# Sophomore year end review

###### tags: `181902`

I'll break this up into various sections so you could skip to the parts where you're interested (if ever you're interested about this, this serves as more as my memory)

1. Football
2. Classes
3. Random stuff
4. Personal reflections
5. Goals next year

==I do recommend that you read the `random stuff >> random job opportunities` part of it. `Ctrl+F` and find that in this long tedious essay.==

## Football

It never seems to end for me. Amor muy difícil explicar.


First off, I would like to thank all my teammates and supporters in the College of Management team along this season in the school. Finishing second in the school cup and winning the league for two years straight is fantastic! There were things that I could've done and not have done as vice captain, I hope I could repay all of this next year as captain. Hopefully we could have another great season and have fun while at it.


Secondly, my friends in the futsal class were amazing! Not only were they great friends, they were a lot of fun to play with. Can't say how much I was always looking forward to Thursday afternoon! I also learnt some things about central american countries along the way which was very interesting indeed. Like curse words and weird nicknames jajajaja.


Thirdly, I want to talk about the school team. It was a very complicated experience. I was very grateful about how quickly they accepted my role as 球經 (as it was normally reserved for females) + part time player (?) Not gonna lie, it did put a huge strain on me, and probably I want to do more efficient and better work next year. This was one of the biggest part of my stress in the whole year, though compared to everyone else, this is nothing to scoff at. Also, I am a bit sad that I never had the time to implement my ideas towards the team, not sure if it would work out as well. But it was uber fun to play ball with them, they are really good players and it was a great balance of fun, banter and challenge. Granted I am superrrrr weak.

## Classes

I had some great memories in classes this year. Here are some of my most memorable ones, not to discredit the others.

### Principle of economics

> Professor: Joseph Wang + Kelly Old

This was a class to behold. For a lot of NTU students (baring international students), it's not in their preference to take a class that is taught in English and certainly when there's other classes that teach it in Chinese. But alas, I like taking English based courses, so here I am. The two teachers present different styles.

Prof. Wang would hold various experiments every week and it was always fun. The really hilarious thing was that since he stated that if out finals scores were greater than our mid terms then he would change our mid term marks into the finals. I got a 28 for mid terms and 100 for finals, therefore I got a shocking A+ in that. Granted the final exam was really easy, not gonna lie.

Prof. Old has a more fixed curriculum, more standardised answers and was more traditional in his classes. But his classes were more bombastic for me. He just seemed to be more energetic (not that Wang was anything but low energy) He also never shied away from pulling the off joke or two, it was very entertaining!


But also, I want to talk about my two Japanese friends, Makoto and Kome! They were great friends and I will never forget trying that insanely salty ramen. I also learnt some Japanese and understood some Japanese culture/history from them. It was very eye-opening.
Wish you all the best in your journey, Kome (exchange student).

### Management

> Professor: Prof. Hsieh

Contrary to popular opinion, I actually liked this class. It was very pathetic when we were called to stand up when we didn't respond to the teacher and I don't think most of us actually did the pre-class readings that were handed out. This was the class that has the most banter and I don't want to go in detail what actually happened.

To me, this class was important because it serves as a reminder to me, what would happen when the vision of the students coming into this class and the teacher's vision of his class break up in polar opposites. It demotivates the teacher, then the student, and into a
viscous cycle. I would say I really did enjoy all the talks that we were given by all the great managers that the teacher had invited.

### Storytelling and communications for social change and leadership

> Professor: Miguel Lee + Mr. Zhang

This was the class I enjoyed a lot. Miguel was fantastic, she was highly seductive, in terms of her teaching style. She poured a brand of humour, mixed it with serious teachings and cocktailed it with an aura that could be described as a fierce pink. Zhang was the opposite, while Miguel would crush people with her charisma, he would opt to sooth out the emotions and makes you feel safe. I think it was the perfect blend of personalities really.

It's also the class where my story was selected to be presented and I am still to this day, highly grateful they gave me this chance. It's hard to standout in NTU as there are fantastic people around, and sometimes it feels demeaning when you can't find something you're good at. That was THE moment that I needed to push on and the email that notified me is still in my inbox.

In terms of my group members, I know that they had fights over each other, and it was tough managing this peculiar relationship as I don't want to favour any sides. In my opinion, this course was bitter sweet, and that's what so attractive to me.

Wabi-Sabi my friends, preach it!

### Organisational behaviour

> Professor: Prof. Wu

This class was like an extension / case study version of the management class. Honestly, this class is more a run of the mill business / management course. For me, the main takeaway was that this course helped me realise the importance of human relationships and I find it very inspiring!

There was a presentation required for every group and we were tasked to introduce `Facebook` and `Sheryl Sandberg`. The thing was, I almost free-rided on this task, and eventually just changed the presentation UI a bit. It was a horrible feeling and I should've done better.

### English in philosophical works

> Professor: Wim De Reu


This is my first formal class in philosophy. Before this I only had online courses that I skimpered around and never finished. So it is very satisfying for me to say that I did a whole semester on philosophy.


First off, Wim and Micheal, they were fantastic. I like the subtle humour that they presented and also the more introductory approach to philosophy. It must be said that I think for philosophy majors, this may be just too easy for them ; but for me, it just hits the sweetspot of introducing the philosophers and not going overboard with too much jargon. The group presentation was however quite challenging because I have not embroiled in so many technical terms and it took ages to understand what it actually meant.

It was also very fun to have group mates that would share gossip and, at the very end, show up more movie / TV references pop up (especially Game of thrones and Lord of the rings). I also find that philosophy students are very fun to hang out with. Yes, they are sometimes a argument time bomb but generally they know a wide range of things and they are very passionate about whatever they like.

### Discrete mathematics

> Professor: Prof. Lei


This class has a lot of banter for me, expecially on the professor. But really, I just want to put it here for the photo. These two were some of the best table-mates I had.

## Random stuff

Basically I'll just do some housekeeping with my random memories

### Roommates and Linux


So this is my second year with these roommates, baring the senior. It's another great year together. Though I would say there was much less interactivity between us than I would like, but in a nutshell I am very happy with what we are as roommates.


I am also very glad that my roommate was a former computer science major in National Cheng Kung University. He introduced me into Linux and the world of C that I probably would never had a chance to look at if it weren't for him. I am immensely grateful that we were roommates and you were always patient to teach me new knowledge. After tutoring someone about data structures in the summer, I have a even greater respect and gratitude for all you have helped me with. You also showed me that how passionate a person could be when they find something they like to do. I hope I could replicate what you have achieved in some way, some day. All the best in your future!

### Malaysian Student Association


Honestly, I don't have a lot to say about this. It was nice that's it.


All that I would repeat about is how disappointed I am about my term as 鯊爸. There were some positives, mainly that there was a good bond between the juniors and that worked out surprisingly better than expected. But there were a lot of things I didn't achieve as part of goals this year, mainly the food fair was a disaster for me and I could've communicated my ideas with my partner better.


### Translation

So in NTU, we have to do some sort of school service and I chose to do translation. Basically, our task is to help translate the Principle of Economics course on MOOCs, Coursera from Chinese to English. Can't say how much fun I had with this!


Also, the TA is an audiophile which is always fun to chat with.

### Random job opportunities

This is honestly the **story of the year** for me.

Basically, around 11 pm, I was frustrated with writing code + all the various works and rode a bicycle to a park nearby the school. Then I saw person, who I thought was my friend, and just called out her name and said hello. **Turns out, it wasn't her**. Embarrassment ensues and decided to leave her alone and ride off a weirdo.

As if that wasn't awkward enough, **she halted me** with a Shanghai accent and giggly asked: "Do you guys have a gay bar around here? I want to experience it because we don't have that in China". My first reaction to this inquiry was "What...?".

But since I was frustrated with my work anyways, why not help her, what's the worst that could happen? So I pulled up my contacts list and asked my friends about it. Apparently, there were none that were closed to us, so she asked if I was interested in a drink in a nearby bar. At that point, I was a bit sceptical on what she wants to do, I mean I still have two healthy kidneys and a functional liver.

On arrival of that bar, she asked if I would go in first. The bar looked creepy and dark, which most bars are. In my mind, I was picturing all the horror that she might bring upon me.

> IN MY HEAD : As soon as I opened the door, she would shout "NOW!". Two buff guys wearing black tops would tackle me and induce a numbing agent. I would wake up with two holes in my stomach and dying from bleeding.

I don't exactly know how I pictured that but that just rings into my head. My mouth ... (sigh) ... disobeyed common sense and said "Sure, let's go!". When we went into the bar, **there were buff guys with tattoos that I have seen in the news, smoking and shouting loudly into each other**. In fairness, I shouldn't stereotype people like that, but still, I had that mental image before going in. I digress.

She walked up to a counter and asked if there was the gin she liked and no there wasn't. Then she turned and said "Let's leave". To say I'm relieved would be an understatement. So, we left and talked about various shit along the walk back to her hotel. Apparently she's on a business trip from China and she slipped out of the room which her boss is sleeping. Cool.

We grabbed some drinks from 7-11 and sat in front of the MRT station (which was closed by then) and chatted for a while. At some point, we talked about careers (wow, I'm boring), and I express how I don't have an internship yet. Then she said: "Oh really? Here's my name card and contact me if you would every want one".

There's that, I went from frustrated with my homework, then fearing for my life and eventually getting an internship offer in Shanghai. But I turned it down because I want to relax during the summer. Idiot.


By the way, she looks exactly like her photo though.

## Personal reflection

Things I do regret:

- Not maintaining better relationships with people. I find that relationships are harder to maintain after high school, it has to be actively maintained or its just going to die.
- Taking up way too much work and responsibility than what I could handle, this lead to me ignoring certain things and doing a bad job overall.
- Playing around with the BIOS on my main computer without good research
- Drinking any kind of alcohol. I am left dizzy after just 1 can of beer
- Yank anything off a computer. There must be a screw attaching it so that's it's so hard to remove, especially keyboards.

Things I don't regret:

- Going out THAT night
- Trying to sleep for at least 6.5 hours a day, this has been great
- Dual-booting Linux on my computer. I just love the terminal, MS-DOS sucks.

## Goals for next year

and for the summer...

[/] Open the guts of a laptop and figuring out parts of the computer


[ ] Pass my calculus

[ ] Pre-read some statistic

[ ] Design a map of the

[ ] Lose weight or get fit

### For next year

- Manage my time better
- Not failing any courses
- To be added