A rather eventful week

This week has rather been eventful for me, which explains why I have not been posting up an entry for the past six days. I believe that common sense would have informed me that it is time to keep my readers updated about what is going on lately before I have to write another 5000-word essay.

Actually, to be frank, nothing much happened. It is just that I have been quite occupied by all the assignments and other types of commitment that I have to put up with. It is not easy to juggle my time, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays, when you are faced with loads of assignments and presentations.

Last week, I had just finished three of my English presentations. This week, out of the blue, my Engineering Mathematics lecturer gave us an assignment to do. I downloaded the assignment on Tuesday, and I was required to work with a partner or two. The deadline was today (Friday the 15th). There were seven questions, and some were really tricky and difficult. The last one was worded in such that great analytical skills and visualising were demanded. There was so much to do and with so little time! Therefore, we thought of a plan.

Initially, we wanted to work in groups of eight, because there were eight of us who are really close and would normally do things together. Although the Engineering Mathematics assignment required us to work in groups of two or three, it didn't stop us from working in a group of eight. There were seven questions. Therefore, each of us was assigned one specific question and the last one were assigned to two (they are roommates, so we thought that they could work out the question together conveniently).

Yesterday, we had a meeting at the cafeteria to discuss and compile all the answers. As the instruction was that each group must have either two or three members, we sent in three separate folios. The fact that we divided the work equally with more people made our job much easier and faster to complete.

Besides having the Mathematics assignment to finish, we also have another drama presentation to do. Previously, our drama script did not impress our English tutor so we had to redo it. Apparently, our tutor wants our drama to reflect the personality of one of the characters (Framton Nuttel) in the short story, "The Open Window" by Saki. Nuttel is actually a mentally challenged man, but in our drama we transformed him into a totally sane person, and the tutor did not really respond well to that.

Our drama presentation will be after our supposedly one-week mid-semester break. It starts tomorrow but on the 20th of September, I shall have to go to Port Dickson for a three-day orientation camp (which I think is rather unnecessary, for we had already undergone a nine-day orientation in January!) in a three-star Casa Rachado Resort (aparment style). Some of my friends will have to go on the 17th of September (first batch) and the others will go on the 20th of September (second batch). I pity some of my friends who have already booked their air tickets to fly back to their hometown, only to find that their one-week break is cut short.

Tomorrow, I shall not be going home, yet. Instead, I shall be going, together with friends, to Kuala Lumpur to watch the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. A UTP bus will fetch us from the university to Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS and back. I am rather excited to watch the performance as it is my first time going to the MPO. However, I am rather disappointed that they have decided to put up an all-Mozart performance in conjunction with Mozart's 250th birthday. I am not a Mozart fan (although I play his pieces) but I think I will enjoy the performance tomorrow. I pray that everything will go well with me tomorrow.

It is now the season for tests and quizzes. Lecturers are now only too happy to give you tests so that you will glue your noses to your books. It is not that we are complaining about having too many tests or quizzes; it is just that we find it rather tiring for us having to study into the wee hours of the night (our textbooks are not thin and we HAVE a lot to study). Still, we feel much relieved after all this is over. At least after then, we can relax for a while before we have to face yet another obstacle: our final examination.

I am looking forward to my Undergraduate years. Foundation studies have taught me much but I still feel that I am back in school rather than in a university. The lecturers come in and lecture on whatever they have planned for that day, and then we are dismissed after the hour.

People say that they don't often look forward to their Undergraduate years because those four years are the most pressuring years. Often, my seniors told us to enjoy our Foundation year while we still can.