Many weeks have passed since the last time I blogged.. what a blogger.. However, we all believe that
everyone deserves one more chance to be a better blogger, yes?
For those who are lazy to read this long, long entry, here's a quick summary:
1. Went to Bandung for a week: lovely campus, shopping paradise.
2. Suddenly accepted offer from NUS instead of NTU, mainly coz the bucks that come with NUS's offer at the very last minute.
3. Me not getting scholarship is probably a blessing in disguise... just trust 4JJ..
On ITB/Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bandung Institute of Technology)...Wah. I remembered saying that UGM in Yogya has the best campus I've ever seen... well, that was before I saw this one. Biggest than any Indo campus I've visited, it displays excellency in the design of the buildings, the parks, the gate, the boulevard, the auditorium, the mosque as well as easy, well-planned access route to each parts of the campus. The buildings were more Dutch than Indonesian, and it definitely didn't feel like I was in Bandung.
(If you are wondering what I was doing visiting all sorts of universities in Indo, it wasn't because I was intending to see which unis suited me. Rather, all tributes should go to my sis who was, is, and is going to persistently sitting for the entrance tests of top universities all over Surabaya, Yogya and Bandung)
Anyway, ITB definitely deserves to be titled the best government-funded university in this country!
On factory outlets in Bandung...The Dutch used to refer to Bandung as
Parijs van Java or The Paris of Java. Well, I think once one gets to see Bandung people, there is absolutely no asking whether the city deserves the title. Gorgeous people with gorgeous clothes, all thanks to the vast number of factory outlets (FOs) throughout the city. FOs sell damn nice clothes at a very low cost. Problem is: you gotta take time to choose your pieces, otherwise you might end up with a tiny hole on your shirt, or wrongly-tailored arms, etc. Good pieces are abundant, but they are mixed with the lousy, low-quality ones, so one has to watch out. Accessories, shoes, bags are sold at low prices, too. Shopped till my feet and fingers got sore due to too much walking and carrying shopping bags, but happy to get some jackets, shirts, a pair of pumps, shades, and a belt. Not to forget the blouses and shoes for my sis who went home earlier to catch her next entrance test at Universitas Airlangga.
On my own uni application...From around mid-April, I have sort of made up my mind to do my degree at NTU, due to the following considerations:
1. 3-years direct honours degree
2. Since my GP grade was so so shitty, NTU's policy that enable me not to take QET is definitely to my favour.
3. Jack is there, so we can be roommates (again!)
4. 3-year course is cheaper, d'oh...
5. NTU's course on "accountancy" has been around for years, as compared to NUS's brand-new "business administration (with accounting)"..
6. Anyway, have always been more inclined to NTU for unknown reasons
So, sometime in early May, I logged on to the Joint Acceptance page and chose NTU-Accountancy.
However, fate (and thus 4JJ) had different plans for me. On 4th June, a day before the Joint Acceptance was closed, I got an email from NUS, saying that they have agreed to loan me $$$$ for living allowance. And so that does it. Offer of money has made me switch my choice to NUS bizad, accepted the loan offer, as well as applied for halls within an hour after I read uthe email (see what money can do to you...)
First choice hall was Kent Ridge, mainly due to its proximity to NUS Biz School.
Second choice was Sheares, due to same reason.
Third was Temasek, due to same reason.
That just proves that I am (still) lazy to walk.
One might ask, don't I care about the buildings? Well, yeah, I do, but after staying at the, erm, 'old and a bit dilapidated' CJC Hostel for two years, nothing could be worse, I think. So anywhere shouldn't matter that much..
There are lots of 'problems' in choosing NUS, such as taking QET (I DREAD IT!!!).
BUT. The biggest problem remains: I'd be very very very heavily in debt the moment I graduate... Gosh, it's like facing the working world with the thought "I have to repay my loan and work my ass off-I have to repay my loan and work my ass off-I have to repay my loan and work my ass off" instead of "Horray school is over and now I'm working and get paid and can help mom and dad and can shoppp". That's the difference between getting a scholarship and not. So, people privileged to obtain those scholarships, please please treasure what you have.
On not getting scholarships...Honestly speaking, I didn't expect it to hit me
this hard. I mean, once my results slip was in my hand, I knew that 99% of the time I won't make it. Clinging to the very last strand of hope of miracles, I applied for scholarships nevertheless. It's not as if I didn't know that most probably I won't get one: I was actually prepared. But then, when it came, it felt so different, it was like the whole world crashed onto you. Like everything out there waiting is pitch-dark. What came next was the uncertainty and the fear of making decisions: NUS? NTU? NUS? NTU? Which one is right? But isn't it expensive? Where do I get the money from? Simultaneously, guilt overcame you: shit, now how do I tell Mom and Dad about this? How to tell and not make them feel burdened by the cost? Why didn't I study harder?
Hmm.. that said, though, getting over the whole thing was a healing process that probably has brought me one step higher up at the endless ladder of my emotional development.
In short, quote enquote Federer after the rainy intermezzo at the 4th round of 2004 US Open against Agassi,
"I have learnt to be even more patient." In my case, it was patience towards the situation I was in, and in accepting it the way it is.
On the days yet to come...Nobody knows for sure what will happen next. I just hope I'll survive. We all do.
And guys, many months have passed since the last time we met... I really miss you all!