Exam Aftermath and Summer Plans

Hi readers!! I am so sorry for abandoning this blog for almost the whole semester! I usually try to make time to update this blog on the weekends, but quite a number of my weekends was spent doing "voluntary" work for my country's embassy. Well, I said "voluntary" (as in with apostrophes) because I am getting paid for it, but anyway, it spanned for about 3-4 weeks if I am not mistaken, though they can actually really just use 1 or two weeks at most to train us the volunteers. I should have expected this inefficiency, since it is my country's government we are talking about.

Actually I don't really know what to say now that I have the time to post something on this blog. I guess I will just fill you in with what I am up to for the summer, while thinking about more stuff to write, which would be more appropriate for a post after a really, really long hiatus like this one.

*sigh* so, plan for the summer. To be completely honest with everybody here, none of my summer plan is confirmed yet. I have applied for numerous internships that claimed that they "do not discriminate against freshmen", "are looking for freshmen", "welcome freshmen as well" etc... But to no avail. I guess what they actually meant by "welcoming freshmen" is "welcoming imba, experienced, pro freshmen that have the skills that are similar or even better than the more senior ones". Currently, I am waiting for a reply for another internship opportunity in my home country. There is an interesting story behind this application.

It was sometime in the semester, a professor from a newly established university in my home country visited NUS for.... I don't know, a tour? For fun? Anyway, I was rather in a hurry at that time for a reason that I would not say here or else I would keep step siding from the main story. He told us that he worked with some other newly established university that is actually quite popular despite being new (Surya University, to those who actually want to know). He offered us (my course friends and I) an internship to help out in a research in the university but at that time I was not paying attention so I did not think too much about it. Only when I was finished with the thing I had to take care of at that time that I realize the weight of the offer that was actually given: he was offering an internship to help out in a research in the field of Ubiquitous Computing (google it for more info, or click for link to Wikipedia), in a prestigious university! Wow! How could I miss such an offer!

I told this to some of my closer course friends, and as it turned out, he actually researched on the professor, found his contacts, and actually applied for the internship there! I was still not sure at the time as I preferred to work in Singapore instead, so I delayed my internship application for that university. Now that we have reached the end of the semester, and here I am, still jobless or internship-less for the summer. That is why I decided to apply for the internship there also a few days ago. Unfortunately, the professor did not guarantee anything and told me to wait. I do not know how long I need to wait, and whether I should apply for another backup internship plan anytime soon (or even now!)

There are of course a lot of other options on how to spend the summer, including exchange, taking summer schools, and even just play all the way. I would rather spend my summer making money rather than wasting it, which is why those I have just mentioned are not relevant options. But maybe I am aiming too high. With just the little knowledge I have as a freshman, maybe making money this summer is not really achievable. 

I guess that is all I have to say for now. I hope the next time I am writing will be about good news, whether I am getting an internship, getting a girlfriend (what), or winning a lottery(even more what). Bye! =D

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