Recap
1st Semester
The orientation of RMIT is still vivid in my memories. It was where I met friends that are from Singapore too. I will use alphabets to name them. Guy A, a Malay, very down to earth and humorous person. His straightforwardness left me a very good impression of him. He is the kind of guy that will hit you in the face instead of stabbing you from the back. Sadly, he is studying in a different school so our time together is not that much.
Guy B, a Chinese, a very very friendly person. I treated him without any defensive thought very quickly. That was my biggest mistake. Guy C, a Chinese too, very cool guy, has a kind of charisma that makes you want to be friend with him. However, he chooses who to be his friend. My 2nd biggest mistake was trying too hard to be his friend. We are not in the same course but we are in the same school.
We were doing a project together during the 1st semester. It was a borderline pass as we did not deliver the goods. That project made me realized how stupid I was. 1st, that project was purely programming. Guy B is a novice programmer; Guy C hates programming; I am the only 1 with programming background. Before taking that project, Guy B asked me, how did I think of the project, should 'we' take it? My respond was 'anything'. At that moment, I would have said 'no', if I knew how 'good' their programming was.
When another project came up, I reached out to them to see if we could work together again. This time I was rejected without a good reason. Guy C rejected me through msn. Is that the best method? Guy B said they made that decision as I was not in the same course with them, so allocation of time would be difficult. Is that the best he can come up with?
On a later date, I had dinner with Guy A. He said Guy B and C had told him about this issue and said they felt bad to leave me out. When I asked Guy A, did they tell him the reason why? Their reason was: I produced last minute work for the project that we had done.
I was in rage after hearing it. Guy B and C basically just did the report for that project! Why they did not tell me the reason to reject me, straight? I was not given a chance to say my side of the story, no chance at all to make my stand. For this, I will forever regret that I spent every weekend, every possible free slot of my time to try to get that project worked! The sacrifices that I made for people that did not appreciate and deserve it.
2nd Semester
I got to know 2 more new Singaporeans in 1 of the subject, Guy D & Guy E. Guy E introduced his cousin, Guy F who is graduating, to me. Who would have known that these 3 guys will light up my life!
1 thing I realized is that friends are made through how similar their thinkings are. This was also the reason these 3 guys and I clicked immediately. Example, all four of us select courses that we are interested, it does not matter even if it is a killer subject. The subject where we met was a killer subject which Guy B & C did not take. Guy B & C thinks differently, they avoid killer subjects and take the easy 1s even if they are not interested, hoping to obtain high marks. They should have taken business instead.
Back to the other 3 guys, as I have said we clicked immediately, not only because of our thinkings but also the same interest as well. These 3 guys share some or all of my interest listed in my blog. I will be sharing an apartment with Guy D next year.
I am impressed with them, as in how they had integrated me into their circle; how they had welcomed me, let me felt involved when I am with them. This is exactly my principle in treating friends and these 3 guys are the 1s that return the favor. I am really overwhelmed. Life or fortune can be so different between 2 semesters.
I would like to mention an Aussie as well, Guy G. We did a project together this semester. Though our thinkings are different, I can say that we are the perfect or near perfect working partners, our strength complemented each other. He has leadership quality, very intuitive and a very creative person but needs help when it comes to field work or certain aspects of the real work. That is where my strength comes in.
Our working chemistry has led to another partnership in next year's Window CE competition where we have just submitted our application. Guy G came up with a team name, "RMIT Dudes"... If things go well next year, I believe our partnership will be present in other subjects that we will be taking together; the joy of finding wonderful team mates.
Well, the above are the moments that are the most significant in my 1st year. There are others that are less significant which I will not be mentioning. Writing all the above had made my heart sour. I actually re-read this post as I could not finish it before boarding the plane and only 'truly' free to complete it today.
I most probably will not write any more post till my next semester starts. Why? This blog is solely for my experiences and encounters in Melbourne, no point writing stuffs in Singapore!
posted by Estan @ 12:25:00 AM (GMT+08:00).
