Freshman Year (and I'm gonna be here for the next four years)

Credit

Freshman year as a UofI student, I lived in the residence halls. More precisely, a female-only residence hall by the name of Busey-Evans, located in the heart of campus. They say living in the halls is expensive (which, in fact, is not false) but my one-year of being a resident of Evans, I dare say it's worth the hole in your poket. And I'm about to share with you why

1. Friends

I'm neither good nor quick at making friends. Often times, I find myself befriending very few people, compared to others. But there's a perk of being in some place new where absolutely no one knows you: they don't know you! As in, you can be anyone you want when you meet them the first time.

So I used this idea to approach random people in the dining hall and say, "hey, can I sit here?". And that's how most of my friendships come from. What makes this easy is that almost everyone in the halls is freshman, and all of them are eager to make new friends. So why not give it a start huh?

I was one of the fortunate ones who ended up rooming with one of the closest friends that I made during my first year. She's a Korean who happens to live in malaysia because her father owns some kind of Korean market somewhere in KL, so we had a common ground to begin with. Then she met this Asian American (literally means a chinese who was born in America) and the three of us became really close friends. See, although I have trouble making friends, I do cherish friendships that I can rely on, like these two.

Asian-American, Malaysian, Korean-Malaysian

2. Food (not really)

Well, when you keep seeing the same food over and over for a whole year, you'd probably develop a sense of hatred towards what they call "dorm food". And imagine just being able to eat rice with tasteless vegetables and if you're lucky, with fried shrimp or salmon. They do have a variety vegan options such as spinach lasagna and spaghetti but still... I want my sambal belacan!!! T_T

I was very lucky they had rice for every meal. I think that I could possibly become a zombie if I dont consume rice for a day. Huh... Asian crisis. On the positive note however, having meal plans mean that you do not need to bother preparing a meal for yourself. It's all ready and all you need to do is go downstairs to the dining hall

This is the point where I got so tired of their food

3. Location

Omg this is my favourite part! Okay the thing I really love about my hall is its proximity to most of my classes on campus. One time, I woke up 20 mins before class and I literally just jumped out of bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, got ready and ran off to class. And I made it in time!

Okay sure, I cheated. I didn't shower. (don't tell my 8am lab partner that I never shower before I come tp lab. dont judge me!) But who cares? I wasn't late
This wouldn't have been made possible had I lived further. I would have to wait for the bus but even then I'd be late. I usually walk to class from my halls and I love walking.

4. Resources

Yup. You paid loads for this baby. Might as well just use it. There's a gym which is walking distance from my halls. Sadly I seldom visit it :( I used to go once a week in Fall but the frequency significantly decreased in the next semester. They also have a library and a computer lab in the halls. Both are great study spaces.

Bottom line? From experience, I believe that spending that extra cash to live in the residence hall your first year is definitely worth it, provided that you don't stay cooped up in your room watching Netflix all day. :)

Plot Twist #0

Plot Twist:
I've decided to disregard my previous intention of abandoning this blog once and for all.

So hi guys! I'm back!

krik krik krik

Anywho, I've come to realise that I just cannot abandon writing altogether. My life is incomplete without type-type-typing out ridiculous things on a blog every once in a while. Wasting your time is all part of the plan.

I must say, my writing has been reduced to a level lower than I could imagine possible - so low that it's wearing fluffy UGG fur boots. *budum tuss*

It's okay if you didn't get that part. I told you how strange my writing is after a while. Which is why I believe this comeback is necessary.

To get things started, let's ramble about the thing that's happening to me right now: finals.
DUMDUMDUM.....

Wow. I can't believe how fast time flies. I know it's common to say that, but only coz it's the truest truths out there. I've ended my freshman year in college. I'm moving on to the next phase: sophomore. A phase where I have no excuse of not knowing stuff or messing up. "You're no longer a freshman" someone might remind me even though I do not need any reminders that I am already getting older. Responsibility ain't as appealing as it sounds peeps.

Well, gotta get back to the stack of papers to my left that's used as scratch paper for my Computer Science final exam practice and also my calculus. Who knew writing codes on paper can be so frustrating.

Anticipate future posts peeps.

That Familiar Face

So there's this one guy. I started to acknowledge his existence when I went to the window of my room one day and saw him walking towards the bus stop. I thought to myself, as I usually do whenever I saw a familiar face, "I've seen this guy somewhere. But where?".

It didn't matter to me back then, so I just let the thought wander off while I continue doing what I was doing (probably getting ready for class. I couldn't recall).

One day in CS lecture, while waiting for the lecture to begin, I, out of habit and the fact that I sit at the back-most of the room, looked around the hall and was astonished to see that guy sitting some rows in front of me. It's the bus stop guy, I immediately concluded. No wonder he looked familiar back then. We're in the same CS class! So that was it. I've gotten my answer. I've labelled him as the CS guy whom I saw outside my window one day and put the memory in the back of my head.

However, it seems that this was just the first piece of puzzle. In Chemistry lab, I saw the same face yet again! He's the guy who's stationed at the same row as me! Well, it's not that I've never seen him before. Rather, I've started to notice how similar he looks compared to the CS guy whom I saw outside my window one day. Strange. My neurons started furiously to dig up the memory that I've buried deep inside my brain. I couldn't really match the two faces, so I decided to wait until the next CS lecture to compare. In the meantime, I stored the Chem lab dude's face into my memory.

Instead of answering existing questions, I was bewildered my more questions that started popping up while none were answered. On the third MCB exam, I saw him yet again! We were taking the exam in the same room! It was weird how I never noticed him in the previous two MCB exams and only saw him today.

So wait a sec. He's in my CS lecture AND Chem lab AND MCB lecture? Is he even the same guy?? What are the odds of a person taking three of the same subjects? If he were an MCB major, why was he taking CS? wtf. Too many questions, so little clues.

Later that week, I was determined to examine him as closely as I can. in CS lecture, I made a mental note of all the small details: his bag, the shirt that he wears, his hair. I tried to match that to the guy I see in Chem lab. I still had no certainty that they were the same guy. They might have been twins right?

During the second to last week of Chem lab, I was determined to just confront him and ask if he was taking any CS courses. It's now or never. But being timid me, it took me a whole lot of internal mental battle to actually say something to him. So the lab went on for about half an hour without me having the courage to talk to him. Just when I was about to get some I2 solution at the back of the lab, I saw him there. I knelled down to pour the solution into my beaker when all of a sudden, he spoke first, "You're like in all my classes". I was stunned - actually my brain was stunned - which led me to the dumb response, "Oh really?"

Seriously? That was my best response? What the f are you thinking?
I went further on, "So you're in CS?".
Yes dumbass. Don't act as if you haven't already been watching him for the past few weeks!
I finally asked him what major he was. "Bioengineering", he said. So that explains why he's taking all this classes. And that was it. The conversation could've been better. But that was it.

Wow. I thought I was the only person who had been watching him. Turns out, he noticed me as well.

Now the semester has ended. We never talked ever since. I sort of wished some sort of friendship could actually grow from that conversation. I have yet had any guy friends here. Sigh.
I currently following the series "My Love from another star". There was a quote from there that I found really powerful but I forgot its exact words.
"If it was destined, wouldn't it be that we will meet again one day no matter what?"
That was lame. Don't remember the exact words.

And so ends my first year in college. Bittersweet moments. Three more years to go