Here I am, sitting in front of an almost empty page, trying to think of what to write. I guess I should start with what happened on Day 1 then...
Yesterday I arrived at PPS at 0845 to start my experience as an old mahasitua in UKM. When I got at the counter, it was not opened yet, so I just hung around waiting for it to be manned. After a while, someone came and opened the counter. 1st order for the day, get a queue number. I got number 5015 and a sheet of paper saying that the briefing for new students will start at 0900. Strange, coz in the letter they sent me indicated that the briefing should start at 1100. So I filled in some relevant forms and waited for my number to be called. A short while later, there seemed to be some commotion going on. I went to see what was happening. The lady who manned the counter was making a fuss, saying that we could not register yet as we haven't listened to the briefing, as such we couldn't register the courses that we're supposed to take for the semester. Some of the new students were just standing there looking dumbfounded and not knowing exactly what to do. So I took out the literature they sent us and told the lady that according to the flow indicated, we were supposed to register FIRST, then go for the briefing at our respective faculties. I showed them what we received. The lady then make another ruckus, taking the stuff I gave her and asking her colleagues around as the schedule that they have was different to what the students have. That there's an example of Malaysian-style miscommunication for you! Anyway, they finally allowed us to register ourselves first before continuing with course registration after the briefing by the faculty. Since it was quite a while before briefing starts, I went to Pusanika to have my breakfast. There I met a few of my friends who did our QA in INTAN in January. As 1100 inched its way in, I left Pusanika for the briefing room.
The briefing was done at one of the lecture halls. There were quite a number of us around. My guestimate is that there were around 60+ people in the hall. Then the briefing started with a brief intro about the faculty and the staff. Seems that one of my colleagues is now a staff there and on study leave for her PhD. I guess one of these days she'll be my lecturer :) During the course of the briefing, there were at least 10 people who came in late. I don't blame them. Our letter said that the briefing will be at PPS, but was changed to this lecture hall. That's a distance of at least one kilometer between them, and some of these students have never set foot on UKM grounds before so it's understandable that they came in late, what more if they just arrived at PPS circa 1100 and suddenly found out they changed the venue. Me, I already called up PPS last week to confirm the venues of registration and briefing so I got an early warning that the briefing would be at a different place. Anyway, the briefing ended with a QA session and most of the questions were expected questions. Towards the end, they told us to go back to PPS to continue with course registration and that should be the end of Day 1 for us. And since it was nearing 1300, I thought I'd just grab a quick lunch and at 1400 go back to PPS for the course registration.
I then went to Billion Bangi. First thought of having lunch at one of the restaurants there, but it was full to the brim. So ended up patronising KFC there instead. After Dzuhur, went back to PPS. This time, had to park at world's end and walk in the hot Malaysian sun. When I got to the lab, I logged on and tried to register for my courses. Imagine my surprise that NONE of the courses I was supposed to take were offered! So I consulted the people there but they were not much help. They asked me to go to the PPS office upstairs and meet up with one of the staff there. So up I went, and after waiting in queue for about 20 minutes, finally met with the staff mentioned. Seems that my courses were faculty courses and that PPS has no authority to add them in the course list. So I had to go back to the faculty and register manually there. Bummer!
For the second time today, I had to drive back to the faculty and fight my way for a parking space. Luckily for me one car drove out of one just as I was approaching the faculty, so swiftly was I in manoeuvring into the space before anyone else grabbed it. When I reached the faculty, thankfully there were no other students there so I managed to get the staff there immediately. When I related the problem to her, she was surprised that our courses were not offered. So she made a few phone calls and finally found out that another Malaysian-styled miscommunication had happened and ALL faculty courses were not listed in the system yet. She frantically made more phone calls to rectify the mistake, but eventually was told that the courses would ONLY be included after 1700 today. She was profusely apologetic with the foul-up and was EXTRA helpful with my demands then on. I made her check which ones of my courses would be offered this semester, made her get me the timetables, lecturer names and numbers and so on. Eventually, I found out that out of the six pre-requisite courses that I have to take, only two were being offered this semester. As such, my classes would be Mondays 1600 - 1800 and Thursdays 1000 - 1200. That means at other times, I'd be free. Another bummer! I was hoping to take at least four courses this semester and the remaining in the next semester. Or at least take three courses each semester to even out the workload. But seems that it's not going according to my plans.
Anyway, I then decided to take my medical report & x-ray to the health centre. Crazy, ain't it? By right, they should take everything when we register, but here you have to surrender different documents at different places. As such, students would have to embark on an amazing race sort of thing. Regardless, I managed to find my way around (it helps that I stayed in UKM for almost two years back in 1998 - 2000). When I handed in my medical report & x-ray,the nurse there looked at my report and asked me to see a doctor there and then because I was truthful in my form declaration. So she gave me a queue number and left me there to wait yet again. When my turn finally came, I went into Room 2 to find this foreign doctor. After chatting up with him for about 15 minutes about my health history, I was finally allowed to go back. And go back I did. Arrived home at 1740, just as if I were still working. But what the heck, the day was finally almost over.
That night, after dinner I came back and logged on to UKM website for my course registration. Lo and behold! My courses were finally in the list. A quick click here and there, and I am now officially a student with classes beginning next Monday :)
And that, my friends, was my account of what happened on Day 1...
Yesterday I arrived at PPS at 0845 to start my experience as an old mahasitua in UKM. When I got at the counter, it was not opened yet, so I just hung around waiting for it to be manned. After a while, someone came and opened the counter. 1st order for the day, get a queue number. I got number 5015 and a sheet of paper saying that the briefing for new students will start at 0900. Strange, coz in the letter they sent me indicated that the briefing should start at 1100. So I filled in some relevant forms and waited for my number to be called. A short while later, there seemed to be some commotion going on. I went to see what was happening. The lady who manned the counter was making a fuss, saying that we could not register yet as we haven't listened to the briefing, as such we couldn't register the courses that we're supposed to take for the semester. Some of the new students were just standing there looking dumbfounded and not knowing exactly what to do. So I took out the literature they sent us and told the lady that according to the flow indicated, we were supposed to register FIRST, then go for the briefing at our respective faculties. I showed them what we received. The lady then make another ruckus, taking the stuff I gave her and asking her colleagues around as the schedule that they have was different to what the students have. That there's an example of Malaysian-style miscommunication for you! Anyway, they finally allowed us to register ourselves first before continuing with course registration after the briefing by the faculty. Since it was quite a while before briefing starts, I went to Pusanika to have my breakfast. There I met a few of my friends who did our QA in INTAN in January. As 1100 inched its way in, I left Pusanika for the briefing room.
The briefing was done at one of the lecture halls. There were quite a number of us around. My guestimate is that there were around 60+ people in the hall. Then the briefing started with a brief intro about the faculty and the staff. Seems that one of my colleagues is now a staff there and on study leave for her PhD. I guess one of these days she'll be my lecturer :) During the course of the briefing, there were at least 10 people who came in late. I don't blame them. Our letter said that the briefing will be at PPS, but was changed to this lecture hall. That's a distance of at least one kilometer between them, and some of these students have never set foot on UKM grounds before so it's understandable that they came in late, what more if they just arrived at PPS circa 1100 and suddenly found out they changed the venue. Me, I already called up PPS last week to confirm the venues of registration and briefing so I got an early warning that the briefing would be at a different place. Anyway, the briefing ended with a QA session and most of the questions were expected questions. Towards the end, they told us to go back to PPS to continue with course registration and that should be the end of Day 1 for us. And since it was nearing 1300, I thought I'd just grab a quick lunch and at 1400 go back to PPS for the course registration.
I then went to Billion Bangi. First thought of having lunch at one of the restaurants there, but it was full to the brim. So ended up patronising KFC there instead. After Dzuhur, went back to PPS. This time, had to park at world's end and walk in the hot Malaysian sun. When I got to the lab, I logged on and tried to register for my courses. Imagine my surprise that NONE of the courses I was supposed to take were offered! So I consulted the people there but they were not much help. They asked me to go to the PPS office upstairs and meet up with one of the staff there. So up I went, and after waiting in queue for about 20 minutes, finally met with the staff mentioned. Seems that my courses were faculty courses and that PPS has no authority to add them in the course list. So I had to go back to the faculty and register manually there. Bummer!
For the second time today, I had to drive back to the faculty and fight my way for a parking space. Luckily for me one car drove out of one just as I was approaching the faculty, so swiftly was I in manoeuvring into the space before anyone else grabbed it. When I reached the faculty, thankfully there were no other students there so I managed to get the staff there immediately. When I related the problem to her, she was surprised that our courses were not offered. So she made a few phone calls and finally found out that another Malaysian-styled miscommunication had happened and ALL faculty courses were not listed in the system yet. She frantically made more phone calls to rectify the mistake, but eventually was told that the courses would ONLY be included after 1700 today. She was profusely apologetic with the foul-up and was EXTRA helpful with my demands then on. I made her check which ones of my courses would be offered this semester, made her get me the timetables, lecturer names and numbers and so on. Eventually, I found out that out of the six pre-requisite courses that I have to take, only two were being offered this semester. As such, my classes would be Mondays 1600 - 1800 and Thursdays 1000 - 1200. That means at other times, I'd be free. Another bummer! I was hoping to take at least four courses this semester and the remaining in the next semester. Or at least take three courses each semester to even out the workload. But seems that it's not going according to my plans.
Anyway, I then decided to take my medical report & x-ray to the health centre. Crazy, ain't it? By right, they should take everything when we register, but here you have to surrender different documents at different places. As such, students would have to embark on an amazing race sort of thing. Regardless, I managed to find my way around (it helps that I stayed in UKM for almost two years back in 1998 - 2000). When I handed in my medical report & x-ray,the nurse there looked at my report and asked me to see a doctor there and then because I was truthful in my form declaration. So she gave me a queue number and left me there to wait yet again. When my turn finally came, I went into Room 2 to find this foreign doctor. After chatting up with him for about 15 minutes about my health history, I was finally allowed to go back. And go back I did. Arrived home at 1740, just as if I were still working. But what the heck, the day was finally almost over.
That night, after dinner I came back and logged on to UKM website for my course registration. Lo and behold! My courses were finally in the list. A quick click here and there, and I am now officially a student with classes beginning next Monday :)
And that, my friends, was my account of what happened on Day 1...
