pelf-ism is contagious

Let me show you something before somebody starts to flame me for the earlier post I wrote on how some students really should be thankful to be offered a place in the public university and that they should not make a big fuss out of nothing because there are a lot more students who are sufferring in silence. These are the students who did not manage to get into a public university. What is worse is that the majority of these students cannot afford private tertiary education.

I do not normally blow my own trumpet, but I thought maybe what I had written over 4 years ago could be a source of motivation to students who had been offered a course which is not their choice.

I have no idea who submitted the article to doctorjob.com.my but anyway, I am reproducing it here:

Making the best of things

I CAN’T recall exactly when the news broke out that we could check our applications to local universities on the Internet, but I can remember every other detail vividly. I’d like to share my experience with the thousands of students who are currently waiting for admission into local universities.

I was on my way home after sending my sister for tuition when a Form 6 friend of mine called. I couldn’t answer the phone as I was driving. I returned his call when I got home, thinking that he only wanted to chat with me. That was when he told me that the results of our applications were out. Then he told me that I would be sent to Terengganu.

I thought, at first, he was joking but he sounded serious and asked if I actually applied for Marine Biology in Kolej Universiti Terengganu (KUT). My heart was pounding fast, I almost stopped breathing. After saying goodbye, I thanked him for informing me and hung up.

I nervously flipped through that day’s newspaper for the website address. Found it! I quickly logged on to the page, keyed in my IC number and pressed the “Submit” button. My heart sank when the new page was displayed. Before I knew it, tears started rolling down my cheeks. Terengganu? Marine Biology?

Terengganu is far, no doubt. Far from home and friends in Malacca and far from relatives in Ipoh. And “Marine Biology”? I asked myself over and over again. I couldn’t even swim, let alone dive and work in the sea. How was I supposed to go about it? I disconnected and called my aunt in Ipoh. I started crying before I could utter a word. After quite some time I finally told her what had happened.

She listened patiently to my complaints and then, being ever so supportive, suggested that I take up the course first and appeal to switch to another course after one semester. She also suggested that I make a trip to UPM Serdang to file an appeal.

The next few days seemed like an eternity. Though I was eager to go to university, I was also wondering if I should take up something else, something that was my choice. I searched through the papers, but I couldn’t find any private institution offering “Food Science & Nutrition”. I wrote countless e-mails to the person-in-charge at KUT, asked them about the course, the syllabus, the career options available after graduation and also scores of other questions. Unfortunately, none of the questions were answered. When I finally got the offer letter from KUT, I called them personally.

Questions about the course still remained unanswered, but I did find out more about the hostel as well as transportation in Kuala Terengganu. I knew I had to make up my mind as soon as possible and proceed with life. I knew I couldn’t continue �grieving� about the fact that I was sent to Terengganu. And I decided to give myself a chance. A chance to take life’s unpredictable turns and live with it.

My uncle drove my Mum and me to KT as my father was out of town. We reached a day earlier and I tried my best to familiarisze myself with the roads and the landmarks in KT. We found our way to KUT the next morning, at about 8am, in time to register myself. Banners were put up to welcome the new undergraduates. Many people were at the registration area, parents and grandparents, siblings and other family members. A canopy was prepared for the parents and another one for students queuing up to complete the registration.

I was making new friends even when I was queuing up! And in less than 30 minutes, I met a few girls from Penang, as well as a coursemate who happened to be my roommate. After completing the registration, I went to get my room key and filled up more forms. The next few days were spent with my two roommates, an Indian from KL and a Chinese from Penang. We did practically everything together. Orientation was very tiring but fun. That was when we got to know our coursemates as well as our seniors. The seniors were very nice people, well, at least they didn’t make us kiss the pipe or get the cutest boy’s phone number.

After the four-day orientation, classes finally started. There were some “funny” and “weird” classes in our first semester, or so we thought. I’d never thought of doing Aquatic Botany or Aquatic Ecology in class. The lecturers were friendly and we got along quite well. We even had a few field trips where we worked outside the class. We went to Pantai Chendering to collect some algae and to Taman Pertanian Negeri Sekayu to do some water sampling.

I’d never exchange those wonderful moments in my life for any other things. And how could I ever forget our “course orientation” where we had to swim about 50-100m out into the sea (it’s the South China Sea, mind you) towards a boat. We had to get up the boat and some seniors were there to teach us how to jump off the boat. After jumping, we swam back to shore. It was a scary experience for some like myself who didn’t know how to swim but some boys did it twice, if not thrice. (I had to attend swimming lessons every Monday in the public pool in KT).

Classes were pretty much the same for the rest of the semester. We had assignments to hand in, there was a lot of reading to be done and I was glad that the library opened until midnight. There were also group projects where we learned to communicate with our coursemates. And there are, of course, scores of tests and exams we all dread.

The beach, which was about five minutes� walk from the hostel, was another thing that kept me going.

Staying in a new environment such as KT also meant that we had to explore the place. We made countless trips to the town, which is about 20 minutes from the hostel. For shopping, we would go to The Store; Chinatown was just across the street.

Life in Terengganu certainly wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The same applies to taking up a course that is not your choice. After the first semester, a few of my coursemates requested to switch to the courses of their choices. But I didn’t. I felt that I was already falling in love with what I was doing. In fact, I am now looking forward to taking up a Scuba diving license in a month�s time.

Finally, I believe that life is what we make of it.

Chen Pelf Nyok

So you see.. Things might not look favourable to you at this point of time, but things do change. And one of the reasons I “encouraged” Feli to come to KUSTEM is because I do not want her to waste an opportunity to pursue her tertiary education just because she is afraid of going to a place she has never been to before.