Lucky Guy 12

Like Dumbledore looking into his pensive, i peered into mine, fixating on the not too distant past - my last semester in Uni.

The first image to appear on the silvery screen was me strolling into St Vincent’s Hospital one Monday morning, glad to escape from the falling rain and chilly wind outside. That was the start of my 3-weeks placement there. Overall, St V was a very relaxing and easy going placement where we students took long breaks and spent too much time chit-chatting and watching TVs. But can’t say I didn’t learn anything. In fact, I learnt a lot, but would have preferred a busier placement.

The second image was me looking at the blurry images of people dancing. It was the first time I wore contacts in an ‘official’ event and somehow one of them contrived to get lodged somewhere inside my eyelid. The event was the Pharmacy Ball – first time ever joining in the fun after spending four years in Uni. It was not a bad experience. Gave me a reason to buy an expensive vest! (not to mention paying the $100 ticket).

The third image that came forth was me gazing and touching an Olympic gold medal. One of Australia’s swimming star was in Uni giving a talk, and she passed her Olympic medal around. It was the second important medal I had ever touched, the other being the Nobel prize medal. Both occasions was quite inspirational.

The fourth image was me eating cheese cake in the tutorial room as a few of us exchanged notes and had a meeting on how to answer exams questions. It was the first time I took part in a group study and it was so much fun! A very memorable experience indeed. Should had done that way way way earlier. That sem I studied at Parkville library, Caulfield library, State library and Melb Uni Law library…

In the fifth image, I saw myself in my favourite jumper, sitting in the lecture theatre listening to Louis Roller’s talk in our very last lecture. I remembered trying my best to capture every sense and nuance of that last lecture experience. After listening to so many lectures, some interesting, some sleep inducing… Bugs Bunny suddenly jumped out and say “that’s all, folks!”.

The sixth image. I was drinking orange + vodka with chatting with a variety of people,  with a red fluorescent stick tied around my neck. To hell with it, I had said. This is the last semester. Last chance salon. So off I went to the Allied Health Cocktail Party even though had quite a tight study schedule. Too noisy and dark, but an interesting place to observe group behaviour and party animals.

The seventh image was me running the PISA Annual General Meeting. It was my last official involvement with the club, after putting so much efforts into it in my three years there. Presided over a tight presidential race, and was now still wondering did I set the fairest election rules. But anyway, we will see.

I was stuffing some sweet middle eastern dessert into my mouth in the eighth image. It tasted heavenly. The event? I was playing host to visiting students from the UAE. It was fascinating listening to their stories while showing them around Uni. Then there was me teaching Singaporean students how to eat meat pies, and wolfing down a hot dog in the lab (haha not many people did that) coz someone enquired the directions to there while I was on lunch break during Open Day.

The ninth image was me sitting in the campus’ admin office stuffing envelopes, thinking what sort of funny place Australia is, to be paid AUS$21 per hour doing such simple job. Wondered how much people doing the same job in Malaysia were paid. AUS$1/hour? I worked real hard that semester.

Oh, the final semester was just filled with too many fond memories. There were much more little snippets, like seeing people dressed up in the last day of Uni. Hearing someone play the piano for me. Walking around campus brandishing lanterns. Exploring my emotional intelligence. Juggling time tutoring students while preparing for my own exam. Taking part in my last global friendship event (it was self defence). Making lecture announcements.  How I wish I can relive them again…

P/s: This is the penultimate post of my Lucky Guy series. No prize of guessing that I will end at 13.