It is now officially 11 hours and 20 minutes since the invigilator said, "Candidates will now please stop writing and place your pens on the table".
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHA.
The INT1020 Final Exam is OVER! :D
*INT1020 = Contemporary Worlds 2 (ie: Globalisation).
Even more importantly, I've actually prepared and sat for TWO whole exams without having a rerun of the whole "lost school", "exam-phobic" episode!
:D :D :D :D :D
I consider this a milestone in my life. :D
Some snapshots to immortalise the memories of my first semester in Monash and its exams...
First up, a collage of bad-quality pics from cellphone cameras on top of very amateur photoshopping (hahaha) to mark the 2 whole days I actually spent the day in the university library trying to do "group study":
Secondly, the book I read while researching for my INT1020 exam: "Starbucked" by Taylor Clark. It was a really funny, really enlightening book! I'd always seen it in the library (it has such a catchy title and cover!) but never got my hands on it until the past week.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has time (and interest) to read it. :) It's about the uprising of Starbucks (how it started, fun facts about its origins, etc) and all the effects and some debates, like whether its really displacing smaller coffeshops. It was useful for me in gaining a deeper understanding about cultural imperialism and how multinational enterprises like Starbucks can be a cultural actor. It also helps that the author is so good-looking. Hehe!
Then... the day of the exam arrived! Hahaha.
This is Eu Jean, who tried to wake me up at like 9am (hahaha! Which didn't work, I didn't wake up til 10am), and then forced me to go to uni early so I could make her feel more "reassured" (well, "early" as in... after 12.30pm, hahaha):
I love INT1020 so much. Seriously. It's so interesting - every topic is so different that it doesn't get boring - but everything is also incredibly interrelated, so you'll feel super proud of yourself when things just start clicking together. And then, even researching and preparing for the exam wasn't a drag - it was a good, healthy, fun (!) challenge. XD
And then there was The Memorising - something I've been afraid of for so long, because I just wasn't sure if I could remember so many things! But then came along INT1020, and renewed my confidence in myself. :) :) :) I now know that I can memorise a 1500-word essay in 6 hours and recall everything the next day (except 1 sentence, which I discovered a few hours after the exam)... just thanking my lucky stars now that I didn't go blank (like I did in my Criminal Law exam last year!).
And even though I'm about to push this blog entry from the horizon of "tolerable" over the edge directly into "boring", a little help for anyone out there who also struggles with memorising (I know how torturous it can be, trust me, it made me quit a degree I had wanted to do since I was 7 years old) - some tried and tested tips:
I learnt that it's easier to memorise things when you really, really like what you write - and if you make it fun for yourself! For example, I needed to remember to talk about the principle of comparative advantage to explain economic globalisation and free trade - so, I said that "The key to free trade's liberating role lies in its underlying rationale - the principle of comparative advantage". The word "lies" sort of appears twice, so there's a rhythm to it (if you read it aloud). Or picture a key lying under a rationale (as opposed to a rug)... it's funny! Hahaha.
And when I needed to select quotes from people, I tried to choose things that reminded me of things I already knew - like, I wanted to quote someone who said that trade barriers are kind of bad for everyone - so I quoted a Julian Morris, because he shares a first name with my INT1020 lecturer, Julian Lee. Hahahahahaha. I also chose "Mugglenet" as an example of an electronically-located community, because as a Harry Potter fan, it's really fun to remember anything related to Pottermania. And eventhough this next confession is a tad embarassing (but I'm going to say it anyway): I also used to memorise all my SPM Sejarah nonsense by linking everything to Harry Potter. XD
Sooo... to anyone out there who is on the brink of giving up, first, think about whether you really want to do whatever you're doing - and if you are, then just know that memorising difficulties can be overcome, because I've done it - so, at the risk of sounding sinfully corny, I'm going to say: "You can do it too!"
Hehehehehehhh.
After the exams, it was time for CELEBRATIONS!! :D
May Yen, Tharshini, Jasmine and I went to Sunway Pyramid and then to a steamboat restaurant for dinner. At both occasions, my parking "abilities" created a mini-spectacle:
1) At Pyramid, the car-wash guy literally stopped doing whatever he was doing and started helping me - signalling which way to turn the steering wheel, when to reverse, etc (I was trying to reverse-park into a sandwiched parking lot). It was SO funny and SO embarassing, but I thought it was SO nice of him to volunteer to help!! Hahaha.
2) In front of the steamboat restaurant, I was trying to park (not even reverse-parking!) into a lot, and there happened to be a bunch of construction workers at the shop in front of my parking lot - and while I was reversing, moving forward, reversing, adjusting, turning, moving forward - all of them literally stopped whatever they were doing.... some to watch, some to LAUGH!
:( :( :( :( :(
I have no photographic evidence because I was too embarassed at both occasions.
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1 comments:
very good!
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