On June 5th this year, I had just gotten back to Sabah, after being in my college for about 10 months without going back home during that time period. I had finally graduated from Kolej Yayasan UEM, after doing 2 years of A-level studies. Even though our batch did not have any formal graduation ceremony (it all got disrupted due to the pandemic), it was still a huge moment up to this point in my life that I realized I was finally going to end the most exciting yet the hardest and most painful 2 years of my life.
In this blog post, I will be writing about what it was like studying at one of Malaysia's premier colleges.
I will be dividing these 2 years into 4 different stages (one stage for each semester) because it really felt like living through 4 different TV show seasons when I was studying there.
General view on what studying in KY was like: One of the best experiences of my life. I got to meet so many amazing people there like everyone was so unbelievably nice, and smart too! Being surrounded by Malaysia's smartest people (because most established scholarship organizations send their scholars here for preparation before studying overseas) really humbled me, and made me learn a lot from these people as well. The facilities are great, the teachers (or at least the ones that I've met) are super supportive and helpful. They will try their best to assist you with your academic problems. But I won't sugarcoat everything. There are a few big problems that the college still has yet to improve on (the Wi-Fi problem, the monkeys, and the management in times of crisis), BUT, I actually see that the college is trying its best to improve despite the circumstances.
If you want to continue reading my personal experience in KY, then please proceed ahead!
Season 1: The Glory Days
My first semester started out with a bang. Right after I'd finished the registration processes, the moving into my villa (dorm) process, immediately we entered the "Induction Week" phase. Since I never experienced boarding school before, I had no idea what I was expecting. But induction week was definitely not it. Basically, induction week is just a week filled with activities coordinated by facis (seniors) to help the new batch know each other better. We were given the assignment to collect signatures of this list of people that they gave, and if we fail, we had to be 'Samurai'ed''. This Samurai thing had been a KY tradition for a few years, up until last year (cuz guess what? Covid happened). Anyway, it was a tough week, running around like scared children, being scolded by our seniors ~ yeah fun ~, but it definitely was a memorable experience.
After all that chaos ended, it's time for classes! I took 4 subjects (we all had to) - Bio, Chem, Maths, and Econ - and an extra IELTS class for a year. I was SO glad and relieved that all my teachers were nice (especially Mr. J!) I started to befriends my classmates too, and even studying with them a lot. Academic-wise, I was doing really well, Alhamdulillah. In fact, Sem 1 really was where my academic achievement in A-level peaked because nothing stressful was happening to me (just yet).
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| My IELTS classmates; This pic was taken on the last IELTS class for Sem 1 |
In fact, I got to join other KY activities too such as Health Awareness Week (my team won 1st place in Tug-of-War!), and Malam Kebudayaan - a traditional dance competition between houses (my team won 2nd place), and a few volunteering activities outside of KY. I even learned a bit of German in the German Club. MK was such a new experience for me, because I got to work with so many people (and also people that I was unfamiliar with), and trained a lot. And I got to perform, in front of so many people! You see, Sem 1 was really that time of my life where I socialized so much that I forgot my social anxiety existed. Moreover, I got to travel to KL a lot with my friends during this period of time, and it was so fun, trying to figure out when's the next LRT/MRT coming, where we were at that moment, and all that jazz.
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| My MK Garnet teammates 💖💖💖💖 |
And I was right.
Cause it all went downhill from then on.
Season 2: Covid Came In Like a Wrecking Ball
This semester, to me, was more about being more in touch with my cultureS (Yes, I'm biracial - Chinese and Malay). At least for the first half of the sem. I got along with a group of friends (who were all Chinese) and we got to celebrate Chinese New Year together. Simultaneously, with the help of my lovely friend - and uni roommate - Zunnur, I joined MUSCOM (short for Musolla Community, which is a Muslim society in KY). I got to know other Muslim students better, thus expanding my circle further. So yay! Even more socializing.
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| CNY 2020 Celebration |
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| MUSCOM's Wida Night |
We were all also preparing for our upcoming AS level exam which was supposed to be held in May 2020. I was studying pretty hard back then until March came.
During the middle of March, we had to go back home because it was the mid-of-sem break. So while I was back in my hometown, that was when the huge Covid outbreak happened worldwide. Suddenly, I couldn't go back to my college, and I left A LOT of my stuff back in my villa. Everything was more chaotic. The uncertainties on whether the AS exams could continue or not were bugging pretty much all of us. Teachers had to shift to online teaching as an alternative since the semester hasn't ended. While teachers struggled to adapt to online teaching, students struggled with studying at home, as for some students, their homes were not the conducive environment to study. Finally, the college had to cancel trial exams, and eventually the AS Level exams.
I'm gonna have to stop here, or else this post will be too long! Tune in next week for the second part, where you'll get to read my downfall *cries* Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you next week!
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