Long Gone ...

It has been quite a while since my last entry ... blame the holidays.

Basically, after my final exam (unfortunately it also marked the end of my freshman year .. so fast time flied ... =( ) ... I spent a week or so in Malaysia .... couple of days with my family and the others with friends ... gained back a few pounds .... =) ..

Anyway, everything came to an end last Friday when I returned to Singapore. That night itself we had a long, dreadful 3.5hours meeting for MSA Senior Camp in preparation for the upcoming Freshman Orientation Camp. Needless to say, MSA people in NTU are very semangat and extremely dedicated. Sleep deprivation was part of the routine .... I even put on makeup to act as a ghost to scare people in one of our programmes ...Well, I am not much like them. I took half a day off on Sunday because I was simply too tired ... I just didn't bother anymore and switched off my handphone and SLEPT !!!!!!!!! .... but I am sure it went on well ...

Monday was the start of my Summer Research. It is a Special Semester course that I signed up to gain some experience in the research field and of course to clear some credits along the way ....The Professot I worked with, thank goodness, is a French Professor ... Europeans tend to have a more relaxed schedule and working environment ... I am attached to his research fellow (a French woman) ....

What I do is really simple - help her (my mentor) out with her research. FULL STOP. Fortunately and unfortunately, so happened the stage they are in now is the experiment stage. Meaning that they have done all the background checks and theories, ready to put their ideas to the test. So, the moment I stepped into the office, we would head straight to the lab and stay there. Do, do, do ..... No toilet breaks. They are not sadistic, of course they allow toilet breaks. Just that when a reaction is running (which may last for hours), we can't really go anywhere). Having said that, I learned A LOT !!! Lab techniques that will so help me in my coming semesters .... not to mention my mentor is preparing me for the NMR licence test. YES, in NTU only certified, licenced people can use the NMR machine ....

I have to say I am really grateful and lucky to get this mentor. I am the only first year student(out of 6, the rest are year 3's) and she patiently taught me all the stuff that I usually overlook or too clumsy to be bothered about in lab. She actually put up with all those stupid questions I threw to her. People have been involved in this field for decades, who am I to question what they are doing? .. LOL ... me and my big mouth .... Having said that, they treated everyone equally. One can come and go any time, everything in the lab is personal effort. One person has his or her own project(s), no interference, no strict order to stay in late for work ... you plan when and what you want to do as long as you get the job done .... Come to think of it, I like this kind of working environment ... well, I'll see more as I go on ...

PS : HAPPY 4 MONTHS ANNIVERSARY ... =)

Over ... =)

=) ....

-Jia Hui-

Calculus II

Boy ... seems like I am blogging on all the papers I am taking. Well, just wanna count down my days from total freedom ... Mokshah ... weird ... this word suddenly popped up in my head ... where have I seen it? I am sure it has got to do with freedom ...

Anyway, I had less than 12 hours to prepare for this exam. Thank goodness the style was similar to the past year papers. At least I didn't get a terrible shock from it. What could I say about the test? Normal ... aka got NTU (super smart people) standard but quite similar to the previous years. The only problem was it was very risky. With all the power series and Taylor's series going on. One mistake in between will cost a lot of marks ... well, what is done is done.

Moving on. Last paper tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Biochemistry II .... Better get started ... =)

Finally ... spanish is over ...

The exam I have been sweating for ... Spanish .... is finally over. How was the paper? Well, it was slightly different than the past year papers. For one, there was actually MULTIPLE CHOICE for our comprehension .... the catch was : more vocabularies we have never met before and those setters were very tricky ... in Spanish, apparently you put many negative words like 'no, nunca, ni etc' and it still means no ... worse part was they used negative adjectives as well ....so convert convert convert .... wasted my time ...

Comprehension wasn't too bad. Questions were okay apart from the tricky ones. Second section: Grammar part was totally based on memory.... tonnes of verb conjugation but I think it wasn't too bad. Last section: essay. This time 2 essays. Each was about 150-200 words. One was to describe my house and the second one is to describe my family. Sounds primary school? IT IS. Easy? NOT AT ALL if you are trying to get all the grammar correct and having so few choices of words doesn't help at all.... I gave it my all.

In less than 12 hours I will have my next paper. Thank goodness it is Calculus ... =)

Overall, the paper was tough (but not as tough as Chemistry). I am quite positive that I will pass this exam. If I did well, there is a slight chance I might consider taking Spanish Level 2 .... =)

Kickstart Exam Day 1 .... =)

I have been "tegur"ed by a few people for putting up the smiley face already .... haih ... what's wrong with this Jia Hui? Sadistic ke? Go and put a smiley face on exam countdown ... One : I love exam because no lesson and the feeling after a paper is over is so AWESOME ... can't wait to burn all the notes !!! Two : There are many things to look forward to after this exam ... =)

This semester is a bit relaxing for me. Took 5 units (as opposed to the normal 6, my darling took 7 !!!!) ... 1 of them is 100% coursework aka no written exam. So, I am left with 4 units. So happen all these exams were arranged a day after the other, making my exam period as short as 6days (2 days being the weekend) ... so thankful mine doesn't drag all the way to the end of the exam season (UNLIKE ENGINEERING ... lol). This gives me an extra week or so to go back to Malaysia, have a bit of fun ... then come back for Summer Research Project (得闲吾事做).

Having said that, today's exam didn't go as well as I thought it would be. The first paper was Modern Chemistry aka Fundamental Chemistry (Inorganic) .... revolves around rates, NMR, equilibria, electrochemistry, nuclear chemistry and MI FAVORITO DEL TODOS - ACID BASE CHEMISTRY (我的死穴). Mostly A-level stuff, and I actually thought it would not be the toughest subject.

To start with, this is the first time this lecturer (a French woman) took charge of this course. She did her postgrad in Bristol. Need I say more about her expectations ... =.= ... Exam format changed .... she loved calculations so much there was not even one question which required explanation.

The WORST part : NMR. At this level, based on the past year papers, we select the compound (out of a few) by looking at the NMR spectrum. This time there was a twist. She gave us a specturm- the real one as produced by the NMR machine and asked us to guess what compound it is with as little information as the molecular formula. 13 marks .......... =.= .......... the compound was an 11C compound with a degree of unsaturation of 6 !!!!! Omg .... imagine the possibilities that can make up this number ... well, in short, I screwed this part up really bad .... T_T

Come to think about it, I shouldn't be suprise. After all, this is NTU ... no matter how tough the paper is, there will still be some freaking geniuses who will score 100. Let's hope this time fewer get that ... or else my cGPA will drop drastically ... Moving on, examen espanol is next in line ... start memorising ..... =(

3 months Anniversary

= )

=(

>.<

=P

4 pictures speak 4000 words .... ok ... lame ....

Anyway, our relationship survived a quarter of a year already ... =) .... All of us are stressed out during these coming 2 weeks or so (maybe more stress on your side) .... can't wait to get over with the exams .....

Countdown to freedom : 16 days ....

Long Overdue ...

This is exactly what this blog is ....

Anyway, life is pretty boring right now. Exam season is hitting NTU in less than 20 days. And yet I am still as slack as usual .... 吾知死字点样写 ...

Thank goodness I only have 4 papers this semester. Very little memory required .... All the assignments are done, including my lab work ... phewwwwwww .... the only thing left is Spanish Oral and Listening tests...

Can't wait for the exam to come ( more accurately get it over with ) ... Good thing is they are so close together. In less than a week's time I'll finish all my papers ... =)

Adios!