before the curtain falls

 Despite the pandemic, I've got to say that 2020 has been an amazing year thus far and here's why;

1. Seoul, Korea.

The pandemic was just about to start when Aisyah and I decided to travel to Korea. We planned everything in less than a month (after finals to be precise) and voila, Annyeonghaseyo Korea! It wasn't easy persuading my parents to let me go, but the process was really worth it. The best part is that both Aisyah and I have never traveled on our own before and that made the trip even more adventurous.  We got to experience Winter, played with the snow, went skiing, explored Nami Island, random late nights trip to local stores, skincare shopping, and many more. On our last day in Seoul, we actually used the public transport to discover some places on our own. 

2. Losses weight

During the lockdown, I have been following @soiamjenn on Instagram where she would post her everyday workout routine and I was inspired to do the same. I committed to Chloe Ting's 2 weeks shred program and Tabata exercises for one month (during Ramadan) before changing to Intermittent fasting because I was too busy with school. As a result, tadaaa,

Before MCO weight: 54 kgs.

After MCO weight: 47 kgs.

3. Graduate LL.B (Hons)

The final semester was rough because everything's online. We attended classes, tutorials, and conducted group meetings online because of MCO. Some days we would stay up until 3-4 a.m. to complete our assignments. The only good thing about online learning is that our exams are conducted online and we are allowed to refer to notes and books which is h e a v e n.

Online learning burnt me out honestly. Some days I can barely open my eyes and attend classes even though I am just few steps away from my laptop. Sometimes, I even forget I have a class i.e. there was this one day, I was waiting for my parcel to arrive that I completely forgot I have a Bankruptcy lecture. Lucky for me it was just a one-time thing, otherwise... RIP my final semester.

Anyways, happy to tell I got through the sleepless nights and the burn out(s) and graduated from law school on July 2020. This feels really surreal. I remember writing about getting an offer to pursue pre-law and shared bits of my journey as a law student at UM law school here. It reminded me of all the things I have to go through to make this possible, and for that I want to thank myself for not giving up.

4. Went on an Island trip at Pulau Tioman

This was the most random and last minute trip! I remember doing grocery shopping with Dania when I received a text message from Nabila asking if I am free to go to Pulau Tioman the next morning. Gathered my courage to ask for my dad's permission and lucky I was, my application was approved. I got to unwind a little after went to one interview for Chambering (lol @ me). Also get to cross off one thing of my bucket list... oh wait, two actually! 1. Holiday at an Island, 2. Tried snorkeling for the first time!

5. Started my Chambering

Right after I got back from Pulau Tioman, I received a phone call from a firm informing me that my Chambering application was successful, Alhamdulillah.  I have been doing Chambering for almost 2 months now. I was really blessed to be guided by supportive and helpful master and associate. I mean, they taught me from the littlest thing a Chambee should know; from writing letters and handling files to drafting Statement of Claims, Notice of Application and Affidavits for some cases. (More on this later, inshallah?)

6. Soulmate?

Probably the highlight of my 2020- I found my long lost soulmate that I have been looking for 23 years of my life. Whom would have thought I would be meeting someone who sees all my imperfection in the most perfect way possible and for that I am truly grateful for his presence in my life. Let's just pray that this relationship will go a long way. <3

--

I have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed these past few days that even when I had the privileged to be working from home, I thought of it as a bad thing. I tell myself that I probably need to do a bit of a reflection, and here goes a long list why 2020 has been amazing thus far. I mean, yes, the pandemic has gotten in the way of what could be a much more spectacular year but things happened, and for now we could only make the best out of everything we have. Maybe to some, it really has been a bad year- some people losses their income, some people has to go back to zero but I want to look at 2020 as a year which opens a lot of opportunities for me to grow as an Adult. I did a lot of new things, I discovered new places, made new friends, and fall in love; what could be worse, ay?

We are left with two months before 2020 made its way. Most people probably don't even want to remember we ever live through this time, but I wouldn't want to forget what it has brought me; love, happiness and most important of all, contentment. Therefore, I would just want to keep on making more and more memories before the curtain falls.

Lots of Love, Nurzafira Sabrina.

Online class, you ok?

Hello peeps! I have not kept my promise to update my blog regularly. In fact there is only ONE post about my Korea trip. Very disappointing. I'll try to catch up later okay! (:

Anyways I'm back because I want to update about my online class. By now everyone probably know that all university students were instructed to resume classes online. There's no exception for the final year so- Honestly, online class sucks but that's the only platform available before everything goes back to normal. Students need to catch up with syllabus, final years need to graduate *coughs, coughs* so whether or not we like it, we don't really have a choice.

It's really sad to go through this pandemic situation while you are on final semester of degree. This indicates that there will be no more attending physical class, no more hugs from your friends (reassuring you that life would be ok despite the workload), no more our usual lunch at KK1 or KK11, no more meetings at the library (which reminded me of the newly installed lift that I only used for one semester), no more karipaps at kiosk, no more waiting at the lobby, no more Makcik cafe for good hot choc, no more sembang sembang tepi jalan, no more sitting at the bench waiting for class, and the list goes on and on.

Although sometimes I think of this situation as a blessing, I couldn't help thinking that it could have been better if I could cherish my final semester with my friends. But it is what it is.

How have I been coping with online class, you ask???
BAD BAD. Is it surprising if I told you that there are days when I would just open my Microsoft teams and sleep while the lecture is still on-going. Thank God we could record the lectures but even so I never really take the time to listen to them. Frankly speaking, I slacked off real bad during online class, especially during the first two months and I'm not proud of it. I have trouble sleeping at night trying to finish off my assignment and when the day comes,... I just uh, I NEED SLEEP to function ok!!

But then it hits me that this could be my last time as a student and it wouldn't do me any harm if I could sacrifice my sleep and attend classes. After all, I would be the one at loss if I'm not paying attention and take my classes seriously. So I started to journal again, make a to-do list, record myself in classes (trying to make a video about online classes here but-) to keep myself on the ground. It has been good so far. I presented in Insolvency tutorial after a while!!!! Did two of my presentation  a week earlier than I was supposed to present them (please make du'a for me). Also my drafting test was a-ok inshallah (we have the test yesterday). I am trying to keep up with my lecture recording so please~ *begging to myself* please for once, try to commit!!!

Am I worried about the future???
ALL THE TIME. but that's for future me to figure out. I wish her all the best T.T

I think this is it for now??? I'll try to catch up with my writing again (trying to not make any promises here because I know I'll disappoint hekhek).

See you guys!
Bye.

RMO Day 23 | Little things in life

Salam Nifsu Sya'ban everyone!

Can you believe it's already 23rd day of RMO already? There are many things to be grateful for despite being the lock down. Hence, for today's post I'm planning on writing down the good things that happened throughout the RMO.

1) Do all the things I do not want to do.

There are abundance of things I didn't want to do earlier this year.

Before RMO: First, I didn't want to go jogging (I know right... what a resolution!!!). I purposely left my sports shoes at home because I thought I wouldn't have the time to jog. My schedule for the last two semesters was so packed! I have classes early in the morning and my day usually ended at 6/7 p.m. By the time my class ended, I was too fatigue to exercise (our academic calendar is a no joke!). Plus, this is the one year I got to be inactive. It was my last year in college, so I decided to take a break from all sort of college's activities. I thought that maybe I should use this time to focus on my study. duh. What was I thinking?

After RMO: Good news is during this RMO I tried to work out as frequently as possible so I wouldn't feel sluggish/demotivated!

- 

Before RMO: The next thing that I also don't feel like doing earlier this year is journal. I bought planner almost every year because I really enjoy writing. My journal is like my diary. But nu-uh not this year. I no longer write or update my plans. The January and February sections were almost as good as nothing (even though I have a lot of things going on...) I just don't feel like doing it, you get me?!

After RMO: I planned my days almost EVERY SINGLE DAY though my days were pretty much the same. I even decorate it with some stickers so it could look more interesting and fancy. Something I don't do. Glad I bought all the stickers, they finally served their purpose in life.

-

Before RMO: Remember back in high school days when all you want to do is reading novels?! Screw those homework! I just want to finish the 500 pages of novel in one day cause I CAN. Yeah, those were the days. Well, bad news guys. I can't do that anymore. I remember a friend once told me that the after effects of reading law is you will not love reading as much as you did anymore. Couldn't agree more!

After RMO: I have completed reading 3 books. I made it a habit to update my goodreads too so I could keep up with the books I'm reading.

2) Self-reflect

RMO made me ponder a lot of things. Every night I would just take a moment to self-reflect everything I did and see how I can improve myself in any ways possible. Every time I feel like I need to work on something, I would just journal them out and do it the next day. I also make this one section of 'self-reflect' in my journal. It's easier to track my progress that way. Hehe.

3) Start writing again!

I know right... I only have 2 posts in 2019 lol. Not this year! It's not even December, but I already have 4 posts + 1 including this one. Do people even write on blog these days? I doubt it. With the existence of twitter and Instagram, I don't think people would resort to blog anymore. It's so much easier to update life through instastories and tweet it out. Nonetheless, I would always have a soft spot for this blogging site. I have been here since 2013, good lord. Never deleting this account. Ever.

Speaking of writing, I should update my trip to Korea!!!

4) Be Productive.

Since I have a more regular routine, it makes my life more productive. Even more productive than my normal ones.

5) No Makeups!

Yup I let my face to take a breather this time.

The end to this Restriction Movement Order is still uncertain but it's for the better. Let's break the chain of covid 19 so we could welcome Ramadhan and Syawal peacefully. Also let's not forget to count the little little things we did in life as blessings.

SOOoo I guess that is all from me. I have discussion for my assignment at 11 and I really just wanna be done with it.

Signing off,
Nurzafira Sabrina.

Street Law Program (Outbound) | Depok, Indonesia

Assalamualaikum guys!!

Here's an update for my RMO day 20! Alhamdulillah I manage to wake up quite early today and helped my mom in the kitchen while she attended a meeting online #workingfromhome. Also, I decided to do a 20 minutes of Yoga Weight Loss for my working out routine today! Keep that body moving peeps!

By the way, you guys know about this Instagram feature where it reminded you of the memories that happened years and years ago right? I almost forgot that on April 2017, I participated in a Street-Law Program for my outbound participation (just so you know, in UM Law school, it is MANDATORY for all students to participate in an outbound program). I was so lucky I was given the chance to be a part of it when I was in my first year, second semester. I really miss the time there. I made a lot of new friends, not just the one we met at Indonesia, but I also get to bond with some of my seniors in Law School. I swear I wanted to write about my trip to Universitas Indonesia (or people called it- uuu-eee) as soon as it ended but I was so occupied with school. So I want to remedy that by spamming some pictures for keepsake memories.

Before that I would like to just briefly explained what a Street-Law Program is; the objective of this program is to educate people on the awareness of human rights, civil rights etc.We went to many different places in Indonesia such as Rumah Pertahanan Wanita (can't remember what it's called, but it was like a detention place for women) and schools like SBJK... it's so frustrating because I can't remember the exact name of the places we went to while we were there. Anyways, what we did is we taught these women and children about their rights.

The UI students fetched us at the airport, hee, how sweet!

If I'm not mistaken this was our second day here. 

I remember taking A LOT of pictures by using kak Syasya's phone (which was oppo btw! the quality was so good!!!) and posted the pictures the same night because I was obsessed with...not sure myself or the place. Haha.

UM ft. UI

I have a very serious question, what happened to me now? I looked pretty decent back in those "innocent" days.

This was when we conducted a Mock Trial and I became a judge. 

While waiting for kereta.... cause that's what they called keretapi there. 

If there's anything I treasure so much from this trip it would be the people! You have no idea how welcoming and kind Indonesians are! I remember Irvan belanja me KFC for my lunch because I had spent all my money on shopping (blaming my impulsive self!!). and you know what's funny? Later I figured out that I still have 50,000 rupiah which I kept at the back of my phone's cover. Adoi. I also remember that this one night we went to this one restaurant for desserts and there was this one busker entertained us with his angelic voice. Sedap gila suara dia. I tak tau nak describe macam mana. But remember asking him to sing Dia by Anji because I was hooked to that song. Mana taknya, setiap pagi the hotel we stayed in would play the song and Virgoun's surat cinta untuk Starla. Tell you what, the song wasn't even as famous as it is right now!!!

DID I also tell you how good their foods are????? 

Besides the good foods, and company, I also enjoy the program very much. I got to learn Indonesian law, read their Federal Constitution, and exchange views on Malaysia and Indonesia education system. The best part of program is to be able to reach out to the unprivileged people and educate them about their rights. It is actually sad to know that some of them don't even know basic rights. And to just hear their stories about life, oh lord you have no idea how strong these people actually are.

Writing this makes me miss Indonesia so much!!! I hope my Indonesian friends are doing well. Most of them have already graduated and are now working their dream jobs. Ah~ This is why we should cherish Instagram- for reminding us of old memories is one thing, but to also connect people from all around the world, that is just amazing!!!

Until next time guys!

Cheers,

Nurzafira Sabrina

RMO Day 19

I wonder how's everyone coping with RMO?! We have a week left guys before it's over. I really hope it wouldn't get extended.

One of the main reasons I find it difficult to survive RMO is because I sleep late and I sleep A LOT. I am having trouble fixing my sleeping pattern. I can only hit the sack at 3 a.m. and the next morning, I either wake up early and spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping, or wake up super late that I have anxiety of going downstairs because I don't help in the kitchen. Haha. But for real guys. For real.

I tried to make some plans for my day every night before I go to bed. I am not restricting myself to time, but there are "things" that I must do every single day i.e. I have to read, work out, and do my assignment (yup, I have three assignments already T_T). Nevertheless, it's hard to keep up with your routine when you do not start your morning right. Sometimes I feel sluggish and demotivated that it's easy for me to just abandon my plans and just binge watching Brooklyn 99 on Netflix or sleep again. I resorted to these two options because 1) it doesn't require a lot of thinking; 2)  it's the laziest thing we could do as of now.

BUT I don't want to do that ALL THE TIME. Sure, it's fun not having commitments (slap me as I said this because I have tons of them, I'm just living in denial) but there are times when I feel so overwhelmed. I have been doing a lot of thinking these days especially about my future. I was so worried whether or not I can graduate this year. People have been saying things like we should just postpone this semester and to be very honest with you, I don't think I can do that. Then, I started thinking about my Chambering. I'm worried if it's possible for me to score a decent place to chamber at after all this ends. With my CGPA and the current situation of our economy-- can I? It's scary to know that our country is going through a serious recession and it's affecting a lot of companies in Malaysia.

Tell you what my friend, the more I spend time lazying around, the more overwhelmed and useless I feel. So I decided to plan for my days and stalked some influencers online to get some inspiration to design my day (I did this because I think at this point of time, influencers are very helpful especially those who come out with practical & positive contents). That's when I met @soimjenn's instagram. I adore her because she shared with her viewers her fair share of struggles during this RMO and some tips to overcome it.

During one of her instagram's live session, she shared tips on "how to design your day" and I want to share it here:

1) Something I don't want to do

 - Help mom in the kitchen/cooking

2) Something I love to do 

- at this point, being online???

- or reading/writing

3) Something to learn 

- new skills such as cooking perhaps.

- need to brush up my knitting skills or I could probably start learning crochet!!

4) Something that makes me laugh 

- Brooklyn 99 ftw! (often we forget that laughing is the best medicine)

5) Something inevitable

 - assignments
- eat, take a shower, skincare routines, keeping my room clean and organized.

There you go. I know it's not easy to keep up with routine, so I decided not to restrict myself to the schedule. Sometimes I would just scribble down the things I want to do tomorrow and do it whenever I feel like doing it. The key here is consistency. You just do it, every single day. Until it becomes a part of you.

Here's to many more days of RMO and surviving it!

Cheers,

Nurzafira Sabrina.

Duo Travel | Day 1 | Seoul, Korea.

If there's anything I thought I would never be able to do AT MY AGE now it would be travelling. I mean, my parents have always been generous for sponsoring every belajar sambil berjalan trip I've had in my life. Proof- I went to Singapore when I was 17 under a school's trip and Indonesia in my first year of degree for a Street-law programmed. I blogged about my Singapore trip but didn't for Indonesia (regrets!) I'm not repeating silly mistakes, so here's one for y'all.

MY VACATION TO SEOUL, KOREA

Oh lord. Can you believe it? After convincing my parents that I will be tots fine travelling with a friend, they finally let me. Travel. on. my. own!!! Alhamdulillah, the whole process went really smooth for Aisyah and I even though we planned this trip in less than a month (as soon as finals over). We looked out for dates, and then a travel agent because parents just wouldn't let their girls go to a foreign countries alone. (danger alerts!) We were lucky enough because we found one travel agent with an affordable price.  It was an all in package so they bought us the flight tickets and entrance fees. The travel agent also arranged our accommodation and transportation which makes our lives super easy.

Uhm, the first thing that y'all should know is that we went there on February and it was winter season. Both Aisyah and I have never traveled in winter season so we really be preparing ourselves for the weather there. I was honestly, very scared I would get sick, but I didn't which was amazing! Alhamdulillah. Anyways, there are actually a lot of money spent because I didn't have a proper winter outfit. I also don't have knitted wear so yeah- we go buy them. Luckily, my mom has some of the stuffs needed so I got to save some $$.

This was me when arrived at KLIA. Was very much in awe with the fact that we are *doing* it.

After we arrived at Incheon Airport, we immediately took out our winter wear, cleaned and changed ourselves. Almost 7 hours in the flight,... Buruk wei. haha. Then, we met our travel agent and we took an airport bus to go to our home-stay called the Bong House. We were given a few hours of rest before our sight-seeing starts. The first place we went to was Namsangol Hanok Village,

It basically a place consists of five hanok (traditional Korean houses) from old times.

After taking loads of pictures with the Korean houses there, we went to Namsan Tower.

Y'all familiar with this place? It's a must to go here but somehow as a single person, I don't find all these locks interesting. Maybe because I can't lock my name with a person name as a symbol of love(?) So instead of locking names, we took more pictures of ourselves.

The view was magnificent! Mashallah.

One with Namsan Tower.

Later at night, we went to Myeondong and tasted some of the street foods there. 

We also bought a lot of heat packs from their Daiso because it was so so so cold. The Temperature hits -14 and for summer girls, we were freezing cold!! We also wandered around the area we stayed in. Bought their famous milk and visited their groceries shop for fun.

Here are raw pictures of me wandering in a foreign country doing god knows what.

Peace out. 

I'll continue with day 2 soon. 

Lots of Love, Nurzafira Sabrina

Thoughts on RMO

Alright I'm losing it y'all.

For your information, today's *lost count the number of days already* of Restriction Movement Order (hereinafter would be referred to as RMO).

What is RMO?

You can google it for a more accurate answer. I would describe it as an impartial lock down which all Malaysians (and some other countries) had to go through due to Covid-19 outbreak which happened in late 2019.

What is Covid-19?

It is basically a newly found deadly virus started in Wuhan.

Many was infected by this virus and it has caused a number of dead cases. Currently we have 2,320 cases going on. Hence, our "new" government decided to give out this order whereby everyone is not allowed to go out of their houses, unless of course if they want to buy basic needs (i.e. foods and groceries ONLY). In addition to it, only one person can go out and buy stuff per family. Imagine what life has been like in 2020?

I know right...

Surprising isn't it? In the beginning of the year everyone's talking about flying vehicles and now, what we've gotten is a deadly virus that could attack anyone at any moment. But there are still irresponsible people *coughs, Mont Kiara joggers, coughs* who go out for jogging. Sighs. Even elites people can be so ignorant sometimes eh?

Anyways, how are you guys coping with this situation honestly? I'm losing it. It has been two weeks since I last leave my house. I have been doing everything- reading, working out, binge-watching movies/series on Netflix, videos editing, cleaning and organizing the house... you name it! I even installed tiktok, guys, I mean uh ._.V

What's more frustrating is the idea of how my final year would be like? We will be having e-learning for all subjects and mind you, some of the subjects we are taking are practical wise. So it's going to make the learning process difficult. We have this one subject called Advocacy and I am really sad, my group acting as the plaintiff didn't get to cross examine defendant's witness. I mean, we been waiting for the moment since last semester *cause that's when you roast them hehe*.  Also I don't think I work best in e-learning classes? I get distracted a lot especially when I'm home. Now that I think of it again, I work really productively when I'm college. At home,.... I have no words to describe how "lazy" and "inefficient" I am as a student.

But oh well. With things going on, I guess I just have to cope with it. This is also to help ease the university with my graduating process so- gotta learn how to adapt to it.

On the bright sides, this whole RMO and coronavirus going on, I've got so much times to myself. I mean, you have no idea, how free I am right now. I have all 24 hours to myself and if I can't get THINGS done then I should really question my existence in this world. Therefore, I have decided to update my blog frequently from now on. Also share with you guys the updates of my life earlier this year (surprise, surprise).

People barely read these days, but this blog has been really really helpful in keeping my memories for myself. I am so grateful I keep this blog because sometimes I just come here to see the things I have done in the past and be glad I did what I did. So this blog shouldn't be abandon for too long. But I also want this place to fill with positive vibes, motivation and inspiration. I hope I can do that instead of complaining endlessly about life (even though it's good to be reminded of the struggles you have to go through in order to be where you are in your life at the moment).

Lots of Love,
Nurzafira Sabrina.