I love how my sister tells me tales from her campus; it helps me remember what it was like living the carefree life of a student. Although it’s only been a few months since I officially graduated from law school Alhamdulillah (convo is this October however), I can forget certain experiences pretty easily. It’s silly how sometimes I can remember the most useless crap but have only patches to clutch at when it comes to important memories. Which is probably why I write.
Anyway.
Widad’s been giving me regular updates whenever she comes home. One of her first few stories in the semester was about her Arabic class, where she was instructed to go to the front of the class with a partner to practice a dialogue in Arabic (obviously). Her partner began by saying “Ahlan” (welcome), short for “Ahlan wa Sahlan”. Apparently Widad didn’t know what to say next, so she shot a brilliant smile and held up a Peace sign. The class burst out laughing, and she had to start again. Her partner repeated “Ahlan, Lina”, and Widad, running out of ideas, confidently said “Wa sahlan!” The class went hysterical. I don’t know how she does it, being all cheeky and getting away with it. If I was the Geek in matrics, then she’s definitely the Class Clown, albeit one with a pretty strong popularity standing.
I ask her things. Do they play the radio early in the morning to wake you up for Subuh like they did in my time, whether she could hear the azan from her dorm like we could, whether the nasheed songs bother those trying to sleep in (one time they put the wrong radio channel on and some Tamil song was blaring, waking everyone up), whether she’s spotted any cute guys when they walk to the mosque to pray (hey, gotta pick the best of the best!), eating together with roomies crowded together on the floor, getting the Overnight Card signed to go home, extra co-cu activities at night, people secretly talking on their handphones in corridors and staircases, and of course the terms “Sis” and “Brother” which we called each other, and the list goes on and on. Some things never change. I hope they don’t - UIA wouldn’t be the same otherwise.
I also asked her about the law students, whether they were as snotty and loud as we used to be (although I unbiasedly believe we were a very cool batch.) She’s not one to mince her words and answered in the affirmative. “Action sikit lah” was the term she used. “Biasalah tu”, I said. “Don’t worry, once they get to 4th year in Gombak they’ll be too pancit to be snotty, I promise you. You’re looking at future zombies here.”
I say it often, but how time flies.
One moment, it’s me leaving the house for matrics and going through the up and downs of uni life, and suddenly now it’s my sister’s turn to take that path. My work as a student is done; it’s time for my next step.
In my final year, I made a list of things I wanted to do before I graduated. It had nothing to do with self-improvement in the conventional sense; they were just random things I wanted done as an undergraduate. It was quite a diverse list I have to say, ranging from staying overnight at the mosque to breaking a university rule. It was one measly university rule, and I got a long scar on my leg as a result, so there. Punishment enough.
I loved doing them though. I showed my list to Kak Ateq in my final semester, and we made it our little mission to do a few of them together. There were a couple of things we didn’t get to finish (we were choked for time) like going kayaking and Kak Ateq teaching me how to ride a motorbike, but that’s alright. It was enough for me. If I had to sum up everything I feel about university life, I’d just explode from the overwhelmingly great moments I’ve had. Despite the low of the lows of finals, and episodes I’d rather not revisit, and things I wish I could take back, I had had an amazing time with amazing people. I wish I could compress everything into a Harry Potter-like pensieve, so that I could relive it any time I wanted to, but I can’t.
That was then, and this is now.
Tomorrow I begin my first official job at a firm where I’ll actually get paid. Previous attachments before this were done for experience’s sake so fulus was never part of the deal. Earning my own money is attractive in the way being financially independent is. However it also means adulthood is no longer a dreaded fancy feeling. It is here, it is real. And though I’m excited and raring to go, there’s a part that’s feeling fretfully nervous because I’m not sure what to expect. Also, when I’m nervous I tend to do amazingly stupid things in front of very senior people.
Lets pray that won’t happen tomorrow, shall we?
I suppose, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my working life.
God I hope it’s a good one, Insya Allah.
Isn’t it funny, how time can change this gushing girl into this current person. And yet, I still remain as hopeful as she was on that day.
Here’s to new beginnings and fresh starts, Ameen.
Enough said here.
