『東アジア研究』の学生・卒業生としてやっとくべきこと、知っとくべきこと。

OK, post ni sambungan daripada Part One yang maha panjang dimana aku cerita tentang life update aku selepas bergelar alumni Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur. Post ni basically aku nak mention pasal what you should know and do as a student or graduate of East Asian Studies. It's still gonna be a long post so uhhh bear with me haha.

"WTH is East Asian Studies?" (for students, graduates)

Up until now, aku masih lagi dihantui reaction or soalan macam ni kemana sahaja aku pergi. Memang ramai sangat unaware of this course, but I have found a way to kinda shorten the explanation. Kalau dulu, aku biasanya akan explain macam ni,

"Saya belajar politik, budaya, sejarah, dan bahasa."

And usually the reaction aku dapat was either so-so, or macam diorang kinda interested but still tak boleh nak faham. Then aku kena lah explain lagi detail. Sangat time and energy consuming ya. Mungkin masa 1st Year aku macam eager untuk explain, tapi dah sampai ke waktu kerja pun aku nak kena always do the same thing, dia jadi repetitive and boring.

So, to quote what some of my lecturers liked to say back then during the class,

"We, as International Relations students..."

Which is true. East Asian Studies ni similar je macam apa International Relations or IR student belajar. TETAPI, IR ni meluas. Dia cover various region whereas EAS ni specialised on a specific region, and ada extra sikit; third language. Belajar dia sama je, politik, sejarah, budaya, dasar kerajaan etc., cuma kita ni extra sikit ada bahasa ketiga.

So, nowadays I will usually just explain as,

"I am studying/I studied International Relations/Pengajian Antarabangsa but specialising towards East Asian region."

And most of the time orang akan faham. If ada yang masih blur juga, just mention 'politik dan dasar kerajaan'. Sebab according to MQA pun, kita punya pengajian ni termasuk dalam kategori Sains Politik. So yeah, feel free to jawab macam ni and for graduates, if you answer macam ni waktu job hunting, I'm sure the interviewer won't be as confused.

(Update as of Nov 2022: Apparently, MQA dah update the category to "sociology and cultural studies" so just answer "pengajian budaya" instead lol)

"Don't only rely on your lecturers/teachers!" (for students)

OK, to rephrase the title above, what I'm trying to say is jangan limitkan your exposure towards East Asian Studies ni hanya melalui pembelajaran dalam kelas je. The lecturers/teachers can only cover so much. Rajinkan tengok videos on YouTube yang boleh bagi kau more exposure (or at least develop sikit lah our knowledge) towards what's happening or what happened in the East Asian region.

However, jangan kau sesuka hati je nak gunakan videos from YouTube channels as your main reference untuk assignment/thesis pula eh. Semua tu only for exposures je. I'm gonna list down some YouTube channels that I've watched or I found to be useful, but do note that some of the YouTube channels punya contents ni agak meluas and doesn't exclusively cover EAS je. I'll label them as EAS, or G. EAS if content dia leaning towards East Asia, and G for General (kena dig deeper for EAS related contents in this channel).

• AsianBoss (EAS, wajib to watch and subscribe)
• CrashCourse (G)
• FeatureHistory (G)
• Videos that I've watched:
• Chinese Civil War
• Meiji Restoration
• Half as Interesting (G. Trivia-ish, very optional)
• NowThis World (G)
• Recommended playlists:
• Political Ideologies Explained
• All About North Korea
• All About China
• Polymatter (G)
• Recommended videos:
• How North Korea Makes Money
• The Economics of K-Pop
• Kings and Generals (G)
• Recommended videos:
• Chinese History
• Korean War
• Simple History (G)
• Recommended videos:
• The Korean War (1950–53)
• The Great Leap Forward (1958-62)
• History of China (EAS)

Also, by watching videos like these juga lah aku boleh kinda initiate a conversation with the lecturers or help me to generate ideas for my assignment, or even thesis ideas. Other than those, I also watch TedTalk, Vox, Vice, AJ+ to know more about social issues. Kalau sebelum ni aku memang malas nak kisah pasal politik and isu sosial, now I'm paying more attention to it. Dah nama belajar sains politik kan...

Bahasa (for students, graduates)

Bagi aku, benda ni lah yang paling penting sekali kalau belajar Pengajian Asia Timur. Ni lah benda yang kau kena do as best as you can untuk make sure bahasa tu at least capai tahap kompeten. Penting ya sebab dah habis belajar nanti, baru lah bahasa kau pelajari tu jadi marketable, dan applicable bila nak kerja (or even in life lah secara amnya).

As of my batch, kelas bahasa aku cuma dua kali seminggu. Satu kelas 2 jam, so dalam satu minggu jumlah kelas bahasa cuma 4 jam. Yakin ke kalau belajar bahasa satu minggu 4 jam kemudian bila graduate boleh guna untuk kerja? Sejujurnya, pada pendapat aku, that is way way too lacking. So, even if tak ada kelas bahasa pun, rajinkan lah tengok YouTube, tengok anime, drama, dengar lagu in the language that you're learning. Little by little you'll be able to understand more. Language immersion is important.

In my case yang belajar Japanese ni, some of the ways aku belajar new vocab is by knowing kanji compound, or 熟語 (jukugo). Contohnya aku pernah belajar kanji 石 (ishi); kata nama yang bermaksud batu, dan 落ちる (ochiru); kata kerja yang bermaksud jatuh. So dua kanji ni bila gabung, dia jadi 落石(rakuseki); bermaksud runtuhan batu. So kalau waktu tu aku tengah belajar kanji macam 石, aku akan cuba cari few more words yang melekat dengan kanji tu. Contoh lain macam:

1. 宝 (takara; kata nama; khazanah) + 石 (ishi; kata nama; batu) = 宝石 (houseki; kata nama; permata)

So yeah, jukugo ni sangat membantu especially bila membaca in Japanese. Even if aku tak tahu sebutan or bacaan dia macam mana, tapi bila aku tengok gabungan kanji tu, I kinda can guess the meaning. Ini lah yang aku buat masa ambil exam N3 dulu. Masa jawab reading section, of course aku tak faham 100% the essay, but I was able to pass it by guessing the kanji. Masa menjawab tu tak panjang, so what I did was skim the essay, guess the meaning, then jawab soalan. Anyway, bila dah learn new words tu, try to find a way on how to apply it in daily life. The more you use, the more you're familiar with it and tak senang lupa.

Other than that, beranikan diri to make a lot of friends from the country that you specialise in. When you're surrounded by them, kau ada chance nak speak with the native and learn/improve the language from native's perspective. Aku still ingat, some of the classes from my department ada juga buka untuk international student, so among them ada lah Japanese/Mainland Chinese/Korean students yang ambil. Masa first attend kelas, bila aku dapat detect je ada pelajar Jepun, aku terus say hi and try to talk to them in Japanese, then be friends with them. Which later benefitted me masa exchange program kat Kanazawa University, sebab I've already known some of them masa kat UM. Diorang ni lah yang later tolong guide aku macam mana nak survive hidup di Kanazawa haha.

Anyway, my point is, bahasa ketiga tu sangat penting. Bila habis study, skill ni memang high demand. Keep learning and improving the language as much as you can. Take Japanese for example, even if kau dah obtain JLPT N3 sekalipun, jangan anggap that's enough and you should be fine to use it for work. JLPT N3, in my opinion, is the level that is the gate to even more advanced Japanese. Dah ada N3, you'll be prepared to jump into Business/Academic Level Japanese. If passed JLPT N3, aim N2, then N1. If dah pass N1, bagus, kau dah beat the final boss and now boleh beat the hidden boss pula which is BJT. Dah pass BJT, and still tak puas juga, haa boleh ambil Kanji Kentei which is meant for native Japanese and is extremely difficult. Yang penting, teruskan improve your language skill lah.

From my observation, and also my experience of job hunting, memang bersepah companies out there yang boleh offer gaji RM3,000 above to fresh graduate if they know Japanese/Korean/Mandarin.

Outbound/Student Exchange Program (for students)

Outbound program ni memang bukan benda asing lah sebagai pelajar EAS. OK for this part, aku nak cerita certain things to consider, to know when it comes to joining outbound program. Part ni doesn’t apply to every student ya. I do acknowledge that outbound program ni macam privileged sikit. By that I mean affordability lah in terms of financial (mental and fizikal pun of course penting juga). Aku faham, tak semua orang mampu nak spend duit belajar/pergi overseas. Tapi, if you ever have the chance, and yakin boleh afford, join lah. If I'm not mistaken, back in 2020, before situasi pandemik jadi teruk, Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur pernah dapat award kot. Award untuk jabatan yang paling banyak hantar pelajar pergi outbound program. Jadinya jabatan memang highly encourage the students untuk at least merasa pergi negara Asia Timur.

Outbound program ni dia ada banyak jenis. Some of them are; homestay program (about <1 month), summer program (about <1 month), international conference (about 2 weeks), or student exchange program (either 1 or 2 semesters). OK, how about the cost? UM memang akan bagi elaun, or ada juga ditanggung oleh jabatan or organisation daripada negara sana. Biasiswa pun ada ditawarkan juga macam JASSO (Japan), POSCO (Korea) tapi daripada China aku tak pasti... Jadinya tak ada lah pelajar tu kena bear the cost 100% on their own masa kat sana (tengok what kind of program juga lah). Yang penting kalau nak beli barang persediaan sebelum ke sana ke, duit shopping ke, haa tu memang kena pakai duit sendiri.

Anyway, pelajar EAS di UM ni mostly banyak pergi student exchange program untuk 1 semester. Usually pergi masa 2nd Year lah. Ada juga yang lucky dapat offer untuk pergi 2 semester. Bila cakap pasal student exchange program ni pula, you have to know that kalau kau join, kau akan habis belajar lambat. Tapi tak lah bermakna kau habis belajar lambat tu sebab kena extend as if kau fail then repeat paper, no. Dia macam kau dianggap ambil 'gap year' lah gittchew. Okay, few of the reasons kenapa habis belajar lambat adalah sebab tak semua course kau belajar kat sana boleh transfer credit di UM. Also, bila kau balik ke sini kau juga akan terlepas untuk daftar subjek yang hanya available on certain semester; which is the semester while you were away tu lah. Haha pening tak? OK macam ni lah:

• Contoh 1: Kau pergi exchange masa 2nd Year 1st Sem, then balik ke UM 2nd Year 2nd Sem. Masa study abroad tu kau ambil subjek Tamadun Yunani (Greek) contohnya. Then bila balik UM, kau nak transfer kredit subjek tu dengan subjek kat jabatan. For sure tak lepas, sebab silabus EAS mana ada cover pasal Greek punya tamadun. Dah tak match kat situ so tak dapat lah nak 'skip' some of the courses di jabatan. BUT, subjek yang kau belajar kat sana tu still boleh minta transfer kredit untuk dia reflect dekat transkrip akademik. Nanti kat transkrip akademik akan tunjuk lah semester tu kau pergi mana, belajar subjek apa, dapat gred apa.
• Contoh 2: Sama juga, pergi exchange masa 2nd Year 1st Sem, then balik ke UM 2nd Year 2nd Sem. Then kau nak daftar subjek Metodologi Kajian contohnya. Tapi tak boleh sebab subjek tu cuma available masa 1st Semester sahaja. So kau kena lah tunggu buka tahun akademik baru, daftar masa 3rd Year 1st Semester.

Haa things like this lah yang kau kena consider bila nak pergi student exchange program. If kau taknak pergi sebab tak mampu financially, it's okay. Tapi if kau taknak pergi sebab fikir nanti habis belajar lambat, then memang rugi lah. UM ni majlis konvokesyen dia setahun sekali dan biasa buat dalam bulan Oktober. So, kalau pelajar EAS yang tak pergi student exchange program, semester akhir dia akan habis dalam bulan Februari. Lepas tu tunggu majlis konvokesyen bulan Oktober. Ada gap 8 bulan di situ. Kalau pelajar EAS yang pergi student exchange program 1 semester pula, dia akan habis belajar lambat 1 semester, dalam bulan Julai. So takde kesan pun dan masih sempat nak konvo bulan Oktober.

However, yang pergi student exchange program untuk 2 semester, kena konvo the next year. Meaning dia tak konvo dengan batch dia, tapi dengan batch junior. I know some akan fikir macam,

"Ala tak seronok lah camtu sebab tak dapat konvo satu geng dengan batchmate."

Kes aku macam ni lah, aku convo dengan junior but due to pandemic, the convo wasn't even meriah to begin with lol... so tak lah rasa 'isolated' sangat? Anyway, do take note sistem aku mention kat atas ni dia applicable to my time lah, who knows if it will change ke lepas ni kan. So my advice is, if you ever come across with the decision of choosing whether nak pergi student exchange program for 2 semesters ke or graduate on time/early, please choose the former.

Seriously there's a lot that you can learn from studying abroad. You will be able to gain, earn a lot of experience (and money as well if kau tahu caranya). In my case, I did kerja part-time kat Kanazawa, and gaji kerja tu aku simpan banyak banyak then bila balik sini aku siap mampu bayar untuk the whole braces punya treatment. Lepas tu from pengalaman kerja part-time kat Jepun tu juga lah membolehkan aku untuk pergi ke Jepun lagi; Okinawa, for an International Student Internship program (though ada additional reason lagi for this actually. Sebab kat Kanazawa aku memang fully immersed with the language, aku mampu untuk pass JLPT N3).

Takpe lah if habis belajar lambat sekalipun, janji pengalaman yang kau dapat, skills that you develop while studying abroad tu can be used for your career in the future. If habis belajar on time/awal sekalipun tapi lack a lot of experiences, susah juga nak job hunting nanti. Always pentingkan self-development rather than simple thing such as 'nak konvo dengan geng'. Ye, it might sound selfish or even narcissistic, but that's the reality. I know it's fun to graduate together with your batchmates, but you have to know that after graduation, everyone will go on their separate ways. So in this case I feel like the 'happiness' tu only last for a short period of time. Padahal going for a student exchange program can benefit you in the long-run.

Skills and Career Planning before Graduating (for students)

Yang ni lebih kepada benda yang you should do bila dah jadi final year student. Masa freshman, it’s totally fine to enjoy without having to think thoroughly pasal nak kerja apa lepas graduate. But bila dah sampai Final Year ni lah you should start figuring out what kind of career path you want to take. If masuk degree je lagi kau dah tahu, of course lagi bagus. Masa first few years tu, be active. Join macam macam, so that ada lah some soft skills yang you can develop.

Also, buat lah LinkedIn account dari 1st Semester lagi. Kat situ lah kau boleh tunjuk your character development. Rajin kan networking through there. If you joined any extracurricular activities, post lah kat situ on what you've done and learned. Nak lagi power, post in your third language kalau mampu. Buat macam ni TEN TIMES better daripada kau post dekat Facebook or Instagram. Bukannya bila nak job hunting, waktu tu lah baru nak buka LinkedIn account. Kalau start awal, senang nak spark some interest from recruiter regarding your character development posts.

Masa Final Year pula, rajinkan tengok job posting, job descriptions. Research what kind of skills yang tengah trending, and in-demand so that you can prepare/develop in advance. Course ni Aliran Sastera so not many technical/hard skills we can learn from it. Nak tak nak, kena belajar sendiri. Sebagai contoh, akan ada company list requirement macam,

"Fresh graduates are encouraged to apply. Advance skill in Microsoft Excel is preferred."

So, boleh mula dah mahirkan diri dengan Microsoft Excel ke, Adobe ke etc. Kalau ada language requirement, be it English or other foreign languages, asah that skill. Lagi satu, later bila dah graduate and mula job hunting, kau akan rajin kena buat online assessment. Certain company akan suruh kau buat macam macam online assessment untuk test kau punya IQ, and filter out candidates with potential. Aku sendiri lost count entah berapa online assessment aku dah buat masa job hunting. So, familiarise yourself awal awal with IQ test. Banyakkan practice. Later bila dah job hunting betul betul, it will be easier for you.

Also, belajar juga macam mana nak cantik dan kemaskan resume, macam mana nak karang cover letter etc. Lepas tu, belajar the right way to send e-mail, and how to respond. Kalau resume cantik, tapi adab masa communicate through e-mail tu out, tak guna ya. Recruiter/Employer akan turn off. Lastly, do research interview tips, or tengok those on YouTube ke. Lagi bagus, do a mock interview dengan kawan kawan. Tapi mock interview ni boleh buat masa semester sebelum nak internship kot. So no rush in that.

Employer’s Perception (for graduates, or students soon to graduate)

Okay benda ni aku nak cakap berdasarkan pengalaman aku sendiri. Situasi ni aku mula experience masa cari internship placement. If you managed to reach interview stage, akan ada probability yang kau kena hadap employer yang sangat sangat kerek. In my case, ada this one HR memang curious sungguh lah dengan my academic background. After aku dah explain to them what I studied, their reaction was,

"Oh, I would say your academic background is not relevant at all with the position."

Aku boleh faham lagi if waktu aku apply tu memang apply sembarangan je, without looking at the job description at all. But masa aku apply tu, they clearly ada mention,

"Bachelor’s Degree in other disciplines are also welcomed."

Needless to say, I was extremely pissed. Sebab if you think my course is 'not relevant', then why even bother to process my application in the first place? After going through a few interview stages from your end, then sampai ke HR tiba tiba nak kata tak relevant pula. HR punya reaction pun macam nak tak nak je to get to know me. Dia macam question aku kenapa aku nak sangat study this course. In the end, the whole application process was a waste of time.

This is the red flag that you need to pay attention to lah. If waktu interview dia merendahkan our academic background, jangan rasa down. Instead, be glad that you can already filter out mana company yang ignorant. If they're not interested, move on and jangan tengok dah company tu. If they don't have some respect dekat kau waktu interview, what makes you think that they're gonna respect you when you're hired by them nanti? That's the first sign of company with toxic environment lah I would say.

Siswamail (for graduates)

Jangan pernah stop check SiswaMail selagi tak habis belajar, dah habis belajar pun keep checking until lah UM tutup akaun Siswamail kau. You'll never know what kind of opportunities you'll miss bila tak check. Akaun aku secara rasminya ditutup lepas konvokesyen baru baru ni. Tapi sebenarnya aku masih access je walaupun aku dah habis belajar Februari tahun lepas. Sebabkan aku rajin check Siswamail lah aku dapat tahu news macam job opening for fresh graduate ke, invitation to enroll in some courses ke. Thanks to Siswamail, ada lah aku sempat join Business Japanese course for 1 month in 2020 and 2021, and baru baru ni aku baru je habis Data Engineering course and now I'm a certified Data Engineer. So yeah, do check your Siswamail.

End

Phew I guess that's all I want to spill in this post. 2 tahun tak post so sekali nak post tu kita muntah segala benda haha. I hope this post is somewhat helpful to those yang sudi luangkan masa baca posts yang panjang lebar ni haha. Alright, later in my life if ada interesting event or changes yang worth updating, I shall update it here. I do know that using Blogger is considered outdated now. Ye lah aku dah guna platform ni for more than 10 years kot. Nanti lah aku fikir cara macam mana nak migrate to another platform pula. Google Site ke, WordPress ke. Though WordPress tak gemar sangat, sebab cloud storage dia tak besar (and free) macam Google haha. Oh well, we’ll see. またね！

卒業！🎓

やっと卒業しました。この5年間は大変でしたが、最後まで乗り越えました。それだけではなく、僕はもうマラヤ大学の卒業生になりました。ところで、このブログに投稿したのは2年ぶりなので、アップデートすることがたくさんあります。けっこう長いの投稿を書きたいと思います。

2017年に、『東アジア研究』という専攻について投稿しました。その投稿の中では、マラヤ大学で、僕の学士号に関して、簡単に説明しました。今「この専攻を卒業した後、生活はどうなったの？」と思っている人もいるはずだと思います。それでは、アップデートは。。。

Akhirnya! My journey of getting a Bachelor's Degree has finally ended. The past 5 years were super challenging but hey I survived it. Now I'm officially an alumnus of Universiti Malaya. Okay, aku dah lama tak update kat blog ni, nak dekat 2 tahun dah so memang there's a lot to update. Post akan jadi extremely long, so bear with me.

Back in 2017 dulu, aku pernah post pasal 'Pengajian Asia Timur' atau 'East Asian Studies'. Dalam post tu, I gave a quick explanation lah regarding my Bachelor's Degree in UM. Now, I am sure there are people wondering,

"How's your life now after graduating from this course?"

So here comes the update...

Of Internship, Job-Hunting and Kerjaya

Haha I am sure this is the first thing orang nak korek daripada aku selaku alumni Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur, Universiti Malaya. Okay kat sini lah aku nak cerita panjang tentang pengalaman aku dalam semua benda ni.

Internship

Alright, kita kena start balik jauhhhhh ke waktu aku tengah praktikum ataupun internship. Sejujurnya, sewaktu mencari internship placement lagi aku dah struggle. Struggle sebab course aku ni not so well-known. Jadinya, banyak company macam tak sure which department and what kind of work/job yang sesuai untuk aku.

OK, selepas bertungkus lumus mencari internship placement, aku akhirnya ditawarkan dua pilihan; sama ada nak internship dekat CBRE (Bangsar South) ataupun di Media Prima Berhad (Bandar Utama Damansara). CBRE tu seingat aku lah, dia macam nak letak aku dekat Operational Department and buat kerja yang related with Japanese Speaker punya task. Media Prima Berhad pula, cuma jadi Admin Assistant.

Nak cerita lagi detail, pada mulanya CBRE reject aku, dia kata dah takde vacancy. Few days lepas kena reject tu baru lah aku dapat offer daripada Media Prima Berhad, and I accepted it. Pastu beberapa hari sebelum aku start intern kat MPB, CBRE call balik. Dia tanya aku, dah jumpa placement ke belum sebab sekarang ada vacancy pula. Haa sudahhhhh, tapi sebab aku tawar hati kena reject, aku cakap "Terima kasih je lah, bye", aagittchew. OK, gurau je, tak tawar hati pun. Cuma intuition aku waktu tu dah strong and leaning more towards MPB.

And I made the right decision. Internship dekat MPB sangat seronok bagi aku. I learned a lot, and paling penting suasana situ sangat casual sebab ye lah company industri hiburan kan. Dapat lah juga aku merasa tengok kerja behind the scenes, jumpa artis (tapi tak bertegur sapa lah huhu), and overall, it was a pleasant experience for me, and I managed to finish the internship dengan jayanya. So, internship kat situ aku ada apply tak benda yang aku dah belajar daripada jurusan aku? Jawapannya tidak. Zero. ちっともないです。Tapi… internship kat MPB ni juga lah yang memberi impak besar… keep on reading if nak tahu.

Job Hunting

OK, bila dah habis internship kena buat apa? Kalau taknak sambung Master, job hunting lah! Haa kat sini lah the real challenge bermula. Internship placement pun dah susah nak cari, ni kan nak cari kerja full-time. Berapa lama aku ambil masa untuk dapatkan tawaran kerja full-time? Enam bulan, dan dua bulan. Haa? Apa kau cakap ni Faiz oi?

Baik lah, kita mulakan dengan jawapan enam bulan dulu. Internship aku mula dari October 2020. Waktu tu aku ada tanya supervisor aku kat situ, kot kot ada tak harapan untuk aku diserap ke MPB. Ye lah, kan best kalau boleh shape my career path bermula daripada MPB. Unfortunately, the chance was extremely low untuk diorang serap. Especially 2020 kan, tahun bermulanya pandemik. MPB pun waktu tu baru je lepas retrench almost 300++ staff. Disebabkan aku tak nampak future aku kat situ, mula dari minggu pertama internship lagi, aku dah start fixing my resume, and my infos dekat job hunting site.

Lepas tu, baru je dua minggu masuk MPB, kes Covid-19 naik mendadak. MPB terpaksa kurangkan bilangan staff yang boleh kerja kat office dan mula dari minggu ketiga aku dah kena Work From Home, sampai lah habis internship. Sejak minggu ketiga tu lah aku mula pulun apply kerja betul betul. Aku anggap apply kerja ni macam kerja office 9-5. Kalau aku fefeeling extra, aku akan send application on certain days. If possible, aku cuba avoid submit application on Monday morning, and Friday from around 4PM. Yang penting, if malas macam mana sekali pun, paling kurang satu hari tu apply 10 jobs.

I've filled countless job applications, done countless online assessments, and been to some interviews. Maxis, BASF, CIMB, HSBC, Accenture, Protégé KWSP, even Embassy of Japan; these are among the companies/organisations that I've been to their interview. Well, yang worth mentioning lah (excluding company lain yang mengarut mengarut tu). Aku ada juga interview dengan Japanese cosmetic company kat Fukuoka sebab aku applied kat ACF 2021. Semua interview aku waktu tu secara virtual, which was kinda relieving actually. Jimat masa and duit untuk aku commute.

Among the companies yang offer aku kerja before aku habis internship lagi were, CIMB (Financial Consultant), Accenture (Digital Data Reviewer Japanese Speaker), Protégé KWSP (i-Sinar Associate). CIMB aku tolak sebab bila dah fikir betul betul, tak minat pula. Accenture aku reject sebab working hours dia yang termasuk kerja during weekends, and from midnight to the next morning; which I think is super unhealthy. Tapi gaji diorang offer agak tinggi juga, tapi tu lah I prioritise my health first. Protégé KWSP pula offer sebulan sebelum aku tamat internship kat MPB. I did contact them, ask if boleh postpone sikit tak and sampai ke sudah tak reply. It was weird sebab masa interview, I clearly mentioned that I was still doing internship and they acknowledged that, but... mehh whatevs maybe ada miscommunication from their end kot.

Still, aku masih belum jumpa kerja yang look promising for me. Then, dah February 2021. Internship aku officially ended on 5th February. Dan aku masih lagi menganggur, shit. Makin gelabah lah aku nak cari kerja. Kalau sebelum ni kat LinkedIn bila ada orang nak ajak networking, aku macam sedikit picky. Tapi, sebabkan aku masih tak jumpa kerja juga, aku sendiri yang aggressively send networking invititation kat semua orang. Semua jenis recruiters yang aku rasa nampak legit, aku send invitation. I didn't care sebab aku memang taknak tanam anggur lama lama.

Sehingga lah dah nak hujung bulan February, ada satu Japanese recruiter ni; K-san, dia approach aku dekat LinkedIn. K-san approached aku in Japanese dan daripada situ lah aku berbalas mesej dengan dia, which lead to him interviewing me for few times before dia recommend aku to apply to this one particular company, which I refer it as PR. It's a video game development company.

Anyway, up until that time, I've concluded that kalau mana mana companies yang aku pergi interview, in Japanese, if I failed after that, it's because of my shitty Japanese. Japanese aku level sembang kedai kopi. When it comes to using Business Japanese, aku sangat lemah. Japanese aku masih lagi level N3 by that time, which is okay enough untuk daily/casual conversation but definitely lacking when it comes to business or academic environment/setting.

So, after interview dengan K-san, aku memang had zero expectation yang PR akan consider application aku. Aku pun sambung apply kerja as usual. Waktu tu aku dapat tahu yang Petronas ada vacancy untuk Protégé and so I applied. Then masih continue job hunting yang makin lama makin memenatkan.

Days passed by, K-san contact aku balik. Dia kata PR nak interview dengan aku. So I went for the interview, twice. First interview dengan Malaysian staff (plus the company's president), and second interview dengan Japanese staff. The process took weeks and akhirnya by mid-March… aku ditawarkan dua kerja daripada dua company; Petronas dan PR. It didn't take me long to decide to go with PR instead. The way I did the comparison during that time was like this.

Haa gittchew, ni lah among the points aku consider waktu tu. Paling penting sekali, PR offer aku salary yang jauh lebih tinggi, benefits pun jauh lebih banyak daripada Petronas… so I couldn't say no to that. Then, by the final week of March 2021, aku menghembus nafas lega, dan ucap Alhamdulillah sebab proses job hunting aku tamat juga akhirnya.

Mula mula tadi aku ada sebut berapa lama tempoh aku ambil untuk dapatkan kerja full-time, kan? Haa enam bulan kalau kira dari October 2020 – March 2021. Dua bulan kalau kira dari tamat internship; February 2021 – March 2021. Aku consider diri aku ni lucky lah sebab menganggur selama dua bulan je. Dua bulan tu pun was just nice for me, sebab rasa macam… it was a well-deserved rest after habis belajar.

Kerjaya

Bye bye university, hello adulting.

OK, if you care to wonder lah kan, agaknya kerja aku buat apa je? To tell you the truth, kerja aku mostly langsung tak related with apa aku belajar kat universiti. Kerja aku sekarang ni dalam management field, in a video game development industry. Masa aku join the company back in April 2021, I had to learn everything from zero. I wasn't familiar with the industry at all so aku kena belajar the workflow, or we usually refer to it as 'pipeline'. So aku kena belajar game development punya pipeline dia macam mana, what software they use, art tu style macam mana; realistic ke, stylised ke and many more. Dekat workplace pula, I am mostly surrounded by digital artists, animators, 3D modellers etc.

Kerja aku ni basically in an entertainment/creative industry; involving management, oursourcing, and communication between the clients and the artists. I am more on the support team. OK lah aku explain secara brief sikit lah. My main work tu, it is more to managing a project, ensuring pipeline tu progress smoothly. Ensure tak ada delay from my side and kena align with client punya deadline and demand. So kat situ I have to do a lot of planning, scheduling and negotiate dengan client if mandays diorang request tu possible ataupun tidak for us. Paling penting sekali, aku ni jadi medium between the clients and the artists. So things like feedback, changes in schedule, problem, client tak puas hati ke, new stuff to work on, we from project management team lah yang have to figure out the solution, then relay it to the other team members.

Now the next thing is, I also deal with Japanese clients. Kat sini lah finally aku boleh guna kan apa yang aku dah belajar kat universiti. Kerja sama je macam kat atas tadi, cuma this time including translating Japanese to English, so that my team can understand apa client nak. Then, whenever Japanese clients bagi art brief, it will be all in Japanese. If nak bagi mentah mentah je kat my team, nanti diorang tak faham pula so tak boleh nak initiate the pipeline. Jadinya, I will help lah to translate the brief to English then bagi kepada team. I'm still improving my Japanese though. As of now, my Japanese colleague is slowly training me to become a live interpreter sebab aku dah start joining weekly call with Japanese client. So, aku kena ambil inisiatif sendiri by learning Business Japanese on my own after habis kerja, so that communication and discussion tu can be better lah. OK, begitu lah some of the work that I've been doing for almost a year now.

So, how on Earth aku boleh dapat kerja ni? Satu, rezeki. Kedua, luck. Ketiga, according to K-san, dia rasa aku ada potential sebab dia nampak aku suitable dengan company ni. To him, aku boleh speak Japanese, and I already have a background working in the entertainment industry (thanks to MPB, and kat sini lah impak besarnya). Keempat, from PR's perspective, diorang amazed with my adaptability masa aku kena campak kat Okinawa, entah kat ceruk mana for a month, haha. My colleague pun ada reveal juga that before this they've been using recruitment companies untuk cari suitable candidate for the position. But only after 2 years, baru diorang jumpa someone yang can match their requirements, which is me lah. I'm very grateful for that. So, considering all of that, maybe sedikit sebanyak lah kot contributed to the points on how I was accepted to work in PR.

What's next after this? Hahaha aku masih lagi connecting the dots and tengah plan sikit sikit, which I think is for me to keep hihi. Demikian lah update untuk cover three main points yang berkait dengan soalan, "Habis belajar ni nak jadi apa?"

Opinion

Bila dah graduate ni I'm finally facing the reality. Here's my personal opinion based on what I've faced and what are some of the things to expect after graduating from this course.

What I've learned from this course is, almost semua tak ada hard skills or technical skills yang kau boleh easily market it to the employers out there. Well… if really nak dig deeper, I definitely can say that I've learned to develop my soft skills lah. To list a few, I've learned how to communicate well, present my ideas clearly, how to give an effective argument, and some of the values that I learned juga boleh diamalkan in real life. Macam nilai Japanese such as 'Jikan wo mamoru' (punctuality) or 'Mottainai' (elak pembaziran). Haa things like that lah. But you see, soft skills ni employers tak boleh nak tengok and judge, selagi dia tak interview kita. Kat situ, dah kurang dah chance untuk give them a first impression.

That's the thing about Aliran Sastera, as compared to STEM. Aliran Sastera ni dia more to theory-based. Kalau macam, civil engineering ke, computer engineering ke, software development ke, these courses pula belajar more to technical/hard skills, which really require them to use it bila dah kerja nanti. Company pun aware of the skills yang taught in that course, so they already know what to expect from the graduates. See below for comparison.

Tell me, if you were to be an employer, looking at these parts on the resume, which one yang akan caught your interest on a first glimpse?

OK ok I know, mesti ada argument,

"Eh, employers nak soft skills juga, bukan hard/technical skills je."

True, tapi yang ni aku cakap perspective untuk first impression, daripada employers kepada junior or entry position sahaja. Kalau kau dah kerja 2-3 tahun tu, memang employers akan expect kau to have all of these above. Dia nak both; technical skills yang dah competent and soft skills yang membolehkan kau to be independent, reliable etc.

For this course, we mostly learn history, politics, dasar kerajaan, language etc. Melainkan kau nak kerja as a journalist ke, researcher ke, diplomat ke, content creator (yang focus on East Asia) ke, then maybe what you've learned from this course can be useful and interesting to the employers in those industries/field. But then, tak semua East Asian Studies graduate is guaranteed to work as what I've mentioned just now, kan? Kat sini lah kena fikir how to apply job secara general and know what skill yang can be seen as valuable and marketable, by just a quick glimpse on the resume.

There's one skill from this course that I'm certain is marketable; the third language. Yes, if you are planning to enroll in this course, please know that the bare minimum you can at least do is ensure bila dah graduate nanti, kebolehan berbahasa tu at least on competent level. Say, if during your Degree years, grade subjek lain kau macam suam suam kuku je, it's okay don't worry about it. Tapi make sure pulun dekat subjek bahasa. By pulun tu jangan lah fikir takat nak lepas exam je. Make sure you learn, understand, and know how to use the language. Sebabnya, once you've graduated, even if pointer tak berapa cantik sekali pun, at least you have one skill yang boleh buat the employer to give a lot of consideration before turning you down. Third language ni lah one of the few hard skills (that I could think of) yang ada from this course. So, make use of it.

Anyway, having graduated in BA East Asian Studies, I can say it's a double-edged sword. Dia boleh buat kau stand out among others, sebab course kau sangat minor and may make the employers interested to know more. Or, since it's a not so well-known course, boleh buat employers anggap kau ni tak laku in the industry/no demand.

Personally, aku berpendapat yang tiada Bachelor's Degree yang useless kat muka bumi ni. Semuanya berguna dan akan beri ilmu sebab bila kita masuk universiti, kita bukannya hadap buku je. Banyak aktiviti kat universiti tu yang boleh shape kita as a person, given that kau ni aktif dalam macam macam lah. Thanks to studying in this course juga lah, Alhamdulillah I have done and experienced a lot. Boleh kata setiap tahun lah aku pergi Jepun. 2017 pergi nuclear conference di Nagasaki, 2018-2019 student exchange program di Kanazawa, 2020 internship di Okinawa. Semua ni memang sangat worth it for me and sikit pun aku tak rasa ianya membazir sebab with each visit aku belajar banyak benda baru.

If it's not already obvious, y'all can see that I wasn't a student yang jenis hanya pergi kelas, study, balik dorm, study pastu try to excel in exam then graduate. Aku cuba lah untuk be active wherever I could. Because at the end of the day, lepas habis belajar ni kita nak melangkah ke alam pekerjaan. Jadinya, kita kena tahu how to market ourselves with the Degree AND experiences that we've earned back in the university. Okay nak tambah sikit lagi, kadang banyak je employers out there yang tak particular pun bila tengok kita punya academic background, asalkan kita ada bachelor's degree. To them, diorang nak tengok what skills kita ada instead. So yeah kena pandai pandai lah how to make ourselves appear as 'in demand' to the industries. 

Tapi lah kan, sebagai contoh, if aku ni ada anak dan dia minta pendapat aku untuk sambung belajar dalam course ni, I would say,

"If it's really your passion then go for it. If tak ada minat langsung, cari lah course lain yang seiring dengan IR4.0 (or IR5.0?)."

Again, in my personal opinion, aku rasa course ni berbaloi untuk belajar kalau kau ada minat, and you kinda already know what to expect from it; studying politics, culture, history. Atau paling minimum pun kau mampu untuk adapt jadi suka dan sentiasa berminat nak belajar apa yang ada dalam course ni. Ye lah, tak semua orang boleh tahu what to expect from this course kan. Tapi, kalau kau accept the offer untuk study course ni sebab tangkap muat, or sebab just for the sake of sambung Degree dekat UM, you might gonna have a struggle. Halfway you might rasa lost, and nanti rasa completely clueless with what to do after graduating.

The End

Haa begitu lah ceritanya. Seronok tak study course ni? Seronok je and I learned a lot. Tapi mungkin bila aku bandingkan diri aku dengan kawan kawan aku yang mostly belajar STEM, aku rasa macam "Was it worth it belajar dalam Aliran Sastera?". But bila fikir balik, tak semua orang mampu atau minat nak belajar Aliran STEM, and I'm one of those people... so yeah.

Maaf lah ya kalau post ni bunyi dia as if sambung Degree ni semata mata nak kerja je. But hey that's the reality. Kita sambung Degree ni supaya nak ada 'tiket' untuk mudahkan kita shape our career... kan? Okay fineeeeeee, if masa 1st Year nak berjoli, nak hanya focus on studying and have fun, it's still totally okay. Baru masuk universiti kan. But bila dah masuk 2nd or 3rd Year, kena mula gradually fikir life after habis belajar, future career tu nak target/plan macam mana. Ini for those yang nak kerja right after habis Degree lah, specifically kerja bukan dalam bidang akademik. Those yang nak masuk dalam bidang akademik tu lain cerita lah.

Actually banyak je lagi things or advices aku nak mention when it comes to being a student/graduate of this course. But if nak cerita kat sini, this post will be extremely long pula. I rather continue to Part Two. Baik lah, I'm just going to end it here. Dengan ini aku nak akhiri post ni dengan gambar konvokesyen aku baru baru ni. Sepatutnya aku konvo tahun 2021, tapi sebab kan Miss Rona, baru sekarang (March 2022) aku boleh merasa graduate secara rasmi. では、読んでくれてありがとう、babai!

Sebulan di Okinawa 🌺

ハイサイ！Haisai!
Uwau bersarang betul blog aku ni. Lama gila tak buat new post. Last time post pun masa belajar dekat Kindai. Itu pun post pasal Fall Semester je. Spring Semester, sampai lah dah balik ke Malaysia, sampai lah dah habis lagi satu semester dekat UM, langsung tak update apa apa hahaha. Disebabkan aku bosan diwaktu Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan ni, aku nak cerita pasal Okinawa. Tapi sebelum tu, aku nak update sikit dulu apa jadi sebelum aku pergi Okinawa.

"How was Kindai?"
Pengalaman ryuugaku (studying abroad) yang takkan aku lupakan. I made new friends from all over the world. I learned a lot. Bahasa Jepun aku pun level up mendadak. Sangat lah mendadak sampaikan aku sempat ambil Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) dekat Jepun dan aku lepas untuk level N3 or Intermediate.

"Apa jadi lepas balik Kindai?"
Well… aku kena extend lagi satu tahun sebab thesis. Sebab aku pergi masa final year kan. Sebenarnya boleh je aku buat thesis dekat Jepun tapi dalam pertengahan Fall Semester macam tu aku dah decide yang aku tak nak ryuugaku aku ni terlampau busy sangat, so aku decide untuk sambung buat thesis bila aku balik Malaysia je. Sekarang ni aku tengah final semester di UM dan semester depan akan mula internship lepas tu insyaAllah akan convocation pada Oktober 2021.

Baik lah that was some of the updates lol. Now onto the main part which is:
OKINAWA DE INTANSHIPPU WO SHIMASHITA.

So, macam mana aku boleh dapat offer ni? Last semester, Dr. Nasrudin was contacted by pihak Okinawa and diorang offer internship sebulan kat sana but Bahasa Jepun kena at least level N3. Apparently, as of that time, dalam batch aku, aku sorang je yang dah ada JLPT N3 so aku pun apply lah. Sejujurnya application process dia agak nerve-racking sebab aku kena go through tiga interview. Yang interview aku ada dua company; satu recruitment company sebab diorang ni lah yang bertanggungjawab untuk cari company mana yang sesuai untuk aku kerja. Satu lagi company yang aku kerja tu. OK, bila aku dah submit borang permohonan, selepas berbalas e-mail for few days dengan recruitment company, diorang schedule untuk first interview.

First interview session via Skype, aku nervous gila nak mampus lol. And yes the whole interview was in Japanese lah. Habis je interview, aku expect aku tak lepas sebab penggunaan keigo aku agak lemah. Keigo tu basically bahasa hormat lah yang kau gunakan dalam situasi formal. Tak macam English dan Bahasa Melayu, bahasa hormat tu tak berapa ketara sangat beza dia. Bahasa Jepun ni pulak when it comes to keigo, kau kena learn a whole new vocabulary for that. So memang susah, even orang Jepun sendiri pun struggle dengan penggunaan keigo. Apatah lagi aku yang menggunakan Bahasa Jepun ni sebagai bahasa ketiga lol.

Tup tup, aku lepas the interview. Recruitment company kata aku ni ada personaliti yang bagus sebab agak chatty dan ceria waktu interview. So, diorang cadangkan aku untuk buat internship dekat Hiramatsu Ginoza. Diorang rasa aku ni sesuai untuk internship for service and hospitality punya industry. I said yes to that and diorang schedule second interview session dengan aku. Second interview ni basically a practice lah. Diorang tanya soalan yang diorang rasa mungkin ditanya oleh Hiramatsu Ginoza. Saje nak bagi aku bersedia sikit lah just in case. Lebih daripada 10 soalan jugak lah diorang tanya. Habis je second interview tu, rasa penat gila sebab kaw kaw kena bantai soalan bertubi tubi in Japanese huhu.

Then, third interview dengan general manager of Hiramatsu Ginoza, which was rather... short? Aku punya lah prepare possible answers bagai nak rak tapi general manager dia turned out to be someone yang very chill lol. Dia tanya soalan tak banyak sangat pun pastu terus proceed dengan explanation pasal tempat kerja, environment, accommodation etc. Tapi still, aku pening kepala sikit lah time tu sebab dia guna Bahasa Jepun yang level dia agak tinggi. Aku struggle nak faham sikit.

So aku fly ke Okinawa on 11th February melalui transit kat Singapore (sebab tak ada direct flight ke Okinawa lagi time tu). First few days di Okinawa aku menetap di Naha sebab ada macam orientation day lah by the recruitment company. Untuk hari orientasi, recruitment company buat Japanese Business course which aku diajar macam mana nak jawab phone calls, penggunaan keigo, and other business etiquettes mengikut standard orang Jepun. Agak tmi jugak lah haritu but macam macam lah aku belajar. Last day hari orientasi baru lah recruitment company bawak aku ke Ginoza, tempat aku akan stay dan kerja untuk sebulan.

Ginoza ni hmm... kampung sekampung kampungnya. Two hours away from Naha, jauh daripada bandar. Kawasan apartment aku duduk memang tak ada apa except dikelilingi ladang tebu hahaha. Tapi yang seronoknya at least aku dapat satu rumah untuk aku sorang. Rumah yang diorang bagi aku sangat lah luas tapi yang spoilnya adalah most of the time aku memang alone.

Untuk kerja pulak, nasib baik lah staff semua baik. Kadang aku struggle jugak nak faham Bahasa Jepun diorang tapi if aku tak faham certain words, diorang memang tak pernah berat mulut nak explain in easy Japanese. First few days aku asyik sakit kepala hahaha sebab otak kerja keras sangat kot untuk translate. But in the end, improve teroxx jugak lah aku punya Bahasa Jepun. Tak sangka aku boleh survive kat Jepun with no friends, no English. Sejujurnya aku tak rasa kekok pun masa sebulan dekat Okinawa. Tak macam mula mula aku datang Kanazawa. First few weeks was tough sebab aku struggle dengan new environment.

Aku rasa paling untung sebab staff baik dan caring kot. Sebab kan kawasan tempat aku kerja tu memang kampung, waktu malam memang gelap habis. So kalau nak balik sorang sorang waktu malam tu memang bahaya. Dan tak ada public transport ya. Jadi, pergi balik kerja tu memang staff akan hantar. Ada jugak lah staff tanya aku kalau cuti nak pergi jenjalan tak and aku bagitahu lah kat diorang tempat yang aku nak pergi, and they actually bawak aku pergi jenjalan ke tempat aku nak tu. Dekat Okinawa ni kereta sangat penting, if tak ada kereta memang susah nak travel. That’s why ada staff sanggup bawa aku jenjalan. Not only that, the whole trip diorang bayarkan. Sumpah terharu.

So yeah overall it was fun, little bit challenging but semuanya worth it hehe.

13 Januari: Celebrate habisnya hari orientasi dengan staff
recruitment company and other interns.

14 Januari: Lepas habis visit Hiramatsu Ginoza and sempat
jenjalan area Ginoza jap.

20 Januari: Harini lah staff tempat kerja bawak jenjalan. Salah
satu tempatnya ialah Churaumi Aquarium.

2 Februari: Hari Heiwa Gakushu, kiranya macam Peace Study
trip lah. Ini dekat Peace Memorial Park.

2 Februari: Habis pergi Peace Memorial Park, kita pergi
Ryukyu Glass Village.

Nervous tau nak buat gelas sendiri haha time ni
tengah takut terpegang gelas yang tengah panas.

11 Februari: Hari pembentangan tentang pengalaman
internship. Time ni company intern yang lain pun turut hadir.

Dapat lah souvenir (which is gelas yang aku buat masa Heiwa
Gakushu haritu) and sijil tamat internship.

Interns dengan company masing masing.

Bergambar dengan other interns and our pose ni kononnya
nak rawr macam Shisa; an Okinawan mythology.

Dengan staff recruitment company. They were
so nice and I felt like being with a family.

11 Februari: Uwau muka aku masuk dalam Ryukyu Shimpo,
suratkhabar di Okinawa.

The Journey Begins: Kanazawa Daigaku @ Kindai

Assalamualaikum. OK, after weeks of procrastinating, now baru ada mood nak create new posting. Kikiki, gomen ne! While waiting for my Aztec Clay Mask to dry, sempat lah kot nak cerita sikit pasal my journey so far belajar kat Nihon ni. K jom!

Baik lah, harini genap minggu ketiga aku dekat sini. Let me try my best untuk cerita detik-detik nak datang ke sini hihi. Kita mulakan dengan cerita arrival dia dulu. 25 September, 7AM gurai aku dah sampai di Narita Airport. My flight was uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep well sebab runny nose oleh kerana AC yang strong. Aku memang jenis tak tahan sangat dengan AC ni. Jadinya bila dah sampai dekat Narita Airport tu memang penat and barai. But journey dia belum habis lagi. I still need to transit to Haneda Airport. So, bila dah sorang sorang ni aku jadi anxious af. I queued lah untuk go through immigration procedure but suddenly officers tahan aku kejap. Plus other students with Visa. Aku macam pening dah apa tengah jadi time tu. So I waited for 30 minutes baru lah officers panggil then tangkap gambar apa semua bla bla bla and ada this one time aku f*cked up sikit. Masa tu officer tanya pasal arubaito/part-time job tapi sebab kan aku ni dah barai sangat time tu, Nihongo memang terus ke laut. Officer tu tanya,

「アルバイトしたいんですか？」Ada nak buat part time job ke?

Tapi disebabkan aku tengah blur time tu, aku pergi jawab,

「ないです。」Takde. (Salah penggunaan ayat aku actually, takde yang aku sebut ni lebih merujuk kepada kewujudan sesuatu benda. Should have replied, したくないです instead which means, taknak.)

Jawab pun tak betul dah jadinya. Dah spoil satu benda kat situ sebab if aku nak buat arubaito/part-time job, aku kena isi this one borang so that diorang boleh bagi card ke dokumen apa entah untuk aku buat arubaito, in case if I wanted to lah. But time tu dah panik sangat, aku jawab je taknak. Later if aku nak arubaito ke, mendokusai sikit sebab kena gi jauh daripada Kanazawa untuk settle this stuff. So dah lepas immigration, terus rush untuk retrieve my luggages. Disebabkan transit aku ni dua airlines yang berbeza, aku kena retrieve luggages aku and check-in sekali lagi dekat Haneda Airport nanti. Aku pun pergi lah ke kaunter tiket bas and beli lah tiket harga dia dalam 3000円. Jam 0845, bas sampai and aku gerak ke Haneda Airport. Satu jam lebih je from Narita to Haneda. Sampai Haneda aku dah relax sikit tapi perut lapar gila. Aku pun jenjalan lah sekitar airport, saje nak tengok airport dia macam mana. Masa di Narita, aku takde masa nak jenjalan sebab takut leka then jadi lambat pula naik bas ke Haneda. Di Haneda Airport, airport dia agak simple dan mudah nak faham. Tak pening kepala. Ada juga usya makanan, snacks but in the end aku beli air Fanta perisa Peach je kat vending machine huhu. Next flight pula ke Komatsu Airport pada pukul 1300 so dalam 1200 tu aku dah pergi kaunter nak check-in. Selesai check-in, dalam pukul 1230 aku get ready nak boarding. Then pukul 1400, aku sampai di Komatsu Airport.

OK kat sini ada berita baik sikit nak cerita. Sebelum aku fly ke sini, aku dah contact siap siap dah dengan komuniti pelajar di Kanazawa. How? First aku tanya my UM bestfriend, Shamin sebab kebetulan kawan dia tu bekas pelajar Ambang Asuhan Jepun yang sekarang tengah belajar di Saitama Daigaku @ Saidai. Kawan kepada kawan Shamin ni pula bagi aku contact dengan kawan dia yang belajar di Kindai. Other than that, Chihiro; my Japanese friend yang pernah satu kelas and satu group assignment masa dia buat exchange program kat UM, share juga contact kawan dia yang belajar di Kindai. So sebelum datang sini, aku dah kenal dua orang pelajar Malaysia di Kanazawa. Jadinya, diorang dah ready nak tolong pick-up aku from airport and bawa ke Kindai. Alhamdulillah, aku tak perlu pergi sendiri ke Kindai by public transport. Kindai ada bagi dua pilihan sebenarnya untuk naik chartered bus, sama ada daripada Kansai Airport atau Komatsu Airport. From Kansai Airport was too expensive, and Komatsu Airport pula bertolak dalam pukul 1430 so aku risau aku tak sempat kejar. So bila sampai di Komatsu Airport, aku agak cuak sebab WiFi airport dia tak boleh diharap. Haa pulokkk dah acano aku nak contact diorang ni haa. Tapi kebetulan as soon as aku keluar je daripada airport, nampak muka diorang. Diorang pun drove me to Kindai. Ada singgah konbini sat untuk beli makanan sebab aku lapar yang amat.

Setibanya di Kindai, specifically dekat dorm/ryou, aku terus disapa dengan Nihonjin untuk diorang explain pasal registration. Ryou aku ni total penghuni dia 8 orang termasuk 2 resident advisor Nihonjin. Masa ni, aku sangat barai. Pelajar Malaysia ada lah sekali dengan aku, jadi translator. Sangat helpful sebab Nihonjin ni depa tibai explain rules and regulation and whatnot in Nihongo. Punya sakit kepala aku nak faham. Dia bawa lah ke tempat pembuangan sampah sebab dekat Nihon, pengasingan sampah tu sangat penting. Ada hari hari tertentu untuk buang sampah. For instance, sampah boleh dibakar atau moeyasu gomi seperti kertas, sisa makanan tu dibuang setiap hari Khamis dan Ahad. Tapi sampah akan dikutip pukul 0800, so better dibuang malam sebelum tu, unless kau rajin nak bangun pagi pergi buang sampah lol. Yang penting setiap rumah masing masing ada empat tong sampah and kau kena asingkan sampah ikut jenis jenis tertentu. Kalau tak asing, punishable by law ye. Sangat strict, tapi for a reason! Dah selesai dengan pengenalan kat ryou ni, budak Malaysia pun tanya lah if aku nak beli any barang keperluan tak. I said yes so aku terus gerak ke rumah sewa diorang then after that pergi ke AEON yang berdekatan. Selesai ber-kaimonosuru/shopping dengan diorang ni, balik semula ke rumah sewa diorang. Diorang pun masak lah, and ada juga pelajar Malaysia lain yang datang so berkenal-kenalan lah. Seronok, rasa dialu-alukan gittchew. Tapi aku tak makan sangat sebab gastrik dah menyerang. Mana taknya, last aku makan dalam pukul 0400 kot, tu pun dalam flight, sarapan Nasi Lemak. So aku makan sikit je then dalam pukul 2100, diorang hantar lah aku balik ke ryou. Ada juga diorang bagi aku cooking utensils sebab better guna asing lah especially if ada housemates yang masak butaniku/daging babi. Takut tercampur pula nanti haa. Sampai je kat ryou aku tengok dekat living room je dah ramai orang ada, aku greet lah semua, sempat jikoshoukai sikit. Masuk je bilik, aku rasa penat ya rabbbbbbb. It was a loooooong day. Tapi tak boleh tidur lagi sebab aku kena unpack semua barang aku and pasang cadar apa semua THEN study untuk Nihongo placement test esok paginya. Selesai unpack, kemas bilik, pergi mandi and study. But  pukul 0230 gurai aku give up, terus tidur.

Esok pagi 26 September tu aku bangun awal, dalam pukul 0630 sebab bilik aku dah cerah. Di Nihon pukul 0600 tu dah cerah ye and pukul 1700 dah start gelap. Bila dah siap aku turun bawah ke living room and berkenal-kenalan dengan housemates aku, only some of them lah. This time proper punya. Lepas tu aku gerak sekali dengan diorang ke placement test. Hari yang lain selepas tu bermula lah program orientasi. One word to describe, MEMENINGKAN. In my opinion, Nihon ni kalau nak melancong, okay lah best. Tapi kalau nak menetap sementara/terus kat sini, haaa bersedia lah dengan procedures dia yang macam-macam. Even sekarang dah minggu ketiga pun ada lagi benda aku tak settle. Masa orientasi, berlambak files diorang bagi. Banyak gila kertas aku dapat tapi rasa macam lowkey justified lah sebab diorang recycle. So aku kena settle benda macam exemption from National Pension, National Health Insurance, tempah Hanko untuk official purposes (depa tak sign, depa pakai benda ni untuk stamp dekat document), and banyak lagi yang aku malas nak senaraikan. Sangat rumit, dan leceh. Tapi sekarang ni aku dah settle most of them lah. Tentang hari orientasi dia, sangat berbeza ye dibandingkan dengan di UM. No cheers cikaboom bagai tu (although I do admit that it was actually fun), disini lebih kepada Life Orientation. Banyak lecture, contohnya macam pasal security issues. Polis sendiri akan datang bagi talk. Pasal disaster issues, orang yang specialised in that field sendiri akan bagi talk. But zenbu Nihongo de lah ye, semuanya dalam Bahasa Jepun. Tapi ada lah diorang bagi documents pasal related stuff in English. Overall, it was okay. Agak senyap lah. Tapi ini perspektif aku sebagai pelajar antarabangsa, tak tahu lah pelajar tempatan punya orientasi dia macam mana.

Weather? Sejuk. Berangin. Selalu hujan. Memang betul lah ada this one video tentang Kanazawa, dia bagitahu yang kalau pergi ke Kanazawa jangan pernah lupa bawa payung sebab sini memang humid dan sejuk. Sekarang baru musim luruh/aki ye tapi waktu pagi tu suhu boleh cecah 9°C atau 10°C. Kulit sampai kering, bibir merekah. Ni baru aki, aku tak tahu lah musim sejuk/fuyu nanti macam mana. Last year je salji was exceptionally thick sampai daigaku kena tutup dua hari. Bertabah lah dear self masa fuyu nanti. Benda lain yang penting juga adalah silica gel. Kasut aku jadi lembap and bila lembap lebih senang nak berbau so I put silica gel inside untuk at least serap lah kelembapan tu. Boleh order through online, sini beli dekat Amazon je.

So macam mana life disini so far? Hmm, aku happy lah dapat masuk daigaku ni. Sebabkan daigaku ni kokuritsu/universiti awam, banyak komuniti pelajar Malaysia kat sini sebab most of them tajaan JPA and JPA usually taja pelajar ke kokuritsu. Yang aku kenal so far lepasan Institut Bahasa Teikyo, Ambang Asuhan Jepun. Ada juga kenal pelajar tahap Sarjana. Diorang sangat baik, willing to help and guide. Ada juga haritu pergi majlis doa selamat sebab ada this one rakyat Malaysia baru pindah kat sini so dia ajak lah kitorang pergi rumah dia. Baca Yasin, and dapat juga lah merasa makanan Malaysia. Satay, sambal, and all. Sense of community tu strong. In terms of kelas pula, agak busy especially kelas Nihongo. Di UM kelas Nihongo dua kali seminggu je. But here kelas aku 7 kali seminggu sebab aku diletakkan di Pre-Intermediate class, and it's an intensive class. Sangat banyak shukudai dia tapi I'll work hard for it and make sure next semester aku boleh masuk Intermediate class.

Tapi aku suka cara schedule waktu kelas disini. Waktu kelas terbahagi pada 6 periods. Lebih kurang sama macam waktu kelas masa SMK dulu. Kelas paling awal pukul 0845, paling lambat pukul 1800. 1015-1030 waktu breakfast or coffee break, lunch hour pukul 1200-1300. Sangat bagus actually sebab kau tak perlu risau bila nak makan. Unlike in Malaysia, kalau kelas kau pack nak mati tanpa gap on that day, haa terpaksa lah kau berlapar. Last semester aku macam tu lah, by the time kelas ketiga yang berturut-turut, aku dah lemau. Yang penting waktu makan tu ada lah. Sini if kelas pukul 0845 and aku tak sempat breakfast sebelum tu, aku sempat makan pukul 1015. Untuk kelas yang bermula pukul 1030 pula, kadang sempat breakfast kadang tak. If tak sempat pun, pukul 1200 boleh terus lunch. Tentang makanan, ada cafe kat sini yang sediakan makanan Halal. So tak ada masalah, but kalau boleh masak sendiri lah ye. Jimat duit sikit. Nak masak ni hmmm... aku akan cuba ye. Nak taknak kena belajar juga! Makanan from home pun banyak dah habis so, no choice. Housemates total 6 orang. From Taiwan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan of course. Semua satu kepala dengan aku and I'm so glad for that.

So far itu je kot yang aku nak cerita for now. At least that's what I can think of as now lah, dah procrastinate sangat sampai hilang ideas hahaha.

Second day in Kanazawa Daigaku, sangat suka lalu di
Acanthus Bridge ni ke kelas sebab view dia cantik!

Ryuugakusei intake Fall 2018.

Welcoming Party in my dorm, Sakigake.

Me at Kenrokuen Garden.

In Kanazawa Castle.

Masa majlis doa selamat the other day.

Fefeeling squad with other international students.

P/S: Aku sangat bersyukur dapat peluang untuk merasa belajar di luar negara. Keluar daripada zon selesa. Aku ingat lagi, masa umur 20. Masa tu aku betul-betul bertungkus lumus untuk apply belajar luar negara. Final year Diploma time tu. Aku research negara mana aku berminat nak sambung belajar. 3 countries caught my attention waktu tu; Japan, United Kingdom, dan Australia. I even contacted Malaysian students yang belajar di Jepun untuk tanya stuff like courses, how to sambung belajar disana and all. But waktu tu aku rasa kecewa sebab most of them are diligent students so biasanya ke Jepun ni under JPA. I wasn't smart enough untuk ditaja oleh JPA plus JPA biasanya taja students untuk aliran Sains but Sastera, rasanya tak kot. I was like tak apa lah, mungkin tiada rezeki. Other than that, I did get the offer to study BA Communication in University of Queensland, Australia and BA Business and Marketing in University of Lincoln, United Kingdom. But aku tak dapat cari biasiswa so in the end I had to decline those offers. Sedih sangat masa tu, especially bila mengenangkan penat lelah aku ulang-alik from UM to IDP Subang Jaya on my own untuk submit documents and all. But hey here I am now, in Japan. Walaupun bukan sebagai full-time student, but this is better than nothing. I feel so lucky, Alhamdulillah.

My Journey to Study in Japan

Post ini seolah-olah diari bagi aku dimana aku draft kan setiap stories, challenges that I went through while applying for the student exchange program. Have fun reading it! Mind you, it's a long one.


19 November 2017 / 4:30 AM

Hey, I can't sleep so I'm in the mood to write a new post.

But before that, let me give you a 'lil update. OK, it's been hectic these past few weeks, banyak challenges gila. First, assignments berlambak but luckily I managed to submit one by one. So dah kurang sikit beban. Presentations pun most of it dah buat. But there's still one report left, and few more presentations. Apart from that, I'm taking National Heritage Dance class, so the final assignment is we have to perform a dance that we have learned. And I am in charge of the choreographer for Zapin. Which is... such a heavy task for me because I can dance, but I can't choreograph! Plus, I'm the manager for Swadansa Kinabalu this year, so, need to focus on that as well. Dancers for female selected already, boys macam biasa lah kekurangan penari so I still need to find three or four more. Two days ago baru je participate Japanese Speech and Skit contest, which was very stressful as fuck for me. But, Alhamdulillah I got 1st place for the speech, 2nd place for the skit. OK lah tu but since I won 1st place, I need to present it again this Friday (24 November 2017) for JACTIM Award. Hahaha I was the emcee last year, this time I pula jadi penerima award hehe. This past few weeks had been so hectic that aku memang kurang tidur gila. And now I guess I'm already at the limit, so sekarang ni dah start demam hahaha, plus gastric. Went to clinic regarding gastric ni, and the Doctor said one of the reasons adalah stress. Aiyo, no wonder lah. Laptop pun buat hal lately, selalu bluescreen and tak boleh nak turn on, sumpah stress! Hopefully, I can stay strong for few more weeks, two months to be specific. Please be easy on me...

Anyway, since the application for Okayama Daigaku last semester was unsuccessful, I applied again this semester. International Student Centre called me, and gave me the offer to apply for Kanazawa Daigaku. I was so happy with the offer, except one thing... I'm gonna go there for A YEAR. Shit. That's way too long pula. But ISC also bagitahu that this one, ada scholarship. Tuition and accommodation fees will be waived, so scholarship tu hanya untuk belanja je. I asked my Head of Department (currently Dr Rohayati instead of Dr Asmadi 'cause he's on sabbatical leave) regarding this issue and she advised me to go with it. Asked my parents and they also approved of it and so I accepted the offer. But of course it's not as easy as that, right? Of course I have to prepare documents and shit. Kat sini lah serabut gila. Anyway, documents dah submit so tengok lah if dapat ke tak. Tak berharap pun actually sebab since kena reject application last semester, terus tawar hati hahaha. So yeah tengok lah macam mana... Will update more. But for now this post jadi draft je.

06 January 2018 / 12:18 AM

I'm actually in the middle of exam week and still waiting for the result. I don't think I'm going there next semester...

11 January 2018 / 4:56 AM

It's almost 5 AM and I'm taking a break from studying for my last paper, Economic Policy of Japan. Last week, En Hilmi; the officer from my faculty did ask me yang Kanazawa Daigaku ada send any updates ke tak which I replied, none. He then said, Kanazawa Daigaku told him that they will reveal the result either that week, or next week (this week lah, at the moment I'm writing this post). So masa last week tu I waited lah, tapi tak ada pun any updates. This week pun I menunggu juga, everyday tau check e-mail. Yesterday (Rabu) masa kat Dewan Peperiksaan terserempak dengan dia, and he asked me again ada tak any updates. I replied,

"Still tak ada lah En Hilmi..."

And I can see his expression macam shocked je. Then I said lagi,

"Takpe lah, saya tunggu lah mungkin Khamis atau Jumaat kot..."

To which he replied,

"InsyaAllah akan ada tu..."

My friends yang akan pergi ke Waseda Daigaku, Chonnnam Daehakyo, semua dah prepare dah.  Tsukuba Daigaku belum tanya pula... nanti kena tanya ni apa cerita. Yang ke Chonnam dah settle visa. Waseda, tengah settle documents sikit then boleh proceed to visa. But mine, satu apa pun tak ada updates. Tak pe lah harini (Khamis) and esok (Jumaat) je lah penentu whether I'll be going to Japan or not. If tak pergi then tak apa lah. And I won't apply anymore for exchange program sebab if dua kali apply tapi tak dapat, maybe it's not meant for me kot. Plus, lambat sangat dah tu kalau nak pergi masa Tahun Ketiga. So yeah...

15 January 2018 / 10:51 AM

So, last week memang tak ada e-mail langsung daripada Kanazawa Daigaku. I texted En Hilmi,

"Saya still tak dapat update daripada Kanazawa. Means saya tak pergi lah ni eh?"

To which he replied,

"Eh jangan macam tu. Kena tunggu jawapan."

Then dia hantar screenshot conversation dia with this one person, maybe yang in charge untuk application lah, he asked ada update ke tak from Kanazawa Daigaku. Then that person kata masih tak ada, and dia akan e-mail that university untuk minta update. I'll be waiting then, but nak kata harapan untuk dapat pergi tu dalam, 30% je rasa...

Cuti semester pun dah start, hari ni first day cuti. Masa last paper haritu, my classmates yang akan ke Chonnam, Waseda, and the rest semua duk wish "All the best in Japan!". Hahaha, padahal tak confirm lagi. Aku pun cakap lah, "Itu pun kalau pergi hahaha." Entah lah. Tengok je lah macam mana. Sekarang ni dua benda risau; risau kan result exam, dengan result application, aiyo.

30 January 2018 / 11:30 PM

En Hilmi WhatsApped me just now, dia kata Kanazawa Daigaku ada contact him. But they asked one thing, regarding my Japanese. They minta clarification yang betul ke masa aku apply tu, aku letak Japanese aku as Poor. I said yes lah. Sebab tak tahu Poor in terms of apa. Masa tu aku fikir macam, oh my Japanese ni masih lagi level elementary so that equals to poor lah. Eventhough so far walaupun selalu dapat A dalam Bahasa Jepun, tapi personally I'm still limited dalam pertuturan. So kalau nak have a conversation in Japanese, masih lagi tak fluent, which is why I think my Japanese masih poor. I have no problem in reading Japanese though, aside from Kanji lah. Kanji masih lagi merangkak. The thing is, course bahasa dekat Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur ni semuanya bukan advance punya level. By advance tu I mean yang advance gila once you dah graduate terus Japanese you tu dah macam native, no. Dia paling kurang pun intermediate punya level je, which I think equals to level N3 lah. UNLESS, you ada inisiatif sendiri belajar Japanese betul betul and tak 100% rely on class je, then yes your Japanese maybe boleh jadi advance level.

Sebab, kelas bahasa only twice a week, 2 jam per class. Of course tak cukup kan? Compared to Fakulti Bahasa & Linguistik, diorang memang betul betul study bahasa, so I bet everyday kelas bahasa. Or even Ambang Asuhan Jepun, yang tu lagi lah. I ada ask bekas student there (now dah study kat Jepun dah, for about 1 year already) and dia kata kelas Bahasa Jepun diorang dari 8 AM-6 PM everyday for first semester. Untuk semester berikutnya, diorang dah start study the subjects in Japanese. See, that's why I kinda compared myself punya Japanese with them, and I think mine is still at Poor lagi. Anyway, En Hilmi said,

"Laa... diorang belum buat keputusan lagi. Saya bagitahu mungkin you tersilap tanda. Diorang kata kena bawa masuk mesyuarat balik untuk second evaluation sebab dia ingat Bahasa Jepun awak lemah."

I fucked up. By this time, I feel like my chance to go there is decreasing. I kind of feel like nak lost hope dah. I'm stressed. Entah lah, whatever happens, happens. Though I don't know if I can deal with the result later on, if betul kena reject. For sure lah I'll be so fucking sad. Lagi lagi bila tengok my other friends semua pergi exchange and leave me alone here. That would give a huge impact on me. Sudah lah... aku nak tidur. Esok ada latihan Feseni lagi. Yes, aku balik kolej dah since 28 Januari sebab ada perkampungan Feseni. Esok pagi (31 Januari) pula result peperiksaan Semester 3 akan keluar. I hope I'll get good grades...

8 February 2018 / 02:02 PM

Things are getting more complicated now. Semester baru dah pun start, and now nak masuk hari keempat. Sekarang tengah tunggu laundry so while waiting for that saje nak update this post. Result Semester 3 dah dapat dah. Agak kecewa but then I already expected my result memang akan jatuh sebab last semester was semester jahiliah lol. Semester lepas memang tak serious langsung. So as a result of that my CGPA jatuh 0.1, which is quite bad. Anyway, I still haven't got any updates from Kanazawa Daigaku yet and this is stressing the shit out of me, seriously. Sekarang aku memang masuk kelas, tapi tak register yet. Aku tak boleh daftar kursus sebab En Hilmi tak bagi. Actually, agak risau sebab benda ni sangat tak pasti, and sangat gamble. I only have until 19 February untuk daftar kursus. Kanazawa Daigaku ni masalahnya bagi result lambat sangat, and I don't have much time to wait tahu tak? What if (mohon simpang lah) I waited sampai lah 19 February dah lepas, then turns out tak dapat? Tak ke mampus aku nak daftar kursus macam mana sebab dah tutup?

I'm becoming more and more pissed. Even bila datang kelas pun, my friends, sensei pun tanya,

"Faiz, bila fly ke Jepun?"

And my answer would always be,

"Emmm tak pasti lagi lah. Masih menunggu confirmation lagi..."

Then semua bagi reaction terkejut. No shit, semester baru dah start and masih tak dapat lagi offer letter. Kau rasa? All my friends dah confirmed akan pergi exchange this semester. Chonnam akan fly on 28 February, Waseda pula 19 March, Tsukuba tak tanya pula tapi offer letter dah dapat. I'm the only one je yang masih menunggu keputusan. God, I'm so stressed out right now. I'm sick of waiting already.

14 February 2018 / 03:57 AM

The end.

I waited for nothing. After all the things that I have done, akhirnya ia tak membuahkan apa-apa hasil. Sangat sedih. Sangat down. I'm so mad too. Betul lah apa si Kam Yee dan Nisa warned tentang application ke Kanazawa ni. I heard many stories dah regarding this, tak tahu pula boleh jadi dekat aku. Before this, it was them yang dapat offer ni. Kam Yee sampai spent hundreds but in the end, senyap je. Then she applied again for an exchange program ke Okayama. Yang ni sekali dengan aku, but tak dapat juga. After apply buat kali ketiga, baru lah dia dapat ke Waseda. Nisa pun sama juga, dapat slot ke Kanazawa but in the end tak dapat, tapi selepas dia merayu dekat fakulti, dapat lah dia pergi ke Tsukuba.

Aku down sebab ini kali kedua aku apply, tapi tak dapat apa-apa. Hanya melabur duit je. Sejujurnya aku sedih. Sedih sebab benda ni sampai mengganggu aku. Dia buat aku stress. Acne breakout makin teruk sebab kan hal ni juga lah. Tapi nak buat macam mana, tak ada rezeki. Tipu lah kalau aku kata aku tak envy tengok kawan kawan aku yang lain semua dapat merasa pergi exchange program. Memang envy sangat sebab aku apply sama dengan diorang tapi aku tak dapat. Unless lah aku memang tak ada impian nak pergi exchange program, then of course lah aku tak kisah dapat ke tak dapat. Ni dah usaha macam macam, tapi? Tapi satu apa pun tak dapat. Memang, memang, memang sedih.

Selepas menunggu lama gila nak mampus, I decided to contact Kanazawa Daigaku. I e-mailed them tanya pasal application status. They said,

"We stopped accepting applications for Spring semester. We are now accepting applications for Fall semester until February 28. We received your application for the program A, C, and D. Could you pick one program you would like to apply?"

And I told them I wanted Program A. Sebab dia ada different programs, and I won't go into details about those other programs, malas. So after tengok betul betul, Program A start buka application October 2017, due date application dia pula February 2018, and by April 2018 baru diorang umum result. Basically, I'm not going to Japan this semester (Semester 4), but next semester (Semester 5 'til Semester 6). Itu pun kalau dapat. Sudah lah, kalau dah dua kali tak dapat, memang it is not meant for me. Aku dah penat berharap. Tidur sampai mimpi macam macam sebab risaukan benda ni.

Aku sangat bengang. Sebab bila aku refer kat ISC, dia pass kat fakulti. Tanya fakulti, macam tak endah je nak layan. Dah e-mail Kanazawa Daigaku, suruh refer orang lain pula. Rasa sakit hati sangat. Aku buat apa yang disuruh okay, dan ini yang aku dapat. Sudah lah. I accept my fate, takpe lah mungkin tak ada rezeki nak belajar di negara orang. I'm tired. Subjects semua dah register, ok now I shall focus on my Feseni, and make sure kena bounce back from bullshit semua ni. Kena naikkan semula CGPA aku yang dah jatuhkan last semester. Come on, Faiz!

That's all from me.

xx

24 February 2018 / 10:02 PM

I guess there's still hope?

Memang sedih sangat sangat, lepas dapat tahu this semester tak pergi exchange. But now I'm trying to... slowly accept this. Memang masa baru mula je Semester 4 ni, aku huru-hara gila. Fikirkan exchange program, fikirkan Feseni, kelas banyak tak datang (except kelas Bahasa Jepun) sebab masa tu dah confident akan pergi exchange this semester. But, after dah dapat tahu tak pergi exchange this semester, aku terus jatuh. Sedih, tak ada motivation, dan sebagainya. Ambil masa juga untuk aku bangkitkan diri. Now here I am, slightly better. OK, subjek aku dah daftar, kelas pun dah datang cuma agak blur sikit lah sebab missed the classes masa Week 1 and Week 2. Plus, Feseni pun nak bertanding dah ni pada 12 & 13 Mac.

Anyway, ISC ada sent me an e-mail suruh aku isi Sijil Kelakuan Baik dekat Kementerian Luar Negeri. Did that, and sijil tu dah boleh collect dah now dekat Wisma Putra, and it's gonna cost me RM20. I also met Dr Asmadi regarding this issue. Apparently aku masih berpeluang untuk pergi exchange cuma masalah besar dia ialah aku kena pergi masa Tahun Ketiga or Semester 5 dan Semester 6. Kat sini bahaya sikit sebab waktu ni semua student dah start busy dengan thesis. By Semester 7 dah start intern, kalau thesis tak ada masalah. Aku tanya Dr Asmadi apa akan jadi kalau aku pergi masa Tahun Ketiga, Dr Asmadi cakap aku memang kena extend selama 2 semester. Kiranya pengajian aku daripada 7 semester jadi 9 semester which equals to extend setahun lah. Kenapa? Sebab, bila aku dah balik daripada exchange, aku tak boleh terus pergi intern, sebab thesis aku tak siap lagi. Student kena siap thesis dulu, baru boleh intern. Batch aku pula, intern dia selama 1 semester. Ni berbeza dengan senpai aku yang pernah pergi exhange ke Kanazawa Daigaku. In her case, dia cuma extend 1 semester je. Dia ada pergi intern semasa semester khas (during semester break), then lagi satu semester untuk dia buat thesis dan ambil mana mana kelas yang dia belum ambil so in the end dia sempat graduate dengan batch dia. Batch aku sistem dah lain.

Dr Asmadi recommend aku untuk sacrifice setahun sebab dia nak bila aku pergi sana nanti, balik sini je dah boleh cakap Bahasa Jepun dengan fluent, ペラペラ lah gittchew. Tak lah fluent macam native, but fluent enough to carry a conversation in Japanese. Dia kata, tak ada guna kalau aku graduate awal tapi skill bahasa aku masih lemah. Aku setuju dengan apa dia cakap tu sebab skill bahasa aku ni lah yang nak bagi aku laku masa cari kerja nanti. Walaupun aku kena extend setahun, which means that aku akan graduate dengan junior 1 tahun daripada aku, Dr Asmadi nak aku siapkan thesis dekat Jepun supaya balik sini dah boleh relax. Dia pun sanggup nak guide aku secara online. Kiranya aku siapkan thesis kat sana terlebih dahulu, then bila balik Malaysia boleh terus submit. Nanti dah masuk Semester 7 dan Semester 8, aku cuma perlu register subjek thesis je. Tapi thesis dah siap, so aku boleh dah relax time tu, just focus pergi kelas je. Kat Jepun nanti pun, boleh dapat lebih banyak information secara direct. So by now aku dah kena start fikir tentang tajuk thesis aku.

Aku juga ada buat backup plan yang lain. Which is plan untuk pergi intern di Jepun. Semalam aku ada pergi seminar by Pasona Company dekat Fakulti Bahasa & Linguistik. Pasona ni, a company yang recruit pekerja from developing countries untuk bekerja di SME companies in Japan. Yang bagusnya tentang company ni, diorang akan fully sponsor internship kat sana for 3 months (or more) dan diorang akan berikan daily stipend of 4000¥. Semua ni under Japan government so it's definitely not a scam. In case aku tak dapat pergi exchange, aku kena usaha untuk dapat pergi intern di Jepun. If masa intern, aku tunjuk great performance, diorang akan terus hire untuk jadi permanent employee. But, persaingan memang sangat sengit. Tak ramai yang dipilih, of course, benda macam ni bukan mudah but still, it's worth giving it a try.

I think that's all for now. For now aku kena tunggu bulan April untuk tahu result sama ada aku pergi exchange atau tidak. Bye.

21 March 2018 / 02:52 AM

To my classmates,

Ying Ying, Audrey, Vivien who flew to Korea (Chonnam Daehakyo) already; Azwar, and Kam Yee who flew to Japan (Waseda Daigaku) two days ago; and Ainul who will fly to Japan (Tsukuba Daigaku) soon, I wish you guys all the best. Have a lot of fun studying abroad! 楽しんでねぇ！Gotta admit that I quite envy seeing you guys have the chance to study abroad. The result from Kanazawa Daigaku will come out next month, I'll be waiting. This will determine whether I'm going to Japan or not.

OK now Feseni dah habis. Aku sangat lega. Boleh focus kat study terus. 24 March ni start dah mid-sem break pastu ada lagi another seven weeks before exam. Tak lama dah weh...

29 March 2018 / 09:47 PM

Forgot to update, last Monday (26 March) I went to Putrajaya untuk collect Sijil Kelakuan Baik or Certificate of Good Conduct. ISC told me to apply for that sebab nak stay luar negara for more than 6 months. Hopefully ni one step closer to study in Japan, InsyaAllah.

04 April 2018 / 01:41 AM

Took a nap around 12 am for about half an hour, so right now I'm feeling a little bit fresh tapi agak lapar. Lepas ni nak study a little bit then sambung tidur balik. It's e-Learning Week now so no need to attend class sebab all classes conducted online. Anyway, it's April already! The result will come out this month. I'm nervous but also excited. I'm hoping for the best. Just please, let me know the good news. Please. Ya Allah...

13 April 2018 / 10:28 PM

It's been two weeks and I'm still waiting for the result. Two weeks more. If still there's no e-mail from them then for sure lah I'm not going to Japan for the next two semesters. Anyway, I went to Nikkei Asian Recruiting Forum in Tokyo seminar at Fakulti Bahasa & Linguistik this morning. Kalau previously I went to seminar by Pasona untuk internship (and possibility untuk work in Japan), this time dia bukan internship but for lifetime employment. Well in general companies in Japan memang tak fire employees pun, the employees yang usually quit if ada masalah. Eventhough the company tak fire kau, but their treatment akan jadi makin cold towards you if still no improvement after making bad performance/mistakes. So bila employees dah kena psycho macam tu, dia sendiri akan rasa pressure then quit.

OK ok dah melalut pula. Beza seminar ni, yang ni company Japan yang besar punya. Pasona haritu more to SMEs, yang Nikkei ni more to companies yang besar like Nikkei itself, Yamaha, Mitsubishi, Panasonic etc. Nikkei ni, if chosen, dia akan hantar student pergi one-week orientation program in Japan. Pastu akan ada interview terus kat sana at the end of the program. If passed, then terus kerja in Japan. Right now I'm just trying to maximize my chances untuk work in Japan haha. That's all for now, next update I will reveal lah dapat ke tak offer ke Kanazawa Daigaku. Bye.

22 April 2018 / 04:45 AM

Third week, still no confirmation from them. I WhatsApped En Hilmi two days ago regarding this issue. He seemed clueless about it which made me worry lah. But he said, ISC will inform me about this around June. JUNE? ARE YOU FOR REAL? So I sent him the screenshot yang Kanazawa e-mailed me back in February which they said,

"Program A will begin on October 1st, 2018. We will inform you (your University) the selection result in April."

Then En Hilmi said that dia akan forward this to ISC. At this time, I don't wanna do much dah. I'm tired. It gets to the point yang aku rasa macam, sudah lah. I know I won't be accepted, just tell me already so that I can move on and don't have to think about this anymore. I just wanna be done with this, focus on my study in Malaysia and work (in Japan if ada rezeki). It's tiring you know. Penantian tu satu penyeksaan. The uncertainty, I can't deal with it.

I was doing my assignment petang semalam at the faculty and I stumbled upon my Japanese friend, Junnosuke or Jun. After sembang sikit then he asked me,

"So Faiz, have you got the confirmation from Kanazawa yet?"

I told him, tak dapat lagi and I don't really wanna think too much about it anymore. I'm ready with the possibilities of them not accepting me. Then dia bagitahu yang kawan dia, from Fakulti Bahasa dan Lingustik (majoring in Japanese language) dah dapat confirmation dah from Kanazawa Daigaku. Masa tu terkejut kejap. Satu, eh I won't go there alone lah kiranya! I thought I was the only student in UM yang akan ke Kanazawa. Luckily ada orang lain juga. Dua, SHE GOT THE CONFIRMATION ALREADY? Then I guess it's clear lah my application tak accepted sebab I think Kanazawa Daigaku akan sponsor few students je. Jun told me lagi, yang kawan dia tu apply with her twins. Kembar dia lagi sorang still menunggu confirmation from Kanazawa. If kembar dia tu sama major, then... tahu tahu je lah siapa yang accepted. Of course lah them since their Japanese is good compared to mine. I think Kanazawa akan prioritise them instead of me.

Anyway, even my junior pun siap dapat dah confirmation from their university untuk pergi exchange. Me? Haha, I've been waiting since last semester lagi. God, I'm really, really, extremely tired with this already. So yeah, just hurry up with the result lah so I can forget this thing. I'm exhausted. It's affecting me, mentally. Until then, bye.

07 May 2018 / 01:44 AM

Applied for Okayama Daigaku early last year, in the end tak dapat. But I didn't give up. I applied again for Kanazawa Daigaku, late last year. I also rejected offers from Sejong Daehakyo, and Chonnam Daehakyo because I want to follow my dream of studying in Japan. Went through a lot of stress, sampai caused me acne breakouts yang until now pun still tak heal lagi.

Now, I can finally say... Alhamdulillah. Yes. ALHAMDULILLAH. I got accepted! With full scholarship too! Bila April passed by, I was like memang putus harapan lah. But last Thursday (3 May) En Hilmi WhatsApped me. He told me that I got accepted. I was in Japanese Language class during that time so perasaan masa tu memang mixed sangat. I felt somewhat tak excited but I can say for sure lah rasa lega nak mampus. Cuma agak upset sikit sebab this university tak stay true to their schedule. Kata in April nak bagi offer? Tapi 2 May baru inform. But it's okay, janji accepted juga lah kan hihi!

Thank you for this opportunity, Kindai!

Honestly, up until now still tak rasa macam excited teruk. Rasa macam biasa je. Masa dapat offer sambung study in UM lagi excited kot compared to this one haha I don't know why. But I believe, masa tengah buat preparation nanti akan datang kot rasa excited and nervous tu. Sekarang ni tak prepare apa apa lagi kot but nanti nak pergi office jabatan untuk settle kan this issue, macam kena buat surat lah bla bla bla. I also approached the other UM student yang join this program, thanks to Jun. If I'm not mistaken, kiranya me and her je lah yang akan pergi ke Kanazawa Daigaku nanti. Not sure if fly together ke tak, but kalau boleh nak lah macam tu, easier. Takut lah fly sorang, nervous hahaha. Alright, I'm not gonna post this 'post' just yet. I'll update more about the progress later ok! For now I can relax, say Alhamdulillah because Allah granted my wish.

OK lah, it's Week 13 now, and next week adalah minggu terakhir for this semester then I'll have my first paper on 31st of May. Eeeekk, gotta focus on my exams dulu! Nihongo pun dah kena start level up kot untuk prepare placement test kat sana nanti haha.

Later!

xx

16 August 2018 / 06:40 PM
Wow! Lama tak update. Bersarang ter0xx hahahaha. Actually banyak updates tau tapi aku terlampau lah malas haha. Cuti semester dah nak habis baru lah ada rasa rajin lmao. Biar aku cerita sikit tentang apa je aku buat cuti semester ni. Firstly, dalam awal bulan July ada lah dapat panggilan untuk buat show tarian sempena Hari Raya dekat Selayang. Show untuk open house. Not bad lah, dapat lah RM200 setiap seorang. Habis dengan show, ada juga cari kerja part-time but banyak yang tak nak terima, sebab tempoh kerja too short. Upset juga lah tak dapat nak cari extra pocket money. Dan sampai sekarang aku bergoyang kaki je lah di rumah.

OK ok, tak ada lah goyang kaki je, ada juga sentuh sikit sikit Nihongo, sebab sana nanti ada placement test kan. Serabut juga lah cuti semester ni, kena ulang alik UM untuk settlekan macam macam. Yang penting tiket penerbangan aku dah book; aku akan fly on 24th September 2018 pada pukul 11.30PM. About a month from now. Pakaian winter pun dah shop sikit sikit. Actually tadi baru singgah UM sebab nak ambil Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) so that I can proceed dengan Visa. Sebelum gerak UM tadi, ada lah call ISC untuk tanya ada document atas nama aku dah sampai tak. Diorang kata ada, so I went to UM lah. Bila tengok, nama tu Faiq bukannya Faiz. Adoi. Diorang salah dengar, buat penat je. Ingat boleh lah nak settle Visa cepat cepat.

Pergi juga ke fakulti untuk deal dengan hal macam PTPTN (pause kejap pinjaman masa pergi exchange nanti), penarikan diri (buat sementara) selama dua semester daripada UM. Pasal tarik diri ni, ada problem sikit. Aku dapat surat ke rumah, dia kata dia luluskan penarikan diri aku tapi hanya untuk satu semester je, bukan dua. Semester 2 2018/2019 aku dah kena lapor diri, kalau tak status pelajar UM diluputkan. I was like, "What????!!!!" That's why I went to faculty untuk solve the issue. Rupanya Seksyen Kemasukan dan Rekod (SKR) cuai. Fakulti kata, tunggu SKR hantar surat yang baru. Nanti aku kena datang UM lagi untuk ambil CoE... haih.

Banyak juga aku berbalas e-mail dengan Kanazawa Daigaku. Ada lah diorang bagi update tentang dormitory, minggu orientasi, flight information, student's health care etc. Tak lama dah ni nak fly, so excited yet nervous. xx

28 August 2018 / 02:04 AM
OK bila buka Instagram, batch yang exchange ke Korea dah start update Stories diorang dengan ketibaan di airport lah, check-in dormitory lah, berjalan-jalan dengan geng lah and semua tu buat aku makin nervous. Next week, my juniors or kouhaitachi pula akan start fly ke Japan. A 'lil update sikit ok tentang junbi or preparation aku ni. Sekarang ni masih menunggu CoE daripada Jepun which means aku masih tak buat Visa lagi ni dan ianya agak merisaukan ye sebab kurang daripada 4 minggu je aku nak fly. For me, I feel like itu agak suntuk dah tu. Barang winter rasa cukup dah kot beli. Mostly beli bundle je. Nak beli yang baru daripada Universal Traveller memang tidak mampu lah uolls! I shopped at Jalan Jalan Japan (area Shamelin Mall), Sasuke (Kg. Pandan Indah), and yang paling puas hati sekali dekat Bandoru (Shah Alam). Bandoru pula, kebetulan ada buat sale besar-besaran yang baru je start 24 August lepas sampai 2 September ni. Harga baju yang beratus, boleh dapat kat situ berpuluh je. Even cheaper than Sasuke honestly. Muffler dekat Sasuke aku beli RM15, dekat Bandoru RM5. The heck??? Kualiti serupa baru ok which is why aku sangaaaat lah berpuas hati. I bought this one winter jacket yang ada bulu-bulu tu, haa kalau baru agaknya beratus kot but I bought if for RM70. OK ok ok shameless plug di situ pula ye, maaf saya bukan duta untuk setiap kedai ni ye ihiks.

Anyway, surat penarikan diri yang baru dah sampai di rumah, few days ago. Diorang mohon maaf atas kesulitan whatsoever lah. Sekarang tinggal nak settlekan Visa, brush up sikit Nihongo aku yang dah karat lagi reput ni, and beli barang keperluan macam MAKANAN, toiletries etc. Duit pun kena convert juga ni. After I'm done with all of these, I'm pretty much ready to go. Ready to go lah ye, bukan ready to adapt once I arrived in Japan later on. So for the time being, sebab kan rasa nervous (but excited), aku tengok tengok lah video airport punya persekitaran macam mana, daigaku punya tempat macam mana sebab aku ke sana seorang kot! Kalau ada geng at least boleh lah teamwork untuk jalan jalan kat sana. Tapi ni tak, aku seorang je so memang kena be prepared mentally and physically and pengetahuan-ly, gittchew.

15 September 2018 / 05:50 PM
Alright, I'm typing this while listening to Gorillaz's The Now Now album. WOW. Pejam celik pejam celik, 9 hari je lagi aku nak fly??? What??? I'm getting more and more nervous everyday. So, 12/9 haritu pergi UM kejap sebab nak ambil Certificate of Eligibility supaya aku boleh proceed untuk buat visa. Pergi UM pun bukannya ambil CoE then terus blah. Sempat lah jumpa classmates kejap. Sembang sambil makan sekali. Sempat juga aku masuk kelas Dr Asmadi (Ekonomi Politik Jepun) saje menyibuk kejap hahaha. Habis kelas tu ada lah sembang dengan sensei. Then I bid farewell to my classmates sebab rasanya lepas ni tak ada nak visit UM dah kot, for a while lah. Bila fikir balik, haritu lah last time aku tengok muka some of them, especially yang tak pergi exchange or repeat paper langsung. Sebab habis je aku exchange diorang dah intern, aku pun sama. Then habis intern diorang tunggu convo pula, while aku pula kena sambung sama ada 2 semester atau 1 semester + semester khas/short sem.

OK masa 12/9 haritu ingat nak buat visa terus tapi aku macam mehhhh lepak jap lah dekat UM. Weather pun tak berapa nice, hujan and lembap sangat. The more humid, the more I sweat and aku dah rasa tak selesa dah masa tu. Fikir nak balik and mandi je. So habis lepak dekat UM terus balik rumah. Esok tu 13/9 baru proceed dengan buat visa. I went to Embassy of Japan dekat KL. Sebelum masuk kena isi borang. Then dapat tag ada number then baru boleh masuk. Masa masuk, phone aku guard tu ambil, bag dia scan, badan aku pun sama. Macam dekat airport lah. Then dah masuk, aku proceed lah ke counter. Masa dekat counter, staff tu kata aku tak ada salinan CoE. Hah pulok dah... Dia bagi balik documents aku. Aku pun keluar lah daripada Embassy tu pergi kedai berdekatan cari mana boleh photostat. Ada lah this Vietnamese restaurant (Embassy of Japan bersebelahan je dengan Embassy of Vietnam), so aku photostat di situ. It costed me RM1 sehelai, black and white tau. 高すぎ！Mahal sungguh! Then nak masuk Embassy kena repeat step sama. Aiyo, kabut semacam aku time tu. Documents dah cukup baru lah staff tu accept. Passport, CoE aku dia ambil and suruh datang balik petang esok untuk ambil passport yang dah lengkap dengan visa. Esok tu 14/9 aku datang collect. Then settle!

Now dah settle dah in terms of documents nak travel ke sana. Tinggal nak prepare barang untuk bawa ke sana je. You know food, cash, and other barang keperluan. Ya Allah seminggu je lagi ok ok ok ganbare!

10 October 2018 / 07:35 PM (UTC +9)
Jeng jeng jeng! Haa nampak tak time zone dah tukar tu. Yep, I have safely arrived in Japan, well, it's been three weeks now here. HAHAHA sorry I have been very busy, only now baru ada masa nak post. OK, aku cerita sikit je tentang on the day aku fly tu. First three weeks kat sini aku cerita on another post. So masa 24th September tu after waktu Maghrib terus gerak KLIA. Masa kat sana, my friends from UM datang lah visit untuk send me off. Mak and Abah balik awal dulu sebab maybe nak bagi laluan untuk aku lepak dengan kawan kawan kot. Tepat 10.30 pm aku terus ready boarding and said goodbye to my friends.

Thanks Mak and Abah sebab hantar Faiz pergi Jepun lagi.

From left: Thanks to Hani, Ainul, Darren, Shamin, Zaini,
Ghani, Hadi, and Iman for sending me off!