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| Graduation photoshoot with my NTU ODAC pumpfest comrades! :D |
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| Trademark flying mortarboard shot with my awesome EEE bros :D |
As I reminisce my not-too-distant uni days, I hope it will jerk my younger readers out of your I-am-only-here-to-study mindset and inspire you to immerse yourself in campus life and make as much out of your university experience as possible.
And I also hope it will make my graduated friends smile at those moments that make our uni life so memorable while drowning in an asphyxiating sea of nostalgia.
University is a window to the world. Here you will get the opportunity to meet great people from all over the world, take part in activities and exchanges that will broaden your perspective and intricately shape your view of the world.
I am a fresh graduate (year 2014) from Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE).
I am writing in my capacity as a direct year 2 poly student in 2011 who studied EEE for 3 years and graduated with honours with a rich CCA, hall-life and exchange experience. Yes, I stayed in hall for 3 years :D
This is how I will structure my post:
1) Academic Life (EEE perspective)
2) Co-curricular activites
3) Hall Life
4) Exchange Program
I'll do a mini-conclusion after each section so that I can summarize the salient points that I want to make. So to those who hate reading long stories, just skip to the conclusions :D But you'll definitely miss out on the lil' things in my experience here and there which might be beneficial! #justsayin' HAHA! Yep, on with my long-awaited write up :D
1) Academic Life (EEE perspective)
I was a direct year 2 poly student and matriculated with like 10 of my poly friends :D So I had a great start to uni life...because I already have a bunch of friends to be with :D
As poly students, we all thought we had the advantage over our JC counterparts...because, most of the mods we took in our first year in NTU were the EXACT same mod names that we took in poly. E.g. Circuit Analysis, Digital Electronics, etc...
When we saw the same mod names, we went to flip through the first few chapters of the syllabus...AND, we realized, the first few chapters are INDEED WHAT WE'VE ALREADY STUDIED IN POLY!
YAY! So off we went with a uber #YOLO mindset. We were like "哎呀, 学过了, 不用读到这么辛苦! :D" #polyFTW
So, within the first month (since we all stayed in hall) we ate at nearly all the canteens in NTU! HAHA! There are a lot of canteens and cafes in NTU! Lemme try to name them by memory: Can 1, Can 2, Can 4, Can 5 (closed down), Can B (now 口福), Artease cafe, Spruce Cafe, The Coffee Bean, Can A (now North Spine Food Court), Starbucks (temporary closure), Golden spoon (aka can 16), Can 12, Can 14, Can 11, Pitchstop, Vanner (closed down), Quad, 新食界, Executive Cafe, McDonald's, KFC.
A TOTAL OF 21 MAKAN PLACES IN NTU! Haha! Lemme know if I missed any...Haha.
And the next 1.5 months were spent running around NTU, immersing in our ODAC activities, eating supper at all the famous supper areas and just crashing each other's halls to play cards, guitar, HTHT, celebrate birthdays, home-made supper, etc...HAHA.
Here comes the twist. After those UBER YOLO plus-minus 3 months of playing, we realized, SHIT, only about 1 more month to EXAMS! That's when we started doing our tutorials.
Studious me planned out my study plan - 1 day do 3 tutorials and by the last week, I can do at least 2 past year papers for each subject.
Here’s the best part…when I started doing the tutorials, I took ONE WHOLE DAY TO FINISH ONE DAMMNN TUTORIAL.
YES, IT WAS THAT HARD. I got a shock of my life. So did my friends. Grasping the concept was the most difficult part.
And I also hope it will make my graduated friends smile at those moments that make our uni life so memorable while drowning in an asphyxiating sea of nostalgia.
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| With the 2 pillars in my life who made this photo possible, my mum and dad :D |
I am a fresh graduate (year 2014) from Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE).
I am writing in my capacity as a direct year 2 poly student in 2011 who studied EEE for 3 years and graduated with honours with a rich CCA, hall-life and exchange experience. Yes, I stayed in hall for 3 years :D
This is how I will structure my post:
1) Academic Life (EEE perspective)
2) Co-curricular activites
3) Hall Life
4) Exchange Program
I'll do a mini-conclusion after each section so that I can summarize the salient points that I want to make. So to those who hate reading long stories, just skip to the conclusions :D But you'll definitely miss out on the lil' things in my experience here and there which might be beneficial! #justsayin' HAHA! Yep, on with my long-awaited write up :D
1) Academic Life (EEE perspective)
I was a direct year 2 poly student and matriculated with like 10 of my poly friends :D So I had a great start to uni life...because I already have a bunch of friends to be with :D
As poly students, we all thought we had the advantage over our JC counterparts...because, most of the mods we took in our first year in NTU were the EXACT same mod names that we took in poly. E.g. Circuit Analysis, Digital Electronics, etc...
When we saw the same mod names, we went to flip through the first few chapters of the syllabus...AND, we realized, the first few chapters are INDEED WHAT WE'VE ALREADY STUDIED IN POLY!
YAY! So off we went with a uber #YOLO mindset. We were like "哎呀, 学过了, 不用读到这么辛苦! :D" #polyFTW
So, within the first month (since we all stayed in hall) we ate at nearly all the canteens in NTU! HAHA! There are a lot of canteens and cafes in NTU! Lemme try to name them by memory: Can 1, Can 2, Can 4, Can 5 (closed down), Can B (now 口福), Artease cafe, Spruce Cafe, The Coffee Bean, Can A (now North Spine Food Court), Starbucks (temporary closure), Golden spoon (aka can 16), Can 12, Can 14, Can 11, Pitchstop, Vanner (closed down), Quad, 新食界, Executive Cafe, McDonald's, KFC.
A TOTAL OF 21 MAKAN PLACES IN NTU! Haha! Lemme know if I missed any...Haha.
And the next 1.5 months were spent running around NTU, immersing in our ODAC activities, eating supper at all the famous supper areas and just crashing each other's halls to play cards, guitar, HTHT, celebrate birthdays, home-made supper, etc...HAHA.
Often we YOLO-ed so hard that we either didn't make it for lectures...or we lost the battle to the ZZZ monster...
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| Sleeping beauties in lecture :D |
HAHA. LIFE'S GOOD.........up till exam period...
Here comes the twist. After those UBER YOLO plus-minus 3 months of playing, we realized, SHIT, only about 1 more month to EXAMS! That's when we started doing our tutorials.
Studious me planned out my study plan - 1 day do 3 tutorials and by the last week, I can do at least 2 past year papers for each subject.
Here’s the best part…when I started doing the tutorials, I took ONE WHOLE DAY TO FINISH ONE DAMMNN TUTORIAL.
YES, IT WAS THAT HARD. I got a shock of my life. So did my friends. Grasping the concept was the most difficult part.
This is actually due to the fact that we kept sleeping in lectures and not paying attention. What do we do then? We have to re-watch the recorded lectures -.-" So guys, LISTEN in lecture! If not, you'll waste that same no. of hours watching those recorded lectures...
A side note regarding recorded lectures - it can be more productive than going to the actual lecture. Because you can download your recorded lecture, play it at 1.5 to 2 times the speed and finish the lecture in 30mins. It's a proven method, my friends and I have done that. What's more, for recorded lectures, if you miss something your lecturer said, you can rewind. Haha. So really, in terms of practicality, recorded lectures are better. Haha.
Anyway, it turned out that as much as our poly mod names were the same as our uni ones, the depth of coverage of the subject is THREE TIMES DEEPER.
What was our mistake? We only flipped the first few chapters of our uni mod’s syllabus! Within the first 2 weeks of lectures, everything we learnt in poly was covered. For the rest of the 12 weeks, it was all NEW STUFF.
SHIT JUST GOT REAL. In my first semester I have 19AUs worth of mods – 6 MODULES...ALL CORE MODULES mind you. And I DID NOT overload my mod limit.
A side note regarding recorded lectures - it can be more productive than going to the actual lecture. Because you can download your recorded lecture, play it at 1.5 to 2 times the speed and finish the lecture in 30mins. It's a proven method, my friends and I have done that. What's more, for recorded lectures, if you miss something your lecturer said, you can rewind. Haha. So really, in terms of practicality, recorded lectures are better. Haha.
Anyway, it turned out that as much as our poly mod names were the same as our uni ones, the depth of coverage of the subject is THREE TIMES DEEPER.
What was our mistake? We only flipped the first few chapters of our uni mod’s syllabus! Within the first 2 weeks of lectures, everything we learnt in poly was covered. For the rest of the 12 weeks, it was all NEW STUFF.
SHIT JUST GOT REAL. In my first semester I have 19AUs worth of mods – 6 MODULES...ALL CORE MODULES mind you. And I DID NOT overload my mod limit.
So, this means that, I had a truckload of tutorials to do. Each mod has about 12 tutorials…THIS MEANS 72 DAMN TUTORIALS!
We were all kan chiong spiders with our backsides on fire. We were frantically trying to squeeze as much as possible into our brains before the final exams.
We were all kan chiong spiders with our backsides on fire. We were frantically trying to squeeze as much as possible into our brains before the final exams.
In the end, with fingers crossed and prayers uttered, we faced our examinations...and got a SHOCK OF OUR LIVES.
Our papers were all 100 mark papers, with 4 questions weighing 25marks each. AND WE COULD ONLY DO AT MOST 2 QUESTIONS. The other 2 questions were so twisted that you really had to have a good grasp of the engineering concepts in order to solve it.
Back in our poly days, doing our poly past year papers will ensure us at least a B grade because the exam questions are pretty similar to the past year ones...BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE IN UNI! Past year questions only give you a feel of what it'll be like...but there'll always be that 2 or 3 questions that twists the concepts.
I realized there are so many ways to look at a concept. It's not just mere formula! And our dear PhD holders or what we'll academically call, "professors", have found a gazillion ways to approach the same concept with a host of different backside-tearing questions.
So we thought we're all screwed. We were all freaking emo. And the emo level got worse with each exam paper that passes. I really thought I was going to fail at least 2 modules and screw up my CGPA. Some of us were already contemplating re-applying to NTU. Yes, it was that bad.
But, the good news is, for every question you don't know how to do, there'll be one or two other guys that don't know too! This is where the bell curve comes in. Haha.
Cut the long story short, I DIDN'T FAIL ANY MOD! :D Haha! I was damm surprised! Really thank God for His grace! Haha.
There was one paper which I only studied the night before...I studied it all the way and didn't sleep! At 9am...Zombie me just walked into the exam hall and I could only do 1 and a half question...When we came out and compared answers, I knew I was a goner.
BUT HEY, God is good! I got a D+ for that mod! STILL GOT PLUS SIA! LOL! Welcome to the power of the bell curve...where all your grades are normalized against each others'. Haha.
WE SURVIVED SEMESTER 1! But we're now badly wounded. Although not having a CGPA of more than 4 was the norm in EEE and most engineering schools, I knew I could do much better than that borderline 3.
As much as we survived, there were a few of my friends who didn't survive. After the first semester, 2 of my friends failed too many mods and they dropped out of school. After the second semester, another 2 OOC-ed from NTU. Last I heard, they're working. Sad :( EEE is no easy course my friends, it has high casualty rates. Respect it.
As much as we survived, there were a few of my friends who didn't survive. After the first semester, 2 of my friends failed too many mods and they dropped out of school. After the second semester, another 2 OOC-ed from NTU. Last I heard, they're working. Sad :( EEE is no easy course my friends, it has high casualty rates. Respect it.
So yeah, surviving is already a blessing. Sadly, no senior came to seriously advise us to study properly. So now, as a responsible senior, I tell all my OG freshies to study hard and to NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the syllabus.
Now that we've gotten used to the studying culture, we decided to buck up in semester 2. We got all our seniors' tutorial answers and QUIZ QUESTIONS beforehand and studied in groups.
THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT! Because when you have the tutorial answers with you, you can work backward from the answers and spot your careless mistakes and grasp the concept more readily...It's much better than you trying to figure out how to use that formula, where did you go wrong, etc...Most of the time, the mistakes are pretty small ones - like leaving out the negative sign, forgetting to write ^8 (to the power of) etc...so if the answers are beside you, you'll get over these careless mistakes faster.
AND YES, QUIZ QUESTIONS. Quiz questions are usually repeated so doing your senior's quiz questions will ensure your survival. Unless you are so suay that they change their quiz questions that semester. HAHA.
During quiz week, the quizzes are usually conducted during tutorial sessions - which are spread out from Monday to Friday. So if your tutorial falls on a Friday, you can get your friends taking their quizzes from Monday - Thursday to help you take pictures of the quiz questions :D Or at least, they can tell you what was asked. Chances are, you'll kena the same set of questions. TRUST ME, I'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS for 5 semesters. HAHA! IT WORKS! LOL.
If you're that righteous zealot and honest bumpkin, stay true to your ideals...But really, everyone is doing that. So you'll be playing on uneven ground if you don't wise up :D
Do take note that quizzes usually constitute 10% to 30% of your final grade. So securing that percentage will grant you a much higher chance of scoring that coveted "A" grade.
AND YES, QUIZ QUESTIONS. Quiz questions are usually repeated so doing your senior's quiz questions will ensure your survival. Unless you are so suay that they change their quiz questions that semester. HAHA.
During quiz week, the quizzes are usually conducted during tutorial sessions - which are spread out from Monday to Friday. So if your tutorial falls on a Friday, you can get your friends taking their quizzes from Monday - Thursday to help you take pictures of the quiz questions :D Or at least, they can tell you what was asked. Chances are, you'll kena the same set of questions. TRUST ME, I'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS for 5 semesters. HAHA! IT WORKS! LOL.
If you're that righteous zealot and honest bumpkin, stay true to your ideals...But really, everyone is doing that. So you'll be playing on uneven ground if you don't wise up :D
Do take note that quizzes usually constitute 10% to 30% of your final grade. So securing that percentage will grant you a much higher chance of scoring that coveted "A" grade.
Studying in groups is also key. This is where you guys can help each other, discuss problems, thereby understanding the concept better.
Yup, despite doing all these...My grades in my 2nd semester STILL DROPPED -.- WHY? Because, the mods got much tougher and I had 24AUs of mods to handle! That is 8 CORE mods! Once again, that is the standard load for my semester 2...I DID NOT OVERLOAD my mods.
Yup, despite doing all these...My grades in my 2nd semester STILL DROPPED -.- WHY? Because, the mods got much tougher and I had 24AUs of mods to handle! That is 8 CORE mods! Once again, that is the standard load for my semester 2...I DID NOT OVERLOAD my mods.
After semester 2's not-so-satisfactory results, I resolved to be a mugger. Haha. In my year 3, semester 1, I studied real hard and got a semester GPA of 4, pulling up my CGPA greatly :D
From year 3 sem 1 onwards, my grades have consistently been awesome (as compared to my cui grades in my first 2 sems)...that's how I climbed to attain honours :D
As for the studying culture and environment...it took quite a while to adjust to. Here's why...
My first ever lecture in NTU EEE was a "circuit analysis" lecture by a China prof. His verbal command of English was HORRENDOUS. I could barely make out what he was saying as he mumbled and ate up all of his words while monotonously reading off the slides.
We learnt to get used to it...because 70% of the lecturers were China-man -.-" Each professing their own brand of atrocious English. Of course, there were Singaporean lecturers too, but they were rare.
We also had Vietnamese, Indian and Hong Kong lecturers...their accent was soooooo pungent that they turned the entire lecture theatre into their hometown when they spoke. LOL.
This is not the end, the tutors taking our tutorials were also mainly mainland Chinese... -.- Gosh, we totally feel like a foreigner in our homeland.
And yes, our tutorial sessions are usually taught not by the professors, but by the PhD students. Because the professor himself can only take so many tutorial classes. So, the rest of the tutorial classes will be handled by our dear foreign PhD students...hailing mainly from mainland China.
It's not that I have something against them...my grandfather's from China! But, it's just...THEM. Most of them are just...socially awkward? It's very hard trying to learn from someone who speaks to himself, or speaks to the whiteboard...You can just feel from their mannerisms and vibes that they have social issues...and to make things worst: their fantastic grasp of the English language.
But, oh well, we are here to study, not judge them right? So, study we did...but it's really harder to study and understand the concepts when your teachers are weird and have an appalling command of English.
So to all those entering EEE or engineering courses, don't be shocked when you realize you're in Chinatown...because, engineering schools are really mini-China.
Yes, those are just vague demographics of the lecturer and PhD student population. What about our fellow coursemates?
WE HAVE TONS OF THEM AS COURSE MATES TOO. And the best part of it all? Most of them are SCHOLARS, FULLY SPONSORED by our fantastic Singapore government.
I still disagree with our government giving away so many scholarships and university places to them, depriving our own Singaporeans the chance to enter university. It's not like most of these China man are going to stay and benefit Singapore's economy. Ok, most might stay..because back home, it's too screwed up for them to work and our pay here is much better. So they'll either go back home or they'll stay and pollute our culture and way of life WITH THEIRS.
Yup, I think about 40%-50% of our cohort are foreigners? Just look at our Dean's list, all those foreign names taking up all the top spots. Haha. It's not like we locals are lousier, it's just...them...Back in their over-populated country, the competition is SO BAD that they LIVE TO STUDY...So when they come here, they'll definitely do well academically...But as a person - socially? They have HUGE PROBLEMS.
I was talking to my first China roomie about this once. He was telling me, back in China, they have to learn 3-4 years ahead of their syllabus in order to do well. So that means, in their "secondary school", they're already learning JC and university stuffs. By high school, they'd have mastered the university level topics already.
IT IS THAT BAD. Because there are SO MANY PEOPLE applying for a place in the schools that, the only way the schools can limit entry is by setting very tough entry examinations.
My dear SBS (School of Biological Sciences) year 3 China roomie told me that whatever he is learning here in NTU, he already learnt in his high school. Therefore, he can afford to play League of Legends everyday and still maintain a CGPA of 4.2. -.-" Haha.
Oh and the thing is...my first China roomie is a biology student, but he can SOLVE my engineering PAST YEAR QUESTIONS! LOL. When I couldn't solve some of them, I'd ask him and he'd solve them like within 10minutes for me!
I was amazed. And he once again said "我们在高中已经学过这些科目了". They are very good at maths and physics. It's like, their second nature.
So yeah, that is very much the environment in EEE. A lot of foreigners, mainly from China, from lecturers to the tutors to your fellow coursemates. Haha.
This may not be a bad thing...like for me...It wasn't all that a bad thing. I did get along with the China students and we even studied together and share answers together! :D And they're usually the first in the canteen queues or goodie bag queues so if you know them, you can cut their queue! :D :D HAHA! #现实
For your first year, all your tutorial sessions are planned out for you. You don't have to do your "Star Wars" to bid for your modules. So, the system planned it in such a way where everyone is placed in the same tutorial group for all the different mods.
So after the first week of having all our tutorials, we were getting familiar with each other already and we all started making friends :D Soon enough, we were frequently going out on tutorial outings :D I think we're the most bonded tutorial group ever. Haha!
Allow me to indulge my old photos ok? Here's a few group shots of my awesome first year tutorial mates :D
Boy was that nostalgic...Haha. So yep, in your first semester, you don't need to bid for your mods; the system will do it for you :D
In your second semester...that's when STAR WARS begin. Why is it called "Star Wars"? The system you are using to bid for your mods is called "STARS" which stands for "STudent Automated Registration System"
Why is it a war then? Because you will be fighting with thousands of other students for the same modules! IT'S A WAR!!
How to emerge victorious in star wars:
1) Make sure you have a stable and steady internet connection! Doing it school will be better since you'll be on the same server as school.
2) Have more than 1 timetable plan!
3) Before the time to submit your timetable comes, just press "submit" before hand and the server will pop up a box that says something like "System not open yet. Server time: 10:39:45" TAKE NOTE OF THE SERVER TIME! You need to know it accurate to the second because pressing "submit" one second late could screw up your whole perfect timetable!
4) Once you know the server time, TIME YOUR CLICK. If you are more than 2 to 3 seconds late, the chances of you getting your desired mods are really slim
In my first ever star wars, I was camping at the computer with my friends. We had already planned our timetables such that we'll be in the same classes.
However, when the moment came to click "submit", I SCREWED UP. I don't know how but I ended up refreshing the page which made me like 5 seconds late! Guess what? The 2 friends beside me got the select mod timings while I didn't :(
So, sucking it up, I just gotta go reshuffle my timetable...which is a hassle...because once you've planned everything nicely, displacing one mod will result in displacing the other...So guys, timing is of crucial importance. Once you've been through it, you'll truly understand why it's called "STAR WARS". Haha.
In EEE, there are a few presentation modules or mods that involve presentation...like Technical Communication, Design & Innovation Project (DIP), Human Resource Management, Professional Communication, etc...So be prepared with a set of nice, presentable set of formal wear. Here's a snapshot of one of my last few presentations in NTU :(
My academic experience climaxed at my final year where all engineering students go through their FYP - Final Year Project.
FYP is a 10AU module. For those vying for their 1st class honours, they will need to get at least an A- for their FYP if not, regardless of what CGPA they have, they will only graduate with a 2nd class upper honours.
I got an A- for my FYP :D :D And I had a very down-to-earth, understanding and un-uptight professor. And also thank God for his awesome PhD student who helped me throughout my entire FYP project.
And I was privileged enough to get my own cubicle in the lab. Most of my friends don't have their own private space in their lab. Here's a nostalgic snapshot of my cubicle :D
When choosing your FYP, the most important thing is to choose the RIGHT PROFESSOR. No matter how fascinating your FYP is, how amazing it turns out to be, if your professor is a critical snob, he isn't gonna give you a good grade.
On the contrary, if your professor is an understanding, nice, pleasant, positive and encouraging person...and if he sees you putting in the effort and the results don't come out all to impressive, he'll still give you a decent grade.
SO GET A GOOD FYP PROFESSOR! I got a fantastic FYP professor who is SUPER SLACK. He doesn't chase me for reports and he also doesn't always come to sniff around on my progress like an impatient hound.
I have friends' whose professors make them do monthly progress reports...WHICH TAKES UP A HELL LOT OF TIME. Some of them even make my friends do a presentation to them every 2 weeks!!
And some of them worked so hard for their FYP only to see their efforts met with the stern, un-moving, unimpressed, negative, face of their professor who doesn't see effort but results, resulting in them getting terrible grades for their FYP which will in turn shatter their hard-earned CGPA.
That's why there's a case of a EEE student stabbing his professor and then committing suicide. Why? Because your FYP grade means A LOT. And if your professor doesn't see value in your work, you're done for.
As for my professor, he saw value in my work. I'm really thankful for him. And of course thankful to God for allowing my fingers to select the right project with the right professor. Haha.
Moral of the story: Get a professor that YOU KNOW. If you know he's a nice guy, pleasant and understanding guy, GRAB HIM! Before he gets grabbed by other students!
Some of the famous EEE professors like Prof E.K. Teoh and Prof So Ping Lam are the famous GOOD GUYS. So, way before the FYP slots are open for bidding, students have already approached them to secure a project with them. Some of the students even "book" them in their year 2 or year 3!! THAT'S HOW KIASU THEY ARE!
But being kiasu pays off...because a good FYP professor = a good FYP grade; unless you really screw yourself up. So yep, BOOK YOUR FYP PROFS EARLY!! :D
Yup, that's about it for FYP...now to talk about moving around in NTU...During term time, everywhere is crowded. Crowded shuttle bus, crowded canteens, crowded lifts, crowded walkways, everywhere 人山人海!
So, even if you stay in hall, it can take you 20mins to 30mins to reach your tutorial room or lecture hall because you may miss up to 2 shuttle buses because it's too full.
And the 1 hour lunch break is barely sufficient. Lunch time is 11.30am - 1.30pm. During these 2 peak hours, the queues are frightening. Average queue-ing time will be about 15-20mins? That's not all...
Buying food is one thing, FINDING A SEAT IS ANOTHER. Sometimes, we can take up to 15minutes to get a seat. That leaves you with about 30mins left to eat.
But hey, you can't eat for 30minutes! Because you need 10minutes to get to your classroom! You think the lifts are not overcrowded too? YEAH. During peak hours, you can miss up to 3 lifts...IT'S SUPER FRUSTRATING...Seeing the lifts go up and down 3 times and IT'S STILL FULL!
Getting around during term time is really an intense exercise. Haha! Everyone trying to squeeze everywhere! When tensions rise and tempers flare, you'll get to watch a show :D HAHA!
Sometimes, my friends and I just give up trying to eat at the canteen, we just 打包 and go to some empty lecture theatre to eat...or eat at our tutorial rooms.
So that was our daily grind...Haha. We got used to it by our second semester already. LOL.
And falling sick in NTU is NOT A GOOD IDEA. Why? Because the nearest clinc - which is the clinic in NTU - is a private clinic and they charge EXORBITANT PRICES. I've had a real bad experience...
Once I was down with a very bad fever so I headed down to the Gethin-Jones clinic to get some medicine. After the consultation and everything, it was time to pay the bill. To my utmost horror, the bill amounted to a hefty $90!!
I can't remember the exact breakdown of the bill but the consultation fee and medicine together cost around $90!!! I remember taking a photo of the medicine I was given and posting the price on Facebook...which drew a flurry of comments.
When I told my mum, she was really pricked and she called up the school's clinic to complain. The doctor then told her that the antibiotics he gave me was a very strong and expensive one and blah blah blah...He justified the hefty cost with his doctor talk...and there's really nothing we can do. Haha.
So yeah, just a precaution to all you guys who are thinking of reporting sick at our NTU's clinic...It's not free like the SAF MO...It'll burn a hole in your wallet.
Alternatively, you can head to Pioneer mall where there are a few 24-hour clinics there. I drove my friend there once because he was really sick. The price was acceptable...like around $20.
Yep, I realized most of the things I've mentioned are pretty gloomy and not too tantalizing to a potential NTU student. Haha. Here's one awesome thing about NTU:
IT ALWAYS HAS FREE STUFFS BEING GIVEN OUT!
One of the highlights of our academic life was running around collecting goodie bags, freebies and free lunches and dinners being given out by the different CCAs, school events and canteen vendors in NTU.
Our whatsapp group was always abuzz with the latest grab. Here are a few examples:
"NTUSU giving out free goodie bag NOW outside Tan Chin Tuan lecture theatre! Let's go queue together and collect! :D"
"Hey guys! GEM booth at north spine giving away free $5 McDonald's voucher! You just gotta go down take a photo at their photo-booth, post on instagram with the hashtag #GEMDay2014 can alr!! COME COME!"
"STARBUCKS HAVING 1-FOR-1 TILL 4PM TODAY!! SUPER LONG QUEUE HERE NOW!! QUICK COME AND CUT MY QUEUE!"
Other examples....
Yup, that's pretty much all that I have to share about my academic experience...which really only takes up less than 50% of my time in school :D
Here's the most epic, last photo of my academic life in NTU...this picture is taken right after I finished my last ever exam paper in NTU :D
Conclusion:
From year 3 sem 1 onwards, my grades have consistently been awesome (as compared to my cui grades in my first 2 sems)...that's how I climbed to attain honours :D
As for the studying culture and environment...it took quite a while to adjust to. Here's why...
My first ever lecture in NTU EEE was a "circuit analysis" lecture by a China prof. His verbal command of English was HORRENDOUS. I could barely make out what he was saying as he mumbled and ate up all of his words while monotonously reading off the slides.
We learnt to get used to it...because 70% of the lecturers were China-man -.-" Each professing their own brand of atrocious English. Of course, there were Singaporean lecturers too, but they were rare.
We also had Vietnamese, Indian and Hong Kong lecturers...their accent was soooooo pungent that they turned the entire lecture theatre into their hometown when they spoke. LOL.
This is not the end, the tutors taking our tutorials were also mainly mainland Chinese... -.- Gosh, we totally feel like a foreigner in our homeland.
And yes, our tutorial sessions are usually taught not by the professors, but by the PhD students. Because the professor himself can only take so many tutorial classes. So, the rest of the tutorial classes will be handled by our dear foreign PhD students...hailing mainly from mainland China.
It's not that I have something against them...my grandfather's from China! But, it's just...THEM. Most of them are just...socially awkward? It's very hard trying to learn from someone who speaks to himself, or speaks to the whiteboard...You can just feel from their mannerisms and vibes that they have social issues...and to make things worst: their fantastic grasp of the English language.
But, oh well, we are here to study, not judge them right? So, study we did...but it's really harder to study and understand the concepts when your teachers are weird and have an appalling command of English.
So to all those entering EEE or engineering courses, don't be shocked when you realize you're in Chinatown...because, engineering schools are really mini-China.
Yes, those are just vague demographics of the lecturer and PhD student population. What about our fellow coursemates?
WE HAVE TONS OF THEM AS COURSE MATES TOO. And the best part of it all? Most of them are SCHOLARS, FULLY SPONSORED by our fantastic Singapore government.
I still disagree with our government giving away so many scholarships and university places to them, depriving our own Singaporeans the chance to enter university. It's not like most of these China man are going to stay and benefit Singapore's economy. Ok, most might stay..because back home, it's too screwed up for them to work and our pay here is much better. So they'll either go back home or they'll stay and pollute our culture and way of life WITH THEIRS.
Yup, I think about 40%-50% of our cohort are foreigners? Just look at our Dean's list, all those foreign names taking up all the top spots. Haha. It's not like we locals are lousier, it's just...them...Back in their over-populated country, the competition is SO BAD that they LIVE TO STUDY...So when they come here, they'll definitely do well academically...But as a person - socially? They have HUGE PROBLEMS.
I was talking to my first China roomie about this once. He was telling me, back in China, they have to learn 3-4 years ahead of their syllabus in order to do well. So that means, in their "secondary school", they're already learning JC and university stuffs. By high school, they'd have mastered the university level topics already.
IT IS THAT BAD. Because there are SO MANY PEOPLE applying for a place in the schools that, the only way the schools can limit entry is by setting very tough entry examinations.
My dear SBS (School of Biological Sciences) year 3 China roomie told me that whatever he is learning here in NTU, he already learnt in his high school. Therefore, he can afford to play League of Legends everyday and still maintain a CGPA of 4.2. -.-" Haha.
Oh and the thing is...my first China roomie is a biology student, but he can SOLVE my engineering PAST YEAR QUESTIONS! LOL. When I couldn't solve some of them, I'd ask him and he'd solve them like within 10minutes for me!
I was amazed. And he once again said "我们在高中已经学过这些科目了". They are very good at maths and physics. It's like, their second nature.
So yeah, that is very much the environment in EEE. A lot of foreigners, mainly from China, from lecturers to the tutors to your fellow coursemates. Haha.
This may not be a bad thing...like for me...It wasn't all that a bad thing. I did get along with the China students and we even studied together and share answers together! :D And they're usually the first in the canteen queues or goodie bag queues so if you know them, you can cut their queue! :D :D HAHA! #现实
For your first year, all your tutorial sessions are planned out for you. You don't have to do your "Star Wars" to bid for your modules. So, the system planned it in such a way where everyone is placed in the same tutorial group for all the different mods.
So after the first week of having all our tutorials, we were getting familiar with each other already and we all started making friends :D Soon enough, we were frequently going out on tutorial outings :D I think we're the most bonded tutorial group ever. Haha!
Allow me to indulge my old photos ok? Here's a few group shots of my awesome first year tutorial mates :D
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| All of us at some private room in a club :D Forgot which club already...LOL |
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| Yeap, a lil' clubbing moment for us :D |
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| Yet another dinner outing with my fellow EEE tutorial mates :D |
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| Christmas gathering at my place with my EEE tutorial mates and poly mates :D |
In your second semester...that's when STAR WARS begin. Why is it called "Star Wars"? The system you are using to bid for your mods is called "STARS" which stands for "STudent Automated Registration System"
Why is it a war then? Because you will be fighting with thousands of other students for the same modules! IT'S A WAR!!
How to emerge victorious in star wars:
1) Make sure you have a stable and steady internet connection! Doing it school will be better since you'll be on the same server as school.
2) Have more than 1 timetable plan!
3) Before the time to submit your timetable comes, just press "submit" before hand and the server will pop up a box that says something like "System not open yet. Server time: 10:39:45" TAKE NOTE OF THE SERVER TIME! You need to know it accurate to the second because pressing "submit" one second late could screw up your whole perfect timetable!
4) Once you know the server time, TIME YOUR CLICK. If you are more than 2 to 3 seconds late, the chances of you getting your desired mods are really slim
In my first ever star wars, I was camping at the computer with my friends. We had already planned our timetables such that we'll be in the same classes.
However, when the moment came to click "submit", I SCREWED UP. I don't know how but I ended up refreshing the page which made me like 5 seconds late! Guess what? The 2 friends beside me got the select mod timings while I didn't :(
So, sucking it up, I just gotta go reshuffle my timetable...which is a hassle...because once you've planned everything nicely, displacing one mod will result in displacing the other...So guys, timing is of crucial importance. Once you've been through it, you'll truly understand why it's called "STAR WARS". Haha.
In EEE, there are a few presentation modules or mods that involve presentation...like Technical Communication, Design & Innovation Project (DIP), Human Resource Management, Professional Communication, etc...So be prepared with a set of nice, presentable set of formal wear. Here's a snapshot of one of my last few presentations in NTU :(
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| Professional Communication. One of my last few presentations in NTU :( |
FYP is a 10AU module. For those vying for their 1st class honours, they will need to get at least an A- for their FYP if not, regardless of what CGPA they have, they will only graduate with a 2nd class upper honours.
I got an A- for my FYP :D :D And I had a very down-to-earth, understanding and un-uptight professor. And also thank God for his awesome PhD student who helped me throughout my entire FYP project.
And I was privileged enough to get my own cubicle in the lab. Most of my friends don't have their own private space in their lab. Here's a nostalgic snapshot of my cubicle :D
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| My FYP cubicle! :D |
On the contrary, if your professor is an understanding, nice, pleasant, positive and encouraging person...and if he sees you putting in the effort and the results don't come out all to impressive, he'll still give you a decent grade.
SO GET A GOOD FYP PROFESSOR! I got a fantastic FYP professor who is SUPER SLACK. He doesn't chase me for reports and he also doesn't always come to sniff around on my progress like an impatient hound.
I have friends' whose professors make them do monthly progress reports...WHICH TAKES UP A HELL LOT OF TIME. Some of them even make my friends do a presentation to them every 2 weeks!!
And some of them worked so hard for their FYP only to see their efforts met with the stern, un-moving, unimpressed, negative, face of their professor who doesn't see effort but results, resulting in them getting terrible grades for their FYP which will in turn shatter their hard-earned CGPA.
That's why there's a case of a EEE student stabbing his professor and then committing suicide. Why? Because your FYP grade means A LOT. And if your professor doesn't see value in your work, you're done for.
As for my professor, he saw value in my work. I'm really thankful for him. And of course thankful to God for allowing my fingers to select the right project with the right professor. Haha.
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| Email from my FYP professor expressing goodwill toward my FYP project...whew...Hallelujah! Thank God! :D |
Some of the famous EEE professors like Prof E.K. Teoh and Prof So Ping Lam are the famous GOOD GUYS. So, way before the FYP slots are open for bidding, students have already approached them to secure a project with them. Some of the students even "book" them in their year 2 or year 3!! THAT'S HOW KIASU THEY ARE!
But being kiasu pays off...because a good FYP professor = a good FYP grade; unless you really screw yourself up. So yep, BOOK YOUR FYP PROFS EARLY!! :D
Yup, that's about it for FYP...now to talk about moving around in NTU...During term time, everywhere is crowded. Crowded shuttle bus, crowded canteens, crowded lifts, crowded walkways, everywhere 人山人海!
So, even if you stay in hall, it can take you 20mins to 30mins to reach your tutorial room or lecture hall because you may miss up to 2 shuttle buses because it's too full.
And the 1 hour lunch break is barely sufficient. Lunch time is 11.30am - 1.30pm. During these 2 peak hours, the queues are frightening. Average queue-ing time will be about 15-20mins? That's not all...
Buying food is one thing, FINDING A SEAT IS ANOTHER. Sometimes, we can take up to 15minutes to get a seat. That leaves you with about 30mins left to eat.
But hey, you can't eat for 30minutes! Because you need 10minutes to get to your classroom! You think the lifts are not overcrowded too? YEAH. During peak hours, you can miss up to 3 lifts...IT'S SUPER FRUSTRATING...Seeing the lifts go up and down 3 times and IT'S STILL FULL!
Getting around during term time is really an intense exercise. Haha! Everyone trying to squeeze everywhere! When tensions rise and tempers flare, you'll get to watch a show :D HAHA!
Sometimes, my friends and I just give up trying to eat at the canteen, we just 打包 and go to some empty lecture theatre to eat...or eat at our tutorial rooms.
So that was our daily grind...Haha. We got used to it by our second semester already. LOL.
And falling sick in NTU is NOT A GOOD IDEA. Why? Because the nearest clinc - which is the clinic in NTU - is a private clinic and they charge EXORBITANT PRICES. I've had a real bad experience...
Once I was down with a very bad fever so I headed down to the Gethin-Jones clinic to get some medicine. After the consultation and everything, it was time to pay the bill. To my utmost horror, the bill amounted to a hefty $90!!
I can't remember the exact breakdown of the bill but the consultation fee and medicine together cost around $90!!! I remember taking a photo of the medicine I was given and posting the price on Facebook...which drew a flurry of comments.
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| My issued medicine. The "Cebion" vitamin C was my own stash of "medicine" |
So yeah, just a precaution to all you guys who are thinking of reporting sick at our NTU's clinic...It's not free like the SAF MO...It'll burn a hole in your wallet.
Alternatively, you can head to Pioneer mall where there are a few 24-hour clinics there. I drove my friend there once because he was really sick. The price was acceptable...like around $20.
Yep, I realized most of the things I've mentioned are pretty gloomy and not too tantalizing to a potential NTU student. Haha. Here's one awesome thing about NTU:
IT ALWAYS HAS FREE STUFFS BEING GIVEN OUT!
One of the highlights of our academic life was running around collecting goodie bags, freebies and free lunches and dinners being given out by the different CCAs, school events and canteen vendors in NTU.
Our whatsapp group was always abuzz with the latest grab. Here are a few examples:
"NTUSU giving out free goodie bag NOW outside Tan Chin Tuan lecture theatre! Let's go queue together and collect! :D"
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| With my EEE goodie bag and NTUSU goodie bag :D |
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| This is our picture at the GEM Day photobooth. It's really for the $5 McDonald's voucher...LOL! |
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| Me with my freshies making full use of the 1-for-1 Starbucks offer! :D |
- HEY! NORTH SPINE GIVING OUT FREE MAGNUMS!! COME NOW!! With pictures of magnums attached
- LT19A got a talk just ended - FREE LUNCH. COME QUICK!
- Free ice-cream just outside Canteen B! Just do a short survey can liao! Come come!
- NBS T-shirt sales today! Lai lai, take your order!
- LKC got free lunch now - mentee-mentor talk just over! BUFFET SPREAD! While stocks last!
Yup, that's pretty much all that I have to share about my academic experience...which really only takes up less than 50% of my time in school :D
Here's the most epic, last photo of my academic life in NTU...this picture is taken right after I finished my last ever exam paper in NTU :D
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| Victorious ODAC pose after finish my LAST EVER EXAM PAPER IN NTU!! :D :D |
- Don't underestimate the difficulty of your modules!
- Poly student? So what? This is university!
- Don't sleep during lecture! If not you'll use that same amount of time watching recorded lectures!
- You can download recorded lectures, play it 1.5 to 2 times the speed, rewind and replay, making recorded lectures a more practical option
- Don't be too discouraged by a tough exam paper because there's always THE BELL CURVE :D
- Past year papers are not a ticket to your A grade. Most PYPs are vastly different from what you'll see in the exam hall. Trust me. Don't bet on it.
- Study in groups!
- Get your senior's tutorial answers and past year quiz questions!
- Share quiz questions with each other!
- Don't be shocked when you discover that most of your professors, tutors and coursemates are mainly from mainland China
- Get a good set of formal wear - shirt, TIE, pants and blazer (to make an impact or to stand out if you're the group leader). There'll be several major presentation sessions.
- "STAR WARS" tips
- Find a good FYP professor WAY BEFOREHAND!
- NTU's clinic is a private clinic - prices are EXORBITANT
- NTU is a freebies galore!
- It's crowded EVERYWHERE! From the buses, canteens to the lifts! Factor in more traveling time!
2) Co-curricular activites
Now this is what makes up most of the memorable part of my university experience. I am a proud member of NTU ODAC (OutDoor Adventure Club)! :D And I'm also an emcee for many EEE events :D
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| Planting our NTU ODAC flag at our first ever trip to Lata Medang Waterfalls with Adsp8rts in their 2014 subcomm trip :D |
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| Our signature ODAC pose at Chiling Falls, Selangor, Malaysia. Adspor7s and PumpfestXVII subcomm trip 2013 :D |
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| Emcee for EEE Night 2014 - A talent and pageant show |
Yup, those 3 photos are snapshots of my 2 CCAs :D Oh, and emcee-ing isn't an official CCA per se...I'm not in Toastmasters or Emcee Club..I'm a freelance emcee. But I do so much of it that I consider it a CCA. Haha.
Anyway, let me first talk about my ODAC experience :)
I was pulled in to join NTU OutDoor Adventure Club (ODAC) by my friends Chor Seng & Kai Sen.
Their hearts were stolen by ODAC after they joined ODAC's FOC (freshman orientation camp), FOOT, which stands for Freshman Overseas Orientation Trip. So they pulled me along and asked me to join ODAC as a sub-committee (sub-comm) member with them.
I was hesitant at first because, being a musician, I wanted to join "Jazz & Blues" as a guitarist. And being an infantry specialist, the outdoors seemed like outfield to me, which I dread. LOL. So, I went to audition for Jazz & Blues.
Cut the long story short, I didn't get into Jazz & Blues. LOL. Because I'm more of a pop, rock, fingerstyle acoustic guitarist and I don't fit the jazzy bill. As such, I went on to join ODAC instead.
I have NEVER regretted my decision to join ODAC. Here's why. Unlike Jazz & Blues, ODAC is a tier 1 CCA. (You can google "NTU Tier 1 CCA" to find out the details) To me, "1st tier" mainly means, the club has a substantial amount of people to fall under the Tier 1 category. ODAC has about 200 people? If you count the seniors, and Friends of ODAC, definitely more than that.
So this means, you got more opportunity to meet with more people! Haha. Ok, it's true that the bigger the CCA, the less bonded you will be...there'll be cliques here and there and bonding will only occur between the different committees. While this is true, ODAC on the other hand, is also very bonded as a club. Why? How?
That's because different committees will support each other. Take for example these two event committees in ODAC - Adventure Trail Challenge (ATC) and Pumpfest. ATC is an adventure race and Pumpfest is a bouldering (type of rock-climbing) competition. ATC won't just be busy with their own work and bo chap the others...they will also come down and support Pumpfest!
Same for all the other committees! That's how we all work together to make all these events happen! From there, we get to know each other from the different committees and we start making tons of friends :D
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| My OG "Cetus" :D Here you see seniors, sub-commers & main-commers from ATC, Adsports, Trek, FOOT & Pumpfest helping out as senior attached and GLs in FOOT'14 :D |
Another way we bond is through overseas short trips. We are ODAC after all right? We always lead hiking trips to waterfalls, hills and mountains. Such trips are also open to NTU students and open to public. So this is where you'll meet people from other committees too. Most of the ODAC-ers will go for the trips to support their main-comm friends who're leading those trips.
The thing I LOVE MOST about ODAC is its very non-promiscuous and accepting culture. It does not have pageant competitions, dinner and dance, clubbing outings, etc...
It has one of the CLEANEST freshman orientation camps I know! My 3 years worth of OG freshies have told me how dirty and wanton the other orientation camps are.
ODAC's FOOT is usually one of the earlier orientation camps. So after the freshies go for ours, they will go for their hall and school orientation camps which is usually a week after.
There at their hall and school orientation camps they get a shock of their lives. They gotta do things like - pass the skittles sweet to each other: mouth to mouth. Some of my girl freshies gotta sit on guys lap and they'll get the guy to shake and shake - it's called iGallop. And many more sexually explicit acts of "forfeit" and games.
And they do disgusting things like throw raw eggs at you, smash coffee powder all over you, spray flour, chili, ketchup sauce and whatever raw cooking material they can lay hands on, at you. That's called the freshie initiation.
ODAC's FOOT does NONE of these. It doesn't even have a pageant competition, which almost all other orientation camps have.
Why? Because ODAC is really not about those things. It is about bonding in nature, where we explore, discover, experience the great outdoors together. The highlight of FOOT is our campfire, where we'll do campfire dance, campfire songs and sing really emo songs...haha.
For more stories on ODAC's FOC, FOOT, you can read up my comprehensive blog posts on my first ever F.O.O.T experience - FOOT'12 - here: http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/search/label/F.O.O.T%20%2712
For more stories on ODAC's FOC, FOOT, you can read up my comprehensive blog posts on my first ever F.O.O.T experience - FOOT'12 - here: http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/search/label/F.O.O.T%20%2712
Campfire during FOOT! :D
One of my freshies told me "Whoa, I miss FOOT man. Doing all those things with each other is so disgusting and running for pageant is so stressful and tiring. Can't wait for my time in ODAC to start"
Upon hearing that, I knew we did it right. When people feel the love and bonding between each other and not just the hype, glamour and glorification of physical pulchritude, we made it. Haha.
This is the part I love most about ODAC. I love what it stands for...Just bonding together in the great outdoors.
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| I was a sub-commer in Pumpfest :D This is our PumpfestXV retreat at Tioman :D |
Yeah, this is ODAC for you...a gathering of university students from all walks of life who love adventure and the great outdoors.
Through ODAC, you'll meet many outgoing people from all over NTU which is a great way to know what your friends in other courses are doing and how the courses all have very different environment and culture.
My other "CCA" is my emcee engagements. Here's how it all started.
The College of Engineering (CoE) office sent out an email to the ENTIRE school asking people to come down to audition for an emcee position.
Initially, I was reluctant. Because I thought "This audition is open to the WHOLE OF NTU. There are bound to be better emcees than me out there! I don't wanna stress myself and waste my time going to an audition that I have little chance of passing."
But, another side of me was "You're staring at this opportunity now and you're not taking it? If you don't try, you'll never know! Just go down and try! What's 15 to 30minutes of your time auditioning to you? #YOLO"
So, as usual, I'll always listen to my more adventurous voice within me. Haha! Cutting the long story short, I got it! And hence the photo below!
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| My first ever emcee stint in NTU :D College of Engineering Freshman Orientation 2012. |
From there, they recommended me to the EEE outreach department which organizes a lot of functions and events...that's where my emcee stints became very regular. Haha.
Upon graduation, I have emceed and performed for 11 major NTU events. Here's a few memorable snapshots :D
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| Emcee for NTU Open House 2014 :D |
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| Performed for EEE Graduate's Evening 2014 :D |
The thing about emcee-ing is, they pay you pretty well...for an amateur, student emcee, $15/hour is pretty good and sometimes they count in your rehearsal hours clocked too :D
The BEST part about emcee-ing is, you get to meet all the big bosses, eminent professors and key appointment holders at big events and functions and all your lecturers will know you. And this is actually a good thing...Ok, it may be bad too...When you're too noticeable, you have to watch your actions. You can't do things like skip tutorials and all...HAHA.
When the lecturers know you're always hosting EEE events, tendency is they get friendly with you and this makes connection with them easier. There is a certain favour and fondness extended to you.
So yeah, thanks to my loaded emcee experience in NTU, my portfolio is now loaded with pictures and stories and I'm currently a freelance emcee and performer :)
So to all my compere friends out there, if you have the gift of the gab, GO FOR IT! #YOLO! You never know what doors and avenues will open for you from there!
All my emcee-ing and performing culminated to the most memorable event that I never even dreamed of doing: I PERFORMED FOR MY OWN CONVOCATION! :D
It's one of the most memorable moments because we get to do songs to thank our friends and to let them know that "You Can Count On Me" :)
Joy, my good friend and outstanding classical pianist, and myself performed 3 songs for our convocation ceremony:
1) "Still" by Hillsong (instrumental)
2) "Canon in D" by John Pachelbel (instrumental)
3) "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars (performance)
The first song is to really a worshipful song of thanksgiving to God. It was really our worship song to God in front of our graduating friends. The second song is for formality sake and the last item was to tell our friends that they can "count on me" or rather, that they can count on us :D
So yeah, it was a monumental moment for us, a really sentimental one as we played for our uni friends one last time :')
Yep, that's about it for my emcee and performing stints in NTU :D
All my emcee-ing and performing culminated to the most memorable event that I never even dreamed of doing: I PERFORMED FOR MY OWN CONVOCATION! :D
It's one of the most memorable moments because we get to do songs to thank our friends and to let them know that "You Can Count On Me" :)
Joy, my good friend and outstanding classical pianist, and myself performed 3 songs for our convocation ceremony:
1) "Still" by Hillsong (instrumental)
2) "Canon in D" by John Pachelbel (instrumental)
3) "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars (performance)
The first song is to really a worshipful song of thanksgiving to God. It was really our worship song to God in front of our graduating friends. The second song is for formality sake and the last item was to tell our friends that they can "count on me" or rather, that they can count on us :D
So yeah, it was a monumental moment for us, a really sentimental one as we played for our uni friends one last time :')
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| Performing for our own convocation :) |
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| Performing for our graduating friends :) |
Here's another thing about NTU...they always need student helpers for events...and how do they source for student helpers? They email your NTU emails!
So don't hurriedly delete all those spam emails from NTU! Some are beneficial! I've worked as a student helper a few times...Depending on the event, the pay is usually $8 - $10 an hour. So, sign up for these lobangs with your friends! It's so much more fun being an usher, student helper, tour guide, etc...when you're doing it with your friends! And the joy made from earning the money is doubled! :D Haha.
I also took part in hall activities which are counted as CCAs and counted under your Campus Life Involvement (CLI). But I shall leave the hall activities to the next section, the "Hall Life" section.
For now let me elaborate on the CLI (Campus Life Involvement) points system.
There are 2 criterion for you to stay in hall:
1) Your distance points (how far you stay from NTU)
2) Your CLI points
Key in your postal code into the NTU distance point page and you will know your distance points. I stay in Tampines and have a distance point of 7.
There are 2 criterion for you to stay in hall:
1) Your distance points (how far you stay from NTU)
2) Your CLI points
Key in your postal code into the NTU distance point page and you will know your distance points. I stay in Tampines and have a distance point of 7.
In order to guarantee yourself a place in hall, you will have to meet a minimum cut off of 16 points.
The cut-off points has consistently been held at 16 points. So, if you get below 16 points, you will be held on the hall general waiting list and your roommate preference will not be considered...meaning, if your points is less than 16, your roommate will be a random roomie that the OHAS (Office of Housing and Auxiliary Services) will assign to you.
If you meet the cut-off, bravo you, I think you can even choose your room. Haha. I have never met the cut-off before. It's really taxing if you do meet the cut-off.
So how exactly do you get CLI points? By your CCA involvement!
If you are in the management committeee (main comm) for a Tier 1 CCA, you will get 9 points.
If you are in the subsidiary committee (sub comm) for a Tier 1 CCA, you will get 5 points.
I don't know the points assigned for Tier 2 and Tier 3 CCAs, but it's only about 7 points at most? Most of my friends from lower tier CCAs don't have sufficient points to stay in hall. You can google the CLI points information or ask your seniors from your CCA.
I was a sub-commer in ODAC, so I got 5 points. Plus my 7 distance points, I got 12 points! SO HOW DID I MANAGE TO STAY IN HALL FOR 3 YEARS?! Heheh :D
Oh, and when you get a hall, you get it for 1 year - 2 semesters. You can reject it anytime...which you usually won't unless you got a monster neighbour or roomie. Haha.
And do take note: Your CLI points DON'T STACK. This means the CCA which gives you the highest amount of points will be your final CLI points. Lemme illustrate:
You join 3 tier-1 CCAs as a sub-commer. Logically, you should get 3CCAs × 5points = 15points. BUT NO, IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. Joining 3 tier-1 CCAs as a sub-commer will only give you 5 points! So your CLI points don't stack (or accumulate for the non-gamers).
Yes, your various CCA involvements will still be reflected in the system but it will not contribute to your CLI points.
Now that that is settled, here's how I managed to get my hall...If you, a local Singaporean, voluntarily room with a foreigner, you and your foreigner friend get 2 ADDITIONAL POINTS!
So that's what I did for my first 2 years...I chose a foreigner as a roomie and I got 14 POINTS! Which is still below cut-off, but it doesn't mean you won't get a hall! If you don't meet the cut-off, you'll simply be placed on the hall general waiting list.
How it works is this: They will start giving halls to the 16-pointers first. Then, once they're cleared, they'll offer vacancies to the 15, 14, 13, 12, 11...pointers. Some people will shift out hall after awhile, not liking the environment, and some people will leave for exchange in their 2nd semester, so there will always be ongoing hall vacancies.
There's another waiting list for main-commers in a tier 1 CCA. Don't know what is this waiting list called...Student leader waiting list? I don't know, but main-comm members of Tier 1 CCAs are referred to as "Student Leaders" in NTU...Yes they do have a student leader conference.
Basically, if you are in the management committee of a tier-1 CCA, you have priority over those in the general waiting list. They will allocate all these student leaders' halls first before they start opening up the vacancies to those on the "hall general waiting list" Yep.
As a 14-pointer, I stand a fairly good chance of getting a hall :D Which I did for 2 years. When I was year 3 (I'm a direct year 2 student remember), 3 weeks into the semester, I was offered a room in hall 10! :D So yay! Better late than never :D
In my year 4, semester 1, my 14 points got me a hall only 3 months after the semester has started! That leaves me with like 2 weeks to exams? So that was the first time I rejected hall...why? Because I was already SQUATTING in my friend's room :D
So, how long you wait for your hall depends on the demand. Last year's demand was terrible. Demand far exceeded the supply and thus I nearly had to wait until the next semester started before I was allocated a hall.
But now the waiting time should decrease...because they've increased the supply - NTU recently opened 2 new halls - hall 17 & 18 or Pioneer and Crescent hall. So this should ease the hall crunch.
Ok back to why I rejected my hall offer - SQUATTING. Squatting basically means you are not allocated a hall but your friend agree to let you stay in their room.
There are 2 kinds of squatting - Legal & Illegal Squatting. LOL. Legal squatting means you go down to the hall office with your friend and his roomie (if it's a double room) and register yourself as a legal squatter with their signature of approval.
As a legal squatter, you will pay hall fees of $40/month, get your own room key and are entitled to hall benefits such as goodie bags, joining hall sports, jam band, or any hall CCA, etc...
Illegal squatting means, you simply move into your friend's room without the hall office's approval. The penalty if caught? You, your friend and his roomie (if it's not a single room) will be evicted and you guys will be blacklisted...Which means, you guys can never stay hall again.
Recently (2013, 2014), the hall crunch was really bad and a lot of people were illegal squatters. So, to combat these rouge hall squatters, the hall officers (sometimes) together with campus security, will go around doing random spot checks or hall raids at wee hours. I wrote about my experience in this post: http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/2013/10/ntu-hall-raids.html
I got a few friends who were caught and were evicted. One of them is my China friend's friend who illegally squat in his 2 China friends' hall. When they were caught, they were evicted and had no choice but to rent a room nearby NTU...they can't go back to China right?
I'm really upset about this because, if the illegal squatters are NTU students and not giving any trouble - in fact, having one more friend may be more fun - I don't see why there is a need to evict ALL of them.
Fine, they're not paying the $40/month but, to be honest...The $40/month is FOR WHAT? They attribute it to JCRC fees, utility fees (water, electricity) and whatsoever...COME ON. How much additional cost will these squatters incur?
The illegal squatting population is really small compared to the number of legal residents...so I really think it's very un-compassionate to clamp down that hard on these minority of students who live too far or don't have sufficient money or points to stay hall.
Maybe you could issue a warning first? Then on 2nd time then evict the illegal squatter? I don't know, but I'm sure there is a more compassionate way of managing this situation. That's what the OHAS is there for right? Proper management.
Apart from illegal squatting, you can also do subletting, which is illegal (duh) - This means your friend gets a hall, but he/she doesn't want to stay...So you two make a pact and you stay illegally under your friend's name. The penalty when caught? Same. You and your friend get evicted and can never stay hall again.
This is actually very common. Many freshies who don't want to stay in hall let their seniors (who can't get hall) stay illegally under their name. I was one of those seniors :D HEE :D I'll share it in my "hall life" section.
To the more enterprising ones, they get a place in hall and they put up their hall for sale, charging $50 to $100 more than the monthly fee. These guys are assholes but at the same time, make good businessman. I've got friends don't mind paying an extra $50 - $100 a month to stay in hall. It saves you tons of traveling time and it gives you an awesome campus life experience :D
Yup, apart from these few ways of getting a hall, there are still other ways of getting a place in hall, legally...haha.
1) Enroll in a course that provides hall. REP (Renaissance Engineering Programme) students are guaranteed a room throughout their 5 year stay. Students from the LKC School of Medicine are also guaranteed hall I think. I don't know if there are other courses that guarantee hall, but yeah...these 2 do...So if you die die want hall, get into these 2 courses. Haha.
2) Represent NTU in a certain sport. Heard of IVP (Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic) games? IVP Sportsmen are all guaranteed a room in hall. However, the moment you fall out with your coach, skip training, or quit the team, you can kiss your hall goodbye. And being a sportsmen is not easy...I have dragon-boat and floorball friends who train their asses off. They sacrifice many weekday nights and weekends for the love of the sport.
3) Discretionary Admission. This is how you get pulled into or what we call "rec-ed" (recommended) into hall. There are 2 kinds of rec lists - hall rec list and CCA rec list.
For hall rec list...If you have friends in the JCRC (Junior Common Room Committee), which are the main comm of the hall, they have the power to rec you into hall. But of course, they'll only rec you in if they like you or if they think you will contribute to the hall's activities. Yes, there is a hall rec list.
What I hear from my friends are...The minimum requirements to get rec-ed back to hall is to usually join at least 3 hall sports or support 3 sub-committees in hall. And even if you do so, you still may not be rec-ed back...because there are plenty of others vying for those limited slots. So, it's really all about how valuable you are and how well-liked you are by the JCRC.
Apart from the JCRC, your senior hall fellow and hall fellows can also rec you into hall. Your hall fellows are either NTU professors or NTU staff who stay in that hall. The senior hall fellow is like the CEO of the hall...He is supposedly in charge of setting the hall culture and oversee-ing hall activities...However, that job is usually left to the JCRC, solely because that professor is usually too busy with his research and teaching schedule.
As for CCA rec list, they can rec back seniors who have contributed greatly in the previous work year. So if you've contributed greatly to your CCA last year, the current main comm can rec you back out of goodwill or on the condition you still come back to help out.
In ODAC, it is common practice to give CLI points to our seniors who help out in our events. Depending on how much you help. Some seniors helped a lot by even helping to lead several overseas trips. We call them "super seniors" and some of them get awarded up to 7 points. Same it is for JCRC. They can award seniors CLI points too, which is part of the discretionary admission scheme.
Yep, these are all the ways to get into hall as a full-time undergraduate NTU student. If you know of any other ways, do make sure you're talking about Singapore's NTU, not National Taiwan University...and if you're sure of that, do lemme know. Haha.
Conclusion:
Hall 6 is a very different place now...After my tenancy ended in hall 6, they renovated the entire hall 6. The rooms and toilets were all re-made and it looks SUPER NEW now.
When I first shifted in, it was in very bad shape. The metal blinds were rusty, door was very dusty, wall was full of stains and cracks, the floor was as bad as the walls...But I guess mentioning all these won't matter now because when you actually shift into hall 6, you'd think I'm lying. HAHA.
So yeah, hall 6 has been re-made! It looks really good now but it still is a non-aircon hall. But, you can always install your own aircon! YES, YOU CAN.
I have this friend who installed aircon in his room in hall 4. I went to his room once and I got a shock when he opened the door: COLD AIR BLEW OUT AT ME. I was like "ISN'T THIS A NON-AIRCON HALL??" and my friend was like "Oh, we installed aircon".
I never knew that was possible. But hey, it was possible for them. Don't know how'd they manage to get the hall office to approve it though...Because last I heard from my 2014 freshies was the hall rejected their request to install aircon. So yeah, you can always try asking your hall office.
The cut-off points has consistently been held at 16 points. So, if you get below 16 points, you will be held on the hall general waiting list and your roommate preference will not be considered...meaning, if your points is less than 16, your roommate will be a random roomie that the OHAS (Office of Housing and Auxiliary Services) will assign to you.
If you meet the cut-off, bravo you, I think you can even choose your room. Haha. I have never met the cut-off before. It's really taxing if you do meet the cut-off.
So how exactly do you get CLI points? By your CCA involvement!
If you are in the management committeee (main comm) for a Tier 1 CCA, you will get 9 points.
If you are in the subsidiary committee (sub comm) for a Tier 1 CCA, you will get 5 points.
I don't know the points assigned for Tier 2 and Tier 3 CCAs, but it's only about 7 points at most? Most of my friends from lower tier CCAs don't have sufficient points to stay in hall. You can google the CLI points information or ask your seniors from your CCA.
I was a sub-commer in ODAC, so I got 5 points. Plus my 7 distance points, I got 12 points! SO HOW DID I MANAGE TO STAY IN HALL FOR 3 YEARS?! Heheh :D
Oh, and when you get a hall, you get it for 1 year - 2 semesters. You can reject it anytime...which you usually won't unless you got a monster neighbour or roomie. Haha.
And do take note: Your CLI points DON'T STACK. This means the CCA which gives you the highest amount of points will be your final CLI points. Lemme illustrate:
You join 3 tier-1 CCAs as a sub-commer. Logically, you should get 3CCAs × 5points = 15points. BUT NO, IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. Joining 3 tier-1 CCAs as a sub-commer will only give you 5 points! So your CLI points don't stack (or accumulate for the non-gamers).
Yes, your various CCA involvements will still be reflected in the system but it will not contribute to your CLI points.
Now that that is settled, here's how I managed to get my hall...If you, a local Singaporean, voluntarily room with a foreigner, you and your foreigner friend get 2 ADDITIONAL POINTS!
So that's what I did for my first 2 years...I chose a foreigner as a roomie and I got 14 POINTS! Which is still below cut-off, but it doesn't mean you won't get a hall! If you don't meet the cut-off, you'll simply be placed on the hall general waiting list.
How it works is this: They will start giving halls to the 16-pointers first. Then, once they're cleared, they'll offer vacancies to the 15, 14, 13, 12, 11...pointers. Some people will shift out hall after awhile, not liking the environment, and some people will leave for exchange in their 2nd semester, so there will always be ongoing hall vacancies.
There's another waiting list for main-commers in a tier 1 CCA. Don't know what is this waiting list called...Student leader waiting list? I don't know, but main-comm members of Tier 1 CCAs are referred to as "Student Leaders" in NTU...Yes they do have a student leader conference.
Basically, if you are in the management committee of a tier-1 CCA, you have priority over those in the general waiting list. They will allocate all these student leaders' halls first before they start opening up the vacancies to those on the "hall general waiting list" Yep.
As a 14-pointer, I stand a fairly good chance of getting a hall :D Which I did for 2 years. When I was year 3 (I'm a direct year 2 student remember), 3 weeks into the semester, I was offered a room in hall 10! :D So yay! Better late than never :D
In my year 4, semester 1, my 14 points got me a hall only 3 months after the semester has started! That leaves me with like 2 weeks to exams? So that was the first time I rejected hall...why? Because I was already SQUATTING in my friend's room :D
So, how long you wait for your hall depends on the demand. Last year's demand was terrible. Demand far exceeded the supply and thus I nearly had to wait until the next semester started before I was allocated a hall.
But now the waiting time should decrease...because they've increased the supply - NTU recently opened 2 new halls - hall 17 & 18 or Pioneer and Crescent hall. So this should ease the hall crunch.
Ok back to why I rejected my hall offer - SQUATTING. Squatting basically means you are not allocated a hall but your friend agree to let you stay in their room.
There are 2 kinds of squatting - Legal & Illegal Squatting. LOL. Legal squatting means you go down to the hall office with your friend and his roomie (if it's a double room) and register yourself as a legal squatter with their signature of approval.
As a legal squatter, you will pay hall fees of $40/month, get your own room key and are entitled to hall benefits such as goodie bags, joining hall sports, jam band, or any hall CCA, etc...
Illegal squatting means, you simply move into your friend's room without the hall office's approval. The penalty if caught? You, your friend and his roomie (if it's not a single room) will be evicted and you guys will be blacklisted...Which means, you guys can never stay hall again.
Recently (2013, 2014), the hall crunch was really bad and a lot of people were illegal squatters. So, to combat these rouge hall squatters, the hall officers (sometimes) together with campus security, will go around doing random spot checks or hall raids at wee hours. I wrote about my experience in this post: http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/2013/10/ntu-hall-raids.html
I got a few friends who were caught and were evicted. One of them is my China friend's friend who illegally squat in his 2 China friends' hall. When they were caught, they were evicted and had no choice but to rent a room nearby NTU...they can't go back to China right?
I'm really upset about this because, if the illegal squatters are NTU students and not giving any trouble - in fact, having one more friend may be more fun - I don't see why there is a need to evict ALL of them.
Fine, they're not paying the $40/month but, to be honest...The $40/month is FOR WHAT? They attribute it to JCRC fees, utility fees (water, electricity) and whatsoever...COME ON. How much additional cost will these squatters incur?
The illegal squatting population is really small compared to the number of legal residents...so I really think it's very un-compassionate to clamp down that hard on these minority of students who live too far or don't have sufficient money or points to stay hall.
Maybe you could issue a warning first? Then on 2nd time then evict the illegal squatter? I don't know, but I'm sure there is a more compassionate way of managing this situation. That's what the OHAS is there for right? Proper management.
Apart from illegal squatting, you can also do subletting, which is illegal (duh) - This means your friend gets a hall, but he/she doesn't want to stay...So you two make a pact and you stay illegally under your friend's name. The penalty when caught? Same. You and your friend get evicted and can never stay hall again.
This is actually very common. Many freshies who don't want to stay in hall let their seniors (who can't get hall) stay illegally under their name. I was one of those seniors :D HEE :D I'll share it in my "hall life" section.
To the more enterprising ones, they get a place in hall and they put up their hall for sale, charging $50 to $100 more than the monthly fee. These guys are assholes but at the same time, make good businessman. I've got friends don't mind paying an extra $50 - $100 a month to stay in hall. It saves you tons of traveling time and it gives you an awesome campus life experience :D
Yup, apart from these few ways of getting a hall, there are still other ways of getting a place in hall, legally...haha.
1) Enroll in a course that provides hall. REP (Renaissance Engineering Programme) students are guaranteed a room throughout their 5 year stay. Students from the LKC School of Medicine are also guaranteed hall I think. I don't know if there are other courses that guarantee hall, but yeah...these 2 do...So if you die die want hall, get into these 2 courses. Haha.
2) Represent NTU in a certain sport. Heard of IVP (Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic) games? IVP Sportsmen are all guaranteed a room in hall. However, the moment you fall out with your coach, skip training, or quit the team, you can kiss your hall goodbye. And being a sportsmen is not easy...I have dragon-boat and floorball friends who train their asses off. They sacrifice many weekday nights and weekends for the love of the sport.
3) Discretionary Admission. This is how you get pulled into or what we call "rec-ed" (recommended) into hall. There are 2 kinds of rec lists - hall rec list and CCA rec list.
For hall rec list...If you have friends in the JCRC (Junior Common Room Committee), which are the main comm of the hall, they have the power to rec you into hall. But of course, they'll only rec you in if they like you or if they think you will contribute to the hall's activities. Yes, there is a hall rec list.
What I hear from my friends are...The minimum requirements to get rec-ed back to hall is to usually join at least 3 hall sports or support 3 sub-committees in hall. And even if you do so, you still may not be rec-ed back...because there are plenty of others vying for those limited slots. So, it's really all about how valuable you are and how well-liked you are by the JCRC.
Apart from the JCRC, your senior hall fellow and hall fellows can also rec you into hall. Your hall fellows are either NTU professors or NTU staff who stay in that hall. The senior hall fellow is like the CEO of the hall...He is supposedly in charge of setting the hall culture and oversee-ing hall activities...However, that job is usually left to the JCRC, solely because that professor is usually too busy with his research and teaching schedule.
As for CCA rec list, they can rec back seniors who have contributed greatly in the previous work year. So if you've contributed greatly to your CCA last year, the current main comm can rec you back out of goodwill or on the condition you still come back to help out.
In ODAC, it is common practice to give CLI points to our seniors who help out in our events. Depending on how much you help. Some seniors helped a lot by even helping to lead several overseas trips. We call them "super seniors" and some of them get awarded up to 7 points. Same it is for JCRC. They can award seniors CLI points too, which is part of the discretionary admission scheme.
Yep, these are all the ways to get into hall as a full-time undergraduate NTU student. If you know of any other ways, do make sure you're talking about Singapore's NTU, not National Taiwan University...and if you're sure of that, do lemme know. Haha.
Conclusion:
- ODAC is the most non-promiscuous and family-feel CCA I know in NTU (read the stories)
- ODAC's FOC, FOOT is the cleanest (sexually and hygiene-ly) orientation camp in NTU. No pageant competitions, no clubbing outings, no dirty games, etc...
- Check your NTU emails regularly! Filled with job lobangs! That's how emcee-ing became my "CCA"
- "How to get a place in hall?" answered
- "How does the CLI point system work?" answered
- "How to get extra points or gain advantage to stay in hall?" answered
- All the legal and illegal ways of getting a hall covered
3) Hall Life
In my 3 years of study in NTU, I'm proud to say I've stayed in 3 different halls! Hall 6, Hall 10 and Hall 3 :D All these 3 halls are located in 3 different clusters in NTU...So, you can say I'm pretty acquainted with all these different clusters...haha
For my first 2 years, I stayed in a double room and for my final year, I stayed in a single room. Here's my hall stories.
All freshies are guaranteed halls and roommates. But for me, I only got into my course after sending in an appeal letter. Therefore, I matriculated very late and couldn't opt to room with my friends as my name wasn't in the system yet :(
Hall 6 - Freshman Year
Nevertheless, I had a fantastic roomie in hall 6...Fantastic because he taught me many things like tolerance, patience and self-control. LOL. He's a really nice guy, but he's just really lazy. Here, meet my first ever roomie, Liang Tian Wei, from China.
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| Liang Tian Wei, my first ever NTU roomie! :D |
He's a really huge and cute guy...all my friends think so too. LOL. He's always really friendly and ready to chat...when he's not playing his League of Legends (LOL) that is...Haha.
This is the first thing about him. Every time he steps into the room, he'll plop himself right on that seat and play his LOL for hours. Then when it's mealtime, he'd hurriedly make off to the nearest canteen, da bao food back and watch videos as he savours his dinner. After that, it's back to LOL.
He plays until 4am sometimes and when he's tired, he'll just transfer his weight from the chair to the bed and fall asleep...WITHOUT BATHING AND BRUSHING TEETH.
Ok, that's not all...He doesn't clean the room or sweep the floor or do anything...Once, I came back to my room after a heavy rain and was shocked to find my desk all wet. I saw his side of the window closed and dry and I asked him (as he was playing his LOL) "下雨的时候你为什么没关我的窗?" and with a guilty look he replied "那是你的窗吗...我怕我碰你的窗的话你会骂我"
I was like *rolls eyes*. Too busy playing games and too lazy to close my window just say la -.- Haha. But he was really sorry, so I couldn't but forgive him.
All those were still ok...The main thing I couldn't stand about him is...the time he cooks.
When he cooks, he buys tons of ingredients and lays them ALL OVER THE FLOOR.
My friend came over once and he was like "Why your roomie put his eggs all over the floor one??" HAHA! YES! He puts his eggs, oyster sauce bottles, pots and pans ALL OVER THE FLOOR -,- And the eggs were like rolling all over..LOL.
The best part is...after he's done with his self-cooked treat from his pot...He DOESN'T WASH IT immediately...He goes on playing his LOL for hours till like 2 or 3am and then, when he's tired...He just plops himself in bed and enters la-la land.
What happens is...I wake up to a certain pungent smell of half-rotting food...And I look around to realize...HIS POT IS LEFT UNWASHED OVERNIGHT!! All the brown sauce and bits of rice have all hardened -.-
That's the main thing I couldn't stand...NOT WASHING YOUR DISHES AFTER YOUR MEAL.
Anyway that was the first and last time that it happened. Apart from that, he's a really nice guy and we have many conversations about his life in China, how come they're all so pro at maths, physics and science, how come he can solve my past year engineering questions...Haha. I already covered that in my first segment of the post.
I also made good friends with my Malaysian neighbours who were really cool guys. We'd talk cock when we walk past each others' rooms and we'll randomly meet for dinner.
Really sad I didn't take a photo with them before I left hall :( But oh well, we'll still exist in each others' Facebook so yeah...haha
I also have 2 church friends staying in the floor above me and another 2 course-mates staying 1 floor below me...Haha. So...life's good. Haha. Here's a few more snapshots of my room and hall.
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| My side of the room :D Yes, I brought in my own stand fan |
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| My room's awesome view :D That's the hall 6 pond. |
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| What is pasted on every room's door. |
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| My desk when studying...Haha |
When I first shifted in, it was in very bad shape. The metal blinds were rusty, door was very dusty, wall was full of stains and cracks, the floor was as bad as the walls...But I guess mentioning all these won't matter now because when you actually shift into hall 6, you'd think I'm lying. HAHA.
So yeah, hall 6 has been re-made! It looks really good now but it still is a non-aircon hall. But, you can always install your own aircon! YES, YOU CAN.
I have this friend who installed aircon in his room in hall 4. I went to his room once and I got a shock when he opened the door: COLD AIR BLEW OUT AT ME. I was like "ISN'T THIS A NON-AIRCON HALL??" and my friend was like "Oh, we installed aircon".
I never knew that was possible. But hey, it was possible for them. Don't know how'd they manage to get the hall office to approve it though...Because last I heard from my 2014 freshies was the hall rejected their request to install aircon. So yeah, you can always try asking your hall office.
What I love most about hall 6 is its centrality, making it highly accessible. It has 4 bus routes plying through it - Campus rider, red line, blue line and SBS bus 179...these services are available at the 6 bus stops near hall 6.
When I shifted to hall 10 and hall 3...I realized how much I missed the number of bus services available at hall 6. Missing one bus at hall 6 didn't mean much because there are other bus services that could get you to your intended in-house destination. But missing your bus at hall 10 or hall 3 meant that you'll be 15-20mins late for lessons or, you gotta walk to your tutorial room or lecture hall.
The next best thing about hall 6 is...IT IS NEXT TO SRC! NTU SRC is the Sports & Recreation Centre. SRC is made up of the swimming pool, soccer field, running track, basketball courts, badminton courts, table tennis courts, indoor basketball court, bouldering gym, standard gym and free-weights gym.
So your daily or weekly exercise is just a minute's walk away! Students who stay at the other end of NTU may have to take a 20 minute walk just to use the facilities but you just need a 5 minute stroll!
The next best thing about hall 6 is...IT IS NEXT TO SRC! NTU SRC is the Sports & Recreation Centre. SRC is made up of the swimming pool, soccer field, running track, basketball courts, badminton courts, table tennis courts, indoor basketball court, bouldering gym, standard gym and free-weights gym.
So your daily or weekly exercise is just a minute's walk away! Students who stay at the other end of NTU may have to take a 20 minute walk just to use the facilities but you just need a 5 minute stroll!
The other awesome thing about hall 6 is...it is a 5-minute walk away from what I think are the 2 best canteens in NTU - canteen 1 & 2! :D HAHA. I'll cover NTU's canteen eats in another blog post.
So yes, hall 6 is just opposite hall 1 and hall 2 and it is now beside the newly built hall 17 and 18 or pioneer and crescent hall.
Yup, that's about it for hall 6. It does not have its own gym like hall 3, hall 15, hall 8/9, hall 17/18, etc...because it's beside SRC. Apart from that, all other standard hall facilities are present.
As for hall activities in hall 6, I joined the hall badminton team. I even have my own hall 6 IHG green jersey...which was pretty ugly so I hardly wore it or took photo of it...LOL.
I would go down for badminton training sessions and...we really trained. Trained our footwork, strokes and stamina. Man it was really tiring. However, after a month of training and playing, they stopped calling me...I later found out it was because they only wanted to continue training the competition players and reserve players :(
Haha. I'm not lousy, but the other players were really good. For competition standard, I definitely stand no chance...haha. But at least I am part of the badminton team :D It's reflected in my CCA involvement :D Hee :D
Yup, that's one hall CCA you can take part in. There are many hall sports that you can participate as well, such as soccer, basketball, etc...You can also take part in hall productions (drama, acting), hall jam band (music), etc...For me, I took sports because I wanted to keep fit :D Haha. And keep fit I did through those sessions :D
Yep, that was more or less my hall 6 experience...Oh, I also spent a lot of time in the hall 6 reading room :D Haha...It's an awesome, super quiet study room with an awesome view of the pond :D LOL. On with my hall 10 experience...
Yes, the gym is really tiny. A comfortable number of gym-ers would be 4. Anything beyond 5 people in the gym at once is really too close for comfort. You may end up slapping the guy beside you with your weights. Haha!
Yup, that's about it for hall 6. It does not have its own gym like hall 3, hall 15, hall 8/9, hall 17/18, etc...because it's beside SRC. Apart from that, all other standard hall facilities are present.
As for hall activities in hall 6, I joined the hall badminton team. I even have my own hall 6 IHG green jersey...which was pretty ugly so I hardly wore it or took photo of it...LOL.
I would go down for badminton training sessions and...we really trained. Trained our footwork, strokes and stamina. Man it was really tiring. However, after a month of training and playing, they stopped calling me...I later found out it was because they only wanted to continue training the competition players and reserve players :(
Haha. I'm not lousy, but the other players were really good. For competition standard, I definitely stand no chance...haha. But at least I am part of the badminton team :D It's reflected in my CCA involvement :D Hee :D
Yup, that's one hall CCA you can take part in. There are many hall sports that you can participate as well, such as soccer, basketball, etc...You can also take part in hall productions (drama, acting), hall jam band (music), etc...For me, I took sports because I wanted to keep fit :D Haha. And keep fit I did through those sessions :D
Yep, that was more or less my hall 6 experience...Oh, I also spent a lot of time in the hall 6 reading room :D Haha...It's an awesome, super quiet study room with an awesome view of the pond :D LOL. On with my hall 10 experience...
Hall 10 - Junior Year
Yup, as mentioned earlier, I got into hall 10 with my 14 points, 3 weeks into the first semester. Hall 10 was a fantastic hall compared to hall 6 which was really run down and in bad condition (back in 2011).
Hall 10 lies in the Hall 8, 9, 10, 11 and Nanyang Heights cluster. It is much more ulu compared to hall 6 which is near the road intersections.
Their 4 bus stops are also spaced very far apart as compared to hall 6 bus stops. There are 3 bus services that plough that route - blue line, red line and SBS service 199. But because the bus stops are quite far apart, missing one bus would mean that you'd have to walk quite a distance to the other bus stops to catch another bus service. And if while walking to the other bus stop you see the bus drive pass you.......plays song *Cause you had a bad day...* HAHA
This is a very real problem I face: I have to spend more than 140 days catching buses from these bus stops.
Oh, I almost forgot! Before I officially got my own room in hall 10, I was illegally staying under my friend's name :D He is a freshie who didn't want to stay in hall. So I got him to apply for it for me :D
So yeah, this is my illegal room in hall 10 :D And here's a photo with my "illegal" roomie :D HAHA!
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| Do you see my name "Jonavan" there? Nope :D Welcome to my illegal room :D |
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| This is my "illegal" roomie :D HAHA |
I have Desmond to thank for my 3-week stay in hall 10 :D If you happen to read this Des, here's a kiss for you *muacks* HAHA! Thanks for saving me 45 hours of traveling time :D Love ya! :D Haha.
Also gotta thank my "illegal" roomie for not bao-tou-ing me when I told him the truth. Haha. My friends were telling me "Don't tell him that you're an illegal resident! Later one day y'all fight then he bao-tou you how?" LOL! My friends all advised me not to tell him the truth because it could work against me.
But, truthful Jonavan went on to tell him the truth, from the first day I stepped into the room. Haha. And all was good. Honesty is indeed the best policy eh? HAHA.
When I got my own official room in hall 10 as well (another block), I passed this room to my fellow EEE and ODAC friend...WHO HAPPENS TO KNOW MY "ILLEGAL" ROOMIE! #smallworld
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| Handing my illegal room to another illegal resident :D My fellow EEE, ODAC mate and deary boy, Gabriel :D Haha. |
I shifted into my new room which was in the adjacent block - 51. When I first shifted in, my new roommate was not in. I actually went to look at his stuff to figure out if he was a Singaporean or a foreigner. HEEEE :D But after fiddling around, I still could not determine if he's a local or foreigner.
Well, that day came when I returned to the room and he was in...AND TO MY INITIAL HORROR, HE WAS ANOTHER CHINA MAN! No offense to the 中国人 but my first experience in hall 6 with my previous China roomie wasn't all too pleasant. Haha.
However, this guy's different, he's as good as a Singaporean. He grew up in Singapore since secondary school. So he's not as socially awkward as most mainland Chinese, he carries himself well and he knows our Singlish slangs :D
Here's the best thing he did for me which I am eternally grateful for - He helped me retrieve my iPad which I left in a lecture theatre.
It was a Friday, and as I hurriedly pack my bags to head home, I dropped my iPad in the lecture theatre's floor. I only realized when I got home. So upon finding out, I immediately called my roomie to ask him search my room. When he couldn't find it in the room, I asked him to go down to the lecture theater to check...That was about 11pm!
Helpful Ren Jie headed down to the lecture theatre at 11pm only to find out it was locked. He then called campus security to open the lecture theatre and the next thing I knew, he called me and told me "I found it!"
That was one the biggest act of kindness I think I've ever received from a friend. The inconvenience he'd have to go through to retrieve something that wasn't his and for someone he didn't quite know is really an act sacrifice and kindness.
He still told me that the campus security peeps weren't that happy with him because they were also inconvenienced into opening the lecture theatre. They were like making things difficult and complaining out loud. Typical lazy assholes. No wonder they're security guards. #justsayin #haloeffect #essentialism #sweepingstatements
Yup, here is my hero, my benefactor, iPad-saviour, my legal hall 10 roomie, Ren Jie :D
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| Me with my legal hall 10 roomie :D |
Yep, my 2nd China roomie was an awesome one :D I think mainly because he was brought up here since secondary school...Haha.
Anyway here's a few snapshots of my legal room in hall 10 :D Haha.
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| My legal hall 10 desk :D |
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| My hall 10 dashboard |
Hall 8, 9, 10 and 11's rooms are exactly the same. They look the same, smell the same, feel the same, etc...LOL. The halls usually resemble each other in their cluster.
The main change from hall 6 to hall 10 was hall 10 IS AN AIRCON HALL! The thing about the aircon is, you have to pay for its usage separately. All of us are issued an aircon card and we have to top it up with a minimum $10 value. We then insert the card into the aircon card slot and then we can turn on the aircon...From there, you simply watch your aircon card value drop by the minute. Haha. Here's the sad picture of the aircon box and your very own aircon:
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| I was so excited about my new aircon that I took photo of it. HAHA! Stop judging! >:( LOL |
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| This is the aircon box. Insert your topped-up card and you can turn on your aircon. |
The aircon rate was at $0.005/minute or $0.30/hour in year 2012, when I was in hall 10. That means you pay $2.40 if you turn it on throughout your 8 hour sleep. It seems like a small amount but if you stay in hall from Mon - Thurs a week like me, you'll be paying a hefty $38.40 a month!!
And yes, my nights in hall 10 were really hot so unless you have a stand fan blowing at yourself at night, aircon is the only other option to let you sleep sweat-lessly. Haha.
HOWEVER, there's a way round this. It's called the AIRCON CHEAT. Very simple trick.
1) You put the valued card into the reader.
2) You insert an $0 value card in front of the other card
3) You slip out the valued card (slowly or suddenly - repeat until successful)
4) WHOA LAH. FREE AIRCON
This aircon cheat, sadly, no longer works. The hall officers found out and they changed the system. But by then, I already enjoyed an entire semester of FREE AIRCON! My aircon then was never turned off. LOL! #heaven
The next awesome thing about hall 10 is that...IT HAS FREE PARKING!! On days when I drive to school, I can just park at my hall. Other halls that are nearer the academic zones DO NOT HAVE free parking. Parking there overnight will cost you a bomb.
I have a friend once who didn't know that carpark A or B (right in the heart of south spine) does not have a carpark fee cap. So he parked there overnight for a few nights and when he approached the exit gantry, his eyeballs nearly popped out when he saw his parking fee was $20 over bucks...HAHA. So yes guys, parking in NTU is expensive.
Anyway...back to my awesome roomie! On top of saving my iPad, he psycho-ed me to join - as a subcommer - a committee in hall 10. It's called "International Committee". This committee is in charge of integrating foreign students into the hall community. He kept telling me "Let's join together as subcommers! This committee do nothing one! And you can get 5 points 'for free'!"
I was hesitant at first. Because my 5 points from ODAC didn't come easy. I had to organize a CCA-wide BBQ and an international bouldering competition called "Pumpfest" with my committee. And now he's telling me this 5 points is so easily earned?
Well, I was eventually convinced by him. Anyway, I'll be going for exchange in my 2nd semester...so, what do I stand to lose? Nothing. Let's go join that committee! LOL.
So, we applied to join the committee and I told them that I'll be away for exchange in my 2nd semester lest they didn't want me to join because of that. But, to my surprise, they were ok! Haha.
So yeah, I joined the 12-man committee. If I remember correctly, it was made up of around 12 people. This committee is chaired by the Vice-President of Hall 10 - Kenneth Leow. He's a really nice guy...He gave me free 5 points! :D HAHA. Ok, back to the story...
There is only one KPI for this committee - organize a dinner for all the hall 10 foreign students in semester 2. And guess what? I'll be on exchange in my second semester! :D So throughout my first semester, we only met for dinner like...3 times...and after that, I'm gone. Haha.
I came back one semester later to check my CCA points and indeed I GOT MY 5 POINTS! Put in Ren Jie as my intended roomie and I'm back with 14 points on the general hall waiting list :D (Refer to "chapter" 2 of this blog post for "how does the point system work?")
Not only did Ren Jie save my iPad, he also introduced me to this awesome free-5-point CCA in hall! :D Haha. You're truly an awesome brother man. *bro fist* HAHA!
I also joined hall 10's badminton team...ONLY FOR THE 1st WEEK. LOL. Because the first week was trial week where they "auditioned" everybody and only those shortlisted will be called back for training. I wasn't :( LOL!
These guys play serious man. And those that went for the badminton trials were really good players. I suspect some of them are IVP players..haha. Recreational players like me don't really stand much of any chance :( Haha.
Looking back, maybe I should've joined the hall's jam band. Having been on my church's band for like 5 years as a lead singer (worship leader) and guitarist, I'm pretty sure I'll do a good job in the jam band. Sigh pie. Haha. Anyway, I wanted to join badminton because I wanted to keep fit. Joining a sport will force you to keep fit...so yeah :D
A lot of my time in hall 10 was spent in their reading room studying and computer room printing notes, answers and past year papers. Haha. Hall 10 has an awesome reading room - it has big fat tables for you to spread your notes all over.
Oh and canteen 11 sells waffles till late - around 11pm. So it's an awesome perk to those who wanna grab a bite while studying till late.
Yup, that's about it for hall 10 from me. Had an awesome time there with my awesome friend Gabriel where we studied, eat and study together...Haha. YES, I STUDIED A LOT THIS SEMESTER and pulled my CGPA up by a lot :D So I'll always remember hall 10 as my mugger hall and the hall that got me a good friend called Gabriel :)
Hall 3 - Senior Year
Yup, as stated earlier, my subcomm stint in the "International committee" in hall 10 got me 5 points and thus, I have 14 points to fight for hall in my final year :D
Well, the demand for hall this year went up drastically and I only got an official hall offer 3 weeks before the semester ended -.-
Meanwhile, I squatted ILLEGALLY at Gabriel's hall. Yes, he's my good buddy whom I gave my hall to and studied hard together with.
My squatting scenario was a really complicated one. Gabriel himself was a squatter, a legal one. He got his current room from his friend who is an NTU rugby player - remember sportsmen are given this hall privilege? Yeah. So all in all, we had 3 people in this room :D Which is a standard squatter scenario.
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| Once again, my name is not on the door. Illegal squatter FTW! LOL! |
So in the first 2 months of my semester, I was an illegal squatter in my friend's room :D If you wonder how on earth did I squeeze into a room for 2, here's how I did it:
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| My safari bed wedged between the 2 beds! My deary Gabriel's sleeping on the right...Haha. |
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| Friends do come over for afternoon naps too :D |
SAFARI BED!! HAHA! Some people just plop a mattress which is more comfortable, but a safari bed is more clean...because at least you're not lying on the floor. Haha. And the safari bed doubles as a good chair, many people can sit on it :D HAHA.
After my uncomfortable 2 months of squeezing in this small piece of elevated cloth, another awesome friend of mine, Guan Ri, gave me his hall :D
He is a main-commer in ODAC so he is on the hall priority list not the hall general waiting list (refer to section 2 of this blog post on why). And he stays near school so he doesn't need to stay in hall! YAY :D He broke the good news of getting hall 3 to me during our weekly badminton game in NTU SRC :D
Hall 3 is just beside hall 16 and is part of the hall 12, 13, 14, 15 cluster next to National Institute of Education (NIE). On top that, hall 3 and 16 were the NEWEST halls in NTU (back in 2013 before hall 18 and 20 sprang up).
Back then, halls 3 and 16 were the only halls with lifts :D Haha! And the best part about hall 3? It had its own gym! Ok, several other halls have their own gyms too so it's no big deal...But it is for me because I did not need to walk a 15-20minute walk to NTU SRC to gym! :D YAY :D Haha.
So here's a shot of my block - hall 3B. YES, I took this photo myself :D #proudphotographer LOL.
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| My block! Hall 3B! :D |
This hall is pretty but it's also pretty inaccessible. The 3 bus stops that are of walk-able distance are all VERY FAR APART. The hall 3 bus stop which is beside NIE has only one bus service - blue line. You can walk to the hall 12 bus stop to take the red line or you can walk to the Lee Wee Nam bus stop where there are 4 bus services - SBS services 179 and 199, blue line and red line.
So once you missed a bus - like me several times - I will usually walk to school...But my school is in the South Spine and if I walk, I'll have to take a 5 minute walk to the North Spine and then a 15-20minute walk to my classroom. By then, I'd have perspired a fair bit so it's usually an option I don't take. Haha.
Oh and by the way, I started driving to school in year 4. But I don't drive to lessons because the carpark fee at the academic zones are expensive...as mentioned earlier on how my friend's carpark fee came up to $20++. Haha.
As much as people rave about hall 3, it is not all that awesome when I stepped into my room. Here's why:
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| My SUPER SMALL single room in hall 3! :D |
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| Here's a more generous view of the room...WHICH IS STILL DAMN SMALL. HAHA. |
I stayed in a single room in hall 3, not a double room. However, other halls' single rooms are also NOT AS SMALL as hall 3's single room! GOSH. DAMM SMALL. My friend Shannon is now staying in hall 3 single room too and he too is complaining of its uber small size. Haha.
But oh well, better a room than none right? Better than driving to school everyday and spending like $300++ on petrol every month right? Better than traveling 3 hours everyday to and from school right?
Yeah. I did my calculations and found out that if I drive to school, I only save about $20...My single room hall fee is $325 a month. I figured saving ~$20 a month is not worth the 60hours of travelling time spent a month. So hall is definitely the better option.
So finally, after 1 whole year of not having my name on my room's door, I finally have it on again. HAHA.
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| My awesome name back on my room's door :D |
And yes I registered as a squatter (SQ) because I didn't want to get caught and evicted as I really need a hall in my final year. Chionging FYP is no easy task and sometimes you gotta stay back real late to get things done.
And I absolutely love my hall 3 dashboard...LOL! Because by then I have a huge collection of university photos and all...Here's my hall 3 dashboard :D
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| My hall 3 dashboard! :D |
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| My desk is not usually that neat...Here's a more honest shot of my desk with my friend in it :D |
Yup, the table is substantially big. I LOVE BIG TABLES. Because when I study, my notes are sprawled all over the table...And I really need that space...Haha! That's why I don't really like Hall 17 and Hall 18 rooms...their tables are really small...and they have a really small dashboard :( Haha.
Apart from the pathetically small single rooms, there are 2 main things I love about hall 3...The first is: It has its very own GYM. When the gym is just a minute's walk away, distance is no longer a deterrent. And yes, the gym has FREE WEIGHTS.
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| Hall 3's gym :D |
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| In hall 3's gym with my gym buddy :D |
The second awesome thing about hall 3 is...It has its own BADMINTON COURT! Which is really a multi-purpose hall. Haha.
It's awesome because it's usually empty and you don't have to make a booking - unlike SRC badminton courts. You just have to head over, set up the net and start playing!
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| Badminton-ing at hall 3's multi-purpose hall :D |
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| Badminton wefie at hall 3's court! :D |
Yeah, had an awesome time in hall 3 thanks to its facilities :D Haha. The facilities really facilitated my healthy lifestyle :D If I'd been tucked away at hall 10, hall 4 or hall 7, I'd probably be much less active...because I'd be too lazy to travel out to exercise at the gym or play sports...haha. #lazyboy89
Hall 3 also had a good selection of canteens...Golden Spoon canteen or can 16 is the nearest canteen. The next 2 nearest are can 12 and can 14. Or if you're more hardworking, you could take a 5minute walk to north spine for fast food or the standard hawker fare at North Spine foodcourt (aka canteen A) or 新食界. There's also an executive cafe there (above KFC) which serves good food too! At affordable prices. They all have their signature dishes which I will cover in a separate post...haha.
I did not take part in any hall activities in hall 3 because it was my final year...I didn't need points or whatsoever to stay hall any longer...Haha. #现实. But I did support their hall canvassing! Haha. Here's a photo of my support of my hall's supper canvassing:
So yeah, that's about it for hall 3. Out of all the 3 halls I've stayed in, I personally think hall 3's still the best due to the factors mentioned above.
Now that I've covered the more physical aspects of the halls - room size, environment, amenities, etc. - I'll now cover some of the things we did in and with hall :D
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| Bought supper from my hall - they were raising money for some event :D #generousme :D HAHA! |
Now that I've covered the more physical aspects of the halls - room size, environment, amenities, etc. - I'll now cover some of the things we did in and with hall :D
The most awesome activity we could do to entice ourselves to wake up early for lecture is to meet friends for a hearty BREAKFAST :D
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| Breakfast!! :D |
And yeah, cooking is also a fun activity to do in hall...I've had my fair share of cooking sessions in hall :D
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| DIY breakfast in hall :D |
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| Hey there cute lil' bunny :D HAHA. He's called "chu chu" btw...HAHA. |
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| Hipster bunny! :D HAHA! |
Apart from breakfast, what's the next best social meal to have?? You got it right! SUPPER! HAHA! There are many supper spots near NTU. And take note, I drive. So...the accessibility of the supper areas instantly increase with a vehicle...haha.
For those who drive, here's some suggestions: we drove to NUS Utown, Swee Choon and 126 dim sum at Geylang for supper before...Yes, our cravings were that bad...HAHA
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| Swee Choon with the EEE bros! :D |
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| At NUS Utown :D |
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| 126 Dim Sum! :D |
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| At "extension"! :D I love their bak chor mee! :D If you're feeling richer, the western food is good too and of course...Their Ou Jian - fried oyster is GOOD :D |
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| Ah lian bee hoon! My usual fix of 1 chicken wing and 1 egg with bee hoon mixed with kway teow :D |
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| Suppering at ah lian bee hoon, beside Pioneer MRT :D |
The next most awesome stop for supper is BOON LAY POWER NASI LEMAK! :D My usual fix of one chicken wing and one egg is the same for these 2 supper haunts...Haha.
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| Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak! My usual fix :D |
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| At Boon Lay power nasi lemak! :D |
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| Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak!! Can't get enough of it. LOL |
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| One of the many HTHT sessions with friends from all over NTU :D |
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| Another HTHT pal of mine :D I think our convos are academically equivalent to 3AUs...HAHA |
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| And of course my best freshie...Gosh, we HTHT and judge people until our karma negative 1000000 already. HAHA. Really treasure those midnight conversations. Haha. |
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| Yet another random midnight HTHT session at hall 14 TV room :D |
Next thing we love to do in halls is CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS! :D When everyone is nearby, getting a team together to do a surprise party is not hard :D
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| Birthday kids! :D @ Canteen A :D |
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| Shy birthday couple :D HAHA! :D #justkiddin :D @ Canteen A :D |
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| Doing up a birthday BOARD for our friend :D Near hall 3/16/14. |
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| One of my 1st few birthday surprises in NTU :D This was at hall 9 :D |
We actually just used a random tutorial room beside metis study room, plugged our laptops into the projector system and played our movies :D OHH, we brought OUR OWN INFLATABLE SOFA IN! HAHA!
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| Movie marathon: Our own inflatable sofa stacked with chips, snacks, nachos and cheese dips! :D |
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| Sunrise in NTU! :D |
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| Sentimental sunrise for a graduating student :( |
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| Last movie with my last roomie in my last hall-ie :( HAHA. Sorry, it had to rhyme. LOL. |
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| Movie screening on my hall's wall with my projector! :D HAHA! |
It's a culture amongst ODACians to make exam welfare packs for each other :D Here are a few examples :D
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| Exam goodies with a card! :D Thanks Nigel! :D Haha |
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| Thanks Joyce & Teck Kian for the sweets and card :D |
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| Thanks Suyi a.k.a my best freshie for your munchies and card during exam period :D |
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| Thanks Sabrina for your exam goodie bags! :D #HoGClove :D haha |
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| Super cute exam goodie bag from my PumpfestXV 老板 and 老板娘, Pris & Wei Hong :D |
For those who came here to find out more about HOOC (Hall Olympiad Opening Ceremony) and HOCC (Hall Olympiad Closing Ceremony), sorry to say, I've never been to one :( Guess this is one big part of hall life that I missed out :(
These 2 MEGA events are basically an inter-hall cheer-leading and dance competition. Yes, every hall has their own cheer-leading squad and dancers. All the teams from the 16 halls (I don't think the 2 new halls have formed teams yet) will come together yearly for this grand event, showcasing their talent and hard work.
Yup, that's more or less it for my hall experience :D The last but MOST AWESOME part of my university life is my exchange programme! :D
Conclusion:
- Hall stories
- Aircon cheat :D
- Birthday celebrations
- Suppers
- Breakfast
- Movie marathon
- Camping overnight at study rooms
- Exam welfare pack
4) Exchange Programme
So yes, I saved the best for the last. Haha. There are many exchange programmes in NTU. There's the GEM (Global Education and Mobility) Explorer track where you go overseas to purely study and clear mods and there's the GEM Discoverer track which allows you to go overseas to study, work or do research.
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| Me and 3 friends atop Mount Huashan in Xi'an. 华山 in 西安 :D This photo won 2nd place in our exchange programme's photo-taking competition :D |
1) Your trip there will be subsidized. NTU has many philanthropic organizations that are willing to give you money to travel and grow as a person. Just sign up for any of those sponsorship or scholarship programmes! You're sure to get at least 1! :D
2) Clearing your core modules overseas allows you to S/U them by default. Core modules if taken in NTU, CANNOT be S/U-ed! So going overseas to study really is a GPA-protection measure because all your grades there are pass/fail, which makes your CGPA as good as frozen.
3) If you go with your friends, it'll be an awesome 6 month holiday with your friends! :D No one really goes overseas to study, work or do research...The moment the plane lands, IT'S PLAY TIME :D HAHA. Tell me another time in your life where you can take half a year off to go on a subsidized holiday?
4) Exchange programmes look good on your portfolio. It brands you as independent, cross-cultural and more exposed. Which is very true. You'll be forced to be independent and you'll inadvertently seep in the culture there :D
Yeah, if these 4 reasons ain't enough, then there's nothing in this world that's gonna move your ass overseas. Haha.
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| At Shanghai Thames Town, 上海泰晤士小镇 :D |
For myself, I went for the GEM Discoverer, GIP (Global Immersion Programme) work & study programme. As the name implies, you go overseas to work - internship, and study - clear mods.
I went to Shanghai for my exchange and had the best time of my life :D I worked in Shanghai Venture-GES Information Technology Co. Ltd. and studied in Shanghai Jiaotong University - 上海交通大学.
This is how it all started:
I did not have the intention of going overseas initially. This thought of going for exchange didn't cross my mind.
However, towards the end of my 2nd year, my clique of friends were discussing it and they were all ready to go and they jio-ed me to go along with them. Next thing we knew, we were all pretty psyched about it :D
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| At Suzhou's light festival, 苏州, 月光码头 :D |
He took a week to upload simple excel sheets containing our names and all...when his upperstudy who handled the previous group of exchange students was SO EFFICIENT. Immediately after a briefing they'd receive an email from that guy...but for us? We had to wait our asses off for a simple administrative task to be completed.
Just ask any of my batch-mates who went Shanghai, Suzhou and Beijing. His slowness caused them Beijing peeps to pay an extra $100 to get their VISAs on time for their flight to China. Tskk.
I even wrote a song for him and performed it at our "farewell party" in a Shanghai cafe, dissing his slow actions. Haha!
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| The Green Vege Cafe - The cafe which we had our farewell celebration. This is where Yiling & I performed the song that dissed our facilitator :D Hee :D Of course, we did a soulful rendition of about 10 songs :D That song was just a starter :D LOL |
We settled for China because it was more developed than the other 3 and WE COULD SPEAK CHINESE. Going to India, Indonesia or Vietnam would have got us doing a lot of sign language there...HAHA.
So after we chose our country, we had to choose our company. The school emailed us a list of companies that were splattered all over China...ok, it was splattered across Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou and Chengdu.
So, if you wanted to go Shanghai, you just have to pick a company that's based in Shanghai. That's how you choose your state. But here's the catch, after you pick the company, the company must pick you too. Haha. They'll do a phone or Skype interview with you and if they deem you an unsuitable intern, you'll just have to pick another company.
For myself, my company picked 3 of us without interview. Haha. We were anxiously waiting for a company to call us and NO ONE CALLED US. If we were rejected by all the companies, this means we would forfeit our exchange programme and stay in NTU to do our IA (Industrial Attachment) :( But hey, the next thing we knew is, we received an invitation letter from our internship company :D
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| Letter of acceptance to my internship company in Shanghai :D |
Once you have a confirmed place in the company, they will go on to confirm your place in a university in that state. All those who got an internship company in Shanghai were posted to Shanghai Jiaotong University, 上海交通大学 for the study component.
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| Enrollment letter from Shanghai Jiaotong University |
If I had done my internship in Singapore. I could only clear the 10AUs of my IA. So going on this exchange programme allows me to clear an additional 6AUs of mods. The sad part is, as a direct year 2 EEE student, I do not have any UEs to clear...so 3AUs are "wasted" :( Oh well, the trip there was still worth it :D
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| At Wuxi's Ling Shan Fo, 无锡, 灵山佛 :D This place has a really peaceful, serene atmosphere. There's a sense of tranquil spiritual awareness brought about by the Buddha statue. |
The thing about this exchange programme is, the university does not provide hostel accommodation for us. This means we have to find our own accommodation.
Some of my friends took over the rented apartments from their seniors - the previous batch of students who interned in Shanghai. Some of them have arranged to meet with the China tenants over there to view the apartments before shifting in.
For me, I started out trying to find a place near my friend's apartment. Proximity meant ease of meeting up. After finding a few apartments online and looking through their photos, I realized there's no way to truly ensure that what they're showing online is real until we head down to view the apartment ourselves.
So, in the end, we decided to take over our seniors' apartment - many others did it too. The thing about taking over from them is, they're students too and thus were regarded as more trustworthy. Furthermore, they sent us photos taken by their cameras to us which was (what we believed) to be more credible than what the online websites were showing. It's China after all: country of selfish thieves.
To our dismay, we were cheated by our seniors as well...They charged us an extra SGD$400 for the household commodities such as cutlery, mops, ironing board, etc...which were NOT BOUGHT BY THEM, but passed down to them.
Some of my friends' seniors charged them up to SGD$600 for those household commodities which we could easily buy ourselves for less than half the price.
So yeah, kena cheated by our fellow NTU seniors. What's new? It's a dog eat dog world after all right?
The best part is, the day when we shifted in, we realized the key could not open the lock of our door...So, we had to call a locksmith. The 锁匠, knowing that we were new birds in Shanghai, charged us an amount that we later realized was TEN TIMES the usual rate. We tried bargaining but he was adamant about his price.
We paid him SGD$40 or 200元 to open our bloody door. He used some transparency to pick the lock and in less than a minute our door was wide open. We later related the incident to our landlord whose eyeballs nearly popped out in astonishment. She told us it would typically cost about 20元 for such a simple job.
Well, what could we do? We figured that if we made him unhappy by paying him less, he may come back and pick our lock and burgle our apartment, putting us in further misery. So yeah, we sucked it up and paid it up. Haha. What a warm welcome to China we just received from their unscrupulous locals.
Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our first night in a wintry Shanghai with beer and awesomely cheap 外卖 :D
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| Cheap cheap 外卖 dinner delivered right to our doorstep :D |
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| 干杯! Cheers to our first day in Shanghai! :D |
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| Me at my company's production line :D |
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| Me & my friends in white with the production line technicians in green :D |
So me and my friends took up to 3 weeks worth of leave within our short 6 month stint there :D We took leave mainly from Wed-Fri to give us a long weekend...and yes, that meant pon-ing school as well :D HEE :D
Talking about school, here's a few iconic snapshots of my time in Shanghai Jiaotong University :D
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| Photo at our school's main gate with my travel buddies :D |
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| This is the building we report to for lessons - The school of international education building :D |
The good thing about this arrangement is, we do not have to move out of our comfort zones to make new friends :D So class discussions and project work was much easier :D
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| One of the many class discussions we had in school :D |
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| Photo souvenir from Shanghai Jiaotong University upon completion of our program :D |
The study component was really chill too. In order to pass, we had to write two 2000 word essays in MANDARIN and do a presentation on the last day of school...THAT'S ALL.
Yes we have lessons on China's history, culture, economics and language. The courses offered were to clear my HSS (Humanities & Social Sciences) elective.
Most of us weren't busy with school or work; we were busy planning and going on trips and outings, throwing house parties and birthday celebrations every other day at each other's apartments :D :D HAHA.
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| My housemates and I hosted our Chinese New Year get-together! :D We were all dressed for the festivity :D |
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| Overnight drinking game cum circle of death gang :D |
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| One of the many overnight parties we had :D That's the beauty of staying only a 5 minute's walk away from each other :D |
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| One of the many movie + dinner sessions :D |
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| One of the many birthday celebrations :D This was taken before the cake started flying everywhere...HAHA |
That idea lit a few of our eyes up and the next thing we knew, our gourmet friend had already reserved seating for us at a restaurant called Mercato which had a one-star Michelin chef behind its kitchen :D
So here are a few snapshots of us all suited and dolled up at this Michelin-chef restaurant by the beautiful cityscape at the Bund, 外滩 :D
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| The NTU fine-diners at Mercato restaurant with the beautiful nightscape of the Bund :D |
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| Fine dining in style :D |
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| My favourite shot of the day - an attempted re-enactment of the Heineken advertisement :D HAHA. |
Here are a few snapshots :D
At 张家界's 天子山, 天门洞 :D
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| At 桂林 :D On the boat tour :D Oh, and, Yiling & I were just trying to be like one of the locals - doing this type of awesome photo poses :D HAHA! :D |
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| Boat tour in the water towns of Hangzhou. 杭州水镇 :D |
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| Hangzhou's iconic water town :D 杭州水镇 :D |
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| At 雁荡山's 大龙湫 :D One of the hills near the waterfall which has a fantastic view :D |
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| The mountains that inspired the floating mountains in the movie "Avatar" - Tian Zi mountain, 天子山 |
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| All of us posing with the breathtaking 天子山 in the background :) |
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| At 黄山 :D He is a local student trekking Huangshan as well so I made friends with him and we trekked together :D |
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| At the great wall of China :D 北京's famous 长城 :D |
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| At the Terracotta warriors museum :D 西安, 兵马俑 |
And many, many, many more places we travelled to...If I were to post a photo from every location, half the whole blog post will be filled with my exchange photos...Haha. Up till now, 1.5 years after my six month escapade in China, I still have not finished editing all the photos... -.-" There are just too many. LOL.
So yeah, basically, I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE in this short 6-month exchange :D I made so many new good friends and written so many wonderful memories.
I am drowning in this immense wave of nostalgia as I select and edit my exchange photos for this post. So much memories, so much fun, so much heartache, so much tears...It is indeed one of the most significant chapters in not only my uni life, but also my life :)
So yeah, go for your exchange programme! No money? TAKE A LOAN! Find some way to get you out of Singapore into a new environment where you can learn and grow and immerse yourself in a new culture :D
Life is about making memories and there's no better time to travel than in your late adolescence! Traveling as a student has MANY perks. Just flash your student card and you'll get discounts for many attractions worldwide.
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| My student card! :D |
That card saved me at least SGD$100+ dollars worth of entrance fees to museums, parks, gardens, mountains, etc...And not only China gives student card holders' discounts, my friends who did exchange in Sweden, USA, France, Korea, etc...also told me that their student card will grant them student prices...which is WAY CHEAPER.
So there's no better time to explore the world than during your schooling days. People are out to suck tourists but they're really gracious to students. So yeah, LIVE WHILE YOU'RE YOUNG! *plays the song by One Direction* HAHA
Yup, that was more or less my exchange experience in a nutshell :D For more detailed posts on my exchange, do filter my posts with the tag "NTU GIP Exchange in China" or you can look at my blog's right navigation panel, there's a section called "Classifications/Tags/Labels" and click on "NTU GIP Exchange in China" or you can simply click the label at the end of this post :D
Conclusion: GO FOR EXCHANGE!!! HAHA.
To sum it all up, university life is really not just about the academic striving but it's really about the campus life and exchange exposure you can get while you still have the university as a platform.
Life is all about people and relationships! And university is a breeding ground for the forging of new friendships and experiences! You can make friends anywhere and everywhere! In the lecture halls, in tutorial rooms, in study rooms, in canteens, in hall, in the gym, through CCAs, through project work, etc...
And trust me, the quality of friends found in university is above average. Why? Because the people you meet are people who are organized and have invested time and effort in order to get into university. They are people of tested mettle, discipline and intention. The friends you'll be meeting in university will become the leaders of tomorrow.
So make good friends while you're there! They will be your working comrades and bridges to success in your career and life.
A special shoutout to Chor Seng, my long-time friend who brought me into ODAC and the same friend who seeded the idea of going for exchange in me. Without his initiation, I'd probably have a much less colourful university life.
So to all my freshies and pre-uni friends, do not miss out on this opportunity to discover, grow and learn while you're in university. I really wish I was still in university, going for exchanges, taking part in CCAs and all...
Lemme end this off by leaving you a quote by Mark Twain:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain's ending words in his quote are very similar to our NTU ODAC's slogan "Explore. Discover. Experience". So, drop that conservative mindset, dust the cobwebs off your wings and take flight, for life's too short to play it safe.
Yep, thanks for reading this post. Give yourself a pat on the back for surviving this hefty chunk of words and voluminous load of pictures! HAHA! I hope you've gotten a better glimpse of what life is like, or what it can be like in NTU, from a EEE, ODACian and emcee's perspective.
All the best to your university education! And if you're done with it, all the best for your career! :D
