Thursday, October 30, 2014

Week 7

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim..

Its been quite a while since my last post here. I think FB and Instagram have taken so much of my time and thoughts.. It's not a good practice since Insta n FB limit our views due to the fact that we are more engrossed in looking at other things - such as photos, url links, other people's statuses etc.

Anyways, this week is the beginning of a new half (not really half actually). Last week I had a mid-sem break of 1 week. But, there is no point of having a break since I am still working and not having any getaway or holidays to anywhere. I wish I can go travel as long as I want..

Sometimes when I am so depresssed with my studies, I will browse through old pictures that are full of travel memories. Travel gives me comfort. Travel gives me spirit and keeps me  motivated to study because I know I can go travel during the semester breaks.. Allah knows how much I miss those days. and I miss the beautiful Australia..

Rasa macam mimpi jer dah habis degree dah kerja tengah sambung masters.. How time flies really fast..

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Just a quick update on my Masters progress. As this is an open diary with very few readers, so just wanted to share my experience and also for my future reference.

Right now, I have few assignments, some of which are due on next week:
1) Review journal article
2) Presentation for my vicious and virtuous circles
3) Group assignment - to evaluate and critics the Education Blue Print by KPM
4) Term paper worth of 40%
5) Assignment final
6) Presentation journal article

I know I can do this. The only problem is, the contents are just too much.

The syllabus is very deep and too many journals and books and papers and publications to be read. I have to be smart in study since I got very little time to focus on. The key is to constantly learn on improving your skills- reading, organizing etc. as to make you more efficient in doing things.

I like the idea of working more efficiently but I am not that type of person who are so creative in thinking how to work, but I like to imitate their ways of doing things more efficiently. That's how I learn things.

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Last monday, I went to the course by lecturers from Faculty of Linguistics. Its the course that guiding students in literature review. Lots of things that I could learn and refresh back from my informal knowledge of doing literature review.

I always adore those people from English faculty background because they speak very good and high quality English. They use the correct word and by listening to those people speaking, we can learn from them. I'm not saying Im good enough in English but sometimes I just do not understand the Manglish accent - I can hardly detect what they are trying to pronounce. It's easier to understand Aussie's slang than Manglish in certain circumstances.

For the literature review course, the instructor asked us to write anonymously the literature review summary in a sentence. I was so proud when they chose my definition as the most comprehensive definition among those 50 other participants that are mainly phD students. I know this is very little thing that I shouldn't be highlighted but it sort of gives me comfort and motivation that I need. I'm a type of person who gets motivated from good results.

And today, I met one Professor from Bangladesh at the 6th college's cafe. He asked me lots of questions about economics - in a hard way. Berdebar-debar dia tanya macam2. Since I wasn't prepared for the questions - it's not that the basic knowledge is not in my head, but it's just wrong place and time to ask me those questions. I was exhausted and just got back from outside so I kinda blur when he asked very simple question (what is disposable income).. But after giving my answers for his questions, he seemed to be satisfied. He even complemented that I am good and bright student (which I doubt) that he didn't find any in UM for the past 4 years of his service. He even said if he were to work at the faculty, he will recruit me to be his RA. haha. This person that I met was the CEO to a few organisations before in Bangladesh. He's quite old, maybe just a bit younger that my dad.

In our life as researcher, our journey gets very lonely. So meeting ordinary people at the street could be very good and inspiring. We need inspiration and motivation to keep on moving in this field. For me, I love meeting positive minded people because they are just great in motivating me. Even sometimes, they may not even realise their little statements could inspire others.

During our last class, my classmates and I are planning to apply some grants from Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquartered in Manila. We plan to have a short visit to Cambodia. Some activities that we plan to have in the proposal include visit to their university, give seminar, present paper, listen to their side. We also need to do some observations and interviews the people there I think. We will not just going for an ordinary trip but to be very beneficial trip for the society - particularly Cambodia. We need to learn from the ground. This course is about practice, not just teory and sit down in the class.

I hope we all can prepare the proposal by January and start applying around that time. May Allah ease everything.. amin

I believe in economics, there will never be enough of studying.. The economics is very challenging and dynamics topics.. I will explain more of the nature of the studies in my next post insya Allah..

Its 3 am in the Friday morning. I have 3 hours to sleep before getting up to work and I have another appointment with my lecturer at 10 to discuss on the term paper. I got appointment with enumerator as well. Such a hectic life I'm having now but I am still adapting and finding my happiness through research - which I believe I will enjoy pretty soon, biiznillah..

Let us be the best for ummah!