Melbourne (or Melbie)

Yes I'm here. Uni life's gonna start very soon, with the first lecture to be held on March 3rd. The idea of me being a university student is so intriguing and frightening at the same time (especially when the thoughts of the multiple subjects that I'll be taking for my 1st Sem twirl in my head). After a deep contemplation, I've decided to choose Microeconomics and Macroeconomics as my breadth subject for my first and second semester, respectively. My complementary subjects will consist of Chemistry and either Environmental Studies or Physics, which will come hand in hand with my major Earth Sciences-related subjects that I'll be taking throughout my 3-year studies here. Sounds complicated aint it? yes it is. Thanks to the Melbourne Model that has succeeded in making my uni experience considerably more hectic than anything I've ever hoped it to become. But well, I've suffered IB, so another three years of sleepless nights and caffeine-generated nocturnal activities will hopefully be quite tolerable.

Speaking on Melbourne city, I'd love to say that it's just lovely. The city aint too hectic but it's not too sleepy and boring either, so the people can basically enjoy their city living without having to wade through the problems that have always been associated to big cities like traffic congestion, rampant crime, etc. The city is also very pedestrian-friendly, making our daily 5 to 10-minute-long trip to the University a safe and hassle-free one. The trams are a good mode of transportation around the city, but the tickets are pretty expensive, so walking (and burning calories in the process) is actually the best way in exploring the city. My 1-room-apartment also beats my prior expectation; it's clean, quite spacious (for a single occupancy) and well-equipped.















































*my unit is also facing the cemetery, but believe me, it's not half as scary as what you might think!

Feeling bored in our new digs, my batchmates and I went for a night stroll around Melbourne city. It was quite chilly at that time, and Zahra, who's so infamous of her inability to withstand cold of any kind whined throughout the night for the chilly air that was just unbearable for her. She even covered her head with her sweater's hood just to mitigate the effects of the chilly summer (not winter) air. I couldn't help but thinking that there's no way that she's gonna survive the chillier winter air. We had time to take some inevitable pictures that night, and looks like I've only got the arse to post one of those this time around:














*I've got tonnes of pictures to upload, but due to the bloody-expensive internet rate in Australia, austerity in bandwidth usage is just my way to go. More pictures have been uploaded to my Facebook, though. Courtesy to Syed for taking most of the pictures that night, and Yvonne, who brought Sri KDU name all the way to the streets of Melbourne by wearing her universally-dreaded blue house Sri KDU tee. Mrs. Chan must've been very proud had she looked at her SriKDU-spirited look that night.

Speaking on the Australian accent, I have to say that I don't like it, but I know with intense surety that I'll have to live with it for, like 3 years to come, so I should try getting a hang on it as soon as possible.

Basically, I have nothing to complain or whine about, which comes to a surprise since my whining addiction has really gotten some sorts of infamy from my friends all these while. Life's been good, so far, and I've got a free phone, too! (Nokia 6500 that I'm not looking forward to using soon since I'm still in love with my not-so-old SE s500i, which is still functioning perfectly). The seniors have been amazing, and they've gone great length to help us solve many settling-down-related problems. Thank you so much!

So far, the odyssey has just begun. I know that my 3-year-long journey in attaining excellence in life through the medium of university education is going to be thorny along the way, but with the fullest faith in everything in which my destiny is determined, everything is going to be fine. I'm really excited and nervous right now, and that's all I can say. Since I've started using schmaltzy and corny-inclined language, which signifies my sleepiness at the moment, so I guess it's time to stop with this post and get myself some sleep that I really need. See ya!

Faizal Hamssin