From High School to College-The Transition

The few months leading up to my high school graduation were filled with vigour-I was just so eager to graduate and enter college. I started doing my research, applying for scholarships etc. I guess I wanted a change in environment ( and the liberty to choose the subjects I was taking ). Towards the end, yes, you get that typical sad-to-leave, will-miss-my-friends scenario. However, very surprisingly, after SPM, the eagerness to enter college sort of diminished. In fact, it was slowly replaced by worries, of whether or not I would be able to make new friends or just manage to take care of myself in a totally strange, new environment. Yet, the first day of college life told me those worries were very much unnecessary. Within the past few months, I've had my best days, many of those I haven't had in a long time. Still, it has been very different from my high school days.

First of all, it was my first time away from home, being a penangite studying in KL. That involves everything from cleaning to getting groceries and most of all, cooking my own meals. I was very lucky to be able to rent a room that allows me to cook, but my cooking skills were limited to fried rice, fried egg and instant noodles. My loving, all-knowing mother expected something like that to happen, and she bought me a steamer. That practically solved everything. Now I'm able to cook a decent meal for myself ( well that was before the MCO ). Next, getting the groceries was another tall order. Although staying in Sunway means being blessed with having grocery stores just a 15-minute walk away, the groceries were sooo heavy. I bought a 5kg packet of rice once, and my arms hurt for days afterwards. I'd say it was a taste of independence, and I kinda adapted pretty quickly. My miss-home syndrome only struck days before Chinese New Year.

Penangites are very proud of our food, and honestly, why is food so expensive in the Sunway area?! The cheapest meal you can get in the hawker centre is RM6, although I've managed to get chapfan for RM5 - what an accomplishment hahaha~ #penangonebetter

For me, there was a transition from an all girl's school to a class where 2/3 of my classmates are guys. To be honest, there wasn't much of a difference and I got used to it pretty quickly. Sometimes however, being the majority, our class group chats are so dominated by guy topics that I feel like a spectator in a guys' school.

On the first day of class, everyone went to class early (well pretty much what you do on the first day of school, before you start to get to classes right on the dot about 2 weeks later). My friend and I went to the lab (our first class was Chem) 15 minutes prior to the commencement of class and was shocked to see that half the class were already there. Uhh.. wow. The kiasu spirit's running high! Throughout the first week of class, everyone seemed so eager to perform. The front seats naturally became hot seats, so I just resided to the last few rows. However, as the weeks went by, such scenes went extinct, literally. I guess most of us were just overexcited.

The one thing that I had no problem being used to is the magnificent library. There are 3 floors to it, and a facial recognition system! ( I miss it so much right now ) I haven't really explored the books they have- I've always just been there to study. It's like Penang Digital Library, but a hundred times bigger, and with books.

I come from a chinese school and I'd say my exposure to the outside community is pretty minimal. Only when I entered college did I fully realise that our thinking and the way we express ourselves are very different. I'm not very used to expressing my opinions in large groups and most of all, the fact that we don't usually reply to the "Do you have any questions?" question. My first days in the A-level Student Council showed me how things were actually done, which were very different from what we did in high school. Don't get me wrong, I can present in front of a crowd if needed, I just don't take the initiative to, which is one of my weaknesses. I guess I care too much about what other people would think if I come up with a stupid idea. I've been trying not only to fit in, but excel in this different environment for the past few months now, let's hope i manage to.

~Carpe diem~