The pressure is ON!

So its the start of a new semester and a fresh start! So, this week was the start of new semester and now I wish I was on holiday! Being a 2nd year uni student the pressure is ON! I mean, there are high expectations for you to pass your units and graduate on time. And sometimes I wish I was back in high school where every subject was eazy :'(. And when you think about it next year is my FINAL Year!!!

So what I plan to do this semester (that I normally don't do) is:

• study hard! (which I usually lack 6.6)
• apply for internships with Ernest and Young, CPA Australia, KPMG etc .. (which I have to do NOW! cause applications close soon)
• apply for work experience
• and finally TRY not to FAIL a unit :D

Hopefully I can keep those promises for this semester and hopefully next semester too ^^. Cause at the end of the year I'm going back to Vietnam for my cousin's wedding ^.^ (Unless something comes up and prevents me for coming like the summer internship programs that I'm appling for :D)

3 simple words: No More EXAMS! =]

So, today was the last exam for the semester =] I'm soo glad that its FINALLY over!!!. With exams and uni over all there's left is to look forward to the summer break =]

This week has been such a good week for me =] Because I finally got my ticket to Vietnam, I finished my exams and uni for another year, I didn't need to get a vacination to travel overseas (because I'm still valid for another year which is excellent cause I SERIOUSLY hate needles) and no one in Vietnam (family and friends) know that I'm coming back; unless they read my blog and understand what I'm writing, well in that case .... SSSSHHH!! don't spoil it for the other people who don't know =P

So my plans for the summer break at the moment are:

• My niece and nephew's birthday
• Relaxation aka. Sleep inns =]
• Catching up with asian dramas on xingkong and my dvds
• Catching up on TV shows
• Catching up with friends (hopefully)
• and finally my holiday in Vietnam =]

What I have planned for my Vietnamese holiday is:

• Visit family in both North and South of Vietnam
• Visit my dear grandmother (dad's side) who I thought was dead thoughout my childhood ... 6.6 ~akward moment~
• Go on a MAJOR shopping spree =]
• Go asian accessory CRAZY?!?
• Spend new years and Chinese new years in Vietnam
• Suprise a few friends
• Perhaps teach english at a local school
• Learn perhaps some vietnamese prays (because I'm catholic and my parents assume that because I'm 19 years old I should be able to know the vietnamese prays which I don't =/ *sobs*)
• Maybe have my 20th birthday in Vietnam and leave with a big BANG! =P

The night that all high school student have been waiting =]

So last Friday (29 of October) was my younger sister's graduation. The ceremony was held at the Octagon Theatre at the University of Western Australia (the school always hold the graduation here). The night began with a solo performance from Francis Plando singing "For Good" from the musical "Wicked" and the music was played by Doug Wilson on piano. Next was a dance performance from the Year 12 specialist dance students to "The weight of knowing" choregraphed by Jacqui Claus. And finally a musical number from the cast of the school production "Annie" singing "Tommorrow". After all these performances was the presentation of subject awards and special awards. During my graduation night, I was lucky to received the Citizenship/School Service Award. However, my sister didn't win any special awards. But the brightside is that she graduated. =]

2 years since I've made my decision ...

So it has been 2 years since I was in my younger sister's shoes. I mean, it's been 2 years since I had to decide what degree to do and what my new future would be after I graduate from high school. I really can't believe that it been 2 years. I always thought (when I was in high school) that what ever degree I chosed it will effect me in the future and that there's no turning back once I started.

But the hardest part for me was when it came to choosing a degree to do at uni. At the start of year 12 I wanted to do Laws and become a Lawyer. Later on, I realised that I should do a degree that involves the subjects I was doing in year 12. The subjects I did where: Chemistry, Physics, Marketing and Management, English Literature (I later changed to the TEE English) and History. So I changed it to Criminology and Forensics. Throughout the whole of year 12, I thought that Criminology and Forensics was the right choice I'd made for the future. But, after I had finished my TEE Exams, graduated and went to Vietnam for leaver and also christmas and waited for my results to get published, I kepted thinking maybe it wasn't the right degree to do.


So when I got back from Vietnam (after the christmas holiday over there), I changed to a bridging course at ECU (Edith Cowan University). This allowed me 6 months study for free for 6 months and to let me decide what degree to do. By the end of the course; I applied for Curtin University of Technology as a mid-year applicant, thinking that I wouldn't be accepeted. However, I was accepeted to the University to study the Bachelors of Commerce/Business.

So I am currently studying Commerce in Accounting and Business Law. I am expected to graduate in 2 years (2012) and my plans for after graduation is to apply/ work for CPA Australia or CA or any of the Big 4. If not then, I decided that I will continue my further studies at ECU (Edith Cowan University) in Law as a graduate. This was because I initally wanted to study laws.

2 months left til summer break! ... eek!!!

I think my mid semester week break was not a really productive week for me 6.6.
But it was a good to kind of relax after 7 weeks (I think) for constant studying and finishing assignments. But now that I'm back at uni, I have 2 test to do and 1 group assignment to finsih off before my exam >.<" ... eeek! But the bright side is I have 2 months until the summer break ^^. Which means 2 months til I leave and head to Vietnam =)

I seriously can'tn believe that the year has gone by sooo quickly ^^. But it was like after I came back from Vietnam (cause I was holidaying over there at the beginning of this year) that I was counting down how many months I had to survive til I could go back there again. Numbers like 10 more months then 9 more months etc.. seemed to be endless! LOL ... BUT now its only 2 more months ^^ I think the feeling of waiting is a good thing. I mean, I've been waiting all year for this trip because I really want to stay for Chinese New Year/ The Lunar New Year and it just seems like waiting for it would be soo worth the wait ^^. But I think that this trip maybe my last trip to Vietnam. I mean, after this trip, I would be starting my majors in Accounting and Business Law and getting a job after this degree isn't really easy. According to my lecturers, I should start consider applying for internships but most of the internships require me to work during my breaks and I can't apply for any cause I promised myself to go to Vietnam.

So I guess next year I'll apply for those internships because then my chances of getting a job would be good ^^ plus I'm going to apply for the business mentoring programs too ^^ cause it would look good on my CV/ Resume.

Chasing that dream

I noticed that there are many people who all a sudden stopped chasing their dreams. I mean, when something interrupts their life or someone else’s they suddenly stop. My question is when you suddenly stop chasing your dreams then will you pick it back up when everything turns “back to normal”? Or will you just give up? Which is to me, quite weak. But I was like that for about 5 years.

For me, I stopped chasing my dreams when I entered high school. And now I regret it. The first dream I had was my artwork. It was my year 7 teacher who had noticed that I had a talent in artwork (aka drawings and graphics design). When it came to enrolling to a high school, he recommended me to attend a high school in Applecross. This high school specialised in art it was the school of specialist art. He thought it would be an amazing opportunity for me to develop me art skill even further. But sadly I declined the offer. However I continued doing art, as a subject in high school, to about the end of year 10. What made me stop doing art were my parents. They never took any notice in my artwork I did each semester. It was after my last artwork I decided to leave art and do something that they would be proud of.

It was year 10 that I picked up a natural skill in poetry. I mean, according to my year 9 English teacher (who helped me submitted a poem for a competition) told me that one of the poem, I wanted to submit, expressed a lot of emotions. Emotions like pain, sadness and a broken heart. He also told me that it was one of the most powerful poems that he has read that I have written ( because I was his student in year 9 and one of our assignment was to write a ballad based on any topic but following the ballad style). However, my submission was last minute and the judges had already picked out a winner. So I continued writing poetry for next year’s competition.

A year later, the competition was once again opened. This time I submitted a different poem via email without the help of my English teacher. The poem was about a person (girl or boy) that needed a heart. Meaning they needed someone to donate a heart for them. The poem uses the donor as “god” because only god can help them survive the world. Even though I didn’t win the competition, my poem managed to get published on the newspaper. Which to me was one of the best accomplishments I ever gotten. When I was that my poem got published, I showed it to my parents. However, like always they really didn’t care. So I gave up on poetry and that poem was my last ever piece of work in poetry. They poem is published on this blog and it’s called “Can you lend me a heart?”.

Even though my parents were never proud of my work and talent, I learnt not to let that influence me anymore. However, it took me 5 years to realise this. Now, my parents are finally proud of me. They are proud that I’m at uni and am studying. They are proud that I’m helping them chase a dream they had for me, which is to go to uni and study something that will help me to have a bigger and brighter future.

Getting a helping hand

So my semester results where published a few days ago and I had failed 2 of my units but passed my other 2. The weird thing was, when I saw that I had failed my 2 units, I kinda had a break down. The reason why it's weird is that, I don't normally have a breakdown when I fail at something. I normally have a big smile on my face, pull myself back up again and say "Well at least I tried and I can always do better! ^^" This is because in high school I did Physics and always got the lowest score in the class. But this time it wasn't that easy (By the way, the breakdown was only for like 5 minutes but the point is that i don't normally have these breakdowns). So anyways, I just felt as if all my hard work came to nothing. I chatted to my friend who was online via Yahoo Messager, and he helped me alot. He told me that, even though you may failed this time around, the uni has given you a second chance at passing the unit again. And that this time you'll do much better. After reading those words I thought about it over night. Then the next day, I phoned the uni and changed my units around and repeated my 2 failed units for the seconded time.

While I was thinking, I knew what my mistakes were and how'd I managed to failed the 2 units. It was the fact of me not asking for help and also not paying attention in the 2 units I failed. This time around I have organised a friend to tutor me in my 2 failed units because his done them already, another friend who is majoring in one for my failed unit to help me also. Hopefully, with the help of my friends I can do better and I have to remember that I have to ask for help when I need it. Thanks to them, I have the confidence to start this new semester and pass all my units.