Langkawi
Guess what, I managed to convince my parents to let me go on a trip with my best friend!!!!! I still cannot believe that happened. This was probably the most successful impromptu event that happened in my life so far. First of all, if you know me, you would also know my parents are as strict as strict parents can get. Can you believe, they wouldn’t allow me to go on a picnic with my friends the week before, but when I asked them if I could go to Langkawi with my friend, they said yes?????? And to top that off, the trip would take place the week after. How my parents let me go in such a short notice is still a question I ask myself. Normally they would never let me go on last minute plans. But anyways thank you Mama and Ayah hihi.
So of course I quickly booked my flight as soon as I got the green light, because knowing them, in the next hour they would change their minds. I actually had a driving class scheduled the day before the flight, and was also busy the entire weekend before. Because of that, I did all my packing that night at the last minute. I laid out and picked my beach outfits, carefully rolling them up and arranging them in two rows in my suitcase within just TWO hours. The next morning, I zipped up my toiletries bag and shut my suitcase tight before my friend’s aunt picked me up to go to the airport.
Have you ever pictured yourself, striding through the airport, gliding along with your cabin baggage in one hand, and a Starbucks latte in the other? Airport main character moment at its best. To be completely honest, during every vacation, I would sometimes enjoy my airport and flight moments rather than the actual trip T__T We had a bit of fun while waiting for our flight at 12 noon. There wasn’t much hustle and bustle going around, but I still enjoyed the airport vibes very much. Don’t mind me for overreacting OK, I haven’t been to the airport since before COVID. Airports >>>>>> any other large packed buildings.
We stayed at a resort on Cenang Beach, which my friend’s aunt booked for us. She’s the one who invited us on this trip, by the way. We had a fascinating time exploring the resort and the beach, and also reserved a slot for jet-skiing that afternoon. Please my stomach hurt so much from laughing while we were on the jet-ski. Well obviously since the both of us have ZERO experience in driving any motorised vehicle, of course we would look like lunatics trying to manoeuvre along the water.
The next day, we went island hopping, which is a typical thing to do when visiting Langkawi. That’s when I had a very exciting encounter with a certain animal, I named it Pumba, because obviously duhh what else would you name it. On one of the islands we visited, I was peacefully sipping my coconut water from a freshly cut coconut, while scrolling through the pictures I took the entire day. Then, I heard a small commotion in front of me, but as I liked to mind my own business, I didn’t bother looking up. After catching a small dark plump figure at the corner of my eye, only then did I realise that the people around me shouting “Adik!!!!” was them trying to get my attention. Pumba was a literally two breaths away from me. Thank god I have very fast reflex and I scrammed away from him, leaving him with our coconuts. It was nice knowing you, Pumba. I hope we never meet again <3
The rest of the trip was filled with walks along the beach and shopping for chocolate. We also caught a fire show the last night we were there. It was a very cool trip, thank you Siti and Siti’s aunt for inviting me!!
My First Scholarship Assesment
On my last day in Langkawi, I checked my email after breakfast like I do every other day. Suprisingly, I recieved an email notifying that I had been chosen to proceed for the next step of the scholarship application. I had applied for two scholarships using my Trial SPM results, one of which I had already been offered a full scholarship, but I had to reject due to some reasons. I had to sit for a test the following day. As soon as I got home, I did some research about this corporate’s scholarship, by reading their past scholars’ experiences through their blogs and tweets. I found out that there was 5 stages to this scholarship application, which means I’m still a long way away from securing it.
One of the scholars described this second phase as the Ability Test Phase, as the test wasn’t like any ordinary test. I expected questions asking us to solve equations or English comprehension questions. Actually, the questions are more company and corporate related. We had to solve problems that would normally occur within a company, including finance problems and even time management. The scholar also mentioned that the assessment was similar to the Bloomsbury Aptitude Test, so naturally I looked up some sample questions and mock tests for me to practice.
Alas, even with all my preparations, the assessment was still pretty hard. Especially since I was pressured to finish within the time given (which I didn’t manage to do). It wasn’t too hard but the time given was too short, I needed to finish each question within one and a half minutes to successfully finish all questions. I was in a bad mood for the rest of the day, thinking that if I keep up with this amount of effort, it would be hard even for other scholarships.
OK basically what I wanted to conclude is that this is my first experience out of many more scholarship applications, tests and interviews that I would go through throughout this year. Studying abroad with a scholarship is currently my biggest dream in the short run. I had high expectations for myself as this was one of the scholarships with lower qualifications needed, so of course I had big hopes. So, I have learnt from this experience that I must prepare myself even better, mentally especially, for the tests and assessments to come. I’ve listed out several things I must do before every upcoming test and interview, maybe I’ll list them out here if anyone else might need them, when I have the time. But before that, let’s hope that my SPM results are enough for me to apply for the other scholarships that I’m aiming for.
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