Hello. So we're two weeks into the one-month semester break. I'm done with my 2nd year of studies, yay! Here's just a general reflection of the past semester.
Hm where do I start. I know that the posts here have been quite negative for a while and I apologize for that. Funnily enough, none of them had to do with my studies or assignments. If I were to explain it in one word it would be: people. This semester tested me a lot with my patience and perspectives of people I interact with. And what I can say for certain now at the end is that this semester revealed the good in the people I had doubts of and revealed the bad in people I only thought goodly of; and it gets complicated when the two overlaps so that it's a constant cycle of being okay and extreme loathing towards some people.
I try to think and speak positively of people. Whether I do genuinely want to see the best in others or just want to maintain a nice image of myself; I don't know. But then there are times when I feel like exploding from suppressing extreme dislike that I have towards others. The hate eats me up from the inside and at the same time makes me feel terrible and guilty because I feel like feeling this way makes me a bad person. I got to meet some new people who made me re-consider my values, as I truly envied them being able to be true to themselves and other people by being okay with expressing their dislike to the people they don't like, without the fear of them being disliked back. I feel like I could learn a thing or two from them in being more authentic.
Moving on. Adding on to my normal load of lectures, tutorials and labs, I signed up for sign language classes spanning around 10 weeks, and thankfully I passed the test haha Alhamdulillah! I learnt a lot, and have more insight of the challenges faced by the Deaf, especially in healthcare and education. I was also very impressed by the people I got to interact with. For example, my teacher who was deaf actually finished his Masters in Public Policy in Universiti Malaya. And those who were around my age were just like any other people, sharing memes, TED talks and global politics on their social media. They showed this video of a deaf Broadway actor who was amazing at acting, doing the sign language on time with the music played despite not being able to hear. Imagine the practice that went in to achieve perfection in this performance of The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
I signed up for this position in my university's volunteer programme out of a whim and got another position instead. As I was replacing someone else who just left, it was a very overwhelming experience. A lot of mental breakdowns happened in the midst of organizing events but Alhamdulillah it was a success and the profit earned to fund the volunteering activities were better than previous semesters. I learnt how much my patience could stretch when dealing with very, very, very, difficult people. I have one semester left in this position and I hope the experience from last semester will help me deal with things better.
I also continued becoming a subcommittee writer for my university's magazine, this time under new editors. Honestly, writing for them was one of the only few things I looked forward to that made me really happy this semester that distracted me from negativity. I got to be involved in the production of the publication a little bit more in depth. One project I was very much involved in was called Humans of Monash whereby we interviewed people in the university and share their inspiring stories, like Humans of New York, get it? I got to interview seven people, including a Rohingya refugee who's also a student and model (you can see him in Fashionvalet, Uniqlo, and so many other ads), someone who survived three suicide attempts, two girls who started an environmental movement and have organized mass rallies, a girl who has underwent over 8 surgeries for her scoliosis, and even the auxiliary police taking care of the students! The whole PDF of the publication is free to be accessed here: https://musamonga.com/2019/06/28/monga-semester-1-2019-same-same/ . A lot of people liked how sensitive issues like sex, sexuality, and mental illness, were very much covered in this issue ahaha.
Academically, the two arts units I took were also the things I looked forward to learning. One was about borders and migration and it was interesting to learn about all the actors involved, the industry and the different factors leading to migration. We had a guest lecturer from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees talk about the complexity of the refugee situation in Malaysia which was pretty enlightening. The other arts unit called Transforming Communities was all about social movements and even taught us how to start our own one. We learnt about the different social issues including racial discrimination, feminism, intersectionality, environment, even about the Orang Asli community, with prominent people who are involved in the movements locally to share with us their experiences. I had fun in one of the assignments writing a research essay about the Reformasi Movement in Malaysia in 1998!
Funny enough, finals was the calmest period for me, at least for my mind. It was directly after raya. With me disabling my social media, being free of other responsibilities and not having to see or think about people I don't want to see in university, I got to re-align my goals back to their original ones. I guess watching the lecture videos from the Australian campus in which the guest lecturers were psychologists from different fields talk about their research was inspiring as well. Honestly, for a long time now I had doubts about continuing in psychology after undergraduate because I thought I wasn't good enough and was unsure of a lot of things. But then I really took a good look at all the things that were messing with my mindset (especially of some people lel) and realized that these were just distractions that were getting in my way and wasting my time and energy. I won't settle for less; I know I can reach for bigger dreams.
I'm very thankful to my friends - Phei Nie, Sharmilee, and Amira. It's amazing we're still close friends even after we left MUFY and are in different courses - Pharmacy, Engineering, Medicine and Psychology ahaha. Being with them reminds me of less complicated times in pre-university. Really wish all the best for the four of us and hopefully we can all graduate on time. Thanks for being the few faces I could stand in university and being the people I can be open and true with.
Anyway, here's to being a 3rd year Psychology student!
Hm where do I start. I know that the posts here have been quite negative for a while and I apologize for that. Funnily enough, none of them had to do with my studies or assignments. If I were to explain it in one word it would be: people. This semester tested me a lot with my patience and perspectives of people I interact with. And what I can say for certain now at the end is that this semester revealed the good in the people I had doubts of and revealed the bad in people I only thought goodly of; and it gets complicated when the two overlaps so that it's a constant cycle of being okay and extreme loathing towards some people.
I try to think and speak positively of people. Whether I do genuinely want to see the best in others or just want to maintain a nice image of myself; I don't know. But then there are times when I feel like exploding from suppressing extreme dislike that I have towards others. The hate eats me up from the inside and at the same time makes me feel terrible and guilty because I feel like feeling this way makes me a bad person. I got to meet some new people who made me re-consider my values, as I truly envied them being able to be true to themselves and other people by being okay with expressing their dislike to the people they don't like, without the fear of them being disliked back. I feel like I could learn a thing or two from them in being more authentic.
Moving on. Adding on to my normal load of lectures, tutorials and labs, I signed up for sign language classes spanning around 10 weeks, and thankfully I passed the test haha Alhamdulillah! I learnt a lot, and have more insight of the challenges faced by the Deaf, especially in healthcare and education. I was also very impressed by the people I got to interact with. For example, my teacher who was deaf actually finished his Masters in Public Policy in Universiti Malaya. And those who were around my age were just like any other people, sharing memes, TED talks and global politics on their social media. They showed this video of a deaf Broadway actor who was amazing at acting, doing the sign language on time with the music played despite not being able to hear. Imagine the practice that went in to achieve perfection in this performance of The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
If any of you are interested in joining the classes, check out RC Deaf Missions Malaysia! https://www.facebook.com/rcdeafmissionsmalaysia/ They are located directly opposite the Kelana Jaya LRT station and also has a cafe which is fully operated by the Deaf community.
I also continued becoming a subcommittee writer for my university's magazine, this time under new editors. Honestly, writing for them was one of the only few things I looked forward to that made me really happy this semester that distracted me from negativity. I got to be involved in the production of the publication a little bit more in depth. One project I was very much involved in was called Humans of Monash whereby we interviewed people in the university and share their inspiring stories, like Humans of New York, get it? I got to interview seven people, including a Rohingya refugee who's also a student and model (you can see him in Fashionvalet, Uniqlo, and so many other ads), someone who survived three suicide attempts, two girls who started an environmental movement and have organized mass rallies, a girl who has underwent over 8 surgeries for her scoliosis, and even the auxiliary police taking care of the students! The whole PDF of the publication is free to be accessed here: https://musamonga.com/2019/06/28/monga-semester-1-2019-same-same/ . A lot of people liked how sensitive issues like sex, sexuality, and mental illness, were very much covered in this issue ahaha.
Academically, the two arts units I took were also the things I looked forward to learning. One was about borders and migration and it was interesting to learn about all the actors involved, the industry and the different factors leading to migration. We had a guest lecturer from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees talk about the complexity of the refugee situation in Malaysia which was pretty enlightening. The other arts unit called Transforming Communities was all about social movements and even taught us how to start our own one. We learnt about the different social issues including racial discrimination, feminism, intersectionality, environment, even about the Orang Asli community, with prominent people who are involved in the movements locally to share with us their experiences. I had fun in one of the assignments writing a research essay about the Reformasi Movement in Malaysia in 1998!
Funny enough, finals was the calmest period for me, at least for my mind. It was directly after raya. With me disabling my social media, being free of other responsibilities and not having to see or think about people I don't want to see in university, I got to re-align my goals back to their original ones. I guess watching the lecture videos from the Australian campus in which the guest lecturers were psychologists from different fields talk about their research was inspiring as well. Honestly, for a long time now I had doubts about continuing in psychology after undergraduate because I thought I wasn't good enough and was unsure of a lot of things. But then I really took a good look at all the things that were messing with my mindset (especially of some people lel) and realized that these were just distractions that were getting in my way and wasting my time and energy. I won't settle for less; I know I can reach for bigger dreams.
I'm very thankful to my friends - Phei Nie, Sharmilee, and Amira. It's amazing we're still close friends even after we left MUFY and are in different courses - Pharmacy, Engineering, Medicine and Psychology ahaha. Being with them reminds me of less complicated times in pre-university. Really wish all the best for the four of us and hopefully we can all graduate on time. Thanks for being the few faces I could stand in university and being the people I can be open and true with.
Anyway, here's to being a 3rd year Psychology student!
The collab version of Ava Max's So Am I ft. NCT 127 just came out yesterday and I'm in love, been replaying it on repeat while writing this post. Do listen to it!
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