7 things that I jumped into - 02

02. doing a level 2000 Geography module in e first semester of my first year in university

those who matriculated in July 1998 were e first to be required to read cross-faculty modules. we were also e first guinea pigs of e 'online' module registration system - where 'online' meant that you could not register online from anywhere else apart from your own faculty's CBLC (computer-based learning centre) =P

& so you queued at e CBLC to get a queue number, so that you could return e next time e computer system wasn't down to queue again for a terminal to register for your modules. only to discover that e system wasn't designed to allow freshmen with Advanced Placement credits to register for second year modules. & be told to obtain signatures from lecturers for every single module that you wanted to take. & then join e 'special queue' to get to e Science Dean's Office. & at e Dean's Office, pray that unlike e brains of e admin clerks there, e computer system was finally in working order. & from there, get sent down to CITA, where e IT guys would give up trying to force your registration down e 'online' registration system's throat, & decide that they should stop using e word 'online' & ask you to register manually at your department's office =P

in e midst of all e hello kitty-queueing & autograph-hunting & plenty of yellow forms, found that it was much easier to register for a Geography module in e Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences than for any of my Biology major modules in my own faculty. hence e twice a week mile-long morning walk from KE7 Hall to AS2 for GE2220 Environmental Processes: Terrestrial & Coastal....guess in NASA & perhaps certain universities overseas you can actually study extra-terrestrial environments?

it covered e usual geomorphology, fluvial & coastal processes that I loved, but without any A-level or level 1000 Geography background it wasn't easy keeping my head above e water as e only non-Arts freshie in e class. what probably saved me were e labs - tracing out maps from aerial photos for e aerial mapping exercise, some exercise on sedimentation, & fieldwork on Pulau Ubin, which was good training for going out into e big fat unknown & trying to figure out e kind of info that could be gathered that would be useful for our work, & where I could apply a scientific approach to studying Geography.

[ filed under: 7_things_i_jumped_into + nature1 ]