Step 6: Uniracial Orientation

Today went for the chinese orientation. Apparently is a tradition in Manipal. The chinese, malays and indians will have segregated orientation. I think it creates the oppourtunity for seniors to know juniors and vice versa. To be honest, I didn't really expect much from it and I was darn tired after helping Dien shift to Old Chandarashekar. It turned out fun and exciting in the end. Walked to Acarya Compound with Jewel and Chien Ying. Seniors and Juniors were differentiated by black and blue ribbons tied to our wrist. A game session was prepared before dinner. We (juniors) all formed 6 groups of 8 people. I, along with Jewel and Chien Ying were in group 1 which comprised of 7 BDS students and 2 MBBS.

A total of 10 games were played and we (group 1) emerged as the winners (based on our score collected). However, we lost at the “distinction” round which made the runner up team as the overall champions. I felt the games were good as it somehow made us closer and get over with all the akwardness and nonsense in class. I just pity Wei Jie and another guy from MBBS (don't know his name) who have minor accidents. (WJ last toe nail tercabut and MBBS guy spectacles lens dropped out)

Dinner was served after the games. The dishes tasted okay. Every senior batch sent out a representative to give a welcoming speech. Most of the time they forgot to mention BDS batch 2 and we were all eye-rolling away. There were also singing and dance performances by sporting individuals. Batch 25 MBBS seniors also prepared a good sketch which send the whole crowd laughing. We left early due to the scary lucky-draw. The reason I used the word scary is because once you're pick, chances you might need to do something silly in front of the crowd despite getting a reward. Overall we did enjoy ourselve very much and good job seniors!

Step 5: Going about the Manipal way

I'm currently blogging from India, where the cows roam freely. Sorry for the late write up. I have been so busy for the pass few days, not that I'm really free now also. Classes started on 23^rd of Sep . We had subjects orientation. The head of the deparments outlined to us the things we will be learning and the assesments involved. Basically BDS 1^st year have 4 main subjects. Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology and Dental Anatomy (DADH). There're two additional dental subjects which will be continued in the 2^nd year, Dental Materials and Preclinical Prothodontics. We will only have exams in 2^nd year. We also have 1 session of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) and Problem Based Learning (PBL) every week. Both these session are part of the assesment. There is also one more slot for Profession &Personality Development (PPD). Classes so far so good. As usual, i'm finding Biochem harder than the rest. The 1^st few weeks is all about grabbing basic concepts and memorizing. If you want to know what's worst that biochem, anatomy dissection. Maybe not for you, but I find it unpleasent to look at. My heart goes all out to the person. Now, everytime I open my anatomy notebook, it smell like fomaline. (Eww!) Okay, enough of that. I will update more about classes next time.

Lectures are usually held in the MAHE building which is the main office for Manipal University. The library is attached to this building. The dental faculty (MMMC only) is at the basement of MAHE. Our dental labs and classroom are all there. The facilities are all relatively new and well-maintained. All the staff there are quite young (of course except the dean). There is 3 seminar rooms, 2 lectuer hall, 1 prostho lab, 1 DADH lab and many small rooms where our dental lecturer resides. There's another place we normally visit for biochem / physio pratical, the MMMC building. This is where all the basic sciences lecturer are. Opposite to the right of the place is the dissection hall and anatomy musuem. Not going to give much details about that two place.

Okay, now about the hostels. Hostels here are unisex. Boys hostels: Nehru, Amatyasan, KMC boys. They are all just next to my hostel. Girls hostels: Indira, Sharada, Sonia, New AC, Old Chandrashekar, New Chandrashekar and Priemer Greenwood Apartments. I'm currently staying in New Chandarshekar. The hostel is quite pleasant. I can say it's relatively safe to walk back at night since is facing the main road. It's even better to stay here if you're doing MBBS because your lecturer hall is just directly in front of the hostel. The MAHE building and food court is 2 minutes walk away. From my place to the town is about 5 minutes walk. If you are feeling lazy, you can always flag down any random auto. The auto charge about Rs 15 (per ride) inside Manipal Town and Rs 80 to Udupi. The people here hardly use cars, mostly motorbikes or walk. Speaking about that, Indians are actually taught to horn in driving schools. What I mean is that, they horn non-stop in India. Actually, it doesn't really bother me. What I really don't like is the random cow dungs distributed everywhere. It would really make your day if you step on one, especially if it's a fresh one.

Food here is okay. You can easily get malaysian or chinese cuisine here. There is a range of restaurant for you to choose from. Thailin, Snack shack, Chef In, Basils, China Valley, Your Choice, Saiba, Dollops, etc. Addition to that, almost 99% of the restaurant here do deliever service. You can have you breakfast/lunch/ dinner at the comfort of your room. The food court mess is another option. You will only need to pay about Rs 100 or less for your 3 main meals. However, it's only available on certain hours. The tap water is not safe to drink though. We all have to order a big bottle of 20ml RO water which course Rs 75 for every refill. It's actually quite cheap and they deliever it directly to your doorstep. There are also 2 or 3 juice shop in town to quence your fruity thirst.

And if you're wondering about finding a church here, there're two. One Bread of Life and the other Grace Home. Bread of Life is more of a charismatic church and most of the students go there. Grace Home is a breathen church, somewhat like gospel hall. I'm currently going to Grace Home. It's in a house and it's service is rather tradisional. The men will sit on one side and the women occupy the other side. I love the hymns sang at the church. The sermons are also okay. I have yet to visit BOF but I heard many negative comments about it so I will stick to GH for the rest of my two years here.

For girls, if you want to make punjabi suits or saree, you can send your cloths to be tailor at Raj Fashion. Here, you can even make fancy short dresses or even formal dinner gaun. All you have to do is just supply the cloths which you can get in Udupi. For execrising, one can jog to end point or just use the MARENA. MARENA is a huge sport complex, End point is a open-air jogging park. This two places are normally pack with people during the evening. And if you feel manipal is too boring, you can always visit Udupi, Mangalore or even the Maple beach. There are buses (Non AC and AC) that goes there everyday. Well, studies will definitely keep you busy and it's rare for public holiday to come. (not like malaysia) Okay, that's much about this little university town.

Ps: I'm so sorry for just giving a written write up with no photos. The line here isn't that good, so i will just post all the photos on my facebook. Just visit my album there.

Step 4: Travelling

It's been already two weeks since i'm here. Here, as in Manipal, India. I still can't believe that I'm already stamping my footprints around this small university town. Life here have been good, not that bad as I have imagine. Okay, I will first start off with the journey here. My flight was scheduled on the 19^th. There was another group which left on the 17^th. I'm not going to give you a detail report about all the sobbing and goodbyes I did at home or at the airport. I'm sure almost everyone did shed a few tears here and there. All private students flew by Airasia and the sponsored by MAS. Reach LCCT at 12pm and headed straight to the check-in counter. The rep from MMMC, Dr. Anan was there, helping students with the check-in. We were to collect ribbons from him for our bags. Pink for girls and white for boys. Many were facing overweight problems and I merely pass with 30.1kg. Phew~

 The flight there took about 3.5 hours. Our flight delayed for about 30 minutes. My sit on the plane was at the aisle.

 On the same row was two other MBBS students, Tammisari and Leonard. Both of them were very friendly and we did shared a story or two throughout the flight. We were served Nasi Birani and water. (Iwanted Nasi Lemak so badly. :'( Totally dissappointed)

We arrived at Bengaluru International Airport, Bangalore at 5.30pm (India time). The airport was very similar to KLIA, just that it have some Indian Stone Cravings here and there.

There were a few crazy people waving to us was we walked to the customs. (I think they are Malaysian) After collecting our lugage, we pulled the big bags to the truck, all in single file. You can imagine one line of people all pulling huge bags walking towards a army-like truck.

Once we ensure that the bag was loaded into the truck then we were to get in one of the two bus provided.

We were to spend a night at Bangalore. It took an hour to reach the hotel. On the way there we were all greeted by the horns, horns from vehicles. It felt like being in Hanoi again. The Vietnamist are far more worse. The surrounding of India reminds me of Phneom Pehn. The roads are all muddy and the poors stay in tents by the roadside. Anyway, coming back to the hotel, we stayed at Royal Orchid Hotel. Apparently it's a five star hotel. We were all have to undergo sercurity check before entering the hotel. Everyone got a double sharing room. My roommate was Yoong from Muar. She is a MBBS student also. We had welcome tea before going to our rooms. I must say the bed was very comfortable.

The room even has a flat screen tv hung to the walk. Despite that, we experince the infamous blackout when we were in the room. Many girls in other room let out a short scream once it happened. It lasted like half a minute.The dinner was okay. The indian rice was long and fine. I like the green curry they served. Me and Yoong retired to our room early.

Morning call was late the next morning. We woke up at 5.30am and had breakfast. Meet Ms Dompok at the dinning place. She was in a white collar blouse with a blazer around; just like all other JPA scholar. Apparently they just arrived two hours ago. Poor thing. We took the same bus back to Bengaluru Airport. We have to take a domestic flight to Mangalore. They choose to fly with Jet Airways; one of the budget airlines of India. The sercurity check was so strict. All of us need to take out our laptop and then tied tags to our bags. We also have to go through a manual body search. It was just so MA FAN! The flight to Mangalore took 45 minutes. I was so lucky to get the buisness class sit. There weren't enough economy class sit and they put the last 3 person names start with Y to the buisness class sit. Many envy eyes were on us as the plane get loaded with practically 90% MMMC students. Once we landed on Mangalore, we were led to the college buses. Dompok and I sat together. It feel so good to have one of your best friend to travel together. The bus journey there wasn't that bad. It was quite bumpy but still managable. On the way we pass by many hill villages and also Udupi town. After an hour bus ride, we arrived at Manipal. We were all placed in a ballroom at Valley View Hotel (the best looking hotel in Manipal). Many seniors were already there. We were briefly breifed about the basic things ie: food, water, handphone sim cards and hostel. Each of us received a big white evelope containing hostel allotment slip, hostel rule booklet, an invertation to the orientation program, general student information form and hostel forms. The seniors also got us Vodafone sim card pack. Our lunch that day was also provided there. After all was settled, we were all brought to Old Chandrashekar building to collect our big lugage. There were many porters that helped students to carry the bags to the various hostels. Mine was instead carried by one MBBS senior since my hostel was just a stone throw away. I have to register at the warden's office before moving to the room. My room number: 416 located at the 3^rd floor. The warden's office is at 0 floor and the entrance to the building is at -1^st floor. (funny right?) My room is quite spacious. There are many fittings. I'll let the photos do the talking. (post this next time, internet connection terrible)

 That afternoon itself, the senoirs brought us out shopping. (Leave this for the next post :-p) We had dinner at this chinese restaurant called ThaiLin. My first ever auto ride was to this house turned restaurant. The cook is a chinese old lady. She was borned and raise in India itself. (You really can find chinese people anywhere in the world) The food was tasty and it cost about Rs 114 (RM 8). That night I also did some room visiting to Dompok (Premier Green Wood) and Dien (Sharada Hostel) place. I think that's about it. I will continue next time about how's life here.

Step 3: Orientation

I had my orientation on the 4^th of September. It was a Saturday. My dad drove the whole family down and we had breakfast at a coffee shop near Jocker Street. The orientation programme was to start at 9am and end approximately at 11.30am, about 2 ½ hours. It was held at the Dato’ Pathmanaban Hall, the same place where applicants were to write their “About Me” essay. The hall that day was arranged with chairs and just outside was the list about our flight date.

 I am to fly on the 19^th. Well, I think practically all the BDS students are flying on the same day. It was a combined orientation (that means BDS and MBBS students were put together) which I think wasn’t a very good idea. There goes my idea of “knowing your course mate”.

They were very punctual and started once the clock hit 9.

Mr Rama, the deputy registrar started the programme off by welcoming all and without further a due, invited Prof. Datuk Dr. Razzak, the CEO to give the opening speech.

 Throughout his talk he was emphasizing on self-discipline, hardworking and being independent. It was quite motivating. Next, the dean for the faculty of medicine, Dr. Ullas Kamath briefed on the MBBS course. Well, hey~ he doesn’t really have a heavy Indian accent. I still can understand what he said. Moving on, Prof. Dr. Dilip Naik, dean for dentistry gave us a clear picture of my course and he also revealed the BDS timetable.

Yes, we have classes on Saturdays. After all was done, we were dismissed. Students were to collect their documents outside. Well, basically everyone cramped around the hostel counter. I placed my name on the New Chandrasekhar Hostel.

 Since it was the Ramadan, lunch wasn’t provided. However, we helped ourselves with some roti canai at the cafeteria. That kinda wraps up the programme.    

Step 2: Stand

Phase 2 is the visa application. MMMC will send you the visa forms. Mind you, the forms are only given out a month before your intake date. With it will be another booklet will all the necessary details about your orientation, hostels, the journey there and some FAQ. Back to the visa application, you will need 3 passport size photos, your own passport (must be valid for 6 months) and the offer letter from the college (this will be given together with the visa forms). The fee for the student visa is RM300 for 3 years. Together with your completed visa form, pay the High Commission of India off Jalan Duta @ KL a visit. Head over to counter 2, hand in your necessary documents and wait till they call you. After everything is done, you will have to go to GrandLotus Travel Agency which is opposite Agro Bank; near Dataran Merdekah. Your visa is process there. (Take note, this is only for those who want to do it in KL. There’re 2 more centers in Penang and Johor which also process India’s visa) They will hold your passport for a day and you may go back there to collect it around 5.30pm-6pm the following day. I suggest that you collect 2 days after that. By then they won’t limit your collection to a certain time frame, meaning you can go there at any time, during the office hour.

First step: Crawl

If you're thinking of applying for BDS at MMMC, then I hope the following will help you out. It is a step by step guide. I will divide the whole process into 2 phases. Phase 1: SSLN and Phase 2: Visa.


Of course firstly you have to get the application form. You can write in to the management or get it from their booth during any education fair. Fill it up and include the necessary documents (most of it needs to be certified). For BDS applicants, you will need to submit a HIV, Hep B & C test report. After everything is done, you can post it to the Melaka address (it's printed on the application form) or submit by hand at the Melaka campus.

You will be scheduled for an interview once they finish processing your application form. It's held in the Melaka campus (the same address on your application form) and is normally done on weekdays. You can take this opportunity to visit the campus. I know many of you will be worried about the interview. Here are some tips. Get ready an essay entitle "About myself". It's best to write about your reasons of becoming a dentist. It doesn’t need to be very long. About 200 words. Do look presentable on that day. I suggest formal wear. Say calm (I know it's hard, try your best) and don't forget to greet the deans inside the room.

Be there early. Once you have register at the counter, you can sit around the lobby area. Don't not wander around because they will call you once all the interview candidates have arrived. All of the interview candidates will be lead into this big hall. You will be given 2 sheets of paper. One, to write the "About myself" essay. The other, to write your past participations in co-curriculum activities. (Do bring along your certs!) They will give you roughly about an hour or more for this. After so, they will call out 10 candidates at a time for the interview. The rest will remain in the hall. Normally they will call MBBS applicants 1st. BDS applicants will only be called after all the MBBS applicants have been interviewed. It's not a group interview. You enter the room alone. There will be 3 interviewers. (Dean and the deputy dean) One of the interviewers will look through your essay, another will look through your co-curriculum certs and the last one will do the asking. Some common question asked, "why you want to be a dentist? what's your father or mother's occupation? Is there any family member working in the health science field?, why you choose MMMC? Have you applied to other medical school too?" My advice is to stay true to yourself. Don't try to create stories or act out another personality. By the end of the interview, you will know whether you pass or fail. There're high chances you will get it if you applied early. They might pass you the offer letter on that day itself, it depends. After this, you can walk around in the campus or head to Melaka town for some good food.

Together with your offer letter, you will receive 2 booklets which are the Sijil Sokongan Luar Negara forms. You will first need to pay your 1st year fees within the time frame stated in your offer letter. This will help secure your place in the course. (Currently MDC only allow 50 students per dental school) After that, you can complete the SSLN form. Again, certain documents need certification. After you got everything, you can either post it or send it by hand to the office in putrajaya. (The address is printed on the front cover of the form) If you're staying near putrajaya, I suggest that you make a trip there yourself. (You can get the approval within a week) It would take longer time for them to process if you post to them. (roughly about 3 weeks) The SSLN is just a sheet of paper saying that the government has approved you to further your studies in India. You will have to send that paper (the original one!) back to MMMC. That's all for phase 1.

Let the FUN begin!

Well, this is my first post on this blog. To be honest, I'm completely blank. The purpose of opening this blog is just to record my experience in university life for the next five years. I'll be pursuing BDS in Melaka Manipal Medical College and it's starting in a month time. Haven't pack my things yet. I'm worried, I'm excited, I'm sad to leave home, I'm looking forward. Ahhhh~


I'll start from handling in the form to interview to visa; everything back from the beginning. Maybe include some AIMST stuff. I will be hardworking.


Okay, I think thats all for my first post. Short and simple, don't you think so?


Ps:
For those who know about my previous blog: No, I'm not moving. I'll still be active in Abstract. Just want to segregate university stuff and personal thoughts. So, do stay tune! (to both)