I apologise for the lack of updates. The transition from a carefree university student to a working adult is taking a toll on me. All you want to do after a long day of work is just to get home and catch some pokemon.

So, the whole NUS orientation camp situation has probably died down since everyone's concentrating on catching pokemon. Thought I'll talk a little about it since I'm a huge supporter of orientation camps, as you can tell from my previous blog post on freshmen orientation camps.

It's really a pity how a few rotten apples can destroy everyone's impressions of orientation camps. The fact that the media has been putting these camps in bad light does not really help at all.
One of the reasons why I'm a huge supporter of orientation camps is that I've met my best friends in orientation camps, people I would have never met in my university life if not for the camps because we're all from different faculties. This is something I want my freshies to experience too - to find some of their truest friends through these camps.

I admit that I do not agree to some of the activities the orientation camps have, and when I'm uncomfortable, I just simply sit out or try to avoid being chosen for it. Freshies need to understand that they can opt out of activities if they tell their seniors. As a senior, I would never force my freshies to do something they felt strongly against.

I remembered there was an instance when I was a freshie and the seniors were being mean to us, scolding us after a long day of activities (it was 3-4am and everyone was dead tired). I went to look for a female senior who was very comforting. She assured me that there was a reason why they acted that way and it was all part of a story plot. I felt a lot better after that and she kept a lookout for me.

It's always good to keep an open mind, voice out when you feel uncomfortable, and have fun during these camps.

Many of you are aware that I'm doing Psychology in NTU. Well, I've officially finished my last paper in NTU. And that means I'm all set to graduate and transit into the working world. I'm actually afraid of the uncertainty in my future, yet excited to finally be able to contribute something meaningful at the same time. Yes, I can't wait to start working and maybe someday, get back into the academic world.
I have enjoyed every single moment of my undergraduate life and am grateful to have met some of the most important people in my life during this period of time. Here's some key milestones in my 4 years of undergraduate life in NTU.
I realised I don't have much photos of my life in HSS. I guess I just wasn't active in my school to have much memories of it. I do remember the exam welfare packs every semester though. Being the typical Singaporean, I love it when there's free stuffs, especially when the exam welfare packs come with useful and practical items such as sanitary pads.

I will definitely miss going for 3 hours long lectures. I've had some of the most amazing lectures in my life in NTU. I've found my love for numbers and statistics and am proud of my A* in statistics. But I guess my biggest regret in NTU was not taking Engineering Psychology and Consumer Psychology because I've finished taking all my level 3000 modules by the time these modules were offered. I have met some amazing people in HSS (as you can see from the above photo). These girls were some of my first friends in NTU. Honestly, I don't remember all 6 of us having a common module at all for the past 2 years because we had different preferences. But I'm still grateful for these girls, especially when it comes to FYP. I spent half of my undergraduate life in Hall 10. I couldn't ask for a better hall. I loved the canteen's food. Even though it's a little far off from school, the shuttle buses made up for it because there are two bus stops nearby which meant you can hop on both lines of the buses.

And I guess, hall is where I met someone really special. It's where we had our first meal together and where he picked me up for our first date. And cheerleading will always have a place in my heart. It was my escape from school and academic. Training allowed me to stop thinking about school work for a few hours and focus my energy on something else. Yes, it took up all my energy and time, leaving me with minimal time for revising, but I guess it's still one of my happiest moments in university. I gave my entire (almost!) undergraduate life to CAC. I've met precious friends in CAC, friends I hold close to my heart. There's so many memories here in CAC. Spending almost everyday in the CAC room, burning weekends attending events, and all the sleepless nights. School ECA takes up a lot of time and don't necessarily guarantee you a hall stay. But that's where you'll meet people who are passionate and genuine, people who are not there just for the sake of hall points. Similarly to hall activities, it also allows you to meet people outside your course. My closest group of friends are all from different course background, Marketing, Business Accounting, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, and even NIE. I spent a semester studying in the UK. Not the most prestigious university but I took some of my most interesting modules there (Psychology of Performing Arts). Traveled around Europe on weekends and having all the freedom in the world. To be honest, exchange is all about cooking your own meals. Unlike Singapore, where you can get a chicken rice takeaway easily, it's really expensive to eat out in UK. Groceries, on the other hand, were cheap. So much of the time was spent on grocery shopping and cooking. I'm really do miss those exchange days. There were lot of independent living and jetting off after school to another new territory. I would really recommend going on an exchange, not because you'll get to travel around the world, but because that's where you'll actually learn and grow up, living away from your family for months.
One of my biggest regrets in NTU was to not have enough internship experiences. I've come to realise that relevant internship experiences are really important and essential in helping you to secure your dream job. Honestly, I'm really grateful I've managed to find an internship that opened my eyes to the industry I wanted to get into and managed to secure the job with a degree that may not be the most preferred for the role.

There were occasions where I do question if I made the right choice of choosing NTU over NUS. But it's because of the people I've met in NTU that made me grateful. If I chose NUS, I would have never been exposed to so many experiences and activities, and would never have met all these people who are really important to me.

I'll end off the post with one of my highlights in NTU - a selfie with the PM.

I love The Smart Local, especially their travel articles. After reading their latest post "10 Surprisingly Well-Paying Jobs Fresh Grads Can Get With A Psychology Degree" on 3rd March 2016, I simply have to write about my thoughts on it (after all, I'm a Psychology undergraduate whom is due to graduate this year).

1. This is a sponsored post by MDIS.

2. You can't be called a psychologist with just a degree.

3. Many of the jobs' pay listed are for a master's fresh grad.

4. Psychology ≠ Social Work.

5. Gov jobs are high paying but they tend to only hire local grads.

I have blogged about my road to from Polytechnic to University and I have been answering many questions with regards to that post. When I was a secondary school student, I thought Psychology was really cool. Before I went for my interview for DPA, I read up books on Psychology and got to understand it more. I felt that made me have a more informed choice about my future and I hope all of you can make better choices too.

It’s nice to see so many people being interested in Psychology because it’s a really interesting field. However, there are many misconceptions that are tied to Psychology and I think it’s always important to know what Psychology is exactly about before jumping into the course just because it seems cool.

1. We can mind read.
No we can’t. Psychology is the study of human behaviour, we don’t mind read. We can infer what you’re thinking from your actions but we don’t have the power to read your mind. We study the intention behind the actions and the different parts of the brain and the functions which may make it easier for us to interpret and infer human behaviour.

2. We can analyse your personality.
Yes, we do study personality. However, we don’t really go around analysing your personality type. There are different theories on personality, and tests to define one’s personality type and trait. We don’t go around telling you you’re an INFP or you’re a high N because blah blah.

3. We study body language.
A common misconception is that we study body language, but the truth is no. We don’t particularly study body language but there may be a brief touch on it during one of the lectures, and that’s it.

4. We work with crazy people.
No, not all of us do. Psychology is a broad field of study and there are many areas of interest. Yes, one area of Psychology involves clinical psychology, which deals with mental disorders. But that’s about it. Not all of us do clinical psychology.

5. We solve crimes.
Again, Psychology is a broad field of study, which includes Forensic Psychology. However, forensic psychology is not criminology. Criminology is the scientific study of crime while forensic psychologists mostly deal with issues such handling criminals with mental disorders or assessing the risk and evaluation of witnesses. They do criminal profiling at times but the media tends to romanticise this part. Sure, understanding human behaviour will be important to solve crimes, but if you’re only studying psychology to be part of the law enforcement, it’s not a good enough motivation to keep you in psychology.

6. We can’t do math or science, thus we chose Psychology.
That may be true to some people who ended up in Psychology, but they’ll suffer. Psychology is a science, which means we do testing to prove our hypotheses. That means lots of statistics and numbers. Yes, statistics is a huge part of psychology. I’ll say it’s the most important part of being a psychology student. You also can’t escape from science. One of our core modules involves biological psychology which we study the brain (neurons and neurotransmitters), and how our body react to certain things biologically.

In conclusion, there’s a lot more to psychology than talking to “crazy” people or solving crimes. Some Psychology modules we take in NTU include Statistics, Research Methods, Biological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Development Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Health Psychology, Personality, Social Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology and Engineering Psychology. As you can see, it’s really wide.

Honestly, I can’t say too much about the course syllabus difference between the universities because I haven’t been exposed to them. However, there are differences in what I am doing in university and what I was in polytechnic. In polytechnic, I had more guidance from lecturers and it was more practical. In university, it’s really theory-centric and there are few real life applications taught in classes. A lot of focus was on writing papers and doing research, and statistics. The only applied psychology module I took was Forensic Psychology, which I really enjoyed.

Before you go into Psychology, think about what job it offers you in the future. To practice in a clinical setting, you’ll need a postgrad. Many of us go into mindef or other government organisations after graduation.

I personally really like how NUS FASS allows students to take a year of general studies before jumping into the major. I've known people who initially wanted Psychology but switched their major because they realised Psychology wasn’t what they imagined it to be.

So my advice is to take some time and read up on Psychology before jumping into it. Note: Others' experiences with psychology may differ from mine.

So, you have chosen your university, settled your application, and researched on the halls and hostels. What's next?

The few weeks before you officially become an undergraduate student in university, there will be a series of freshmen orientation camp happening. Here's why you should sign up for at least one!

All photos courtesy of Cepheus and CAC Camp.

1. You'll be having 5 days worth of fun and laughter.

These camps are often packed with lots of fun activities. You will never have enough time to finish all the games and activities planned by your seniors (not kidding on that). You literally won't have enough time, so forget about sleeping!

Most camps will have beach games, pool games, school games, amazing race, and so on. But of course, there are some differences among different games. For example, Sports Camp will have more tedious games involved (only for the fittest), while Welfare Services Camp will involve you going to do some community service while you're in the camp.

2. You'll learn that teamwork is essential.

Every camp tries to bond and that's when you have to play games requiring lots of teamwork. Crack your brains and work it out together to solve riddles, puzzles, and to complete the tasks.

Teamwork is essential when you go out to work in the future. You'll need to learn how to work with people. You'll learn that not everyone is good in sports or solving riddles so you're have to try and compensate each others' weaknesses.

3. You'll have fun doing silly things together.

4. You'll have fun time out in the sun.

Most camps have a day out at the beach where you'll be playing in the sun. Here's why it's good for you. The sun gives off vitamin D which is essential for absorbing calcium. Sunshine also cheers people up as it boosts serotonin levels and beats Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

5. Good food? Maybe?

6. Fabulous Night Out

*UPDATE2: Hall 5 has since been renovated and is now equipped with air-con. (Thanks anonymous for the tip FEB 2016) *UPDATE: There are two more new halls, Pioneer and Crescent Hall. (JUL 2015)
If you're coming into NTU, I guess one of your top concern would be if you should apply to stay in the halls in NTU.

NTU has a total of 16 undergraduate halls as of now. They're planning to build a lot more in the upcoming years though as there's a huge demand for it.

Here's some basic things you need to know of the halls in NTU. There are some halls equipped with air-con, some with lifts, some have canteens, some have gyms. Hall 3 and Hall 16 are the hot favourites because they are equipped with air-con and they have lifts! Hall 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 are the halls without the air-con. Hall 11 is the furthest away from school. Hall 8 has the best location, situated right in the middle of the North and South spine of the campus. Hall 7 is located away from all the other halls, in a tiny little smurf village of theirs.

Besides that, each hall has their unique "characteristics". For example, we have our sports halls - Hall 3 and 6. And our arts halls - Hall 1 and 2. Take a look at how NTU stereotyped their very own halls on their facebook page.

Ok, now that you know a little about the different halls in NTU, we'll move on to talk about the different types of activities hall life provides you with. After all, one of the reasons why you would want to stay in a hall, away from home sweet home, is to experience and have fun with the other hall mates.



Every year, the different halls will compete in many competitions, hoping to clinch the overall winner. There are so many different types of competitions, sports and recreational games. We call this the inter-hall games. If you're good at water polo, you could represent your hall in the inter-hall games to compete with the other halls for the champion title. Or if you're really good at scrabble, why not consider playing it for your hall?





And of course we have our two main competitions, the inter-hall cheerleading competition and the inter-hall dance competition. Each year, the 16 halls put up performances to wow the crowd with their cheerleading stunts or their slick dance moves.




These are really big competitions in NTU and residents of all the 16 halls would flood the venue just to support their hall and their friends.

Besides these competitions, there are plenty of events happening in hall. We have our very own dinner and dance where a hall pageant will be held. Imagine all the pretty ladies and handsome hunks catwalking while you're digging in to hotel banquet food!  And of course, the hall celebrates every festival together because we are all part of a big family! Lantern Festival, Halloween, Chinese New Year, you name it!  Expect lots of performances by your fellow hall mates and delicious food during the celebration! And expect to be scared during Halloween with all the gruesome and scary decorations hung around the hall. Dig in to your yusheng during Chinese New Year as the entire hall gather for a reunion dinner! There are plenty of things you can celebrate with your hall mates!
Or you could even gather your own friends anytime and hang around at the rooftop of your hall for a party! Do be prepared to get wasted if you're there. Of course, these things do not matter as much as the condition of the room you're staying in. As mentioned, there are 16 halls so different halls have different designs to their room. For example, Hall 1 and 2 has their own private toilet shared among two rooms. The rest of the halls have a common toilet. And the furniture in the room may differ across halls too. The most common design would be this:



My room mate and I rearranged the furniture to push the beds together. The beds were supposedly apart. Well, every room will have their very own bed, study desk and wardrobe. Of course, you are free to bring in any furniture you wish. You may even bring in a television or a refrigerator (you have to pay fees to bring a refrigerator though). Or you can beanbags in your room, or even a tiny tea table for you and your friends to gather around when they are in your room. Sure, after reading so much about hall life in NTU, I'm pretty confident that you'll be tempted to stay in a hall. However, there's always another side to things.  Staying in hall can be pretty depressing at times. Being stuck in your own room, you will realize how wonderful your parents are. Home sick. That's the most frequent sickness hall residents get. Also, the hall canteen's food may not be the most delicious thing you have eaten. Well, but I guess it's still a really good experience to stay in the halls of NTU once in your life.


All photos taken from NTU Hall 10 Facebook Page
NTU Freshmen Orientation Camp - Why you should join them

I'm into the second semester of my first year in NTU and I'm really grateful to NTU for making these past 6 months really enjoyable and fruitful.

You know how there's so many people who are in university because all they are after is a piece a paper, but I feel that's the wrong mindset. We shouldn't be wasting 3-4 years of our life pursuing a paper, which may end up being meaningless and useless anyway.

University life offers so many opportunities, studying abroad, working abroad, running a club, participating in sports, networking with different people, organizing events... There's so many things we get to do here.

University period will be the last time you'll be in school, the last time where you can make mistakes without being in deep waters, the last time to enjoy yourself before you start working.

Therefore, I'm really glad I have not wasted the first year of my university life. NTU has given me a lot of opportunities to grow myself this year. I'm halfway done with semester 2 and I'm not exactly proud of my GPA but I actually felt really accomplished within this short span in NTU.
Hall life, School life, has all been really great to me.

I'm really glad to be part of the Hall 10 family - especially Razers. Training almost every day during the holidays and first month of semester two has paid off :)



Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reunite with my first love - cheerleading. Thank you for making fall in love all over again. Thank you for giving me the chance to be on the mats once more. Thank you for all your encouragements and hard work. The team wouldn't be today if it wasn't because of everyone's commitment. And coach <3



And thank you everyone who supported us during the inter-hall cheerleading competition, especially Hall 10. You guys were really awesome, screaming your lungs out with us during the cheer. We were so exhausted to scream but hearing all your voices, it really spurred us on.



Victory has never tasted sweeter. To be truthful, I never expected us to come in top, neither do I expect us to be in the top 3. We weren't exactly doing difficult stunts. When they were announcing the results, I was a little disheartened when the 4th and 5th places weren't us. I thought we didn't make it. It got worse when the 3rd placing was announced. None of us expected first. :) I'm just really glad and grateful.

And thank you Wei Loong for always being there for me after cheer trainings.  Thank you for cleaning up my room when I'm in training, for always leaving me food after training knowing that I'll be hungry.

I'm also really glad to be part of another big, warm family in NTU. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be in the 22nd executive committee of one of the top 4 clubs in NTU.



I enjoyed myself in the presence of all these leaders. They've been really supportive and understanding all the way, helping me to juggle between my cheerleading life and this.



And thank you for exposing me to so many different events. I may not be really good at doing what I'm doing, but I really appreciate everyone's guidance.



And thank you for giving me the opportunity to design the pillar for our club. I'm just really glad to have left something behind in NTU that's going to last a few years.



It's been a joy working with all these people.

Sure, there's lots of ups and downs during these few months. So little time to sleep, so much work to juggle, and on top of that, there's school work that I have to complete. I have activities almost every night in school and I hardly had any time to meet my friends outside of NTU. I guessed, I really learned to manage my time properly during this period.

I guess I must have been out of my mind to choose the two busiest things to join. But I never once regret my decision. If I were to choose again, I'll go down this path.