Week 1 Updates
Warning: monster post
Week one zoomed past! School started, attended lectures, made (even more) new friends, attended a new church and a new lifegroup.
The modules that I’m going to be taking this semester:
Knowledge Management and Innovation
Globalisation for Business Students
International Business
International Finance Management
HRM Techniques
Asian Business
was supposed to take Financial Economics too, but changed my mind after the first lecture (i have till 18sept to confirm my modules). The FE class was seriously 0-0. All the dy/dx X du/dt log ln formula sh….stuff. I told my program manager that my purpose here was not purely for studies. I could have done that in Singapore had i wanted to. If i had taken that module i can kiss my weekends and term break goodbye. She put us in Asian Business promptly. Nice lady =D
The international finance management lecturer was hilarious. He definitely hails from one of the eastern European countries going by his accent. He went through our notes and halfway through, exclaimed:
“What the f*** is this?” “Total crAAAAp.” “Irish financial commentators are rubbish…”
and proceeded to tell us not to buy the textbooks cos we wouldn’t be needing them, unless we had a personal interest in it. Btw, textbooks here are seriously ex. To the tune of approx 100sgd per textbook. I’m just going to head to the library every week la.
I have already established my least favourite lecturer. She takes my knowledge management and innovation lectures. The module itself is quite interesting, but her workload is unbelievable. This is how we are going to be assessed for this module:
Exams: 70%
Project: 10%
Learning Journal 1: 10%
Learning Journal 2: 10%
-START OF RANT-
Looks alright? Think again. Learning journal part 1 is on lectures week 1-6. Every week, we are supposed to journal a minimum 1000 word entry. 600 words commentary on pre-lecture textbook reading and a random article we pick up from the internet/magazines/newspaper and 400 words on post lecture reflection. 1000×6 weeks = 6000 words. I still need to read through, reflect, write my thoughts. All for 10%! Which means, per 1000word entry, im only going for 1.7marks. Totally WTH right? She thinks her 1.7 marks is the world. Needless to say, i totally spammed my first entry. Didn’t even bother double checking. I understand the need for some effort, but this is just ridiculous….
-END OF RANT-
Other than that, the rest of the lectures have been rather interesting. I enjoy the non-singapore way of education, where you just memorise everything and regurgitate during exams. Well, a certain amount of memory work is required here as well, but i particularly like the fact that most of my classes are conducted interactively, rather than just having the lecturer read from the slides. Didn’t realise how much i missed student life until these couple of weeks.
Did i mention that i have long weekends for the entire year cos i do not have lessons on Friday? Shiok! Am already planning to hit other countries with my housemates. Other than that, am grateful for the extra day to do my chores, cleaning and shopping for the week, so that i can have my weekends for other stuff like music, church, travelling etc.
Went grocery shopping on Friday! This merits a mention just for the reason that it’s the first time in my life i went grocery shopping with a haversack, because in Ireland, plastic bags are not given when you shop (apparently they are huge on environmental issues).
Pre shopping:
Post Shopping:
See my haversack has increased in size. One week’s worth of groceries. All was good, except for the one tomato who chose to explode in my haversack =.=
At the risk of jinxing it, i must announce happily that Dublin has had FANTASTIC weather the past week. No rain (which is a surprise, as Dublin is more prone to rain than sunny weather), the day was cooling, night wasn’t that cold, and it was just really, really nice to walk around. No sticky skin, no unnecessary perspiration. Jealous yet? =pp
On friday, i played football for the first time here. Man, it was literally a World XI vs Botswana XI. Yours truly was one of the smallest guy on the pitch. Totally felt like Park Ji Sung. I had Spaniards, Italians, Americans, Germans, Russians on my team. I was the only Asian on the field. I still had fun though, shan’t go into details, except that my italian and spanish teammates were really, really good. There was a guy who played like Maldini, and another who played like Giggs. Serious! But the weather was superb. Just the right amount of sun, and there was a cool breeze. Oh, and i had a team mate who is the splitting image of Berbatov. No kidding! I’ll try to get a picture in future.
Remember i mentioned in a previous post that i almost killed myself by going out to run in singlet and shorts? I got smarter hey. Nowadays i go in this:
(A jogging attire which looks really cool in movies but too siao to replicate in Singapore)
On saturday evening, i headed to the pub opposite campus alone to catch Man Utd vs Spurs over a pint of Guinness, as my housemates had some of their own plans =DD Good match, good victory. Just needed one or two buddies to complete the experience. On the way back, i stopped just outside apartment for a while. Was just captivated by how still, how quiet, how beautiful the sunset sky was.
My E71 camera didn’t do the surroundings justice, but at that moment, coupled with the awesome, awesome weather, looking at the landscape and the evening sky, wow, i suddenly felt really, really loved by God. Like he painted the evening sky just for me (maybe i have a hidden pathway to God?) And he spoke the words in Isaiah to me clearly, “In quietness and trust is your strength” =)))
I’ve been really blessed to have gotten connected to a church so quickly. Thanks to Hope London people for the recommendation. It’s a small but international church, but the things that they are doing are pretty similar to the early days of our church. I think they are moving in the right direction. You can check them out here.
Have attended 2 services, one lifegroup, and a music practice so far. If God is willing, i hope to be able to contribute to their music team soon and very soon. Think they wanna roster me soon as well… for such a small church (abt 100), think they would just take anyone who is willing to volunteer.
Some pictures:
Brendan, the senior pastor
Brendan’s daughter, Nicole – she has to be one of the most smiley babies ever! She’s always smiling, even to complete strangers… lol
Bohdan – my CL – he’s from Slovakia
Peter – the band leader – from Poland
We had a lunch session to facilitate fellowship after service today, and basically different people cooked for the church. The dish in the picture was a homemade lasagna by Bohdan’s wife, Anna. The taste was… indescribable, inconceivable~~~hahaha heavenly! Sometimes it feels quite good to become a member in church again. Like kena pampered.. hahaha. I’m enjoying the fellowship in this church =)
Till the next update, take care people =)
p.s (happy belated birthdays my brudders roy, ray and dennis – sucks that i can’t be there to celebrate with you guys – we’ll have a super belated birthday dinner/beer session/chillout night soon alright!)
p.p.s (sheep(s)….. reply my emails leh…. dun dao can. haha)
Ever Felt That You Could Do Something to Change the World?
watch this
