I'd say I started off the semester on the wrong footing - rushed events, last minute planning, off-form mental state... Immediately overwhelmed with so many things to do. It was too much to handle at that point in time that I felt the strain in Week 2. Like, Week 2?! Hello?!?! Was very disappointed in myself over what I had done. But I guess we always have to learn from these setbacks. And knowing myself, I just had to get over that short phase of emo-ness and I'll bounce back stronger.
Overloading my modules was one of the challenges for me this sem. To some people, taking 6 modules may be quite normal, or easy even, but to me, that was no joke. I wouldn't say that it's super duper bad, but the workload was of course heavier, more readings and assignments to do. It was hard keeping up with some mods because I spent a 'lil more time on some others (like IEM lol). Inevitably. And another thing was my other commitment - RC4. Which brings me to the next point...
As the Director of Student Affairs in RC4, it was under my purview to plan and organise events for the college, to bond the students and cultivate a sense of belonging and pride to the college. Well the challenge was firstly, the events are on a college scale. Which means the target group is around 300 people? Secondly, it's my first time handling events of such a large scale, and the first time our college is accepting so many students. Consider this - in Y1S1 there were only 30 of us, Y1S2 60 of us, and this sem? BOOM, 360 people!! Ok I sound quite dramatic but yeah. In this semester we had 5 main events to plan. And these events weren't neatly spreaded out. Plus you know how events need to be planned way in advance right... Even though I recruited some people in my Student Affairs Committee, I still had a lot of responsibility and things to do and settle. Beacuse of this, inevitably I sacrificed time from my studies and yeah, that made overloading even tougher. Er I'm not making myself sound so noble and what not, but sacrifices always have to be made.
Many a times, I was very stressed out because of all these different things going on (we were planning for different events concurrently). My lifestyle changed - slept much less, weird eating habits - and I didn't like it at all. But... no choice? I hit many roadblocks and kept questioning myself, am I doing the right things? Will I regret what I'm doing when I see my results? Is this all worth it, worth the sacrifices? How will this affect me in the long term? Many, many serious yet also silly questions started popping in my head and it took some perseverance to stay on the right track and to continue believing in what I was doing. You just gotta keep trying to balance and maintain all your commitments, not to mention looking after yourself and family.
The exam period was a crazy period. It was so intense because everyone was chionging to get their As. Yeah it's competitive, but we all want to do well right? And knowing that I neglected my studies (somewhat) over the semester, there was a lot of catching up to do. Readings to speed read (but failing cos I take suuuper long to finish reading one), going through lecture content again, practising essay questions etc etc etc. Camped in the seminar room all day all night (no lah I got sleep lah hahaha) because it's such a conducive place to study. Something to cheer about was that I had friends who camped in the cave with me too hahaha. While I'm the kind that cannot study with people around (because I need silence to focus), this time I really appreciated the company I had. Given the intensity of mugging, it's very easy to get burned out. So with people around me, I felt it wasn't all that bad because we could go crazy together hahaha! The random times where we just wailed and whined and get blessed with good food were good stress relieving points for us heh. :) So glad they made my studying period much more interesting and easier to tide through. :)
Shan't talk about the exams itself because it's already over. Ahhh, Y2S1 is over. So I survived it? Haha ok like of course I will. But whether I was successful in managing all my commitments is a different story, for that depends on my exam results... I'm forever thankful to my friends and RC4 community for being there, and the fact that we're all going through the same struggles is kind of heartening, that we can understand each other and offer support and encouragement. :) That's what I really like being in RC4 - the friendships and bonds you form. :)) I feel quite bad for spending less time with my family but I think sometimes it's inevitable? In the process I also became even more independent so that's something good there. Even though there were few spoken words of encouragement, their presence is what I seek comfort in, to be able to go home every weekend, see them, eat with them, and sleep in my room. (: Reminds me that I have a life outside school haha.
Soooo HELLO HOLIDAYS! I'm so glad I'm back to this blog and being able to do things that I like. I just came back from a family trip to Italy! That was damn awesome. :)) Not sure if I'll be doing a travelogue on it cos I need to post lots of backlogged food reviews hahaha (oops)! But I'll definitely be updating this space more often so yay! Looking forward to meeting up with friends and other activities going on the hols. It's gonna fly by very fast so I'll treasure it all the more!
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