Education experience in Singapore

[balderdash]

By the way, what is the NUS policy on non-natural hair colour? What is the official policy with the bending-the-rules stuff, like wild parties, visits from the opposite sex (yes I've heard about the sex), punk subcultures, drinks, cigarettes, etc.?

There is no policy on non-natural hair colour. I've forgotten what's my natural hair colour and I've frieds turning up in school in blue hair, etc. Quite cool. But not cool when your lecturer asks "Eh where's the purple-haired girl today?" The written rules of my hall about 'visits' is that you have to leave the door open if a member of the opposite sex visits you. Then again, nobody enforces them so .. erm..... let's just say I've heard noises. Wild parties....I've been to a couple....not orgies (my hall was known for orgies a long long time ago) but just drinking parties where people have been known to strip and run around and silly stuff like that......we just make sure that there are still a couple of sane people around JUST IN CASE campus security hears us.....cigarettes are not allowed obviously but 6 out of 10 of my friends smoke....drinks...we have a regular supply..

Man...I think I just painted the worst picture of my school ever! Then again, most of us are still clean!

[gohweihan]

Originally Posted by rockjianrock

What is THAT supposed to mean?

It simply means that you can't have it all in unversity. If you're aiming for As' and A+s', then you need to work very hard till at times you don't have any time else to do other stuff (which is more true for courses like Computer Engineering).

However, if your intentions are just to pass and get a degree, then there is plenty of free time to do whatever you want to do.

[yeeyen]

Originally Posted by rockjianrock

What happens if you're a lit student and you have to read something like Emma or Pride and Prejudice or Shakespeare?

I will now promise myself I will not involve myself in more than 2 CCAs and I PROMISE myself to have a life other than CCA. I don't want to be part of the system!

haha, goodness knows? you hide under your table and pretend you're looking for something with a torchlight. <grinz> Haha...
Ok, i'll be a little more balanced... they'll allow you certain novels if you're a lit student. happy? Oh, but here's one wonderful memory I have of RIB. Sitting in the bathroom to talk on the phone at night. Haha. The room walls don't reach the ceiling, so anyone can hear you talk. So, welcome to the Toilet Booth.

And what's wrong with many CCAs? I know I had a life outside CCAs. You can still go out, watch movies, bum around and all. CCAs just give you legitimate reasons to go out.
"Mam,i'm having a CCA bonding/orientation/insert motivational session..." haha.

[gohweihan]

Originally Posted by yeeyen

And what's wrong with many CCAs? I know I had a life outside CCAs. You can still go out, watch movies, bum around and all. CCAs just give you legitimate reasons to go out.
"Mam,i'm having a CCA bonding/orientation/insert motivational session..." haha.

ECAs doesn't equate to no life. It depends on the ability of a person to manage time wisely. For me, I am a university debater (in fact, the only active non-Indian national), have involved myself in three sub-committees, and two ad-hoc committees. Yet I still can find time to do what I like to do. So it's not that by limiting yourself, you'll do better in social life.

agree with weihan..it's up to you how you wanna manage your life (tho i played too much till i din have time for tutorials ) also depends a lot on the environment u're in...in NUS some halls are known to be more kiasu then others..and i'm int he most kiasu of em all....good thing is however is that there's no curfew, rules and regulation etc...can walk in and out any time you want..make that any time fo the day u want..even at 4 am


hehe

where is the party hall of NUS?

Originally Posted by yeeyen

I'm wondering whether to classify my experience as lucky or as one of those 'you should be thankful for what you've got'... haha...

Was in presby first year. That rocked my world. wonderful wonderful place with good, homecooked food, and few rules, loved the people and all... Amazing experience for a 16 year old. THEN horror of horrors, it was closed. Btw, it became a juvenile home for women. haha.

In college I went to RIB ( RI boarding). If you think you had it bad... Well... moor hse was probably worse. 7.30 curfew. 10 on satuday. TEN! And jc students had prep! and you're not allowed to read storybooks or novels during prep even if you don't have work! ARGH!!!!! Ok, calm down<talking to herself>... The nightmarish first few months. Luckily where there's a will there's a way... Found that if I got 3 ccas, then I can apply for time outside the hostel(you are supposed to get letters) and just managed to spend most of my time elsewhere. Phew!

i was in RIB while in sec school.. (jus finished a levels btw) do they still do that attendance taking thing for library prep? or there isn't any more library preps?

i guess the best part for my singapore life is being with and living among friends.. in RIB, sometimes i'd throw sweets across the room to the room opposite.. otherwise, we'd be watching exorcist and freaking out as we camped at each other's room (though it's illegal)

well.. as for jc.. time passes by really fast and life is like a rollercoaster.. every moment you'd be busy with something.. but i guess when i look back at it, i think i had a great time.. those days when i'd climb over the college gate at like 9.30pm coz was doing my art coursework.. or just walking to the nearest coffee shop during weekends to grab my favourite teh ping.. hehe

[yeeyen]

Originally Posted by gohweihan

ECAs doesn't equate to no life. It depends on the ability of a person to manage time wisely. For me, I am a university debater (in fact, the only active non-Indian national), have involved myself in three sub-committees, and two ad-hoc committees. Yet I still can find time to do what I like to do. So it's not that by limiting yourself, you'll do better in social life.

Haha, well, you're in UNI. NO one tells you that you have a curfew and prep and all that. What I really meant had nothing to do with substituting CCA for life. It's nothing to do with time management, but permission to manage your life.

good to see my two friends, jian and huilian here! =)

i stayed at what was supposedly the "worst hostel" in all of singapore: eton hall! quite similar to anglican house, but definitely worse. haha. i was there for one year, during which we had nothing but mcds for supper (the stupid food courts at alexandra village close at 930pm damnit...no lovely places like the ones in the east), and we had to steal lots of chilli sauce from mcds cuz lunch during weekends was unpalatable.

yellow mee. brown mee. white mee. mee in all different colours. bleugh.

the only good thing about eton hall was that we were given quite alot of freedom. no one really cared if you missed curfew. it was 730 on sun to thurs and 1030 on fri and sat, but if we were late all we had to do was suck up to the guard and buy him food once in a while and we'd be off the hook. haha. and everyone could study together in the dining hall, so we could bug our seniors all we liked.

well...no one would know what i'm talking about anymore cuz moe no longer houses any of their scholars in eton hall.

the second year of jc, i ended up at chinese high (now hcibs). it was what was supposedly the "best hostel"...totally different from eton hall! the rooms were gorgeous, there was a gym, we could use the hwa chong swimming complex and the chinese high track, the landscaping was lovely...

...and there were BARS on the windows! security was strict too. there was once my friends and i found ourselves running up the hill to the hostel but we reached the guardhouse at 1033, 3 mins after the curfew. and we were reprimanded for it. barsket. after that, we'd collect a "late form" everytime we left for college or we'd just grab a stack when the guard wasn't looking. then if we wanted to stay out after curfew, we'd just forge signatures and make up some lame excuse for staying out.

the place isn't called a "5-star-prison" for nothing. haha.

the saddest thing was that we couldn't study together during prep time. i'm not as close to my juniors as i am to my seniors because we hardly spent any time together. plus my friends and i found ourselves with higher handphone bills cuz we had to call each other on the cellie while at eton hall, all it took to call someone was to stick your head out the window and yell their name.

that's the price to pay for a better living environment and slightly better food, i guess.

anyway, i'm quite sad that my time in singapore has ended. would have loved to finish my bachelor's degree in nus and continue living the ups and downs of hall life together with my other friends.

although alevels was a whole lot of stress at times and there were some aspects of jc education i didn't like (burn, project work, burn!), i'd never trade anything for the two years of fun and self-discovery and good friends i had in singapore. yes, corny and sit-com-ish but it's true!

[JQ]

i just happened to stumble upon this forum today

interesting.. didn't know that this forum existed !

remembered my 'good old days' in HCJC and hua zhong hostel... frankly speaking, i never liked studying in s'pore (but i enjoyed the company of my friends in my hostel - both JC and uni)

studying in s'pore after SPM is indeed an eye opener. i remembered the day i stepped into HCJC and i was awed by the college facillites (vs. my sec school). But the adjustment was quite hard (especially from Malay to English) .. all the change from Kalium to Potassium and Natrium to Sodium, etc etc etc

Alas, i have kinda lost touch with many of my JC friends already. Not too sure if any of my batch mates are in this forum

Wow. Can't believe I find a grand senior here......

Just a question, lishun went to SAJC correct?