Yesterday is History Tomorrow is Mystery

8th August 2011, 2nd Week of Introduction to University Studies.

2011-10-30T08:33:00.000+08:00

8th August 2011, 2^nd Week of Introduction to University Studies.

It is yet again another Monday, another class for UB-0201 Introduction to University Studies. Today was the first day for us to have our separated group and have our own classroom. I came early since I don’t know where our class would be and my friends and I made an agreement to come early to look for our class together and I was the first to arrive. I can feel the anxiety building up being alone and boy am I glad to see my friends arrived just a few minutes after me. And so we went to look for our class only to found out that it is better known as Mitsubishi Hall. Again anxiety is building up since a lot of people was already in sitting and waiting for class (since coming in a class full of people will attract their attention and I hate to be seen or watched by crowds *something I need to change about me*).

Talking about anxieties, it was the first thing we learned for our second class. Now I know what I feel back then when I first started schooling, it is separation anxiety (though I doubt that any of us are having that kind of anxiety now). I thought that managing anxieties in learning have steps or procedures to follow but actually it is just as simple as focusing in my own study without worrying about others’ works. Although finding supports may also be needed. I could say that managing our anxieties is crucial to our concentration and development in personal and academic progress.

As crucial managing anxieties are in our development, reflective learning also helps us in the same developments. I learned that through reflection I can learn and understand more about issues of concern by examining and exploring it internally. Thanks to reflective learning my thinking and learning processes is easily shared with my lecturers. My personal and professional growth also lies with reflective learning as it can help me identify my weakness and help to improve it. We can say that reflection is an indication of deeper learning. I also found that when we find something new about existing information it is automatically integrated into the existing information in our mind thus adding further knowledge about the issue of concern.

I should do more reflective learning since it will help me understand and identifies and questions underlying values and beliefs. With reflective learning I now know better to acknowledge and challenge assumption while recognizing whether or not bias or discrimination is there. All the fears I had in studying, learning or revising is also part of reflective learning, only that I just knew about it from this class today.

Now I know that becoming a reflective learner will help me both personally and professionally, it helps me identify who I really am and what my weaknesses are and then I can improve myself. It will help me learn better since I will need to regularly look for opportunities to improve my learning process. Now I will likely to use new knowledge and information efficiently and purposely.

We also learned about the characteristics of a reflective learner (and I should really pay attention to this if I want to be one). I need to have motivation to learn more and find challenges more as overcoming challenges will improve me better. Curiosity is what I always have and I will be needing my learning appetite heightened. I will also need to heightened my focus so that I can avoid distraction and it will make me more discern and selective when it comes to information. I should also improve my self-awareness in learning to know what kind of learner I am and what learning strategies will work best with me. Confidence is something I have a bit of difficulty to acquire since I am always lacking in self-esteem. I should not be afraid to fail because it is not the length of studying that matters but it is the result of the studies, the final achievement, and to do so I must be open minded and welcome criticism.

I have always wondered why people write journals or diaries, I always thought of the purpose of writing one. The only thing that came in my mind was to serve as a memoir, as reminiscence. Little did I realize that it keeps track of my progression both personally and professionally, especially if it is reflective writing (thus the reason why am I doing this). It’s just that I didn’t know how hard it is to write reflectively since I am afraid of ending up writing it descriptively. And from this class too I learned that identifying and managing my anxiety is important in University life, especially since I have always had that problem since secondary school.

The Start of a New Life, The Start of a New Environment.

2011-08-09T22:27:00.005+08:00

The Start of a New Life, The Start of a New Environment.

1^st August 2011, Introduction to University Studies.

Monday, the first day of August, the first day of the week and the first day of my new life in University. It’s a whole new environment, a lot of new faces and more new subjects in which they are called as modules, and I’m still coping with this new life because it’s a totally different life from schooling. Here in UBD, Unibridge to be exact, we have to take three core modules and one optional modules to make up a total of 4 modules (and we have to pass all this module to pass UniBridge). One of the core module (which is the reason why I’m writing this journal) is the Introduction to University Studies, and today was my first class for this module.

This module, as the name says, is helping us to cope with the new university environment especially the way of learning and studying in university (at least that is what I think). But according to what we discussed in the class today, my thought is true I guess. The first thing we discussed with the lecturers were the ‘school versus university’ topic. We had to mention the differences between them and what are the expectations in university. I don’t know if I can talk so much about this since I didn’t get to take note of many of what my colleagues’ said. But I did get to know the differences between schools and universities. One of it is uniforms, in school we had to wear those boring everyday school uniform (but I think it’s still a must though, because it identifies which school we are from) whereas here in university, no uniforms needed (but there are still some restrictions about the clothing in UBD). Another difference between them is that we, unlike in schools, doesn’t have a registration class and we don’t need to stay in one class(excluding the sixth form since it’s also called pre-university. We have to go around and find our class since every module has its own buildings(and I think it’s actually good because moving around makes your brain active and it’s also good for our health, and we will not be sleepy in class).

Another discussion we had about this was the expectations in university. One of the expectation is spoon feeding(it can also be a difference point). Unlike in schools, we are not going to be given the answers or the points by the lecturers as much as in schools, they are basically like just giving a general idea of the module we are studying. Which means that we need to know how to take note ourselves. And this brings us to the next point, we are going to need more learning on our own, we need to do more research on our own. Thus I learned something about university life, ‘Independent Studies’. And we also had a discussion about independent study.

Many of my colleagues said something about studying on your own without help or guidance from lecturers and so on. Yes independent study is about studying on your own, but it is more about the way we study on our own. Like what our lecturers said, some of us maybe study on their own in isolation, some may like to study outdoors like in the gardens, or by the ocean, and some maybe study while listening to music (what I did sometimes). But to say independent study is studying without the help or guidance from lecturers is a bit wrong, because we might get the wrong points or answers, independent studies should be about studying on our own with LESS help or guidance from our lecturers.

After our discussion about independent study, we had a little activity, or a quiz plans (since every question contains the word ‘plan’). There is one thing I’m not sure about the quiz, is it asking about how I use to be or how am I going to be in university. But in the end I think of it as how I use to be and I only get a total of 12 points in the quiz, a poor planner I am, and so I need and must work out on that. I must be a better planner from now on.

To Be Continued...

Life is Like a Boat

2011-03-14T22:45:00.001+08:00

Life is Like a Boat

Nobody knows who I really am
I never felt this empty before
And if I ever need someone to come along,
Who’s gonna comfort me, and keep me strong?

We are all rowing the boat of fate
The waves keep on coming and we can’t escape
But if we ever get lost on our way
The waves would guide you through another day

tooku de iki o shiteru toomei ni natta mitai

kurayami ni omoe dakedo mekaku shisareteta dake

inori o sasagete atarashii hi o matsu
asayaka ni hikaru umi sono hate made

Nobody knows who I really am
Maybe they just don’t give a damn
But if I ever need someone to come along
I know you would follow me, and keep me strong

hito no kokoro wa utsuriyuku mukedashiteku naru

tsuki wa mada atarashii shuuki de mune o tsureteku

And every time I see your face
The ocean heaves up to my heart
You make me wanna strain at the oars, and soon
I can see the shore

Oh, I can see the shore
When will I see the shore?

I want you to know who I really am
I never thought I’d feel this way towards you
And if you ever need someone to come along,
I will follow you, and keep you strong

tabi wa mada tsuzuiteku odayakana hi mo
tsuki wa mada atarashii shuuki de mune o terashidasu

inori o sasagete atarashii hi o matsu
asayaka ni hikaru umi sono hate made

And every time I see your face
The ocean heaves up to my heart
You make me wanna strain at the oars, and soon
I can see the shore

unmei no hune o ko gi nami wa tsugi kara tsugi e to watashi-tachi o shou kedo
sore mo suteki na tabi ne, dore mo suteki na tabi ne

Rie Fu - Life is Like a Boat

Don't Run From The Past, Don't Sacrifice Tomorrow, Live The Day

2011-03-14T15:20:00.000+08:00

Don't Run From The Past, Don't Sacrifice Tomorrow, Live The Day

there are times when i think that my life is the worst...being me s*cks...i'm glad that i can overcome that kind of thinking now...but of course i won't be able to do so everytime...i'm just the same as everyone else...i'm a human...we all can't escape from emotions...and today...i found out that a friend of mine was...keeping..her sadness for a while...she even covers it with a smile...i know i'm not that close to her..so people like me won't know or notice her sadness as she's always cheerful...but now that i found out...i feel guilty not knowing about it when we met once that day...cause she's still as cheerful as ever...so i'm sorry...but what to do...the stories of our future is already written by Allah...we can only afford to plan...if you guys are meant to be together...you will be with him in the near future... :) if you don't...well let's just leave that part and have faith in Allah :) i know that this might be late...but for now, let's jus move on and focus on each and every new chapter of your life...i know that this might be late...but if you are still struggling in overcoming something difficult and brings you sadness...just remember...Allah is always with us~ :) and if things does not go with your plan...if people does not agree with you...it is up to you alone on how will it affect your life.. :)

To Lose Just To Claim Anew

2011-03-14T14:43:00.000+08:00

To Lose Just To Claim Anew

How long has it been since i deleted my blog??i can't remember at all...but...here am i with a fresh new one...well...since i have a lot of free time...and i'm quite bored...i decided to create a new blog...just to fill in my free time~ but i'm still as lazy as before...so expect this blog to be...rarely updated~ HAHAHA xD