Countless offer letters, many calls from various tertiary education institutions. One after another, I had to respond to those calls. And I actually started receiving letters like my dad every day during the holiday. And I'll take a look and most of the times, just put it away.
I got an offer to do a matriculation program in Malacca and Diploma in civil Engineering in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn (IPTA). I had applied for 2 scholarships and even got a response from them. The Axiata company didn't want to offer me their scholarship after they knew that I was getting a scholarship from the government. The Ministry of Education of Singapore asked me to go for a test for the Asean Scholarship.
They sound like nice offers but they do have their pros and cons. So, in the end I chose the scholarship from the government, which was the safest choice to make. The government wanted us (scholars) to choose the course that we wanted to do, whether it was matriculation, A-Levels, International Baccalaureate, foundation or Form 6. As soon as the government made their announcement of the Bursary Programme, I knew which choice I would make.
It was like the dawn of a new era. I sat on one of the benches early in the morning on the first day thinking about my new life. How the people and the environment will be so different. No more crazy friends, time to grow up and how I'll have to live differently after this.
I met a few ex-class and school mates before my first day in Taylor's College was about to begin. I got to meet up with my close friends who were studying there as well. The day continued with the orientation programme.
I got my class on the same day. My class teacher seemed like a very nice person. Then, we had an ice-breaking game. All my classmates sat in a circle. Then, one person had to start by saying their own name. Then, the next person had to say his/her name and the name of the first person. Then, the third person would have to say his/her name, followed by the second and first person's name. And it just continued until the last person who had to say his/her name followed by the names of everyone before him/her. That game was fun.
The orientation continued in the Multi-Purpose Hall after that brief ice-breaking session. I really missed school that day. It was an unexplainable feeling that I hated the A-Levels course that I had chosen to take. The teachers were kind of like scaring us about the course.
It was like a culture shock. Things were just so different from school. So many new faces. I had only 3 or so friends taking the same course and on the same intake, something that I'm really not used to as I've always had many friends around me. Questions like "did I make the right choice" and "should I have just taken Form6" kept propping up in my head. I went back home a very unsatisfied and slightly dejected person that day.
Day 2 of orientation was slightly better. We were introduced to the differences that we would face in college compared to school. All I was hearing was stuff like "SPM is over", "you have to study yourself a lot", "you have to be independent" and "They (subjects) will be difficult". It was kinda demotivating listening to stuff like that without friends to crack up a few jokes in between. However, I went back home feeling slightly better that day, for reasons even I don't know.
Day 3 was kinda fun. People from the Student Development Centre had an ice-breaking game for us. It was called the toothpick game. Each on of us got one-third of a stick (which was as thick as a satay stick). We were supposed to find a partner, hold that stick vertically between the thumb and pointer-finger and push it against the stick of your partner to see whose stick breaks first.
Before the "stick war", we had to introduce ourselves and find out more about the partner. So, me being the naughty boy I love to be, wanted to use this opportunity to meet some new hot girls. I already had a target in mind but I was going to just introduce myself to any one of the hot girls. Coincidentally, when I was making my way down the hall the 'target girl' turned around and was facing me.
So, I just introduced myself to her and she did the same in return. We had our "stick war" after that. When one of our sticks broke, both our sticks fell to the ground. We didn't know whose stick actually broke. So, I decided that one hot girls was going to be enough and gave the unbroken stick to her so that she could go and meet other people. The rule was that if your stick broke, you have to get back to your place and the last one standing with the unbroken stick would win. Whatever I did was just for fun as I knew that it was a good chance to get to know people. I knew that I might never even talk to that girl again. So, it was a one-off thing...:P
Day 4 was mainly about university placement and the requirements. Some of the staff gave speeches about applying for universities and the need to take IELTS or TOEFL. At the end of the day, we had to write a short essay for evaluation by the English Placement Test Centre. My brains were pretty rusty but I still managed to come up with something to write.
Day 5 was the day we were to get our real classes. Many students had opted to change their subject combination. So, timetables had to be changed and some students had to be placed in different classes. I remained in the same class.
I've made quite a number of new friends. They are from all over Malaysia. I even have 2 friends from Korea. I'm sitting right at the back of the class (my preferred peaceful place). It's de ja vu as my friends around me like to converse in Mandarin. I've been used to it since secondary school so I was fine with it. Their quite friendly as well.
There are quite a number of impressive facilities in Taylor's College. There's a University Placement Centre to help students to get information and to apply to universities abroad. There's also a gymnasium (although not very nice), dance studio, music chamber, The Web (Internet cafe) and quiet study rooms. The most impressive thing about the college is that the whole campus has Wi-Fi.
Things started off pretty badly but I think I'm settling in slowly. I usually take time to settle into a new environment. I've still not been able to grasp the idea that I'm all so grown up and have to do so many things differently. My heart still feels a lot warmer when I think of my school life......
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