it's exam week but what the hell

Guess what I'll be doing this winter break?

Cancelling my plan to go to Christchurch! I'm going to use this baby of mine!

FINALLY AFTER WAITING FOR 2 YEARS

And guess what I'll be sewing?

A freakin lolita JSK of course!

But that depends, really, because I'm yet to find affordable fabric (average price here is $20/metre, back in Malaysia I can get 4 metres of awesome floral printed cotton with $20 you know???). Will probably spend $100 worth of taxpayers' money to complete this project, hahaha.

Loli project will have to wait till I finish my exam, though. CELS this Monday, Chem on Wednesday, Physics on Friday (kenapa killer subject mesti last sekali???) and then it's FUN FUN FUN FUN LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WEEKEND

I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL NOW REBECCA

p/s: I'm staying up to study for CELS (teh horror!) and look what I found amidst tons of lecture handouts. Hahaha!

Fangirling is okay (Philosopher, 2011)

Pray for me, please. As much as I love pharmtox, I don't want to go through the whole contract signing processes again should I fail Health Sciences First Year. Need to get an average of B. That's difficult man, considering I have ADD (lol!) and can't sit on my desk studying for hours without being distracted by the thoughts of spinning poi. Really hope I can get at least one A and no C. A+ sounds better though.

See you in a week's time!

Alice

dunedin

Hi! Sorry for the long absence. 16 February was my departure date, and I haven't been able to be online until yesterday. No free WiFi here apart from the uni connection, so while waiting for our connections to set up (which, we initially thought, would miraculously set up on its own without us needing to do something about it) I basically spend the whole day going thrift shopping around Dunedin, and watching back-to-back Fringe episodes at night - all the while trying not to freeze myself to death of course.

So yeah, so far Dunedin is lovely. Very lovely, in fact, far beyond my expectations. If you're wondering, I was expecting Dunedin to be some sort of a boring countryside with no proper places to do my favourite activity (read: shopping). Way to go for not doing my homework before flying haha. Turns out Dunedin is a shopping paradise, in a way - God knows how much money I have spent buying thrift store items, gadgets at student prices/Mydin prices (Lava lamp for NZD 15! 3-in-1 printer for NZD 39! 1TB external hard disk for NZD 95! Brother sewing machine for NZD 189! Oh wait, I didn't buy that sewing machine, it's in my wishlist. Must. Stop. Compulsive. Buying.), food items, stuffs from Kmart, etc. Some of them are even cheaper that the ones I could get at Malaysia! (Side note: well ah of course when you convert the prices, they're more or less the same, but remember Miss Ain's Golden Rule: Jangan convert nanti takleh hidup!) Halal meals are also very easy to find here, so dining will not be that much of a problem (we cook for ourselves, so yeah. Halal foodstuffs are everywhere).

Contoh masakan halal yang sedap lagi awesome.

I live in a residential college, the lovely Toroa College, which is awesome to the max (despite my previous whines about that RM7000 thingie. But yeah, worth RM7000 I tell you!). I get to live with Amal, Alia, Linda and Hannan, which makes living here much easier since we've known each other long enough already. Downstairs, we have 3 other Malaysian students - Michelle, Elfira and Felicia, so it's easier for our seniors and JPA officers as well when it comes to settling scholarship/ Malaysian student-related things with us. And oh, we're also under the care of a Malaysian RA, Sim. Not to mention the very caring Malaysian seniors living nearby. We're lucky like that.

My flatmates

Our very lovely house. We live upstairs.

My room also happened to be the most regularly shaped in the house, if not the biggest (lol). It's a very cozy room, and I get to decorate it as psychedelic as I could :P

door is decorated for Toroa College's Pimp My Door comp so haha!

room is big enough for me to be happy :D

I just have to put em here! XP (note the pharmtox info sheet on the left)

Since we don't have much activities this week apart from the English diagnostics test, preliminary lectures and the orientation activities this weekend, we spent the last few days doing, um, what else but tourist activities! Take lots of pictures! XD

The roses are very awesome here btw. Macam bunga kertas kat Malaysia. They're everywhere.

Psychedelic-wise, I haven't mingled with the people here that much so I don't really know much about psy culture here. As far as I could observe, people here LOVE dubstep. And alcohol - alcohol is a very serious problem here in Dunedin. The university, however, has a club named The Shamanic Circle which, as the name suggests, does shamanic things in sacred places surrounded by candles etc. May also include lucid dreaming, astral projection/OOBE, technoshamanism and getting Shpongled. Sounds highly awesome, but I doubt it'll be good for my faith here. I am, after all, still a Muslim.

There's a strong cannabis culture here as well, headlined by the uni's own NORML movement. Not that I'm remotely interested, but yeah, like I mentioned before (not here I guess, it's somewhere in my MINDS debate notes on legalizing pot) these dudes are like our cousin because marijuana is a mild psychedelic, and, er, so there. Thanks to this, there's a cool shop on George Street named Cosmic Corner, a strong supporter of cannabis legalization, which also sells Salvia. Gosh, Salvia FGS.

Psychedelic, albeit not psy enough for me. But they do have Salvia *emphasis on Salvia*

Haha, enough with the psychedelic babbles. So far, I'm loving Dunedin already, but classes haven't started yet so I can't really say much. Homesickness may come later this year, when I was up to my ears with academic stuffs. But till then, I think I wanna enjoy a little bit more. Off to Botanical Gardens tomorrow! Shoot, got English diagnostics test. Will write more elaborately on my next entry, Insya-Allah. Bye for now!

And no, I am not going to buy those Salvia, if you're wondering.

Alice

16 February

GAHHHHHHHHH

My days here are numbered. Less than a week before I'm off to Dunedin.

Yup, you heard me right. Less than a week, which means my flight won't be on the 19th as expected. It's a long story, but suffice to say that you should never EVER believe in hypes even when they come from a slideshow presented by MAS.

pic stolen from Aisyah. To clarify, the date shown says '19 Feb'

Right now I'm in a constant state of panic. I have only bought a few essential items for my journey to Dunedin, because I thought what the hell, I've got plenty of time more to do shopping. I'm awesome like that, see. Must go invade Giant tomorrow. And Landmark IT Mall also. Don't want to be caught using pirated Microsoft Office at NZ, no?

Of course, this latest news triggered screams of frustration by many an INTECian going to Otago (save for a few overzealous types, but I won't name names here although they don't read my blog), but well, there's no point grumbling really. JPA said it's 16 February, and that's it. 16 February would it be. Doesn't matter if your parents can't get a day off, your relatives can't come and send you to the airport, your former crush can't say goodbye to you on that day, etc. Haish.

And wow, lesser time in Malaysia. I know 3 days won't make that much of a difference (since I spend my day sleeping and wake up hoping that the day will end faster so that I can sleep more. Can't help it, I'm practicing :P) but tsk. 3 less days to spend with my parents and bros, 3 less days to spend some quiet time in my beloved cramped space of a bedroom, 3 less days to feel the warmth of the blazing JB sun, 3 less days for afternoon naps (lolwut?). Wow. Quick, give me time dilation stuff! (read:pot)

But then again, everything is fated by God. He knows what's best for us. Flying on the 16th is not that bad really, since we could make it in time for the course enrollment stuffs and orientation programs. And more time to settle down before class starts. That's good, that's good.

So yes, we plan and Allah plans too. But Allah's plans are better than ours, so be grateful! (bunyik pelik oh, aku direct translate ni ha)

See you at Dunny!

Alice

nak study kat new zealand? edited version

A collection of infos I obtained from Southern Gathering. Many thanks to the seniors from AUSIS for giving us valuable infos and guidances :D

ETA: Mintak maaf, info yang diberi di sini banyak misleading, so aku yang dah tiba Dunny ni edit sikit2. Maybe silap time ambik nota, or kekeliruan masa bual2 dengan senior etc. Sekali lagi, mintak maaf sekiranya entry ini menimbulkan kekeliruan. Dengan ini saya mempersembahkan the edited version!

Part 1: Benda-benda kena beli/bawak

• Sesiapa yang guna OS/ Microsoft Office yang tak ori, sila beli yang ori before fly untuk mengelakkan complications kot-kot dia check. Tak perlu pun, diorang tak cek. Tapi untuk meningkatkan keberkatan boleh je beli ori.

• Bawak tudung, brooch, pakaian muslimah (blouse labuh ke, T-shirt panjang ke), handsocks, scarf, anak tudung Syria etc secukupnya dari Malaysia, buat bekalan. Kat sana susah nak dapat benda-benda macam ni, kalau ada pun mahal. <--- yang ni betul. Aku tak cukup tudung wuwuwu

• Kalau nak, boleh bawak baju kurung 3-4 pasang kasi pakai dalam kelas bagi Mat Saleh jelly. Dan memandangkan kita konfem raya kat sana, bawak la baju raya barang sepasang dua, boleh bergambar masuk Salam Perantau kan.

• For girls, pad beli banyak sikit kat sini. Unless korang nak pakai tampons kat sana (ade je pad kat sana, tapi tampons lagi berleluasa la. Pad kat sana tu kira taraf tampons kat sini la kot). Tak perlu beli banyak-banyak dari Malaysia, buat berat luggage aje. Sini ada jual pad, kat convenience store pun ada. Bawaklah sebungkus aje just in case.

• Disebabkan kat sana selalu hujan renyai-renyai, adalah dinasihatkan supaya anda membeli sweater kalis air. Nak bawak payung no hal, tapi kalau taraf payung Malaysia ni tahan sehari je la coz kat sana angin kuat dan Insya-Allah payung anda akan diterbalikkan dek wind force. Kalau insist jugak nak guna payung, beli kat sana (mahal gel tapi tahan lama) or bawak payung pasar tani yang gedabak tu. Tipu sini payung mahal. Aku dapat kat Kmart $1 je. Dan angin takdela se-horror yang disangka, orang sini pakai je payung macam kat Malaysia.

• Untuk mengelakkan episod mengidam makanan Malaysia yang sedap lagi menjilat jari, sila bawak serbuk kari, rempah-rempah, perencah siap, asam keeping, asam jawa, cili boh, kiub pati ayam etc. Tapi make sure diorang dipacking dalam packaging yang ada list ingredients, kalau tak kena buang.

• Sesiapa yang ada medical conditions yang memerlukan korang makan ubat regularly (coughrhinitiscough), bawaklah bekalan ubat sebanyak yang boleh. Tapi for prescription drugs yang agak bahaya e.g. codeine kena dapat pengesahan bertulis something from your doc la (cakap je kat doc tu pandai-pandai la dia). Benda-benda OTC macam Panadol tak payah. Cetirizine pun tak payah, buat kena gelak je dengan doktor.

• Beli kasut siap-siap kat Malaysia sebab kat sana tak best dan mahal. Better beli kasut bertutup, preferably sneakers yang mempunyai cengkaman yang awesome sebab kat sana jalan selalu ada frost so boleh senang-senang ice skating kalau pakai kasut tapak haus. Dude, tak perlu. Kasut sini MURAH KOT. Beli sini aje. Nak lagi murah beli kat thrift shop. Boots harga RM70 boleh senang2 dapat $10 kat sini.

• Cakap pasal tak best, stationeries seperti kertas kajang, kertas A4, pen etc pun better beli siap-siap kat sini. Mereka sangat mementingkan environment tak macam kita so kertas kat sana ialah kertas recycle yang kuning dan tak best. Beli la barang 450 helai punya set tu, kang bawak banyak-banyak terlebih kg. Pengajaran yang paling berguna: JANGAN BAWAK KERTAS A4 BANYAK-BANYAK DARI MALAYSIA. Buat penuh luggage aje. Kertas sini sama je dengan macam kat Malaysia. Aku siap jumpa test pad Made in Malaysia kot.

• Sila bawak extension dari sini. Dan jangan lupa beli universal adaptor. Adaptor boleh didapati di mana-mana kedai/mall aksesori komputer seperti Low Yat, Landmark IT Mall, Digital Mall dan IT floor di Plaza Alam Sentral semurah RM8 sebijik (yang spesifik untuk Aussie/ NZ punya, tapi takde surge protector) atau RM14 sebijik (for universal punya, ada surge protector). Tak payah beli yang mahal-mahal, yang tu lagi prone rosak. Lagipun kalau rosak yang murah tu korang boleh beli baru dengan harga 2 dollar je kat sana.

• Bawak eye mo, losyen kulit, lip balm etc. <--- Boleh dapat kat sini

• Sesiapa pakai spek sila buat spek extra sebab spek kat sana mahal gila babas.

• Sesiapa yang gigi berlubang tak cabut-cabut macam aku pun sila cabut siap-siap sebab rawatan gigi kat sana mahal dan insurans tak cover. Insurans boleh cover, tak perlu risau. Bab cabut n tampal n wisdom tooth procedure boleh aje. Yang tak boleh kalau korang gedik-gedik buat cosmetic surgery tu je.

• Bawaklah shower foam or syampu siap-siap dari sini (tapi takleh bawak banyak-banyak suka hati korang nanti tak lepas – sila cek nanti okeh). Kalau korang pakai pencuci muka Safi atau Shurah dan tak boleh pakai pencuci muka jenama lain pun boleh jugak beli bekalan siap-siap. Kat sana ada jenama international je la. Sini barang2 camtu murah, so tak payah bawak banyak-banyak. Kalau kat Malaysia St Ives mahal nak mampus, sini murah tahap gaban. Hair products jenama Schwarzkopf boleh dapat $4 je kot kat sini.

Sebagai kesimpulan, ingatlah rule of thumb ini: bawak benda yang korang rasa orang kat sini tak pakai je (e.g. barang muslimah, rempah ratus Malaysia). Tipu la orang sini tak pakai payung, kasut, shower foam, baju sejuk etc kan. Perlu juga diingat: JANGAN CONVERT CURRENCY!

one heck of a week

If you noticed, my posts tend to be despairing lately. Hormones [driven by Subconscious] are that bad.Anyways it has been yet another eventful week, though not as eventful as the most eventful week in my AUSMAT life (repetitions are awesome). For some reasons I got my supply of BloggerBooster pills back, and decided that it would be best to post weekly entries that summarise the whole seven days than waiting for 'eventful' things to happen. I doubt I can make it, but yeah, we'll see. Won't be as awesomely frequent (and overly popular) as Bie's, but at least I can try to revive my vegetative blog. Vegetative, as in PVS.

I had my Maths statistics quiz this week. When you're in AUSMAT it's natural to have quizzes or tests every week. Thanks to my tendency to doze off in every class I attend, I couldn't really take note of what I've learnt about normal distribution. And being me, I didn't put any extra effort to ensure that I really understand the topic ("ala, statistics senang je kot, apela sangat, dulu aku selalu dapat full mark ape"). So the consequences are nasty. I prefer not to disclose the results here, but suffice to say that I need to stop being overtly confident about my capabilities in statistics after this. And maybe try to gobble down more stimulants. People should make arguments about legalising amphetamines rather than maryjanes (for the uninitiated: marijuana). No, I don't take any of those. DMT in my brain is sufficient.

I also received the results of my Otago interview (forgot to blog about it). Alhamdulillah, I passed it. Was dang worried about it before, mainly because I am skeptical of my ability during the interview with Dr. Brunton and [immensely gorgeous Dean of Pharmacy] Prof. Duffull. When you have difficulties pronouncing simple words and have lack of coherence during verbal communications, you definitely have all the rights to be paranoid when it comes to interviews. But I prayed, and let God determine what's best for me. And thank God I managed to pass. Anywho, passing the interview only means that I have passed the first stage. There will be two more stages to come; the dreaded SACE exam and Health Sciences First Year ("If you don't take Physics during your Year 12, you will find PHSI 191 Biological Physics very challenging" - Ms. Carol). Hope I am able to make it through all of them, for the sake of my parents (not to forget taxpayers :P). It is sad to know that some of my friends did not pass the interview, but I believe that they will get something even better after this (like what happened to my batchmates after

SPM - those who did not get straight A1's are the ones who leave Malaysia first; those who do are stuck in INTEC for 1.5 years to 2 years lol). And oh, giving false hope is BAD. Leana, fight for your rights, they need to find a place for you to study, it's their fault anyway.

Malay In-Depth Studies presentation was disappointing. You'd think I can do waaaaaay better since Malay is my first language. But I didn't, apparently. Bad communication skills are terrible. Did something about stigma and discrimination among schizophrenia patients, and made a very good job in portraying a schizophrenia patient in front of my classmates (through obvious agitation and actions suggesting 'stage fright'). Brilliant indeed. Of course I can talk, but I don't know how to organize my points when talking. Everything became jumbled up as soon as I start talking. It's depressing.

On a lighter note, I graduated! It's freaky to graduate before the big SACE exam, but INTEC decided that we can graduate with MEP and Russian students in a single ceremony (don't know why) so there we go, the AUSMAT graduating class of 2010 :D

Aaand I just finished reading a new book - A Case of Need by my beloved J. Michael Crichton, M.D. (RIP), the director of the medical series ER, director of awesome movies such as Jurassic Park and Twister, and author of numerous medical/scientific thrillers. I am always a fan of Crichton; I knew him through The Andromeda Strain, that epic novel illustrating the horrors of disease-yielding supermicrobes. Being a person obsessed with diseases and medicines and the sciences, Crichton's novels are my absolute cup of tea. He had visions of the future that are vivid and highly realistic, which are portrayed through his writings (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Next, Prey, among others). I always love how he included charts and graphs and images to further illustrate the issues he was featuring in his novels. And I love how he was able to blend medical or scientific facts with intense plots seamlessly, without appearing too tacky or being 'I-wanna-explain-everything-because-you-guys-are-morons'. It's a pity that he died in 2008 though; never once did I ever feel disappointed reading his novels. A Case of Need features issues concerning abortion; a quest of a pathologist to find the person behind a fatal medical malpractice. Reading the novel is like reading an immensely interesting medical textbook; he included lots of new informations embedded within descriptions of fast-paced actions. The fact that he wrote the novel shortly after he finished his medical internship (in 1968!) is just plain awesome. Five stars for classic Crichton. Gotta buy more of his medical thrillers - I heard that The Terminal Man is also great.

Ha, epic post is epic. Datin Minda asks us to write a journal to improve our writing skills, but since I am not very keen on keeping journals and updating regularly, I think writing in my blog will do. So there, till next week. I'll have my ESLS tutorials next week, and another Chemistry quiz. Ah...AUSMAT. You gotta love it. Till next time.

Alice. I got my Lolita coords Tumblr'd.

I'm posting for the sake of updating

It's lame, I know. But somehow I can't find any willpower to write anything here. Of course, there are loads of things to write, like how I purchased my dearest Baby the Stars Shine Bright shirring JSK (will write about it. It's in the draft list.), or how I spent my whole 1 month of holiday doing nothing but making and selling kuih so that I am able to buy the aforementioned Baby, or how I was slightly disappointed with my Sem 2 results, or how I was devastated upon hearing the news that this year's admission to University of Otago's Health Science First Year foundation will be much tougher than before, or how I felt about the current rage over Muslim lolitas. Yes, there are lots of things to write. There are also lots of other more important things to write, i.e. my Biology Human Awareness Essay, ESLS Investigative Studies final draft, Malay In-Depth Studies essay, 3 essays for Otago admission...the list goes on. That's why I don't write much these days. Essays and reports and whatnots engulfed me. Can't run away, uh.

(Before you start, please don't compare me to other fellow AUSMAT bloggers. Humans have different capabilities, and even in the blogosphere, this has no exception.)

Anywho, I am still going to update my blog from time to time. Time to time may range from days to weeks to even years. I have lots of things to write, but let me find my time first. Maybe I should cut my time lurking on egl/egl-related communities. Before I get obsessed with egl, I always find some time to update my blog. Ha.

By the way, I'm going to have my Otago interview at the end of this month. Hope I'll pass it, else I'll be doomed. Doomed as in not able to further my studies overseas. That's a catastrophe, considering that almost everybody in my neighbourhood knew that "anak Rosidah nak pergi New Zealand tahun depan weh!". Gah seram.

Haha. See you later. And welcome, dear new followers. :D