I thought it would be good to show what i wrote to Mei Lien here.....
Mei Lien,
By now i can summarise what 'actuarial studies' means with fair accuracy. It's about calculating probabilities of something happening using all sorts of complicated maths, with the help of stats analysis (which can also be very complicated). By the way i just finished my math exam and it was SO SO TOUGH. I know how to do the paper except one bloody differential equation question which i was clueless about, but the toughest part is to do that paper in 3 hours (that's like 9 LONG questions with the highest level of difficulty. I don't know how many careless mistakes will there be because i practically did them in a rush. Omg the lecturer said that it will be fairly easy before the exam, but it wasn't true at all.
Anyway, where was I? Yeah, this is the nature of Actuarial Studies. One word to describe it, it is REALLY TOUGH and it takes a lot of self-discipline and self-belief to get through the whole thing. The first thing i studied was how to calculate the probability of a gambler in casino losing all his wealth. And i can tell you, the probability is ofter 1 or close to it and we can prove to you that this is the case. SO NEVER GAMBLE!! You will definitely lose.
Later on we started on all the insurance stuff, how to calculate a suitable premium, by considering a hell lots of factors, how to calculate superannuation funds, how to calculate retirement and death benefits, how to calculate the probability of a person dying and needs to claim from his life-insurance policy etc.. we are basically pressing our calculator all the time and doing stuff that non-actuarial students will never understand.
My first semester exam, hm.... was really an experience. All papers are super hard. For maths i thought i can get good marks before the paper. But now i think HD is not very plausible (it is only possible if i did very very little careless mistake on the parts that i knew, and you can imagine how accurate the answer will be given the rushing way i answer them). I will be grateful if i get D for maths really, coz it is the toughest paper I had ever seen (the second toughest being the mid year math paper in VJC, in which i narrowly manage an 'A'). Other subjects are also hard, but i hope my result will turn out good considering all the hard preparation i put in.
Okay, hope to hear from you.
Xin Yin
Thursday, 21 June 2007
Sunday, 10 June 2007
My life is temporarily loaned to EXAMS
What a life!!Have been studying like mad for the past few days because finals is REALLY next week!! No life at the moment other than munching snacks (to kill the boredom, am promising myself to go gym everyday after exams to burn away all those extra calories) and books and notes and calculator. That's the nature of an Actuarial degree, the concept of opportunity cost. We are forgoing our lovely time in uni in return for (possibly) a decent income after we graduate.
OMG, I am actually having a mental block on what to put in this weekly blog entry. All i can think of now is I have to cram all the stuff into my head and make it last until the last paper is collected. I am telling myself to be patient and time will pass fast and very soon it will be the long-awaited winter break which promises new experience and excitement.
Due to the away-on-loan blogging mood I have nothing much more exciting than what you have seen in my previous entries (for at least two or three weeks), unless you want to hear me complaining about the pilling notes to mug (S'pore slang for memorize, had since learned it after a short stay in that tiny island).
Just bear with me for another week, fellow readers.
Love,
Xin Yin
OMG, I am actually having a mental block on what to put in this weekly blog entry. All i can think of now is I have to cram all the stuff into my head and make it last until the last paper is collected. I am telling myself to be patient and time will pass fast and very soon it will be the long-awaited winter break which promises new experience and excitement.
Due to the away-on-loan blogging mood I have nothing much more exciting than what you have seen in my previous entries (for at least two or three weeks), unless you want to hear me complaining about the pilling notes to mug (S'pore slang for memorize, had since learned it after a short stay in that tiny island).
Just bear with me for another week, fellow readers.
Love,
Xin Yin
Monday, 4 June 2007
First Birthday away from home
Well, I typed a wonderful blog entry on my first birthday away from home but sadly it didn't get posted on because of the sucky connection. Now I couldn't remember what was said in that post but would hope that this one makes a good substitute.
4th June nearly always fall on school holiday, so it was always celebrated at home in Taiping. But this year's was different and was a whole new experience. I am away from all the comforts at home and am here in Marsfield, a suburb of the well-known metropolitan city, Sydney. It didn't start well in the sense that, well, I felt truly stressed-out since morning with uni work, and was unfortunate to catch a mild cold in the morning due to the weather which was freezing cold.
I went to gym after uni for a brief workout (I don't have time, but I am trying to control my weight, which has undoubtedly risen because I eat a whole lot more than I do during summer, which is one bad thing about winter--it makes you fat!!). The emergency alarm rang when I was panting on the treadmill. "Evacuate now! Evacuate the building!Evacuate now..." We left the building for 5 minutes, only to be told that it was just a mistake and there was no fire whatsoever in the building.
At 10.30, Shir Lynn knocked on my door and I immediately knew what was behind the door. I was quick enough to say thank you before they manage to wish me happy birthday, which is a whole new style of responding to a surprise. Coolest.....Yup, Joy baked a truly yummy lemon cheesecake. They bought me a genuine addidas sportswear (not from petaling street) and Martha gave me a lovely jumper. Haha, their wishes in the greeting card were both creative and thought provoking.
That pretty much described what happened on my first birthday away from Malaysia. The only shadow that overcovered the joy in myself is the looming final exam. Nevertheless, I had a good day!
4th June nearly always fall on school holiday, so it was always celebrated at home in Taiping. But this year's was different and was a whole new experience. I am away from all the comforts at home and am here in Marsfield, a suburb of the well-known metropolitan city, Sydney. It didn't start well in the sense that, well, I felt truly stressed-out since morning with uni work, and was unfortunate to catch a mild cold in the morning due to the weather which was freezing cold.
I went to gym after uni for a brief workout (I don't have time, but I am trying to control my weight, which has undoubtedly risen because I eat a whole lot more than I do during summer, which is one bad thing about winter--it makes you fat!!). The emergency alarm rang when I was panting on the treadmill. "Evacuate now! Evacuate the building!Evacuate now..." We left the building for 5 minutes, only to be told that it was just a mistake and there was no fire whatsoever in the building.
At 10.30, Shir Lynn knocked on my door and I immediately knew what was behind the door. I was quick enough to say thank you before they manage to wish me happy birthday, which is a whole new style of responding to a surprise. Coolest.....Yup, Joy baked a truly yummy lemon cheesecake. They bought me a genuine addidas sportswear (not from petaling street) and Martha gave me a lovely jumper. Haha, their wishes in the greeting card were both creative and thought provoking.
That pretty much described what happened on my first birthday away from Malaysia. The only shadow that overcovered the joy in myself is the looming final exam. Nevertheless, I had a good day!
Sunday, 3 June 2007
A state of craziness
Woosh.....You guess how I spent my Saturday this week??? I went to gym in the morning, worked hard to prevent myself from gaining too much weight. Winter's officially started and the cold weather always make me hungry. I never feel this way back in Malaysia and would have got pissed off if I were to eat the way I eat now in Malaysia. But here, when the temperature is around 10 C and I just came back from uni, tired and shivering, eating is the first thing in my mind. That's why people tend to grow fatter in a four season country. I promise myself to go gym everyday after exam (now don't have much time coz exam is near) to get my weight back to normal. Feel so sick everytime when I stand on a weighing machine.
Yeah, and after coming back from gym, I vacuumed my lovely room, and thence started my marraton catching-up-with-lagging-uni-work, until now. I never work like this, even in SAM. But I guess this is really what EVERY actuarial student has to do to survive the course. Exam is near and the lectures are still going on, new topics are introduced to us at bullet-train speed and we are expected to learn 90% of it on our own, basically. Back in college and high school the last month, at least, before final exam was usually for revision and consultation, as the syllabi were done way way before finals, but it is a wholly different story in uni. We are two weeks from exam and the new materials are still coming in, faster than ever. If you ask me how I feel now, I would only say," THIS IS CRAZY!!!".
Nevertheless one good thing is that I start to think all the maths and insurance and probability and spreadsheet that shape the actuarial course are somewhat fun. Hope to build on from here. It's a matter of taking the suffering and laughing it off at the end, just like what Brian Chu (my ACST151 tutor) confessed: "All the compound interest stuff will appear in your dream because you encounter it EVERYDAY. And you can imagine how interesting my undergraduate life was, and I have just recently got back my life..." He's bright and yet he suffered, and I guess that's what Macquarie Uni Actuarial Studies is meant to be: it's about taking the bitter and interpreting it as sweet.
Yeah, and after coming back from gym, I vacuumed my lovely room, and thence started my marraton catching-up-with-lagging-uni-work, until now. I never work like this, even in SAM. But I guess this is really what EVERY actuarial student has to do to survive the course. Exam is near and the lectures are still going on, new topics are introduced to us at bullet-train speed and we are expected to learn 90% of it on our own, basically. Back in college and high school the last month, at least, before final exam was usually for revision and consultation, as the syllabi were done way way before finals, but it is a wholly different story in uni. We are two weeks from exam and the new materials are still coming in, faster than ever. If you ask me how I feel now, I would only say," THIS IS CRAZY!!!".
Nevertheless one good thing is that I start to think all the maths and insurance and probability and spreadsheet that shape the actuarial course are somewhat fun. Hope to build on from here. It's a matter of taking the suffering and laughing it off at the end, just like what Brian Chu (my ACST151 tutor) confessed: "All the compound interest stuff will appear in your dream because you encounter it EVERYDAY. And you can imagine how interesting my undergraduate life was, and I have just recently got back my life..." He's bright and yet he suffered, and I guess that's what Macquarie Uni Actuarial Studies is meant to be: it's about taking the bitter and interpreting it as sweet.
Monday, 28 May 2007
2 more weeks from final exam
It seems that I just arrived in Australia and started my uni life not too long ago, and now I am so near to my first final exam at university level. Time flies off so fast that it actually scares me. Perhaps the hectic student life burdened with tests and assignments are making us oblivious to what happened around us and the time that has passed. Judging from this I can say that my 4 years of uni life (hopefully i can get into Honours) would pass really fast, and without realising it we have officially turned adult and start our working life.
Sigh... It is really hard to truly balance between work and play as we don't actually know where the appropriate boundaries are. How much time should we devote to fun and excitement, and to serious academic pursuit??This is a hard question, no doubt. But for me the priority is still studies as I know how hard it is to graduate with an actuarial degree and am pretty sure that all the hard work will pay off at the end, during the graduation ceremony and more so in my later career.
I am studying with a lot of China Chinese and guess what? They are extremely and amazingly diligent (crazy and obsessed) with studies. You can see them studying at every minute, in any place they are encountered. Even during lunch time they will be hugging their books, I am not joking here. That explains their good grades. Some attribute this to the competitive nature of academic life back in China, and I totally agree with this. It is the hardest to study with Chinese. Sigh...
Okies, I guess the post is getting pretty boring when all I am thinking now is how to squash all the stuff that i learned in this semester into my head and make it stay until my last paper is collected. Lets end here and I promise to make up for all the uninteresting posts with some really enhilarating ones after my exams.
Sigh... It is really hard to truly balance between work and play as we don't actually know where the appropriate boundaries are. How much time should we devote to fun and excitement, and to serious academic pursuit??This is a hard question, no doubt. But for me the priority is still studies as I know how hard it is to graduate with an actuarial degree and am pretty sure that all the hard work will pay off at the end, during the graduation ceremony and more so in my later career.
I am studying with a lot of China Chinese and guess what? They are extremely and amazingly diligent (crazy and obsessed) with studies. You can see them studying at every minute, in any place they are encountered. Even during lunch time they will be hugging their books, I am not joking here. That explains their good grades. Some attribute this to the competitive nature of academic life back in China, and I totally agree with this. It is the hardest to study with Chinese. Sigh...
Okies, I guess the post is getting pretty boring when all I am thinking now is how to squash all the stuff that i learned in this semester into my head and make it stay until my last paper is collected. Lets end here and I promise to make up for all the uninteresting posts with some really enhilarating ones after my exams.
Sunday, 20 May 2007
My Sunday
I went for a job interview today at Chatswood. Had a fairly tough time locating that building which lies at an obscured corner around Railway Street. After nearly half-an-hour looking here and there like a TOURIST i finally found it to be just a 5 minute walking distance from the Bus Interchange. Haih....blame myself not bringing a compass, haha.
It is a large dental surgery which apparently needs more dental assistants. The youngest Dentist over there, Dr. Gordon opened the door for me and held the interview with the presence of another part-time job seeker from China. He spoke alot about what kind of tasks we are expected to do...and bla bla bla there goes on to things like the pay rate and the trainings we need to go through to gain acceptance into the job offered. Hm....he said we need to perform well and impress the dentists over there, only then we'll get the job. It's gonna be tough...I guess, but anyway I shall just try my luck after exam. Meanwhile I can look for some other part-time job as back-up in case I don't get this one. The good thing about being a dental assistant compared to other jobs like waitress, cleaners etc is that I'll get to learn new stuff (about the equipments, general knowledge about teeth) and also hone up my communication skills. But I really need to be careful with all the sharp objects used in the surgery.
The ugly side of this week is the stupid Perdisco assignment I have to do every week. The question asked for expected returns on investment but surprisingly the answer given turns out to be the accumulated value of investment money!!!DAMN, this means my answers are all marked wrong and I was given a super sucky mark instead of 100% that i decerve (coz I did everything right!). DAMN, this is why i hate the use of MACHINES as a tool of assessment. A machine (computer) does not give any consideration to ambiguity of questions and will never think he is wrong. Super hate it! But anyway the final exam is so near that i don't have time to dwell too much on this. What matters in the end is the final exam which will be marked by HUMAN instead of COMPUTER. If I score well in that I will DEFINITELY be rewarded regardless of what happened in the Semester. So really need to work hard on it.
Pretty much the same stuff as my last entry?? Sorry, these are the stuffs that shape my life over here and I don't have too much other things to write on other than uni work and life. Winter break will come after exam and by then my blogs will be a whole lot more interesting than this one. Promise.
Oh yea, my ex-housemate Audrey actually read my blog and I feel so happy to hear from her. And....Joy and Martha bought me a good-luck present for my job interview and I felt so so touched. What's more, Martha just refused to take back the shirt she lent to me and insisted that I keep that. I don't feel good to reject it and promise to buy her something as soon as I get my first pay. There are lots of wonderful people around me as are nasty and weird nerds. Not all elements of uni life are making-you-feel-good, but they certainly would make me grow.
It is a large dental surgery which apparently needs more dental assistants. The youngest Dentist over there, Dr. Gordon opened the door for me and held the interview with the presence of another part-time job seeker from China. He spoke alot about what kind of tasks we are expected to do...and bla bla bla there goes on to things like the pay rate and the trainings we need to go through to gain acceptance into the job offered. Hm....he said we need to perform well and impress the dentists over there, only then we'll get the job. It's gonna be tough...I guess, but anyway I shall just try my luck after exam. Meanwhile I can look for some other part-time job as back-up in case I don't get this one. The good thing about being a dental assistant compared to other jobs like waitress, cleaners etc is that I'll get to learn new stuff (about the equipments, general knowledge about teeth) and also hone up my communication skills. But I really need to be careful with all the sharp objects used in the surgery.
The ugly side of this week is the stupid Perdisco assignment I have to do every week. The question asked for expected returns on investment but surprisingly the answer given turns out to be the accumulated value of investment money!!!DAMN, this means my answers are all marked wrong and I was given a super sucky mark instead of 100% that i decerve (coz I did everything right!). DAMN, this is why i hate the use of MACHINES as a tool of assessment. A machine (computer) does not give any consideration to ambiguity of questions and will never think he is wrong. Super hate it! But anyway the final exam is so near that i don't have time to dwell too much on this. What matters in the end is the final exam which will be marked by HUMAN instead of COMPUTER. If I score well in that I will DEFINITELY be rewarded regardless of what happened in the Semester. So really need to work hard on it.
Pretty much the same stuff as my last entry?? Sorry, these are the stuffs that shape my life over here and I don't have too much other things to write on other than uni work and life. Winter break will come after exam and by then my blogs will be a whole lot more interesting than this one. Promise.
Oh yea, my ex-housemate Audrey actually read my blog and I feel so happy to hear from her. And....Joy and Martha bought me a good-luck present for my job interview and I felt so so touched. What's more, Martha just refused to take back the shirt she lent to me and insisted that I keep that. I don't feel good to reject it and promise to buy her something as soon as I get my first pay. There are lots of wonderful people around me as are nasty and weird nerds. Not all elements of uni life are making-you-feel-good, but they certainly would make me grow.
Friday, 11 May 2007
Winter's coming, so is exam
The weather this few days is sooo COLD. I would shiver in outdoors if I happen to forget my sweater. Woo....and when the wind flows you would be freezed to death without proper warm clothing. I heard from my friends that Melbourne is even COLDER. I wonder how we are gonna visit around Melbourne after finals.....by the way we have booked the ticket to Melbourne this winter. Crazy, you might think, for all reasons we prefer not to stay in the relatively warmer Sydney. But anyway we are just gonna stay there for six days so I guess it would be okay.
Compounding the 'misery' of life here is the never-ending coursework we as actuarial students have to complete. Just finished two tests this week (i guess I did fine), but we really have no time to rest on our laurels because two assignments are expected from us and ECON test is coming next week!
The lectures are getting tougher, as expected. But in a way it motivates me to work just that bit harder to cope, which is a good thing (as far as I'm concerned). Tute works are pilling like hills right now, and I don't quite understand how some people can still take up more than one job in semester as a full-time student. No doubt, this would compromise studies!! I would much rather study hard and try to score better in exam than trying to earn more money (which I don't think I have the time to spend anyway given our current workload).
Oh yea, I finally cooked myself a pot of curry and it was gorgeous!! Can't believe that a pot of curry of such good quality came from the hands of an amateur cook like myself. Maybe I was just lucky to have mixed and cooked everything in the right proportion. One thing is for sure, my cooking, no matter how amateurish it is, is a million times better than what I can get by paying outside. This is especially true for the sucky sandwiches I bought (because I needed more time to prepare for exam rather than cooking). ARGH, the supposedly chicken sandwich was so tasteless that it tasted like plain FLOUR with RAW vege. And how much you guess it costed me? 2 slices of bread for $4.25!! Almost RM13!! But that's the way we live when we don't have time to prepare food.... Not only our taste buds suffer from the sucky food, our wallet will suffer too.
That's all I can think of this week.
-Xin Yin-
Compounding the 'misery' of life here is the never-ending coursework we as actuarial students have to complete. Just finished two tests this week (i guess I did fine), but we really have no time to rest on our laurels because two assignments are expected from us and ECON test is coming next week!
The lectures are getting tougher, as expected. But in a way it motivates me to work just that bit harder to cope, which is a good thing (as far as I'm concerned). Tute works are pilling like hills right now, and I don't quite understand how some people can still take up more than one job in semester as a full-time student. No doubt, this would compromise studies!! I would much rather study hard and try to score better in exam than trying to earn more money (which I don't think I have the time to spend anyway given our current workload).
Oh yea, I finally cooked myself a pot of curry and it was gorgeous!! Can't believe that a pot of curry of such good quality came from the hands of an amateur cook like myself. Maybe I was just lucky to have mixed and cooked everything in the right proportion. One thing is for sure, my cooking, no matter how amateurish it is, is a million times better than what I can get by paying outside. This is especially true for the sucky sandwiches I bought (because I needed more time to prepare for exam rather than cooking). ARGH, the supposedly chicken sandwich was so tasteless that it tasted like plain FLOUR with RAW vege. And how much you guess it costed me? 2 slices of bread for $4.25!! Almost RM13!! But that's the way we live when we don't have time to prepare food.... Not only our taste buds suffer from the sucky food, our wallet will suffer too.
That's all I can think of this week.
-Xin Yin-
Friday, 4 May 2007
A busy weekend
Two tests are coming next week with just TWO days apart!!! This sounded really depressing wasn't it? Well, there's nothing I could do except to study really hard. B0th ACST and STAT tests are worth lots of assessment marks and therefore it is truly crucial to do well in both. Phew...... Have alot to memerise and absorb this weekend.
Another thrilling fact is that we are close to the end of the Semester, which means that the finals has started to beckon. It feels like time just flies through thanks to our busy routine, but a more optimistic way of thinking is that we'll have a long one-month-break after the last paper of the semester. Meanwhile I'm pretty sure lots and lots of work are coming, and I have to really find time to do other stuff like exercising and doing my grocery shopping. And yeah, need to pick up my work permit after the tests next week, if not the document would get extremely bored of staying at the immigration office.
HM.....Can't think of anything else to write now. My mind is just too clogged with examination materials at the moment. I think some of my blog readers might be getting really sick of my partially depressing tone and the lack of exciting narrations these few weeks, coz the assignments and tests are really making people's life less interesting. Haih.... Promise to write about stuff other than exams when I finally get over all these hurdles.
That's all for this time.
P.S. Hey Terine, you haven't told me your blog address have you? I would really love to see some of your pictures taken in US.
Another thrilling fact is that we are close to the end of the Semester, which means that the finals has started to beckon. It feels like time just flies through thanks to our busy routine, but a more optimistic way of thinking is that we'll have a long one-month-break after the last paper of the semester. Meanwhile I'm pretty sure lots and lots of work are coming, and I have to really find time to do other stuff like exercising and doing my grocery shopping. And yeah, need to pick up my work permit after the tests next week, if not the document would get extremely bored of staying at the immigration office.
HM.....Can't think of anything else to write now. My mind is just too clogged with examination materials at the moment. I think some of my blog readers might be getting really sick of my partially depressing tone and the lack of exciting narrations these few weeks, coz the assignments and tests are really making people's life less interesting. Haih.... Promise to write about stuff other than exams when I finally get over all these hurdles.
That's all for this time.
P.S. Hey Terine, you haven't told me your blog address have you? I would really love to see some of your pictures taken in US.
Saturday, 28 April 2007
Erratic weather
Today's weather is relatively fine. There are certain days where the temperature can drop below 10 C and it is freezing me to death. Back in Malaysia the weather would get cooler should it rains, but what I observed here tells a wholy different story. I would prefer it to rain often (but not on the days that i need to go out). The pour will sort of tone up and moderate the temperature change and that means a more pleasant night. Yesterday it rained and the night temperature was awesome, though I woke up at 4.00 in the morning because I slept at 9.00pm (accidentally when I was lying on my bed "for a short nap"). haha
Well, it's pretty much the same tale regarding my Uni life here. What changes is just the amount of work, assessments, tests and assignments, other than that every week seems almost the same. But what adds colours to this boring routine is the way I go about cooking 'interesting and creative meals' for myself. So far I've tried many dishes and am pleased with the progress my my initially amateurish cooking skills. Fried rice and meehoon are old stories, hm....pancakes too (quite successfully), bakes potatoes, chocolate cake (for Shir Lynn's birthday) which got burn a little due to my fren's oven which was set for too long, green and red beans soup, fish poridge, fried chicken, pasta, speghetti (with what you guess? kangaroo meat! it tastes pretty delicious), pork and bake beans etc. Am currently having lots of plans on what creative stuff to cook, the problem is I can't finish eating if I cook too much~!
Would try curry some day when I get hold of some curry powder, which my coursemate promised to get me. Oh yea, and kuanlo noodles also....... Just really wanna eat some Msian food which I felt rather sick of back at home. Now I feel sick of seeing hotdogs!
Final exam for the first sem will start in June. After which, I might start looking for a job to spend my winter break. Of course I'll go for some travelling too. Hope to go Blue Moutain soon and apparently Macquarie International have some really wonderful trips coming during that long break.
Okie, need to go back to studies now. That's all till next time.
~Xin Yin~ (in front of studying table facing my notes)
Well, it's pretty much the same tale regarding my Uni life here. What changes is just the amount of work, assessments, tests and assignments, other than that every week seems almost the same. But what adds colours to this boring routine is the way I go about cooking 'interesting and creative meals' for myself. So far I've tried many dishes and am pleased with the progress my my initially amateurish cooking skills. Fried rice and meehoon are old stories, hm....pancakes too (quite successfully), bakes potatoes, chocolate cake (for Shir Lynn's birthday) which got burn a little due to my fren's oven which was set for too long, green and red beans soup, fish poridge, fried chicken, pasta, speghetti (with what you guess? kangaroo meat! it tastes pretty delicious), pork and bake beans etc. Am currently having lots of plans on what creative stuff to cook, the problem is I can't finish eating if I cook too much~!
Would try curry some day when I get hold of some curry powder, which my coursemate promised to get me. Oh yea, and kuanlo noodles also....... Just really wanna eat some Msian food which I felt rather sick of back at home. Now I feel sick of seeing hotdogs!
Final exam for the first sem will start in June. After which, I might start looking for a job to spend my winter break. Of course I'll go for some travelling too. Hope to go Blue Moutain soon and apparently Macquarie International have some really wonderful trips coming during that long break.
Okie, need to go back to studies now. That's all till next time.
~Xin Yin~ (in front of studying table facing my notes)
Saturday, 21 April 2007
Life in Australia so far......
Huh... Need a break from catching up on all those lagging uni work before classes start tomorrow. Life's good thus far, assignments and tests are normal, ups and downs are normal. Erm, have been enjoying uni life despite some difficulties in studies which I'm constantly trying to rectify, hope it would get better as time passes.
Us at Bondi Beach. This is supposedly the most popular and mesmerizing beach in Sydney. But I don't really like it coz the weather is always hot there.
Mid Semester exam is in coming June, so there is no reason for being a laggard anymore. Better get going with all the catch-up and revision. Meanwhile I wanna recap some wonderful time with my fellow Taylorians from Melbourne and Camberra during the first week of Easter Break. (I'm always blogging about events that had long passed...doesn't matter as long as I do eventually.
Thats me, Shir Lynn, Li Cheng and Kean Leong on the first day we met since leaving Taylor's.
We were at Circular Quay with Sydney Darling Habour behind us (but can't be seen in the picture).
ANU people and me.
Us at Bondi Beach. This is supposedly the most popular and mesmerizing beach in Sydney. But I don't really like it coz the weather is always hot there.
City skyline at Bondi.
On a ferry to Manly Beach.
Yea..we arrived at Manly jetty. Took a phota with Wan Pei coz this was my first time to Manly just like her. I was a tourist as well (not tour guide).
Personally I like Manly more than Bondi. It is less commercialised, less promotion and shameless business opportunism, more rural-like. There are more trees in this beach, thus making it less humid. There is no need for three layers of sunscreen here.
I miss holidays!!! Easter Break was sooo fun with lots of events with our orange travel pass. I even managed to survey several suburb areas which are just as interesting as Sydney city itself. Unfortunately good time passes fast and without realising it uni life has started again. Have just got my working permit approved. Hope to land on some casual or part time jobs during the next long break, not just for the extra income but also to gain some experience on the job market outside.
Thats all for this time.
-Love-
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
Highlights--dolphin watching and sand boarding
Yeah....Today we went for dolphin watching and sand boarding with Macquarie International. It was fabulous. Me and my friends had lots of fun! Here are some of the highlights....
7.30am
On the bus. It's my first time sitting on a long distance bus in Australia. Woo....we experimented with the seatbelts like kampong boy and were amazed and fascinated with the fact that there is a toilet in the bus.
The bus ride took 3 hours. I slept on the bus but woke up occasionally. And the first thing we saw after coming down from the bus was...........
this. Looked like a desert but it's actually a seabay.
Were I not tell you earlier, would you believe that this is a desert ?
Sahara desert?
No. It is a place for sand boarding. Look at us with our sand board. Cool?
My hair looks weird. Doesn't matter. Anyway this is how the game is played. We sit on this board and slide down from a VERY HIGH PLACE. Downwards, yeah, with very high speed!
After lunch, it was time to board the dolphin cruise. By the way, this place is called Nelson Bay.
Me on the cruise. Love this picture.
A married couple dolphins. They weren't scared of boats. Hoo....had been busy with photo taking and screeming as they approached.
This is another couple. The dolphins love to stick together with friends I suppose. They often show up in pairs.
So human-like.
He's an exception though. Feel sorry for this lone fella...
The rest is history. Obviously we enjoyed the day and returned exhausted but feeling great.
7.30am
On the bus. It's my first time sitting on a long distance bus in Australia. Woo....we experimented with the seatbelts like kampong boy and were amazed and fascinated with the fact that there is a toilet in the bus.
The bus ride took 3 hours. I slept on the bus but woke up occasionally. And the first thing we saw after coming down from the bus was...........
this. Looked like a desert but it's actually a seabay.
Were I not tell you earlier, would you believe that this is a desert ?
Sahara desert?
No. It is a place for sand boarding. Look at us with our sand board. Cool?
My hair looks weird. Doesn't matter. Anyway this is how the game is played. We sit on this board and slide down from a VERY HIGH PLACE. Downwards, yeah, with very high speed!
After lunch, it was time to board the dolphin cruise. By the way, this place is called Nelson Bay.
Me on the cruise. Love this picture.
A married couple dolphins. They weren't scared of boats. Hoo....had been busy with photo taking and screeming as they approached.
This is another couple. The dolphins love to stick together with friends I suppose. They often show up in pairs.
So human-like.
He's an exception though. Feel sorry for this lone fella...
The rest is history. Obviously we enjoyed the day and returned exhausted but feeling great.
Monday, 9 April 2007
Late Pictures
Macquarie University Library
One side of the green fields in Uni. We have plenty in our campus Side view of the library
Pathway in campus. We have lots of trees which add on to the morning chill.
This is the childcare centre for academic staffs. The lecturers' kids will be spending their day here whenever their parents are teaching.
The gynasium. This is where self-conscious people (including myself, haha) go for fat burning routine and muscle building .
Ducks in the morning. You can see them everywhere in plentiful if you wake up at 7am in the morning.
We went to the Mardi Gras parade somewwhere in March. This is one of the hotest event in Sydney. Many tourists came all the way from far away land just to see this. Honestly I don't like it and one experience would be enough for me.
More homosexual people.
Arch... This picture is better. These flowers are forming the Australian flag. This is one part of the Harbour Bridge Park
Me and friends eating chocolate marsbar. Quite expensive and unhealthy cos it's deep fried. But anyway I tried.
Bondi Beach
Seagulls. They are not afraid of human.
Me and Joy
Bondi overview. Looks good in the picture but the sun was very very bright and burning that day. I got sunburn after the visit even though I applied a thick layer of sunblock.
Pathway in campus. We have lots of trees which add on to the morning chill.
This is the childcare centre for academic staffs. The lecturers' kids will be spending their day here whenever their parents are teaching.
The gynasium. This is where self-conscious people (including myself, haha) go for fat burning routine and muscle building .
Ducks in the morning. You can see them everywhere in plentiful if you wake up at 7am in the morning.
We went to the Mardi Gras parade somewwhere in March. This is one of the hotest event in Sydney. Many tourists came all the way from far away land just to see this. Honestly I don't like it and one experience would be enough for me. Guess what? This festival is for Gays and Lesbians to parade and voice up their opinion about discrimination. Well, malaysians are not okay with this kind of sensitive topic but the aussies just enjoy it!
Gay people showing some tricks .
Gay people showing some tricks .
More homosexual people.
Arch... This picture is better. These flowers are forming the Australian flag. This is one part of the Harbour Bridge Park
Me and friends eating chocolate marsbar. Quite expensive and unhealthy cos it's deep fried. But anyway I tried.
Bondi Beach
Seagulls. They are not afraid of human.
Me and Joy
Bondi overview. Looks good in the picture but the sun was very very bright and burning that day. I got sunburn after the visit even though I applied a thick layer of sunblock.
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Taking a break
Ah... Feeling quite bored of reading MATH132 notes. My lecturers Bon Clarke and William Chen love to write a lot during lectures but advise us "not to copy". But anyway almost everyone in the hall is busy writing down whatever scribble any one of them wrote. We end up with many notes (incliding the electronic version online) to study.
Azuan told me he's thinking of getting a work permit when we walked back from uni this afternoon. I think that would be a good idea. I see some of my seniors working but apparently they are still coping fairly well with schoolwork. So I guess working might be a good way of experiencing new things. I shall figure out the procedure of applying for a work permit this easter break. The most lucrative job I heard so far is working in uni itself, say as a tutor. If I'm not mistaken the rate is something like 95 dollard per hour. WOW!! But of course one of the pre-requisite is to do well in the subject (in order to teach other ppl, of course).
This week we will have a pizza dinner on Thursday (last day of school before holiday) and a pot lucky dinner this Friday. I think I shall just fry fish fillet, fish in Australia are rather fresh, from what i see. Each one of us will be contributing something, so we can expect alot of food to fill our bellies on Friday night. Erm, for Good Friday (a special day for Christians which I don't quite understand ).
Meanwhile I have to hand in my math assignment tomorrow, take a small class test on Thursday, and then I'll be off for a two-week break. Nevertheless I'm still expected to revise everything covered in these two months since the final exam is pending in early June. More stats assignments to be completed as well as more econ quiz to be submitted. Life is not too terribly busy despite all these. Like I'd said I sign up for dance classes and gym activitites and am enjoying them thus far.
Need to go back to studies now.... Pictures coming next time (probably after holiday starts).
Azuan told me he's thinking of getting a work permit when we walked back from uni this afternoon. I think that would be a good idea. I see some of my seniors working but apparently they are still coping fairly well with schoolwork. So I guess working might be a good way of experiencing new things. I shall figure out the procedure of applying for a work permit this easter break. The most lucrative job I heard so far is working in uni itself, say as a tutor. If I'm not mistaken the rate is something like 95 dollard per hour. WOW!! But of course one of the pre-requisite is to do well in the subject (in order to teach other ppl, of course).
This week we will have a pizza dinner on Thursday (last day of school before holiday) and a pot lucky dinner this Friday. I think I shall just fry fish fillet, fish in Australia are rather fresh, from what i see. Each one of us will be contributing something, so we can expect alot of food to fill our bellies on Friday night. Erm, for Good Friday (a special day for Christians which I don't quite understand ).
Meanwhile I have to hand in my math assignment tomorrow, take a small class test on Thursday, and then I'll be off for a two-week break. Nevertheless I'm still expected to revise everything covered in these two months since the final exam is pending in early June. More stats assignments to be completed as well as more econ quiz to be submitted. Life is not too terribly busy despite all these. Like I'd said I sign up for dance classes and gym activitites and am enjoying them thus far.
Need to go back to studies now.... Pictures coming next time (probably after holiday starts).
Sunday, 1 April 2007
Easter Break coming
We will be going off to a two-week break after next thursday. In fact, some of the tutors wished us happy holiday last friday (because they won't see us in two-weeks time). The plan so far would be to catch up with some of my lagging schoolwork, as well as to give myself a good rest. My Melbourne and Camberra fellow Taylorians will be coming to visit us, and this makes us look forward to the reunion even more. Oh, we love holiday@
So far life has been fun. Although the assignments and tutorials are at times hectic I manage to inject some fun elements into my uni life. I plan to go for dance classes next weekend (heard that it's very fun from frens), since I have paid 185 dollars for the membership I must well make full use of it.
Nothing much to tell this week. The events were routine and similar to any other week. The only interesting part is that I had bought a HUGE DOUBLE BED quilt for 56 dollars and it granted me the best sleep last night. I don't need a blanket of that size but it gives me the flexibility to cover double layer during winter. Hehe... I saw one on offer for 50 bucks mada from sheep wool, but considering the fact that it could only be dry-cleaned I decided to buy the fibre one instead.
JPA officer came last week and we had satays amidst the talk about studying hard here. She said that we could apply to extend the number of years here if we get into honours or master degree. Sounds quite good, I thought. Anyone would be glad to stay here for an additional year, I guess.
Thats all for this time.
So far life has been fun. Although the assignments and tutorials are at times hectic I manage to inject some fun elements into my uni life. I plan to go for dance classes next weekend (heard that it's very fun from frens), since I have paid 185 dollars for the membership I must well make full use of it.
Nothing much to tell this week. The events were routine and similar to any other week. The only interesting part is that I had bought a HUGE DOUBLE BED quilt for 56 dollars and it granted me the best sleep last night. I don't need a blanket of that size but it gives me the flexibility to cover double layer during winter. Hehe... I saw one on offer for 50 bucks mada from sheep wool, but considering the fact that it could only be dry-cleaned I decided to buy the fibre one instead.
JPA officer came last week and we had satays amidst the talk about studying hard here. She said that we could apply to extend the number of years here if we get into honours or master degree. Sounds quite good, I thought. Anyone would be glad to stay here for an additional year, I guess.
Thats all for this time.
Thursday, 29 March 2007
My house is chaotic today
I hate conflicts, and I absolutely hate discussing about nasty people coz I think it's a waste of my precious time. But I got to make an exception today because I thought it would act as a reminder for myself in dealing with these weird species of people later on.
My housemate A dragged me and SL that day to the admin office of our village to make a 'complaint' about my housemate B (in retrospect, I was stupid to allow myself being dragged, I should have just said "sorry I'm not interested in your endeavour"). Sigh....reason being? B has this habit of bringing friends home to stay overnight, and A is such a fussy person who always think of 'adhering to village rules' without any toleration for minor violation that doesn't hurt too much.
And what happened after that? A dragged us along and she did indeed launched a long-winded complaint which to me sounds like some schoolboy complaint about a mate punching him on his backside. It just sounded so self-righteous to me. I do agree that B wasn't right to continually have IPR (Illegal Permanent Resident) over but I guess a better way to do this is to tell B directly instead of making a big issue out of it, since B will find out about the complaint, eventually. And it does happen.
The resident assistants came over and we had a stupid house meeting (again). What he said indirectly implied that someone in the house DID make a complaint and I was not surprised after the meeting that B confronted all of us (poor ppl) to ask whether we ACTUALLY made a complaint. The plain foolishness of this whole drama is too intricated for anyone not being there to fully comprehend. I was thinking after the whole drama, " Is it necessary to create havoc out of the initial small problem?"
As expected, B and A quarrelled after the meeting and me and SL were just 'no eye see'. It definitely has zapped whatever little harmony and peace we once had in our house. I was pissed off and therefore decided to blog on this.
Stupid and sad tale about human. Why must we complicate life and make life miserable. It is miserable at times, right to the limit of my level of tolerance. Don't we make it worse by having unnecessary contentions.
My housemate A dragged me and SL that day to the admin office of our village to make a 'complaint' about my housemate B (in retrospect, I was stupid to allow myself being dragged, I should have just said "sorry I'm not interested in your endeavour"). Sigh....reason being? B has this habit of bringing friends home to stay overnight, and A is such a fussy person who always think of 'adhering to village rules' without any toleration for minor violation that doesn't hurt too much.
And what happened after that? A dragged us along and she did indeed launched a long-winded complaint which to me sounds like some schoolboy complaint about a mate punching him on his backside. It just sounded so self-righteous to me. I do agree that B wasn't right to continually have IPR (Illegal Permanent Resident) over but I guess a better way to do this is to tell B directly instead of making a big issue out of it, since B will find out about the complaint, eventually. And it does happen.
The resident assistants came over and we had a stupid house meeting (again). What he said indirectly implied that someone in the house DID make a complaint and I was not surprised after the meeting that B confronted all of us (poor ppl) to ask whether we ACTUALLY made a complaint. The plain foolishness of this whole drama is too intricated for anyone not being there to fully comprehend. I was thinking after the whole drama, " Is it necessary to create havoc out of the initial small problem?"
As expected, B and A quarrelled after the meeting and me and SL were just 'no eye see'. It definitely has zapped whatever little harmony and peace we once had in our house. I was pissed off and therefore decided to blog on this.
Stupid and sad tale about human. Why must we complicate life and make life miserable. It is miserable at times, right to the limit of my level of tolerance. Don't we make it worse by having unnecessary contentions.
Saturday, 24 March 2007
Trying to adapt to uni life
It doesn't take me long to sense the primary difference between uni and SAM. I used to think that 2006 past very fast because of the SAM programme. "SAM is terrible!" But I just realise that it's all wrong. SAM is actually quite fun and easy. There wasn't too much independent reading to be made coz we were 'spoonfed' well. We were given more than enough info to manage in an exam. We were 'forced' to do essentially the same exercises until I felt so so sick of the same materials when revising for finals. Repetitive exercises do help in letting the knowledge 'sink in'.
In uni it's a totally different story. Not at any instance when i have too much time to kill. Life goes on with endless lectures and tutorials and work seems to pile up if we decide to take a one-day rest. Pitty me..... When I was writing this blog, the econ tute was lying flat on my desk waiting for me to complete it. Anyway, my econ presentation was over and that seemed to be reasonably well-done. (Comment from my tutor, i am not exactly self-praising).
This evening JPA officer visited our village. She promised to arrive at 11.30am but ended up coming at 1.00pm. Sigh, guess she was following the Msian time which is about 3 hours later. She brought food for us (this's perhaps one good thing about the visit, but waiting for nearly 3 hours is too high a price to pay). We ate satays, fried mee hoon etc. Msian food, finally.
I heard from MUV that they are gonna charge me 1300++ for January and February rent for which I won't get anything in return. I WASN't EVEN HERE THAT TIME!!! But this 's their policy, we can't do anything about that. Damned.
Need to go back to studies. Have a good day!!!
In uni it's a totally different story. Not at any instance when i have too much time to kill. Life goes on with endless lectures and tutorials and work seems to pile up if we decide to take a one-day rest. Pitty me..... When I was writing this blog, the econ tute was lying flat on my desk waiting for me to complete it. Anyway, my econ presentation was over and that seemed to be reasonably well-done. (Comment from my tutor, i am not exactly self-praising).
This evening JPA officer visited our village. She promised to arrive at 11.30am but ended up coming at 1.00pm. Sigh, guess she was following the Msian time which is about 3 hours later. She brought food for us (this's perhaps one good thing about the visit, but waiting for nearly 3 hours is too high a price to pay). We ate satays, fried mee hoon etc. Msian food, finally.
I heard from MUV that they are gonna charge me 1300++ for January and February rent for which I won't get anything in return. I WASN't EVEN HERE THAT TIME!!! But this 's their policy, we can't do anything about that. Damned.
Need to go back to studies. Have a good day!!!
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
Life's getting hectic......
I have ACST test tomorrow and I'm online today?? I should be studying really hard shouldn't I? Yes I should, but just to take a break from all the stuff I am cramming into my head, I post a new blog here....
Well, the actuarial degree is tough, so said by many of my seniors. We have tests, assignments, presentation, quizes quite often, and the funny thing is that no one has officially grumbled about it, yet.
I got to read lecture notes after a lecture, to avoid feeling absolutely lost in the next lecture. And, oh yea, I sign up for gym and am currently an avid gym-goer. I seemed to have got addicted to running on the treadmill....can't stand without doing it for a day, I would feel so sorry for myself. You might call a a freak for this.
Sometimes I just sort of wondering what the future lies for me. No one could tell what's gonna happen tomorrow, next month, next year etc. It's kind of hard to predict even what's gonna happen tomorrow, or even the next minute. There had been several occasion in which I felt rather lost and confused. i was once unable to take out my earrings (sigh...I'm an amateur) , and was once feeling terribly scared coz I left my mobile phone in the Macquarie Recreation Centre. Hope I would be more careful ever since.
Some of my lecturers have rather inflated ego. I had once hurted a lecturer of mine in SAM unintentionally and that led to serious consequences (although later on she forgave me coz i was quite a good student in class and had apologised and vowed never to do it again). I am very careful with my words here. For example my econ lecturer doesn't want anyone to pick on mistakes in his lecture slides (unless he picks it up himself) !!!! OMG, such ego.
That's all for this time.
hugs
Well, the actuarial degree is tough, so said by many of my seniors. We have tests, assignments, presentation, quizes quite often, and the funny thing is that no one has officially grumbled about it, yet.
I got to read lecture notes after a lecture, to avoid feeling absolutely lost in the next lecture. And, oh yea, I sign up for gym and am currently an avid gym-goer. I seemed to have got addicted to running on the treadmill....can't stand without doing it for a day, I would feel so sorry for myself. You might call a a freak for this.
Sometimes I just sort of wondering what the future lies for me. No one could tell what's gonna happen tomorrow, next month, next year etc. It's kind of hard to predict even what's gonna happen tomorrow, or even the next minute. There had been several occasion in which I felt rather lost and confused. i was once unable to take out my earrings (sigh...I'm an amateur) , and was once feeling terribly scared coz I left my mobile phone in the Macquarie Recreation Centre. Hope I would be more careful ever since.
Some of my lecturers have rather inflated ego. I had once hurted a lecturer of mine in SAM unintentionally and that led to serious consequences (although later on she forgave me coz i was quite a good student in class and had apologised and vowed never to do it again). I am very careful with my words here. For example my econ lecturer doesn't want anyone to pick on mistakes in his lecture slides (unless he picks it up himself) !!!! OMG, such ego.
That's all for this time.
hugs
Saturday, 17 March 2007
6 weird things about myself
1. I like to read, both academic (textbooks) and leisure books (e.g. magazines and daily papers). Can't deny that....
2. I love exercising EARLY in the morning when everyone is still asleep. (That's so fun, thinking of all the fat I burn)
3. I always want to be innocent, or at least appear to be, or pretend to be. On my first day at Macquarie University many senior students offer me help because of my look.
4. I hate gossiping, and absolutely hate seeing other ppl gossiping about someone, even tough I don't know that 'someone'. As the saying goes, small brains talk about ppl (gossips), medium brains talk about affairs (as in, current affairs), and the great brains talk about OPINION.
5. More often than not, I love free goodies.
6. Most importantly, I LOVE WRITING NONSENSE LIKE THE BLOG YOU ARE READING NOW !!!!!!
Cheers,
Xin Yin
2. I love exercising EARLY in the morning when everyone is still asleep. (That's so fun, thinking of all the fat I burn)
3. I always want to be innocent, or at least appear to be, or pretend to be. On my first day at Macquarie University many senior students offer me help because of my look.
4. I hate gossiping, and absolutely hate seeing other ppl gossiping about someone, even tough I don't know that 'someone'. As the saying goes, small brains talk about ppl (gossips), medium brains talk about affairs (as in, current affairs), and the great brains talk about OPINION.
5. More often than not, I love free goodies.
6. Most importantly, I LOVE WRITING NONSENSE LIKE THE BLOG YOU ARE READING NOW !!!!!!
Cheers,
Xin Yin
Friday, 9 March 2007
An Actuarial Undergraduate's life
Give you an idea of how my life is like.....Take today as an example, coz I don't wanna scare you off my webpage (Sunday is easy compared to the rest of the week).
7.00 am....
Alarm rings. Have to force myself off the bed....the weather (even in summer) is damn cold......
Force myself to wash up, dress up, apply sunscreen and lift my beg...usually at this time I'll go uni. But for today, I went to my friends' house to gather before heading to Malaysian Hall in Sydney for an (unimportant, syiok sendiri) meeting by all the syiok sendiri Malaysians.
8.00am.....
During weekdays, I would be walking to uni at this time, by the way, with the company of ducks and birds. There are plentiful of wildlife in Macquarie University. Today (an exception), I was at a bus stop waiting for a bus to go to Sydney city.
On weekdays, my day starts when I get into the campus. I will be busy catching up with homework (we called it tutorial like most uni's), and read up lecture notes. Before begining, I would sometimes treat myself a mug of coffee or chocolate, and might read the morning paper.
For today I'm spared. But not in everyday from the hassle of rushing to lectures and tutorials. Sometimes got to run from one end to the other in 5 minutes, good exercise though.
I have joined gym in Macquarie, so I go there everyday to burn off some of the excessive fat on my body. It's been nice being in there, sweating like dunno what, while allowing myself to free from all the calculations, stats, econs, probabilities etc. than I need to figure out before the next lecture.
I cook for myself coz the foodcourt here seem to cater only to rich ppl. Or they might assume that all uni students MUST BE RICH (which is so so damn wrong)!!
Hence, the rest is routine... eat, bath, do homework again at night before going to sleep (with a jacket and socks to keep me warm).
Cheers,
Oxy
7.00 am....
Alarm rings. Have to force myself off the bed....the weather (even in summer) is damn cold......
Force myself to wash up, dress up, apply sunscreen and lift my beg...usually at this time I'll go uni. But for today, I went to my friends' house to gather before heading to Malaysian Hall in Sydney for an (unimportant, syiok sendiri) meeting by all the syiok sendiri Malaysians.
8.00am.....
During weekdays, I would be walking to uni at this time, by the way, with the company of ducks and birds. There are plentiful of wildlife in Macquarie University. Today (an exception), I was at a bus stop waiting for a bus to go to Sydney city.
On weekdays, my day starts when I get into the campus. I will be busy catching up with homework (we called it tutorial like most uni's), and read up lecture notes. Before begining, I would sometimes treat myself a mug of coffee or chocolate, and might read the morning paper.
For today I'm spared. But not in everyday from the hassle of rushing to lectures and tutorials. Sometimes got to run from one end to the other in 5 minutes, good exercise though.
I have joined gym in Macquarie, so I go there everyday to burn off some of the excessive fat on my body. It's been nice being in there, sweating like dunno what, while allowing myself to free from all the calculations, stats, econs, probabilities etc. than I need to figure out before the next lecture.
I cook for myself coz the foodcourt here seem to cater only to rich ppl. Or they might assume that all uni students MUST BE RICH (which is so so damn wrong)!!
Hence, the rest is routine... eat, bath, do homework again at night before going to sleep (with a jacket and socks to keep me warm).
Cheers,
Oxy
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Class has started
Yea....my four-month holiday has come to an end. Lectures start on 26th Feb 2007, and we'll have ACST (intro for actuarial) even on orientation week. Oh, my brain has gone rusty abit... to the extent that i need some time to recall all the maths principals n formulae which I learned in SAM last year. ACST is kinda interesting, and I hope it wouldn't get too hard as time passes. I think the lecturer is quite fun...hehe. Guess his name is, if i'm not mistaken, Professor John Pollard. He claimed to not receive any royalty from the book he wrote which we use as tectbook...but the book still costs AUD$79. Crap. Nevertheless his lectures are quite good and less boring than what I expected earlier.
If you would ever let the idea of "uni life is always fun n relaxing" to cross your mind, I'm here to congratulate you that you are absolutely right, unless you are an actuarial student. The four subjects that we're currently taking are considered 'easy' by many of our seniors, which goes to show that the subsequent semesters would be even more "terrifying", as some people term it. I have met several local students(but they are asians) who expressed their most intense admiration when i told them that I'm a first year actuarial student. They said that it's the hardest course on earth and I should feel grateful of I actually survive the three-year-stint. Hey, it's supposed to be a course whereby out of a sudden, you would realise that a class with 50 students would be reduced to less than 15 in few months time. Scary, rite?
I've bought some of my textbooks although they are priced above what I would call, an affordable level. Statistics textbook costs me $65.50, whilst ACST costs me $79 as mentioned before, and Macroeconomics is likely to leech another $90 something from my pathetic monthly allowance. Haih...
Well, I guess that's about it for time being. Need to learn how to use Microsoft Excel before I find myself lost in next week's lecture. Have a nice day!!
If you would ever let the idea of "uni life is always fun n relaxing" to cross your mind, I'm here to congratulate you that you are absolutely right, unless you are an actuarial student. The four subjects that we're currently taking are considered 'easy' by many of our seniors, which goes to show that the subsequent semesters would be even more "terrifying", as some people term it. I have met several local students(but they are asians) who expressed their most intense admiration when i told them that I'm a first year actuarial student. They said that it's the hardest course on earth and I should feel grateful of I actually survive the three-year-stint. Hey, it's supposed to be a course whereby out of a sudden, you would realise that a class with 50 students would be reduced to less than 15 in few months time. Scary, rite?
I've bought some of my textbooks although they are priced above what I would call, an affordable level. Statistics textbook costs me $65.50, whilst ACST costs me $79 as mentioned before, and Macroeconomics is likely to leech another $90 something from my pathetic monthly allowance. Haih...
Well, I guess that's about it for time being. Need to learn how to use Microsoft Excel before I find myself lost in next week's lecture. Have a nice day!!
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