Weeks 34 to 39: Exams, Croatia and Dressing Up

Hello readers! As is the norm this academic year, I have not been updating my blog as frequent as I'd like but here is my sort of monthly update.

Exams are finally over, although it actually did not take that long to get them over it. It was just because I had 9 exams crammed into a measly 2 weeks that it felt like an age. Not all of them went well to be honest, but that's just how it is I guess. There was one particular paper *Finance 1 cough* that was especially hard and I honestly thought that I was going to fail it but after the paper, it seemed like most people felt the same so I guess I won't fail? I mean, the university isn't going to let half the class fail a paper, right? Anyway, it's all done and over.

Practically immediately after my exams, I jetted off to Croatia with two high school friends. That was genuinely fun. It was a nice mix between hectic days and chill ones. Also, the length of the trip was just nice, as in I didn't feel sick and felt like going home at any point of the trip. The first place I visited was Pula which was a quaint little town near the seaside. It was an interesting place because historical buildings and monuments were just scattered around the place. The difference in the architecture of the different eras the place went through in the past was also pretty obvious. It was quite an experience. Didn't really do much there except go to the beach. I got a nice tan there which was a nice change from the cold English weather.

Beach and sun in Pula!!

After a day of travelling, I finally reached Dubrovnik where most of the fun happened. On my first day in Dubrovnik, I visited the old town. After walking around for a bit, me and my friends went on a Game of Thrones tour of Dubrovnik which was basically the highlight of the whole trip for me. I'm a pretty big fan of the show and the books, so the tour was perfect for me. The tour guide was really lovely and was even an extra in the show which was cool. She took us around showing us landmarks that served as shooting locations for the show. She was an even bigger fan evidently, and was pretty knowledgeable about both the shows and the books. I was basically in awe the whole time and splashed out some moolah on GoT merchandise as an early birthday present to myself. After tour, I scaled the city walls and while the view was great, it was pretty tiring and slightly torturing because of the sun beating down on me.

Pretty Dubrovnik

The lovely GoT Tour guide

The next day, I went with my friends on a kayaking excursion. Now that was an experience. It was open sea kayaking and we had to get to another island and back. Halfway, the sea decided to play up a bit and send some waves our way. I swear some of those waves were the height of my head. I nearly flipped over a few times. But I survived. And apparently I kayaked for about 10km which is an achievement in addition to me not being the last kayak in the group although I was left behind for some parts of the 'adventure',

Next stop was Split. The apartment we rented was actually inside Diocletian's Palace which is the main attraction of Split. That was a nice surprise because it made getting around and visiting landmarks so much easier. I made a point to visit most of the historical landmarks in the old town and that honestly did not take as long as I thought because all of them were clustered around the same spot (also the palace was not as big as it seemed on the map). It was a pretty chill 2-day stay there and I went back to England after that.

Just staying in an ancient palace, no biggie.

Now that I was back in England, I had another busy week surprisingly. I performed with Glee for an open day and also as part of the student arts festival but the highlight was Societies Awards where I got to dress up and act fancy for a night. It was probably the first time I wore a full suit ever since I came to the UK. Also, because I didn't have a bow tie and wanted to wear one to the awards, I learnt to make one out of a neck tie. Now, that's an achievement. Glee was not nominated for any awards but it was a fun night just hanging out with my peeps (the DJ was quite bad though). Also, it was held in the beautiful Stratford which was a plus.

I still have about a week or so to go before I go home to Malaysia (can't wait!!!!). I aim to record a few covers and sort out some career stuff in this short period of time, so hopefully that will go well. Also, I'll be celebrating my first overseas birthday! It will probably something small with some close friend who are still around university then. It will also be my 21st birthday and, people who know me knows that actually prefer having an intimate celebration, so that works out well for me.

Bye for now and I promise to post one last update before I fly back to Malaysia!

Weeks 25 to 33: Update

I really haven't been updating this blog very much lately. I would blame it on exam stress but fact is, I haven't been updating it even over Easter break. Anyway, here is a quick update of my life in the past two months.

1. Finally settled my internship for the summer break. I will be interning at PwC for about two months when I finally go back to Malaysia for the summer. Not exactly the dream but a good avenue to work on my social skills and gain working experience which hopefully will come in useful when I actually start applying for graduate jobs.

2. Visited London twice over the break and it was pretty nice seeing my cousin and getting to eat decent Asian food for once. Visited Greenwich. Pleasant place.

3. One of my childhood friends dropped by Coventry on her visit to the UK. I haven't seen her in ages so it was really nice to catch up with her.

4. Music-wise, nothing much happened. Despite plans to use my newly-acquired microphone to record some music over the break, there hasn't been much progress in that department. I did record a shitty demo of a song which I have recorded many times. The idea behind the demo was good, but execution wasn't there. Will have to work on that once exams are over.

5. On a different note, Malaysian Night happened. It was interesting to see songs I wrote being performed onstage by other people. One the songs went decently well (I'll just leave this here) while the other...let's just say it could have been better. The night, on a whole, could have went better. Let's just leave it at that.

6. Module registration for 3rd year opened a week ago and it was pretty stressful trying to login to the system but I managed to register for all the modules I wanted which is more than many other people can say. I have to say, I am pretty excited to take the modules next year mainly because I chose them myself and I made sure that there was a good balance of things that I want to learn and other stuff that could help my future career prospects. So I have that to look forward to next year.

7. Exams are only a couple weeks away. Pretty nervous. Study plans have not exactly gone to plan. Take today for an example. I was supposed to be in the library finishing up revision for a module but here I am writing this blog post. Hopefully I'll be able to at least get a bit of revision done later.

So that's about it. I have plans to revamp my Soundcloud page and start uploading covers more frequently. So look out for that. Youtube will come later. I will need to seriously up my game if I want to make it happen.

Bye for now! Hopefully my next post won't be too long away.

Signing off,

YiJiun

P.S. My love life has gone in an interesting direction. ;)

Weeks 19-24: Battered and Tired But Still Moving On

It's been some time, huh?

A lot has happened since the last time I updated this blog. Short update jobs-wise: everything has been a train wreck but I'm still applying for internships. Hopefully, I'll get one.

Academically, I think I'm doing alright. To be honest, the group project didn't really go as well as I hoped it would but it was still pretty much smooth sailing, so I don't have much to complain about.

I took part in Battle Of The Bands again this year. It didn't go as well as it did last year but really, last year is pretty hard to live up in terms of band-side success. I was working with a way smaller band and had to deal with considerable lack of guitar skills in the band and also the lack of drums. I had hoped to do better but it wasn't meant to be. The praise for the songwriting was a nice consolation though considering that I wrote two songs of the three-song set.

Next up, Masters of Show Choir! I have to say, it was an amazing experience to have taken part in this. The run up to the competition was pretty intense but still fun. It was so different to dikir last year. Everybody was just having fun and had a common goal. On the day of the competition itself, the team had so much fun that winning just wasn't a priority anymore. It was such a high that this past week just felt so bland.

Speaking of the past week, I went to karaoke night at the uni pub and it was actually pretty fun. I ended up onstage singing an alcohol-fuelled version of Shakira's Hips Don't Lie.

Now, I'm back to boring studying. I have a test and a presentation on the same day next week. Both are assessed which is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully both of them will turn out alright.

Before I end this post, can I take a minute just to say, "How good is Kelly Clarkson's new album?" Honestly, it's not that great but still it's a solid album. Also, I'm such a huge fan that I don't really care.

Signing off,
YiJiun

Week 12 to 18: Update

So I haven't exactly been updating this weekly....well, now I'm back!

First, I decided to count in the weeks that I spent in Malaysia for the Christmas break just so there's some sort of continuity and to avoid confusion when (if) I look back at this in future.

Next, the break which I took back in Malaysia was actually more eventful than I thought it would be. Of course, there was the hustle and bustle of moving all my stuff to the new house which wasn't even 100% ready when we moved in but it looked nice. My new room is now massive and I have tons of storage space which I don't need at the moment. It's nice that I don't have to share a room with my brother anymore (no more early mornings because of getting woken up by his alarm!).

Besides that, I visited the Johor Premium Outlets and Legoland with my siblings and my brother's friend (also my sister's lecturer). I actually enjoyed Legoland more than I thought I would. I was expecting it to be this boring kiddie park but there were some fun rides and shows. Also, they had the Star Wars exhibition when we visited, so that was pretty cool. The only downside to the trip was that the place we stayed at was a bit crappy. I wouldn't recommend staying at that hostel really. But, all in all, a pretty enjoyable trip.

Besides having fun, I also worked on job applications. But I wasn't very successful though. I crashed and burned at both phone interviews. The second one was slightly better than the first but still not very good. One thing I did realise though, I pressured myself so much to try to succeed but I didn't really want the jobs. The only thing that attracted me to those jobs were the fact that I would be able to stay in London and possibly get a job for when I graduate. Now, I'm focusing a bit more on applications in Malaysia and jobs in record labels or music companies.

Lately, besides trying to catch up on my work and balancing that with society stuff, I have also been thinking a lot on my future after I graduate. Do I want to work in Malaysia? Do I want to work in the UK? Do I want to work in a bank/audit firm? Do I want to work in a record company? It's so pressuring having the expectations of my parents not match my own. I completely understand why though, but still, I find it hard to make a decision which will give me a steady income in life.

In the end, I will be doing the job and I really should get something which I am at least vaguely interested in. Working in a bank is completely out. Not only am I not interested in finance, I didn't even like it when I did my internship in a bank. To be honest, I'm not even sure what auditors do but I have this prejudice against it and clearly just don't want to become an accountant. Would I like working in a record company? I don't know either, but I want to at least try.

Job seeking is hard. And I'm only looking for an internship. How nice would it be if I didn't have to worry about this while still in university? Sigh.

Signing off,
YiJiun

Weeks 10 to 11.5: Overdue

Finally getting around to update the blog.

Week 10 was pretty uneventful in all honesty. I spent most of my time sleeping and procrastinating. I only properly started studying for my Finance test on Saturday. It was a welcome change after the previous week.

Week 11 was just full of studying for the test and wrapping stuff up for the end of term. Thursday was the most eventful day of the week. I had my test and the end of term social for Glee which was pretty nice. Also, finally revisited Kasbah on Friday to celebrate the end of term. Except for the extra coat room upstairs, it was plain ole Kasbah with its sticky floors and throngs of students.

The night before I left for Malaysia, I cooked dinner for my housemates. No particular reason, to be honest but I just felt like it. They liked the meal good enough, thankfully. Then, the next day, I left for home. I slept for a surprisingly decent amount of time on both flights considering how little sleep I usually manage to get on flights. But, I was still exhausted by the time I got home. The type of sleep I get on flights isn't really the rejuvenating kind.

Anyway, now I'm back home and rushing internship applications and preparing for my one interview. Hopefully it will all go well. Happy to be home, even if only for 3 weeks (also helps that the weather isn't out to freeze me to death).

Weeks 7 to 9: Phew

It's been a busy few weeks. Mostly because my new band had a major gig lined up and Glee had our yearly commitment.

Week 7 was relatively uneventful.

Week 8, things started to move into higher gear. Academically, I had a mock trial to prepare for, so there were a few meetings with my group mates to sort things out. Besides that, I performed with my band at another jam night as practice for the charity gig in Week 9.

I also attended 2 talks in Week 8. The first one was a talk about the economics of warfare given by one the Econs department's best lecturers in conjunction with Remembrance Day. It was a really good talk and I can see why all my friends keep raving about how good the lecturer is. The talk itself was pretty eye-opening in terms of how countries managed their resources in preparation for war and how that affected their plans for war. It also served as a pretty interesting history lesson considering how little I actually know about the World War I and World War II. I am seriously considering taking War and Economy as an unusual option in my third year.

The second talk I attended that week was a TEDxWarwick Salon on the evolution of arts. I had attended a similar event previously and found it really interesting, so I decided to go to this one. One of the main issues which regularly came up throughout the event was the issue of disabled people in the performing arts industry. To be honest, if they did not bring it up, I would never have thought about that at all. I guess that just shows how much people actually care about the issue. Again, another eye-opener.

Week 9 was pretty hectic. On Monday, I played with my new band, '66 Chevelle at a charity gig. It went amazingly well. Obviously it wasn't perfect. There were mistakes here and there but all in all, it wasn't bad. The crowd liked it quite a lot.

Then, I had RAG week duties with Glee. We collaborated with Warwick RAG to crash lectures with serenades and lap dances. It was fun but terribly tiring.

Also, on Friday, I had my mock trial. It went surprisingly well to be honest. I honestly thought that I was going to screw up during my part but thankfully I did not. Now I just have to wait for my marks to be released.

On Saturday, I went to watch Interstellar with Melissa. After seeing a ton of good reviews on Facebook and Twitter, I decided that it was a movie that I did not want to miss. So, I went to watch it. It was really good. It wasn't perfect really and my brain hurt a bit after the movie but I enjoyed it a lot. Although, I don't think I will watch it again in the near future. It takes a bit too much brain power. Haha.

Only two weeks left till term ends. And just slightly over two weeks till I fly back to Malaysia again. This time, to help my family move to our new house. Can't wait.

Signing off,
YiJiun

Week 6: Meh

Just overheard my housemate talking on the phone about having a support system. The friends with whom I can just text on a whim and they will entertain me. I don't really have them anymore. Obviously, friendships come and go. But those that I honestly thought would last seem to be fading away.

Lately, I have been so busy with exec duties, my new band and coursework that my social life has fallen wayside. Seems like I haven't been doing very well socially this week. On the bright side, I met someone who I thought I would never talk to again by pure chance. To be honest, I might never talk to him again. So, I've got that going for me. Also, met someone who I knew I would see again but did not expect the treatment I got (basically I got ignored the whole time).

There were a couple of times this week when I was alone in the house and my mind started wandering, eventually it ended up in the realms of my non-existent love life. As usual. I wonder whether I am starting to sound desperate. Just the other day, I was talking with another of my housemates and we talked about how one of our mutual friends finally got a girlfriend after wanting one for a long time. Don't get this wrong, we are happy for him but she did raise an interesting point: are we happy for him because he has a girlfriend or because he finally found a girlfriend?

Nothing ever just falls into our laps. Love life included. If I don't make an effort to talk to other people and show that I'm interested, how will I know whether they're interested (or not) as well? Sometimes, we just have to take things into our own hands and go after what we really want (obviously harder than it sounds).

In the mean time, while I've been immersing myself in self-pity and self-doubt, I have been surrounding myself with music. As usual, I have been going to Glee sessions every week (even skipping lectures, oh well). I have also started playing with a band consisting of a few people from The Victor's Jig last year and a vocalist from another band. My songs seem to have been received pretty well so far, so I hope stuff will get going as soon as possible this year. Also, I have started writing songs for the MNight production. Never specifically written songs for something before, so I hope that it turns out alright. Anyway, there are other people writing songs as well, so it's not all on me (thank god).

I shall go back to moping and procrastinating. Till next time.

Week 3 to 5: Alive and Well

So I've been very busy lately. I'm finally settling into the routine of going to lectures and my weekly activities. So that's good. The workload this year is no joke obviously. I've been forcing myself to keep up with the reading and work (2nd year, sigh) because I want to do well this year. Although, it has been a chore balancing my activities, exec duties and coursework.

Internships have been a recurring theme throughout the few weeks I have been back in the UK. The university has been bombarding students with career fairs and various talks. Of course, that's because applications have been open for a couple months already. I am sort of late to the game (again). So I've been stressing myself out on the typical Big 4 applications at the moment. Besides that, I am planning to apply for an internship in Warner Music which is probably the only summer internship opportunity I could find in the music industry here, so I've been putting quite some effort into that as well. Hopefully all goes well.

On a lighter note, one of my previous band mates has asked me to join him to play a charity gig in November. I will be playing a mixture of covers, his songs and my songs. So I have that to look forward to. In addition, I have been recruited to write songs for the MNight production. I haven't really written stuff for specific things like that, so that will be interesting.

Guess I have quite a lot on my plate at the moment. I was thinking of doing Jailbreak (a charity event where you hitchhike to as far away as possible) but now I'm glad I didn't choose to do it this year. Maybe next year. Hopefully things will slow down in a few weeks time.

Till next time.

Week 1&2: Back in UK

So, it's been 2 weeks since I've been back in the UK. Already done with the first week of lectures and I have to say it's been pretty tiring.

I've had so much to do during the 2 weeks back. In addition to lectures, I've had to clean up the house, meet up with freshers to give them their SIM cards and, of course, Glee stuff. I'm pretty sure that I've been spending a lot of money and I haven't started keeping track of my expenditure yet. Hopefully it wasn't too much.

It's been nice to see all the familiar faces around even though now we all live in different places. I hope that I will be able to see those living in Leamington regularly. I already have my spot on a couch in Leam where I'll be able to crash, so that's a start. Can't wait for the Walking Dead viewing sessions.

The first 2 weeks back has already been much more tiring and hectic than the same time last year. I can imagine that my 2nd year here will be way more pressuring and hectic considering that my scores now count and my additional responsibilities this year. Hopefully I will be able to cope with it.

Peace out.
YiJiun

Malaysian Education: What I Think

Recently, a few exam papers were leaked. This is actually not an unusual thing in Malaysia. The significance of the occurrence this time though, was that the exam papers that were leaked were UPSR exam papers. A public exam for 12-year-olds. Due to the leak, these poor kids will have to take the exams at a later date instead of enjoying the freedom of having no exams for the next few months. I know that I, for one, would be furious at the people who were responsible for the leak had I been affected by it.

ALL ABOUT THE A'S
The focus on getting A's is apparently more important than actually learning and working hard to achieve results. I think that this is just sad. Getting an A does mean something and is important. I will never say that getting A's are pointless and useless but many teachers (yes, teachers) and students do not understand the significance of actually getting an A in an exam.

A student getting an A in an exam signifies that he or she understands and has taken to heart the knowledge taught to him/her for that particular subject. It also signifies that the teacher has done his/her job. That is the point of taking an exam, isn't it?

Unfortunately, the meaning of taking an exam has been twisted so many ways that it no longer serves its purpose. Then again, what is the purpose of UPSR? It's purpose, if any, is to differentiate those who happen to be able to perform better academically at that particular age from those who aren't as academically inclined. This only serves to show the less academically-gifted a nice middle finger at a point in their lives when they barely even know what is going on in the world.

It is normal for secondary schools, especially in urban areas, to group Form 1 students into classes according to their UPSR results. Again, it only serves to tell the one group that they are better than the other. This really shouldn't be happening. Everyone is good at something and, really, at that age, no one student is actually better than the other.

WHAT IS REALLY WRONG
I am a product of the public school system. I've been through UPSR, PMR and SPM. Now, I am pursuing a degree in the UK. A common sight among Malaysian students (at least where I study) is the reluctance to speak up voluntarily during a discussion in class. I have seen Malaysian students who refuse to even speak when asked a question that they do not know the answer to or when asked for their views on a particular topic. Lecturers get frustrated by this. When lecturers ask questions, they rarely expect a perfect answer, yet that is what the Malaysian public school system has trained Malaysian students to do - to give a perfect answer.

In the race to obtain the most A's possible, many students have lost the ability to fail. To fail in school is to fail at life. At least, that is what is ingrained into so many students' brains nowadays. That is why many of my peers in university do not dare to speak up. The fear of being wrong is what that is preventing them from fulfilling their potential to learn.

Schools, colleges and universities give us the chance to fail and pick ourselves back up. The effects of failure in these environments are rarely permanent. Failure is inevitable. Everyone fails at some point of their life. In fact, lessons learnt through failure often stay with us throughout our lives. Yet, failure is the one thing that the education system is failing to address.

I am not saying that it is desirable to fail but learning to deal with failure when it happens is important. Being able to pick yourself back up after you fail is important. How many times have we heard teachers tell a student who failed that he/she has no hope? Not all teachers are like this, but unfortunately I have heard that "no hope" phrase coming out of a teachers' mouth too many times.

Is this what the education system is? A tool to sieve through the many students and select the elite few who are able to give the perfect answer?

MOVING FORWARD
The move towards school-based assessments is a step in the right direction. In fact, many of the initiatives laid out in the Education Blueprint are a step in the right direction but whether these plans work out, we can only wait and see. These things look good on paper but the way it is implemented is key. Remember PPSMI? No matter how many times it is claimed that Malaysia's education system is one of the best in the world, it is clear that the system needs to be updated.

MH17: Tragedy Again

Today I (and many others) woke up to terrible news. A Malaysian Airlines flight (MH17) went down in Ukraine. News reports claim that it was likely to have been shot down by surface-to-air missiles but it is currently unknown who fired them.

This is the second time in 6 months a Malaysian Airlines flight has been involved in an aviation catastrophe, the first being the MH370 incident (which still remains a mystery). I cannot help but feel sad for those who were affected by this tragic event. I read a post on Facebook about someone's sister being on the ill-fated MH17. I cannot imagine what he is going through and I really do feel bad for him even though I do not know him personally. To lose a loved one like this is just heartbreaking.

I have been scouring the Internet for the latest news on MH17 even though I have probably read all that there is about it so far. To be honest, I still cannot wrap my head around this tragedy. To shoot down a commercial airliner in this day and age? It is unthinkable. Yes, the aircraft was flying through troubled airspace but it was flying at 33000 feet in the air. Serious weaponry would be needed to take down an aircraft at that altitude. Previous incidents only involved low-flying aircraft and helicopters. That was why the airspace MH17 was flying through was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. In fact, there are reports claiming that there were other commercial airliners in nearby areas when MH17 was allegedly shot down.

While nothing has been confirmed yet, fingers are being pointed and people are placing blame on others. This is perfectly understandable considering the sudden nature of the event. A knee-jerk reaction. Many are pointing their finger at pro-Russian militants due to several deleted posts on social media and an intercepted message. If it was truly a missile attack which caused this incident (many news websites seem to believe it and report it as fact), then it was an act of ill intent whether or not MH17 was the target.

Human acts of terrorism isn't new. One only needs to look as far as the Gaza strip. The fact that people humans are voluntarily choosing to commit these acts of terrorism is terrifying. I constantly question whether they have a conscience. They willingly choose to commit an act which results in the death of many innocent people. How can somebody sleep peacefully at night knowing that they are responsible for the death of a person? Is there a justification to them that dehumanises their victims? I may never know.

It is a truly tragic day. My condolences go out to all those who are affected by this incident. No one should have to go through this. No one.

Deliberation

I have been home for about 3 weeks now and I'm still waiting for replies to my internship application, so I've been doing nothing important so far. My day usually consists of reading books, eating, sleeping and watching TV shows or movies on my laptop.

Of course, with all this free time, comes the inevitable thinking-about-the-bleak-future sessions. A couple days ago, I had a conversation with my friends about possibly switching courses. They were pretty supportive of it but I'm actually not too sure myself.

Currently, I'm doing a degree in Accounting and Finance. While that may not sound like a terribly interesting thing to study, what I've studied so far has actually been pretty interesting although I would welcome a bit more maths in the course. Even so, the course has opened my eyes in some aspects, though not always in terms of academics.

If I actually do switch courses, I would very likely do PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics). It's a course which I probably would have enrolled for had I known of it's existence before I applied for university. Anyway, the course has a nice amount of practical knowledge to impress future employers with combined with interesting brain-exercising stuff. It would certainly satisfy my desire to actually get to study philosophy and the need for me to have a practical degree which wouldn't look out of place in Malaysia.

After lots of thinking (courtesy of loads of free time), I decided that sticking with my current choice seems to be the best and most viable option. Why did I choose this course in the first place? Let's be honest, I'm not exactly doing this course for myself. I'm doing it mainly to appease my parents and assure them that I will graduate with a degree that will help me get a job after I graduate. Also, to a lesser extent is, I'm doing this as a backup plan in case what I really want to do can't support me in the long term. Taking that into consideration, I don't think that it is fair for me to waste more money on me getting a degree that I may not do very well in and one that will only serve the same purpose as the one that I am studying for now.

Signing off,
YiJiun

Home At Last

I am finally back home. Currently still jetlagged but I've been enjoying my time back home so far. I finally get to eat food that I've missed when I was in the UK.

Managed to meet up with my high school friends last Saturday and we had tons of fun hanging out and also playing Mission Q. It was nice to talk in Mandarin for a change. I was scared that I'd forgotten how to.

I'm actually pretty surprised at how much I'm missing my life in the UK. The hot weather in Malaysia sure isn't helping. Not including the weather though, I really miss the freedom I had in the UK and how easy it was to get around. I could just walk or take a bus but here I have to get around in a car. Also, the people I've met in university. I was so touched when my flatmates phoned me while I was waiting for my flight. I had wanted to say goodbye to them but I didn't see them around when I was leaving so I just left. Then, they saw my Instagram post and called me. They were so sweet. Really hope that our plans for next year work out (The Walking Dead viewing parties!!).

At this point, I really can't wait to go back to the UK. It's become some sort of second home to me. If possible, I would really like to have a home in UK and one in Malaysia so I can enjoy my 2 favourite places in the world. Then again, I may change my mind in the future but I really loved my time in the UK so far.

Week 38: Leaps of Faith

Time really flies. I'm currently spending the last few days of my first year of uni in UK. I have to say that my time here has exceeded expectations. I do still regret not sticking to my resolve to study in University of Bath instead of Warwick but I have really enjoyed my time at Warwick. I have met so many amazing people and done so many things that I would never have been able to do anywhere else.

The highlight of the year has to be my time playing in The Victor's Jig. This was the first time I've done this sort of thing and it was an amazing experience. Coming in second in Battle of the Bands was a huge plus. I did not think we had a chance after seeing the other bands perform but we pulled through. The semi final performance was lackluster and riddled with technical issues. Such a shame. Then in Term 3 we played 2 gigs including a big one at Kasbah. The gig at Kasbah just came together on so many levels and it's safe to say that we went out with a bang. Lead singer and current lead guitarist will be graduating this year, so we're disbanding and going our separate ways. It's such a shame. I feel that, as a band, we still have more to offer. I guess nothing lasts forever. Met great people and made good friends. This band has been good to me.

Glee was pretty unexpected. I honestly did not know what I was getting into when I signed up for it. I read about it online before I came to Warwick but I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. I'm happy that I took that leap of faith and joined. Highlight had to be the performance at the Dirty Duck during Unplucked. Again, I took a risk and sang a song which I literally wrote the day before the performance. The reception was pretty amazing. Now, I'm Head of Publicity for Glee. A job which, I have to be honest, is not exactly suited for me. I could have run for another post but I chose this one because I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and learn to do new things.

I have to say, Malaysian Night was nice but I'm not sure that I'd do it again. So much time was invested into practicing dikir nearly every night of Term 2. Thank god that all the hard work paid off. I remember my throat just giving out on the day of MNight. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to sing during the performance that I talked as little as possible during the day. While I thought that some parts of MNight could be improved, I guess that the team still proved that Warwick still has the best dikir team in UK.

Early this term, I decided that I wanted to get a part time job, so I decided to become a performance steward in the Arts Center. I have not done as many shifts as I would like to due to multiple commitments and exams but I have enjoyed the 2 shifts that I have done so far. Again, it is my first time doing a job like this but it has paid off.

I have found that I enjoy doing my course more that I thought I would before I came here. I like the challenge with the essay writing especially. Also, it helped that I got a ridiculously high mark for one of the 2 essays I had to write this year. I did not enjoy the exams. So stressful. I have to say, I worked quite hard compared to before and also because I wasn't exactly paying attention in lectures throughout the year. But to be honest, I worked hard more out of responsibility than actually wanting to do well. In A Levels, I actually worked hard because I wanted to excel and I enjoyed most of the subjects I did. While I did find some of the modules I studied in uni interesting, I didn't experience the same motivation to excel as I did in A Levels. Hopefully I did well enough to take home a first or at least a 2:1.

Socially, I think I've improved a lot, in terms of talking to complete strangers (alcohol always helps) and making new friends. I'm glad to say that I actually have made at least one best-friend-level friend here in university. This was something that caught me completely by surprise, mainly because so many people have told me how hard it is to actually make real friends in university. In addition to that, I've made really good friends with some of the locals and people from other countries. I guess that's the benefit of studying abroad. I was literally thrown into a group of complete strangers when I first came here and that forced me to come out of my shell more. Also, I actually promised myself that I will be more outgoing. I still suck at carrying conversations but that's just me. I'm glad that some people have managed to look past that and made the effort to actually get to know me. I hope that these friendships last because I actually have made some of the "real-est" friends here.

Overall, it's been a good 8 months. So many new experiences. I guess Warwick wasn't a bad decision after all. These 8 months have contained some of the best moments of my life, even though there has been some really low lows as well (CNY incident). Anyway, as much as I enjoy being here, I miss home as well. I miss the food and the people back home so much. I usually do not look forward to long flights but this time, I'm looking forward to the flight home. Deciding to come her was a big step for me. I could have taken the easy road, study in Malaysia, take on the deal with my parents but in the end, that would only have ended up in me making money. Coming here, I've gained so much more. I'm looking forward to 2nd year. I really am.

Signing off,
Jiun

Week 35 to 37: End of First Year (Almost)

I have been so busy and stressed with exams that I haven't been updating my blog as often as I'd have liked to. Well, if I had, it would have been short ones about how stressed I was anyway. So I guess that's a good thing. Haha.

Anyway, exams are finally over. Some exams were pretty hard, some were okay but overall, it was fine. Hopefully. Results will be out around my birthday. Hope that it'll be good.

Big event. I played a gig at Kasbah with my band on Friday. It was pretty amazing. I enjoyed myself so much (thanks in part to free beer). The crowd was pretty receptive. Of course, it was also thanks to my awesome flatmates who were dancing around and cheering which was really nice of them. Also, a guy came up to me after the gig and said that I was awesome on stage. Really made my day.

This is the reason why I'm still pursuing music even though I know my family is against it. I do it because I love to see people react to the performance. It really motivates me when people like the performance and actually tell me they like it. There's something about a total stranger telling you that they liked what you did (it helps that they are good looking too - self-esteem boost haha). Of course, I've had my share of below par performances but it just drives me to become better at what I do.

It really is such a shame that my current band is disbanding after this. I feel like we have a really good thing going on here. The chemistry between us really has been amazing. I guess nothing lasts forever. It really has been an amazing experience in university. Meeting these amazing people and playing music. I've learn't so much.

Aim for next academic year is to form a new band with me fronting it, hopefully. I've played keys for the past year and I think I can front a band. I think.

Next week's post is going to be a proper reflection on my first year in university and my first time living away from home. The past 8 months have been good to me. It really has.

Signing off,
YiJiun