Autumn is back!

3rd October seems to be one of the dates that is hard to be forgotten. How should I? Doing those progress and internship reports and seeing this particular date appeared on very front page keeps on reminding me the first day when I started my internship in Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team (it was Mercedes GP PETRONAS Formula One Team back then). Remembered the first day we were first greeted by Ross Brawn while waiting in the reception (in which we have no idea who he was at that point!), meeting our fellow supervisors and not to forget our big sister, Emily Landon. Never been surrounded by so many English people in my life. Lol.

Welcoming dinner with managers and chief operating officer

When we first reached England, the autumn was just about to start. Throughout my internship, I get to experience nearly all seasons. Summer, I have it since I was born here in Malaysia. For the first three months, we traveled every weekends using the pool cars that were given to us.

How often you get to drive Mercedes cars? Hehe. I miss our cars. :(

Why am I reminiscing all these moments? Just want to pen it down before the memories diminish off my mind. More to come!

Embracing the arrival of autumn!

Final Quarter

Back in UTP for final year final semester! Today is first of October which marks the beginning of final quarter of year 2012. Life has been pretty same old, same old for the past few months. Rushing through deadlines to complete projects. Oh, result for last semester was released last week and it is the best result that I ever get in UTP. After consistent drop from semester to semester (including internship), it is about time to get a fairly high pointer. I am very grateful for that. Another 3 months before all these end.

In the need of new hobbies to distract myself from thoughts that keep on invading my head. If this continues, I might explode. Have all these stress and emotions suppressed within are really a discomfort, feel like there is a heavy stone is hitting my chest and I have troubles to lift it away. Feelings that I am not sure if anyone will really comprehend. People say take it easy but I choose to live the hard way. I started to think that I have compulsive self-destructive behavior. Lol. Lately, I can't stand watching dramas and listening to songs as I easily related myself to the contents, always reminds me the pain of life that I have to bear. I may be strong today, but I am not sure about tomorrow or day after. Dare not to foresee how's the future may turn out to be and decided to live this life day by day at the moment.

Changing the subject, it's been exactly a year ago when I started my journey to London for my internship. Seeing my juniors uploaded their photos on Facebook makes me miss those times so much. Just feeling very nostalgic as browsing my own albums when we all get all excited taking photos almost everywhere upon reaching the foreign land. Ah, memories. Wish to relive those moments again someday.

With the remaining time that I have here, I really want to cherish the moment with sweet memories. At the same time, I have been in constant dilemma whether I want to further studies or start working. If I will have the chance, I would prefer to continue somewhere else for a brand new start, an option that seems to be impossible to achieve. In the end, I will always fall back to the decision to work with PETRONAS, God willing, for the next 10 years. Pray hard that I won't get face any midlife crisis at the point and start to whine how regret I am back then. Lol. It is just harder to make up your mind at this age when you cannot only think about yourself as there are others dependent on you. I am not sure myself what I really want in this life either. Sigh.

Pretending to be someone that I am not has been part of me lately. A perfect disguise what is hidden within. Let go and move on. A slow and painful process.

Sign off.

Final (Senior) Year!

I know, this update is long overdue. It has been three months since my last entry here. There was time that I wish to update but something would always get in my way. Anyway, I am here now. Just hope it is sufficient to cover what have been happening for the past months.

Final year has been nothing but a total madness. Fourteen weeks of the semester seems to be more tormenting than the seven months internship. With two final year projects undertaken concurrently, the stress can be unbearable at time. It is not all about good time management anymore. You also need to learn to have good mentality and above all, compromise and tolerate while working with others. For my final year project (FYP), I am working on the mechanical properties of urea fertilisers. It sounds like a simple project but expectation of my supervisor is somewhat pressuring. A good intention it is but I am not sure I can continuously keep up. As a matter of fact, I am only doing this FYP just for the sake of FYP, not that I have much enthusiasm in it. Not good.

FYDP or Plant Design Project, if you ask any chemical engineering students, this course is a real pain in the ass. Never have such a torturing group project before. Had our presentation on Tuesday and I daresay that it was an epic failure. Being criticized by the examiners from head to toe, from arm to leg. I guess we need to really intensify our effort for next semester, which is also my final semester in UTP. Heard from seniors that FYP2 and FYDP2 will be much worse. Great, I shall foresee a very grueling final moment in this university.

Other than studies, there are so many things have been evolving around me lately, both good and bad. Sometimes I let these things to take over me to the extent that dragging me away from my work. Frankly speaking, personal issues exert more stress than the FYP workloads. Stress from studies can come on its own but emotional turmoil does not, when I am not able to proceed with my work in which later I need to suffer from the consequences. I don't know how strong can I be but for being able to survive in UTP for the past 4 years is considerably remarkable for me. To endure with all these without any total breakdown. I mean, how long you can pretend that you are okay when you are not? There is time that I find this life is not worth living anymore.

Ultimately, I need to reset my main motivation. I am not doing this for me. I am doing this for my family. I am doing this for the people that I love. I gotta stay together. I just have to. I shall not give myself away that easily. There are so many things I would like to do in this life. Keep on reminding myself that there is a bit more left before breaking free. *end of venting about my life*

Today marks the beginning of Final Exam, my second last exam. My paper starts on next Monday, though. Yet to feel anxious. Rather excited, actually. *not fully prepared* If you ask me, I would rather choose final exam over projects. Final exam can be finished in one shot but projects take your whole lifetime. lol

Okay, I stop here for now. Shall continue next time. Promise to keep this blog updated regularly after this.

Wishing you all the happiness in the world and see you around!

Oh ya! Tomorrow is 31st August. Happy Merdeka to all Malaysians. Happy 55th Birthday, Malaysia.

My favourite patriotic song of all time!

TERIMA KASIH, MALAYSIA!

Double Sevens

Can you have a wild guess why did I name my post title so? I have been away from this blogger for too long. With new websites/applications being introduced from time to time such as Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter and all which don't need lengthy posting, they are more appealing than typing whole bloody paragraph and paragraph of words.

Anyway, tracing back the old post, it has been a couple of months and you could have figured that I have returned to my beloved Malaysia. If you catch up on other sites, you would already know. The seven months in United Kingdom has been nothing but an extraordinary journey for a small town boy like me. Back in UTP, I was so used to hear my coursemates were coming from cluster schools. Back in UK, we have met so many Malaysians students who are being attached abroad as well. Growing up in an average family, this is not something that we can witness most of the time. I daresay that I am proud to manage to raise the standard even higher, hoping the next person will be able to do better than myself.

I have learned so much during my stay in the foreign land, not just from my work but also daily social life. Surely, internship has opened my eyes to the world that I never see before. Culture differences, Europeans norms, just to name a few, are the sources of lessons which are not simply available easily. Well, you may read them off the book but to experience themselves will enhance your learning capacity to another whole new level. It should be encouraged to assimilate the good values to boost up our society practices. Comparing England and Malaysia, we have still such a long, long way to catch up if we are still holding the vision to be a developed country by 2020. Not much time left!

A shot with Ross Brawn (Team Principal), Rob Thomas (Chief Operating Officer) and Paul Mills (Human Resource Director) on our last week of internship, with the coincidental winning trophies during Chinese Grand Prix, a brilliant closure

Interning with Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team has given me so many memories to be cherished for the rest of my life. I know this sounds very cliche but how often, for Malaysians, get to work with Formula One team? I have not been able to contribute much of my knowledge since I am a chemical engineering student but it just proves that there is always flexibility to venture into any sectors regardless of your studies background. This opportunity has given me the advantage to learn something that chemical engineering can't offer.

That's that and ever since I landed on this country, other than tackling jet lag, I also need to get used to the hot weather in which I have not experienced for the seven months. Imagine 15 degree Celcius is considered warm for the English. Even a cold shower can't help me much in this Malaysian weather, for the time being. British weather wasn't that pleasant for Malaysians (and so is another way round) but no kidding, I do miss it.

Returning to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS for my final year (oh, FINAL YEAR!) of studies is something I am kind of looking forward to. This just means that I have about seven months or so before finishing my degree! Time flies by so crazily fast and I will be officially graduated early next year. Ah, I am gotta accept the fact that life won't stop moving as long as the time won't stop ticking. So, me myself, shall not stop living and fighting.

Moving on.

Wishing everyone all the best in their final years and my friends who are about to have their internships soon. Enjoy your time as much as you can. Life is short. Make the most out of it. You won't want to look back and feel regret.

See you around!

Best results don't guarantee the best opportunities.

Life is about taking chances, and seizing them.

I MISS ALL OF YOU!

Inspection Team (Oct'11 - Apr'12) 

Fellow interns and Emily, our big sis 

Internship, British Weather & Eurotrips

It has been a while for not writing here. I’m pretty much alive in this English speaking country if you are wondering. It’s nearly 6 months I have been living here and another 6 weeks before leaving. England is pretty much becoming my second home. Time passes me by just like flying Firebolt. There are always time I really want to update this nearly-abandoned blog but the laziness triumphs it all. Rather, I reckon sharing on Facebook, Twitter and perhaps Tmblr (in which I rarely keep it up-to-date as well) alone would be sufficient. Pictures say thousand words, eh? After all, the main intention of this blog is for personal sharing, is like any other social network sites.

Right, enough babbling. Tracing my last post, it was about Schumi surprise visit to our company. Believe most of you have seen the video on YouTube? When I first accepted this placement, I didn’t really expect much. As far as what I can learn from my friends and seniors who have interned overseas previously, one advantage being attached abroad is that they get to travel a lot. So, my first expectation when coming to England is just the same likes theirs, well, other than learning English working culture of course. This one turns out to be more than just that. Interning abroad is one thing, interning at Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team is another. Such privilege is not easy to come by. True, although I didn’t get to fully utilize my chemical engineering studies background, from the positive side, I get to learn more than chemical engineering field that can’t offer in which I take this as an added advantage. (Meeting Schumi is a bonus! Haha)

2012 F1 season has finally kicked off in Australia last weekend. Never been so excited for F1 before. Can’t help but to cheer for Schumi and Nico, whom we have bumped into them occasionally. Until this day I still can’t believe that I actually get to meet them. Feel bad though, not knowing much about them before. Nonetheless, I was rather sad that the first race didn’t turn out well. Hope to see improvement for next race in Malaysia. It's this week! Malaysians, do come and support the team in Sepang!

Moving on. It’s March, which means spring is coming. Not much sign yet, I tell you because it is still cold and chilly. Room temperature is about 10degree or so. The climax of this all English weather experience was when it snowed last month, early February. Seeing real snow for very time. As I remembered clearly, it started to snow before the night falls. The snow was mild but continuous. As it gets darker, I could see the snow accumulates in front of our apartment. The snow was thick enough that we could make a snowman out of it. It was around 9pm or so. I have the nerve to play the snow with my bare hands, bloody cold it was. We continued in the morning with snowy Sunday walk, seeing the street of Brackley and company to be covered with snow. The sight was just so… whitish. Comparing our snowmen and the one we saw on the street, we were just so amateur. Warming myself to conclude the walk with a nice big cup of hot chocolate. Oh, talking about the snow, I barely can see the shape. To me, it was more like scrapped icing from the fridge, if you ask me. Rather, you can make lots and lots of ABC out of it. You just need the syrup. Lol.

Just like any other interns, we also get to travel much. Photos on Facebook show it all. Unlike any other European countries, England is detached from the rest. So it is kind of hard for us to explore other European countries. Nonetheless, since the company provides us cars during weekend, we get to explore pretty much everywhere in England; from the football city of Manchester to the famous historical site of Stonehenge. Last Christmas we visited Italy with France interns. Covered Rome, Venice and Milan. One thing that I have learned from this trip is not to have high expectation when you are visiting new country. You might find yourself disappointed when you realize the place may not turn out as you imagine. Still liking original Italian pizza and sphagetti. Colosseum is just as spectacular. It was quite long time ago though. Barely can remember much details of it.

Well, just last week I returned from my second Eurotrip. This time we visited Belgium, France and Spain. Truth to be told, I barely aware of Europe geography. Only get to comprehend much of it since I come here, when planning for our trips. Lol. Anyway, Belgium, if you like chocolate, this is a must visit country. Not to mention the variety of waffle is huge! The city is kinda small, not much to explore. The famous landmarks include the Mannekan Pis and Atomium.

Paris is just 4 hours away from Brussels. Bus ticket can be as cheap as 12 Euro. I thought the last snow in February would be my last time seeing it. Never expected that on our way to Paris the other day, it was snowing heavily. Well, when we touched down at Paris, our friends who interned in France became our tour guide. They brought us around famous sites in Paris includes Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomphe, and of course, Eiffel Tower. Since we reached around 2pm and after settling down, the sky was already turning dark, get to see the night views of these monuments. Spending our next day at Disneyland Paris, reliving childhood memories. Last day in Paris, we were sightseeing the city of Love. Visited Louvre Museum, the museum that accommodated Mona Lisa painting (but I didn’t go in, lack of time), streets of Paris to shop for souvenirs and lastly, Eiffel Tower day view. The weather both in Brussels and Paris was so bad that it was cloudy and rainy. It didn’t fail us from enjoying ourselves though.

Next and final country: Spain! I don’t know why, I seem to enjoy my time in Spain better than the first two countries. May be it was very sunny in Barcelona and Madrid, we have a marvelous time in Spain. Barcelona is just so colourful and I just like the pace of people living there. Spanish food is not that bad either. Paella, Spanish rice is a must try! Madrid, on the other hand, is just another city but still has its own charms as the capital of Spain. 

*it's a nightmare to sort out these photos*

After travelling to several European cities, London is still first; Barcelona second and Paris third. Different countries have their own unique features though. 2 weeks before another getaway (pre-presentation getaway to be exact)! *country of tulips and windmills*

I shall stop my scribble here. I hope the friend of mine satisfied gua with this post. Haha, sorry can't write much. Typed words are never enough to say it all. Perhaps the spoken ones will cover more, if you know what I mean. ;) Hope to catch up with you all pretty soon.

Returning to Malaysia on 1st May 2012. Oh time, please do creep for the next six weeks!

Cheerio!

Grateful for having what you need.
Thankful for getting what you what.