Too much have happened in the past days, weeks, months and years. But since now its the holidays again, I have some spare time to blog, or rather, something to do.
I shall start at the time where I entered NTU, some 2 years ago. Didnt know why I chose Materials Science and Engineering, just thought I was lucky to get accepted, and the courses were quite interesting, at least better than EEE. The job prospects were also rather interesting, at least after I graduate, I wont be doing some boring stuff. I didnt join MSE camp, but instead, other smaller orientation camps and hall 2 camp.
Hall 2 was kinda sporty hall, and I made new friends there, who came from various other courses. Yun was my roomie, and Joel was also in the same hall as us. So for the first semester, I didnt really work damn hard or correctly, but just acceptable in my opinion. Friday Dota nights, weekday supper, constant OG outings, driving lessons etc.
I still remembered the huge amount of content in some courses, and honestly I didnt finish revising at all. At least I did past-year-papers once, but looking back now, it isnt even enough. The timetable in the first sem of uni wasnt the best too, with 3 papers consecutively in 3 days, which is not enough at all, given the amount of content.
Maths paper was first, and it was the hardest paper yet, as compared to the past year questions. Though my maths was still as good as before, I didnt even have time to rush and finish the whole paper quickly. To make matters worse, I really wanted to lao sai after 30min. I just endured and did the paper. Thank god I got my 1st A in uni. My first and only in year 1 sem 1. Not an A+, but im contented with A.
Computing wasnt easy since we only learnt the computing language in uni. Somehow the finals was easy, and I got an A-. Still quite amazed how I got it too! Physics paper was really screwed up for me. The syllabus was so much, and I havent revised finish the topics. In the end, I got a really sucky B-. It really pulled down my GPA. haiz.
Chemistry was like 1 week after, but I didnt really score well too, getting a B+. Sem 1 ended quite quickly, and when I got the results, I was quite sad. GPA of 4.00 wasnt really what I wanted to see. Yes its quite good, considering that its 2nd-upper class. But then, its very dangerous and I could slip down anytime.
It was then, I decided to quit a few stuff, including Dota, to focus a bit more on my studies.
Sem 2 was more difficult, with Thermodynamics, which isnt easy to grasp at the beginning. I managed to do a little better than sem 1, though I slipped at Materials Physics with a B-. I changed some of my study techniques, with several gains. A CGPA of 4.06 ended off my year 1.
And the number of aces I've gotten: 2A, 3A- only. Pretty few, and it wasnt easy to get them. But with these grades, I've managed to apply to go for exchange in USA, where my life has gone for quite a big change.
I cant believe it, time was much shorter than what i had expected during this exchange. Schoolwork is always piling up, and homeworks are graded, included inside the overall %. It was quite difficult for me to manage all the modules, and 3 of them are more difficult than what I've expected. But luckily, sometimes the profs will cancel classes, so I could somehow buy some time.
Quizzes and tests were frequent, at least 2 a week. The time here is short too, 2 more months and I would be travelling again!! Looking very forward to travelling, and for the past weekends, it has been an eye opener to me.
I've already been to Atlantic City, Niagara Falls, Washington DC. Next stops : Boston (Harvard and MIT are there), and New York City! Maybe I would visit New Jersey again, for the Six Flags adventures.
Amidst all the work and travelling, I've been going to the gym almost every single day, not to have pokemon duels, but to workout on my skinny body, which has only some lean muscles that cover. Trying hard to gain weight and cover up the bones, and building a bigger body. I look like a bamboo, compared to those Americans around.
Thanks for the smiles! :)
It was a good 1st night here, where my roommate had not checked into the hostel, so i could sleep peacefully. The next morning, we had to go and register into the university. I forgot to take my jacket, so I went back up to get it. On the way up, I saw a China guy, with 2 girls, all carrying luggages. And I had that feeling that he is my roomie. True enough, he is!! The 2 girls that followed him were Drexel helpers, so it turns out that he has 3 luggages!! omg -_- I didnt have much time to chat with him, and left the room, to meet up with other NTU ppl to register.
We met a korean girl from Seoul National Uni, and she speaks good english! We settled quite a few admin stuff, and had free lunch which was quite ok... and had dinner in the same place. We went to walmart again to get our stuff, and this time, we took another route, which was much better. The weather was much better, unlike ytd, where it was really crazy and weird weather.
:)
The winds that blew in philly are really much stronger than in SG. Maybe its becos there isnt much tall buildings around, but together with drizzles, it could be quite painful.
We had to get some stuff for our rooms, so we went to Chinatown in Philly, and there was Kmart, selling some cheap stuff there! Glad to have the asian feel in usa!
Me and some friends were gonna go Walmart, a very very very very big mart, but it was far to the east of philly. The way there wasnt convenient, but we still went thru some stuff. It was messy for transferring of bus trips at 1st, and I ended up forgetting to pay for a bus trip. The system there works a lot different from SG. We had to use SEPTA tokens for rides, standard flat rate of 1.55USD for bus/train rides.
Walmart is indeed very big, having almost everything that we needed. We walked around there for hours, and was about to leave there, when the rain was getting heavier, and winds stronger. While trying to get a taxi back to our apartments, 2 black americans (a mom and her young adult son) came to us and offered 20USD to drive us back. It seemed a little cheaper than taxi, so we accepted it. But actually, we shouldnt... On the ride, the young adult son asked if we were ok with increasing the price to 27USD. I thought, didnt we agree on 20USD? At that moment, we negotiated back to 20USD, but the atmosphere was a little more different. We felt like we were in a dangerous situation, but had no choice, as the rain was really crazy, and it was almost difficult to see even 2m ahead of our car. They smoked in the car... omg. But luckily, we were safe, and hurried to our apartments. Thanks to my uniqlo jacket, I've survived a lot more.
We had a buffet to mark our orientation for the exchange students, and we met up with the NTU students there. The food was ok, but the cookies are... OMG NICE. I even took back 5 of them! Should have taken more >.<
My roommate has not checked in yet! Anyways, the room is quite nice, and there is an oven, fridge, aircon/heater, TV! But the toilet is real small.... oh man. At least no need clean so much haha.. My body clock also have not adjusted properly, so I have unusual sleeping habits...
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Andy