KMPP - ORIENTATION WEEK, DO'S AND DON'T'S AND EXTRA IMFORMATION

Hello guys, dayum it has been a long time since I have not update my blog. Not because I am busy, indeed I have a lot of time to spend after I’ve finished my SPM and already get the result I’m just too lazy sorry haha

Okay I don’t wanna talk much so let’s hop right in to the actual content of what I’m gonna write.

So right now, I’m sitting on my desk in my compel in Kolej Matrikulasi Pulau Pinang. Today’s Saturday and we aren’t allowed to go outing because an event called KAKOM is being held, I’m gonna explain what’s KAKOM later okay but first I’m gonna tell ya about my first 2 weeks of living here (I’ve been here for 3 weeks already hell yeah) so let’s getting started. (I’m 2015/2016 student batch if you wanna know) 

1. CLOTHES

So for girls of course you need to wear baju kurung when it’s kuliah time. You can change to riadah outfit later at 5pm. You can bring any colors or style of your baju kurung, but I think jubah is not allowed ? idk lots of people said that but still, people still wearing it especially during night classes. For Indians I see there’s some of them wearing umm not saree, but a long blouse with pants, punjabi I think ? but that’s man attire idk what’s called haha but as long as it’s not too sexy or tight then it’s okay. For men as usual a button down shirt and slack pants and also a tie :) A week or two the college will give you gifts (well not really haha) which are 2 shirts (you’ll wear it during KAKOM or KOKO), a towel and a bag (also a lab coat if you’re science stream student). On Friday men can wear baju melayu but it must complete with sampin and songkok. Also you can wear kain pelikat at night when you’re planning on going to surau.

2. SHAWLS

Here you can wear any types of shawl or tudung as u desired, any style you want (my friend from KMNS said that they’re only allowed to wear black tudung or shawls so it really depends on the college regulation itself). You’ll need white tudung to wear with your KMPP shirts. Only white okay. Boys aren’t allowed to wear songkok or kopiah during kuliah time but after that time it’s okay. 

3. SHOES

You’ll need 4 types of shoes at least. One is the one that you’ll wear to kuliah. At first I see for girls all of them are wearing black or skin-colored flat shoes but after a week or so hah kau macam-macam colors dengan style ada, converse also can. But bringing a black flat shoe is necessary okay. For boys typical lah kasut hitam kulit tu. Please wear the most comfortable shoe that you have because you don’t want your ankles to be bruised okay, because you’ll need to go to different places for each different classes and the distance from one class to another is hella far. Next is sport shoe. Of course you need to wear them when you’re riadah or playing sports. Neeext is slippers, you need to wear them when you’re going to the toilet and shower. Last but not least is sandal, when you want to go out eating or studying or boraking or whatsoever at the café. The socks are of course, black or skin-colored or grey in color.

4. BAGS

Since the KMPP is gonna give you a bag, you can wear it but if you don’t want to then it’s okay. You can wear any bags either sling bag or backpack depends on the amount of books you’re gonna bring that day. I’m wearing my own bag which I’ve been wearing since high school. 

5. BOOKS

Most of the early syllabuses that I’ve learn most of them are the revision from the form 4 and 5 of high school. So yeah I think if you want to bring your pasts revision book it’s okay especially the addmath books. Please please please prepare some money to buy the books here because the total of the books I’ve bought (it’s a must) is roughly I think RM200. There are still books for me to buy so yeah, money is important here. You’ll need a lot of foolscap papers and also A4 papers. Small note book for you to jot down things and also note books if your lecturers ask for it.

6. ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

Lemme count how many electrical appliances I have here, hmm there are a fan, a study lamp, phone, tab, laptop and their chargers, iron and water heater. So yeah that’s basically what you can bring here. Must I say that laptop is really important, I left my laptop at my home in Kuala Lumpur so I need to borrow my uncle’s laptop. It’s only have been 2 weeks or so there’s already assignments that require a usage of laptop like making a folio and power point. So just bring your laptop but if you don’t want to on the first week (orientation week) then you can bring it later. There’s a bilik menggosok at the end of the corridor but I’ve never, I meant no one has ever step into that room so might as well just iron your clothes in the room. In addition there are 2 washing machines for each compel, the payment is about RM2 to RM2.50. Some of the washing machines accept notes, some of them only accept new coins. Portable air-conditioner is not allowed because it will cause the whole compel to black out (thanks for scaring me when I was studying late night). Wire extension is really really necessary okay, don’t forget to bring it. 

7. THE ROOMS

Okay so one room consists of 4 persons. Each one will get well, a bed, a pillow, a cupboard and a set of chair and table. You’ll need to bring your own bedding, extra pillows if you want (i put aside the given pillow lol I’ll never gonna wear it there’s  a lot of maps on it). Your blanket, also you’ll need a wrapping paper and transparent plastic sheet to wrap your desk. There’s one plug so that’s why I’ve told you to bring dem extensions. 

8. THE FOODS

Actually you don’t really need that much of food stocks because you can go to the café of your choice to buy the foods. The only stocks that I have are mainly consists of small packs of biscuits, 3 in one drink, bottles of mineral water and maybe some Maggie. 

Enough of that now I’m gonna tell ya about the surroundings.

1. THE KOMPEL

For girls there’s 10 compels aka blocks (cluster A - A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 and cluster B - B1 B2 B3 B4 B5) while for boys there’s 5 compels (cluster C - C1 C2 C3 C4 C5). There’s a bathroom, a place for washing your clothes, for taking your wudhuk and a corridor to hang your washed clothes. Washing machines are only available at the lower ground of the compel. Each compel has a warden called felo. She/he will take care of you guys if anything happened between the time of 6PM to 7AM (other than that time Pejabat HEP will help you). Each cluster has a water filtration machine so you can get your drink water from there.

2. THE CAFÉ

There are 6 cafés here. Café A which is in between cluster A compels, Café B which is between cluster B compels, Café C which is in between cluster C compels, Café D which is in between Dewan Kuliah and Block Pentadbiran (this café is mostly for breakfast), Lake View Café which infront of the Block Tutoran and well, beside the lake and lastly D’Pongsu Café which beside the library. There are plenty of foods here from nasi berlauk to nasi ayam to burgers to char kuey tiow to fruit salads to bihun sup to nasi lemak to claypot tomyam to chicken chop. Heaven af. Wifi is available in each of the café, you can get the password and username at the kmpp’s portal.

3. THE LIBRARY

You’ll need to scan your matric card at the entrance in order to enter. Your attire must be appropriate okay. The library is huge and quite chilly so if you cannot stand cold then bring your sweater. You can obviously borrow the books here for max 1 week. All the books here are educational and I see none fictional books are available lol. The library is open from 8AM to 6PM and reopens at 8.30PM to 11PM. You guys aren’t allowed to be around the compel from the time of 8AM to 10AM weekdays so you can go to the library. Upstairs there’s computer lab where you can use to find stuffs for your assignments.

4. DEWAN KULIAH, TUTORAN AND BANGUNAN SERBA GUNA

Okay here please listen, I mean read carefully. So, in Dewan Kuliah there are Dewan Kuliah 1,2,3,4,5,6. In Tutoran there are 1 to 30 rooms, it looks like a typical classroom. While in Bangunan Serba Guna (BSG) there are 2 Dewan Kuliah and 24 tutoran rooms. The counting is quite confusing. I mean in your class schedule it will say Dewan Kuliah 8, which means Dewan Kuliah 2 in BSG. While example for Tutoran, it say T47, which means that your class is gonna be held at bilik Tutoran T17 at BSG. So basically if the number of your bilik Tutoran is more than 30, it means that you’ll need to find the room at BSG, just need to minus the number of your bilik Tutoran with 30. You’ll gonna get it soon, if not you’ll gonna end up like me for getting late 5 mins to dewan kuliah because I cannot fking find it. 

5. KOPERASI AND PHOTOSTAT SHOP

In koperasi you can get all your essentials here like toiletries, stationery, breads, cakes, junk foods, fans, water heater, waffles, top-ups. Also there’s a section where they sell nasi ayam, nasi kerabu, nasi berempah, sandwiches, macaroni, spaghetti and much more. There are 2 koperasi so you can choose which one’s the best. Then there’s Post Office and Photostat Shop. If you wanna buy bus tickets you can do it in the Post Office. In Photostat Shop there are 3 computers you can use with the payment of RM3 for each hour. There’s also ATM BSN (only one tho) beside the Block Pentadbiran. 

6. OUTINGS

On the day of your registration week you will receive a book which contains the rules and regulations of the college that you must obey. And it will provide a calendar that is filled with the dates of activities, exams, important events that will be held during the whole semesters of your study. The calendar will show you when you can go outing or go back home. So just refer to that. Here in KMPP the places that are closest for you to hang out are sunshine and mydin. There is cinema there so you can go watch movie to release your stress. There are public buses and taxis and “prebet sapu” that you can hop on for a ride to your destination. On the day that you can go out, you need to get back before 7PM. Same case when you go back home, you can go out at 5PM after your class ended on Friday and come back here on Sunday before 7PM. You are required to scan your matric card at the guard post before you can go out. 

7. KAKOM

KAKOM is a sports activity that is being held annually. It is a sport game between other Matrics Colleges. Which means every matrics have KAKOM. You can decide either you want to join it or not. It's the same like KOKO. There are plenty of sports that you can choose from and some of them are new to me like squash, tennis and bowling. There are also typical sports like netball, volleyball, badminton, pidato, takraw, bola sepak, kawad kaki and much more.

Fuhh, done with that now lastly I’m gonna tell ya about the orientation week okei.

ORIENTATION WEEK 

Firstly, you need to make sure all your documents are settled. Especially the borang perjanjian, make sure to make two of them. NOT TWO COPIES. TWO SET OF THE FORM. Also make sure the documents like birth certificate and all that, get the verification from the government officials, in my case I ask my high school teacher to sign it for me. Please make sure the penjamin of both of the forms are the same person okay.

So the first day I entered this college I was nervous but excited at the same time. Cars were parked at the astaka (fields) and many students and parents were there. We were all required to be at the Dataran Pelajar, parents were seated there while the students were lined up at the counters to make sure the documents required were completed. Next we went to the computer lab to confirm the registration for those who registered online. After that we get ready to take a picture for matric’s card. Make sure you guys look hella good that day okay. Lastly we were asked to go to the bilik tv to get our room key. Then after that you are allowed to take your stuffs up and set things down. Oh and don’t forgot to bring kain buruk and feather duster because your room is gonna be hella dirty. Need some cleaning skill a lil bit. For my semester they don’t provide any curtain (I still haven’t put one yet) so you need to bring your own. Not to rush for that day, just use kain batik temporarily before you set up the curtains on, maybe the next week.

On the next day the orientation week begun, most of them are held by your seniors. They were there being a volunteers and facilitators to guide you for a week.  This week is gonna be so so so tiring because you’ll need to wake up at 5AM and only allowed to go back to your compel at 11.30 PM. I remember I’ve only showered once a day. So damn uncomfortable. You’ll need to solat subuh berjemaah at Dataran Pelajar, then they’ll divide you into your practicum, each practicum mainly consists of 5 to 6 people. Next you’ll have mentor and mentee session, rest for solat zohor, continue with the session, and rest again for solat asar. Then you’ll have to change your clothes for riadah session. All of the students are compulsory to join the senam robik session. It was fun tho. Later we were required to getting ready for solat maghrib, and sit for ceramah while waiting for solat isya. After that we were rushed to the places that already have been set up for taklimat. Lots of taklimat. Dem legs were killing me.

And after that hell week, you guys are now ready to start your first kuliah ever :) The 2^nd week here was kinda hard for me because of the homesick was haunting me. I really miss my family and my friends and high school, I would kill for living that moment once again. But now I feel quite better, I’m still trying to adapt to my new world. It’s getting fun every week. My roommates are so great, once we watch a movie on Wani's laptop even tho each of us have lots of assignments that need to be done.

Well I think that is the end of this post, this is probably the longest post I’ve even written haha. I hope that my roommates, my practicum mates and I can achieve such a great results aka 4flat (aminnn). All the best to you guys if you’re joining kmpp sooner or later :) 

BYE GUYS, STAY FAB AND RAD XX 

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update : things might change from time to time. For instance I heard that for the batch after me there will be no more Lake View Cafe and D'Pongsu Cafe and the owner of each Cafe A B C and D exchange places between each other. Lake View and D'Pongsu are the best tho :(