Phew, second week of school has just ended and it felt as though it was just yesterday when I made my very first blog post. Time flies really quickly. On the brighter note, I gladly say that second week was so much better than my first! Especially with a day off midweek (labour day!) hehe.
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| mandatory class selfie |
Well, the reason I say that is mainly because I felt like I've kind of gotten a hang of things. First, I made an effort to slowly explore ways in which I can avoid climbing up the super uphill route to get to Blk 71 everyday, and I felt inexplicably happy when I found a shortcut to get there. Well, life of a freshman, still exploring the school! Secondly, I felt like my class has gotten our bond even tighter among one another; eating lunch together, not leaving in cliques and so on! Will elaborate on this later in the post. However there's something I think I can never get used to. It's the traffic. And the really terrible fact that I'm always like a shrimp among a school of fishes (working adults) in the bus while on my way to school. Punctuality has always been an issue for me in general, especially when I spent a whole six months waking up at one in the afternoon. Hence, it's no surprise that I was late for 8 am class on Friday for the second time. I really hope I can gradually stabilize my body clock; get enough rest for my body and yet still be early for class!
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| Class picture #1 PHOTO-BOMBED by a senior |
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| a really pretty class photo taken during Personal Development class |
As I've mentioned above, I really feel as though my class has built better camaraderie among one another. First week was actually pretty okay, but second week was a breeze! One key thing that brought us together was, of course food and selfies! But besides that, we share a common view about many things - from funny lecturers all the way to encouraging our friends to turn into lovebirds. I mean, these little things actually do play a part in having class spirit, and to me, that's the most important thing about being in school. It isn't all just about scoring A's in your tests and assignments, but also about having fun with the people you spend the most time with - your classmates! Oh, and don't forget to spot our different colour codes for the upcoming week ;)
Modules have been okay for me so far, except Mathematics Fundamentals, and it's always been that way. I have tons of difficulties doing my tutorials for Maths that I feel like it's nearly impossible to do well for Maths when common test week arrives. I mean, I've gone through N-level Maths and my grades just nicely made it possible for me to get to PFP; i got a grade 3, which is the minimum requirement. And I was lucky actually because if not, it would be such a waste because my other subjects were at least a grade 1 or 2! So, if you ask me 'what I would like to do better in for the following week', is to obviously catch up with my Mathematics.
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| with our PD teacher! hahaha so cute! |
Maths isn't the only pain, unfortunately. Biology is another module that my classmates and I are having difficulties with. I mean, the topics are interesting but whoa, the lecturer made our minds blow. Finishing three lectures in a matter of three hours, is completely absurd to me. We couldn't absorb anything and from there, we knew we had to keep our heads up and do our own revision on a daily basis. Practical lesson on Wednesday, however, was really interesting. We learnt to use the microscope and draw out the cells that we found through the microscope. Super simple yet really fascinating. But what made it even more fun was that class literally turned into selfie-session! Here are some pictures for you:
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| a part of his large intestine went missing after this shot. |
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| Elaine! |
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| Health sciences students doing their thing. |
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| swag |
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| yayyyyy |
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| There's always time for selfies |
Personal Development, Sports & Wellness, English and Behavioural Sciences were of course, really smooth. We learnt tons of new interesting things. For Behavioural Sciences, we've already gotten our first project to work on in groups of five. It's something to do with social research - having to study society and their behaviour, make a theory and hypothesis about it, and then draw conclusions based on our research. Meanwhile for S&W, we learnt cha-cha under Dance Sport so basically, we all have dancing skills now. Pretty cool huh? But it's sad that next Friday is going to be our last session learning Dance Sport. I enjoyed it truckloads, especially when I got to dance with Aqil! We did pretty well I can say. Hehe. For English, I was really happy that I made it through Show n Tell talking about Wonderstruck Enchanted (a fragrant). Basically, it was kind of impromptu, and I just thought of what to say about the fragrant only when I was in the bus, on my way to school! I know I should have prepared something earlier, but, I don't know why I didn't. But for the 'bucket list', I will surely be more prepared! Glad to know, though, that my classmates did enjoy my short presentation about the fragrant and gave positive/sensible feedback on it :)
I also had a super great end to my week by meeting up with my camp mates (aka district mates) and went ice skating together. With them, I'm always having great fun.
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| District 10 :D |
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| FAMILY |
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| awkward shot hahahaha |
Despite all the assignments and revision, it looks like my NP life is getting better! I truly hope it'll continue improving by the day, especially when it comes to catching up on my Maths and Bio /:
Sorry if I didn't elaborate many things in this post. I actually got the activities and days mixed up. (When did we do the Show and Tell? Was it last week or this week?) Wow i'm really confused. Haha. But I hope things are going well for you as well! See you in class!
Another long but enjoyable post to read! Ha, yeah, this term has got a fair number of holidays - there're still a couple more coming, and it's always nice to have it in the middle of the week, to break it up. Long weekends are nice, but a break in the middle of the week makes it feel especially short!
ReplyDeleteIt's really good that you're making it a point to explore the school - i know year threes who still don't know much about the geography of NP, apart from the main canteens and their classrooms. I suppose your short cut involves all the lifts??
The class seems great, and I really hope it will remain that way - it will make lessons more fun, and life bearable when the going gets tougher, with assignments coming in droves, that everyone has a group of supportive friends to fall back upon. Re the lessons, well, you *were* probably warned that for some subjects, it'd be a sea change compared to secondary school, right? But here's the thing - PLEASE make sure you make use of your tutors! Many are more than happy to meet up outside of class, and provide consultations, BUT you guys have to be the ones to make the first move. So cannot be too shy about this sort of thing! It's obviously better to ask now, and get the foundation right, than start panicking in a few weeks, when (yes) the common tests start.
Dance doesn't have to end there - quite a few of you have mentioned loving the S&W lessons, so why not go join a dance club in NP? There seems to always be some sort of dance training or rehearsals going on somewhere.
You seem to be generally confident presenting, but yeah, definitely need some practice, and avoid off the cuff presentations! (especially, of course, for something graded) It makes a difference, especially when you want to get something across to an audience. Needs thought and structure. As mentioned, if you're interested in fragrances, there's a year two elective that you can take, one of the IS lecturers used to be a perfumer(?).
Glad to know spirits are still up, and heading upwards! Make sure the basics (work etc) are taken care, and give yourself up to life on campus, and everything that a tertiary institution offers!