The Third and FINAL part of the Comprehensive Guide to UIA NILAI!!!

First:

CONGRATULATIONS FOR SURVIVING TAARUF WEEK!!!

You guys did it! I saw for myself how you had to wake up at 4am, be dressed and lined up in the courtyard by 5am, and attend briefings/lectures/tests the whole day. Not forgetting the 5pm torture practise sessions on the field under the hot sun, where you had to sing the CFS for the 50th time even though you’d rather just curl up in your dorm and sleep. Trust me, I’ve been there and experienced all of it.

(Maybe that’s why throughout the days I was there, I would wake up every day at 5am, look out from my window at you guys lining up below me, then go back to sleep till 1pm)

So now the weekend has kicked in and you get to sit back and catch up on all those hours of sleep you missed.

OR

You could start planning on how to make the most out of your stay here in Nilai, starting by reading the third, long-due, final part of my guide.

You’ve seen for yourself how tiny the campus is, and how there are a limited number of people in it. So does one of your ambitions include being one of the elite whose name everyone on campus knows and talks about? Or does your goal involve a string of A’s, a Dean’s List and a scholarship? Or are you planning to be the student with all the highest posts in all the coolest societies, and with contacts even among the staff?

Or… do you intend to achieve all of that, and more?

Okay, let’s look at each aspect of Nilai campus one by one. If it’s too long, I might have to break Part 3 into several posts. Hehehe!


Your Dorm and Your Roommates

I’m hoping that, by now, you’ve at least remembered everyone’s names, and maybe gotten to know some of them properly, especially the ones whom share your bed, or occupy the beds next to you.

After one measly, activity-filled week, cliques usually haven’t been formed yet. Or maybe they have, but according to the location of the beds, not the personalities of each roommate.

I am not encouraging you to form a tight group of 4 to 5 roommates, and then completely ignore the rest of the dorm. Bad, BAD idea. However, logically, you can’t be BFFS with all 19 other girls in your dorm. If you’re going to grab dinner, or stock up on groceries at Giant, there will always be a particular group you would prefer to be with. Here, I’m going to identify the types of girls (sorry, guys!) you will find in your dorm. And keep in mind that a girl can be a mixture of two or more of these personalities.

The Tudung Labuh

The TLs are usually BAR and IRK students, sometimes Laws, Econs and HS students, but never BEN. They are usually Islamic, modest, quiet, neat and don’t really stand out in a room. They communicate mostly in BM, and come from Islamic schools such as Ma’had, Tahfiz or Darul Quran. Often, these girls are a year older than you and would prefer that you call them ‘Kak Nad/Sara/Ma”. They will hold congregational prayers in the dorm, and will invite you to join them, but never force.

…On the flip side: The Holier-Than-Thou

The Holier-Than-Thou will switch on all the lights in the dorm by 5am in the morning. They might switch on some nasyid music too if they notice you haven’t stirred from your beds. They will give you Death Glares or/and shake their heads in disapproval if you walk around in a towel, or a tank top and shorts. They may even forcibly request you join their congregational prayers, and then forcibly request you to listen to their lecture afterwards on the evils of not praying/not observing the aurah/mingling freely with the opposite sex. They will switch off the lights really, really early regardless whether you’re ready to sleep or not.


The Socialites

The Socialites tend to be loud, fun-loving girls who were either forced to enter UIA by their parents, or weren’t accepted anywhere else. Lesbian jokes are a staple among them, as well as talk about sex, their bra size, Bitches who backstabbed them, and the hottest guys on campus. The Socialites are friendly and open, but rather dominating and vulgar. Hanging out with them is like being at a 24/7 party – hilariously fun, but exhausting. These girls usually come from all girls school, or Sekolah Kebangsaan.

…On the flip side: The Bitches
The Bitches shrieks and squeals of ‘Oh my Gawd!’ can be heard through out the whole dorm, even though its 2am in the morning and everyone else is already tucked in their beds. Every time the Bitches chill, they make sure their voices are carried through out the whole room, because of course everyone wants to know what scandalous gossip they’re discussing. They backbite about absolutely everyone, so don’t be surprised if you hear your name come up when they think you’re sleeping. Catfights and backstabbing will always occur among them, and they’ll force the whole room to take sides. Whatever dilemma a Bitch is going through, everyone in the whole room knows, because she never keeps something to herself.


The Overachievers

These Ex-MRSM students will hardly ever be in their dorms; when they’re not in class, they’re either at a meeting, making notes in the study room or conducting study group sessions in the library. They are serious about their studies; obtaining Dean’s List and winning a scholarship is their ultimate dream. But at the same time, they want to snag that top position in all the best clubs, be the head committee of any major event, and gain “priceless experience” along they way. They are smart, charismatic, popular, and will definitely lend you a hand in your studies.


… On the flip side: The bigheads
The bigheads will never stop letting you know just how busy they are, how stressed out they are by their class assignments plus club workload, and how lucky everyone else is for having so much free time compared to them. The bigheads are so used to being the leaders in their class and in their clubs, that they expect to be leaders in their clique too. They will be dominating every single group conversation, and will probably re-tell the same “amusing” anecdote for the 58th time to everyone in their loud, domineering voice, and demand that everyone laugh at their jokes. They usually have many enemies, and friends who secretly hate them.


The Invisibles

The Invisibles keep to themselves so much, and are so quiet, that soon enough you’ll either forget their names altogether, not be able to differentiate between them when they’re in the dorm, and not be able to recognise them outside the dorm. In fact, you could go through a whole semester without saying a word to them. It’s not that they think they’re too good for you; usually it’s because they’re extremely shy. They won’t be causing any conflict in the room – in fact, even if they didn’t exist, there wouldn’t be a real difference in the room.

…On the flip side: This could happen to you.


Other Personality Types: The Chameleons, The Jahiliah, The Jokesters, The Kampong Girls, The City Girls…the list goes on.

***

Keep in mind the cliques in your room may form due to bed locations, class mates, or similar personalities. It’s not usual, but it’s not unheard of, either, for a clique to be made up of all those types of personalities I mentioned, and more.

Despite the fact that you have a clique, be sure to hang out and have regular conversations with almost every occupant in your room. It’s good to have a sisterly feeling among all your roommates. That way, you won’t feel so lonely and unwanted if you’re not with your clique.

What Dina did to bring everyone together in my room was to bring food from home, set it in the middle of the room after Maghrib, and invite everyone to eat and introduce themselves at the same time. It feels more relaxed and natural that way.

You could also hold movie nights on your laptop to bring everyone together. For my room, for example, we’d always watch the latest Gossip Girl episode (downloaded by yours truly) on my laptop on a night when absolutely everyone is free.

However, there’s no other method of making your dorm feel homier than pooling all your money to buy linoleum to cover the whole floor. That way, everyone can hang out/study/sleep in the middle of the dorm – especially that wide empty space by the windows. Otherwise, you’ll feel like your dorm is divided into islands.

Other matters regarding your dorm(mates):
Elect a leader (or musyrifah) from your dorm early on, and she will be the representative for all 20 of you. My advice would be to choose the oldest among the Tudung Labuhs.

Have a timetable laid out early on regarding who cleans the room on which weekend. Since you newbies are staying in Block D and E, cleaning the toilets will be unnecessary.

Avoid any conflict in your room, please. You do not want all your roommates to hate you and segregate you. Nor would you want them to spill all your dirty secrets (you don’t like to shower in the mornings, you wear the same underwear for one whole week, or you scratch your crotch when you sleep at night) to everyone else on campus.


Wooh! So this turned out longer than I thought it would be. Stay tuned for the next, uh, part of Part 3, which will either involve curricular activities or extra-curricular activities. Can’t decide which yet.