Sorry for the long lapse of silence. As usual, I have been busy settling my modules and catching up with 3 weeks worth of work. Yes, as you probably have read earlier that I didn't get all the modules I want, so was busy with appeal and stuff. Haha...

Well, I managed to get 4 of the modules that I had planned for earlier. One was not planned, but although I went 2 weeks late for the class, I'm enjoying the class a lot!! It's global marketing and the Prof is super cool, hip and funky!! When I went into the class, I couldn't even recognise who was the prof, cos I was expecting to see someone very well dressed (not that she wasn't well dressed) in proper business suits and all, well, most profs wear like that. But, like I said, my GM Prof is super hip, she was wearing jeans and this Absolut Vodka T-shirt!! I almost couldn't recognise her!! Haha.. And she was really nice, helping me to settle in well, and plus, she makes lessons so fun!! It's like putting fun into the dry marketing principles!! Wow... although I went in late for the class, I thoroughly enjoyed it!! I should have just bid for this module in the first place. I can forsee that it would be one of my fav modules amidst my CF and APB module.

Yes, and on about my modules, I'm really enjoying APB, cos it was pretty related to my internship about international business. Then again, my internship was in a company that helps Singapore companies go overseas, so basically, International Business la. Pity was only that I wasn't working on the asia pacific region, and was working more on the African and European region. (I wish they have some International Business: An African and European perspective. Then, I would confirm take it. Having looked at all those numbers from Africa and Europe, I think I can major in that!! Hahaha.. just kidding..) But, still I really enjoyed all the topics so far and they really bring back topics that me and my sup talked about at work, about FDIs and all. I never knew the actual meanings of FDIs (yes, there is a specific meaning to it), I just assumed it from the meaning of the words. And after a lecture on FDIs, I began to get a deeper knowledge on what I did during my internship (a bit late, but better than not, right?) haha.. Yupyup, I think I'll go research on some of the countries first before the classes start (well, or so I hope to do if I have the time...) Then again, with the amount of readings.. I doubt that I can do that. Haha...

Ah.. CF... Tough Tough Tough... So many readings!!! 12 chapters in less than 1 week? Oh my goodness, and it's not like a CF textbook is a breeze to read. Not with all those calculations and tricky stuff. Nonono... Nowhere near a breeze. But, still, I think CF class is very interesting. It was refreshing to see Singaporeans talk so much and trash each other so much during one class. A mini war of assumptions and words, but very intriguing and interesting!!! A lot of preparation, but assume that I do a good preparation, the returns are just so high!! Yup, you probably get the point now.

Finally, on this note about my modules, just wanna thank all those people out there who have been praying for me and supporting me through this exasperating time of trying to get modules. Thanks so much!!

Yup, and on monday, I met up with Grace, Mei, and Judy. And, we had a special guest: Yong Feng. Haha... Yupyup, we were at Holland V eating dinner. Haha... One of our last mentor group meals together *sob sob*... The next few ones (at least in the next 5 months) would be without Judy, cos she's going on sabatical leave. I'm sure if you've been reading my previous blg entrys, you'll know how much this mentor group has made an impact on me, and how much I've come to love and know these wonderful people so much more and on a deeper, spiritual level. I'm so going to miss Judy. *sob sob* She has given me (us) so much support, advice and guided us through our mentor group, trying to get us to catch her vision. And even as our mentor leader, she has been there to constantly challenge us and to put our focus right. I've learnt so much from her. Judy, thank you so much. So going to miss you when you leave!! (hmmm.. maybe we should try teleconferencing one day... any takers girls??)

Finally, before I end, let me also take this entry to thank the following people who made the Sec1's outing possible:
GOD for simply being GOD, and because of HIM that's why all things are possible, and needless to say for giving us such good weather. (hee... Confession: We had to wet weather plan)
Joanna, Roy, Jonathan and Kenneth for planning the games
Jeremy and Tze Ern for doing the water
Amanda for doing First Aid
Mae Yan for getting the bus
The other Buddy leaders for coming down and leading your groups in the games.
Anthony, Alex, Joanna, Petrina: for being station masters and the scorching sun;
Kok Liang for running around snapping photos
Aaron for giving advice and also helping in the discipline
Andy, Uncle Raymond and Uncle Weng Choon for being Mr Disciplines and chaperons
CGLs for playing and having to take attendance over and over again
The rest of the helpers who helped in playing with groups to help them and also control the groups.
And everyone else for your presence and spontaneity.

Okok.. Time for me to sleep... 8 am lesson tmr. I wonder how i can wake up.. oh well....

Datelines... Too many of them. And, my projects haven't started!!!

I was just doing my report evaluation on my internship experience during the holidays. Actually had wanted to write my thoughts about my internship experience on the last day of my internship, but as it turns out, I was rushing to put all the paper work together, that I had no time in the end. I even left later than I was supposed to. Haha… Oh, yar!!! And, the photos from the last day!! I haven’t even uploaded it. Haha… I will soon… Hopefully. First, I need to get my digicam from home. Hmmm…

Anyway, if you haven’t already heard, that when I first started my internship, I was a bit upset at my supposed job scope. I was told by the career office guy that it was going to be an events planning job, where I would help to plan some yearly corporate planning exercise and be involved in the work after the event. As it turned out, this was not to be my job scope. I was supposed to do a project, a research project to be exact, as part of my internship. I had no problems with the project part, but I had lots with the research part. If you know me well, I am a more planning/ people person than a research person. So, when I was given this project, I was a little stunned. Yes, I told my supervisor that I had expected it to be some events planning thing, but apparently, it didn’t turn out to be. But, I decided to approach it with a positive attitude, though I still procrastinated a lot during my internship duration.

And even as I reflect on my internship now, I realized that it probably was a good thing that I did research instead of events planning. I learnt a lot during my internship stint, and I don’t suppose that I would have been able to learn so much had I done events. Reason being that research was a whole new game to me, I had not honed my research skills, but, for once, macroeconomics numbers started to make sense to me.

My project was one that required me to fine new places to invest (aka, not your typical research hotspots), and that was probably the hardest thing. For one, as they are not lauded hotspots or even considered as typical investment destinations, there is very little write up and other research on the country’s investment climate, business environment, the best industries to invest in… you get the point. So, my closest guess and sketch that I could get was through macroeconomic numbers, country reports by EIU etc. (which had macro numbers too!!) And, for the record, I suck at economics. Don’t ask me why. Even though it was one of the few subjects that I barely scrap through my JC1 promos, I only managed to do so by rote learning, aka memorize and throw down and pray hard that some points get the mark. And, in the first year of university career, I barely scrapped through my economics examinations, half the time confusing myself during the examination, before giving up on trying to ponder and resort to verbal (or more aptly, written) diarrhea.

With guidance from my supervisor and my neighbour, (who happens to be an honours student, ie. He is very smart) macro numbers began to make sense to me for the first time. I learnt to put all the numbers together and from there try to decipher and interpret how the situation there is like. All these may not be the best of indicators, but it’s the best that we have free, off the net.

In addition, I began to appreciate research articles, reports, periodicals, journals, working papers. I had to read all of them. EIU became my all time best friend, together with the NUS e-resources website and search engines. I honed my skills of skimming (not that I’m superb at it, but at least, I learnt a little more about it) through throngs of papers. I learnt about the power of thesaurus and permutations. All of these would not have been possible if I had not done this research job. Needless to say, I learnt a lot about these other countries, I learnt the power and fallacy of the media. The media gives us access to a huge library of resources and information that would have been unobtainable without them. Yet, they might have given us a distorted view of these countries as they choose to report as they want us to see the country as. Their focus on a certain aspect of the country may mislead us to believe that the whole country resonates the same way. I learnt the art of skepticism in not believing everything that I read with respect to all the articles. Reason being that different authors had different viewpoints on each subject and in writing about the same subject, their choice of words in itself would give us different preconceived impressions about the country. I learnt to work within the constraints of only secondary information, which most of the time got me irritated as I really wanted first hand information.

To sum up, my quest for information and knowledge surged when I did this project. I was eager for facts from different sources to backup my views and research. I was keen for more facts and articles so as to convince myself to support a certain point in my research.

In fact, on the last day of my internship, I was not ready to leave. Simply, because what I had learnt began to make sense to me. I wanted to stay on to see more of what I had learnt turn into reality. I was not ready to start school, because I found it more exciting to put my knowledge to real life examples. I wanted more of that.

It’s 11 days since my last day at my place of work. I miss the place, I miss the people, I miss the joy of researching and discovering new things day by day. But, then again, I can’t wait for my modules to be confirmed, so that I can start this new semester, and get fed with more information, that I can see be used in real life issues in my next internship.

I’m really glad I did this internship.=)

Tomorrow is the day that I send in my appeals. I really pray that this gets through. It's been the one cause of worry for the last 2 weeks. CORS is a terrible experience!! Gee... It totally spoils your mood for anything if you can't get it, and during bidding, the bid scores are more exciting than share prices!! The just jump, jump, jump. One wonders where those people get so many points from!! Oh well, I shouldn't complain, I just threw 1000 points for thai. Oh well...

Anyway, just an update for those people who are still in the dark. I am currently staying on campus. Haha... I suppose most of my closer friends would have known by now, but wanted to keep it as a quiet thing, cos it was only confirmed last week, on the day I moved in. Haha... Wish I had more time to buy stuff for my room. Haha... Probably, if time permits, I'll probably go down to Ikea to get some exciting stuff. Haha.. =)

Sigh... Got a lot of other things which I have been procrastinating on doing... My appeal letter, the Stardust timeline, the powerpoint... So many other things... Gee...

Oko... I better get down to start doing them... *yawn*

School term officially starts today. I have to date only 2 modules for this sem (when the norm is 5!). I'm going down to NUS to do my appeal later, hope that it gets through.

Gee... I miss internship life...

This is my last entry from the office...

Going to miss this place...

Bidding's been MAD!!!

I didn't get ANY of my modules in 1A!!! So, looks like gotta appeal a lot now. Just hope that I can get Asian markets and my appeal for Business Policy goes through... Gee...

Why can't I get the modules I want to take when I want to take them?!?!?! It's not like I'm not paying lor!!! I'm paying over 6K per sem and I don't get to take the modules I want?!?!?!?!

HMPH!!!

It's been raining raining raining raining raining......

Had a yummilicious weekend of eating eating eating eating eating......

Many things are happening happening happening happening happening......

Sorry that I'm irritating you you you you you......

But, module bidding is mad mad mad mad mad......

It's so crazy that it's screwing up my schedule!!!

HELLO 2005!!!