The Journey Begins - Part 1

I know, late update (word).

I promise myself that I would post everything on my new place in Nilai last weekend, but alas, I didn't. I was too busy making up for lost sleep in campus--lost the battle of staying awake and shamefully succumbed to slumber at every possible moment. Blame the first awkward (and amazingly humid) experiences of sleeping on the top bunk of the spankin' new metal bunk bed in my bare room/dormitory.

Anyway.

Let's rewind back to the first day of registration on Saturday, the 17th. My family and I as always were running late for the registration--the idea was to arrive later in the afternoon as people usually swarm onto the place from the crack of dawn for this kinda thing. Amongst the bustling and hurrying, the little VITAL things decided only to resurface at that very moment: the requirement to go to the freakin' Muamalat Bank, open an account there and pay the entrance fees beforehand, which I simply tossed at the back of my mind thinking I could deal with everything during registration. Thank goodness I finally found out through Dakcik that they already had a Muamalat Bank booth in UIA itself, because we just couldn't seem to find the bank anywhere. Who the heck ever heard of such bank?

The place was almost deserted when I arrived, and I hastily went in. Seemingly a natural situation--only when you thought everything finally was going right did another problem came slapping you upside the head--I didn't bring the blue scholarship form. Of course, I had no friggin' idea that the form was suppose to be submitted as well--that form secures the monthly allowance you get from the university every month (for semester fees, books, food, etc.) for absolutely FREE (I only knew this much much later). I thought it was another normal scholarship form for those who only needed it. This just proved I had the knowledge close to nil about the system of the local institution (don't bother about the 'International' in IIUM) but hey, I learned.

One of the committee members (seniors) told me it was okay and to just tell the people in charge when I get in the registration room, which I felt like I was going to vote for an election. So I went--more confused than nervous as there were only a couple of new students left--and registered. A friendly sister, another committee member greeted me and I sat down with her for her to go through my forms. After exchanging a few words, she said that there was going to be a programme scheduled for new students later that afternoon. I was pretty taken aback by this--I was hoping to go to Midvalley to get a few more stuffs before I hit Nilai. But oh no, the big surprise of all surprises knocked me on the floor: I had to stay in UIA for the three nights of orientation, and we were to get to Nilai together by bus on Tuesday morn.

This, they completely forgot to include in the offer letter. I had yet to think of my unpacked belongings as I had to move onto the next booth.

The financial 'officers' were mildly surprised that I didn't submit the blue form, and I told them I wasn't familiar with this whole financial thing. They gave me a week. I thanked God.

I was given keys to my "temporary" room and a UIA bag (which was actually okay, minus the logo) filled with the orientation ('ta'aruf') necessities . With another newbie in tow, we followed another sister to our dorm (or as they called it, mahallah). I made fast buddies with the newbie; Diana from Johor Bahru who turned out to be my room mate, and we exchanged our concerns about the whole orientation thing. She asked me, "Are you always this friendly?" Never in my life that I had that asked, and I was speechless for a second. "Uh, yeah...? It's not that I have to be quiet all the time!" We laughed--mine 'lil more awkward.

I patted myself on the back copiously for packing up my clothes the night before. After choosing my bed (top bunk, of course--I couldn't risk the hazard of bumping my head on the solid metal railing of the top bunk bed if I were to sleep at the bottom--same went with Nilai later on) I had to rush back home to pack the rest of my stuff in half an hour. This I believe was the longest period ever that I had to race painfully for time and when I got back to UIA, I was more than ready to collapse.

Most of the orientation programmes were conducted inside a lecture hall that had below freezing temperature. We were briefed about the uni, the programmes offered, the staff of all departments, the tests that we were to sit for over the next two days (English and Arabic Placement Tests and Fardhu A'in and Computer Exemption Tests) and the horrendous university song. Ughh, to think that we were compelled to sing it just because some Dean of honour composed the song. It was as nightmarish as it could get with the forced repeats to somewhat perfection. Sorry Mr. Dean--but coming from a musically inclined background, the song was remote from average.

I had four room mates altogether--three of them coming from Johor-- and made friends from other states during the long wait before tests and medical check-up, which we had to go for urine test. I felt sorry for a girl who couldn't get a sample when I was in the ladies'. The eye check-up was partly amusing; the nurse told me to take off my glasses and read the alphabets on board; I had to go right upfront till my nose almost touching the board to read the blinking thing. There were other unfortunates like me too. That was comforting.

As for the tests, English was fairly okay (the four different stages of English proficiency in every passage made me dizzy and I babbled on the essay part) and I had major fun with the Arabic test--I just wrote my name and left the hall in less than six minutes. Fastest record ever sat for any tests in my student life.

On the last day of orientation, Monday, I found out that I could go to Nilai on my own instead of the bus so I was relieved; least I could pack my stuff properly again. We arrived in Nilai the next afternoon to find the whole place consisted of one huge land of shop lot blocks. I went to Block B to register for my dorm and found Diana there, and we registered together for the same room with foreign students as the room had the most empty spaces. My dorm was in Block A, the first room of the first floor. Impressive. The room could accommodate 20 students but ours only had eight people, and we couldn't be happier enough. The bathroom thankfully, was built inside the room instead of outside to share with other rooms like those in PJ campus. I didn't have to walk back and forth at the corridor clad in a towel for baths no more. Yippie.

So there went my hectic orientation days and despite a few glitches, I had my share of fun. Sounds like a teeny bopper spewing out her long day, I know--needed to get that thingamabobb out. I shall post on my new adaptation in Nilai very soon in Part 2. Till then, I gotta memorise a great deal of Arabic words for my next lesson. I need a miracle.