Today's my first Intro to Digital Electronics Labs.. The way I'm assessed in this module is that 70% comes from my semester exam and another 30% comes from my labs.. There are 3 labs in total and each carries 10%.. The thing is, back in Malaysia, we're not used to extensive electronics.. Even the oscilloscope that we saw in our A-Level Physics classes were handled by our teachers.. So imagine my apprehension when we're all told to carry out a full blown electronics experiment and expect to be marked at the end of the session :|
When I first sat down at the lab table, I was overwhelmed by the multitude of gadgets around me.. The oscilloscope, scope probe, Experimentor board, inverter gates, calibrator, live and ground rails.. What the..?? Flipping through the Lab Reference Manual for the n-th time proved futile because I couldn't understand a thing..
Then God sent me an angel.
His name's T, and he's my assigned lab partner for the whole semester.. Turns out he's done GCSE and A-Level in Electronics before.. Alhamdulillah! Throughout the 3-hour lab session, he assembled everything onto our circuit board and I just sat there looking and asking the occasional questions.. He was amazing! There were 11 steps to be completed and recorded into our logbooks and we finished them all with 40 minutes to spare! Nonetheless, I didn't really understand some of the procedures T did and when our supervisor asked me to explain about them, I was expectedly stumped.. So while T got an A+, I only got an A-..
Only A-? What the heck am I talking about? That's freaking good already!! :D
So yeah, I've been sent a guardian angel from above.. Come to think of it, I see guardian angels everywhere.. I have one in S, my flatmate, who cooks sahur for me every morning.. I have D, my tutormate, who taught me how to use Linux and teaches me how to solve my Maths problems.. I also have J, who's ever willing to show me how Java works and what it's supposed to do.. And there's probably a dozen more people whom I haven't mentioned here but they've made my life here in Southampton so much easier :)
Coming here really showed me how little I know about things and I'm glad that now I'm given the opportunity to learn as much as I can.. And the lessons don't stop once we're outside the lecture halls, either.. Interacting with people from all around the world is a real eye-opener..
But once in a while, I'd sit by myself and think about home.. Think about my family.. Think about Z.. Think about my friends.. Oh, how I miss everybody at home.. I still keep the messages they've sent me and just flipping through them brings tears to my eyes.. Sometimes the sadness gets so overpowering that I break down and cry.. It's so overwhelming to think that everyone's leading separate lives back home and I'm not around to share it with them..
But I suppose that's probably what they feel about me too.. So far it hasn't really affected me adversely.. But when the feelings do come, the only thing I could think of is going back to Malaysia :(
OK, so this is probably just a phase.. I know I'll get over this phase fairly quick.. I hope..
::
NHA at 10:18 PM ::
2 comments ::
