Month May 2020

Just got my university online lecture notes!

Rachel Tan HX 2 Comments

Just checked our university’s e-learning website and some of the notes (all of them are in powerpoint presentation form) are ALREADY UP! I am not sure whether these are our main notes, or just for casual reading, but it is something, for sure.

Update on 28th of January 2021: Those were not our main notes, they were old notes just for our reference.

I have printed some out to start studying already. MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) is one of the most rigorous courses, and to achieve AND maintain a CGPA of 3.5 in foundation leading to the degree course, the minimum requirement to enter our institution’s MBBS degree course, I absolutely have to get going!

I would like to repeat again that although this blog is meant for everyone, its main purpose is to be a guide, or simply a companion, for my peer and future-generation friends who are looking to pursue medicine as a career. Through this blog, I also hope to connect with you and would love to be friends. You can find me at Instagram (@racheltan_hx).

As of now, our e-learning environment has put up lecture notes in the form of presentation slides, along with some videos for certain chapters, and quizzes to test our knowledge. It has a very simple user interface (layout and design). However, I still find exploring the student portal, e-learning platform etc interesting.

I must remind you that I have only just attended my e-orientation, and the commencement date for the foundation programs is later in June; however fret not! I have signed up for some online talks, hosted by my university as a welcoming for new university students. Still, there has been no instructions to read the notes in the student portal, and there have been no lectures at all yet.

I am currently still unsure how we will be informed when there will be a online lecture; but I will cross the bridge when I come to it 😉

For now, I shall check some of the notes out. There is already a lot of content on the e-learning platform. Cell Biology, here I come!

~Rachel Tan, Blog author, 16 May 2020.

University E-orientation!

Rachel Tan HX 1 Comment

Hey guys! Recently, I went for my university orientation. It’s my first day at university!…. I clapped, looking at a corporate video of my new campus.

Dad jokingly said that from today onward, I was already a university student, but I said no. I think I would much prefer remembering the date where my lectures commenced, not when I started orientation…. especially because this e-orientation certainly paled in comparison to a conventional face-to-face orientation, where we could hear the unfamiliar voices, see the new faces, and wiggle about as we sat cross-legged on the floor, or on plastic chairs (I don’t know, can’t imagine it.) There would have been laughs and fun. Now, I am forced to ingest all this information, including university rules, online e-learning platforms, co-curricular activities, settling of admission and academic documents, student bill, student ID card and way more within a short period of time. The numerous departments in a university is also unbelievable, to me at least.

The E-orientation did not contain the live video chats or live forums as I had hoped for, but it is still really interesting. After watching the videos of welcome speeches from the university president and students, I logged into the e-orientation portal with my email ID.

How terribly clever! At the end of the page, there was a quiz that asked you questions regarding certain content from the whole e-orientation homepage and portal. Now I will have to go back and read it thoroughly…. while taking note of what the university wants us new students to take note of. I clicked on the e-handbook for freshmen link, and made sure I paid more attention as I read the information in the handbook. With specific information to look out for, it made reading the content just a little bit more fun. I actually started enjoying myself a bit, as I scoured and dug around for the information I needed! :b

The university has listed on its website the pages/accounts that new students should be checking every once in a while, since there will either be announcements or coursework issued through these portals. I have saved all four of them in a folder in the favourites bar on my computer.

Today, I’d just realized that some of our lecture presentation notes are already up (for now, I don’t know if that is all the notes we have or if they are just for casual reading, since all of them are in powerpoint form), and there’s still a lot more to check out on the e-orientation page: videos to watch, pages to read, talks to sign up for etc. Really, when you’re in the middle of it all, it can be a bit tiring; but I learn to have fun along the way. In all, it truly is quite exciting.

And… the floor plan of the university building. It’s not a big university, quite small in fact compared to University Malaya who has a large campus spanning many kilometers; but still. Dear me.

I may just get lost! :b

At this point of lockdown, though, I would rather be lost in a campus then be stuck at home.

I’m turning eighteen, and I’m finally getting my own room!

Rachel Tan HX 2 Comments

Guess what: I’m finally getting my own room. I’m so excited! 😛

Me in my new room
8 May 2020
Credits: Blog author, Rachel Tan HX

My dad is famous for giving us false hope. In 2017, he asked casually if I wanted my own room. “Nah,” I said passively, as I always did to many of his questions, thinking if he really wanted to give me one, he would give me one. Expressing too much enthusiasm to rewards would raise suspicion, so I tend to play it cool. He didn’t give me one that year, and I wasn’t too surprised; my dad was just exploring possibilities.

In 2018 he said, more definitively this time, that I should have my own room. “You need one,” he said, “To study for your major exam, SPM. It will decrease distractions. We may give you one next year.” (My major exam was in 2019.) I did not voice objection. It sounded like it was going to happen!

He never gave me the room in 2019, and I spent an eternity in our studyroom, specifically meant for the son or daughter who was going to take a major exam that year. I was sitting for SPM that year. The door remained closed at all times, and I alternated between doing model exam papers and taking a “quick lie-down nap” on the backless, rock-solid, head-cracking wooden bench that was my seat….

A week ago, my dad brought up the subject of my own room again. This time, he drew up a small map of how he felt the layout should be like.

Then yesterday, on the 8th of May 2020, it really happened!

Dad chose the 8th because “faat” in Cantonese means eight, which sounds exactly like the word “prosperity”.

So with lots of sweat, groans and head scratching in contemplation of where everything should go, the four of us heaved and yanked everything that was not mine out, shoved it haphazardly into the room next to it, and arranged my bed and bedside table into my room.

Me in my new room 2
8 May 2020
Credits: Mother of Blog author

Dad promised to put up a new wooden sliding door for my room, sometime after the COVID situation has improved. This is because we have always been using the existing plastic sliding door from the previous owner of the house. We have already been living in this house for more than ten years!

(Update: It is 28th of January, 2021 one and still no news of the wooden door. Oh well. I’m happy with my old door anyway!)

After that, we laughed when we saw what a disaster the room next door looked like. Time to decide where some of these should go…. in that room. How terribly overcrowded! My new room instead appeared spick and span, for now. University may just bring a tornado through it!

Finally, I have my own personal space. I can’t wait to decorate or personalize it a little bit with pretty things. I may find something next time, when I’m shopping outside. Let’s hope the coronavirus situation improves soon!