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Saturday 24 July 2010

A New World (IIUM Kuantan)

 I've been trying to post this entry LOONGGG time ago. Okay, I'm exaggerating. I've been trying to post this entry since last week, ever since I had 'successfully' registered the wireless settings to my laptop. -___-
But oh, it is stated that the connection is EXCELLENT but I couldn't even post one picture here without waiting for about an hour or so ( of which I did not) and then, the wireless is disconnected. CHEESECAKE!

So, how's life here?
I like it very much, thank you. In fact, I prefer being here rather than in CFS PJ. The environment here is so calm, serene, relaxing. The window of my compartment is facing the lush green hill behind and I really like it. When I wake up early in the morning for subuh prayer, I will be shivering from top to toe. I mean, yes, it's really cold! It's like you're in Cameron Highlands or something. As I draw the curtain, I feel all cheered up and refreshed  as I see the towering green trees behind, together with the chirping of the birds and all. I feel so calm and relaxed. :D


I love my room, I love my compartment, the only one whose window faces the hill out of the three other compartments. I have really nice roommates. Two of them are really nice 4th year Dentistry Student, Kak Aliya and Kak Nana. And a really nice 1st year Pharmacy student (same like me), Zimah.
Kak Aliya is extremely nice. Once, she treated us Roti Canai for breakfast and she gave us chocolates and sweets she bought from her trip to U.K. And she lent me her 'Clinical Anatomy' and 'Atlas of Human Anatomy' of which I don't really think I'll be using them that frequently, as they are more suitable for Dentistry and Medicine student. And yeah, she gave me, yes, GAVE ME the Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology of which will be my primary source of reference while waiting for the Tortora books. Nice, right? :). She must have been popular because somebody (a senior) pointed to me as 'Kak Aliya's new roommate' to her friend beside then her friend smiled and said 'Oh, really?' 

I love my Mahallah. It's more like an apartment, really. We do have to share the toilets and bathrooms but I don't care. It's really nice to experience the REAL life of a university student. There are monkeys too. I managed to capture a picture of them but cannot post it here because??? :P
The 'good' monkeys didn't intrude into my room. Hehe. :D. Good monkeys. :P


I wish I could post all the pictures here but oh well, the internet connection SUCKSSS. But I shouldn't complain. Rather, I should be grateful to have been able to type all these here. Maybe I'll post them all when I get home. Which is, like, 6 more weeks to go. Ahahaha. Yes, I'll only be home for Hari Raya. It feels like I'm studying in overseas or something, LOL.


Pharmacy. Kulliyyah of Pharmacy. I am very very grateful to get a place in this one of the most sought after courses. I love Pharmacy! Pharmacy is my passion! I love all the stuffs that I have learned so far. And the lecturers are awesome! My batch is awesome as well! I will try my best to get the best results. Amin.
My day started as early as 6 a.m when I wake up and get ready for the long hours of classes throughout the day. Then I will get out from my room at 7.30 a.m and walked to the front of the mahallah, waiting for the bus to take us to our respective kulliyyahs. Oh, sometimes I'll just walk there. It's not that far, anyway. ;). The classes will end at around 4 to 5 p.m. It's pretty hectic. But I love it! :D

Oh yeah, Pharmacy reminds me of the subject 'Potion' in Harry Potter. We are required to make creams, ointments, elixirs, syrups and all those drug related stuffs. Drug dealer in the making, huh? :P

The best thing is that we can use the creams and the ointments that we have made! Ginger cream or Vitamin E cream, anyone? :P

What else? Oh yeah, I've decided that I will be a bit active here. Life is not all about studying. I don't want to be a NERD! So, the first step is that I have applied to become an M.C for the Pharmacy National Quiz that will be held in IIUM after Hari Raya. There's the audition that I have to go through. I hope I can get the job. The M.C or the quiz moderator. And I'm thinking of applying to the iPhA (IIUM Pharmacy Students Association) magazine as someone in the editorial board. Well, see first. My mum encourages me to participate in all these as she too was active during her university years. The same goes with my dad. 


All right. What else? I wanted to tell everything! There's no TV here. Yup, I didn't watch the semi final and final match of the World Cup. Sad, huh? And no, I didn't cry when Germany lost. I'm matured, man! I'm no longer the 16 years old Sarah who cried in the bus and in the class when Germany lost against Italy in World Cup 2006. Haha. In fact, I have more things in my mind rather that to be worried or to actually care about the football world.


The cafe is situated quite far from my Mahallah but never mind, I'm okay with that. I must not complain!
Sad to say, due to the immense amount of assignments, lab reports and studying to be done, I haven't been out for outings during this 3 weeks duration of staying here. Never mind, it's only the first year here. I WILL explore the whole of Kuantan throughout my four years here.


But I hate the library of UIA Kuantan. Indera Mahkota library. I freaking hate it when most of the books that I wanted  are in the PJ library and the Gombak main library. What the eff??? I couldn't do my research la like this! And the library is smaller than the library we have in PJ. Come on, this is supposed to be the MAIN CAMP library! Pfttt!!!


Oh yeah, the subjects that I'll be taking this semester. I'm supposed to post the print-screen picture here but err, well,, you know, internet connection. oh well..


Study Circle
Bahasa Melayu Lanjutan (YEAH, OMG!)
Islamic Input in Pharmacy
Fundamentals of Physiology
Basic Anatomy and Histology
Introduction to Pharmacy Practice
Physical Pharmacy 1
Islamic Worldview
Tilawah Al-Quran 2


Nah, ambik! 9 subjects! 4 core courses and 5 university required subjects. Total credit hours, 19.5!
And I have a Chinese teacher teaching Bahasa Melayu! I'm elated, seriously! The last time I have had a Chinese person teaching me in some subjects was in my secondary school! I really missed being taught by Chinese teachers. We do have two lecturers from Africa  (Dr.Abu Bakar-Anatomy and Dr.Ibrahim Shogar-UNGS), one lecturer from Bangladesh/India (I supposed, Dr.Mokhlesur-Islamic Input) and one Indonesian lecturer, Dr.Maryanto who's teaching us Physical Pharmacy.


So far, I'm doing okay with the subjects listed above. But I do have a little difficulty in understanding some parts of Physical Pharmacy.
I pity Dr.Maryanto. He's trying his best to make us understand the things that he's teaching. But err, the matter is, the auditorium is err... condusive for.., err... sleeping. I do not sleep, of course! It's disrespectful! But being an ordinary helpless human being I am, I couldn't help feeling sleepy. I tried my best to cheer Dr. Maryanto up when he asked


'When Sodium Hydroxide is being put in the solution (ok, I forgot), will the concentration of (I forgot) increase or decrease?' 

Seeing no one is taking the effort of answering his question, I answered it ardently, high-spiritedly!

'INCREASE!'  I said. And I smiled. Dr.Maryanto smiled too, seeing that somebody is listening to him. Then he asked
'And why is that?'

My smile faltered and I said ' Errr... because NaOH is a strong base???' okay, sesuka hati menghentam jawapan. 
He stopped smiling. Ahahaha. Toot! Wrong answer! Okay, I shall revise Partition Coefficient pronto!

Talking about feelings. I do miss my family. My mum and Haziq, especially but somehow, I feel like I don't really miss home. No feelings of homesickness. Instead,  I feel that I have a huge responsibility here and I should make my parents proud. But I do try to call my mum EVERYDAY. Sometimes, once in two days. And call my dad, Syafiq too, calling me several times a week. I am very blessed. I am very grateful to Allah for giving me such wonderful family members, such wonderful home and all.

I do miss someone. Someone important in my life. Sometimes, as I was sitting quietly, I will think of my late grandma, who recently passed away last April. I will think of my other grandparents. I no longer have any grandparents in this world. Then there will be tears flowing down my cheeks. I feel sad. I feel sad that they have to go so early, without having the chance to see me graduating, getting a job, becoming successful.. But I do know that Allah loves them more. And I will 'sedekah' Al-Fatihah each time I remember them. My eyes are all watery now. 

Hazie celebrated her 20th birthday last Saturday. So, yours truly, Wanie, Wan, Soul, Afzan, Atiqah, Timah bought a cake and surprised her in her room! I captured some photos and recorded a video but of course, same reason again.>_____>
And to my beloved younger brother, Danial, Happy 14th birthday, sayang! Semoga sentiasa dirahmati dan diberkati Allah, dilindungi Allah. Amin.

I watched '3 Idiots' a few days before and I got to say that I'm extremely impressed! Everyone should watch '3 Idiots'. It's inspirational. University students should watch it. 
I decided to add in various things to my reading and watching list.

Reading list: 
Fictions: Terry Pratchett (available in IIUM Kuantan Library, surprisingly), Chetan Bhagat (I have one of his books at home. He's the one who wrote the 3 Idiots book, LOL).
Educational: Harun Yahya. Only one book of his is available in IIUM Kuantan Library. asdsfhfdjza;jf
Academical: Histology, Physiology, Anatomy and friends.

Reading diet: 2 pages of al-Quran every solat (trying my best to make this a habit), a fiction once in two weeks (Terry Pratchett!), an educational book once in two weeks[Harun Yahya (I'll alternate between fictional and educational book)] and ALL academic required books every day. (This can't be helped, of course). XD

Watching list:
I should watch Ahmad Deedat's debate but dunno where to get it. I know about him from Julia and Luqman and I saw his videos in youtube during the holidays. He gave impressive amazing views on the religious issues and issues of the world. Youtube in IIUM Kuantan? Get real!
One movie a week. Currently engrossed in Hindustan movies. LOL.

Outing: Once in a month. Hahahaha.
I'm not a NERD!

To summarize, IIUM Kuantan rawwkkss!!

8 comments:

Luqman Fauzi said...

It's good that you're liking Kuantan so far. Just don't look forward to going out, there's not much here in Kuantan...expecially after spending 2 years in PJ. (And as i've mentioned, the book stores here pale in comparison to the stores in KL)

A new (bigger) library is under construction, and will hopefully be finished this year, InsyaAllah.

All the best to you in ur studies.

Sarah said...

Thanks for the comment, Luqman!

LOL. Okay. You see, I spent almost 10 years in Sungai Petani that only has like, one major shopping mall (which is way smaller than Mid Valley) and other not more than five,small shopping complexes.

Yes, S.P is that obsolete, you know. Yet, I didn't complain. :)

Oh, you mean, the new building beside KOM is the new library? Great! But then, maybe I wouldn't have time to read that many fictions like what I did in PJ. But never mind, it's okay. Glad to hear this.

And all the best to you in your studies too!

From Kuwait said...

Salam alaykum :)

I fell upon your blog when I was searching for information on student life at IIUM.

Do you think you could write a few more posts on what it's like being a student at IIUM?

I'd really appreciate any information you can share, as I am thinking of applying myself.

I'm sure other people would find the information useful too! :D

Sarah said...

@From Kuwait

Thanks for your comment!
Yeah, you should apply to study in IIUM. It's the best university so far that combines both academic and Islamic oriented curriculum.

Yes, I'll try my best to write about my boring life here in IIUM.I'll try to make them more interesting though. :P

Again, thanks! :D

a said...

Hey sarah, i know am 2 years late xD but i got accepted as a postrgad student for february's semester at IIUM kuantan (inchaa Allah) and am freaking out a bit>< since i don't know anything about anything in there, it was fun reading about your experience and knowing that people like you exist in there(you're like the friend i've always dreamed of befriending:D we have so much in common nyahahaha ) anyway, thank you for writing great stuff, i enjoy reading them a lot.
P.S : are you still at IIUM? (yes am that late xD)

Sarah said...

Hello Luna! :D

Welcome to IIUM Kuantan!! And you're a postgraduate student? For which faculty, may I ask? That's really awesome and congratulations!! :D

Yes, I am still here in IIUM Kuantan (technically, I am still at home but I will resume my 3rd year study there on the beginning of next week).

I'm glad to know that my mere existence produces some positive vibes. Haha. Hope we can meet there and mingle. :D Is there any way which we can communicate together? Do you have a blog or a facebook? ^^

a said...

Yataaaa! she exists xD
i got accepted into the programme of : Master of health sciences : Nutrition sciences (my passion <3), i was supposed to be there today but i got my acceptance letter late, then i had to wait for a response from the embassy and now i have no idea wether they would allow me to register a week or 10 days from now or not :( sniff sniff*
anyway, i would love to meet you in person once i get there inchaa Allah, as for blogging, am still new at this but am thinking of creating one once i get enough courage and muaterial lol.
my facebook : Luna Tsuki (i already sent a friendship request to a certain sarah kushairi xD i really hope it's you lol)

Sarah said...

Oh, so you're in Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences then!

Hope to see you there! And yeah, I've just added you on facebook. :)