New chapter abroad.

Dear earthlings,

I thought I'd write this down, for future references or for those of you who are planning on coming over to Liverpool..

Rumah

In terms of rumah ni, kami agak xbernasib baik kerana dijodohkan dengan agent KENSINGTON HOMES..kenapa sy cakap mcm tu? sebab servis mereka sangat slow..slower than sipot sodut..It's more than 2 weeks and kami masih belom boleh masuk rumah lagi, apekah? sangat leceh..banyak sgt procedures nya..padahal sah2 la kami ni baru dtg..

among benda2 yang perlu disediakan kepada agent adalah: 

Borang yang kita isi sendiri along with 2 orang yang boleh jadi reference kita..kat sini akan ada masalah kalo xkenal sesiapa kat Liverpool nih..macam kami, nasebbaekla kami ade host yang cemerlang yang dah kenal2 kan kami with kawan-kawan baru, so boleh tolong mereka jadi referee kita..yang jadi lecehnya sebab, agent tu akan hantar borang lain pulak untuk referee isi and borang tu depa pos guna snail mail yang mmg sgt live up to the name..depa kata dah hantar bby pos hari isnin minggu lepas tapi sampai la ni xsampai2 lagi borang tu kat rumah referee kami,padahal dalam Liverpool jugak..bukan mintak referee dari mesia pon..pffft banyak2...satu lagi benda pasal agent ni adelah, jangan harap die akan call kite untuk update status permohonan kita tu, kita yang kena tepon die setiap  hari untuk follow up..letih laa...agent ni bukan free taw..kite bayar processing fee sebanyak GBP100.00 which is banyak hokeyh kalau duit mesia dah RM520.00...homaii...memang serabut perot dgn orang yang slow nih..

School

Alhamdulillah, dah jumpa both of my sv and pada first meeting mereka nampak helpful dan baik orangnya..setakat nih bilik belum boleh masuk lagi kat school sbb orang yang incharge hand out kunci bilik tu xde pulak..so tunggu my sv roger, then boleh la pegi school dan belajar comfortably..sv dah tunjuk lab and dah tunjuk hardware yang akan digunakan..excited plus berdebar..hehe...sementara ni telaah lah dulu contoh thesis yang diberi oleh sv..

Weather

Sekarang ni nak masuk autumn dah..the only predictable thing about the british weather is how unpredictable it is...kadang2 tengok forecast kata sunshine the whole day, dah semangat nak jemur baju..tup-tup tgk mendung sepanjang hari...

Usrah

Alhamdulillah, kat sini berpeluang join usrah yang banyak pengisiannya..selain dapat new info, boleh jugak meet new friends..awesome!

Transportation

Kami selalu naek cab je..tak mahal pon sebab kalo naek bus, lagi mahal ongkosnya..memang jimat kalo naek cab ramai2..kat sini, bole call Delta (01519247373)..kalao nak pergi school plak, sy buat bus pass je..and since plan naek bus untuk pegi school sahaja, amek yang stagecoach punya bus pass, much cheaper..GBP285.00 for the whole year and valid through summer juger..

OK, bye

Adventure Addict

hiccups sepanjang mengejar UK visa...

Dear earthlings,

This post is meant as a preventive measure, why do I say that? the things I'm going to share here are the small, menial details that people tend to overlook and then cause a lot of trouble in obtaining the UK visa..

Make sure you filled out the form CORRECTLY. Double check, triple check, heck quadruple check if you must, but make sure that all info are correct.

Make sure you filled ALL the required info before submitting you form..be it for the ATAS form, TB screening form, online VISA form or the self assessment form..This may seem like a ridiculous reminder, but trust me, it will save you a lot of heart ache later on.. 

Make sure you send your university the latest passport you will be using for your studies in the UK...this is uber important especially if you've recently renewed your passport..you might wonder why, well, hang on, I'm going to explain now..As you might be aware of from my previous post, your university will issue you a CAS letter..in this precious CAS letter, it will state your passport number, and it's important to get the correct passport number which means your latest passport number..as for me, I was browsing through the documents for my visa submission at 10.30PM on 28th Sept (I'm submitting on 29th Sept, 7.00 AM), that the passport number on my CAS was not the same as my current passport number and only then I remembered i did not provide my uni with my latest passport number...I was so worried but thank God, Allah gave me some ideas, on how to solve the problem..I emailed the international admission team in the UK (I think this is the ONLY time I've been thankful for the huge time difference between Malaysia and UK) telling them my problem and attaching my most recent front page of my passport along with that email..the next thing I did was I contacted my uni's representative in Malaysia, (yes, they are THAT EFFICIENT, answering calls at 10.30PM) told them about my problem and asked them help get in touch with the International admissions team in the UK to speed up the correction..they will not issue a new CAS letter bearing the new passport number, what happens is, the CAS number issued is unique and there's a whole folder online behind that CAS number..all the uni needed to do was write a little note stating that they are aware of my new passport number and updating it online..so, Alhamdulillah, problem solved...

I took the PRIORITY service for my visa therefore, from the website, they mentioned the visa could be completed within 3 working days..I submitted mine on Thursday (29.08.13) and I religiously checked my status online at the vfs website..On Monday, I got an email from the Manila visa processing centre stating that my visa is already shipped off to malaysia (yup, they do the visa processing all the way in manila)..On tuesday, I checked the status of my visa about every 30 minutes if not more...I decided that I could no longer wait because my sponsor wanted to issue my ticket to the UK and I needed to confirm with them latest by Tuesday...therefore, what I did was, I gambled..I just took a train to VFS with the hope that my visa would have arrived already..Please bear in mind that you have to queue even for collection of your visa...I gave the guard my receipt and waited patiently inside..I did not have a good feeling because all those who submitted their receipt with me have already been called...the guy at the counter finally called my name and said that my visa is not yet available, I put on my panicky face, and told him that I needed to book my flight tix and my sponsors are waiting for my visa clearance..I asked him again what is the staus of my application and he gave me the same answer as the one on the web...sheesshhh...so I finally asked him, 'yang hari ni punya visa dah sampai from Manila?' to which he answered 'baru je tadi sampai pukul 2. Kalau akak nak, kena tunggu like setengah jam untuk kami proses dan cari kalau akak punya visa ade ke x'...I was more than OK untuk tunggu setengah jam tu..I was constatntly reciting rabbi yassir wa la tu 'assir from the moment that guy went to search for my visa...Alhamdulillah, my visa already arrived and i could take it then and there..yippeee...

I think this post is too long already.

OK, bye.

Cara-cara Nak apply UK visa from Malaysia.

Dear earthlings,

After going through so many steps and procedures, alhamdulillah I finally got my UK visa today..yeay! So, let's see, what tedious process you need to go through before you can obtain your UK visa...this applies to a sponsored student bringing his/her spouse...if you are single, then you can just skip those docs that are irrelevant...

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE AN EXCRUCIATINGLY LONG ENTRY.

1) Make sure you have these documents ready beforehand.

    i) TB screening result (original and photocopy) - untuk diri sendiri & spouse

   ii) original marriage certificate (and a photocopy) - untuk spouse

   iii) translated marriage certificate (and a copy) - untuk spouse 

   iv) IELTS result (photocopy) - untuk diri sendiri

   v) ATAS clearance - untuk diri sendiri..for those yang nak amek phd in the         engineering field mmg kena ada tapi, boleh check balik dengan uni                  masing2. please be reminded that it takes at least 20 working days or

    or more especially during peak periods contohnya September intake, so sila     lah apply awal2 untuk mengelakkan sebarang delay..bole apply kat                   sini: https://www.atas.fco.gov.uk/public/welcome.aspx

   vi) CAS (confirmation of acceptance for studies) - yang ni akan di issue by           your university once you have obtained your ATAS clearance.

   vii) passport - untuk diri sendiri & spouse (renew siap2)

  viii) gambar berukuran visa dan background putih/ off white - diri sendiri&             spouse

2) Bile semua dah in order, boleh lah mula isi borang UK visa secara online kat sini: http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/

Nak isi borang ni amek masa sikit, so sila lah set aside some time to do it supaya tak key in wrong info. This form is pretty straightforward so xde masalah insya Allah. Kalau anda pergi under tajaan then sila pilih category General Sponsored Student dan untuk spouse General Student Dependent. So kalau pergi berdua, maknanya, ade 2 lah borang online visa yang perlu di isi.

3) Ade satu lagi borang yang perlu diisi secara manual, boleh donlod kat sini: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/visas/vaf9-app81.pdf

yang ni agak leceh dan banyak info bergantung kepada info dalam CAS letter..will go through in detail sekiranya empunya blog ini ade masa later.

4) Bile dah selesai isi semua borang, then boleh lah proceed dengan bayaran. I'm not sure if debit card is allowed, but credit card kompem boleh guna to pay. Seorang applicant perlu membayar USD492 untuk UK visa ini..kalau dua orang, darab la dengan dua...perghhh..memang mencekik darah...

5) Once your payment is made, only then you can book an appointment to submit all your docs to VFS. Nak dijadikan cerita, masa nak book for the appointment, bile nak click tarikh je die cakap not available..turns out that appointment for august mmg dh habes..so kalao nak jugak terpaksa amek PRIME TIME service..which means that the appoinment will be made as early as 7.00 AM in the morning, and to add salt to injury, kena bayar extra RM160.00 per person...memandangkan masa untuk start pengajian dah sgt suntuk, terpaksa juga amek PRIORITY SERVICE which means another extra RM392.00 per person...wah wah wah...kuyuss walletku...

6) On the day of the appointment, sila bawak segala dokumen ke: Suite 19.06 19th floor, Wisma MCA, 163 Jalan Ampang...Kalau tak nak drive sebab jem macam hape je kat jalan ampang tu, boleh la naek LRT and stop kat Stese Ampang Park..then just cross the road and jalan sikit je, dh jumpa WISMA MCA ni...Take note that sekiranya anda amek yang PRIME TIME service, teros sahaja ke Level 19, xperlu ke Level 3..Level 3 adalah untuk appliants yang tak ambil PRIME TIME service..Pembayaran untuk PRIME TIME service serta PRIORITY SERVICE dibuat di kaunter penyerahan dokumen..Sebelom masok, nanti ade guard yang akan suh put all your bags and belongings kat almari kat luar, henpong takleh bawak masuk katanya, yang boleh bawak masok cuma wallet...ye ar, kang kalo tinggal wallet kat luar nak bayar dengan ape plak semua service2 top up dieorg kan..then guard akan bagi nombor..dok diam2 sampai la nombor kena panggil...bile dah kena panggil, pi kaunter, serahkan semua dokumen yang berkaitan...then duduk sat, tunggu plak nombor dipanggil untuk buat biometric scanning...the masuk bilik biometric scanning untuk scan all your fingers...the person incharge will then issue you a receipt yang perlu disimpan rapi sbb nanti bile nak collect visa perlu tunjuk receipt tersebut...

7) Bole balik umah, dan kalau rasa nak check status visa anda, boleh lah ke website ni: http://www.vfs-uk-my.com/ dan pilih track your application. kat sini lah receipt tadi memainkan peranan penting sebab atas receipt tu ade tulis application reference number yang perlu diisi untuk access info about the status of you UK visa application..

tu je lah for now, nanti kalau ade ingat lagi akan ditokok tambah..

OK, bye.

masalah nak dapatkan ATAS certificate

Dear earthlings,

Siapa yang nak pegi UK for PhD mesti tahu yang kita kena isi borang ATAS untuk dapatkan ATAS certoficate tu kan..

1) Sila isi borang kat sini https://www.atas.fco.gov.uk/public/welcome.aspx
2) Tunggu la bulan jatuh ke riba untuk dapatkan clearance. (die cakap 20 hari bekerja masa yang diambil untuk dapatkan clearance)

As for me, saya kena tunggu dari 16.06.2013 sampai lah 21.08.2013 untuk dapatkan clearance...2 BULAN!! memang dah tak keruan sangat dah masa tunggu tu..yelah..kita kan nak dapat CAS letter dari university lagi, pastu baru bole nak apply visa...homaiii...depa semua ni tak pikir ke yang kite banyak urusan lagi nak settlekan? Nak stat 2.09.2013..alamatnya delay lah..ape lagi...

Yang paling haru lagi adalah, they dont have any contact number..x ade telepon number!! yang ada hanya lah alamat email yang mereka tak reply...pffftttt...baik tak yah bagi contact details kalo mcm tuh...

walau bagaimanapon, kite try jugak la contact dengan cara yang ade tu..iaitu email..nak tunggu depa reply memang orang kampung sy kata, don't hold your breath...bile email sendre tak jalan, mintak university representative intervene untuk pihak kita..try je la ape cara yang boleh nak dapatkan attention depa..last skali, sy email, cakap tolong lah reply sebab saya dah nak start 2.9.2013 which is like 9 hari bekerja lagi yang tinggal..lepas tu, baaaaaaaaru lah depa reply, cakap ade masalah technical (pffffttt banyak2) and akan issue the cert esoknya...boleh pulak nak issue cecepat kan..
ape2 pon, alhamdulillah dah dapat cert tu..this post will remind me of the times when hoping was the only option despite that hope being crushed day after day..stay strong!

OK, bye.
Adventure Addict

TB screening for UK Visa in Malaysia

Dear earthlings,

For those of you who are going to the UK, you must know by now that in order to get a UK visa, you have to undergo the TB screening test. Now here's the catch, there are only a few places that is authorized to perform the TB screening test. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur/ Lembah Klang area there are 2 places where you could go:

1) Gleneagles (03-41413282)

2) Life Care Diagnostic Medical Centre,
    1st floor, Wisma Life Care,
    No 5, jalan Kerinchi,
    Bangsar South, 
    59200, KL
    (1300222369)

Hubs and I chose to go to Life Care in Bangsar because according to a trusted source, their service is tip top..here's what you'll need to bring along with you:

1) Original Passport
2) A passport sized photo  (bring extra, just for safety)
3) A fee of RM210.00/ person
4) Your UK address. If you don't have one yet, no need to worry, just put down your university address.

We arrived quite early, despite having some detour due to following instructions from Waze, but that's a whole different story..Now, here's what you do when you reach Life Care.

1) Go to the receptionist at Level G. Tell them you are there for your TB screening. They'll ask you to fill in the necessary forms. Now, mind you, be extra VIGILANT when filling out the form. You have to make sure all are in capital letters. NO MISTAKE whatsoever (I looked up my university address and there's like 3 addresses on the webpage and I just happen to choose the wrong one..instead of Byrom, I wrote down Bryom..So hubs and I needed to fill out a fresh new form)..Your handwriting must be neat and readable. 

2) You go up to Level 1 and take your number. Wait while they call your number. They'll attach a cute pink tag to your wrist.

3) You need to pay the RM210.00 fee per person.

4) Wait for the radiologist to call out your name.

5) Once you are done, wait outside to see a doctor. Don't worry, the doctor did not ask tough questions.. He only asked what I was going to study, when I plan to leave for the UK..Do I have a tattoo? In which he himself answered, "No lah, mesti x ade"(I mean, do I look like I have a tattoo?)..are you experiencing any cough right now..He then said, your X-Ray is normal so nothing to worry about..

6) After coming out of the doctor's room, a nurse called out my name, asked me to sign indicating I have already receive my report form back..once she hands you the form, you can now cross off TB screening off your list..yeeehaaaa....

I hope this helps for those of you who have yet to do the TB screening. Good luck everyone!

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

Why on earth is it taking so long?

Dear earthlings,

If any of you ever had the experience of waiting and waiting and waiting, then you must understand my feeling right now..I'm sure everyone who is waiting for their result is feeling exactly the same as I am right now..super duper frustrated..

Just wanna update myself, my progress so far...

1) Forms submitted to a certain body incharge a while ago and guess what? At first they said, they would bring my application into the 18.06.2013 meeting...but no...they did not..they postponed that to 10.07.2013 (nearly a month after their initial set date) and penat je saya menahan nafas menunggu keputusan sebabnya, they postponed the meeting yet again..i see red tapes all over...

2) Submitted my ATAS application online on 17.06.2013 and they said it would take 20 working days for me to get my result but, it's already 15.07.2013 and still, no result yet...

A lag in getting the above two results of course leads to other major consequences...hubs still hasn't tendered his resignation since there is no assurance and black and white that the body incharge would actually approve my application and provide the necessary documents..we still haven't been through the TB screening procedure because again it relates back to the decision of the body incharge...I wish they could understand the angst and restlessness of ordinary people like me..

Let's all pray that they speed up the meeting. Amin.

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

Not yet...

Dear earthlings,

Just a quickie...I'm freaking OUT since the department incharge of approving my scholarship tak nampak gaya pon nak meeting anytime soon..oh my...oh my....menggelupur sekarang please..sungguh menguji kesabaran daku di bulan puasa nih...

Ya Allah, please ease this journey for us...Amin..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

Not a walk in the park

Dear earthlings,

I've encountered some minor setbacks in my journey to set foot in the UK...So let me tell you this story...

I am a person who does not like to make last minute preparations for something HUGE..and jetting off for my PhD studies abroad is considered something HUGE in my vocabulary...therefore, I made sure that I prepared everything early on so as to not have any delay..I'm supposed to register on 2nd September by the way...

I filled in all the necessary forms, the list is endless mind you..but I forced myself to complete it...I went to BTN early...I secured the offer letter from the university that I plan to study early..but I have to tell you, the most challenging part for me was to get the signature of the person that I shall just label as X on my forms..but Alhamdulillah, I managed to get X's signature therefore I could proceed to submit to an office I'd just call Y..I submitted to Y on 23.05.2013...I know this for sure because I purposely asked the person who took all my forms to initial the date he received (I am very careful, just in case anything happens)..He promised me that all my forms will be sent to another office, Z on Friday...

The week after, I received an email from office Y informing that my application will be discussed in a meeting on 18.06.2013...So, I was very glad assuming that everything went smoothly...

Last week (04.07.2013), my colleague told me that he went to office Y to submit his application and the person he talked to mentioned that office Y actually still has my application forms with them...Imagine my surprise and anger at this news..I mean, for God's sake..I submitted in May, and they still have it with them in July??? This is a valid cause for me to worry..So I dragged my feet up to office Y to ask them what's going on and they said that they overlooked my case..they thought that I'm doing a split program (1/2 in UK and 1/2 in Malaysia) which obviously I'm not...so they have to put it through a meeting to get the green light from people in office Y...so much hassle...I'm going in freaking August and office Z have yet to approve my application (along with the funding of course)...which of course means I have yet to do my VISA application..

I'm not going to say anymore..I'm writing this down so that I will remember how difficult it was to secure this scholarship and how difficult it was for me to go to the UK so that when I get there, I'll remember to work hard and not waste this once in a lifetime opportunity...

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

Putrajaya Passport Office - Remember this the next time you want to renew your passport..

Dear earthlings,

Among the long list of tasks that we have to do before we can actually jet off to the UK is to renew our passports..There's no choice there..If we don't renew, then we can't proceed with the VISA application..trying to get a day off for hubs is very difficult that is why we chose to renew our passports on a weekend...and since there is actually a place in Precint 15 that is actually open on weekends for passport renewal purposes, therefore, we thought that we were very lucky..I mean, we didn't have to travel too far..

The passport office in Presint 15 Putrajaya opens from 8am till 1 pm on weekends..but be careful, if the Friday is a public holiday, then there's a high chance that the passport office won't be open during that particular weekend..we did experience this by the way...

Anyhoos, we wanted to be there early, to beat the crowd..so we arrived at the passport office at about 7.45am and guess what? Other people beat us to it..there was already a loooooong queue lining up to get the number...So much for beating the crowd eh?Hubs was so disappointed he even suggested to come the next day to which I disagreed...he relented in the end so we just waited in the queue..

Finally, we got our number...76 and 77...can you imagine? We came at 745am and we got that kind of number...the other thing you need to beware of is that they don't give out too many numbers..If I was not mistaken, they only gave out until number 104...I wonder who was the 105th person...I'm just glad it wasn't me...There were also people coming in at about 10am and 11 am asking whether they could have a number to renew their passports but, no more numbers were given out that day...Some even came all the way from Ampang..I pity them..

There's not much to do but wait..Our numbers were called approximately at 11-ish...then our number was called again to make payment at the payment counter (RM300 for 5 years renewal)...and after that we waited for about an hour to collect our passport...

If some of you are wondering whether you could renew your passport even though the expiry date of your passport is still ages to go, the answer is you can. However, if you choose to renew for 5 years, what they will do is, they will add 5 year + 6 months from the date that you applied... They will not add an additional 5 years to your current expiry date...even the girl at counter questioned me whether I really wanted to renew my passport to which I adamantly said yes..

Thank goodness we finally received our spanking new passport...It's such a huge relief that we got that out of the way...

Yours truly,
Adventure Addict

Percayalah bahawa rezeki itu dari Allah..

Dear earthlings,

In this world, there's not that many people who wish to see us succeed, or truly wish to see us happy... For example, during the meeting this afternoon, one of my colleagues asked me where I was going for my PhD..so I told her my university, and guess what she said? 

"Oh, boleh pulak ye time you pegi situ...bukan ke itu university tu not up to the standard...dulu mase I mintak, cakap university tu macam tu macam ni..." and she continued her blabber to someone who actually cares...Please have some respect for people's feelings..Don't be so crass about it..People work damn hard to achieve their dreams..so please do not nonchalantly brush it off as if it meant nothing to them.. 

For me, I believe that everything that I have today I owe it to my Creator for without Him willing it, I know, I have nothing...I am nothing...So, the simple logic is that, If you believe that Allah has planned certain things for you and allocated certain shares of life for you, then you will learn to be grateful and thankful but if you for one second believe that you could change things or people, then you will never be satisfied with what you have...

Allah dah allocate rezeki masing-masing..siapa kita ni nak persoalkan apa yang Allah dah takdirkan? Adekah you are trying to imply that Allah is unjust? sila mengucap dua kalimah syahadah balik yer..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

successful PhD, from those who made it...

Dear earthlings,

I'm practicing something for my future PhD use..what is it that I'm practicing you may ask..the will to write as soon as I have something to write about...For your information, I am actually very scared of starting my PhD journey...I've heard (and read) so many experiences from those who's traveled down this road..Honest to God, I'm scared..I'm scared I won't have the resilience and patience..I'm scared that I won't have ideas for something novel..I'm scared of a lot of things...I'm just plunging in to this journey...I start in September...

In order to allay my fears, I started asking around about the whole PhD journey from all those Drs who successfully came out on the other side completing their PhD on time...I wanted to know, what it took for me to achieve the same feat...I'll list down some of the most important things they highlighted to me...

1. Always go to school..This may seem trivial and obvious but remember, PhD is a journey you take on your own..Nobody is going to boss you around and nag you to go to school..There'll be no classes, it's just you and your research..therefore, you must have a strong will and make sure that you clock in at least 40 hours a week...just like when you were working..only difference is, this time around, you are completely focusing on your research..They said that they'll come in at 8 and go back at 5...If they ever felt that they wanted to leave early on Friday, they made sure that they completed their to-do list earlier on..or if not, they would actually come in on the weekends to finish off whatever unfinished business...

2. Focus and focus and focus...oh...and struggle...and work extremely hard during the first year..this was said because many made the mistakes of leisurely cruising along the first year just by reading and doing the Lit Review...One of them actually advised me to start the experiment as early on as possible...Whenever I bumped into a wall, or some kindda hiccup in the experiment, then I could delve further into the LR and find articles closely related to the experiment I'm working on...then things will make more sense.. and we won't be like finding needle in a haystack..The LR will be more specific...

3. Write...write and write...Some people make the mistake of keeping the writing session till they complete the experiment, however, this is highly unadvisable said one of the successful Dr..It is better if we could do a write up about our experiment, comment on the results as soon as we are happy with the completed experiment...If we put off writing until at the very end, there's a high chance we'll end up with a lot of graphs, and numbers that don't make sense to us at that time...

4. Plan your work..this is what they said to me...Each week, Monday morning, just take some time to list down all you need to complete during the week..Make sure that the tasks are not insurmountable but not too easily achieved as well..there should be a balance so that at the end of the day, you are making full use of your time...make sure it is visible..write on small post-it..stick it to your laptop..so it's there..right in front of you...there's a huge difference between a TO-DO list in your mind and in front of your eyes..we are visual creatures...

5. Make friends with your research group members..this is super important..yes, PhD is an individual thing but it's not wrong to have some kind of support system who understands what you are going through, who are familiar with the deadlines and research..talk to them..sometime, maybe even during coffee breaks, during casual talks, we can get ideas because we are sitting among people who are doing nearly the same thing..

6. Set up a small group of people and then meet maybe weekly to present your findings on the journals and papers you've read..this way, all members can benefit in the sense that they don't actually have to scour through the whole article, they can get the gist of it from the group discussion...

7. Meet the supervisor regularly, so that he/she knows your progress and if you are digressing, they will be there to help nudge you back on the right path...

8. If you really want to take a break, then the best time to do it is when you go off for conferences to present your paper...After 2 days conferences, you can take a couple of days off to re-energize your batteries knowing that you have actually done something that can contribute to your PhD before having fun...It is tempting to go off on a trip to Europe especially when UK is very nearby and the flight tix are cheap, but do abstain yourselves especially during the earlier years of your PhD...Once you've achieved a huge milestone in your PhD progress, then you can reward yourself with that trip you've been dreaming of..

9. Doa and prayers...So very important beyond words. We may try as we might...but if we forget to ask help from the source of everything, if we forget that it is from Him that all our ideas come from, then maybe He will test our patience and our will just to see whether we return back to Him...Nothing happens if the Creator does not will it, therefore, pray.

I'm sure there's a lot more tips from those who made it but these are just a few that I managed to grab from the people I asked..Hope this helps those embarking on this huge PhD journey..This post is actually more of a self-reminder for me so that I don't forget myself when i'm there...

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

a call from far far away

Dear earthlings,

So yesterday from morning till 5PM, a group of butterflies invaded my tummy..wanna know why? well, my supervisor from LJMU was going to call me up for a phone interview...oh my..oh my...

I tried to search online for possible questions...some mentioned questions like why do you want to pursue a PhD? why did you choose this university? what do you think makes a good PhD student and stuffs like that.. 

One of my colleague was also interviewed by her potential supervisor from the UK but her questions were more towards publications and journal writing...

At exactly 10.00 AM GMT, the phone in my office wrung..the interview was actually not too bad..he asked me what subject I was teaching, what syllabus did it cover and co-coincidentally, he was also teaching the exact same subject back in LJMU..

He then moved on and mentioned that I had a short stint in the UK at University of Manchester and asked me whether I was familiar with the Brits educational system to which I responded yes...

Then he asked about my Masters dissertation which was Extremum Seeking Controller and asked me to elaborate on what is the difference between ESC and normal controllers..thank goodness I already prepared myself since morning so I just explained as best as I could..

I also took that opportunity to ask him whether there's a control group there and I learned that the control group was established 30 years ago..he also explained what are the topics and research area that the group is working on..

After a few more chit-chatting and I took the opportunity to ask how long it will take for LJMU to come up with the offer letter and the answer I got was most probably between 1-2 weeks...Alhamdulillah...Hopefully after obtaining the offer letter, I can proceed with submitting it to my dean to approve and then straight to KPT..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

Biro Tatanegara at Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu, Sepang

Dear earthlings,

In order for me to submit my application to further my PhD overseas, I need to attend the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) course. It is a 5-Days-4-nights course which aims to instill love for our country...So from 25th to 29th May 2013, I was a being a very good BTN participant :)

Admittedly, I was not exactly looking forward to attend the course, since I have attended a similar course back in 2007. This time around, instead of Ulu Sepri, BTN was held at Tanjung Rhu Sepang, and alhamdulillah, the location and accommodation is way better than Ulu Sepri. At first I thought of going alone, driving on my own even though I was not too sure where exactly the camp is located but in the end, I ask my sisters to accompany me and they could drive back my car. 

It's a good thing I did not go on my own, because I would have surely screamed inside the car when I could not locate the camp. Suffice to say that the map provided did not help much, I mean, the huge landmarks such as the KLIA mosque wasn't even on the map, like how did that happen? Google Map doesn't have the location Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu Sepang, instead the only Kem Bina Negara available was Kem Bina Negara Kuarters KLIA. My sisters and I thought that they were the same. teyyyyt!! how wrong we were..but alhamdulillah, with some instincts we managed to reach Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu Sepang at approximately 345pm..

Basically, the first two days, we just had to attend talks by several speakers and I find that the talks are very enlightening...for someone who does not work closely with the federal constitutions or the government administration, the talks managed to instill the sense of love and belonging to our country..Each session began  with singing the Perajurit Tanah Air song and Satu Malaysia song..

The next two days were spent in groups discussing certain topics related to Malaysian history as well as the Federal Constitution...everyone had to participate..you have to voice out your opinion..whether you like it or not..and we had to focus since we will be tested on the last day. My group consisted of people from different backgrounds, we had a lawyer, we had a staff from bursary department and we also had a dentist so it was interesting to listen to their opinions..

On the last night, we had to perform a song, thank goodness our group got away with a fairly simple song which is the Tanggal 31 song...it's not just singing though, we had to make a short play, and we practiced really hard and in my (maybe biased) opinion, our group performed the best but, we didn't win any place at all..shesssshh...a tad disappointed there..

Anyhoos, we thought that after our performance, it's wrap since we had exams the next morning, but they weren't letting us off that easily. We had to play some games and it ended well after midnight.. Only at 1am we managed to actually land safely on our beds...

We really did not have time to study for the test but the good news is it was an open notes test..yippee yeay yeay..

BTN taught me a lot.. maybe when I attended in 2007, I wasn't mature yet..but this time around, it did leave an impression..of course there are side effects such as learning to manage my time as optimum as possible because the schedule was pretty tight..

air conditioned hall for the talks...

at the musolla during the maghrib and isya prayers..oh and subuh as well

memorable meeting point where we did our aerobics, chicken dance, marching  and played "basuh baju" game

Oh, did I tell you that the reception is terrible.. It's so hard to communicate with the outside world..maybe that is precisely the reason they chose to build the camp here...hehehe..All in all, I'm thankful for this experience despite feeling pretty reluctant at first..

Best Regards,

Adventure Addict

lucky...? coincidence....? chance....?

Dear earthlings,

I'm an avid believer that if you work your a** off to do something along with prayers to the Almighty of course, then God will surely lend a hand to make the task easier...

And my belief has been proven time and time again.

Scenario 1

I have been vehemently emailing a certain individual for quite some time to ask whether it is possible for me to become a PhD student under his supervision. I think I emailed everyday. And I waited and waited and waited and waited...well you get the idea, right? He didn't reply my email.. Not even once..I was left feeling dejected..So, one early morning, I decided to wake up and pray extremely hard to God so that the person I emailed would at least acknowledge my emails by replying...

And guess what? The next day, I got his reply! Can you just imagine how ecstatic I was when I heard the email notification on my phone and saw that it was the email I have been waiting  for..Alhamdulillah...

Scenario 2

Even though he replied my email, there seems to be no further actions...Being a person who likes to settle things as soon as possible, I was worried...So I decided to see some people upstairs regarding this tiny hitch..At first I decided to see the person upstairs on Wednesday morning since I had lab sessions to take care of one Tuesday evening, however, at the last minute, I decided just to go home late and see the person upstairs after my lab session...I mean, this is my future after all...and I can't rest well until I find my supervisor...After waiting for one hour, finally my friend and I got to see the person upstairs...Little did we know that as we went in to see the person up-stairs, the representatives from the university that I intend to go to was just coming out of the person up-stair's room...When I mentioned my problem to the person upstairs, he went out to call the representative and what do you know? We are now working closely to get the best possible supervisor for my future PhD and they are working very hard to securing me an unconditional offer from the university...When I said to the person upstairs, it was by chance that I came to see him on the same day and at the same time that the university's representative came to see him, he  said that luck comes to those who work hard..Alhamdulillah again...

Scenario 3

It has been 2 semesters since I last became a facilitator for a Finishing School program...so, being me, I like to go prepared..I did my homework, I went through the materials, I collected necessary videos and powerpoint presentations...

I also decided to try something new. Since the program was held on a Saturday and we all know that The Star has a myriad of job advertisements on a Saturday copy, I bought 6 copies of The Star so that the students can work in groups to identify the job that they want to have once they graduated..To my delight, when I opened the copy of the mystarjob, it had all the elements that I have prepared beforehand, there's articles on internship, on the importance of personal branding and a whole load of things that I wanted to talk about...What are the odds, right? Oh, did I mention that the program was supposed to be held 2 weeks earlier but du to some unforeseen circumstances, we postponed it to last Saturday...Alhamdulillah...

So my dear future self, if you are ever in doubt, turn to Him..He will never let you down..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict