END OF YEAR TWO SEM ONE! whoo! (:

finally ended this super hectic sem on thursday, 29th november. it's considered relatively early for me as compared to most of my friends who end on the first week of december. actl it's more of me purposely planning my timetable in such a way that i'll end early cos i die die didn't want my exams to end on the first week of dec, idk why either. anw it's a level of achievement unlocked for me as it's the first time in uni that i've actually took 2 final exams on the same day. people always strongly advise against having 2 papers on the same day as they say you'll get brain fried, and i actl have no idea what have got into me when i went ahead and bidded for marketing despite that. it was really an experience, having almost really no time to study for marketing. i think i spent only a total of 6 hours to study for the finals? really quite risky i know.

initially, i intended to s/u it given the workload and heavy amounts to memorise for my life science mods and also since i started uni, i haven't used a single s/u. heard from others also that the later you use your s/u, the lesser the impact it will have on your CAP as it is accumulative. the individual assignment for marketing was a chore to me and a pain in the ass, you can ask zs, my family and uni clique how much i sulked and complained while doing it; and i also spent close to 2 whole entire days doing a 15% assignment that has a limit of only 5 pages. what angered me most was that the percentage of the group assignment and the individual assignment was the same when we had to do so much more for the group assignment - group presentation, face to face interview with a selected organisation and group report. yes - all of that for 15%, ridiculous right? was really that close to giving up, and i edited and compiled my assignment till the point i decided that i spent too much time and should just heck and print it out. well, i did that and submitted the next day, thinking that i would get a C or something. didn't think much till the last tutorial when my group mates said that we would be getting our group report and individual assignments back. and to my pleasant surprise when i least expected it, i actually got an A+ for my individual assignment when i thought i would get a sucky grade. was really appalled at that point in time, but i really am grateful to God for that and my loved ones tolerance towards me when i was complaining to them non stop about it. that was when i told myself, no, i can't s/u it when i actually got such a decent grade for the 15%. promised myself to incorporate some time in between studying for my core mods. spent tuesday night mugging for it, and chionged for another one hour when my morning paper ended at 1130am on thursday. marketing was at 1pm.

luckily, the format of the paper was 50mcqs, so it's actually not as bad as having structured questions which i think would have seriously killed me if i were to enter the exam hall with such insufficient preparations. a supposedly 2 hour paper was completed in an hour, and majority of the people, approx 2/3 of them left the exam hall once they're done. being the kiasu one, checked multiple times before i was really sure and left the mpsh half an hour before the exam was supposed to end. was overwhelmed with a sense of comfort again, and I can say it's by God's grace that i managed to sieve out the mainpoints and remember the examples given during lectures. tallied my answers with the lecture notes while i was on the way to nex to meet the clique, and i was even happier when i found out that most of my answers, except maybe about 3 which were wrong. there i was thinking, God, You're so good to me (:

and so yep, this marks the end of year two sem one for me. my core mods this sem - molecular biology, metabolism and regulation took up 90% of my brain capacity. it was really that much, the amount that we're required to memorise. but well, i've managed to conquer them and hopefully i'll be able to reap rewards with that. although it's been physically, mentally and emotionally draining, this sem has been a really eventful and meaningful one. experienced and accomplished much during this sem, which i wouldn't want to forget. during this period of time, i :

(1) got my A+ in uni for the very first time;

(2) and the streak continued, with me getting a total of 6 A+, 3 As and 1 B for my CAs and lab reports. finals, however, i hope it would be maintained.;

(3) survived finals without the boy's company as he's in this sunny island called tekong;

(4) found really awesome friends whom i can relate to in my clique without getting judged;

(5) had frequent lunch dates with bear and qian ning which made everything much more bearable;

(6) experienced mood swings so much more frequently due to the stress from school

(7) finally managed to take my forensics mod which i had so much interest in (and hopefully is allowed to minor in it)

(8) found myself better able to strike a balance between going out, dating and studies;

(9) experienced several 'xin tong' episodes due to the several stories i've heard from the boy and the decreased contact with him ever since he's enlisted;

(10) learnt so much more about army + army terms (5BX, RT, confinement, smart 4 (zs's platoon's f*** 4), IPPT, SOC, MO, PC, SAR21, safti, 11B, food house, strength training, PT etc etc) and i think they really deserve to be praised and credited for their contribution to our society and country;

(11) and also learnt that no news = good news for army;

(12) found myself stronger, tougher and more independent;

(13) and above all, with God's grace and support from my loved ones, i managed to pull through and hopefully will reap good returns.

thank you to everyone who's been so supportive and understanding towards me during this period of time, especially my dearest zs, family and closest friends (: love you all! xx.

somehow feel contradictory also, cos with this liberation i suddenly became too free and kept thinking of what to do and start to plan outings. shall enjoy while i can before sem 2 begins in mid jan and a second round of chionging begins. the boy's having field camp this weekend, and so i'm also quite sian as it's just nice when i ended exams and his field camp begins. the timing for my schedule this sem is really no good, kept clashing with his schedules and his outings with his friends which i'm supposed to go with him. i'm however, so glad to have him being so understanding and not picking a fight with me cos of all these but he was instead supportive of my studies and told me to go ahead. love you dear, can't wait to see you after your field camp! (: ni yao jia you! (: