wow... can't believe that the time pass really fast... kinda miss the MSM last year... though it's really tiring... to those juniors, make sure you really bring a comfortable shoes for the MSM, those that will not hurt your feet... i'll advised you not to wear new shoes, especially the formal shoes as it will usually hurt your feet at the end of the day...

ok, i'm wondering if anyone going to labuan (those who got Sekolah Perniagaan dan Kewangan Antarabangsa (SPKAL) or Sekolah Sains Informatik Labuan (SSIL) ).

to you who have decided to accept the offer to Labuan campus, you might have some shock when you reach the Labuan campus as it's FAR FAR different from KK campus. it's a lot smaller, you don't take bus to your school, but you only need to walk. but, you'll get the benefit to sleep till 7.30am even though you have class at 8am. and the main building in the campus is the 13-storey building. all the dewan kuliah and offices is in there. so, in labuan, you need to wait for the lift to go to the next class and not the bus. the library is located just beside that building. and the dewan utama is located not far away. and mega lab (with lots of new PC) is located at the library building. it's open till 4am and it's quite empty last sem. i guess most of us already brought our new laptop. and wireless is available at hostel's downstair, podium, library. but you'll need to bring your laptop to the multimedia department for them to set the password. and students are allowed to install streamyx at the hostel. you can share it with others. so, after few weeks. you'll see lots of internet cable connection on the floor of the hostel.

for foods.... i guess most of you will not get used to the food. i'm really sorry to said that the state of the foods available in the campus is really bad. the choices are limited and it taste.... not so good. so, really be prepared for it. but, you still can go to the town to eat. you can either take bus which will wait for you in the campus or rent a car (there're car rental business done by the students). but i guess like us before, you'll take the bus first since you're not familiar with the road. most of us usually will 'tapao' KFC, pizza or others that's easily available in the town. oh.... labuan students will be given bus coupon to go to the town. but you'll only get it few weeks after that. so for the monent, you'll have to pay for RM3 per way. yaya... it's really expensive.

for entertainment, sadly, there's not much entertainment available in labuan. what we usually do is just go to Ujana Kewangan (UK) to buy something or eat pizza and KFC. since it's Labuan, you don't need to pay tax for pizza and kfc. oh ya, there's actually few pub or disco available in labuan. you'll know how to get there from the seniors. there's no need for me to tell you here. and maybe you can find a day to go to all those tourist attraction places. and you can go to KK during the holiday. 3 hours by ferry. and the tickets... i think it's around RM28 if you showed them your matric card. and you can go to brunei as well. only 45 minutes by ferry. the beach is located just in front of the campus. by the evening, you can see lots of students jogging or have a walk at there. and there're a few food stalls at the beach.

ok, the hostel... it's a flat. the labuan campus is actually the labuan's government office and the hostel is actually meant for the government servants. but after they built it, they don't want to move there because it's too far away from town and in the end, it's given to UMS. you have 3 rooms with 1 bathroom, 1 toilet, 1 kitchen and a living hall. usually juniors will stay in the room with 3 person pax. but, last year, some us got 2 roommates, some got 1 roomates, and some even stayed alone. usually guys' hostel will have plenty of rooms. so, they can change room easily. but don't be caught by the felo. and girls' hostel... i think there's 11 blocks available (if i'm not mistaken). Beta 7 and Alpha 4 rooms are smaller compared to other blocks. and Gamma block is the best with larger rooms. but, i'm not sure if 1st year students get to stay at there. at first, when you get into the room, you'll get shocked with the condition. that's what we experienced. cause during the MSM in KK, we stayed in Kampung E and the hostel is very nice because it's new. but, i'm sure that you'll get used to it after 1 or 2 weeks. the room will look very bad because it's empty. and some of the girls will stay at taman mutiara, the out campus hostel. it look nicer than the campus hostel but you'll need to wake up really early for 8 am class to catch the bus.

oh... and 1 last important thing. when they are transporting you to labuan from KK, you'll will not take your big luggage with you. they will transport it separately. so, pack some extra clothes, towel and toiletries with us in case your luggage arrived late. like us last year, our luggage only arrived few days after us (i think 4 days???). and some are soaked wet as it rained during the journey.

i guess that's all i can shared with those students going to labuan. some will like the life there and some not. but just try to enjoy it when you have decided to accept the offer. i'll be back at 6th july. i guess all of you should already arrive at labuan by that time. for the moment, enjoy your MSM.

This post has been edited by ken_zie: Jun 30 2008, 02:47 PM

ya... totally agree that sabah is a lot safer than KL... every place must have some robbery and rape cases... and not every pendatang asing is dangerous... actually KK have developed a lot and it's not that 'kampung' anymore like what some of the ppl think... sabah is a really great place to live... loves of places and nature to explore... when we applied for uni last year.. all of my friends wanted to go to KL so badly and none of them applied for sabah or sarawak because they don't think it's a great place... but i think they missed out a lot... i mean when we're studying at here, we have the time to explore lots of places and knew lots of friends here... i don't think we'll have the time to visit here anymore when we're working...

i guess all of the juniors are busy with MSM and course registration and don't really have the time to check out this thread.

*sigh* i didn't get the hostel that i applied for last sem. seems like most of us don't get it. me and my roommate are also separated. sad... will apply for the same room no matter what!!! really hope that this sem will be another interesting sem.

different uni have different rules. in UMS, it's band 4 and above then only can take foreign language. for my friends in UPM, even if they got band 5, they still have to take english. and in UUM, it's not compulsary for all courses to take english.

ya... in certain uni, it's no much different if you get band 4 and above. from what i know, for some uni, you'll take less english classes if you get good band... or the class is different for each band. so we're lucky that in UMS, band 4 and above can take foreign language instead of english.

no, you don't have to retake if you get band 3. only those who got band 2 and band 1 need to retake MUET. if you get band 3, you're qualified to grad. but i heard from my dean that there're lots of students can't grad because they couldn't get band 3 and above in their MUET after retake for many times.

why there's no UMS - KAL students in this thread??

by the way, coming to UMS is not that bad... if you try to look at the +ve side. at least you get to travel to many places like mount KK, kundasang, sarawak or even to brunei... it only take 45 mins to go to brunei from labuan.. so much nearer compared going to KK (which will need 3 hours)...

i still remember the 07/08 thread... now i'm in 2nd year d.... haiz...