A Weird Day in Malayan University (UM)

Well, it wasn't exactly a weird day, in the sense that the entire day was fraught with weird happenings or occurrences to yours truly.

No.

It was actually a single incident at the end of the day that was just utterly strange, and.....weird.

(Sorry. My lack of vocabulary to describe it astounds me. =.=)

Anyways, I will get to that later.

Today, is a historical moment. 


Today is an extremely special day.

Today, my little brother is off to his first day as a freshie in Universiti Malaya (UM), my dad's alma mater.

I mean, my younger brother. (He's hardly little !)

Registration started at 9am up to 1pm. So we were all up before 8am. Here's what we were doing at 8 plus in the morning today:

Ming was reading the Sunday papers

Mum was....taking her vitamins?

Kit was prepping his hair :)

Dad was as hardworking as usual.

Teachers. *shrugs*

Knowing that I won't be seeing him for the next 5 days, I was extra extra abusive affectionate towards him by pinching him and messing up his hair (but not too much, or else he'd yell at me ! @.@)

The journey there just felt like one of our family day trips somewhere. It was bittersweet. I felt excited for him, but a wee bit sad that we were going to leave him there when we come home. :(

Finally, UM loomed ahead, large and foreboding (well, at least to me.) Passing through the entrance, all of us sat a little straighter, thinking "This is where Ming will be studying for the next four years." *insert silent Ahhhhhh here*

The Engineering faculty was near the entrance ! All of us got so excited all of sudden:

"Hey Ming ! Your fac ! All your classes will be here !"

Then, where's Fifth College? (It's the residential college that he will be staying in for the coming year.)

Way way wayyyyy deeper in. Quite far from his faculty, which will be such a bother, I expect. >.<








We were greeted with smiles from the facilitators there, directing us to the nearest parking lot, the registration counter. I have to say, they seemed rather friendly people. 


For UM students, I mean.






At slightly before 10am, the place was already jam packed with people -- parents, grandparents, siblings, kids, uncles, aunts, cousins, mum's hairdresser lady...(kidding :P)


And of course, the stars of the whole fiasco -- the freshies.


Is it me, or do all of them have that same nervy, deer-in-headlights look?


Pfft. Kids.


(God, I actually felt OLD there. I cannot believe my "first day" has been two years ago now.)


(OMG, I'm OLD. >.<)






Off Ming went to get himself registered (only the new 'uns were allowed upstairs to the office to register. We were stopped at the main office entrance) while the rest of us wandered into the lounge room, staring at their "Reading -Ner" (the letters C-O-R were missing ! xD) when suddenly I spied their TV at the right portion of the room.


Familiar buzzing noise.


Were those.......the vuvuzelas?


I ran towards the TV, squinting at the screen.


OMG, it was the Spain vs. Paraguay match that I missed last night (cos $%@%$@#$% TV1 wasn't airing it !!) !!


The next twenty minutes was occupied. And then when Ming finally reappeared, I had to practically tear myself away from the screen. Well, we were here for Ming in the first place. *sigh* (Didn't get to finish watching the match !)




Then I had a good laugh at my brother's name tag that displayed his "new" name.

TIMONTHY instead of Timothy !

LOL

Presenting Room A 311 (Ming's new second home -- at least for this week):

They provide them with shoe racks !

But of course, you set your ADIDAS shoes there

at your own risk.

The corridor facing his room

His bed

The cupboard is so.....antique !

I LOVE mine back in UKM :D

But they provided mirrors. I didn't have one :(

Third cupboard (must be new) for third occupant

His study desk and lamp (already decorated

with graffiti from previous owners).

All his luggage -- which is significantly

less than what I brought on MY first day.

I still can't fathom how guys do it ! o.O

(Oh, btw, the white handbag is mine. Not his.)

Ming sweating in his new room.

And the outside of the room:

The block opposite

(Cute guy facilitator in picture ! xD)

View of below-ground floor

In UM, they bunk three people to a room. Which is different compared to UKM, where the juniors enjoy twin sharing rooms (and I still do).


The room is rather small; smaller than mine back in UKM, and there are gonna be three guys living here ! It feels crowded. >.<




And I am SO not a fan of bunk beds. If your upper neighbour has a violent sneeze in the middle of the night, you'd be totally freaked out thinking it was an earthquake !


Like I said, NOT a fan. >.<

By the time we were done helping him unpack, acquainted with his two new room mates (both with surnames Yap, and both from KL; one is my brother's course mate, the other doing Mechanical Engineering), the sky was threatening rain.


But there were more and more freshies coming in, with yet more parents.

Finally, my parents, my youngest brother and I, gave Ming our goodbyes, a final hug.

We'll miss you :'(

It felt weird, leaving him behind. :(


(No, this is not the weird moment I was talking about earlier. It's coming though. Wait for it.)






We then left Fifth College for Twelfth College for some lunch, whose cafeteria apparently was the only one open.


I remember this college, cos it was the same residential college I'd stayed in a couple of years ago when I was one of the four students selected to represent SMK King George V, Seremban  in the shortlisting of candidates for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO). *proud*


(Needless to say, I didn't get through. But it was a crazy experience - brain soaked in Chemistry knowledge for an entire week ! I literally felt my brain was saturated. @.@)




The food here though, is much better than the cafeteria food in my residential college. Darn. >.<


Anyhow, after lunch, we were about to head back to our car when I caught a glimpse of a huge lake they had in front of the main office building. I just had to take a photo of it. I mean, it was entirely for your benefit dear readers-who-have-never-set-foot-in-UM-before !




So I ran over to take a shot of it, with Kit behind me.

Isn't this cute? I wonder what it's for....

The huge lake I wanted to capture that led me to the Weird Moment.

(Weird moment approaching. Read on.)




Suddenly,

"Hey, excuse me?"

This tall, skinny, bespectacled boy approached us. And without knowing what was happening, we were suddenly launched into conversation, unflinchingly joined by his companion, Shirley, and then we went on to talk about local universities, education and choosing one's career path.




With a stranger.


Someone we just met. Like, literally just met.




After like, (was it?) 15 minutes, when they decided they had to go, Shirley turned to me, smiled, and asked, "Do you mind a hug?"


I was taken aback. A hug?
Sista, I don't know you. I just met you.


But she pulled me into an embrace and patted me on the back.


Then, it was tall-skinny-bespectacled-boy's turn. To hug me.


Me. A girl. Him. A guy.


No, I'm not against boy-girl hugs. I'm totally cool with it.


With the exception of I-just-met-you-who-the-hell-are-you people.
Under which category, tall-skinny-bespectacled-boy is.


So.


NOT cool.






But he did. A strong, firm, embrace too. With a little shoulder-squeeze at the end.




WTH.




Then, they waved goodbye and left.




Weird. Awkward. Strange. Bizarre.










I don't know what else to say.




Is it me, or was that just really weird?


I don't even know his name. @.@

The Three Musketeers are

missing one. :(

Anyway, missing Ming at the moment, who is probably being tortured -- right now.


Hope they feed him well.


Take care, Ming. *hugs*