School Life – Notes & Codes

Year 2020 had been the most unexpected year I ever had. A lot of things may have happened, but I wouldn’t say it’s the worst year for me. Sure, there’s the pandemic that caused almost a lot of planned activities to go unplanned and heartaches that resulted in wet pillow and puffy eyes, but there are always things to be grateful for.

Developer Journey 💻

Firstly, I have achieved my goal to win Google Code-In programming competition. Although my prize trip to Google Headquarters in San Francisco, California was cancelled (and boy, it caused more tears than I ever shed), I get to have satisfactory alternative prizes. What’s more, it helped me gain confidence to join more hackathons and coding competitions, and I realized that I can actually do it.

Speaking of hackathons, 2020 also enabled me to focus more and join online hackathons that are held from the other parts of the world. I get to meet people with the same interests as I and helped me learn. I also get to win a 1-year hosting and domain name for my website portfolio from a hackathon that is sponsored by Qoom.

Last but not the least, I started learning PHP and Laravel Framework after being blessed with a part-time work as a freelance web developer! It’s challenging at first (considering I have college to focus to as well), but I got through it alright, and get to enjoy my first salary by buying donuts 😋.

Student Stuff 📝

College life changed pretty much for 2020. For one, we get to conduct lessons through online means because of the pandemic. Being a person who was homeschooled for the whole duration of my elementary and high school years, I’m used to studying at home, so there’s no problem with that. The biggest challenge with online classes is perhaps the group assignments, as they are “harder” to execute without face to face discussions.

As for the lessons, we get to study OOP concept using Java (the language I always try to learn but keeps procrastinating), and PHP lessons aren’t bad, especially my part-time work helped me understand the language more and put them into hands-on practice (though combining school and part-time do require more effort, time management, and sacrifice from too much gaming 😂).

One last thing to add, I got my results for my last semester this January 7, and I can happily say I got my third Dean’s list award 💖

Musical Hobby 🎹

Being in quarantine made it easier for me to play my piano, and at the same time, to NOT play it (my dad works at home so I can only play during his breaks). I’m happy that I get to play the songs I’ve been wanting to play, which includes the Voltes V Theme Song and Silhouette of a Breeze from Emma: A Victorian Romance anime.

Though youth choir at my local Church was postponed (thus, I cannot sing there for now), I was given a Karaoke Microphone for Christmas. Time to SIIIING!

Family Life 👪

Of course, I get to spend more time with my family because of the pandemic. They were the ones who helped me grab opportunities and comfort me during 2020’s heartaches. Even though outings are minimal, we get to have a nice picnic near the seaside every once in a while. Late night movies are also frequent, and I also get to learn new recipes to cook for my family!

Final Thoughts

Once again, 2020 is a lot, even if it’s mostly spent inside my house. As I welcome 2021 and continue improving in different aspects of my life, I won’t regret being a part of 2020’s adventures 😉

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! 🥳

Category: School Life

Thank You 2020!