As tradition dictates, the end of final exams is closely followed by a blog post summing up the semester. However, that tradition was broken when the end of the first semester in July was followed up by.....nothing. So, this post will be different from the last 2 I've done so far (4 months after, life as a UNIVERSITY student and 105 days of summer) as I'll be summing up my year (instead of just the semester) and not only on uni related stuffs.
Started university again after 105 days of summer holiday as a 2nd year student and true to the words of a final year friend, I did find my first semester of 2nd year to be somewhat hellish. Sat through some of the hardest units I've ever done in my 20 years and that definitely took a toll on me. Though for most part I survived it in the end, I didn't come out of it totally unscratched - something I am unlikely to forget anytime soon. I found second semester to be much more pleasant despite having twice the amount of workload (funny how things work out). The 3 months of second semester literally flew by and before I knew it, it was finals. Perhaps it was the 17 assignments (spanned across 4 units which included a group project) that kept me so busy I barely had any time for much else - like thinking about those little things in life that would have otherwise bothered me had I had too much time on my hands to think about them. Needless to say, I breathe in a great sigh of relief that uni's done for the year.
Although I didn't have the best of times for most of the first half of 2011, there were some good moments and there were some really great ones.
HIGHLIGHTS of 2011 (chronologically ordered):
Started university again after 105 days of summer holiday as a 2nd year student and true to the words of a final year friend, I did find my first semester of 2nd year to be somewhat hellish. Sat through some of the hardest units I've ever done in my 20 years and that definitely took a toll on me. Though for most part I survived it in the end, I didn't come out of it totally unscratched - something I am unlikely to forget anytime soon. I found second semester to be much more pleasant despite having twice the amount of workload (funny how things work out). The 3 months of second semester literally flew by and before I knew it, it was finals. Perhaps it was the 17 assignments (spanned across 4 units which included a group project) that kept me so busy I barely had any time for much else - like thinking about those little things in life that would have otherwise bothered me had I had too much time on my hands to think about them. Needless to say, I breathe in a great sigh of relief that uni's done for the year.
Although I didn't have the best of times for most of the first half of 2011, there were some good moments and there were some really great ones.
HIGHLIGHTS of 2011 (chronologically ordered):
January-February
Spent most of my summer right up till uni started again at the end of February with my (then) boyfriend. Those were great times.
Point Walter - one of the many beautiful places in Perth I got to visit during my 3 months summer break
31 January (Mon)
My 20th birthday. Navigated through my first maze at Abingdon Miniature Village, Mandurah (though the maze was in no way miniature), something I've always wanted to try and finally did! And playing supa golf (which is like miniature golf but played with bigger balls) at Oasis Resort, Swan Valley with my sister.
Halfway through the maze at Abingdon Miniature Village, Mandurah
Sister - about to tee of the supa golf ball at Oasis Resort, Swan Valley
10 February (Thu)
Adventure World, which was an extension of my birthday surprise.
21 February (Mon)
Driving UWA's golf buggy during orientation week for 1st years, when I volunteered as an O-Quest leader.
Transporting boxes across campus in the golf buggy
29 March (Tue)
Adrian's graduation (he graduated with an upper first class honours in pure mathematics).
Adrian
28 April (Thu)
Met my mentor (under UWA's Career Mentor Link), Miriam (a Chemical Engineer with 13 years experience) for the first time today. She's one of the best people I've had the fortunate chance of meeting.
16 July (Sat)
First bouncy castle and first toasted marshmallow at Susan's early birthday party. Yes, this could be perceived as somewhat slightly shocking that it's a first for a 20 year old when most would have had tried both sometime before they turn 10. Funnily or oddly enough, the opportunity never arose.
Sister and me on the bouncy castle *bounce bounce*
Toasted marshmallows
21 July (Thu)
First laser tag game at Darkzone, Willeton, which was a lot of fun. Hey, Barney was right after all! (HIMYM reference)
14 August (Sun)
Making chocolate fudge for the chemical and process engineering display at UWA's Open Day with my fellow CPEC (The Chemical and Process Engineering Club of UWA) committee members. Why make chocolate fudge at a chemical and process engineering display you ask? It's meant to demonstrate a batch reaction in a chemical process though the visitors were much more interested in the chocolate fudge (as I expected they would've been).
Various stages of making the chocolate fudge
L-R: Jon, Pruthvi, Ping, Raawi
31 August (Wed)
CPEC quiz night.
At Basement on Broadway
L-R: Janet, me, Siearra, Nisha, Jason, Chai Leen, Naava, Divya, Toan
14 October (Fri)
Visit to Boddington Gold Mine with my MINE1160 Introduction to Chemical and Resource Engineering class. MINE1160 was hands down the best, most interesting unit I've taken in 4 semesters. There's something about mining the Earth's natural resources that I find very fascinating.
At the south pit of Biddington Gold Mine
21 October (Fri)
Curves' Girl's Night In event in conjunction with breast cancer awareness month. Got my first tarot card reading that night (Tarot cards) - an extremely interesting experience.
Outside Curves
23 November (Wed)
The end of 2nd semester final exams, which officially marks the end of 2nd year and the halfway point of my degree.
13 November (Mon): The night before my first final exam, GENG2140 Modelling and Computer Analysis for Engineers
How my study desk looks like most nights during the semester - not a pretty sight
How my study desk looks like after exams - table cleared and walls stripped bare
.....
330 days of 2011 summed up in one blog post. Though interesting doesn't quite start to describe my year, it certainly is a good start. Now that exams are done and dusted, I have 95 days (93 after today) of summer holiday spanned out in front of me. Unlike last year, I honestly don't know how this summer will play out but I'll look forward to it nevertheless. If nothing else, time to recuperate from uni is always a great thing.
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