maliemania!: the end of another chapter

I've (technically, though we haven't had our final exams) finished my Foundation studies! Oh God, what a semester! Met so many great people! This sem i got more involved with activities; basketball, debating, usrah/daurah. Like, i've had to drive home at night for some days of the week, so i can actually FEEL how busy i was.

Lets start with classes. I took six modules this semester; Maths, Psychology, Digital Media, Programming, Communication Technology and Critical Thought. The most interesting for me was psychology of course, but i enjoyed learning the other modules as well. Ditching biology and chemistry for the computer science subjects was so worth it! For one of our Communication Technology group assignments, we stayed up the entire night/morning doing a one-shot until 10am finishing our assignment. The best part was that we actually got full marks for it! SCORE.
Critical Thought was pretty interesting, most of the time it felt like i was in a debate class, learning about logic and arguments and fallacies. Psychology was pretty heavy with all the cognitive stuff but as always, it blew my mind away. The lecturers were all fantastic and supportive, like i can't even name a single lecturer that i had a problem with! Favourite lecturer is of course my psychology lecturer Ms Sharon. SHE'S AMAZING.

BASKETBALL. At first i was just trying out my luck for the TriCampus selections, but it turned out that the coach wasn't too impressed with everyone's performance so he didn't pick out the team yet. So we ended up training twice a week, and although i didn't get chosen in the end (lol wasn't expecting to anyway, i suck!), training with all the girls was so, so fun! After just a few sessions, we could smile and say hi to each other outside of training and it felt nice to sort of know a wider range of people. They're all SOOO good and SOOO friendly, and the coach(although he's so strict) is cool. He says i have the worst push-ups ever, and it's the funniest comment i've ever received. The leader of the girls' team, Jo Yi, said i've improved a lot since i first stepped into the gym. THAT'S THE BEST COMPLIMENT EVER. Although i was hoping to go to UK this year for TriCampus, i know i'm not skilled enough yet so i'll train hard to be able to go during my 3rd year for degree. One thing's for sure, i'm definitely fitter this sem compared to last sem, so yay!

Usrah and daurah were also things that allowed me to get to know a lot more people. If it hadn't been for those sessions, i honestly don't think i'd ever talk to my seniors and the February MARA intakes. That would have been such a shame though, because they're all so lovely. I'd see them at least once a week, and we would discuss about religion and the meaning of life and talk about our concerns and spiritual problems and it's so spiritually refreshing. In all honesty, i don't think i was that into usrah before this semester, it was more of a 'go with the flow' kinda thing. This semester, something clicked within me because of one of the usrah sessions and i actually feel like i WANT to keep going to these things. It sometimes felt burdening to sacrifice some time for usrah or daurah, but when you're actually there, by the end of the session you won't have a single regret of coming. Honestly i never expected to have a family like this at a place like Nottingham. God's surprises are indeed the best.

Next, debate! So the club became more active this semester since starting at the end of last sem. It wasn't as active as i would have hoped because a lot of people were so busy, but it was still exciting to HAVE a club and to have training sessions and mock debates. We started to prepare for UiTM's National Novice debate at the start of the year. This lead to another wonderful surprise.

Team High Hopes! A week before the competition, i literally did not have a team to go with, since a lot of people had other priorities to attend to. I tried out my luck and begged Nasran to go, who eventually coincidentally found our third member, Danial(like, 2 days before the competition). I initially asked Fateen to debate as our third member but since Danial agreed to participate, i asked her to become our adjudicator instead so that she can become more exposed to debating. The weekend i got to spend with them was literally one of the highlights of the semester, and in the end we called ourselves High Hopes because of Kodaline's song, but that's another funny story for later. They're people i feel like i can really talk to, like REALLY talk to, about those deep kinda things. So that was fun. We've convinced Danial and Fateen to join the club next semester, so hopefully Team Notts will become more active in competitions soon!

Okay last but not least, is the Foundation in Science dinner. One day two girls from the July intake approached me and asked me of my opinions if our batch organised our own dinner event. Having no such experience in graduation-like grand dinners, I immediately agreed and supported them. I ended up becoming a part of the prizes committee, where i got to work with lovely people that i can now also call my friends. Although i still don't know most of the students very well, being a part of the committee helped me realise that everyone isn't so scary after all. Seeing all the struggles in putting the event together and how positive everyone kept was just great. AND THE DINNER THO.

The dinner was amazing. There were mistakes and flaws and spontaneity but perhaps that was why it went so well. Everyone got dressed up and EVERYONE LOOKED HELLA GOOD. The performances, the videos, the songs, the food, the memories and laughter; everything. I had such a great time and even though it wasn't an official graduation kinda thing, you can't help but feel a little infinite in the end when you're with the friends you plan to keep for a long , long time. I felt it with my friends, and i felt it looking at other people with their friends. Foundation was just for a year, but within that year so many bonds and great memories were created. I never expected any of this, and thus i have no regrets whatsoever for agreeing with my dad to study at UNMC. I'm really looking forward to my undergraduate studies in September, and i hope that even though a lot of my friends aren't going to take the same course as i am, we'll still stay in touch and be good friends.

Okay, enough words. HERE ARE PICTURES FROM THE LAST SEMESTER :)

P.s. i must study for my final exams now :(

P.s.s. sorry i couldnt take a photo with everyone :(