Last of everything.

Prologue: The campus is eerily silent, dearth of any souls. And there’s a certain melancholy lingering in me when everything (in my undergraduate life, at least) will finally come to and end.

This post written on my very last full 24 hours day (7 May 2010) in my undergraduate life that will contain a lot of last.

My last exam: LHP 458 (English for Translation) 4 May 2010 (Tuesday), 2.15pm, Language Lab 2, D10, SoLLaT.

Since this is the only paper I took that has a final exam because all my other major papers are all 100% coursework, this review will be the very last of my USM Final Exam Personal Review series. Ahh what a journey it is. Anyway, let’s move on with this short exam review.

This paper is consist of 3 parts with the division of marks being 45-35-20 and made up of passages and subjective questions etc. Pretty much what we do usually in class. First section was an excerpt from Le Petit Prince written by French Aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery and this particular excerpts talks about The Little Prince’s visit to Earth. There are two parts for the question in this excerpt: one is fill in the blank with the word provided and the other one is to identify the mistakes in the excerpt. The fill-in-the blank part is not too hard except a few extra words in there that are meant to be confusing but identifying the mistake is a lil bit trickier even though we were given the amount of mistakes in one paragraph. I missed out two or three in identifying the mistake like the drunkard instead drinks in the very first paragraph. (dang!)

2nd part of the exam paper: comprehension with the magazine article talks about Womenomic or how woman’s way of thinking can be integrated into modern business practice. The question is made of two parts as well with the first part about identifying phrases and expressions that have similar meaning from the article with the one given in a table while the 2nd part is about rephrasing the expressions in a sentence in way that still bring out the original meaning. This part in my opinion is actually the trickiest part in the whole exam paper and really test your ability to see details and reasoning. Both require some brain work and I think I will miss out one or two marks here and there especially the rephrasing part.

3rd and last part of the exam paper: Idioms! Basically all the different idiomatic expression that we learned before and not just during the class. “Eye to eye”, “Ear to ear” “neck-to-neck” is making a comeback but not without of course a few newcomers: “pour' one’s heart out” and “heart in the right place” and “scratch each other’s eyeballs out” etc. This fill-in-the-blank question is very straightforward despite needing a little brain power to figure out the newer idiomatic expression but otherwise it’s a piece of cake. Expecting a full 20 mark for it.

Over and all: basically the same as all the exercise we did before in class. And indeed, there isn’t really a thing to revise about for LHP458 anyway.

With the exam series done, it’s time for curtain to fall for this part and let’s move on with the pictures of LHP458 exam!

The exam attendance sheet (with last 6 digit of IC number edited out of course for security purposes). In the end, we didn’t follow the seating plan at all because we are sitting in an language lab anyway. Just to let you know, my exam series number is 16052. The very last time I am using exam series number for my undergraduate life…

The blooming Flame of the Forest right beside D10.

Parched land. The weather in Penang these days is really peculiar with scorching hot and humid in one evening and sudden torrential downpour the next…

The last time I will walk through this corridor after climbing two flights of stairs to get to the top floor here.

Exam’s done! *Chiizu!* Here’s we bunch of Batch 2007 with 3 of us graduating (me, Yong-san and PikHang) and the other two, ShuLi and Xin Mi continuing the journey. Remember to come to our convo!

A series of last.

Friday. The morning of my last full 24 hours day in Penang.

  My last breakfast in USM proper at Gerai Kak Noor. Had chicken just to mark the occasion.

Let the packing begin! All the stuff are here and there. Checking through the box again to see if there’s anything that I want throw away. (In the end I didn’t throw any. Cleaning up FAIL). Boxes, books all over the floor as if it was being ransacked!

My pile of books. Basically a way to start off a small library collection.

My last lunch in USM proper: Hooi Cafe. Despite how often the price tend to fluctuate according to Uncle Hooi’s mood, I always come back for more…

Halfway through.

6:++ pm: Originally wanted to have my last dinner in USM proper…but the cafe is closed! I am gonna starve!

9:30pm: Finished packing and ready to be sent over to my cousin’s house with the help of Ah Bui. Lugged it down by 9:55 and finished lugging down at 10:15pm. Lugging those extremely heavy boxes is KILLING ME and by the time I am all done, I am already drenched in sweat! Ah Bui came and then we head to Sungai Dua to my cousin’s house which is exactly opposite of AhBui’s church house. Dumped it in front of his house. And started calling. And waiting. And calling. And waiting. And calling.*ad nauseam*. WHY DIDN’T HE PICK UP THE PHONE?! Hang out Ah Bui’s house, vent out frustration over Facebook, went back to wait again until the other tenant of the house came back. Asked whether I can left my stuff over the car porch. (yes). Dumped the stuffs over there and head back to room. Almost half an hour after I went back to my room, he called. Apparently he left in mobile phone in his car and only now he remembered to pick it up. And he is actually at home at that time. OMGWTFBBQfgsfds$%#$#$!!!! Should’ve just scream my heart out in front of the house (and attracting stray dogs and other neighbours attention in the process.)

  My last dinner over Penang: Chicken Maryland with Limau Ais over Istimewa. Oh Istimewa, how much money that I contributed to your income.

3am in the morning. Silent.

  Then it rained heavily. My last night in USM proper was a rough one because of sore throat (izzit the chicken maryland?) and lack of pillow and blanket. What a freezing night.

My last morning in USM. And then cousin called. He can’t sent me to airport today so I have to settle it on my own. OMGWTFBBQfgsfds^&%$^&#$%!!! Challenge til the end?! What will happen to me later? Stay tuned to find out!

Epilogue: My sore throat really hurt like bitch WTF. Go away sore throat! And seriously people, don’t give me anymore sudden change of plan. My weak heart can’t take too much of surprise!