Struggles in KR
Having stayed in KR for nearly a whole 7 months as a freshie, I think it’s finally safe to say that I’ve comfortably assimilated into my new environment. While it’s definitely been a truckload of fun and games, that isn’t to say that it’s been entirely smooth sailing on these blue waters, though…
Now that most of us have settled down in Sem 2, (to those who are still struggling to get their wits about them, all the best!) it’s high time we spend a little time reflecting back on 2017. So without further ado, let me introduce 5 struggles that I’ve experienced during my first semester in Kent Ridge Hall!
1. Keeping Up With The Rolus
It didn’t occur to me that moving into KR meant having to learn a completely new set of vocabulary. Week after week, I was thrown into a dizzying flurry of new expressions like ‘art dy’, ‘oose lah’ and ‘ry ry es’ that didn’t really seem to make much sense by themselves when left out of context (by the way, ‘jussss’ isn’t used correctly unless it sounds like a high-pitched mating call). It was certainly a mind-boggling struggle to fight to figure out what these alien words meant with minimal help, or risk looking like a pu.
2. Food Rationing
Two common phrases heard all over KR when mealtime comes around: “Harh, like this only ah,” and “Breakfast matrics pls? :))))”
The former is commonly accompanied by an unimpressed, almost dismal sigh when one compares their considerably smaller dinnertime portions to the daily buffet spread served in residential colleges while the latter never fails to appear in our block Whatsapp chats every day in the early mornings. After all, two half-boiled eggs and one slice of bread isn’t going to help me survive my Monday 8ams without wanting to crawl in the direction of Spread mid-sectional. But hey, at least there’s the occasional serving of cheese tofu and potong ice cream to keep us going!
3. Freshman 15
But despite the fact that the lacking portion of food described above that seems to be a common complaint of almost every KR resident, I don’t seem to be losing weight…. I might actually be experiencing the opposite. It’s no mystery why this has come to be, though – KR is conveniently located just a couple of bus stops away from what has affectionately been nicknamed the ‘Supper Stretch’, a cosy little street boasting delicious delights from Putera Puteri, Fong Seng Nasi Lemak and the Cheese Prata Shop to name a few. While a select few of KR’s favourite supper dishes like Maggi Goreng Pattaya, Boom Prata and Kampong Fried Rice are known to be finger-licking good, they also pack a punch when it comes to the calorie count. Perhaps it is all cause-and-effect: KResidents are still left wanting more once dinnertime passes, so the Supper Stretch is a quick, easy and tasty solution for their hunger woes. And even for those who aren’t all that peckish, don’t say your friends ‘bojio’ or risk being FOMO.
4. The Case of the Missing Yoghurt
For the mystery-lovers and sleuth-wannabes of KR, there just might be a new case for you to solve very occasionally. It’s not unheard of for eggs and canned drinks to magically disappear should you leave them alone in the common refrigerators that are installed on every other floor, unless you protect them with layers of plastic bags and a post-it that reads ‘THIS IS NATASHA’S, DO NOT TOUCH’. While I haven’t personally experienced this unexplained phenomenon yet, I’ve heard enough from those around me to come to a conclusion that if you’re planning on bringing in AND eating popular items such as pudding and cartons of milk, it might just be worth it to
invest in a personal mini refrigerator placed in the comfort of your own hall room.
5. Eat Your Veggies
…Or if you prefer, a creepy-crawlie could do it for you.
Back in late October, one KResident having eggs for dinner was in for a surprise visit from a little friend, and this sparked a whole host of running jokes and memes from the rest of the community. This incident opened up much room for doubt regarding the quality of the food served in KR, and I can’t deny that I had warily prodded at my food for any signs of life before gingerly tucking in for a good couple of weeks to come. Though on the bright side, this points to the fact that the vegetables served in hall are at least fresh enough and pesticide-free for our little friends to take a liking to, and even if you might prove unlucky from time to time, as my friend Jia Jun once said: you’re just getting an extra dose of protein (blegh).
Regardless of the challenges faced in KR however, I still believe that they aren’t insurmountable and can even be looked back upon with fond chuckles and nostalgic smiles. After all despite how cliché this may sound, I still adore Kent Ridge Hall with all its little quirks from the bottom of my heart and if I were to make a choice again back in July 2017, I’d still one hundred percent choose to bleed blue.
Comic credits to: https://twitter.com/catandcatcomic/status/931348575119904769