even in the dust, we shine: 2017

giant mish-mash update on what I have been up to the past few months when I MIA-ed on my blog!!!!

Krabi w/ my hall homies during our summer break 🙌

Serene gave us these masks that were supposed to relax us.......... but we were too jumpy for it to work LOL

up till now it seems like it was just the 5 of us... but Agnes was there too LMAO

she booked her tickets later than we did, so she sat away from us on the plane + I'm not sure where she was when we took this pic HAHAHAHA in the toilet???

on our way to our first activity of krabi which was kayaking!! the roads we travelled on were vvvv sandy, and since we were seated outside....... sand flew up and went everywhere ;_; we kept singing lolol (our bad) so by the end of the car ride, my throat was so dry and scratchy from all the sand that went in LMAO NASTY

don't have much pics of us kayaking (obviously) but we had a few pit stops along the way

my fav pic of this trip!!! hehe love yall very dearly

the guide showing us some sea creatures hahahaha

!!!!!!!!!

this was literally the calm after the storm lolol for at least 1/2 of our kayaking, it was stormy and raining and IT WAS A NIGHTMARE LMAO. like think choppy waves and rainstorm and being out in the open sea and vulnerable!!!!! but extreme fear aside i think that was what made the kayaking part my favourite part of the trip!! serene was my partner and we just kept ourselves going by singing pop songs LMAO. singing + trying to survive was a great distraction from the pain in my arms from paddling and it was just GREAT FUN LA!!!! which says a lot la because everyone knows im the most unsporty person i know lmao rly very loser

day 2 comprised of our 4 island trip hahaha which is very classic thailand beach activity

met this rly nice lady from US on our way there... but she was going for the phi phi island tour :(

what an idiot HAHAHA

check out my highlight yo!!!!!!! c/o sleek's solstice palette hahaha

also serene's face in this pic is hilarious

can't remember what islands is what but this was the 2nd & 3rd one!!! felt a bit cheated cause they were very small islands so it was like 1 stop for 2 islands HAHAHA

but quite cool cause we had to walk across the sea to the next island (the line of people in the middle of the sea ^^^). our tour guide said we had to be quick though because the tides were going to get higher and if we were too slow WE WONT BE ABLE TO WALK BACK LMAO

spent so much time walking over that we only had time for like 2 pics before the tour guide came and rushed us back................................... sad

this was at the start of the walk back so the tides still quite low haha. some of their bags weren't waterproof so at the deeper areas, we had to carry them up really high as we walked to avoid drenching our bags LOL

snorkelling!!!! I was a pu$$y and so terrified cause I couldn't get my mask on properly... but thANK YOU FRIENDS for comforting & holding me T_T

also later on poor wenli, serene and nikhil got so seasick 😓

on our transport back after a long day of island hopping!!

changed up and went to the krabi night market

it's quite a long drive there from our hotel and I THINK it was about SGD60 for 2 ways... but since there were 6 of us, it's quite worth la!! also there was nothing to do around our hotel lmao so coming out here was fun!!!

there were a lot of food stalls and omg the bag of mango wenli is carrying WAS SO CHEAP!!! i cant rmb cause this was like 6 months ago lol help but I bought 3 packs cause it was so good T_T

I love these thai mangoes because they r firm and not too sweet!!!

they also have a little mall and a grocery store there!!! this was taken at boots where the lighting was fab LOL

hahahaha our tuktuk (???) back was freaking LIT (quite literally) LOL it had neon lights okkkkk

on the 3rd day we went on a hike......................... before the hike they took a group photo of us and made us write down the time we started in case something wrong happened on the hike wtf SO SCARY

also jerlyn being a pu$$y part 2.0 sobs this was rly a physical & mental struggle........ but thank u thank u thank u thank u friends for not abandoning me and accompanying me when I had to rest T__________T i rly am vvv grateful wtf

aiyo look at how steeps some of the slopes were LOL I RLY AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF WTF

once again thx u friends yall are really the most supportive and great bunch i had such a good time!!!!! ;_;

ok back to SG lmao I went back to CocoCane to work for 2 months during my summer too:

This was when Aunty Iris came to visit weiwei and I at work!!

She used to work at CocoCane as a full-timer and we had a lot of shifts with her and Aunty Jenny. We were rly quite close and was very sad when she left to work somewhere else :( fortunately she still works at WWP la so we get to see her around!!! we greet her whenever we walk past her store so that day she bought us mochi ice cream too to thank us for always saying hi wtf T_T

I hadn't work in CocoCane for like a whole year when I went back that summer, and by then obviously most of the people I used to work with were gone!! so I was vvvv glad to have Weiwei come back with me because at least I had a familiar face ;_; Eventually I did make new friends la which was great HAHA but I have since left....... so goodbye CocoCane :-(

On my last shift of work :-(

Freshman Orientation Camps!!

First up was hall camp:

and the first SSS camp!!!

not gonna lie the main reason I was willing to help out for this camp was because......

guess who was a freshie for SSS this year?????????????????? hehe welcome to ntu mav bb

I was just P&P for hall camp so I wasn't really involved, but was GL IC for the SSS camp. It doesn't seem like much but it was rly outside of my comfort zone, because I had never taken up a "leadership" role for camp??? I was so used to just following others and having my own fun so having to "lead" an OG for the first time was nerve-wrecking 😱 Obviously there were a lot of things I could have done better, but I'm thankful for the opportunity and for the good feedback that I did get. Also somehow found myself in yet another even bigger leadership role for next year's SSS camp LMAO so I rly hope I do it good la.................................

also halfway through the SSS camp was a break for National Day, aka my birthday yo HAHAHAHAHA

woke up to these weirdos in my home...................

thank u girls for the surprise sobs rly very unexpected I DONT DESERVE SUCH LOVE T_T

unfortunately I had to rush off because I was off to USS!!!

was undoubtedly grouchy at certain parts of the day because of the long wait for rides (lmao I still thought nvm la national day everyone staying home to watch parade............) and having to settle a lot of admin matters for SSS camp since it was still ongoing 😭 but thank you mav for bearing with me!!!! lesson learnt is to not geykiang and go to USS on a public holiday hahaha STUPID

rly look very tired la because I was LOL but look at how much I had!!!!!!! lemon tart from Tarte c/o Mav and Cat & Fiddle cheesecakes c/o my fam ;_; rly hen hao chi leh

anyway side story, I couldn't finish and this was towards the end of summer break = I was going back to hall, so I froze some slices. I took very long to eat it because I wanted to make it last for as long as possible................... but eventually after a month it turned MOULDY IN THE FREEZER WTF SO SAD T_T

Back to school by mid August :(

Had a surprise birthday celebration from my hall camp OG!!! unfortunately this was the day I had moved back to hall, so I looked like a mess cause I was up till late packing the prev night... 🙍

also halfway through the sem I found out that I was on the Dean's List for year 1 T________________________________T

my parents came down all the way to NTU from home/Cambodia (haha) to see me :')

feat. $3 dress from taobao LOL

still feels incredibly surreal because this was awarded to the top 5% of the cohort wtf rly rly rly rly rly rly rly genuinely very shocked!!!!!!! in uni, some of the lectures are recorded so I have been skipping most......... I find that I cannot focus in lectures and figured I was better off studying on my own, but obviously I always felt a bit scared?? Like what if I was missing out on important stuff because I skip lectures?????? yknow????? I just felt like I didn't fit the "perfect student" stereotype and because of that, I had a lot of doubts and was constantly undermining my abilities.

I remember Isaac asking me if I was on the Dean's list (this was before I found out la, because I missed out the email and didn't see it till like 2 or 3 weeks later lmao) and I laughed it off, telling him that I knew that there were a lot of other intelligent people in my course. I told him I was fine just doing my best??

And I guess this award was the validation I needed? Not validation that I'm "smart" (dont like to use this word, smart is subjective!!!) per se, but more that I really don't have to conform to "norms", and I should trust that I know what works best for me and what doesn't.

I'm not saying that I'm super smart because I got this award, or if someone fits the stereotype that they're not smart just because they didn't get the award ok!!! intelligence should not be defined by grades/awards, nor should it be defined by how much you fit that stereotype!!! find what works for you and what doesn't and know that exam smart (which I think I lean towards lolol) does not equate to intelligence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway i rly am very proud of myself because i rly did work hard!!!! of course im still learning to not let grades define my self worth and im working on learning for the sake of rly learning (because i do genuinely freaking love psychology) instead of trying to get good grades!!!!!

ok reflection over pls dont take this the wrong way ;_;

also serbb was a sweetheart and got me flowers wtf i rly was vvv touched T_T

Our last block supper as block reps!!!!!!!!!!! GRADUATE LO

the past 3 block suppers i made an effort to dress up leh........ but i was so tired after prepping this one that i just didnt CARE and went down in my PJs HAHAHA i love hall

rly nice pic of my hall OG!!!

posting the same photo twice because I thought I looked nice hahahahaha

my fake roomies of this sem <3

During our Hall "D&D" thing at Zouk!!!! erm Agnes was the one who organized it but this is a photo without her.................... uh oh LOL

Random birthday celebration for Nadine!! also rare occurence of me at lecture but only because we had a test before this HAHAHA

my hair was rly way too long here so I chopped it all off during recess week

where we had a surprise birthday picnic for Wenli!!! was gr8 fun hehe we had bagels and potato egg salad and taiwanese egg cake and lots of dancing!!!

One supper night out with my fav fav fav block reps!!! this sem I had one too many trips to extension for supper............. all because we discovered the goodness that is extension's kway chap omg

we even brought pearlyn because we needed to introduce her to the FAB KWAY CHAP T-T so so so so good!!! there was a night where pear and serene called me over to pear's room (where they were studying) and told me "jerlyn... we r rly sad and empty and we need something hot to fill us up" took me awhile to realize that they were trying to hint to me that they wanted kway chap HAHAHAHAHAHA it was like 1am that night and we just went out :'). also another time we went to extension and found that the store was CLOSED!!!!! we were so sad but we saw the uncle and we pouted... until he gave in and cooked an extra portion for us LMAO WE WERE ECSTATIC

rly rly appreciate the MANY impromptu supper nights this sem for KC hehe

My group for my "voice production" elective this semester, where we ~tried~ to dress up as Steve Jobs because he was our subject LOL

3/4 of voice prod class :")

in uni, you don't rly get to interact with ur classmates because tutorial classes changes all the time and everything is so temporary 😢 this was the only class where I actually got to know the names of everyone because there was so much interaction, so that was nice :) but aiya while it's extremely fun, I'm still SUing the mod because it's very practical-based and grades are probably unpredictable HAHAHAHA

another elective which was rly enjoyable because of the prof 😭 this mod was "motivating pupils to learn" and u can tell that he was rly vvvv dedicated to the class!!! he takes the effort to remember everyone's name, gives extensive feedback for our work, has a lot of passion for what he teaches and has elaborate birthday celebrations for students. I also genuinely did enjoy the mod itself too because it's very psychology-based HAHAHAHA

random nice pic with serbb while we were queueing up for exam welfare packs

one of the weekends saw me joining mav's family for dinner to celebrate mav's and his sister's birthday in november

this was my $88.80++ (???) set meal with appetizers and sashimi and dessert!!!!!!!!!!!! needless to say I was incredibly overwhelmed with shock (at this fine dining experience) and happiness (from the GREAT food) and gratefulness (to mav's family for inviting me) sobs sobs sobs. this was the most glorious bowl of unagi don (lmao probably not even the right term but i m an uncultured swine hahaha) and it was so so so so delicious wtf rly cannot get over it I WAS SO HAPPY

Start of the dreaded study/exam week: