13 Unforgettable Moments Throughout My Diploma Years

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[WARNING]: This is the longest 'story' I've ever published on this blog (I think la). 
Read at your own risk.
*this is naturally what will happen if I haven't updated my blog for months hahaha

I started living in Terengganu when I was 18 to further my studies. I studied at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin which located in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu. Pantai timur yuhuu. I've never been here before. The decision to accept the offer to study here is a gamble as I've no exact plan of where to go or what to achieve after SPM. Berak nanang. What I'm gonna study, how to live there and make friends, what is my plan in 2 years from now before I graduated, are all blanks. I just think that I will learn how to do and what to do here when I need to. Scary, but nahh, I don't wanna care. 
As I've been in a boarding school and living in a hostel before, it is not a big deal when I entered university. Even though the rules here are quite different, as a rebel, it is easier for me as there's too much flexibility of living here. I can use my phone and laptops anywhere, I can sleep whenever I want if there is no class, I don't have to join any clubs or social gatherings if I don't want to, I can lay on my bed to study while listening to my playlists, I can go outing and go home to parents house whenever I want as long as it didn't bother my classes, I can turn on the lights until the morning if I have to stay up in my room, I can have a crush on seniors until I found out that most of them are not single, I can order food delivery, I can bring lots of pillows and organize them on my bed without any worries of them being confiscated, I can stock up more food as I have bigger storage spaces (compared to my high school's locker), and the list goes on. 

13 Unforgettable Moments Throughout My Diploma YearsThe hardest part of me being here was only, to adapt to the new 'environment' where all the people here come from different states and backgrounds. I took some time to understand different slangs/loghat (especially Terengganu, Sabah & Kelantan) when talking to the people here. But, out of all that, it was really fun! The moment I wrote this blog post, it's been more than a year since I leave that place. So, there are so many moments that I always longing to while living there. 


1. Shuttled back and forth from Terengganu to KL by flights
As I always take the easy way out, choosing flights over the bus has become a habit. It's not like I have too much money to splurge on transportation but it was better for my mental health. Traveled by flights only took me 1-2 hours, but with a bus, I have wasted almost half of my day. I've been riding the bus several times a year during my studies and usually, I will get sick the next day as I experienced motion sickness for too long. I don't know if I can handle an 8-hours of flight tho, smh. That was the time I started to learn how to get cheaper flight tickets and most of the time I traveled with AirAsia. If I have an extra allowance that month, I would not mind spending on more comfortable flights such as MAS or Malindo Air. Airports have been my third home during my studies year besides my parent's house and the university. I always have fun hunting for cheap return flight tickets with my friends even a month before the holidays approaching. 


2. Got a new phone before I enrolled in semester 2

I didn't buy this phone using my own money but my mom gifts it to me. Before this, I only use cheap Samsung, my mother's old phone for years and it always lagging. I remembered before that I always told my mom that I wanted that phone which Dato' Siti Nurhaliza endorsed but I didn't ask her to buy it for me. I'm planning to save my own money to buy the phone at first but suddenly the box came up on my table in my room when I arrived home during the semester 1 break. I never tell my mom which color I want but she chose pink for me lol. 
This phone has helped me A LOT during my studies where I used it to record my assignment videos, capturing moments with friends, doing a last-minute read of lecture slides before a quiz, scrolling through Shopee whenever I feel stressed, easy contact with other people, hunting for cheap flights ticket, making money through online business to support my living here, faster information tools to know if the lecturer suddenly cancels the class, and let's not forget, I became a 'close friend' with a guy (which I'd a crush on) from the same faculty as mine because of this phone before I ghosted him recently hahaha. 
It was 3 years back then and I'm still using the same phone even until now regardless of how many times I've dropped it on the roads because of my carelessness. Thank God the phone is unbreakable and I never change any parts of it especially the screen protector. I'm still using it as new. I will never have to worry if I'm about to drop that phone again somewhere in the future because sometimes I can be totally a clumsy lol. 

3. Be a temporary cat's mother

It's a common thing among cat's lover, right? We always feel want to adopt every cat we found on the streets. My housemates don't really care about those cats lingering in front of our house but I really do. They are my friends when I feel like I don't wanna talk with humans. Petting cat's body and looking at their eyes staring at my face is a very nice therapy for me even though sometimes I think they're actually judging my ugly face. But some of them would just disappear out to nowhere after weeks they officially became my 'children'. Geez. 

4. Have more girlfriends in my class
I'm talking about my girl classmates. I mean, when I'm in high school, my girl classmates are only 6 and the rest are boys. Maybe it's because we're major in science engineering back then. I'm not joking when I talk about the complicated moments I have to go through when it involves too many girls just to finalize a decision. When I entered university in a business course, there are about 30+ girls in my class and that's the same face I met every time I attended classes for the whole 2-years of studies. Sometimes it feels good to be in the faction that dominating the whole class but it turns out crazy when we're planning on something and I always go on with, "I'm okay with whatever the decision is'' just to minimize the complex discussion rates. 

5. Skipping classes 
During the orientation, the speaker ever talked about the attendance rates we have to meet to be qualified to sit for final exams and it's a very interesting opportunity for an insurgent like me. I've always wanted to do this when I'm in high school but the journey was a bit hard because we're all living in the school and were tied to the daily schedule of a boarding student. Normally, I would skip classes for other important things or any urgent matters, or I would just do it because I wanted to continue my sleep. From my point of view, I think it is fine for me to skip some classes as long as I can keep up the good grades every semester and not falling behind in group works. That's even better when I was thinking about skipping a class in a morning and then the lecturer suddenly cancels the class at the very last minute while knowing I'm still in bed wearing my pajamas. 
*the power of Ultra instinct 

6. McD Gong Badak 

Mcd Gong Badak somehow was always meant for Unisza's student. It is located right in front of our uni's gate and we can even walk to it. Assignments group discussion? Mcd. Meeting with old friends from the previous semester? Mcd. Treating your hungry inner bitch after a whole-busy day? Mcd. Being clueless about what to eat for lunch or dinner? Mcd. Wifi supports to participate in a quiz? Mcd. Sundae cone before class? Mcd

Being a cheapskate, of course, I'm also damn scared to spend all my food allowance here. That's why my friends and I downloaded the Mcd apps and used up all the vouchers we had and shared it together. Sometimes we just turned our blind eye to satisfy our craving towards Mcd and eat Nasi Bajet FKI for the rest of the week. I also have a habit of buying a happy meal set instead of any McValue meal because I love collecting their toys. Now, I have like a bunch of toys at home and I still keep them unopen in a box. I'm planning to surprise my future kids 6 years from now with those free toys I've collected during my studies. That's one of my foolish goals. 

7. Climbed on the gates to go to the Mcd at 1 am
I ever did this only once in a lifetime, I swear. And it is totally not my idea. I'm just following my friends. That night, our class was organizing a sports event until midnight and after finishing all the things at the sports hall, we felt hungry and Mcd is our only choice in the middle of the night. The boys came up with a plan to use the shortest route to walk to the Mcd and not passing by the main gates because of the guards so they brought us through our university's masjid. Surprisingly, there's a broken iron rail on that big fence and we just have to climb a little bit and fit ourselves in that hole to get through. Then, we just crossed the road and enjoyed our late night Mcd. 

8. Slept at 7 pm and woke up at 12 pm on the next day
It's a fucking 17-hours of sleep! I might be absurd but no one wakes me up (or they did but I definitely dead in my sleep). I think it is because I gave up on my sleep a few days before for tons of group works and assignments. When I woke up from that prolonged time of sleep, I felt that I was reborn and my body took more time to adjust to the surrounding. As a student, being a part-time zombie is normal and this is the worst 'death' I've ever experienced. 

9. Housemates Block E
I loveeeee these girls! They're all from different courses and faculties but we've been stuck living in the same house together since semester 1. Some of them are from Johor, Sabah, Kelantan, and Perak. I love doing many things with them more than other people I knew here. Groceries shopping, went to the cafe from breakfast to dinner, rented a car to go out watching movies and food-hunting, iftar somewhere outside, celebrating Raya at Nadja's village, mini Kpop concert in the house lead by Rozi and Faz, gossiping all the time, picnic at the beach, pulling the night-off together, celebrating birthdays, borrowing each other's clothes, and many more




But, it's the basic rules where we're only allowed to live in that block for the first year only. Only God knows how much I suffered when we're separating in the second year. We all moved to different rented houses and senior dorms with our respective classmates in our final year. I always enjoy every moment with them. I feel like I have been living with them for 5 years :') 
Anyways, we still get to hang out with each other even until now. Nothing can break our relationship. It's just the time, goals, and distance that are separating us. 

I miss the stunning view of the sky from Rozi and Nadja's room
p/s: our house is located on the 5th floor (without any lift)

10. Paid 2 different rents every month (for the sake of my mental health) 
This shit started after I moved into the second house in the same semester. I moved into the first house with a classmate before the fourth semester, 5-minutes away by car from the university, a two-storey terrace house with 4 small bedrooms, and lived along with the other 12 girls from different courses. At first, I thought everything is going to be just fine once I started living there. My principles are always,
"I'll know how to do when I need to" 
So, I just moved into the house without thinking about all these consequences. It's actually hard for me to commute to the class or anywhere every day because I don't have transport. Before moving, I just thought of using Grab if I want to go somewhere. Or I'll just sit at home so that I'm not burning my pockets out. But, it's hard to just sit at home doing your things alone when you don't even have your own space in that house. My soul always felt stuck living with the other 3 people in the same small room. 
The amount of space in the house is too crowded for 13 people and we have to take our turns to use the kitchen or the washing machine. There is even not much space to store your own food in that small refrigerator while the homeowner being rascal all the time and does not want to be responsible for any lack or damage of the house. I went crazy after weeks living in that house and I am not used to this kind of living. I always have a dilemma about how I'm gonna keep living in this kind of situation for the rest of the year and because of that, I always thought of moving out as soon as possible. 
Before the end of the same semester, one of my classmates is moving out of her current house to live with her parents and all her housemates are our classmates too. Thank God for this, I got the chance to move in with them. Things got easier as one of the housemates, which is also my classmates has a car and I just have to contribute some money on fuel. So, that's basically my second house! That's one of my happiest moments while studying tho. 
BUT! The first house I moved in is a contract-based. I have to live and pay the monthly rent for at least 12 months but I've only been there for about 1-2 months only, I guess. I have to find another tenant if I don't want to continue paying the rent but no one wants to replace me. I definitely do not want to make any issues bigger. I wish I was smart back then but I absolutely cannot turn the time back. So, I just keep continuing living my own life, prioritizing my mental health over money by paying rent for two houses at the same time even though I just lived in the second house. Anyways, the rental cost for each house I've been paid is about RM100 per month excluding the utility bills


11. Earning my own money to support my living
To be honest, I started my online business because I love money, not because I want to support my own living. But it turns out that I have to use that money to survive when my mother started to cut off my allowances haha. Sometimes I refused the money from her because she already has much on her plate. She needs more money to support my other three sisters at home so I just back off. It's kinda pretty cool to experience this kind of life congestion. Earning my own money to pay my phone bills, monthly rent, textbooks and academic-related stuff, daily meals, transportations, and even my weekly Mcd treats.
Other than that, sometimes I did part-time at restaurants near the university as a waiter. I'm also earning money from this blog and freelance writing. Even though the pay is not pretty big yet, but at least I got some cash flows to keep surviving during my studies year. 

12. Anything for free trips and food!

The only perks I love the most about being a student here. There is no other reason for me to join all the programs or events under the university except for free travel and food allowance hihi. It is kinda boring to just live in the university. I always wanted to escape classes and go somewhere else but my money is limited. So, I joined all these kinds of programs held by certain clubs in my university because all the expenses are supported by the university. Most of the events are outside the university area and even outside Terengganu. So, we always get a free stay at hotels, free transport by our uni's van and driver, daily food allowances, and the most important part is the class exemption (so I don't have to attend more classes haha). I've ever joined a workshop at Kuantan for 3 days where they served us hotel's meals until night. I miss all these kinds of free stuff. 

13. Study and doing assignments just to get passed
I'm not that kind of student who always aiming for top scores. I really love to learn and discover new things every day but I just hate exams. My objective is to get passed every semester and not repeating any subjects. I appreciate my tough life experience more than theories on the textbooks. I know some of you might disagree with me but being a success in academics is not my main goal in life. 
I enjoyed being a depressed kid chasing datelines for assignments, the pounding half-dead feeling before every presentation, learning new topics in each class before I finally forgot about the whole definitions and philosophy, pulling an all-nighter before the exam day just to make sure I remember everything I thought of words that I need to write on the exam papers, and so on. I've ever left the exam hall 1 hour early without writing anything on the paper because I totally forgot all the statistics formulas and I actually cried after leaving the hall because I was just afraid that I have to repeat the subject. But, God saves me with my carry marks. I reached the minimum grades to get passed. At least, I finally got to graduate with a pointer above 3.0 and not repeating any subjects hihi


I think that's all I wanna share this time. Thank you for scrolling until the end <3 

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