My Four Years in Uni...

In a blink of eyes, my four years of journey in uni have ended. I couldn't believe that I'll be going through another chapter of life very soon.

The University of Western Australia.

It is still clearly in my mind that, I was so excited when I was accepted by The University of Western Australia. Finally, I was able to get out of Miri and went to a country where it is most famous with its kangaroos and koala bears.

My family and I.

However, my Baba didn't really like the idea of me going overseas to study. Looking at his friends, almost all of their sons and daughters chose not to come back to them after they're done with their studies. After a fight with my Baba, he gave me the permission to study in Perth.

Cool?

Danny was the one whom I followed to Perth. He was the one who gave me a place to stay. He was the one who assisted me to settle in Perth. He was the one who brought me to the uni. He was the one who helped me the most in my studies. He was the one I would like to thank the most. Thanks, buddy!

My sis and I at Sunken Garden.

Touching down Perth for the very first time, Mian Er (Danny's sis), fetched us from the airport. That was the very first time I saw her. She's my housemate for the rest of the year besides Danny. She brought us to a Thai restaurant for dinner. That time, my jaw almost dropped when I saw the price of a plate of rice cost Aud$8. It's about RM24 per plate, I thought. I knew, I had no choice but to still eat it because I was no longer in Malaysia where a plate of rice cost only RM3.

The famous clock tower in The University of Western Australia.

After dinner, Mian Er drove us back to my first home in Perth. On the way back, Danny pointed out the uni, which I was going to spend 4 years in. It was just few minutes away from my house. I was totally impressed by the clock tower which stands proudly, at the entrance of the uni.

Reflective pond.

The next few days, Danny and Mian Er drove me to few places, to get myself some of the furniture needed. With only few hundred of cash in hand, I almost spent most. Things in Perth are just expensive...

Danny and I.

My first year in Perth was quite boring and I couldn't deny, this made me miss home a lot. I didn't eat much outside, I didn't go to a lot of places and also, I didn't have many friends. All I did was to just stay at home and try my very best to catch up with my studies. However, my results were not excellent. Maybe because both Danny and I didn't mix or have a lot of friends, thus, we didn't get enough "source" for our exams. ;)

A group of friends.

One thing I couldn't forget is how I had to wake up at 7a.m. everyday in the winter, when everyone was still hiding under their blankets, and walk to the earliest Maths lecture at 8a.m.. Thinking of the strong, cold wind blowing my face... *Shaking head* No more, no more...

Family and I.

Come to think about it, my first year wasn't that bad. I met a new friend, Robby (Mian Er's friend), who spent about a week in Perth to visit Mian Er. He stayed in our house and we travelled to some of the places, such as Swan Valley, Cohunu Wildlife Park, Mandurah and etc.. We had a great time together. I had to say, that period of time was the most happy for me in my first year.

Inside the graduation hall, Winthrop Hall.

My second year started off with only me and Danny in the house. Mian Er decided to go to Kuala Lumpur for work. Our house, once full of laughter, suddenly became very quiet. That only lasted for two or three months before Mian Er came back for good. Soon after that, I launched a "Midnight Radio". I would download all the new Mandarin songs and "broadcast" them from my room. That was our house main entertainment at night. ;)

Left to right: Chris, Wei Lun, Jeremy, Kok, Adrian, Khee Wee and Mohan.

Second year, first semester, I had some of the best memories in uni. Thanks to a unit, Engineering Design. Brian, Danny and I formed a group to design and build two prototypes for that unit. We had to carry all of our tools such as pieces of wood, hammer, screwdriver, electric drill and etc. all the way from my house to the engineering building every night. We had to spend at least few hours there to build our prototype. We also had to make sure the prototype works. If not, we might failed the unit.

Warman group mates.

This shows how tough our second year. Some days, we stayed up the whole night to finish up the prototypes. Those were one of the days when we saw the sun rise before going to bed. Sometimes, I only slept for 2 or 3 hours before going for lectures. Call me mad or crazy, yes, I was.

Graduands from left to right: Lawrence, Kok, Danny, Nathan, Kwong, Shadi and Mohan.

It was also that unit, I met a lot of friends. Louis, Mohan, Shadi, Chris, Wei Lun, Eric and etc. , just to name a few. It was one of the most fun units in the uni. Nevertheless, I still have to tell you all that, it's also a nightmare for us at the time we're doing that unit.


Apart from the academic stuff, Danny and I did a lot of stuff together. We came out with a once-a-week-city-day which we would go to the city and have a lunch at Taka, most of the time (will blog about this restaurant). At the end of the year, we also took a bus circle route and went round Perth for a day. We were so exhausted by the end of the day.

Mohan and I.

Since my circle of friends grew wider in second year, my activities with friends also showed an increase. Every week, we would find a day for soccer together. I also tried my first time ice-skating with a group of friends at the end of the year. That's the normal activities. Brian, Danny and I did an insane activity together; going for Japanese sushi all-you-can-eat-buffet. The first part of that activity did not include Brian. We were trying to make ourselves as hungry as possible so that we could make our money worth for that buffet. The day we were going to the buffet, Danny and I woke up early in the morning and had only a cup of milk before walking to and back King's Park from our house (about 45 minutes walk). By the time we reached home, it's already lunch time but we didn't had anything except just a snack bar of chocolate. At about 5:30p.m., we called Brian and together, we went to the city for Jaws Kaiten Sushi's all-you-can-eat-buffet. We paid Aud$20 (price at that time) and were given 45 minutes to eat as many plates of sushi as possible. Danny and I were the hungry ghosts then. Danny had about 17 plates of sushi while I had about 13 plates. Brian, who had late lunch earlier, did not lose out as he had about 10 plates. The three of us even stuffed ourselves with a McDonald Sundae Cone each. Unbelieveable? Believe it. ;) But I can tell you, it's not fun at all as our stomach felt like bursting!

Tzu Yen and I.

Another crazy activity that I did with my friends was drinking alcohol straight after our exams ended. That night, Danny and my friends came to our house. At first, only Danny and Nathan planned to drink but later on, all of us (Henry, Yoong, Jason and I) decided to join in. That was the first time I had so much alcohol though I was not drunk. Actually most of us were not drunk, just that, Nathan was the only one who kept on vomiting in the toilet!

Those were the times...

Lawrence, Kwong and I.

My third year was quite a challenging one. I had to move out from the house and live with Henry and two other complete strangers. At first, I thought it's impossible for me. But later on, I found out that living with them, especially with Chris, was quite fun and interesting as I got to do a lot of new things with them. Nevertheless, unavoidable housemate problems did occur.

The Black David and I.

Some of the first times that I experienced during that year include writing my very first blog, travelling down Margaret River, visiting casino, baking with Baker Chris, plucking strawberries, celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival overseas and eating extra-ordinary bread. Never a day I would stay in my house for the whole day. Most of the time, I would be occupied with some activities. It was indeed a year with the most activities.

Ivan and I.

I wonder why it's always the first semester of each year that's most interesting. This happened in my third year, too, when Danny, Lawrence, Brian, Nathan, Jono and I were involved in a project together. The project, construction of aircraft, was for one of the units in the uni. No doubt, we had a great time together.

ISS Committee.

My third year in uni also see me involved in more activities organised by the International Students Service (ISS) of The University of Western Australia (UWA). Some of the trips that I followed were Pinnacles and sandboarding, Yanchep National Park and Araluen Botanic Park. Without ISS, I doubt if I could visit that many places in Perth.

Kok, Jono and Kwong.

Getting to know more about ISS through the trips they organised, I signed myself into their once in a year Spring Feast committee. Apart from that, I also ran for a position as a Sports Secretary in the ISS Committee for the year 2007. A thing that I didn't expect I would do. The last but not least for ISS, I went to their Annual General Meeting (AGM) where I grabbed my very first certificate in UWA. People told me I should not just study in uni. So, there I went, became more active in ISS. Nevertheless, I guess I was a little too late to do so.

The Handsomes.

Finally, a long awaited fourth year had arrived. I would describe this year as the most dramatic and the most tiring year...

Despite living in the best house (in terms of the building condition) as compared to the two previous house, this house gave me the most problems. The worst was housemate problems which I won't elaborate here. Another problem was the location of the house which is just next to a construction site. This was quite annoying considering I always went home very "early" and tried to sleep in the morning.

Me and Professor Brett Kirk (my final year project supervisor).

During that one year, I baked less as compared to my third year but I did more in cooking. Remember I conned some of you that I was eating at some restaurant when it was actually my cooking? Remember my Japanese curry? Remember the first episode of Wok With Kok? And also the second, third (invited chef) and fourth episode? I enjoyed cooking and baking, seriously. Especially when I was too stress studying, cooking and baking were the time when I could forget all the equations and formula.

Left to right: Leon, Jonathan, Anthonius, Jeremy, Kok and Reynaldo.

Since I was elected as the Sports Secretary in ISS, I became more active in it. First activity was the book fest and sausage sizzle. It was organised in a hot summer when I was sweating all over while BBQ-ing the sausages. Next up was the Swan Valley trip where we got to sample some of the finest chocolate in the Margaret River Chocolate Company, try the mini version of golf and also visit to Whiteman Park for a short tram ride. It was one of the biggest event ever organised by the ISS. Follow up is the go-karting event which was organised mainly by me. I learnt a lot from organising this event and it was a wonderful experience I'll never forget. Tumbulgum Farm trip was another trip with the ISS. It was quite different from the other trip as this trip was joined by some Japanese. It was very rare for ISS trip indeed. Not to forget, the day when I had to wake up at 4a.m., dressed up in pajamas and headed towards the uni for PROSH! Four years in uni and that was the first time I participated in PROSH. It was tiring, yet, it was fun! Nanga Bush Getaway Camp is another activity I will not forget. That's the activity which I got bruises not only on myself, but also my digicam.

As for second semester, I didn't do much in organising activities for the ISS as my commitment and focus were shifted to my final year thesis. The one and only activity that I joined was the first aid course. Although I didn't contribute much in ISS for the second semester, I was voted as the Best Organiser in ISS. It was something that I can be proud of.

The photographer, Jason, and I.

Final year in uni didn't stop me from engaging in other activities. I traveled for the very first time to Adelaide and Melbourne. I still didn't manage to travel to most of the attractive places in Melbourne. I regretted for not taking more time to travel to all the states in Australia. Besides that, I participated in my first ever marathon; 2007 HBF Perth City to Surf. I couldn't believe how I was so determined then to finish the race although I was down with flu and fever. As a Malaysian studying in Perth, I was given the honour to help out in the Merdeka Day Celebration Gala Dinner and Ball. I never knew there was such a celebration outside Malaysia. It was totally an eye opening for me. This year also sees me fishing and crabbing with my friends for a couple of times. I never know I could hook a fish up in Perth! Again, like the second year, we had a drinking night. Eating Bak Kut Teh while drinking beer instead of tea. How weird can it be? Anyway, those were the memories...

Mechanical engineers.

I mentioned earlier that fourth year in uni was quite a tiring year. What's so tiring? It's no other than the exams, projects and yes, final year thesis! Straight after I completed my thesis, I had to get ready for my exams. How stressed can I be. I still couldn't believe myself that I managed to pull it off at the end of the year. I can only say it was a miracle for me. I wish I won't have this kind of life anymore. So rush, so stress, so tiring...

Smarties.

Even though I had gone this far, one person didn't manage to see this. This person is no other than my beloved Gong Gong. He left me for a far far place just before I sat for my last paper. How I wish that he was still here to see all these because I know, without him, I couldn't manage to further my studies overseas. He is the one for who I am today. Thank you, Gong Gong.

Finally...

Now that, everything is over. I no longer need to go for lectures everyday. I no longer need to rush for my projects day and night. I no longer need to sit for my exams at the end of each semester. I will be going through a new chapter of life very soon. I hope I can still enjoy myself just like how I did in my uni. :)

To all my uni mates, keep me in touch although I am no longer near you all. Take care and all the best.:)

P/s: In my uni, all the degree holders don't have mortarboard hats. Mortarboard hats are only available for PhD holders.
P/s/s: Most of the photos taken at night are credited to Jason Ting, the photographer for that night. Thanks, Jason!