Greetings from NTU

This is my first post I'm writing right here in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Hall of Residence 6.

My hall is super rabak...compared to my friend's in Hall 8 and Hall 1. Hall 1 is supposed to be oldest hall in NTU...but upon entering my army friend's - Murphy - hall, it's like 2 times better than mine!

Their hall is much more nicely painted, better furnished and more brightly-lit than my pathetic bunk 6...oh, I mean hall 6. Haha.

His room has a toilet...shared with the neighbouring room and his room is slightly bigger but with much more cupboards than mine! And guess what? We both pay the same rate of $180 per month... -___-"

The crazy thing about Murphy is...he brought his electronic piano into his hall and his DESKTOP!! WHOA PIANG OEI! Haha. Hard core...He's making his hall his no.2 home.

To me, hall is just like army bunk. Haha. It's a place to sleep...a place to temporarily keep your daily necessities such as clothes, shampoo, etc...and do those household chores of washing clothes, drying them, etc...

Anyway, I also went to Chor Seng & Kai Sen's hall...Hall 9. Their hall looks super new...Ok, it is new! Went in their room...WHOA. I think their room is slightly smaller than mine though. Haha.

I should go visit the other halls soon...Like halls 4 and 7 which I heard are worse than my hall. Oh well.

Apart from complaining about all these...there are also a bunch of things to thank God for!

1) No roommate! :)
I'm paying the rates of a double room and am supposed to have a roommate...But, guess what? I have the WHOLE ROOM TO MYSELF! :D

My initial roommate was a year 4 student sporty-looking Singaporean guy who applied for single room. However, due to no single room available, they placed him temporarily in my room before there is a single room available.

So the day I shifted all my stuff in, he was shifting all his stuff out! HAHA!

Now, I have the entire room to myself! Whoo hoo! Super peaceful!

Studying has never been so effective! Haha. No distractions here...unlike at home...my brother & sister's computer games and talking on the phone, on skype, etc...will distract me...There's no one watching TV with its sounds and lights tempting to step out into the living room.

I hope no one comes in to room with me for the rest of my stay here man. Better fast and pray. Haha!

Thank you God for your awesome arrangement! I prayed for a good roommate...But what You gave me was even better! NO roommate! haha! Hallelujah! :)

2) Accessibility :)
Even though my hall is like a army bunk, it is highly accessible. The bus stop, which is like 2minutes walk from my room has all the bus services passing by it. Because it is at the entrance. Haha.

The NTU > Pioneer MRT bus is the most frequent and it gets me to my lecture halls and tutorial rooms in only 2 stops! Awesome!

Chor Seng & Kai Sen - who are my church mates and course mates here in NTU - either take a 10minute walk to the nearest bus stop which goes to our block or they have to take a 20minute+ walk to our EEE (Electrical & Electronic Engineering) block...Haha.

On top of that, 2 canteens are just a 5 minute walk away :D The hall 1 and hall 2 canteen :D

Yup, thank you God for providing me with such a convenient and accessible bunk! :)

3) Friends :)
NTU is like some shopping centre...Every lecture and every canteen I go to, I'll bump into at least one person I know. Haha!

There was once I got lost at the North Spine because I took the wrong bus...Haha! As I was walking around trying to find my way, suddenly someone called my name "Jonavan!" I thought I had wandered to the right place! Haha!

It was my army friend, Rafiuddin. Haha. He then introduced me to his friends and all before I set off on my way back. Haha.


I also bumped into Eric Wong, one of my army friends while walking back to hall...haha. Small world.

At canteens also, I bumped into Kenneth, my secondary school friend, Syahir, my army friend, Yong Hui, my Heart of God church friend who's from SMU but is in NTU for fun...Haha. Bumped into Jin Zhuang, my army friend...Tons more...Forgot who else I bumped into during meal times.

During lectures, I bumped into my secondary school friends on several different occasions - Jerome Yip, Gerry Ong, Jeremy Ong...army friends like Kelvin - my SISPEC friend, Dennis - my BMT section mate, Kenneth Liew - my secondary school/poly friend..etc...

Best of all, my closest friends in my poly days till now are also here in the same course as I am...Chor Seng & Sam. Now Kai Sen has also joined our gang and he also brought his friend -who coincidentally also is my army friend - Yong Jian. The electronics gang from TP is also in my course now. Haha.

Yup, thank God for all of them and for providing them and introducing them into my life, enriching it.

All in all, life here in NTU has been good. All that the lecturers are teaching I've mostly learnt before...Just needa thank that 2 years in army that made us all forget whatever we learnt.

As the lecturers lecture, those formulas and theorems all came back to me! Thank God! There were like bursts of flashbacks back to my poly and secondary school days as the lecturers addressed concepts that were taught then.

Their lecturing pace is SUPER FAST. That's because we're year 2 students from Poly and we should know all those stuff already. We do! We just had that stupid time lapse of 2 years in army that made all those knowledge lie dormant in our brains.

Well, those dormant volcanoes in my brain are erupting again as I once again turn on the mugging mode of my brain.

Lord, I commit my entire study in NTU into your hands, I will do my utmost because I recognize that I am where I am not because of what I've done, but because of how you've divinely engineered everything for me to be where I am today.

Thank you Jesus. Bless my stay here in NTU. Help me to find favour with everyone I come into contact with and help me to bring them to the saving and most revelational knowledge in Christ Jesus :)

NTU, here I come! :D