By Shamala Suresh Kee

I couldn’t agree more with Syarifah on the identity thing. Only, she was in the opposite spectrum if compared to my case.

I myself had faced that sh*t. To be totally honest, I am a truly-yours science stream student. Up till Form Six that is. I even accepted an offer to do Applied Biology at our beloved Universiti Sains Malaysia. Now, what made me end up here in Communication, you might ask? Don’t worry, you are not the only human being haunted by that question. *Expletive*. The whole campus wants to know about it. And, didn’t I had a wholy pleasant affair of explaining away the reason in my second year? Probing questions on my decision come uninvited. People tend to size us up by taking our education and wealth generating potential into consideration. The only flaw is this, they do that with prejudice. And very unforgivingly. It seemed to them that I had done a great sin for opting to something other than the Great Science. Alas, I’m settling into my niche. I love Mass Comn.

Now, back to the present. Heck, being roped in into Komunikasi Kampus! has been a surprise. Writing things on and off is one thing. Expecting us to write every week on a regular basis, hmm, could be overrated. *(Eng Kiat, hehe, don’t worry, don’t worry. Just joking). Of course, we can be relied on to write good articles every week (ahem).

The Campus could hold thousands of issues that we could discuss on. The question on why we are here would be a good one to start it off. I believe we are here to attain as much as knowledge and skills that would prepare us for the outside world. Only, what makes me think again is, are we only here to hone our intelectual capacity and ability? How about an insight on the personality and character building? Now, when I say personality, one tend to immediately think of their physical shortcomings, the not-so-cool behaviour and etc. Like the time when I had to walk bare-footed back to my hostel carrying my torn slippers (as a consequence of fighting to get on the bus). Believe me, I went through all that hell before being comfortable with myself and still feel so. Never was there a more horrible critic of myself than me. Nada. Moi.

But, what I think counts more is maturity. On campus, you learn how to handle a hot-pot situation with a certain degree (if not total) of maturity and effectiveness. The success of doing so would reflect on your application of simple but essential means of survival as someone who is studying in a university. By now, people if you don’t understand what i’m saying, I’ll say it again. Its the everyday struggle as an undergraduate that really counts as our worthy education.

I don’t really know how others would rate my thinkings. The whole idea of this is freedom of expression, so be my guest and blast me off.

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Editor’s Note: Please feel free to leave your comments here. Tell us why you came to university. Do you like what you’re studying? Tell us lah