Uni life

It was my dream to get into NUS to obtain a degree in English Language and Literature after my A'levels. Sometimes dreams are not fulfilled and I instead lived it in a vicarious sense through Frivolous Days, a Chinese biography of Ng King Kang's university days. Though I did obtain a degree in English Literature, it was studied for in a private school, Stansfield.

The essential difference of such a school is that its students go for purely lessons and there is no student life. Absent are the CCAs and groups that allow us to pursue our interests, the more evident comaraderie amongst one another, the post-A'level lifestyle, if you can give a name to it. The students are really focused on their studies and work towards getting good grades. Some are also concerned with the fact that they are getting their money's worth. The age range of the students varies. There are fresh A'level graduates all the way to older adults in their 50s.

The sad thing is that I do not have a graduation photo. I did not go to my university in London to take part in the ceremony for two reasons. Firstly, none of my friends were going and I would be the only B.A English graduate there. Secondly, I was so caught up in my job that I missed the deadline for registration. I did go to visit my university and even took a photo of it. Thus, it is not so bad.

Such reflections are assailing my mind because of an article on enjoying university life in the newspapers.Eisen Teo has been receiving grouses from university students over their school life. However, as I read the complaints, I am filled with a wave of poignancy. Classes starting at 8am is something I hanker after, since I miss studying and going to school. The need to zap notes for the subject brings back memories of how my classmates in Stansfield used to do so. One of them would do it for the whole class and we would pay her for the cost. I still have my photocopied books of reference. I do agree though, that many of them were barely used as there was always insufficient time to go through them :S Money and paper were wasted.

We did not have project-based work and at that time, there were no laptops at use during lessons. Ours was a tutorial- and essay-based system. There were no exchange programmes too. We did not even do a thesis for our final year! We had different lecturers and I was exposed to the different accents of English in this way. I learnt how to understand the Irish, American, English, Indian and Singaporean accents. I must add that the lecturers' grammar was not compromised in the process. The most difficult accent to understand was Indian and the easiest was of course Singaporean.

These are the little nuggets of my university life that I still hold within. :)