Week 0: Student Assistant @ International Welcome Week 2009
Team Phil was in charged of keeping Lincoln Hall & Sherwood Hall standing till the end of the week. Tough job. Phil's flat caused a fire alarm when a student placed a tin can in the microwave, while the rest of us are drowning in a stampede of students, ton-heavy luggage, and never ending questions.
Jolie, myself, and Estella. Estella was my roomie for the week, and she was such a darling! Don't know how I'd pass my days without her company, retaining my sanity throughout. I have to point out though, that these freshers are so lucky to have females student helpers who wake up 10 minutes earlier to put on our 'face', just so that our dark eye circles dont' give away how miserable uni life can be. HUA HUA HUA!
Equipments Checklist:Bright Yellow Polo Tee
Midnight Black Hoodie
Name Tag
Walkie-Talkie
Big Ass Smile
...and I'm ready to take on the day!
Team Phil!Sam, Momo, BIG BOSS PHIL, myself, Estella, Alan, Zoe, Jawad, Eric
Helen and Tashya.
Helen and Tashya.
Best team in the house me thinks. Somehow I have the impression that we did plenty of OT, aside from what we were supposed to do. By the time it ended, every other team was absolutely lively, camwhoring, and socialising. But Team Phil was playing it cool, chilling on the sofa, enjoying the fresher-less atmosphere. I think our team was especially knackered.
Phil has been an awesome Senior to our team, being especially patient, and also making sure everyone is well taken care of, in terms of sleep and food. It was my pleasure to have worked with him. Everyone else on the team was also fantastic, the International Office have chosen well. They're all super capable, reliable, responsible individuals whom I have grown to be very fond of.
Phil has been an awesome Senior to our team, being especially patient, and also making sure everyone is well taken care of, in terms of sleep and food. It was my pleasure to have worked with him. Everyone else on the team was also fantastic, the International Office have chosen well. They're all super capable, reliable, responsible individuals whom I have grown to be very fond of.
The Big Boys: Momo and Alan, towering over myself and Helen.Helen is another amazing girl that I have grown a liking for, she's so funny sometimes, and yet she's so sensible. My source for logic and sense throughout the programme. Love her to bits!
We learnt, so much from each other, about courses, experiences, and also our backgrounds. Sam & Tashya is local to UK, and has been to the M'sia and China Campus respectively. Momo is from Jordan (exotic!), Phil is Singaporean+N'Zealander (messed up?!), Eric is from Kenya, Alan from Trinidad, Jawad from Kenya, Estella and Zoe from China, and Helen is from HongKong. A recipe for perfection, a team who beat last years efficiency record by 1 full hour!
And of course, let's not forget the perks of the job: ISB Club Night at Oceana + meeting new freshers. I was pleasantly surprised to see freshers coming up to me to say hi, share a few moves on the dancefloor, and actually bothered to have a decent conversation that did not involve asking for directions. My best moment? While I escaped to the Ladies for a breather, away from the International Student Bureau Help Desk, a fresher who just entered the toilet actually came up to thank me, for actually helping her solve her problem. She didn't have to, but she did, and I felt motivated. Some students are just rotten spoilt, being so rude and all.My principle: I work for neither gratitude, nor attitude.
If you do not wish to thank me, that's fine. I will not hold it against you, because I'm supposed to do it as part of my job. If there's one thing I do not deserve, it would be your nasty attitude. I'm not hired to be your venting machine, and I do not have to hang around to absorb your negativity.
I'd be lying if I said the job was a piece of cake. However, my dear people, it was definitely worth my while. Sure, I had good meals, great pay, and even better company. At the end of the day, I made a difference to someone, and my colleagues made a difference to me.
I've met up with Helen for dimsum, and frequently bump into Alan and Chidi around Dunkirk, meeting Philip this weekend in London for yumchar. There are already blossoming friendships with other members of the ISB, such as Ankur, with whom I had fun helping at Freshers Fayre. Since our "legendary" Welcome Programme, I've been seeing Zoe, Dany, Melanie and Deniz ,as well plenty of freshers who remembered me. I am feeling extremely blessed to know them all, and uni is starting to feel like home when you bump into familiar faces frequently enough =)
I seem to be starting on the right foot there.
More on Week 1 and moving forward in the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment