Although this is not my official time of leaving NUS, but 30/4/2012 was the date that marked the day when all of us (NUS FST Year 3 students) separate. This is because after the exams, we would be having our internship. And after our internship, some of us would be graduated, some of us would still stay for Honours, while some of us would stay for another semester to clear up our MCs.
Didn't realize that time passed so fast, and all these came to an end. I thought I wouldn't miss anyone. But, somehow, I started to miss the teases, the hates, the fun, and so on. If not because of the conversation with a friend who used to be my best friend when we're in Semester 1, I wouldn't even have these nostalgic feelings.
If there's one thing I regret, I'd say that, I regretted that I didn't attempt to really really know everyone in the class. Until this semester. 'Cause the past 2 years, the people that I knew in class wasn't helpful in guiding me things that I don't know. My first semester was tough as I was new to the environment and I need a lot of adaptation to learn as the teaching was very different. So, there's been a lot of new things that I don't know and I don't understand. So, I tried asking those smart people that I knew, but all I get from them is the answer "That one I simply do only. I also don't know how to do". But the answers they got are all correct. So, I realized, that as our cohort is very small, the competition is very high. So, people usually might be afraid that others will be smarter than them, so they don't dare to teach too.
Anyway, since then, I started to learn things on my own, and rely on myself. I tried to work harder but Semester 2 was not a good semester for me. A lot of things happened..and that caused my CAP to suffer. Abit depressed about my CAP but I told myself, the next coming years, I must strive harder. So, I worked harder, and slowly I saw improvements in my CAP. Semester 3, it increased. Semester 4, it increased again. :)
And now, I'm in Semester 5. I really hope to see more improvements. And of course, I need to thank some of my helpful Professors. This semester I had 5 core modules and I would say that although semester 5 had the heaviest workload and most hectic ones, I really really learnt alot this semester. From Food Microbiology to Food Safety to Food Engineering and Food Innovations, Sensory and Packaging as well as Nutrition for Disease Prevention. As for Food Microbiology and Food Safety, I became more aware of the foodborne pathogens. I didn't even know before this that, even without signs of defects in the food, food poisoning can occur. And it's all due to the foodborne pathogens. And also, some pathogens are actually able to grow in refrigerated or frozen foods, like Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia Enterolitica. Their names are quite unique right? Hehehe...I like the name Salmonella. Probably because got the word "salmon" in it. :P Hehehe. :D Then I had some funny friends that call my professors "Sin Bin kor" or "Biao kor" ...LMAO ROFL LOL. Okay, of course they don't call that names in front of the professor la. If not, later the professor would think " Wah, I'm very close to you ar? I'm your brother ah?" Hahahaha. Oh yeah, and also we learnt about fermentation too! We learnt how to make wines and white kimchi and also we had a hand-on project in which my group chose to make "chou tou fu" which stinks the whole lab whenever we opened the cupboard. Hehehehe.
As for my Food Engineering module, I also learnt alot from Prof Zhou. Sometimes, I would think how good if I had a father like him. LOL. Too much imagination. Haha! But seriously,he's really a good lecturer. And to be honest, Semester 5 was the first semester that I do every tutorial without fail. :) Perhaps, it was because his teaching was really good. And he really make sure that we understand everything we learnt. And when we asked him question, he would want us to think. And that's really a good point about him :) Of course previously there's another professor who is similar to him, but I don't even know why Prof Zhou (my Food Engineering module professor) had such a huge impact on me. Especially when a student like me who never do tutorials. -.-''
As for my Food Sensory module, I also learnt a lot about our senses, particularly the taste and the smell. Professor Ong was quite young and cool. And we always get foodies from him during lecture. I remembered the first time when he was trying to make us experience retronasal aroma so that we can understand it. So, he gave everyone flavoured mentos. And he taught us how to get that experience. Cause as a food scientist, apart from orthonasal aroma, retronasal aroma is also important. In layman's term, orthonasal aroma is the aroma that you'd get by sniffing the food. But for retronasal aroma, it's the aroma that you'd get from the action of biting or chewing of the food. There's also one time that he wanted us to understand the Signal Detection Theory. So, he asked the class to pick any song that we want to hear. Some of us gave some suggestions like "Lady Gaga", "Bad romance", or some lao ge (old chinese songs). Then, he said, "hmm...don't want la. Okay. Let's listen to Bruno Mars's Lazy Song okay?" Then we all like, "Wooo~~~~" Hahaha...He's quite cute. The idea of putting the song as the background while he's teaching, although it's quite distracting, but that's the main point! Cause Signal Detection Theory is about a person making their decision and reasoning under the presence of uncertainties. In other way, it actually means that you're trying to detect a signal (the professor's voice) from the background noise (the music). He really explained things in such an understandable and easier way to remember. Even when writing these out, I don't even refer to the notes although it's already after exam, which is a good thing. Cause usually for me, I tend to forget everything after the exams. :P
And lastly, for my Nutrition and Disease Prevention module, I also learnt a lot. And do you know that nutrition indeed has a lot of controversies? As in, you might think that excessive salt intake is the only reason that causes high blood pressure. But in fact, studies actually showed inconsistencies of the results. Some studies showed that salt causes hypertension, but some studies showed that salt doesn't have effect on blood pressure. Nevertheless, it's very important to reduce salt intake though, because the inconsistencies could be due to salt hypersensitivity or other secondary problems such as kidney damage , defects in the salt management of kidneys and so on. Also, I learnt to eat better and healthier in order to prevent myself from those chronic diseases. And I should avoid pickled food too :( Cause pickled food can cause cancer too. :( Sad face 'cause I love pickles alot. >.<
Also food to be avoided are of cause the most famous trans fat and saturated fats. And I should eat more of the PUFA and MUFA and Omega 3-FA. Eat more good fats to promote healthy breasts ^_^ And also, I should start losing weight too. Cause I think I'm in the overweight category now (Asian BMI and Caucasian BMI are different). And also I learnt how obesity can lead to so many chronic diseases such as hypertension, DIABETES, CVD....All these conditions in combinations lead to a medical condition called Metabolic Syndrome. So scary huh...Cause obesity is actually not only a problem of eating too much or storing too much fats. Our adipose tissues actually had its capacity and it's actually an endocrine organ as well. I never knew fats send hormone before until I learnt about this in this module. And so, when our the fatty acids are overloading in the blood when the adipose tissue is at its capacity, they start to search for places to be stored and they usually will get stored in the muscles, liver and pancreas. And how does obesity leads to diabetes? Interesting right? Okay, it's actually because when the organs became overloaded with fats, glucose uptake by our muscles cannot happen. So, the glucose will be like floating around in the blood. Then, the fatty liver causes insulin resistance :( That's how you actually get diabetes from obesity. OMG. I wrote too much. Hehehe. Sorry, I'm a person who tend to write things long-winded. Such a bad habit >.<
Besides feeling "smarter a lil" for this semester, there is also a few of my classmates that I just got to know better this semester. They're really willing to teach me in things that I don't understand although I'm not so close to them yet. They're smart but humble. Not like others that I knew in the first semester. And the best thing is, if you don't understand, they're willing to explain till you understand. :')
And regarding about my best friend in Semester 1, after we parted after the first semester, we hardly talked to each other together much until like the end of this semester. She is also the one who has never fail to plan all birthday surprises for me each year. Seeing her Whatsapp message, being invited to her party, planning for hangouts, although we're back together, but it doesn't feels the same anymore. As in we're not that close anymore. Perhaps it's because there are differences between us but the only thing that we had in common is GOOD FOOD and HANGOUTS. And the worst thing is, she kept making fun of me being drunk once. >.< OMG. Why all my friends' "fondest" memories of me is me being drunk? >.<
Suddenly felt that I'd miss her most. Anyway, we're planning of a Graduation trip together after our Intership or is it after our graduation (i can't remember). Hahaha. And also, we probably would be hanging out together after work (if our body allows us). :)
Oh yeah, before I end, I wanna talk about this cute friend of mine. She's actually from China, but she doesn't even look from China and doesn't even have the China accent. LOL. And for one year, I really thought that she's a local until my friend said whenever the professor asked whois from China, some will look at Mi Jie also. Then, I'll like, " Huh? She looks like she's from China meh?" My friend then tell me that she's originally from China. She's hmmm...not to say tomboyish, but a lil tomboyish. LOL. Oh yeah, she's our health advisor. LOL. As in, she's a person who is very particular about health and also an environmentalist. Hahahaha! If you wanna eat snacks or junk foods, better not in front of her, you'll get last warning from her. LMAO. But of course, in a funnier way la. It's not that she scold us or what, but she'll like "Eh, sherlyn, why are u eating this? Not healthy you know. See all those saturated fats and trans fats and bla bla bla". And also, shouldn't eat animal products in front of her. Hahaha. Cause she will give another nag. :P Being a vegetarian is actually her own choice. It's actually because after watching the videos about how those animals that we eating is killed, she felt very bad about it and pity the animals. That's why she chose to be a vegetarian and I respect her for that.
I usually respect people's choice of food except some people who restricts their food just because they wanted to stay slim. Oh c'mmon, as long as there's energy intake and energy utilization, you won't gain weight unless your net energy is positive (energy intake - energy utlization). The idea of people keep counting their calories and don't allow themselves eating those nice foods although it's like not in an often occasion really makes me felt that it's ridiculous and unnecessary. Sometimes, we should just free ourselves up and just enjoy the food although it's high in fats or whatever. It's not that you're doing it everyday duh!
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