It’s a rainy Friday afternoon. As I’m writing this, I just returned from 1231S exam, my last one. So I guess you could say that Semester 1 has pretty much wrapped up. It was a fun one. I would describe it as being fruitful, packed with highlights and canon memories. But more than anything, I experienced a tremendous resurgence in motivation and determination, to strive for my goals (hence the title of this piece). I think that’s what the university environment does to you.

Technically this is my first time doing anything academic (full-time) in about two and a half years. Before I started the semester I knew that there were a lot of things that I would have to adjust to in this new environment, especially living in RC4 and really just getting used to the lifestyle of a university student. And indeed, at the start for sure I made some mistakes here and there, but nevertheless I’ve constantly been trying to achieve a rhythm, a habitual lifestyle, and I must say that as the semester draws to a close, I’m pretty happy with the processes that I have developed right now.

A general principle that I’ve learnt to be pretty beneficial is, counter-intuitively, to not spend all your time on school work. At least, the assignments/mods/exams kind. You want to kind of achieve a state where you’re pretty on-track with school work, while still having the time and space for your own self-study. So I spent this semester trying to find this balance. My mid-term results, and eventually my overall grades for this semester, will be evidence of whether my systems are working, or if there’s something I have to change. So far, it’s going alright. I’ll also caveat that it’s going to get gradually harder and harder to maintain this “balance” state as I start overloading, diving deeper into more complicated topics, starting internships etc. But I believe in myself.

What do I think of the curriculum? Honestly, I’m pretty ambivalent to it. I wouldn’t say there was any course that had me completely mesmerised, but I’m also not the kind of guy to hate on a mod because I’m always appreciative of the effort that the professors put in to it. I chose to take all three pre-requisite math mods together this semester, something which wasn’t advised; in the end, I think I managed just fine. But the bottom line is this: these few years the difference maker is not so much what you do in class, but what you do outside of it. Let’s try to continue this trend.

A (perhaps even larger) reason for my restored motivation in, well, life really, is the people I met along the way. That’s literally the reason why I chose to stay on campus. Why I participate in all the events. Why I go for my JS (LOL). I genuinely think I’ve met more people these past few months than in the previous few years before that combined, and I’m really grateful to have shared memories with all of you. If you’re reading this, thanks for being a great friend and here’s to more hangouts :)

Some highlights:

My OG! Y’all are a really fun bunch. I’m really glad that we get along so well, and honestly the weekly yap sessions / mutual crash-outs are what keeps me going.

Tik Tok Tech Jam! Working on a hackathon always feels like a toil in the moment, but feels really good as a memory. Perhaps one day I’ll actually become a good software engineer.

IHG! Been a while since I played semi-organised football.

Stocks and flows (?) I don’t even know what to call ourselves at this point lol. But I swear our chemistry is really top notch and somehow we just have so many interesting conversations that I temporarily forget all my commitments XD.

And many more honestly — my 1101S tutorial group, formal dinner, performing with Orcapella, all the birthday celebrations, house events, jam sessions… I'm really enjoying where I am now and I have no regrets at all.

I actually quite like the fact that in university, every semester is wildly different. Fundamentally, the courses you take are completely different, but everything else is as well. In particular, I see it as starting on a fresh piece of paper — whatever pities there were last semester, whatever errors, whatever disappointments, you can go ahead and wash them away. Now is the chance to be an even better version of yourself.

Just some things I’m excited about next semester:

- ICG
- Chamber Classics (please come watch!!)
- More Orcacode (hopefully I understand more stuff each session lol)
- HacknRoll
- Anything else that I honestly don’t know is happening yet but I’ll probably enjoy when it comes

I’m thinking of writing something about the whole of 2025 as well, because that deserves it’s own spotlight. If you reached up to this point, thanks so much for your support. And as always, until next time.

Afternote: this is also aptly titled because I finally decided to write something after almost a year lol.