Assalamualaikum and hi.
It has been awhile since my latest post. How's UPM so far? To be honest, I think I have started to love my university life. I kind of surprised knowing the college system here, where you have to accumulate a certain amount of merits in order to secure for a place for the following year. How to collect merits? Events! Just join any events, simple! Collect as many as you can, but don't force yourself too much. Just do your best :)
What kind of events?
Well, in UPM, every college here has it own traditions. Even the blocks in each college.
To be someone from a matriculation college, it was certainly something new for me. Why? Well, I think the most happenings events in matriculation you can ever think of was only the ko-k competitions, Hari Raya celebrations, KAKOM and dormitorial/block annual dinner. I even don't contribute anything for KAKOM hahahaha, except for being a volunteer for mini-KAKOM ((worst decision ever; I should be more helpful but I suddenly stood like a mannequin when I saw a participant fainted. But it was a first time though, I don't know how to react or maybe I have lack of sympathy LOL))
Thanks to my block tradition "berkenalan bersama senior", I finally learn to know what does hectic really means. Every week, there's always an activity on a specific day, held by a secretariat of a college. Every month, there's always an event from a secretariat of a college. Every semester, there's always an annual event of the faculty. Every session, there's always an annual university event.
Like my college, 2nd College, annually on the 1st semester we have an event called "Family Day" where all the collegiate will be gathered and grouped into 4 families; we can't choose our own family or change families, that's the rules and you have to respect it. (Lagipun, kalau fikir logiknya, keluarga sebenar kita pun mana boleh pilih-pilih. Dialah ibu, dialah ayah, dialah kakak, dialah abang, dialah adik. Kita saling menerima seadanya dan saling melengkapi. Gitu.)
When you heard or come across to the word "family day", which have the word "day" in it, you'll at least think it was something like a one-day thing, right? HAHAHA actually, no. Family Day means, every night from Monday to Sunday (except Wednesday and Saturday) from 9 to 12, you have to meet your family and practice for a month. Practice for what? Practice to compete the other families of course! And after a month, we compete.
Hence the competitions named 'Dikiria', 'Teater Muzikal' and 'Busana'. Dikiria is um... a kind of reformed dikir barat, I guess. Teater Muzikal is musical theater, of course. And Busana, this one is interesting too, you have to design and provide a very creative attire for those who participate in Dikiria and for the parents of the family. You can choose either to participate in Dikiria, Teater Muzikal or Busana. Usually, first years are very welcomed to participate in Dikiria but due to certain reasons I choose to participate in Busana instead. But, I did have a lil' experience in mix and matching things while I was in college though, so, I think it's alright to actually continue to do things I've used to.
In the family, you'll have siblings and parents. Those siblings are from first to final year students, and the parents are chosen by the college's MTM (Majlis Tinggi Mahasiswa). Usually the parents are second year students.
However, even though this event is held annually, it won't be the same every year. You'll have different families every year. Even the family names are different. For this year, we have 'Bukit Larut', 'Bukit Sadok', 'Bukit Kepong' and 'Bukit Melawati'. I belonged to the Bukit Larut family and our parents are called Babeh (dad) and Nyak (mom). Well, um, the name was given by an international student from Indonesia, if you're wondering why you've never heard of such calling xD
It has been only few days since our first meeting, I think it was a good way to know each other. Without this family day thing, you might just know only your floor-mates or even just your roommate for the rest of your university life. It is a good idea to bond. And that is why it is a tradition-- it holds every year, to bond.
So, what do I mean by hectic??????? Hahaha. Yeah, you have daily meetings at night for a month. And you also have classes during the day. And quizzes. And tests. And assignments. Sounds crazy but so far I still can catch my breath lah xD It actually teach me how to manage my time wisely. And also how to socialize because I'm quite a shy person when it comes to start a conversation. And also how to be happy even though you have many things pilling up in your head, on your shoulders, basically everywhere you carry your mind and body lol.
That's my college. I love my college. I really hope I can stay until final year!
I thought it was just an update. I wrote too many paragraphs hahaha thank you for reading my rants. Till then, bye!
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