Sunday, October 21, 2012

Educational Journey

Staying away from home, family and friends isn't something new to me. I did that before for four years so doing my degree for three and a half year is nothing to me. Plus it's only Malaysia. Boleh balik any time i want to. Anyway my point for this entry will be to remind me of my University moments. How jakun i was when i first step into the place. hahahahaha... so here it goes.

After i did my diploma in Mass Communication in MDIS I actually wanted to continue in Kaplan. I wanted to do double major in Journalism and Media Communications. But..somehow i ended up in University Malaya (UM) pursuing my Islamic studies instead. Is funny how your paved path can change in a heart beat. Before i took up Mass Communication I had always wanted to do a degree in Islamic Theology and Philosophy back when i was doing my diploma in Indonesia for Islamic studies. However I didn't get in the Uni there. Quite disappointed la. In fact i was devastated. I cried. Felt like I was such a failure. I still remember how my Dad comfort me and pujuk...saying it was ok and i can always try else where. I really wanted to get into that Uni la. But like what my Dad said da tak de rezki.

So, devastated me return to Singapore with new resolutions. Azam dan semangat baru. Since i love to write, i fall in love with writing when i was in Indonesia for i was with the school's magazine team, i decided to try out mass communication. Amazingly i fall head over heels with media. hahahahha.. i just love every single lecture and i tried to redeem myself by making sure i get the grades that I wanted all the time. But obviously i don't get what i want all the time. Nevertheless i was happy with my results. Confident enough to take on double major. Hahahahaha... But...itchy hand of mine just have to look at UM's website and browse under the Academy of Islamic Studies....and the rest is history. hahahahhahahha... 

You see not all Uni offer the cause that i want. Islamic Theology. Only few Uni offers that course. In UM they offer Islamic Theology and Thoughts. They will still cover Philosophy in the syllabus so ya. Once again i tried. Alhamdulillah i got in. Imagine how happy i was when i got to know that. I wanted to scream and shout and tell everyone. I was so freaking happy. At that point of time i have no idea of the rating or background of the Uni, all i know was that i got into the course that i wanted.  So cancelled double major. hahahahaha... by know i'm sure everyone is confused as to what i want in life. I have people asking me "what is it that u want to be? Why jump here jump there? why don't you just choose one and stick to it?" to all those who asked me that...booooooooooo!!! It's education man. Worst still i have people asking me "bile nak kawin kalau asik belajar je?" WHAT???!!! Seriously....what kind of question is that? What year are we in? I've always believe that you are never too old to learn and i know for sure my learning journey will not stop here. Marriage??? It will happen when it will. hahahahahaz. I'm not saying i don't want to get married and nk study je. NO. But i rather let time decide when it comes to that. :) Who's with me?? 

Ok enough about marriage. Well what i want is simple. I love writing, i love the media. I still do. I love my religion too. I hate when people see us through the wrong lens. Hence what i want is to portray Islam and reach out to people through media. Be it through social, broadcast or print media. :) For i have always believe that the media is the most influential tool ever created by mankind. Agree?? But sadly most of us today misuse the power of media and the freedom of speech. :( 

Back to the reason why i'm blogging this entry...(side track big time) 

I first came to UM during the fasting month with a friend of mine who is studying here. We came for i need to collect a few documents from the International Student Center (ISC). I was shocked to see how big the "school" was. I didn't go to Poly in Singapore so i was quite jakun when i first entered the Uni and was quite surprise when my friend flag a cab to get us from one building to another. hahahahaha...i feel so weird and at the same time i told her "wah Zak if like this ar there'll be a hole in my pocket soon" but my worries were put to rest when she told me that there's a bus service for students and we need a student bus card to board the bus. Since i do not have one yet so therefore we'll have to take cab for now. Hahahahaha... Actually we can just walk la (although its quite far) but because we are fasting and its a damn hot day (excuses for lazy people like us) so we decided to hop on every cab that passes us by. :) 

My 1st semester starts in September. Excited, nervous, anxious and can't help worrying how i'll fair. I was never good in my religious subjects but i promised myself that i will try to excel this time round just like i did in my academic subjects. I will do well. :) We arrived at Bangsar around half past nine. Took a cab and headed straight for school. We had to spent the first night in a senior's room. So piseh. She was my friend's previous roommate. Actually i did called the ISC accommodation section way before we leave for KL and i was told that even if we arrived at night they would still give us a room. But when we reached the office was closed and there was no one in sight. It was dead silent la as it was still a holiday for the rest of the students (we had to come a week early for my orientation purposes). I was mad at first. I kept on saying that they promised to give us a room even if arrived at night. No choice but to call the senior and she was nice enough to allow us to stay in her room for the night although it was her friend's room actually. She's also staying there temporarily for she's waiting for her roommate to arrived. Coincidentally her friend happens to be a senior taking the same course as me. See there's always something good in everything that happens. hehehehe..

The next morning we headed out to the college hall 'Dewan Gemilang' for pre-registration. Everyone came with their families. Some with grand parents as well. It was so nice to see this and it was registration for international students only. So imagine the whole family came to send that one person to Uni. Woah...so touching. Me? hahahaha.. it was just me, myself and I plus my friend Zakiyyah. So she's like my parent la :) waiting for me to settle my registration all and we asked to be given the same room. Alhamdulillah our wish was granted. After the registration and collecting our room keys we went to explore the room. Wanna see the room? 
Sorry for the bad quality of the pics, hehehehe..

Before... 
The back door of the room which opens to the balcony 

View from the balcony.  
and after..a touch of purple is a must. hahahaha
Our retro broom to motivate as to sweep the room often. :p
Really love the view from the balcony. It is a stress reliever sight. 
Not so woah la but alhamdulillah for the roof over our heads while we are in Uni right. Plus the hostel is near to my faculty. My Orientation week begins soon after that. Well, honestly i don't like the orientation week at all. To me it was kinnda childish the things we had to do or maybe i was too old  mature for this stuff la ar. So after we, singaporeans, settled the important part of the orientation which was registration with the faculty all we decided to chill out and skip orientation. Naughty us. hahahaha... as a result we missed the 'malam bersama idola' which they happens to bring in Lisa Surihani. Damn! should have not skip that day la. hehehehe... It was through the orientation week that i found out that UM is among one of the best Uni in Malaysia and that it was once located in Singapore before we (Singapore and Malaysia) separated. The Uni in Singapore is now what we called NUS. There you go a little historical background of UM. :) 

Here's a few pictures from the orientation week @ minggu haluansiawa.

The t-shirt we had to wear during the orientation week. I think this is kindda cute la. :)
Attending a talk at Dewan Tunku Chancellor (DTC) which we managed to escape somehow later. :p 
An introduction to all the lectures in the Academy of Islamic Studies (API)
So while the newbies are busy with the orientation, we decided to do a mini tour of KL. First stop KLCC (after Midvalley) i was craving for tutti fruitti actually and wanted to see KLCC as well so we headed off for some tutti fruitti at KLCC. 

It's not a token for your arcade games hor...its for u to tap and get on board the LRT. Cool rite??? :D

I love this shot. Penat ok bend and bend like crazy infront of so many people to get this shot. 
It's like musical fountain in Sentosa. Love it.
I feel so at ease watching the water dance. Definitely will watch this when i feel stress or anything. Felt like i could just seat there and watch it for hours and hours. Simple pleasures of life i guess. :)

One more thing that i need to mention. I really do not understand how the people in Malaysia stay so slim and mantain the body. Seriously...everything is halal here. Those you can only see and telan air liur in Singapore you can have it here. Like the major wants will be Subway la oh and of cause our already extinct A&W. Wah i can't stop eating here. Loving the food here soooooo much. So ya i'm putting on weight. HELP ME!!!!! desperate cry for help now. Tell me if you could say no to these...


  
I know you can't right. hahahahaha... 

Well my days in UM is ok for now. Busy with assignments (and here i am blogging) but that's normal for students mah. Just need to get use to it and learn how to plan my time well and lepak at the library often. Speaking of the library...gosh it's like exercising every time i need to find a book at the Za'ba library. We used to have all the islamic books in our faculty library but after the mud slide destroyed the library and most of our books, the remaining of the the books was placed in Za'ba and the some in the main library. The Za'ba library is located up a mountain hill. So...it's like climbing the endless flight of stairs to reach the library. I guess they are trying to teach us to 'bersusah-susah dulu bersenang-senang kemudian' 

This is just half of the hill ok. 
So people i will not gain so much weight after all i guess. Hahahaha... alrites that's all for now folks. See ya soon. Will bring you to Phuket on the next entry. ;) 

Lots of Love
     ella 

Friday, October 19, 2012

Happy Birthday Little Ones (part II)

Hi I'm back. Been missing for the last few days for i couldn't log into my blog nor post an entry for all. Why? Because one of the blogs that i follow had virus or something like that la so i couldn't view mine until that blog had settled the virus issue. Anyway i have lots to tell u about, about my Uni experience and the Phuket trip (this is the best trip for now for its only us cousins minus the parents) and lots more, but i will first continue about the little ones first ya.

While I'm doing this entry, I'm missing the little ones soooooo much. It's been like a month now that i last see them. :( Not going back for raya is normal for me all this while but now to be honest I'm feeling a little homesick. Thanks to the little ones. It's amazing how you can be so attached to these kids. I wonder what will happen if i had my own kids. Maybe I can never part from them. So i can never imagine how my brother-in-law must be feeling when he works in Phuket and my sis with the kids are in Singapore. But what to do..work is work mah. To celebrate the little ones birthday, he flew back to Singapore for a few days and that's why the little ones birthday celebration continues. :)

So where did they go?? Clue: It's a staycation. Although they went to another island but it's still a staycation. Where? Where? Quick guess....

Its none other than RESORT WORLD SENTOSA, FESTIVE HOTEL & of cause UNIVERSAL STUDIO SINGAPORE.

Imagine how exited the kids must be. Since tak dapat ikot so i asked my sis to snap as many pictures as possible for me. Tak dapat pergi tengok gambar pun jadi la. hehehehehe...

Let's enjoy the pics together. hahahhaha...












Happy kids



"Just for Mummy to take a picture and show the aunties at home. We'll not be sleeping here for we  have our  double deck beds. :)" ~A.D~
Rise and shine... Adik why so serious one? 
That's better. :)
Elmo!!!! 









I can't wait to go to USS again because of the newly open Sesame Street.









"I'm not a cookie...Help!!"



If you do visit the USS don't forget to catch this ok. It's damn cool la.



I like to move it move it... (Alesha's Favourite part from Madagascar) 


 Now who is motivated to go USS? :) hahahaha... well i am! But i would like to try out Lego Land for now. Will be going with my sis and the kids in November Insya'Allah. So look out for that entry. hehehehe...

Ouh before i forget, the little ones also had a mini celebration with their noyang (my grandmother). You must be wondering how many birthday celebrations does one has right. hahahaha.. Well they are love by many. So everyone wants to celebrate their special day. Lucky little ones. :) My aunt bought them a Tom and Jerry cake for the mini celebration. Maybe cause they are just like the cartoon character, always fighting but inseparable, hahahahaha...


With Noyang.




Just like every other birthday, presents are a must isn't it. :)



"Let me help you ok adik"
Happy nye la si kecik ni. :p
"Thank You auntie Diya for believing in my talent in making noise." hehehe
"I'm talented in music too ok"

Because we love to cook. :)


"Ladies, need a ride?" :)


"Thank you everyone for the love and presents. We love it all. :) "
Oh gosh i really miss them soooooo much. Ok gonna skype with them right now. Cannot tahan ready. Rinduuuu!  So will see you guys in the next entry.

Lots of  Love
     ella