[12]

Out of utter boredom and complete unwillingness to get on with my theory homework, here I am again! School has been exciting so far; I like the freedom and having to take charge of my own learning. Not that I'm succeeding in my resolution to be a mugger. Maybe I will become one after I get all my textbooks, hahah.
I know I just said that I like being responsible for my stuff, but at the same time I kind of miss how everything is readied for us like in secondary school or JC. There weren't so many decisions to make then. You choose your subjects, and the timetabling committee takes care of the rest. No hard choices like which module to choose, how many points to use to bid for it, which lecture/tutorial session to go for, the list goes on.

My classes have been okay so far, I guess. Early mornings (i.e. lecture at 0800h) aren't much of a problem, though I admit I dozed off for a minute during Organic Chemistry. (Sidetrack: many thanks to Weekeat who woke me up, hahah.) I have more of a problem with the contents of certain subjects, especially the Economics module.
Some divine intervention is definitely needed here.
Sure, there're people I can go to for help, but I don't really want to keep bothering them. It took me one whole day and 3 OG mates to understand what on earth the principle of marginal benefit/cost was about. And that's only the first lecture, second principle. There're about thirteen weeks to go before this semester finishes. Can you imagine how the rest of the term will go?

I'm still not quite used to having two 2-hour lectures back-to-back. Four hours of sitting down and taking notes and listening attentively does help us to expend a lot of energy, mainly through trying to keep awake. Hahah. It reminds me of those days when I was in JC 1 and trying not to fall asleep during choir rehearsals. (Now that I think about it, rehearsals were good training for sitting still/not talking/staying awake for like, 5 hours at a time. Very useful.)

Biodiversity is my favourite module this term. Today we just had a field trip to Kent Ridge, and well, it was fun. (The not-so-fun part came when the field trip ended and we had a test that counts towards our grades. Gosh, it's only the first week of school! Worse still, the test had an essay component.) I do like walking around looking at nature, even if the weather was insanely hot. The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (aiyah, I can't remember the exact name; it's really very long) is a cool place, literally and figuratively. Some of the exhibits are a bit freaky, but it was interesting. Next time there's an outing, we should go there!

Literature is the other module that I'm slightly worried about, 'cause I'm really out-of-touch with all the Lit. stuff. The last time I had any formal encounter with Lit. was in secondary school, and I got C6 for my combined humanities. Not very promising huh.
The good thing is, the lecturers said that there's no need to have prior knowledge, and that people might even have to unlearn some of the things they picked up in secondary school/JC. So hopefully everything will turn out fine even though I'm not essay-inclined.
At least the texts seem rather exciting. I can't wait to study Shakespeare's The Tempest. We're even going to do a film text, which is all new and fine and dandy.
The other thing I like about this module is that the lecturers all sound like angels. Sitting in the LT, it felt like we were listening to music. It was such a pleasure to hear them talk, hahah.

More than once in a while, we get lecturers who don't speak coherently/don't know how to use the microphone properly/mumble their way through, and then following the lecture gets kind of tough. Listening is already difficult enough without having to deal with these problems. (Yeah, my audio skills are poor. Enough said.)

My only conclusion: it's a time for new challenges.
I won't say that I've been stepping out of my comfort zone, 'cause to do so would be like... joining a sports CCA. I know my limitations, okay. Trying new things has been fun, and the company has been great. (The only bad things are finding out certain things that I never wanted to know, for example, that in secondary school, senior guys actually ogle at cute junior girls. Like, eew much?) To a certain extent, it's better than my JC days, when it felt like I didn't particularly fit in. Or maybe it just stems from being more comfortable in my own skin.

Whatever it is, I'm happy.
And I'll be happier if all my tutorial/laboratory slots go through and I have Wednesdays free!