Nobody mapped oblivion, so I go growing roses in the disarray

Year 1 in NUS officially ended for me last Saturday when my last final paper ended. I wanted to do a review of all the modules I took in my first year but the thought of it was too mentally strenuous for me hahah, sorry I just can't. If you wish to know how I'm doing/coping with my studies, I would say it's alright. I haven't been getting good grades though. I'm not sure if it's just me or science modules are relatively harder to score, so I'm trying to score in modules that require presentations and all. Speaking in public comes very naturally for me, so I guess that is one area I chose to focus on to (hopefully) pull my grades up a little. And the best thing about such modules is that they have no final exams, which is fucking awesome. 

My Public Speaking class

Alright enough of all the school stuffs cos they're boring. I think I just want to sum up my experience in Year 1 of NUS. Semester 2 was definitely a lot more enjoyable for me as compared to Semester 1, mainly because I got to stay in hall and met so many new friends. Literally everyone in Eusoff Hall were so nice, I mean there were definitely gossips here and there, and they spread like fucking wild fire, but I haven't heard or encountered any backstabbing incidents or people being rude or making me so angry I had to shout at them or anything. I would say I'm relatively hot tempered, and I don't think anyone in hall has actually seen me really really angry before...yet. HAHA. The guys there are so helpful and never once turned me down when I asked them for help to kill the insects in my room (which is pretty often), or help me out with heavy stuffs. Having spent most of my days of Semester 2 in Eusoff Hall, I can literally call the friends there my family. It's like a homely community, where everyone watches One Piece, help each other with studies, go for meals together and the list goes on. Well, coming back to hall every night after work (late at night) felt really safe until there were several cases of peeping tom around, not just in our hall but in other halls as well apparently. 

I think getting in hall is probably one of the best thing that happened for me this year because I got to experience living independently and being disciplined as I'm no longer under close scrutiny of my parents (not that they really supervise me anyway but still I don't have them nagging at me to study or eat or coming home early, having enough rest etc). I also spent a lot more money than I would have as compared to staying at home because I have to take care of all my meal expenses (hall provides breakfast and dinner, but I can't make it back in time for dinner most days), as well as daily necessities. Surprisingly, it wasn't a huge challenge for me to stay away from home but the change worked well for me and I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, with the new friends I made, I was more aware of what's going on in school and also more active in school activities. For instance, I signed up as a senior for Sports Camp 2015! I've always regretted not going for Sports Camp during Orientation in the first semester (I missed the deadline), but at least I get to experience Sports Camp from a different perspective as a senior this time. I am pretty excited about it, hopefully I get some cute and rabak freshies. Hehe. 

Here's my house mates for Sports Camp:

In the first week when I got into hall, I overheard this girl talking to her friend while I was waiting for the shuttle bus in school. She mentioned how staying in hall makes her feel really restricted because school is the place she's spending most of her time in, and even though it's convenient and all she feels like it's boring or stressful even. Personally, I never felt that way actually, or maybe because I've only stayed in hall for one semester. After getting into hall, I actually head to Holland Village a lot more often to chill with my friends. Of course I hardly meet my friends from outside school because hall is just too far away from them, but I think it was not difficult for me to balance my time between friends, fun and studies. In fact, I actually studied a lot more as compared to when I was in Semester 1. I would attribute that largely to how hardworking the friends around me were, and that influenced me a bit and pushed me to study as much. I didn't join much activities in hall in Semester 2 though, because InterHouse Games (IHG) were over and they didn't have much activities going on around. IHG is apparently quite a big thing among halls and they take it a little too seriously. Haha, I'm serious. 

Anyway, here are a few photos of the people I've been spending most of my time with in school:

Isshani and Jezebel are my favourite and most reliable lecture buddies! 

The 3 musketeers?
Beckie and Nessie!

This is me without any make up on, don't laugh at my brows pls

I just realized that even though Nessie appears in my snaps (on Snapchat) almost every single day, we barely took any proper photos together while in hall. HAHA. I cannot be more grateful to have her in hall with me. Both of us were new to hall, and we're constantly meeting new people and making new friends in hall, but it's just a really nice feeling to know I have someone I'm absolutely comfortable with to ask for favours, like umm borrowing clothes, shoes etc. I was packing my room today to move back home during the semester break and we have tons of things left in each other's room haha. We are too lucky to have the same sizes for most of our things, but we'll be even luckier if we get to room together next semester omg it'll be so sick. I will make sure she doesn't paste hello kitty stickers on our front door. Also, Nessie and I had a lot more heart-to-heart talks while staying in hall together and we're almost inseparable now (I know we were clingy before this but the situation has worsened LOL).  Most times when we are not together, we'll be texting and updating each other about our life hahaha. Many people may think or actually notice that both of us have very different characters, style and personalities, but we actually think very alike. This is the part where you comment "awww what a beautiful friendship". Thanks.

Besides studying, I also found the motivation to gym! Mainly because the gym at Utown is so nice and I get to swim at the mini infinity pool upstairs after gymming, and I have friends to gym with so we get to do certain exercises together. And they play EDM in the gym, so I like it. God I really love the feeling of having muscle aches after not working out for a long time, it feels like I'm been working really hard and my body is working its magic towards a Candice Swanepoel's figure. Ok I'm kidding but I hope you get what I mean. I'm not sure if I'll be gymming often now that I'm no longer in hall during the semester break, but hopefully I'll have the motivation to go for runs occasionally when I have the time. Clearly from the photos below, I haven't been working out so you may laugh at my flabby untoned tummy. It's ok go ahead, you have my permission to (cos I deactivated askfm so I won't be hearing all you bitches' comments about me hohoho).

More selfies of myself because this is my blog and I get to post whatever the hell I want (I hope you can't tell that the excuse is pathetic...I just really want to post these selfies of myself lah ok)

I think I look really weird when I try to smile with my mouth closed, so usually I just exaggerate it and look funny instead lol it works right? I can barely close my mouth without looking odd because of my braces. Damn I want to get my braces over and done with but the gaps just doesn't seem to be closing at all. 

On a side note, this year has been amazing so far. Friends close to me would know that I used to be really fearful of animals, even dogs and cats. When I was really young, I got chased by my Aunt's full grown Chow Chow. It felt a lot like I got chased by a bear instead of a dog, so I was really traumatised from then on. I also got scratched by a cat when I was young so... However, despite my fears, I still found them really adorable and am definitely against animal abuse (they're just inhumane). I would say the first big step was stepping into Cuddles Cafe last year when Nessie was working for them. I was still quite fearful of the cats then. I do stroke them but never anywhere near their face for fear they might bite me or whatever. This year, I encountered many gentle pets that made me overcome my fears! While working at Three Crowns, this one particular regular customer will always bring his dog (Toby) and carry him in his arms like a little baby. He is rather inactive and doesn't react much, he just looks sleepy all the time so I was really generous with my pattings and kept stroking him all over. Then there is Cloudy (Nessie's pet cat) who is too adorable to resist!!! He is like a huge ball of fur. Similarly, he doesn't react much to people so I just kept stroking him and have grown to really like him!!! I also met Jerome's dog (Xiao Bai) during Chinese New Year visiting. He is super friendly and active and just too cute. I think all these friendly encounters with the pets slowly alleviated my fears of them, or at least until I meet an unfriendly one hahaha. I would say I definitely prefer cats more than dogs mostly because they're more chill and they feel a lot cleaner. Plus, my gramps just adopted a 5 months old kitten so my love for cats is growing...

My schedule for the month of May is already packed. I will be heading to Taiwan with Nessie next Tuesday, and then come back a day before the precamp for Sports Camp. The week after precamp will be the time when Pan comes back to Singapore for a week! Then the first week of June will be the actual Sports Camp! Hopefully I will have the time to update about all these exciting things that are gonna happen during my Semester break. I still look back at my secondary school days entries (check my archives) sometimes. Haha yes I laugh at them and you guys will probably laugh as well but those were good memories. I hope to keep this blog for a long long time.

Oh I received questions somewhere (can't remember where) requesting that I post my outfits for school. I would but I don't think I really dress up for school unless I have presentations in class. I also have limited clothes in hall so it's inevitable that I repeat some tops or bottoms or an entire outfit (but rarely an entire outfit). Basic clothes helped me a lot because they're not too striking and I can to mix and match them around to create different outfits. You really can never go wrong with basics. 

All in all, I just wish to summarize my Year 1 in NUS and I'll say I've experienced positive change in the past year and am looking forward for Year 2! But first, let me enjoy my summer break hehe.