My first week in USM...

Hey there!
Salam...

On the 3rd of July, I stepped foot into USM grounds for the first time ever!
It was a bit of an overwhelming experience, as it meant that I will be starting Uni life soon enough. But as soon as I stepped into my new dorm (better than the room I had in LMC) and got acquainted with my new roommate, Ameera (who's such a nice and cool KL gal!), all of my nerves were calmed. I even didn't get upset when my parents announced that they were going back to the hotel to sign out and wait for their flight to KL (to visit my cousin before going back to KK). I guess one hellistic year in LMC can mature a person a lot. :P

Orientation was alright...it was better than the orientation I had during my first week in LMC. Now THAT was hell...truly. In USM, they let us do most things by ourselves, except the whole gathering to go to events and stuff, which is really fine to me. I was so thankful that they let us pray by ourselves and not solat berjemaah, because during my orientation week in LMC, that part was what partly made the whole experience unbearable. Because you have to wait for other people and wake up and rush just so you don't lag behind everyone else. But, my Desasiswa, Tekun, which is located in the Restu, Saujana, Tekun (RST), living complex, is a gazillion miles away from the main campus buildings. You have to go through a connecting bridge as RST was built across a main public road.

Most of the events held during orientation week were located in DTSP, which is short for Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra. It's about 30-40 minute walk from RST, and as most of us new students bought new pairs of shoes to commemorate our entrance into this APEX Uni...most of us ended up with blistered heels...OUCH...so much for Scholl padded heel liners...what a waste of RM10.90.

The worst part of it is, my school, which is the School of Languages, Literacies and Transalation (SoLLaT), is located even further away from RST! It takes about nearly an hour if you take your own street time trekking. Damn the hill climb too. The only thing that kept me from falling on my butt was me thinking to myself, "If you keep this up, you'll have firmer butt and thighs Farhana." But I do hope the buses will start actively operating soon.

Oh yeah, for your information, I am taking the English for Professionals course (which is NOT TESL by the way), and I'm hoping to minor in Japanese Language. Wish me all the best!!!


Peace.