Hye~ I'm finally out from my devastating quarantine.. One appalling experience that I dare not utter in this pink happy blog hehe~ Seriously, the immediate effect was I sort of had this brain freeze inside where I can't get myself to type a single word although I was actually free~ Every single thing was locked inside my mind box..
Well... Lets just go back in time to before I was quarantined~ yeah the APPS~ My first ever program with another university.. I couldn't give much attetion to the program prior to it because I had so many things in mind but I was finally there for it on the 23rd june 2009..
My good friends fetched me in the airport~ Thank you very much Don and Madi.. They came all the way from their practical place to the airport.. I really appreciate that guys... \(^^)/
We came early for the pre event of APPS.. There were 8 group leaders a.k.a GL's from IIUM; me Me me, Awe, Inti, Aimi, Qila, Atik, Azwin and budak kecik bername Izhar~
The pre event was actually to inform us about the flow of program and also there were a lot of rehearsals~ one extra thing that I learnt about USM students, they walk a lot!!!!!!!!!!! Whatever which they say is near and is in a walking distance, trust me IIUM students... IT'S FAR!!!!!! I don't know if it's near to SMSLians.. because yeah.. I don't know the nature of your Uni life~
The actual event started on the 26th where students from all over asia arrived at the hotel.. We GL's were instructed to greet them and usher them to their rooms.. We were really excited to see our IIUM participants.. When Awe and I saw Shifaa in sight, we went berserk!!! hehe the typical girls way of saying hello to their best buddies.. hehe
That night we, the GL's, had to perform in front of everybody with our own creative moves so that our group members could guess who are their group leaders... The groups are named after the names of famous malaysian delicacies so we have to think how to actually make our group members recognize us through our weird moves.. Seriously, the most unforgettable dancer of the night was IZHAR hakhakhak His group used Jai ho as the background music and to this day, when the song is on, I saw izhar with his moves instead of the sexy nicole!!!
Hurm I won't go through with all the programs.. Just going to tell you amongst the moments that I consider special.. If I want to talk one by one, I ought to just give you the tentative right??Well, during the day when we had a door to door campaign program, unfortunately it rained... All of us seek shelter at a nearby building... We spent our time there sharing some info regarding the educational systems of various countries.. I found that only Malaysia have the foundation program. For Korea and Thiland, the students straight away enroll to a university after high school.. But similarly, there's no easy way to pursue Pharmacy in all countries.. In Thailand and Korea they also have to score special exams to get into the course...
We went to Tesco after the campaign.. Since there was a lot of time, I brought Onse, Ji soo and Lamby for a tour in the Tesco.. We spent some time looking at canned Malaysian cuisines since they don't have much time to actually see and taste them all.. Luckily there were mangostene and rambutan there... So I went on talking about local fruits like I never had before hehe Luckily Hanis was there with me to add some info to my quite scarce knowledge on those fruits hehe one of the question that I consider interesting..
"Can I get sick after eating the rambutan?? I mean like an adverse effect.." 
haha typical pharmacy student right???
Another special night of the APPS is the global village night.. There were performances from all countries.. I've never really witness them right before my eyes.. I think the Korean did a very cool and sassy dance.. They make me wanna move~ hehe The Japanese girls demontrated how to wear the kimono.. The Indonesian performed a Jawa dance and the Taiwanese did a very cute dance too with pom poms hehe The Singaporean sang a choir~ and the Malaysian performances were done by the pharmacy students from USM.. hehe All-rounders ye korang (^^)V
That night, my korean friends Ji soo and Onse tried the Hijab... We did it there in front of the ballroom with the help of my two other friends Awe and Shifaa.. Owh they look so cute.. They think the Hijab is a very pretty garment.. Onse bought one for herself in Tesco.. We feel happy to have made them experience wearing Hijab.. Alhamdulillah.. O yeah, during the program another participant asked me whether I'm feeling uncomfortable with my Hijab on with all the extreme heat of Penang..
I said "No... We actually fix our hair neatly inside.. And there is actually some air spaces around the neck. So it's not that stuffy you see" :) I hope that gave her a good impression about hijab :) 
During the cultural visit, as I was standing inside the bus, I heard someone called my name "Nor~ ha~ji~ah" It was a Taiwanese guy trying to read my name from my tag..
"It's Norhaziah.. Quite long.. You can just call me jiji"
"Oh No.. It's okay.. I want to memorize your name because I think it's unique. The Malaysian names are unique""Oh really?? Actually, for Malays, our names are arabic.. So there are meaning for every name."
"O.. there's meaning..? I already have many Malaysian friends.. All their names are unique.. You know Azwadi, Syamil, Shamsul, Hanis, Afif, Syafiq.."
"O those are students from my university!" I can't hid my excitement.. Wow!
And o yeah we also did a community service at a school for the handcapped.. That's what they call it.. I want to change that to "school for the special kids"... So there, my group's task was to make cards for the children and teachers so I didn't really get the chance to get to know the kids.. But during the birthday celebration, I was fighting back tears when I saw the boy who was playing the piano.. He look so pure and was happy that everybody was singing along with the music he played. The rest of the kids were also happy... wo0W0ow0o
Overall, although I think there are things to be improved, APPS is still one of those program where I get this whole new experience.. This is my first time ever to join a program where I get to be close with students from asian countries and actually be exposed to the issues and new information about Pharmacy.. This is also where I get to build new connections and feel the atmosphere of hurm... professionalism~ I guess next time instead of being a committee, I will be a participant instead~ Honda city.. I guess you will have to wait because next year I'm going to KOREA!!!!!!!
