TaniaLoG

(For non-NUS peeps’ information, SEP stands for Student Exchange Programme.)

I was called by a staff of SoC’s Undergrad Office 2 days ago. She informed me that I’m selected for SEP to Georgia Institute of Technology (Gatech - ranked #8 in Engineering & Technology according to THES-QS; NUS is #11). It wasn’t my first choice though - it was CMU which topped my (and a bunch of other fellow SoCians) list of choices. In fact I didn’t consider applying for Gatech until Ms Toh (the person who interviewed me for this programme) sort of encouraged me to apply for it. She said that though overall the university is not really highly ranked, the Computing College there is very strong, which, after my little research, I found to be true. After taking several days to think over it (esp. whether it’s worthy spending SGD11000+ for), I finally decided to apply. Luckily, yay, I got it!

The official offer (including the offer letter from Gatech + the amount of [financial] award I get, if any) isn’t out yet, though. Hmmm. Hope I’ll get at least some award. SGD11000 (the expected living expenses for 1 semester there) is really quite a big amount of money la (can’t help not to use ‘la’ here..). But I’m rather optimistic about these financial matters nowadays. I feel that those problems will be resolved in time somehow.

Once I get the offer letter, there are still mountains of administrative stuffs I have to go through… seeking permission from MFA (but according to the info I got from a senior, they’re quite likely to give the permission), really planning for my modules, applying for visa (not anytime soon though), and probably taking TOEFL test (again -.-) since Gatech seem to have this rule that all non-natively-English-speaking exchange students should get a minimum TOEFL score of 600. Sadly my TOEFL score is about to expire already since it’s only valid for 2 years. So I probably will have to retake and throw away US$140 to the air.

Another thing is.. oh gosh, my English really sucks now. I mean the accent. Now I have this weird sometimes-Indonesian-sometimes-Singaporean-sometimes-probably-Malaysian-too accent (well you get the idea), which makes me feel like I’m from another planet when speaking to an American/Canadian (and people from other countries too, but since I’m going to US for exchange, I’m mentioning them in greater emphasis). I should work on reducing the alien-like accent before going there.

But but.. aside from these worries, I’m excited too! I’m sure there are lots of new things to see and discover there. Hmm I didn’t realize that I’ve actually been yearning to go to new places this much (after being stuck in the tiny red dot for 1.5 years, and, back in BSD, I can’t really go anywhere when dad’s not around too).

Okay… time to go back to my books now. 明天我有中文二(LAC2201 / Chinese 2)考试! Wish me luck!

So yeah it’s exams time again! Been slacking the past few days but I should get up to speed soon. Should remind myself of the uber-important dates btw…

LAC2201 (Chinese 2) - Thurs 13 Nov 2-4 pm over
EE2009 (Signals) - Mon 24 Nov 9 AM [open book] over
CS2100 (Computer Organisation) - Wed 26 Nov 9 AM [open book] over
CS2102S (Database Systems) - Sat 29 Nov 9 AM over
Harmonica Exam - Sat 29 Nov 4 PM over
CS2103 (Software Engineering) - Mon 1 Dec 5 PM [open book]
IBM730 DB2 Associate Certification - Wed 10 Dec 5.30 to 6.30 pm
So yeah, 7 exams to go then another semester is over!
(Errr… 7 is kind of… a lot though. But anw I included Harmonica Exam & IBM 730 exam which are not officially part of NUS exams.)

I don’t really like the Chinese 2 module I’m taking Of course I don’t have any choice but to continue it now since it’s almost over already (the final exam is in week 13, next next Thursday to be exact), but well, this, being the first Chinese module I take in NUS, kind of warns me NOT to take anymore Chinese module here.

Here are some of the reasons for my not liking it:

• I feel like I’m obliged to blindly memorize 20+ words and phrases every week. Yes, blindly, because there aren’t many examples of the usage of these words and phrases in context. Most of them are just thrown at us with at most 2 example sentences which I usually found to be not very descriptive either. And these words are usually not grouped into some context, as in there’s no apparent relation between one word and another (in a lesson/chapter).
• The definitions of the words as stated in the lecture notes are often ambiguous or not precise. Let’s take an example.
  In one of my lecture notes, 现代化 (xian4 dai4 hua4) = modernization.
  Below this definition, there are two example sentences:
  新加坡地是一个现代化的国家.
  上海是一个现代化的城市.
  And obviously the meaning of 现代化 as used in the above sentences is modern (adj).
  Can’t the lecturers put several meanings of the word/phrases if they actually have several meanings? Well at least put some common meanings that we’re going to learn and use in the course. Or at least, in the above case, put the meaning you’re going to actually use in the example sentence puhhh-lease. Or are we students expected to look up the meaning of each of those words again in the dictionary? If yes, what’s the purpose of putting those definitions in the lecture notes? And blah blah.. well I told you I’m ranting ~,~
• The workload is super heavy. There’s like, 1 quiz/test/project deadline and homework every week, especially from recess week onwards. And 1 quiz means having to memorize 50 characters plus a lot more phrases plus of course how to write them. And the homework? In the best case (which is quite rare) it’s 4-sheet long. In the average to worst case (which happens a lot more frequently), it’s 6- to 8-sheet long.

Probably the conclusion is just that my approach to learning a language differs a lot with the approach taken by the lecturer in this case. For me, learning a language is not so much about blindly memorizing lots of words. I’d rather learn fewer words but know a lot about how to use them in different contexts.

Or probably I’m just tensed because it’s already week 11 and I have 3 tests this week and deadlines are coming at lightning speed and my CCAs (or should I say CCA since I’m only referring to one) are (is) still pressing me hard-on till I’m on the verge of breakdown (hopefully not though).

Well, I still have one more month to survive. After that, another semester at NUS will be over.