This week has been an eye-opener for me. Tutorials have started and I'm more or less quite adapted to the environment. I was late for Sociology tutorial on Tuesday which started at 8am, partly cos I didn't know there was a short cut to the seminar room and so I ended up shedding more calories due to the many more flights of steps I could have avoided if I had taken the shorter route. Anyway, I was glad that it started off on the right note cos our tutor got the ball rolling by engaging us in an interesting project. [The tutor was as animated as Ms. Kon but the latter's still the best!]
Back to the project. In our groups, we had to go out on campus and do something that was "out of the norm." Basically, we had to be like the crew in "Just for Laughs" and observe our subjects' reactions.
My group wasn't really that sporty compared to the other groups so we did simple stuff like waving and doing chicken dances to passing buses at the bus-stop.
We got more adventurous and headed for the Engin canteen. It was relatively empty at that time and people were scattered in random 4-seater tables everywhere as expected, having their meals. We spotted the perfect subject: a middle-aged woman eating peacefully alone in the centre of the canteen. The 3 of us walked up to her and took our places on all sides of her and before we could say a word, she gave us a dirty look, took up her plate and walked off, staring at us as if we were lunatics!
I really liked what one of the other groups did, which was to offer to carry food for people, who just bought their food, to their tables. The latter, as expected, gave them questioning looks but allowed them to do so nonetheless. It was when the group decided to sit with the subject at his table and begged the subject [who was quite stunned by then] to share the food with them that he was truly dumbfounded. One of the subjects actually gave them 5 bucks to get food for themselves!
Anyway, it was a good start for tutorial and after attending a few more classes from other modules, it made me realise many things:People here are much more eloquent, hard-working and competitive than I thought they would be and by that I mean active participation in discussion forums (Just by looking at the number of emails in my mailbox regarding forum alerts would be enough to make me STOP AND STARE!), active participation in class (some of my classmates look like potential debate material, one would have to think very hard before one could come up with a good point to rebut them), not forgetting the number of people who are actually mugging now for major exams, which are in November/December if I don't count the mid-sem tests! Just look at the Central Library!
Hmm...maybe I'm thinking too much but I've heard people mentioning that they have gone through their readings and are now proceeding on to further readings in order to understand their modules better! Who said life would be more relaxed after JC?
Moreover, most of them seemed to be more serious and mature and though they are quite witty and humorous at times, it just ain't the same anymore. It's not like we can be as free and happy as we want to, like in secondary school or even JC. It's like what they taught us in Sociology: people in that social setting are following an inherent code of conduct which is expected of everyone and when one decides to exhibit behaviour that fails to comply with what everyone is doing, they are labelled as a deviant.
Maybe one good thing that came up out of all this so-called culture shock and kiasu, competitive (and probably obssessive) behaviour would be that I've learnt to depend on God more. He gave me the assurance that even though such shit happens, as long as we know what we're doing and take things step by step, depending on His strength all the time, we can make it :)
