"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you." - Lao-Tzu

Let me just say this:

You wouldn't expect it, but ...

Lecturers can be so darn COOL.

The guy in the picture with the moustache and no headscarf is my Contemporary Worlds 2 lecturer, Dr Julian Lee. This has something to do with his research! :)

That aside, we got our Monash T-shirts at last! They're so frustratingly dull, though, and the Monash website address on the back makes me feel like an advertising billboard. :(

[Pic: Nushie-wants-a-sushie and yours truly.]

What they should have put on the shirt is "Ancora Imparo", the university motto.

It's Latin for "I am still learning". :)

And now, as compensation to my dear, sweet friends who I haven't seen for sooo many days now because of my morbidly high pile of schoolwork and assignments - here are some glimpses into my university life at Monash! :D

This is Lee Jung Ai, from South Korea. :D She's one of my journalism class buddies - super duper funny and nice. I can't believe I crashed her lunch table the other day, but I got to befriend another South Korean girl, a 2nd-year student named Sun. :) We were talking about Namdaemun and Dongdaemun and how skinny Korean girls are. Hahahahaa.

[Pic: Ai on the left and Wong Si-min on the right. She's Malaysian. But she studied for a long time in S'pore. She's my closest friend on Thursdays! :D We're in the same journalism and communications tutorials.]

And these here are pictures of parking at Monash! :D

Anusha (a.k.a. Nushie-wants-a-sushie) and I both drive a Myvi (except hers is silver - like my best friend, Tse Mun!), and sometimes we park really close to each other, so it's really cute. Hahahaha. Well, I think it is! ;)

[Pic: Nushie's car! This was the day we parked 1 car apart.]

[Pic: The green Myvi is mine. Michele Kuah (who sometimes hitch-hikes in my car, haha) and I were laughing about how my car looks like it's in the middle of the road! Haha. It's not, ok! It just looks like it! Haha.]

Surprising even myself, it turns out I'm not so bad in parking, after all. Hahaha.

BUT I did spend 10 minutes the other day trying to do a side parking into a tiny little cramped space that I was half-sure would fit my car... but after a fruitless attempt at reversing, moving forward, turning, reversing, etc - I decided not to push my luck, and parked at another (further) spot! Haha.

This is what Denise would have looked like if she had seen me sweating it out behind the wheel, trying to do the side-parking:

[Pic: That's Rachel and Denise Teo at Lotus Mamak the other day. :D]

And now... for more random pictures! :)

This was a few weeks ago, at the "Surviving Monash" workshop which my friends and I went to for about 10 minutes, before grabbing our bags and running out through the back door at the first opportunity! Hahahahahhaa.

[Pic: Joshua Liew in red, Kaireen in grey, Esther standing up in black]

We felt very bad after. Yes we did!

And this is what the Library & Learning Commons looks like from the other side of the glass. :P I think Monash doesn't provide enough computers in the library. All right, so they do have like 3 floors with some computers on each floor, and computer labs for everyone to use when classes are not on, but Taylor's had "The Web", which was just a big room full of computers. Oh, well! You get some, you lose some. Haha.

[Pic: Lau in blue-and-white-stripes. Anusha laughing at the camera.]