and so a new chapter begins..

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Well, I'm here. In Australia. In my own apartment. Sorry for the VERY late update.. I still haven’t gotten my own internet connection yet. XP At the moment I'm at Starbucks.. My dear roommate has chased me out of the apartment. *smirk*

Oh, you know what? I actually have to PAY for using the internet here. At Starbucks. Can you believe it? That is just wrong on so many levels. Since when do people have to pay for using the internet at Starbucks?? It's unfair, I tell you.

Anyway. Living alone (by "alone" I mean without parental supervision 24/7) is really interesting. The first few days were spent making the apartment fit for human habitation. And I found out that my sense of direction is ...... quite bad. But not as bad as it was back in Malaysia. Gosh, I make it sound as if I've been here for a few years at the very least. My point is, my sense of direction is getting better. REALLY. *smile*

Anyway, it really does seem that way. I've only been here for a month or so. And it already feels like I've always been here, seriously. I really, really wonder why. And we were doing this English Diagnostic test the other day, and it felt just like normal school exams, somehow. Except not as stressful. So, yeah. I felt like I sitting in like, an examination hall in Malaysia, I mean, it could have been any lecture theatre in Taylors or HELP Institute. It's just so WEIRD.

Maybe one of the reasons I feel so at home is that three-fifths of the student population are from Malaysia. No kidding. They did a survey. There are quite a number of Singaporeans as well. Some from Hong Kong and China.. I did meet some students from Macau, Dubai, even one or two from Kenya. Pretty cool, huh? But you know what.. there are like, SO many girls and SO FEW guys. Seriously. And none of them are .......................... *silence* .............................. nevermind. *grin*

But yeah, it has been pretty cool, learning new things and stuff.. Like how to take a tram (and how to go in the right direction), and going to the supermarket by myself, walking to and from college.. It's just.... an amazing experience. I mean, of course carrying the heavy grocery bags home aren't very amazing, it actually makes my shoulders ache like crap. Because I have to walk there and back. Yes, you read correctly. WALK. Walk all the way to the supermarket AND the market THEN walk BACK with all the HEAVY THINGS. ><>

So, yeah. Everything is just amazing. And I’ve decided (about time) what subjects I want to do. English, History of Ideas and English for Academic Purposes are the three compulsory subjects. We’re supposed to choose three electives, but taking four (kiasu la, what else can I say? XD nah, I just can't decide which subjects to take because they're all interesting). So I'm taking Maths 1, Chemistry, Psychology, and Environments and Developments. The lecturers I talked to so far all discouraged me from taking four electives because apparently only one in a few hundred end up finishing with four electives, they drop one of their subjects sooner or later, I’ll be wearing myself out too thin and all that.. But hey, I’ll never know if I don’t try, so no harm trying!! And my rationale is, even if I DO end up dropping one of the subjects after, say.. three terms, I’ll have three terms of extra knowledge that I can make use of, to apply in other things. I think it’ll be useful. I’m not doing it to be “kiasu” or anything, it’s just interest. And I know I can do it! At least, I think I can. I hope I can. No pain, no gain, right? *grimace*

Oh, I do find one thing pretty weird, though. Here, everyone calls the lecturers by their first names. Not that I’m criticizing anyone who does, it’s just that I’m not used to it and to me it seems a little rude. I don’t think I’ve ever called anyone more 10 years older than me by their first names. But then, what else can I call the lecturers? I can’t say “Dr. Rose”, or “Dr. Graham”, because they aren’t all doctors. And I didn’t know that Bernard was a doctor, so I could have called him Dr. Bernard. I mean, I’m not saying that people who call them by their first names are wrong. I just feel uncomfortable doing that, and I personally feel that if I do it myself it would be impolite. As in, me. Impolite. Not anyone else. I think I'll just have to get used to it. ><

The Chemistry here is like, SUPER difficult. We're learning about quantum theory and all that, and I'm barely keeping up. It doesn't help that my lecturer and my tutor aren't very ... never mind. Best not to mention that. =P Oh, I love Psychology!! The other day, we played something like Mafia in tutorial. Can you believe it? Card games! In tutorial! Something about reading and understanding body language. Isn't that cool or what? =) And Drama. We have to do a mime for our first assesment. I think it'll be fun. Ooh, Literature is really good too. And I like History of Ideas. I think it's cool. We're learning about Greeks and Hebrews and the influence they had on the modern world. Fascinating, really.

Oh, and SPM results. 12th of March. CRAAAAAAAAAP !!!! I know my results are going to be bad, I just know it. *sigh* Maybe I should have studied harder. A bit too late for that now, isn't it? Oh please, oh please.. *prays hard*

Anyway, I'll try to get my internet up and running really soon, these Australians have all the fine print and extra charges that make it very hard to choose.. It's like, every time I find one that I like, some kind of extra charges for this and that crop up. It's irritating, I tell you.



Well, that's it for now, I guess. Take care everyone!! =)



XOXO





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