Sunday, April 26, 2009

Goodbye INTI

Just last Friday, I was officially "kicked out" of INTI University College, Malaysia. It was a unique experience to say the least...and yes, I really can't think of anything other than cliches to describe it.

However, in all seriousness, INTI was probably, as a whole, the best experience of my life. I learned so many new things, met so many people and experienced all the joys and pains of independence. Okay, boring cliched essay time!

I was very lucky to be part of the INTI culture as a JPA student. It taught me to grow as a person and to appreciate the diversity of this ever-changing world. INTI and her students taught me to think critically but not to be too judgmental of other people, to be bold yet not to be reckless, and to be open-minded yet spiritual. I met many challenges that changed me and helped me to develop, challenges that nearly drove me to death in all their difficulty.

INTI really gave me a lot to think about. While back in Kuching, I lived out my lifestyle without trial, in INTI, I faced a lot of conflicting ideas and opinions. Many perspectives challenged my faith and basic principles and I still remember the time when I started to challenge my Roman Catholic faith due to criticisms from even my closest friends. During that time, perhaps due to divine intervention, I joined the Catholic Student’s Society (CSS) and received the guidance from friends there.

Also, I also appreciated my many other INTI friends who I’ve come to appreciate very much. Listing all of those names would be foolhardy, as I would run the risk of skipping over many important friends (due in no small part to my atrocious memory for names). However, I'm sure that you all know who you are, and I can't say enough just how grateful I truly was to be with you guys. You taught me friendship, hope, joy, fun and how to live life to the fullest. To put it bluntly, you taught me there was more to life than games and the internet. I’ll say that overall, INTI was a splendid time as I learned to establish an identity for myself.

Yes, this post may sound like something out of a university application essay, but I really do mean all I say. I truly enjoyed myself at INTI. Now of course, there are many pros and cons about this dear little college-university-thing, which I shall list here:



Pros:
1) AUP or The Center for American Education and the University Placement Office are simply great places to be at. The officers there are immensely helpful and good-natured and I never hesitated to ask their help (to the point of being annoying). Kudos to these offices.

2) General Office people are surprisingly friendly, too. I got my room-bookings done easily.

3) 13th INTIMA were great pals to hang out with. I always felt at home at the INTIMA office.


Cons:
1) Accomodation Office, sad to say, can really be horrible. I'm not dissing all of them, just "a select few managers" (you know who I mean).

2) INTI management seriously needs to stop going beyond their capacity. Stop bringing so many students in when you can't afford to accept them. Treat INTI more like an educational institution and less like a capitalistic business.



So yeah, that's 3 pros vs 2 cons. Shows that INTI isn't bad, huh? I'd just advice future incoming students to think twice before handing Accomodation Office your business.

Thanks again, all my friends. The last 2 years were a blast!