Saturday, November 7, 2015

Mid-semester break!

Mid semester break!

Wow, so the last time I posted something on this blog was on May 24th.. That was six months ago. I have been missing from this website for six months, when all I wanted to do was to focus on this blog. Hah. Great job Aliah!

I guess I now owe myself an explanation for going MIA for so long, since I'm pretty much the only person who knows about this blog... Anyway, where do I begin? During May I got a job, worked at a book store for 3 months - more or less, then entered university on the 1st of September 2015. I am currently doing my degree in Architecture in UiTM Shah Alam, and honestly, I think I've fallen in love with this place, this course and everything that has to do with my life here. Hey, I think I know where I should start... I shall start with telling you bits and pieces about my course.

From my experience, whenever someone mentions furthering their studies in architecture, the respond they get aren't usually positive. Architecture is known as a tiring, lengthy, exhausting and mentally torturing course. I'm not gonna lie, it is definitely tiring, as you will barely get any proper sleep here, and there are so many interesting events you can participate in that sometimes its hard to prioritise between your assignments and your participation in the non-academic activities. In my case, I try to be involved in as many activities (that interest me) as I possibly can, and I have to say that its not easy to manage your time here. Sure, I make sure I pass up my assignments on time, be punctual at all times, but that doesn't mean that I'm doing well as a student. I've barely gotten any As for my assignments, only managed to get around an hour of sleep per day - most of the time no sleep at all. I'm not proud of that but hey, I'm still learning, and all of this is still pretty new to me (says someone who's already halfway through her first semester). What I'm trying to say is that its not easy to do well in this course, but its not impossible to learn how to do so. I still believe that I can cope with my assignments, and that by the end of the semester I will be able to get my As by redoing all of it.

Even though I'm not doing so well in my design classes, but hey, I think I'm doing okay as a person. I have great friends here, I'm learning to be a better person, and I honestly think that I'm doing so much better than I did in high school. I think the most comforting thing to me is that I can see that I'm trying my best. I do have my down times in the past 2+ months, I've seen my close friends breaking down in front of me and they've seen me at my lowest point even though we've only known each other for a few months, and I don't know, there's something special about this course that makes the bond between us so strong in such a short time. I've never seen someone put so much trust in another person that they've just met. The amount of trust and faith that we have in each other is mind blowing, and the things I've learnt about myself and the world in this past mid-semester is pretty amazing too. The thing about studying architecture in UiTM Shah Alam is that you have this huge community of architecture students ranging from alumni to lecturers and to freshmen like myself supporting you and preparing you for the outside world. The inductions and the activities that they have arranged for us have helped build the bond between the students of our own studio as well as between us and the seniors. I've only been here for such a short while, and I still have a long way to go, but looking at the progress and the momentum that I am experiencing, I think the next few semesters will be a little bit easier that its supposed to be.

I feel like I'm lucky since all of my roommates are from the same course, so we have the same schedule and we all barely spend any time at our dorm. This means that I get to do things with them like going out and stuff, since we all spend the same amount of time on our assignments and we all have the same amount of free time. Sometimes I do stop by my other friends' rooms, even randomly sleep over their room when I have the time. The people here are really pleasant, and I'm glad that God has decided to send me to this university to pursue this particular course. 

Right now I am alone in my room, blasting my favourite music and having some alone time. I don't usually get to do this, since my time is so occupied and that I live with 3 other girls in this room, but since it is currently the mid semester break and everyone else is having a great time at home, I'm pretty much one of the very few people who have decided to spend our holiday here. I have drawings to do and movies to watch, I'll (try to) update you guys soon!

-am-