to remember, no doubt !

From April 26 until April 30, I spent five days in Sepang for a very significant and special camp. The name of the camp is Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu. Five days without phone and lack of sleep. Lack of sleep is normal for me, but living without a phone is something which rarely happens in my life. However, the absence of a hand phone was a good thing as I could save money from being used on calling or texting people. Besides, when the hand phone was not around, I didn't have to think about the safety of my phone there. I enjoyed all the activities there. They actually made us ran 2 km within 15 minutes. That was something very hard for me to achieve because I haven't exercised for a month. Surely my stamina has decreased. However, with my spirit of "I can do it!", I finished the activity in 14:17. OK la tu...girls are supposed to finish the run within 24 minutes. However, at night i could feel the pain of muscle tear in my thighs. Most of us had the same thing because we didn't warm up properly before we ran. The pain was felt especially when I tried to sit down or stand up. Apart from this activity, I like other activities too like absailing.

In my opinion, it should be made compulsory for all Malaysians who are 18 years old and above to attend Kem Kewarganeraan a.k.a Kem Birotatanegara. Then only these Malaysians, especially the young generation can understand the real meaning of independence of Malaysia. Before I attended the camp, I was ignorant about the history of independence of Malaysia. I knew that some of our ancestors had to sacrifice a lot of things in order to get the independence of our country from British. But, I never thought of understanding their feelings at that time. The last activity that we did with the facilitators was the most interesting of all. They actually brought us back to the decade before Federation of Malaya gained independence, with them playing the role of the British. The whole scene was played back with this group of ignorant people who didn't care at all about gaining independence, some people who didn't do anything wrong but was caught by the "British" and were forced to admit their mistakes (the innocent warriors), some people who worked hard in finishing our task : to produce our own Jalur Gemilang from pieces of red, yellow, white and blue cloths (patriotic citizens) , and some people who had nothing to do and just did their own businesses. I was one of those who prepared the Jalur Gemilang, so I didn't really understand what's going on with all the shoutings from all over the hall. I just know that I had to protect the flag from the "British". Only after we're done with our tasks that some of us reflected on what they thought of the whole scene and after listening to a very touching story from one of the facilitators about how hard our ancestors sacrificed for bringing independence to Federation of Malaya. OMG ! I cried like a don't know what but the tears were flowing very fast continuously. What the facilitators had done to us was just a mocking scene of how our ancestors tried to gain independence. My tears was nothing compared to their tears in trying to gain independence. I love my country, Malaysia !

On the last day, we had an exam. I thought it would be difficult, but it wasn't. It was very easy because most of the questions are common sense. One more thing, I had a minor accident in front of my dorm in the camp as I had accidentally fall into a small drain while trying to cross the drain with my heavy luggage. Somehow,while trying to cross the drain, I stepped on my black sarong. So, I tripped and fall on the ground. Whoa, it was very painful ! I sprained my left ankle. When my friends asked me whether I'm alright or not, I just said I'm ok even though I'm not ! I pretended that nothing had happened and tried to walk with the pain that only me and God knew how it felt like. I tried my best to walk normally so that people wouldn't notice that something bad had happened to me. Even until now, now that I'm writing, the pain from yesterday's incident is still torturing me...

Thanks to all the facilitators for making me understand that I should not feel at ease with the independence that I gained now because the independence might be gone again if Malaysians do not care about their country. Hopefully a lot of youngsters like me realize about this reality. I ♥ Malaysia!

Interesting Events in Spring Semester 2010

Disney's Theme Class Parade : Beauty & the Beast

Papa John pizzas

Halloween Night

Acceptance into Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), New York

I was very happy when I got a letter from RIT mentioning that I got accepted into that private university. Even though RIT is not my first choice, but I'm glad that at least I have a university to further my studies in USA. Last Thursday (April 22, 2010), I gave the reply form for accepting the offer from RIT to an OSSP officer meaning I'm accepting RIT.

Halloween Night

Somehow, this year's Halloween Night was not as interesting as last year's. It was still very entertaining especially the second video presentation, but incomparable to last year's. Sorry Thanges. I know that you're the event's organizer and we're house mates, but I have to say this. Anyway, this is just my humble opinion. Perhaps because there're very few people compared to last year's. When I walked around the hall, I kept on seeing the same faces. It's kinda disappointing also when not many seniors came and some of the seniors came without costumes for Halloween. Common guys, where's the spirit for Halloween ? Umm, perhaps they'll gain their spirit for Halloween when they go to the states. I think I criticize a lot...well, I love the decoration in the middle of the hall. That was totally awesome and a very suitable background for snapping pictures. With all the Halloween symbols like coffin, tomb etc, these had really lit up the Halloween spirit in the hall. By the way, I came with a costume. It's a very simple white costume because I just wore a baju kurung, a selendang, and a mask. With all white image, I was a "Puteri Bunian", also known as elf.

American Class Parade (Beauty and the Beast)

My class, Arkansas got Beauty and the Beast for our Disney's class parade theme. I think that's cool because the characters in Beauty and the Beast are mostly animated things like Mr. Candle, Mr. Clock, Mrs. Pot etc. After some discussion, we decided to put two guys as the main role meaning both the beauty and the beast are guys ! Haha...they're so sporting especially our beauty. We practiced quite frequently especially during the first week of American Indulgence Fiesta because we've set our target to win the inter-class competition. It turned out that we did! WE WON THE FIRST PLACE. The prize was RM 250 Papa John pizza vouchers. The judges were impressed by the way our main roles acted and controlled their feelings when they had to dance face to face very closely. Usually, it's very hard for guys to stare at themselves in a close distance. But, they managed to do it despite people were laughing at them. The servants also did well in their dance with the spontaneous act among themselves. As for the villagers who came to attack the beast and the servants for taking beauty in his house, we're (I was a villager) just additional characters. Others did well also. Surprisingly, all the four senior Biotechnology classes (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado) grabbed all the prizes. The second place won by Colorado with their Cinderella theme (new version because the Cinderella was a guy), the third place was a tie between Alabama with their Lion King theme and California with their Hercules theme. As for my class, I was asked to become the make-up artist. So, I did make-up for some people and helped Thanges to put on her pillow costumes for Mrs Pot's character. Here are the characters in our class parade's Beauty and the Beast :

Beauty ~ Ali

Beast ~ Izzat

Mr Candle ~ Muru

Mr Clock ~ Wei Jie

Mrs Pot ~ Thanges

Dog ~ Aiman

Cups ~ Nina & Aisyah

Fork ~ Qing De

Knife ~ Adeline

Gustav ~ Melanie

Gustav's sidekicks ~ Yee Chen & Suhaimi

Villagers ~ the rests

Congrats, Arkansans !

Papa John Pizza Moments with Arkansans

After some discussion in class, we decided to go to Papa John restaurant in Sunway Pyramid on April 9, 2010. This is the best date because it was after our tests and one week before final exam. Most of us went there by public transport, either by train or by taxi. Only some lucky students went with Nina's car as she had to drive our guest, Mr Kamal. We ordered 9 pizzas (8 regular and 1 large) with some side dishes. While waiting for the food to be served, some of us listened to Mr Kamal's stories (he's good at giving us advices) and some talked among themselves. As for me, I was busy taking pictures of all my classmates. Two people could not come, Melanie and Ming. As for the food, I think the taste of the pizzas are more or less the same like other pizzas. Nothing special about it except the expensive prize. Even with the RM 250 voucher, we had to add some more money. I think spending money in Pizza Hut is more valuable. Hehe...btw, I love Pizza Hut !

Biology Big Day

It was on the last day of Biology lecture. In the morning, we had Biology presentation by some of the lucky students. There was also video presentations showing top three winners for the Aquaria documentary competition which was held last year. My group was not presenting on the big day. Lucky ! For the video competition, my group managed to be among the top 9 winners. Not bad...despite the quality of the video that we made in just 3 days ! I know we could've done better if we had more time. At the end of the event, Pn. Mimi bought pizzas for all of us, her Cell Biology students. Thank you, Pn. Mimi ! We love you !

Study Room Gang

To say a gang, it sound a bit weird. Like a gangster...but, I think should be ok. Well, since I always go to the study room at night, sometimes during the day as well, I've formed my own circle of friends there. These people are the common visitors of the study room in Akasia. They are Yi Lin, Siong Yee, Qing De, Li Sia, Anis, Asnida, Nina, Syimma, Wahi, Rubi, Pey Suh etc. Of all these people, Yi Lin is the one who always come here. Study room is like her second room. Haha...Our activity is not only studying. We also eat, watch movies/dramas, gossiping, and sleeping. We eat different kinds of food like burger that we always buy from opposite Cemara gate, biscuits and others. There was once I was caught by the guard while sleeping inside the study room. Sibuk betul pak cik guard tu !

No, I don't dump you...

Yes, exactly. I don't dump you, my dear blog. I think that's the best title that I could think of for my new post after not writing for 2 months. The last post was on February 26, 2010 which was two months ago. Sorry for not visiting you for a very long time. I miss writing down my stories...really miss ! I was just too busy...I guess. Or I don't know how to manage my time excellently. Well, now that I have time, lots of time to write, I'll write down about all the interesting events that had occurred in my life for the past 2 months. Let me list down first.

1. Acceptance into Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), New York.

2. Halloween Night

3. American Class Parade (Beauty and the Beast)

4. Papa John Pizza moments with Arkansans

5. Biology Big Day

6. Study room gang

Besides all these, I would also like to reflect on all the subjects that I took for Spring Semester 2010. These are the subjects :

1. Technical Writing

2. Cell Biology

3. General Chemistry II

4. Introduction to Psychology

5. Introduction to Science in Islam

Thanks to all these subjects. Wait...no, thanks to all the lecturers for filling my Spring semester with lots of new knowledge and experiences. And loads of work...hurm...but it's ok. Overall, I really treasure all those sweet moments for the past four months in Spring semester. I love all the subjects that I took and I enjoy all the classes. At least I could say that Spring semester was totally awesome ! Thank you very much dear lecturers, fellow Arkansans and the whole ACTPians. I'll write down the details for the above list in the next posts.