the long-awaited news are finally out, i'm offered fh joanneum for my spring exchange! even though that wasn't my first choice, i'm equally thrilled at the prospect of going away and basking in the culture of a new place! at the same time, the thought of leaving singapore for somewhere foreign for an extended period of time is rather scary :S

graz, here i come!

i was finishing up my long overdue ocip report which i almost forgot about. looking at the photos made me miss those simple days and company! with the many recruitment emailers coming, i'm tempted to go for another ocip but the thought of probably being the only year three among mostly freshmen holds me back :S

the first week of school is over to much relief. it's weird to be back after a long break, especially when all you see are new unfamiliar faces and surroundings. barely having the time to settle down, one is quickly reminded of the stark reality of the competitive education system. what's more, being a year three comes with added pressure, looking at the advanced modules we're taking and the expectation that we've grown to be more sophisticated thinkers after 2 years of training hah.

i'm quite happy with how my timetable turned out this sem. not much complaints about the profs; they all seem pretty competent. i'm just a lil apprehensive about doing comms; besides inferiority complex at work, i'm not really sure that's the path i wanna take but i guess i'll give it a try and see how things work out.

anyway i'm beginning to like my 8.30 classes, even though i struggle with waking up every morning. i like the thought of having the entire afternoon to myself, even if it's just doing nothing. it feels good to be away from that gloomy place called school.

on a happier note, i met up with linglee for a midweek kbox session on wednesday. that's another perk of having morning classes - cheap de-stress recreation :)

schools starts all over again tomorrow after 4 months of summer. i'm so not looking forward to the 8.30 classes i have almost every day.

my favourite item at the olympics is the men's synchronised springboard event. it's one of those events where i can watch the competitors up close, unlike swimming and soccer which i can hardly make out who's who. besides ogling at the hot bods which will make most girls will go ooh over the underwear muscles, i find it amazing how the guys manage somersaults and various stunts within that few seconds in the air, what's more, in a synchronised manner. i can hardly imagine the amount of training that has gone behind those beautifully coordinated moves, the number of times they jump off the springboard every day practising the same thing over and over again.

looking at the olympics, there are times i wish i were more athletic and had the determination to stick it out with a sport back in secondary school, to have something to be passionate about, something i'd be willing to do work hard for. i remember backing out of track and field after one training because i felt that it was too tough, which is why i admire athletes who can put up with hours of grueling training each day, even if it was swimming the same distance over and over again just to improve the timing by a mere split second (correct me if i'm wrong) or practising the same move over and over again just to perfect that angle. they have that look of immense concentration on their faces when they're out on the competition ground, as though nothing else in the world mattered but for that moment which they've all been waiting for and even though some may end up with no medal in hand, i should think that they're gratified for they've tried.

i think i've been living my life pretty aimlessly all these years. i don't remember wanting anything very badly or working real hard for anything. i've been pretty much taking life as it is, accepting whatever comes my way. not to say that i'm not happy with the current situation, i guess it'll be good to have something worth fighting for.

thank you for everything.

it's been a few days since i ended the 15-week (gasp!) internship. no big plans for the much-awaited liberation; i basically slept the entire national day away. and for the few days after, i was simply enjoying the joy of not having to wake up at 7.30 every morning and having a whole load of time to nua around doing absolutely nothing!

it's amazing how the entire summer is almost gone by just like that. when i first started on the internship, i thought i was never going to make it through but tada, i'm done with it! i wouldn't be all nice and say that it was "a really fulfilling experience" but i think i did learn some stuff out of it though i had expected to learn much more. a colleague asked me if i'll miss them after i leave and i was taken aback momentarily. i'm thankful for a nice bunch of colleagues whom i wouldn't mind joining for a lunch or karaoke session now but we all know it's difficult to maintain anything beyond that. i'm gladly done with working for now and am ready to go back to being a student again (hmm maybe not).

a farewell shot with the female-dominated division.