Adventures of University Life

Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:13:00 +0000

Well my final exams were done on August 13th so after that my semester break began. So I am on vacation. My registration for the next semester was completed yesterday 29th August. It was horrible. The thing was not arranged properly. I went to uni at 8am cause I thought I could finish my registration and go home early. There, I asked someone from the office and he told me that the registration won't start before 10am. So I was pissed. I sat in the front lobby feeling sleepy. Some of my classmates atarted to appear. For some reason seeing them did not make me happy. Anyways at 9:30 am I headed up to the computer lab with one of my friends. There was huge line full of students. Both of us joined the line. It was hot, crowded and normally pushing. I managed to stand still in the line. At 10am when the doors were opened, the pushing became more prominent. I was fully drenched with sweat. Finally I entered the computer lab. The AC made me shiver, anyways a person on front of a computer screen called me. He asked me my Id number, then he went to a database and asked me if everything was ok. I said if I could change anything and he said no. I was dissappointed cause my routine sucks and if I did not change it would be difficult.

Anyways he printed my routine and I went to the study area to fetch it. Then I went to Room 222 where some Prime Bank employees where collecting the fees. In the printout there was a payment slip which I had to fill out. I filled it out and stood in line again. Although this time I was in the AC room. I waited till it was my turn. There was a scene during this time. Someone was screaming at the bank employees about how slow they are. Unfortunately they did not bring their machine so they were counting the cash manually. Someone from the office had come also to cool down the situation but it did no seem like it.

Anyways my classes will begin on Sunday 2nd September. So you should hear from me in the upcoming days.

Cheerss!!!!

The week in review

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:21:00 +0000

Its been nearly 3 weeks after my previous post. Yes yes! As I mentioned on the previous post my History of Bangladesh did not go well and with the driver gone quite difficult week. Anyways after that things seemed to heat a bit more. The driver came, that was good news but there was pre-registration. For any freshmen who joined AIUB trust me its a horrible experience. On top that I had quizzes to attend and another multimedia presentation to do. On the 29th my id slot was released for pre-registration. Horrible day. I had only one class but since the registration started after 6pm I was told to stay. The thing is several of us made a group and we wanted to have the same routine on the other hand there is another group which most of our class do not like that group.

So our class was divided into 2. The group I was in was telling me to stay. I said I will go home, have lunch and come back my 5pm. So I went home and of all this that day the driver turned sick. So it was CNG as transport. I had lunch and went to uni by 5pm. When I went there it was a disaster. The routine we set had to be changed. Oh by the way pre-registration is for the next semester, the courses I am going to be taking and specific routine. It was a bust. One of my friends started creating a fresh routine. Every 5 minutes all the slots were getting full. Since everything is done via net it is possible to see what slots are full or not.

Then we went to the physics lab to use a pc, luckily our physics teacher was presnt. So she gave us permission to use the computer in the physics lab. The clock striked 6pm and the physics teacher told that the lab was going to close. It was sad news but she said she will allow us to use the PC in her quaters and that we do our registration from there.

So my friends and I walked to Campus 4 to her quaters. One of the group members sat in front of the pc and one by one he completed our registration. It was 7pm when I headed for home. Unfornuately there was no CNG so I had to walk to Gulshan 2 and hitch a richshaw.

I also had presentation this Wednesday. We had gone to the Language lab to do our presentation. Sadly the damn projector did not work so we ended up just talking rather than showing the slides. My topic was about"Jaywalking in Bangladesh"

Week in review

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:36:00 +0000

So far this week was extremely hectic especially with my driver on vacation. Looking for CNGs that will take you to your desired location is very rare until they know its worth it. I called so many CNGs, neither of them wanted to go to university or come home. On Monday and Wednesday I walked most of the way and the remaining journey by rickshaw.

Other than that as I mentioned I had a multimedia presentation on Wednesday. Did not go to well! That morning I was still editing the speech and slides. I have been working on that thing for almost a week. Anyways I had other things to do like I had a quiz on Tuesday. The worse if all I had quiz on Wednesday itself but was totally unprepared. I did not study for it. I got another presentation on the 30th July. I was thinking of a topic but its main focus is on persuasive speech. Lets see what I come up with compared to my other group members.

Week in review

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:53:00 +0000

Well last week was the first week of final term. All classes were smooth as in not understanding half the sums the Math teacher did and a bombshell on my head when the English teacher said "There will be three presentations". One was on History of Bangladesh which is to be held on Wednesday 18th July, the other on Persuaive speech and the last a book review.

I chose Digital Fotress written by Dan Brown,as the book I am going to review. Have not decided on what I am going to do on the second presentation. By the way the first two are multimedia so Yes I have to do in on Microsoft Powerpoint. Luckily the second one is by me only. The first is a group presentation and the members I have are all bums. I have to do everything. Got a lot of work left so till next time!!!!

Monday 18th

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 17:25:00 +0000

That day my maths teacher marked me. What happened that day was I received my first quiz result. I was disappointed and furious with what I got but it was correct. So I asked someone behind me to give his script so I could see what mistakes I had done. He got full marks. When I was going through his and my script sir was calling the attendance. So he called my name. I responded "Present". He stopped calling and then asked who said that. I raised my hand up and he told " You must say present sir to respect me."I knew that but it just slipped my mouth.

I know this guy from high school. Surprising for a university professor to teach in high school but its true. I know he drones in class lecturing about things which are meaningless. His favourite quote "When I say no it means the stern voice of GOD." I am not the only one, everyone in our class makes fun of him.

Wednesday 20th,

Same thing happended also this day but slightly different. When he called my name I said "Present Sir!" He looked at me and smiled as in all his 32 teeth smile. I knew my maths classes wont go so smoothly.

Our English sir gave some stressing news and that was a group presentation to be held on 25th June which is a Monday, horrible day! Not only that we had a quiz and viva for 4 physics lab experiments.

Monday 25th

I had to dress properly as it was presentation and rules that I wear formal which for me is not a headache but wearing a tie in this hot summer was like roasting myself. Wore everything and headed for uni.

The lab teachers were waiting for us, arranged a room and took the quiz first. After the quiz got over we were given half an hour break then the viva would begin. W all settled and waited for our group number to be called. When my group was called I answered some things correctly and some have no idea. I did the sums correctly. I got quite good marks on my lab report though.

I finished with the lab class 1 hour before the English presentation so I quickly took a bite to eat. After that I asked my group members to do a slight rehearsal. Everything was ok except nervous. For some reason looking at my group members nervous, I felt cool and relaxed. That is not normal for me. We sat in class and let the first group start. From the second group things became a disaster.

The slides created on Powerpoint did not work. The university computer hanged. Then came the third group. They made a video which did not work on the computer. They thought that the software they brought would work but I knew it would not work. Several codecs were missing and the best software would the K-lite Mega Pack. To me its the best pack of codecs if you have any video issues.

The group after them also had the same problems. Video issues. Then we were called. Sir mentioned if we had technical problems then to mail the slides to his email address. I was hoping nothing would go on as most of the previous groups placed to much custom animation that it slowed the computer down. I did not put too much animation, just a few.

We bagan with me controlling the computer and the first speaker to introduce the group and topic. He was totalling shaking, fes words, looking at the screen too often, his outlook was ok, I was expecting more. Then shifted to the next speaker. He talked about the body. He was also shaky and forgot words and key public speaking methods. Then came another speaker. He seemed much better than the other ones cause his break in speech was uniform unlike the others. It was noticeable but his was not. I cant blame either of them cause nervousness is such a pain, you lose self-confidence and that is required if anyone is to talk in front of a crowd.

Finally he introduced me and I left the control of the computer to someone else. I introduced myself and for a moment my mind went blank. I had my speech in front of me and looked at it for a moment. WHoosh everything came back. I knew I had to show some pictures and point out what was what, and gave the conclusion. So far from that day our presentation was arranged and did not have hiccups but I had my hopes too high up. Oh yeah I forgot to mention my topic it was "Green Technology". I got the idea from my blog Pollution and its effect to the environment.
Someone had brought a laptop so the fourth group used the laptop to play their video. Their topic was " The biography of Stephen Hawkings" It was best so far.

Wednesday 27th

The presentation continued as half the class could not complete their presentation. From all of the presentation that day, the topic "Optical illusion" was mind-blowing. The best as the entire group was good.

Well 27th was the last class till midterm exams. My exams began on the 30th June and ended on the 2nd of July. Only three days cause three courses. All the exams were good except Maths. From the 2nd I was off for vacation till the 7th. Final term classes begin on the 8th. Another hectic month, but so was far university life is exciting and hopefully will become an experience I will never forget.

BETTER NOT GET HIGH HOPES!!!!

PS: I was supposed to post on the 21st but my ISP screwed me through the weekend and did not get to post last week. So sorry for the delay in post.

The week in review

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:22:00 +0000

Saturday 9th June

I reached Campus 1 at 4 pm somewhat early. I had nothing better to do so I read the new messages on the notice board. It was 4:15 pm when I asked one of the janitors where the Aiescec meeting was to take place. He told me it was on the fourth floor. I got up the stairs, taking my time to go up, till I see students already waiting there. I found someone I knew during the Team’s Day, so I talked with him about classes and university. His interview was to be held at 4:30-4:40pm, right before me. It was 5pm and there were 3 people before him, making me the fourth person. He was called and he came out 10 minutes later. I was hoping to go after him but to my amazement before him the 3 people still had not gone in. I was like DAMNNN!!!!!! It was 5:30 no sign of my name popping. It was hot and was not feeling too good. I was planning to leave when one of seniors said I would be next. I waited it 6:15pm, so stupid. I have numerous health issues so I was worried. If I fall sick then I will not be able to attend class. Not only that there was a quiz on Sunday. Finally at 6:15 pm I was called and entered the room. My interviewers where the President and VP of Aiesec AIUB. I sat and was asked to introduce myself. So I am mentioned my name. I stopped then the President said that he wanted to know something outside the form. I told him I have some health problems. He asked what problems and I told him everything. He then said if there was national conference would I be able to go and if my parents will allow me to go. I said that depends on my health. If I am capable then I will be able to go and my parents should not objection. I told him I would not regret if I was not chosen.

Then the VP gave two pens and told me to sell one of the pens to the President. The trick was the pen I am supposed to sell was not the President wanted. He wanted the other one. So I was tested of my selling skills. I looked at the pens first and then answered giving the weakness of the pen I am not supposed to sell and give advantages of the pen I was selling. I also received a question from the President regarding the pen I am selling to him. I looked at the pen again and answered. He said “WELL DONE”. He said thank you and told I could leave. I asked when would I know if I was selected or not, he replied hopefully within 9pm. I opened the door and left.

Sunday 10th June

Physics quiz. I was prepared for it. The questions were easy but I did a careless mistake on the last question. So lets see, still have not gotten my results.

Monday 11th June

Lab at 8am. Luckily today my 3 lab partner did not show up. I am not being cruel but he kind of slows the group down. From my experience on Alevel practical, I had to be quick. I always wrote my readings unarranged but mentioned what reading or measurement is was for. Later I would arrange it. One of my lab partners, it not that fast but I can flow with his pace. The other one is slow, always asking questions. There is nothing wrong in that. Anyway I could finish the experiment within 10:30am, so I had one and half hour of free time. I had breakfast in the cafeteria and then sat on the sitting lounge on the ground floor. I was kind of bored. I was planning to leave university and check something out, but was worried. The past couple of days it was raining hard and the clouds looked at me mystery, so I sat inside. I took out my mobile and checked my mail. Nothing special! I got up and stared at the message boards. At 11:45am I went up to class. I opened the door and saw the class mostly full. I took my seat and watched what other people were doing. I started to talk with someone behind me so was a member of Aiesec and got recruited just like me. I later found out that he knew one of my best friends. We talked for sometime till the teacher came in. Sir showed us some presentations and gave us a grammar lesson. While doing those exercises, I realized that I took have grammar problems compared to the Bengali Medium students.

Class was over and my friend and I went to have lunch. While going there is was drizzling. I was wondering that hope I can back to uni in a dry state. I ordered and started having lunch. My mom called me on my mobile saying if it was raining hard. I said it was drizzling but I don’t know if it is raining. She told me to call my dad whose office was nearby. I told her, I am busy eating and will call him later. I finished within 2:15pm so did my friend. We went down and it was raining like made.

My friend told that he will walk in the rain and go to uni. I told him to wait. I called several rickshaws but neither of them wanted to go. My mom called and told me to call dad. I knew if my dad was coming it would a long time and I would miss class. A traffic jam was brewing in front of us. My dad called and said he was coming. While I was talking my friend managed to get one. So I followed him. By doing so, my shirt, bottom part of my jeans was totally wet. I then called my dad not to come. We stopped but not right front of the uni gate as there were cars waiting in line. My friend got out and paid the puller.

I got down and ran into shelter. I was soaked and was extremely worried. I knew that I am not far from falling sick. I had no time to worry about that then, my objective was to get to class. I opened the door and saw so many eyes looking at me. I was wet. I sat and took my time to relax. Luckily there was no electricity so no air-conditioner was running. Then the sir entered. He rambled in class but I was least bothered. I had received a message from AIESEC President saying that I was recruited and a meeting was to take place at 5pm. I was tensed about that.

Class got over and got down to see if my car had come. The driver as usually is no were to be seen. Then he pops up and indicates that he is bringing the car. I told him to go to AIUB auditorium which was in Campus 1. I climbed to the 6th floor panting for breath. I was early but I could not enter the auditorium. After 5:10 I was allowed to enter. I took a seat at the middle of the auditorium. The President and 4 Vice Presidents had accompanied him.

The President started that those who got selected was because they answered correctly. He said there were some many potentially students but every few could respond correctly. So out of 130 people 42 people were recruited including me. Then the President said that there is a national conference to be held in Tangail and all the new recruits were supposed to go. I could not got cause I knew if I did, say good-bye to university. I would be in bed, recuperating for god knows how many days. Everyone was supposed to bring their parents the next day which was the Parents Meet. It was 7pm. I was in university for almost 11 hours. I was tried and exhausted. The President said those who are in a hurry can leave and I sped off. My mom called me and said where are you? You will become sick and all those things.

Tuesday 12th June

I was so exhausted from yesterday’s classes and meeting when I woke. My body was aching. I some how managed to get out of bed and had breakfast and went to university. Class was normal, there was nothing new. My mom told me to forget about AIESEC and I did not show up on the Parents Meet.

Wednesday 13th June

That morning too, it seemed I was sleep deprived. I had two classes. From 12pm to 4:30pm. English and Maths. Our English teacher gave us another presentation but this time was a group presentation. I had selected my group members but was not satisfied. I get to choose the topic. So that was easy. After English class I went to have lunch and came back for Maths. Sir had given us a quiz and after that he continued with a normal class. Bell rang at 4:30pm and left university.

The week in review

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:39:00 +0000

Sunday 3rd June

I had physics class nothing that great happened. Although our teacher mentioned that our section was the dumbest section of the other 7 sections.

Monday 4th June

Monday, as I mentioned was a horrible day and it began a storm early in the morning. I reached university by 7:45am in the rain. Since I had an English presentation to do I had wore formal clothes. I had my lab class at first. It continued till 11:30 am. I had nothing to eat during this time and I only drank a cup of tea a few biscuits. I was so famished, by 11:30 we were allowed to leave after completing the experiment. I said nothing to my lab partners and went down. Grabbed my bag and had breakfast. My mom had given me something to eat. I had only 20 minutes left till my next class which was to take place at 12pm. I managed to finish a piece of bread and fried potato. My mom gave me 3 pieces to eat. I packed the remaining in my lunch box and headed up to class. I opened the door and found my usually seat empty.

I waited till the sir entered; all of us stood up and sat. Sir called our attendance, and started calling one by one to present. As my classmates started to introduce themselves, I got to know a lot about them, where they came from, where they completed their high school and a lot more. I was exhausted from the morning lab class so when my name I was called it was almost 1:25pm, I slowly approached the lectern. I put my speech down and looked up to my friends. Took a breath and started speaking. I looked down at the speech time to time as I read my speech several times, so I had an imprint of it in my mind. As my teacher mentioned that eye contact is important for public speaking so I tried my best to maintain it. Since my speech was held later, sir kind of felt bored so he told me to go to the conclusion. I did not hasten my speech. I wrote my speech such that it would take not more than 2 minutes. I continued from there and concluded it saying THANK YOU. I sat quickly listening to the other speakers.

Suddenly my pocket started to vibrate. I took out my mobile and checked it was my friend. I cancelled the call and sent and sms saying I was in class. Around 1:45 pm, sir stood up and told that the remaining candidates where to present their speech in the next class and he left. I grabbed my bag and left to eat lunch. I called my friend and asked why he called? He said that he was also Boomers (a cafe), the place where I was going to eat lunch. I meet him there and had a quick lunch, said bye and headed back to class at 2:25pm.

Math class, the droning sir, who would stop in the middle of sum and talk about something out of the blue. I listened to his lecture in a lazy mood, completely exhausted. Finally at 4:30, he left and I was relieved. I could go home.

Tuesday 5th June

Same old physics class nothing much great happened that day.

Wednesday 6th June

English presentation continued till all of our classmates where done. Sir stood up and told that he was quite amazed and said that this section is quite brilliant. He never thought that being the first time to talk publicly that we would have serious problems. Most of us passed with flying colours. I got an “A” but the teacher commented that I was low on energy and was my flaw. I was tried that day so yeah.

We had a math quiz, something I was partially prepared but i hope I get something good.

Thursday 7th June

I picked up a recruitment form from one of the campus for AIESEC. An international organization run by students. I wanted to give it a try so I filled up the form and was to attend a meeting on Thursday. So I arrived at Campus 1 at 9:15 as they have mentioned. I waited, my name was called, I filled another form confirming that I was present. Then we were ushered to another room where music was booming loudly. There was a sort presentation about AIESEC and then there was dancing. Having regular disco parties with my cousins in one of my cousin brother’s house, dancing was something common for me. We were asked to stand in 5 lines and then the music began. We danced for 5 minutes, then we were asked to sit in groups. Then we were to make a presentation about our group. We presented it and received cheers. Again there were dancing and some presentations. I cant remember all the presentations. Till 2pm it was like that. We were given an hour’s break to have lunch. As usually I went to Boomers. Lunch was quite good. I came back to university and into the room. There were some more presentation about AIESEC and another presentation on Crisis Management.

At 6pm we were asked to fill up another form for the interview. My time slot was 4:40-4:50 pm on Saturday 9th June.

The week in review

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:44:00 +0000

Sunday 27th
My first class at university. My class was scheduled at 12pm so I thought I reach a early. I was there at 11:45am. I went up to my class room where there were already plenty of students waiting outside the door. I was guessing them to be my classmates. But not all of them were. Some were from the next class as in different section. At 12 the professor came out with the students behind him. Then all of us entered the class room. I grabbed a chair on the corner of the room but near to the board. Oh yeah! My first lecture was on Physics. We waited till the teacher came but before that got to know some students from were they were. Then our teacher entered complaining about a huge traffic jam on the Airport Road and she had walked to class. Yup it was a “she.” I expected my physics teacher to be a “he” but that did not bother me. She introduced herself and then we did a slight introduction of us by writing our names and ID on a piece of paper then she mentioned about rules what not to do and what to bring and if I don’t bring or attend class I would lose marks which will affect my final grades and possibly will not pass the course. After a long talk about this matter she began the class. Class got over at 2pm and she told to get a photocopy of the chapter she was teaching in Campus 4. After class I went to Campus 4 and collected the notes.

Monday 28th

I expected this day to be the worse as my routine was tight. My classes were from 8am to 4:30pm with only 30 minutes break for lunch. My first class was physics lab which was held at the top most floor at 8am. I reached the university within 7:45am. I went up the stairs to the lab where I was told not to bring my bag up. DAMN!!! I went back down to the lobby where I stored my bag in the storage, given a number, took my book, pen and ran up to the lab. By then it was pass 8am. Luckily it was the first day. I sat with someone I got to know on Sunday. Then the teachers( 2 female and 1 male) told us sit in a group of three and write our id on a piece of paper. Then Mr F, I person I met yesterday submitted it to the teacher. Everyone was told to do so. Then she called our names and told our group number. I was in group 3. Well I have to say that I don’t like my lab partners that much. I have a guess about Mr. F that he may not be a good friend as I judged him before. But its hard to say.

Then one of the female teachers called all of us front of her where she and her assistant (maybe) were sitting behind a desk and a wall fan buzzing on top of them. She told us the rules that we have to attend class and do the assignments or we were to lose 14 marks for just missing a class. So yeah I was kind of shocked. 14 marks! I just began I am already kind of scared. Then we were handed out a sample of lab report that each group has to prepare before each practical class and there would also be a viva. I was wondering viva. Anyways I read the sample then Mr.F then our third partner Mr.S. Later the male teacher requested us to return the sample. By 10 we were asked to leave class with an assignment due next Monday. I then called my mom to send me the car so that at least I could get breakfast home. The car came within 15 minutes and I was back home by 15 minutes. I ate breakfast, changed my shirt ( it was extremely hot, my backside of my shirt was totally wet) and left home by 11:20 as I had class at 12.

I was in Campus 2 (where all my classes take place) by 11:45. I headed up to the room and as usually students were waiting. I stood in the hallway and looked up at the camera. Our founder told us that during the orientation that the campus was surrounded by 132 cameras. The purpose was to provide security but possibly to monitor our actions. He mentioned something funny that if we did anything outside the rules, the administration will call our parents ,show the tape of our actions and would tell the parents to take their sons or daughters out of the university.

I had English class next and took my seat. Our teacher entered and introduced himself. He was from Dhaka University from the English Department (definitely). The class went quite well were everyone introduced themselves. At 2pm the sir left and I headed out to eat at a restaurant. Time as short, I had only half an hour for lunch. I quickly entered the restaurant, ordered something and started munching on the food. At looked at the watch and it was already 2:25pm. I left my lunch, not satisfied and ran to Campus and up the stairs and stopped right in front of the door. Someone was already standing there, while the teacher inside was asking questions “Why are you late? Where were you? The teacher allowed him in and followed him in. I had few people behind me, so it was lot of students who were late.

I sat in a seat and looked in front to see my teacher. I was SHOCKED!!! I knew the teacher. He taught me when I was in high school. He was not a good teacher. I then realized, I am not going to do so good in this course. He does not explain and when asked to explained, he explains something else and its difficult to understand what he is saying. It seems as if he is in his own world and we are aliens. In the end I did not understand what he taught me in the two hours of class but I was not the only one. After the bell rang, many complained.

Tuesday 28th

I had only one class which was physics. So nothing much happened in class. We were given problems to solve and after that, the teacher started the lecture.

Wednesday 29th

It was not a bad day except for maths class. English class was at 12. The teacher discussed about public speaking and made us come in front of the class and read out a passage. When I was called, I was nervous. I stood in front of the lecture stand, placed the passage on and looked at everyone. Everyone was staring at me. I took a deep breath, and started reading. Time to time I would look up to the audience as our teacher mentioned in public speaking eye contact is important. So I would pick 3-4 words together and would look at the people in front of me. I made mistakes, missing words, or replacing them with others. In the end my teacher said it was good.

He gave us an assignment to do rather a presentation on the topic “Self-Introductory”. We would have to talk in front of the class, sort of a speech. Bell rang, got up and headed for lunch. My mom gave me lunch in a lunchbox so I had food in the campus. Some of you may be wondering as to why I don’t have food in the cafeteria. Well I am kind of picky when it comes to food. Not all types of food are good for me. I finished most of it and entered class before 2:30pm. I got a seat at the back and waited. 10 minutes later he entered. He continued from where he left off. Astonishingly, I understood part of what he was teaching, but I did not know why I was doing the math in that type of method.

Anyway my week was over. I had three days off Thursday, Friday and Saturday off. I went on Thursday to university to check if I had gotten my ID card. Unfortunately, did not get it. I also went today Saturday to check if I could change my math course to another section or teacher. I went to the Coordinator’s office (Faculty of Engineering). I waited till all the students inside left. He asked me what I wanted to do. I replied that I am a freshman and wanted to know how I could change my course. He asked me why I wanted to change. I told him that the math teacher I have is not good and he can not explain, straight at his face. I also told him I knew the teacher from school and how it taught so I had experience. The look on his face was clear. It seemed he was offended. Students entered his office but he told them to step outside. I been tensed and changed the topic. I asked if I could do it and such that there are not clashes in the routine. He gave timings and class room. I asked if I just go into class or do I have to write an application. He laughed and said the teacher is different, that’s what you wanted. Just go in class.

I knew I had to somehow pass this semester, cause from next semester I get to choose my subjects and teacher.

Orientation

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:40:00 +0000

I reached Campus 1 with my mother at 9:15am. I saw a lot of students gathered in front of the building but for some reason there were supposed to be more. I stood outside for 25 minutes until someone from the university started calling the students. All of us went upstairs and were put into different classrooms. We stayed till 10:30 when again we were ushered up again into the auditorium. A lot of students were already sitting inside, and I spotted a chair in front and quickly sat before it was taken. Some of the students were standing as no chairs were present. I got lucky!! The orientation then began at 11 with a presentation of the University. Then the head of the Student Affairs started another presentation telling us about the rules and regulations. He sounded as if he was trying students to leave the university.

He then said that the orientation was for the BBA students but some EEE students got in. I later heard that there was another time allocated for EEE. I was not informed. But the Student Affairs head noted that the same thing will be done with the EEE. I was relieved. Then the Founder and Chairman gave a speech with the Vice-Chancellor concluding it.

Semester fees

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Sat, 26 May 2007 16:11:00 +0000

I had the option of paying my semester fees from 15th -16th of May. I knew it would be better to the 15th but that did not happen. Our driver had to get his license renewed. So I went pay the semester fees on the 16th. The transaction was held at Campus 4 just opposite to the first and fifth Campus. I predicted nothing was supposed to go wrong. But yeah that’s not possible, something or the other has to go wrong. Anyways a senior student gave a small paper with a serial number on it. My one was 28. I sat at the ground floor with some other students and parents. All of us were called upstairs where we were ushered into a room, titled “Freshmen.” My mom and I entered the room and grabbed a seat. The senior students were calling by the serial. Some students were allowed to go first then there parents were allowed but that changed as the parents had the money.

My number was called, so I stood up and followed one of the senior students with my mom behind me. He pushed a door open and I stood in front of the door for a moment. There was a line of computers with their LCD monitors. It seemed like a bank without counters. Anyways I sat on one of the chairs until my number was called. I gave my admit card and other papers to the person behind the monitor. They confirmed my address and blood group and was told to shift. As I shifted someone from the monitors popped out and told me if I had submitted my original Alevel certificate. I said no as British Council has not published it. Then someone else came and told me if I had written an application to the Vice-Chancellor stating my problem. I said no as nobody told me to do so. Then I asked what am to do? Then she told me to write a letter to the VC saying that I did not receive my certificate so accept my registration. I wrote there while my mom was anxiety looking at what I was writing. Finally finished it, submitted the letter, paid the money and was handed a routine stating my courses and times. I gave a glance but was not worried about that. I asked one of the senior brothers when my orientation was to take place and when my classes will begin.

He said the orientation will take place on the 26th May and classes on 27th.

Paying the admission fees

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:27:00 +0000

That day was a total disaster for me. I went to their admission office with my documents such my original documents, photocopies of all my results and documents. I called them a week ago before paying for the admission fees. I asked them if I were to bring my original documents. I knew that universities see the original documents and return it back to the student immediately. I went to a room where students and parents were both filling some forms. As I approached the table someone from the university gave me a yellow file and told me fill up some forms. So I did and waited. I was in serial for quite some time until I was called into a room. No one was allowed to enter that room without being called for. I got through the door. My mom too came with as she had the money. There was small passage with 3 doors all of them shut. The passage was cold and it made by hair stand. I had wore a full sleeve shirt with my sleeves folded, a trouser and a snicker. A guard had directed my mother and I into another room. As he opened the door, I saw a huge counter. I proceeded forward and saw that this was the accountants section. My mother paid the fees and the guard directed me to another room but my mom was not allowed.

I sat quietly in a chair and waited for my serial number. There were 4 people in front of me. They were processing all the documents and forms. There were 2 guys and 2 girls. As I sat one of girls kept spraying air freshener. It looked like she did not like the smell of the atmosphere. The room was crowded with students. Every time someone left she would raise her gun and spray it. I was kind of feeling suffocated. Finally I was called by the two guys. From I could guess they were senior students of the university. He asked for my documents and forms. When he asked I at first gave him the original certificates as I knew I would get it back. He slipped the certificates in the yellow file and passed to the girls’ table. I got up and went to their table. She checked for some time and said where is your Alevel certificate? I said I still did not receive it. She asked why? British Council did not publish it. I will receive it in mid-june. I told all that, she filled up some forms, gave me an ID number and she nicely put all my original certificates in the yellow file and stacked it with the other files. It did not occur to me that she kept the original ones as I was busy about my final certificate not present. I asked when I receive it should I submit it to the university. But the way she looked, scribbling around pages, marking things distracted me from the main thing, MY ORIGINAL CERTIFICATES. She responded YES! I asked again if anything was left, if I had to fill any more forms. She said no and I left.

My mom was waiting for me outside that room looking tensed. She asked if everything was alright. I said yes nothing wrong. As I left the passage and into the admission office, a girl asked me about if we were to submit original or photocopies. It still did not strike me. I then assumed that they will keep it till the admission procedures are over and give it back to me. I responded original certificates. My mom and I walked into the car and she said if I gave my original certificates. I said yes. I then heard a loud screaming. My mom was yelling in top of her voice why I submitted my originals. Then I understood. By then we left the admission office and was going home. My mom quickly told the driver to go back. We reached back, with my mom still yelling. I ran into the admission office were I asked if I will get my certificates back. The girl (not the girl filling forms) sitting on the desk said that it was there university policy to keep the original certificates until and unless the student graduates. I then blurted SHIT!!! She stared at me but I did not care. My mom then talked with her about if I could get it back before my graduation. She said it was possible but you would still have to return it back.

My life’s entire education is with them. All my hard work, I am stupid!!!!

The viva result

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:20:00 +0000

The final result was published on their website. I don’t remember the exact day but I had passed my admission exams. I was finally in the path of university life. I had checked that I did not require any non-credit English or Math course so I was delighted. My friends told me that you will get into the university, they will take you. I also used to think like that when I was an outsider to universities. Both my friends got admitted in the spring semester so I was behind. It did not bother me that much that they are few months ahead.

The viva

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Sat, 19 May 2007 13:25:00 +0000

My viva was scheduled at 10:30am, which meant that I had to get up early. I woke up at 8 in the morning but took my time to get out of bed. Finally at 8:15 I decided to get up. I got out of toilet and went to the drawing room to see if my mother has made breakfast. My breakfast was already on the table. Normally when I have breakfast I sit in front of the television and watch CNN or BBC. After breakfast I would read the newspaper or sometimes before breakfast depending on when I get it. Anyway that morning I did none of these things. I quickly finished breakfast and got ready for the viva. Unfortunately that day I did not have any car as it was in garage. So my mom asked the driver to get an auto-rickshaw to go to Banani. My mom and I left the house as 9:45am and reached there at 10am. My viva was to take place at 10:30. We sat for few minutes on there waiting area. There I saw some of my classmates sitting waiting tentatively. A bit later, someone from the administration requested all the students present to go up to the second floor. I said farewell to my mom and went we the procession of students up the stairs. There I a room with a sign indicating Viva admission. An employee of AIUB told us to sit on the chairs. Few as in there were totally 8 of us. The viva was to start at 10am but that never happened. So the students who were scheduled at 10 were now with the 10:30 group.

I sat quietly listening to the others talking. I did not feel like participating in their conversation. It had nothing to do with me. At 10:45 the room opened and the people inside the room asked the employee to send someone in the room. All of outside waited patiently. We did not know what they were going to ask, so most of us were worried. Five minutes later the first candidate left the room and someone else entered. The first candidate was then battered by the others outside. They asked him all sorts of questions. He told us that they asked personal questions as in where he studied, lived and things all that. After that he responded that the people in the room also gave him a math sum to do. From what he told about the math sum I assumed it to be easy.

The second candidate came out. He too was battered by the candidates outside. I just listened to their conversation, did not ask anything. But when he said that his math sum was calculus and was difficult I kind of started sweating. I tried my best to remember the formula but could not get anything. The only thing I remembered was the simple formula not the difficult ones. Slowly all of the students I came up with had gone in the room. Then I heard the employee call my roll number. I stood up and opened the door slightly. There I saw four men sitting in their chairs with a long table at the middle of an empty room. The only furniture there was the table, the chairs they were sitting at and one chair for me. I asked “May I come in”. They gave me permission to enter. I sat on the chair properly with my hands on my thighs. There were four professors. One of them was an elderly although from his English I could understood he stayed aboard for sometime. The other were middle-aged. I knew the invigilators where monitoring everything, including the way I sit. The main fright I got when I sat in that chair was a teacher ( I am assuming), right opposite to me, wearing glasses and his facial expressions were not good. He looked grumpy and not happy. He then asked me to talk about myself. I spoke telling where I was born and where I studied and what I did. This part did not go to well as I repeated some things several times. I also did not have the eye contact required in the interview. For some reason the fright from his expression made me focus my eyes behind the professors onto a window grill.

I abruptly stopped myself as I knew that I repeated. The teachers said ok and told to do a math. The math was integration of sin x. I knew that by heart!!!!!! As there were no limits mentioned I wrote what I knew. - Cos x + c. The elderly teacher asked if my math was correct and the remaining three teachers nodded telling my sum was correct. I knew I was right. The elderly teacher asked me questions where I live and what my father does and some family related questions. The question after this gave me a mild heart attack. He asked me if I read the paper. As I mentioned before I was in hurry and could not read the papers. So I responded honestly and told no. After he looked through my transcripts, he asked if I watched the cricket match the day before. The cricket World Cup was going on and Bangladesh played. I only saw the first innings. So the elderly professor asked me what the score was. I was uncertain but I knew the opposition team had scored more than 300 runs. I took a wild guess and said 315 runs. The professor smiled and said quite close but no 318 runs. Later he scanned the remaining documents and asked me to leave.

I got up slowly and left the room

The result of my written admission

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:10:00 +0000

The result of my written admission exam came out on March 20th 2007. That morning I was pacing round the house thinking about my Mathematics Section. I knew my overall exam was good, so I decided to divert myself from that. The result was to be released on their website after 12 noon. I had checked their website several times after their mentioned time. I saw nothing in the site. My mom then insisted that I call their admission office and ask if they result was out. I called them up and asked about the results. They were out! Although they still did not upload to their site but was on display in front of their campus.

I quickly ran into the toilet, jumped into my jeans, picked a shirt, wore my shoe slippers and entered the car. I had told the driver not to leave for lunch. It was 1:15pm and told the driver to head for their Campus-1. Moments went by but I was not tensed. I got distracted by the traffic but during that time it was highly expected. I was nearby the campus. The driver took a right turn and into the alley he drove. I saw students bustling in the front of the campus like a bee-hive. I got out of the car and asked the driver to park nearby. I looking for the message board but could find it at first. I got confused with so many students. Later when two students moved from their position, I got a glimpse of the board. It took me some time to get a clear view because of the hoarding. Finally a girl had moved and gave me a nice spot to stand and see my results. I looked top to bottom, but could not find my roll number. There were so many numbers from different departments, although each department had a different section of the board, the list of students were huge(to me it seemed huge).

Finally I found it. My name was there and my roll number was correct. I had passed my written exam. I was still not out of the jungle. Beside my name there was a timing and campus number mentioned. That was my viva(interview) schedule. It was dated on March 24th 2007( I think, I don’t remember the exact date). I called my mom saying that I had made it through the written exam. I walked into the car and headed home.

The written admission exam

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:23:00 +0000

My entry to university life, I add to pass the written admission exam. Why I add to pass? Well I only applied to AIUB for the summer semester. The reason mainly cause the other private universities did not have EEE as an undergraduate course and the ones that had a fall session and I was unwilling to wait that long. It would have a nice 6 months vacation but I had already delayed 2 years.

My written exam was on March 17th 2007. My exam was to start at 12pm so I headed to the university campus 1 and 5 with my mom at 11am. The campus is not that far from my house something like 15-20 minutes. As most of their campus were scattered near Banani, I knew the exact place of the university however our driver took the wrong turn. We still continued until we were stopped by cars and people walking on the streets. I looked at a guy's hand and there I saw an AIUB file on his hand. So I knew I was going the right way. My driver asked a traffic controller who belonged to AIUB where the campus was and he showed us the directions. We advanced a little further when I looked at my watch and saw it was 11:45am. I was late, so I got out of the car and began to walk.

I had my admit card and a box of pencils,eraser, sharpner in my hand. Parents where standing,chatting to each other while students were sitting on the pavements. I was wondering what was going on. It was 5 minutes to 12 and the students were sitting. I had entered from the back of the campus ( due to the driver) and made my way to the front. Then I realised why they were sitting. A huge line of examinees making a mess of the situation creating a line like a snake. Anyways I took a position in this long and zig-zag line and moved forward like a snake hunting its prey. I finally climbed the stairways where I saw a security check point. There was board which had a list of roll numbers and their respective departments. I checked my roll number and I saw that I were to report to the 4th floor. After I passed the security post and took a left, I saw a man with the same list on his hands. To make sure, I asked my roll number and he told me the same thing.

There was an elevator but knowing Bangladesh's electricity problem I took the stairs.
I climbed to the 4th floor and stood in front of a wooden board indicating the roll number and room number. I stood there for sometime, took my breath entered the exam hall. I opened the door, and suddenly something like 20 unknown people staring at me. I looked at my right and saw the invigilator standing. I showed my roll number to confirm although I kind of felt stupid doing that. I took a sit at the middle row at the near end of the room. There was an answer sheet on my table and was asked to fill it up. The invigilator gave out the question paper and it still did not strike 12pm. I filled the required information on the question paper and sat looking around. I realised that in the next 4 years these people could be my friends.

Finally it struck 12 and was wished good luck from the invigilator. I scanned the entire question paper to make sure what to do at first. The first question was an essay which I decided to skip and headed for the English section. I answered all the English questions within 25 minutes. I had totally 100 minutes to finish the exam. Then I moved to the Maths section. This section tickled my brain. I looked at the first three problems and I could not figure it out. I left it and moved onto something I could do. Since this was a MCQ, I had a choice. I finished the remaining questions without haste and returned to the 3 hideous questions. They were nothing like the questions I did in Alevels, so I took a wild guess, making assumptions and finally finished the Maths section. Then there was the Physics section. This was comparatively easy than all the other. I finished this section within 10 minutes. I had then 45 minutes to write the essay. Its topic "Mobile Communication in Bangladesh". An ironic question, since mobile is the new gadget in everyone's pocket/bag/purse you name it.

I took my time thinking how to start. Pondering for some time I got the right beginning and began to write. After completing it, I gave a through check so that no spelling or punctuation mark was missed. Feeling satisfied I dropped my pencil. I looked around and saw students giving there answer scripts to the invigilator. I packed my things, stood up and gave my script. I left the room thinking that my English Section and Physics section would pull me up as my Maths section did not go as well as planned.

Anyway I walked down the stairs looking at the wooden boards on the wall showing different activities about different clubs and departments and I noticed a sign indicating a photography club. I was overjoyed.

PS: I filled my admission form on Febraury ( dont remember) and received an admit card then.It sort of universal identity in the university.

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (fhmtech) — Wed, 09 May 2007 10:55:00 +0000

This blog will be about my experiences studying in university. I finished my GCE Alevels this January and applied to a private university in Bangladesh. Its name American International University Bangladesh (AIUB). This universtiy is known better for its teaching methods in engineering although has still not gained the reputation like one of our country's old engineering universities Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). A question would pop right now and that is why I have not joined this university. Well
BUET is a public university, as a result it has a yearly intake. The admission exams for this university are extremely difficult, then there is the viva or interview. This does not mean I am a bad student. I will to say that I am a moderate student but that is not the reason. More than thousands of student apply to this university and a handful are accepted. If you can complete any program in that university, finding a job wont be that difficult. The main reason I have not joined it was I have delayed my Alevels by two years for unavoidable circumstances and I did not want to delay my university any farther. The thing about private universities is that they have three intakes yearly, so since I missed the spring semester, i got into the summer.

For me it would be like going to school all over again although in a total different environment and for only four years. Being fond of technical things, I have selected Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) as my undergraduate program.

I will also blog about what I have learned in the upcoming years. So stay tuned!!