Trip to USM

11th May, 2010, Tuesday, 11pm.
Me, my dad and his friend, was on our way to Penang, or to be more specific, USM.

My dad drove all the way 120. I mean most of the time the meter is at 120.
We stopped to rest for 3 times. Each time around 20 minutes.
I tried to sleep during the journey to Penang but I can't as it was very uncomfortable sitting at the back with the seat belt + stresss!
By 4am++, we reached in front of USM.

The very 1st time, I saw USM with my naked eyes.
The vision of USM--''Transforming Higher Education for a Sustainable Tomorrow.'' was written on both side of the wall, in Malay and in English.
My dad read the Malay version, stammer-ly and we went off.

We went around Penang in the middle of the night and we stopped by a hawker stall.
That particular stall actually started their business as early as 4am. and they were selling ‘kuey teow soup'.
So, we called each bowl for each person and ate.
After that, we went around aimlessly till we saw a 24 hours McD and we went in and parked our car there and slept.
No, I didn't manage to sleep. I was sitting 'uncomfortably' in the back of the car and I was stressed up. I can't sleep.

I closed my eyes till 6am and I changed in the car, to formal.
Also, I changed my spec to contacts.
Then went into McD and comb my hair (with my hand) and ordered a breakfast set and eat slowly.

7am, we left McD and went back to USM.
7.30am, we reached the school of pharmacy in USM.
They actually arranged us according to our name, alphabetically order and divide us into few groups, to be interviewed in diff rooms.

I was the 4th person to be interviewed for my group.
Around 8.15am, we were called into the waiting room.
But, the interview did not start until 9am, for my group.
Know why?
1 of our interviewer actually lost her way in USM.
I was like , what the heck! Got so idiot or not, we 1st time came to USM also didn't lost our way. But she, the interviewer actually got lost?

I was rather exhausted that time as I didn't sleep for almost 24 hours + the high stress there, I wanted the interview to be done earlier and finish it fast but due to the stupidity, everything was delayed by half an hour.

So 9am, the 1st person went in. 15 minutes, came out.
After that 2nd, 15 minutes also. Then 3rd,15 also.
So, I got the duration, each person 15 minutes.

Finally is my turn. I walked into the room, nervously.
Sat down in front of 1 malay lady(the idiot), 1 chinese lady and 1 malay guy.
The Malay guy was the main interviewer and he started.

''Lee Zheng Yii, So I will call you Zheng Yii. The interview will be done in Malay and English, and if I ask you question in Malay, you answer it in Malay; If in English, then you answer in English.''

In my heart was like, omg, in BM, die la die la..

Then he started : '' Sila terangkan tentang kamu dan keluarga dan apakah kelebihan kamu dan megapakah kamu mahu menjadi seorang pharmacist dan megapakah kamu memilih USM sebagai universiti untuk melanjutkan pelajaran kamu???

I was like, what the heck!!!! 4 in 1 question and I have the answer them all in BM!!
And in fact, all the questions that he asked I already prepared them well and good, but all was in English!
My mind just went blank for 1 or 2 seconds after I heard the question.
But very fast I regain my consciousness, I told myself that I must talk, speak wrongly also must talk. So, die die la.

So I answered them, with a lot of mistakes, till 1 extent that I can't bear the hardness as I was too tired to translate, so I asked them, can I mix a bit with English??
They looked at me for a seconds and gave me no answer, and no expression. (tmd so mean)
So, I don't care, I continued to answer with a bit of English.

Then 2nd question, the guy, terdapat banyak area dalam bidang pharmacy, apakah yang kamu tahu tentang pharmacy?
Again, I was screaming in my heart! You want me to talk about pharmacy in BM???!!
Come on la, I never learn science in Malay before also la..
But, no matter how, I have to do it, so I answered him. And this time, more English appeared in my answer.

Then he asked again, finally in English, what is so special about you???
The 1st question in English, BUT , I don't know how to answer.
I was thinking of whether to repeat my 'kelebihan' but then he sort of guided me.
He said, what's your achievement? what is special about you that can make us remember or to recall about you?
So, I answered that question with my achievement lo.

Then he asked again, what is the vision of USM?
I was, walao~~ The line was just in front of me few hours ago, and my dad actually read them, but I wasn't paying attention to that, and so I failed to answer the question.
Then he asked ,what is the name of the dean of the school of pharmacy?
Again, if I were to walk outside the interview room, I will be able to see the name, I tried to remember the name before I went in, but when he asked the question, suddenly I can't recall..I just answer is prof madya or madha or something like that..lol.
Then he asked me about university in the garden thingy, I cant answer, and he actually answer for me.

After that, the Chinese lady started. OK, please list down 3 qualities that a pharmacy should have.
I elaborated about sense of responsibility and initiative and suddenly my mind shut down!
I don't know why, just suddenly I cant think of anything and I think for quite a while, she gave me a dissatisfaction look and then she wrote something in her paper.
I was like, shit , die d la this time.

Then the Malay lady asked, are you a leader or a follower?
I answered it depends. Then elaborated. But from their expression, they all seems to be not satisfied with my answer.
Then she asked again, can you accept critics?
I answered and again that kind of look to me.

And so, that's all. They asked me go wait for their answer in 2 or 3 weeks time.

Overall, I feel sux for the whole interview. And I felt damn pening, like going to faint anytime after the interview. Yet, I was unable to sleep, I felt uncomfortable and kept thinking about the interview.
We ate some food in penang, it taste sucks and then went back.
But half way, my dad friend wants to stop at bidor and eat don't know what duck mee soup, claiming that it is famous.
But, I felt that it taste sucks also and the mee is not cheap.

After Bidor, finally I managed to sleep for 1 hour and reached home at around 4 or 5pm.
And I slept for more than 12 hours.

----------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, here is a statistic that I got from the interviewer.
5000 people actually applied for USM pharmacy, and they chose 400 for interview.
And only 120 people will manage to enter and become the student of the School of Pharmacy of USM.
In other words, the probability of me getting in the school now is 120/400 or 30%.

And after this trip, I don't feel like studying at USM d.
The only feeling that I got the 1st time I entered the U was just stress.
And I don't have the sense of belonging to that place.

If I didn't get it, I will be happy, as I have a 'reason' of not going there.
But If I get it, I will force myself to go there, and hopefully that I will be able to cope myself with the environment there in a short time.

That's all. A hard but memorable experience.