University Life

It has been approximately 3 months since I started university.

Here's a few of my thoughts on what university life entails after having experienced it for 3 months.

University life requires you to step out. After having been in the same school for 6 years, making new friends is a skill that one will have to pick up again. Taking the initiative to start conversations and trying to keep conversations going is something that one will have to go through again. Yet, I realise that it is going to be a necessary skill to have in the future when we go to the workplace, where most of the time, you might be coming into contact with new people 70% of the time. 

Staying in hall is also kind of socially exhausting. Although you are simply staying in your hall room, you will always feel the pressure to be out there, somewhere, doing something, with someone. You will probably feel this social pressure for the first few months, but you will eventually get used to it (especially when the work starts coming in; all you want to do is to mug in your hall).

Also, it is actually kind of important to go for camps. They are a really good platform for you to just meet people. They are often going to be the first point of contact for most people. Cliques/ groups are often formed during these camps. Even if one gets adopted into an existing orientation group, it doesn't mean that one will instantly become close with the other members of the group.

Lastly, discipline is really important. The many breaks in between the lessons may seem useless in the beginning; yet, you will realise their usefulness later on, especially with things such as hall activities and ccas later on. Go for lectures, because you can never trust yourself to complete the recording later in less than 2 hours (but then again, if you can, then that can prove to be a time-saving option). 

It is always important to remember your purpose for being in university. Sure, it is important to play and make friends. However, always keep your studies in mind. Much more so for me - 3.5 is the magical number. 

Ultimately, university has proved to be a very eye-opening experience for me. I wouldn't say that it has been a super fun journey (people tend to over-glorify the image of freedom and university). I would think that university is a very important transition period in one's life. Not just in terms of studies and 'freedom', but really in terms of social life. I am interacting with a lot of older people (guys are usually 21 years old in university + ex-poly students). You expose yourself to the constant need to interact with strangers (there are no more 'classes' per say) and to adapt (especially when university is pretty confusing). 

I sure hope that I turn out better from this university experience.