University Life Updates

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamualaikum.

It is a fine weather today and I hope you are having a wonderful day. I just got back from a morning walk around the university area. I am still not familiar with the places here and I can’t even give directions to people. Every time the passers-by or foreigners asked me for directions, I would tell them that I’m new here. I am not helping at all. I think I’ll need some more time to memorize the roads.

So, what’s up with my university life? For some of you who still don’t have a clue, I’m currently pursuing the Management course. People say that management is the second toughest course here other than the HBP (Housing, Building and Planning) course. I’m not sure if it’s true. I’m still in the early stage here, but I have already barely caught up things. Once, I entered a lecture class and ended up not understand a single thing. It’s tough especially for those without economic and accounting basics. Let me share with you some of the university courses that I’m pursuing. I took seven subjects for this first semester which are Microeconomics, Introduction to Management, Financial Accounting, Business Communication, Business Statistics, Academic English and Hubungan Etnik. Everything is in English except for Hubungan Etnik. Can you imagine the culture shock I’m receiving right now? Haha.

My friends always told me that I’m lucky because I’m good in English. Truth is, I’m also struggling sometimes. I’m not that good in English. I make grammatical mistakes and there are so many English terms that I can’t understand too. I tried to read the text books and ended up closing them in less than an hour. I still can’t catch up with any momentum yet. So yeah, that is one of the struggles I’m having right now.

The other struggle being a student here is to collect the ‘My Continuous Student Development’ points which is also known as MyCSD. We need to collect these points to guarantee our stay in the hostel for the next semester. Therefore, everything has become competitive. Students compete to join various clubs, activities and program to collect the points. Well, I’m also one of them I guess. I’m not really interested in joining the uniform units such as PALAPES and SUKSIS. They are some of the most active associations in the university which provides a lot of CSD and a guarantee for stay. So I think I’m quite in a trouble right now.

Instead of joining the uniform units, I tried my luck on some big events such as Variasiswa and Convex (Convocation Expo). I went to the interviews but still haven’t got any news about the results yet. Variasiswa is a big event between the hostels. It’s something like the American Got Talent thing but in form of groups (hostel representatives). I’m not really sure about joining the team because Variasiswa is not my thing. Meanwhile, Convex is also a big annual event here which provides a lot of MyCSD. A lot of MyCSD also means a lot of competition. Can you imagine I have to wait in lines for the interview? And the candidates are people with great talents! You cannot imagine how I feel while waiting for my turn. It’s a torture, guys.

Besides those events, I also tried an interview to join the Management committee. Once again, it is very competitive. I think I forgot to mention that majority Management students are Chinese. Then of course it will be one hell of a competition for the spots because Chinese are definitely diligent and responsible. Not being a racist here but it’s just a reflection of my thoughts. But I’m not going to back up either. Haha. I think we need to expose ourselves into something new instead of thinking that ‘I cannot do it’ and stuff. If we keep saying that we cannot do it, then we will forever be a naysayer to our self.

And guess what? Alhamdulillah, yesterday I received a message from the Management committee saying that I was accepted to be a representative!

I was quite shocked because I think I did not do well in the interview. That Management committee interview is the second interview that I have ever attended after the Convex interview. I’ve never been to any interviews before because interviews are not my thing. I rather not get accepted to anything instead of attending interviews. Yup, I’m that type of person. But that principle has changed as soon as I became a student here. In university, you need to attend interviews to actually gain something in your life. Gosh, university life is a tough one!

So yeah, I’ll attend my first meeting as a Management representative this Monday. It is my first task ever here. I know I’ll be busy with the society afterwards, but I’m not going to neglect my studies, insya Allah. Studying has got to be my priority, because it is an important jihad. Everything else comes second. I’m excited to do something new and create new memories here. I’m so looking forward to the adventure!

Wish me luck, guys. Have a nice day.

A normal sight here