August 2020 – Notes & Codes

Time flew so fast! Before I knew it, it’s already August (and blimey, it’s almost September). I didn’t realize that I’ve been a college student for almost a year already. It seemed like yesterday when I’m frightened and sick with nervousness after I finished my Junior High School (and ultimately, my home-schooling journey), realizing that I will soon be stepping into what most people call “normal schooling”.

Looking back now, I just want to laugh at myself.

Flashback to A Year Ago…

“I don’t think I can do it. I’ve never been or studied to an actual school building ever since I was in Grade 2, let alone studying in a huge college building. I don’t think that I will ever be able to handle the lessons, plus the assignments, and I’m going to fail my tests and exams.”

These are the thoughts that plagued my mind as the day of my college orientation gets near. Sure, this is one of the first steps that I need to take to reach my goal in becoming a fully-fledged software engineer slash ethical hacker, and sure, there will be more opportunities for me out there (as my mom frequently says). But STILL, I feel like I’m going to fail on my first semester. I’m a newbie in “normal schooling” and I won’t be able to handle the pressure of college life.

Hey there, my would be school. Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cmglee_Inti_College_Penang.jpg

My mom always told me that I can do it, that I am well prepared for this and that she believes in me. It’s nice to hear that somebody believes in you, that somebody thinks that you can get through. It lightens your load, even if just a bit. But the problem is, I don’t believe it. Maybe I do, somehow, but as the days go by, I doubt myself more and more. In short, my biggest doubter is myself (and I’m trying to fix it).

Of course, in times like this, I know that I must prepare. With the remaining weeks before my college orientation comes, I started reading up some of the books that I think will be covered up on my first semester. I know that I don’t have much time, but at least I can get a grasped on what is to come. Somehow, it gives me a bit of confidence.

On the night of the orientation, I couldn’t sleep. I must admit it, but I was feeling both sick with nervousness and (surprisingly) excitement. Nervous, because I still think that I can’t do it, and excited, because it’s really happening! I’m finally going to study the things I want to study, and no more biology, chemistry, and the sewing lessons from Junior High School. I feel that this is going to be fun.

After Orientation and Beyond

My college orientation wasn’t so bad as I expected. I had vivid imaginations that I will be given a test once I step inside the campus, but all they did was welcome us, gave some opening speeches, and tour us on the campus. I took down some notes, especially during the campus tour. I don’t want to get lost on my first day.

I went back home feeling sort of elated as I got through the day without getting lost or making a blunder talking to people. To prepare myself for my first class, I printed out a map of INTI’s campus, plus my timetable, and signed-up for the school van that drops by on my place. Everything seemed to be in order now.

Still I couldn’t sleep. I await and dread tomorrow’s first day of school.

I was still uncertain on what time the school van arrives (even though I asked a couple of people during the orientation). It says on their poster that it arrives at 7:00AM at my place, so I woke up at 6:00AM, and went down to the bus stop at 6:30AM, where I waited for my van. Little did I know that my van will arrive at about 7:30AM…

I just can get too jumpy sometimes.

Alright, most of the time.

Once I arrived at the campus, I was just in time for the lecture. It wasn’t so bad as I expected as well; In fact, I started to relax after my first lesson. It did take me some time to look for my respective classrooms. Thank goodness I’m not late on my lessons.

I also met new people on my first day: Shan (whom I got acquainted in during the orientation) and Sara. Admittedly, I never knew that we would stick together for most of our group assignments, helping and learning from each other. I guess being one of the few girls in the class is one major role that made us more comfortable and closer with each other. I’m glad I met them, it made college life more fun and less stressful.

And so, for the next couple of weeks, I officially started my college lessons. I found that my favourite subjects include: Program Logic Formulation, Introduction to Internet Technologies, and Database Management. There are fun and stressful moments (mostly because I overthink stuffs), but I learned a lot on my first Semester.

It wasn’t that hard than I expect it would be, to be honest 😉

Ending Notes

I celebrated my 1st-year-in-college anniversary by studying for my 4th Semester. Sadly, I only got to step on campus on my 1st and 2nd Semester, as the pandemic forced us all to conduct our lessons online. I am more used, I guess, in this kind of studying (being home-schooled and all), but it does limit our person to person interaction (which is much needed on group assignments). Although I’m still alright with online classes, I do hope that I get to come back to campus before my college life is done.

I still have another year to go to before I finish college and step up into University. Aside from the lessons, college taught me that I don’t have to do everything alone. I was used to studying by myself, doing my own assignments as I don’t have classmates. But in college, my classmates are also my allies; We help each other out in group assignments and share important resources in our group chat. We also learn from each other, and we fairly get along. I realized that, although I learn best on my own, there are more things to learn from other people.

Once again, happy 1-year in college to me! 🥳

At last, exams are over! Now I have at least a week before my school starts sending out our overall results (and see how “well” we did for this semester). Hopefully I won’t be retaking any subjects.

Anyhow…I finally received all the promised packages of alternative prizes from Google (about time). On my previous post last 4 months ago, after my supposed trip to Google got cancelled because of the virus, Google then arranged to give the winners alternative prizes instead, which include cash and swags. And so, after months of waiting, all the long-awaited packages are finally here at my doorstep, fresh from America.

The “Alternative” for the Trip

Ever since the winners received the cancellation email, Google informed us that they will be sending out alternative prizes instead. I guess this temporarily pacified our broken hearts, as we wait in anticipation what those prizes could be. When I did receive the details of the alternative prize, I must say that I had a so-so feeling about it. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t really replace the lost trip (I mean, what would?). It did, however, gave me another thing to look forward to, plus, in an attempt to cheer myself up, I made myself think that not all 17-year olds receive this kind of stuffs, especially in a time like this.

And so, from April till August, are the packages delivery months. This was my “please-don’t-get-my-package-lost-it’s-all-I-have-now” kind of phase.

Coronavirus played another part in delivering the packages (obviously). It’s the reason why it took months to deliver the items, and why I’m referring to “packages” (plural), and not “package” (singular). The packages (three in all), are delivered separately as there was some problems with delivery here and there. Also, we were supposed to be given a new phone as one of the alternative prizes, but since there is a very high possibility that it will not be delivered as planned, they decided to exchange it with the phone’s money value instead. Oh well, I guess what can go wrong, will go wrong.

Way to go, Coronavirus.

Although I like all the swags delivered, my favourites are the thermos, fleece and trophy. My old water bottle is getting its paint chipped off, and it’s about time I have my own thermos. Meanwhile, the fleece is so comfy for wear! I would wear it at home if it weren’t this hot. I guess I’ll just use it for school during long hours of lecture in a freezing classroom.

Lastly, the trophy! It’s my first time having a trophy instead of the usual certificate or rusting medals. The first time the trophy was displayed, I often stare back at it, just to observe it (and probably reminisce the past days on how I earned it).

Googler Speaker Sessions: Another Alternative Prize

Aside from the alternative prizes, we were also given a two-day virtual seminar from Googlers. The topics for the talk include open source, internship, augmented reality, Android, and more. Although I have to stay awake from 11pm to 3am because of time zones, the talks had been interesting, with internship, augmented reality and TensorFlow being my favourite.

Google Code-In Winners’ Virtual Seminar Opening

Google Code-In 2019 Statistics. This was the highest number of participants compared to previous years

On the actual trip, we were supposed to have a “day at Google” as part of our agenda, where we get to listen to Googler’s work experience and what other opportunities we can get. I guess this is the only part of the trip that they can recreate.

The talk had been fun, as aside from it being aligned with my interests, me and my fellow Grand Prize Winners finally had a face and voice reveal and we were also chatting in Telegram during the talk. On the last day of the talk, there was a section for volunteered winners to make a speech. It had been a rather sad part of the talk, as it felt like we were “parting ways” (and I guess it reminded us again that we should’ve been speaking in an air-conditioned, Google hall or something).

This wraps up the whole Google Code-In business. It had been fun and sad at the same time, but I don’t regret being a part of it. After all, the contest had officially ended on January 2020 (which means, this is the last Google Code-In contest), and I am blessed to be announced as a winner even if it didn’t go as I imagined it.

Besides, there are other ways to go to Google 😉

Month: August 2020

Happy 1-year in College to Me!