Second week: Death from chocolate and the dreaded exams.

Second week:

Terrible, dreaded exams.

I won't say much about exams cause there's nothing much to say, other than I've only been here 4 months, and its the final exams. Didn't really study that much, and made the mistake of studying last minute. I guess its the new environment, new friends, short semester and everything that adds up to not wanting to study.

Either way, I did whatever I could in that short period of time. Studied as much as I can, cause 35 chapters per module ain't easy man! Well, all's done. I'll just leave it all to God. Whatever I get, I told Him, I'll be thankful! He was there for me the whole period of craziness, and I really appreciate it. =)

Stuff I did while studying....

Oh. Before I carry on, this is the self-made apple crepes that I said I would show you. Not that impressive, but working on it!

Haha, poor uni student's food during exam period. This is considered very good already. One of the few days I felt like making something. The other days were spend eating the mee goreng from indo mie!! yumyum!! Best instant noodles ever.

Then I'd start to do stupid stuff, like line my highlighters together, and making them pose ridiculous poses. The stress was getting to me, hence, as some of you know that HUGE pimple outbreak. Bleah.

Oh, and I think the outbreak was due to the amount of chocolate I ate also. It was chocolate galore!! I bought a 20 pack Tim Tam for my friend, placed it on my table, but I'm telling you the truth!! The way the Tim Tam stared at me, I promise you it was seduction!! I couldn't take it no more, and I finished half in one night. Had to really control to keep the other half for the next day.

Yumyum, chocolate biscuit with chocolate filling, all covered in creamy chocolate. =)

Haha, and Ian didn't help. He came over to see how I was doing with the studying, and gave me 2 packets of Kit Kat Chocolate Overload. Nonetheless, it didn't survive the night.

The last night of the exam, I had no more chocolates, I ran over to 7-11 and bought some Arnott's Chocolate Fingers. Man, such a pig. I was thinking I might have died from chocolate overdose or either from exam stress.

Then while studying, I saw some of the doodles I made during lectures, and my itchy fingers had to pick up the camera. Anything to get away from studying. I'm the queen procrastinator. Sigh. No discipline at all.

Then Mohan (a Night Safari Keeper also) came over a week before the exams started. The time he landed, it was a last minute thing, but he was dragged to party with me, cause it was one of my close friend's farewell. She'll be back end July, and I miss her already! Angie!! Come Back!!

Me, Ian, Angie.

Thats about it about the exam period. =D

Euphoria

Euphoria - a feeling of elation/happiness, exaggerated in pathological states as mania

Its 10.30 am now, and my hectic weeks are officially over til the exams in june!!! Whee!!!

Seriously, I've never studied so hard for an MCQ test before. Pure, intense studying for 5 days straight, trying to cram like 20 freaking chapters of Immunology. Was on the verge of insanity. The multitudes of facts were just too much to bear.

But, I'm to blame anyway. I haven't been listening in class at all. Haha, when I look at my notes, I'm in horror, cause they're all blank!! Seriously, its like I've got Immune lectures 3 times a week, but it seems that the 3 hours are permanently blocked out from my memory. All I know is that by the time I snap out of my "stoning", the lecture's just about over, and I'm like "That's fast..". Occasionally, my notes have scribblings which I don't remember writing at all. Sometimes they're just ramblings, or a mixture of what the lecturer said, metamorphasized into stories of flowers, love, and robots.

Anyway, its over!! I thought I did pretty well for the test. I borrowed the textbook, copied down all the information onto my notes, and made sure I understood the whole thing. Oh well, I did my best!
God can do everything else. =)

May's going to be a good month! I've got so many things to be happy for.

1) My tests are finally over!! So, its tons of partying and chilling and going crazy!

2) I'm done with almost all my assignments except for 1 which I'm about 3/4 done.

and the only real fact that makes may an awesome month is that...

3)Some of my colleagues from the Night Safari are coming over from may 18 - 24!!! How awesome is that!! They're coming for some keepers' conference. I'm sooooooo excited. The anticipation is driving me absolutely insane. When I see them at the airport, I'll probably run and jump into their arms, give them a BIG hug and kiss them all over. I've been jumping around my room the last few hours after knowing they're coming. Freakin' Awesome.

I'm not close to all of them, but at least my closest friend in Night Safari is coming! WHOO!!! Sorry for all the exclamation marks, but even as I type this, I'm quivering with excitement. woOHOO!!!

Haha, oh well, enough of my nonsense. Here are some random pics.

Too bad the picture can't relate the size of the crow, but compared to Singapores' crows, melbourne ones are HUMONGOUS!! Plus, they're so irritating as well. They're way louder than the ones back home, and the worst thing is that, they seem to like to perch at the top of my apartment and start crowing at the top of their lungs. I get waken at ungodly hours by these stupid birds. No sense of timing. Tsk tsk. But then again, my sleeping hours are also as screwed. =) As you can see, they're like half the size of the tyre! But the picture doesn't give it justice. Come here to melbourne and see them yourselves! I'll gladly welcome you as well!! =D

And as usual, doodles on my lecture notes. Immune lectures to be exact.

Still recovering from my pimple outbreak, and I think I'm growing fat! Goodness.

Study Break

I just realised blogging helps release stress a little. I'm supposed to be studying, but I've got so much crammed in. Its like the more I study, the more the facts get jumbled up.

Oh well, to all the people out there who are having their exams like Gera, Huilin, Lishi, Chris, and tons more, Keep Going!

I'll be mugging with you, even though mine's a test. But its still a LOT to study. So, I'll be suffering with you!

Anyway, like I said, I'll show you my high cut brown converse sneakers. TaDah!! Haha, they're so boyish, but I love them! I tried on the girlish colours like red, maroon, purple, but they just didn't suit my skin colour or should I say, me as a whole.



I realised I suited colours like brown, green, blue, black, white. Haha, dark ones, such a bummer.

Can you imagine me in a pink shirt?

I don't think so.....

More pics of my sneakers! I paid AUD40. Not very cheap but not very expensive either. =D


Its double tongue somemore!

Oh. Remember the magical straw? Joanne and me finished the banana pack, so its chocolate mint time! Check out the beads man, funky bits of brown and baby blue.


Tasted a tad weird at first, but once the beads started to melt, it tasted goooood.

Next off, Queen Victoria Market!

This is the entrance to the place where I go marketing every saturday. A 20 minutes walk from my house. I've grown to like this place. I'll never be caught in a market in Singapore (I've never stepped in one in the first place), but not here! Its so clean, and it doesn't smell.

The sights and smells are a sight to behold.
A pity pictures cannot capture the beauty of it....


When you step in, this is the meat section. There're rows and rows of meat stalls, all in an air-conditioned room. Beef, pork, fish, chicken, lamb, kangaroo, and the works. The butchers would sometimes wear placards and start shouting their discounted prices. Sometimes, they'd sing as well, but not as much as in the veg and fruits section.

After coming out of the meat place, its rows of tents that sell veggies and fruits. Here, the fruit sellers start singing, "Apples for sale, Nice and Fresh ones, Come and buy, They smell so good, blah blah" Haha, the tunes they come up with are quite funny.

And the stuff here are usually very fresh.



Didn't take a lot of pictures cause I didn't want to embarrass my friend anymore by acting like a tourist. =D

When I'm alone, I'll take pictures of the veg section for you people to see!

Okok, I took too long a break from the studying already. Haha, close to 2 hours!!

Its back to studying!

And thats like saying

bye to friends,

bye to life,

bye to freedom,

but soon soon!,

it'll be over.

For the sake of knowledge,

persevere!

A wandering mind..

Remember I told you lectures were boring? Yeah..this is what I do to pass the time, and trying SUPER HARD to stay awake!

Everybody's been trying to remind me I'm a final year student and that I should be studying. But in actual fact, I belong out there under the sun. I'm not somebody that can be confined in a place, more so a room with four walls.


Oh well! but thats a student's life for you, so guess I should start gritting my teeth and pushing myself. Sigh.




For now, you guys can admire my doodling!

They're just curvy wurvy lines that mean nothing but a wandering mind. =D















A pretty flower.

Australia's Education System

I'm kinda lazy to blog actually..so i'll just paste the email I wrote to one of my poly lecturers regarding my school life here! ..it just sums it all! Only the science pple would really know what I'm talking about..

"Hey Dr Liew!

How have you been doing? Its going to be 3 weeks since I first touched down in Melbourne. School started on 26 Feb, and already, I've got assignments coming in!

We started practical sessions yesterday for Microbiology and, its been going fine! We're studying the microbe Streptococcus pyogenes and we're each given an isolate of it, taken from the Northern Territory of Australia. Practicals here are more interactive, in a sense that we each get to do our own experiment, following the guidelines given to us. I've got 60 students in my practical class, and we're all separated into groups of 10, each having our own "teacher" per bench. So, its been cool! I get to ask a lot more questions and do a lot more stuff my own. The next practical, we're going to do a lot of PCR on our isolate, glad I did it before! The practical rooms are really neat and well furnished as well! We've got automated taps and soap dispensers, cool stuff!

Aside from that, the lecturers here have been really nice and approachable. They don't make you feel scared to approach. One thing really different from Singapore is the way they teach. Its more application, like you said. Everything is about asking questions. The lecturers expect you to keep asking questions, and keep on thinking about the stuff they taught. Its like when you ask them something, they'll ask something back at you to make you analyse. They call it critical/analytical thinking! Pretty hard stuff for me to master. But I've been trying to get a hang of it.

Tutorial questions they give can NEVER be found anywhere on the web or textbooks or notes! Its all thinking questions, you have to infer from literature found in tons of journals they recommend, and with that, for your questions, you must put proper referencing. Its a whole new thing to me, but I guess, its more effective learning this way. I'm forced to think out of the box for the answer, instead of regurgitating (I'm VERY GOOD at that), so it forces me to apply what I learn. Its been pretty tough, but I'm sure once I get the hang of it, I'll be able to cope.

Oh well, enough said! Just thought I'd enlighten you on how I'm coping with the education system here! Wrote quite a lot, sorry for being so long-winded! But I can never stress how different the academic system is here! Last but not least, I think I'll enjoy it here.. =)

Love, Janice"