Bless the French language, it makes every thing seem so chic and sexy. ‘The Lectures’ became Les Conférences. Putting such superficiality aside, today was the first days of lectures at SAJC. It was also the day where our OGs were officially dissolved and replaced with our Civic Groups.

Entering a new school is full of new encounters. Just when I was starting to get acquainted with the people in my OG, I am tossed back into the sea of unfamiliarity – new and foreign faces, along with a barrage of seemingly unknown names I must face. Okay, I’m beginning to sound a wee bit like Yoda. Whatever. The only glimmer of hope is that 2 girls, Charmaine and Shermin, along with Joel Lim, are in the same Civic Group as me.

Anyone who knows me should very well know I am terrible with names. So far, all I remember, apart from the 3 familiar faces noted above, are Akim, Nat (I can’t even remember his full name, sorry), Alicia and a girl with a Chinese name. That’s barely a fifth of the group.

Today was also the first days of lectures (as stated above). Yes I am finally getting back to the main topic discussed in the first topic. I must say, lessons/lectures in JC are vastly different from those in SHSS/Secondary Schools.

First up, General Paper. Okay, it was an interesting subject, or at least, that’s my first impressions of it from Conférences Une. Sure, the lecturer was going really quickly, and it was a mad rush to take note of what she was saying. But the topic was interesting – The Evolution of Marriage Throughout the Ages. It would seem that men in the past could divorce their wives on frivolous conditions – being barren, and even being too talkative. Talk about women’s rights. And apparently there’s such a thing as ‘trial-marriages’. Totally an eye-opener.

Then there was Literature. Just a discretionary note, this will be a bitchy paragraph. Where do I begin? Apparently, to the head of the Literature department, being early for class is only a ‘glimmer of good’ in us students. She expected us to shuffle to different rows in 7 seconds. Its simply ab absurdo. I must also add that she does look rather man-ish. From her hair to her dressing (what dressing?)… Is she trying to compensate for something? Oh and that booming and commanding voice of hers. S.C.A.R.Y! The whole one hour was spent loudly declaring to us the EXPECTATIONS AND RULES of Literature class. Thankfully, there’s a redeeming trait to her – she speaks well. I mean, really well. She articulates and enunciates every word, well almost every word, crisply and clearly. The last consonants are there! (such a rare find in Singaporeans).

The last two lectures were H2 Mathematics, and H1 Physics. I must say that H2 Mathematics borders the incomprehensible – especially the notes. What the hell is ‘Permutations’? And I am supposed to remember A-Mathematics stuff? Good heavens. All of that has been lost to the deep abyss of my mind. Time to revise. And Physics, it seems manageable so far. That’s a good sign. I hope.

This will be the year to work really hard.