EXAM MODE!!!!

Ok I WAS cranky this morning because the same FAIL person set off the fire alarm - the 3rd time this month (of which 2 occured over a week).  The firemen looked ready to tackle him to the ground...

ANYWAY...

Judging from the state of my room now, with papers and notes strewn all over my desk and with all the different coloured pens lying on them, I can safely say that I've officially entered EXAM MODE!!!  Oh, and not to mention the iPod and the frequent trips to the library.  And attempting to sleep early and wake up early (so far the failure rate's probably close to 99% but I'm starting to improve now!).  And refraining from any stomach bombs - because having stomach bombs during exam period = poor life choice.

Anyway the list goes on and on!  And here's some evidence of the "ammunition" I've prepared, for the Exam Season.  Books, pen, paper, water, iPod, energy drink (just kidding!)......

To be honest, it's been quite a good semester, despite the hiccups.  Lecturers were very friendly and understanding, listened to our grievances, paid lots of attention to our opinions etc etc etc, the environment was supportive, the Silent Floor of the library has become my favourite hangout place for Exam Season (yes, I've started hanging out there already!), and I basically loved almost every aspect of this university.  To the extent where I actually went to uni everyday just to study and enjoy the atmosphere :)  I'm contemplating going to uni everyday during the study break and camping in my favourite hangout place so that I can get as much done as possible.

The only thing I hated - the millipede invasion.  Which happened in early April where I was still extremely high-strung over assignments, and I relentlessly stuffed any crack/crevice such that there were no entry points for the millipedes.  It worked really well - which was good - but every so often one of those little pests would hitch a ride on my jeans or something and end up on my floor!  And then I'd have to clear them out again.  I'm considered lucky though - people living below me had even more millipedes, and right now, there're so many dead millipedes at the corners of the building and the flat downstairs!  Obviously they were long dead, but no one got rid of them.  Subsequent millipede invasions occurred but each time the millipede count decreased.  BUT, the millipedes got FATTER!  I'm not going to post pictures as it's pretty graphic, and I don't wanna gross anyone out.  I'm assuming there'll be another millipede problem in spring - as millipedes usually become active during autumn and spring (maybe more in autumn).  Oh well - I'm prepared - in a way!

It's also the time of the year where everyone's looking forward to the winter break!  For me - I'm looking forward to Melbourne and Singapore.  And travelling around these places.  And of course - to do my data analysis for my thesis (yes, call me a workaholic but I've got no choice!).  Like many others, I can't wait for exams to be over!

Till then, I'll probably update this space after exams! :D  Sorry about the wordy entry!  This is probably one of the rarer times where I actually do wordy entries.  I'm long-winded by nature anyway!

Or when I'm taking a break from studying!

Multicultural Day

We had a major event - Multicultural Day - held in uni in April, after the Easter break.  Various clubs and societies - especially the cultural societies - were invited to showcase their traditions, costumes and other stuff, and they were even encouraged to put on traditional clothing.

Some of these included figurines like these here:  These were traditional Indonesian figurines.

When I first got to uni, I walked around and took a general glance before going back to some of the stalls to take more pictures.

This was one of the first stalls I visited.  Some of the postgrad students I knew were from Bhutan, and they were really peaceful and happy people.  They set up a stall with free postcards, information on Bhutan, traditional costumes, and of course, a painted picture of their King and Queen.

All around the area (Bush Court), there were flags from different countries.

Walked around a bit and took some random pictures...

And one of the Thai girls was willing to pose for me, although after that she seemed to refuse to pose for other photographers.  Her boyfriend was always standing behind her.  She was pretty shy but was happy to pose for some of us.

Some of the small figurines and stuff on sale at the African stall, and other random shots.

There was a corner where some of the guys from the Middle East were making music and having fun.  Only guys were involved in this, and they invited their fellow friends to join in, and even dressed them in their traditional Middle Eastern garb.

When they were singing and dancing, the boys were really rowdy and made quite a ruckus, but showed really good cohesion amongst themselves.  They even danced and sang amongst themselves, and of course, were willing to pose for pictures.

Went to the Middle Eastern stall after that (which was near where the boys were performing), and they had just lit up one of their lamps - hence the smoke.

This later on became the entry for the Multicultural Day photography competition - and I won 3rd prize for it :)  I'd never imagine that I'd win something for it, so I was pleasantly surprised.

The Middle Eastern folks were also sharing their culture with other people.  I didn't really want to leave that area - the fragrances that they used were soooooo gorgeous!!

One of the girls relaxing after walking around the stalls.

The next stall I visited was the Chinese stall - and they were selling food in addition to these cool stuff.  We could even get our names written in calligraphy - for free!  I still have mine now, and I was one of the only ones without an Anglicised name.

There were a number of scheduled performances, including one by the Indonesian Students Society - where they played traditional Indonesian musical instruments and sang folk songs.  The Indonesian Students Society also specially invited one of the little girls - possibly the daughter of one of their members - to perform a traditional dance for us.

She was totally amazing!  Confident, poised and beautiful!  And she maintained really good eye contact.  Many of us were cheering her on, and she wasn't even shy.

The only technical glitch that occurred was when the music stopped halfway and she had to start all over again.  She wasn't even whiney about it, and just restarted as per normal.  And delivered a performance that was even better than the first.

After the traditional Indonesian dance, there was a belly dancing performance by the belly dance troupe in uni, and they were really good too!  They performed around 4 to 5 dances, and the little girl who performed earlier took so many pictures of them!  I could actually see her holding up her mum's iPhone and taking lots of pictures.

Well I took quite a fair bit of pictures too!

I especially love their skirts - which twirled really nicely as they spun around.

Went back to the stalls again and took a few more shots of the Chinese stall.

And I got my name written in yet another language - Kuwaiti.

Also took candid shots of the Middle Eastern stall, and the smoke was still blowing around, which provided a rather misty effect.

The African folks were also enjoying some African drumming, and so was the cameraman.

At the back of the Chinese stall, there was a guy preparing dumplings to sell.  The Chinese society sold quite a number of delights, including dumplings, fishballs and lots more.

The little girl who performed her special traditional dance was also hanging around, and she was happy to pose for a picture.  Well - at first she looked straight into the camera.  After that, she felt rather amused by us, so she started giggling and being silly.  She's still gorgeous though!

The festivities were starting to wrap up by then, so I took my last pictures - 2 zoomburst shots of the multicoloured flags.  Then went to walk around some of the non-Multicultural Day related stalls on the other side.

Well I guess that's about it for Multicultural Day!  It wasn't a massive event but it was definitely fun!  And I really enjoyed taking pictures of course.  I actually went specially to uni on that day - just to take pictures for Multicultural Day and also to accumulate more pictures for my portfolio :)

On a side note, I've also noticed these little mushrooms growing on the sandy area within the village grounds.   Presumably from the rain, but they were really adorable!  Well - mushrooms are adorable in my opinion!  Anyway I had to place my camera on the sand and was close to lying on my belly ON THE SAND as well, just to take decent shots of them!  I didn't resort to such extreme measures though, so I just snapped whatever I could snap.  Turned out pretty good!  

Wanted to take some more pictures of the mushrooms but the bus arrived, so I had to dash to the bus stop. Anyway - I'm sure there'll be more opportunities.

On a side note, my exams are coming up!  Better get cracking on revision and stuff!