I was wearing a nice green collared shirt beneath my jacket today, and left the jacket open, and thought I looked smarter than my usual casual affair. It was UBC interview day.
After a yawning session of the Old Testament (I spent the entire class time categorizing some of the pictures on my laptop), I bought 2 meat buns that were intended to be my staple for lunch. I hid from the rain in a classroom and delightedly ate the buns. I didn’t want to join anyone for lunch because I didn’t want to smell like the diner’s. However, these buns are potent with meat juice, you know, like xiaolongbaos (steamed meat dumplings), but thrice the size? I had a bite into it and suddenly juice spilled over my mouth. I wiped it off with a tissue, thankful that I wiped it before it dripped to my shirt. But when I checked, my shirt had already been stained with the juice, at which point of time I’m not too sure. With an hour and a half before the interview, I deliberated with the thought of going home to get changed, but decided against it because I know I would only get more flustered. So I masked the stain by zipping up my jacket. I think I left a scent trail of meat bun wherever I went (I was barked at ferociously by a dog later on).
I sat in the Economics building (one of the newly constructed buildings with blessed clean toilets) after using the washroom there, rehearsing my answers to some expected questions for the interview, and resisting the urge to pee every 10 minutes. I don’t know why I was so nervous. I just really hope I can go, despite the troublesome procedures it entails.
It was good that the candidates and I were talking to calm each other down. I told them we’ll see each other at UBC before I went in for the interview, to encourage each other, and myself. Somehow I managed to disguise the fact that I was a foreign student.
Over the weekend, I prepared answers for questions such as why I wanna go to Canada, UBC, and what I hope to gain from the program, and the stuff on my resume. However, this was the first question that was asked of me:
“We all know that you’re a foreign student. So tell us why (here, i was thinking yup yup, I’ll tell you all about why I wanna go to Canada) you chose to come to Fudan (huh?).”
Basically all I prepared sorta just went down the drain, because I was thrown questions like what the cultural differences I see between China and Singapore are, how I find the education system here, and complaints about Shanghai. All of which I doubt I made a very good impression.
I can only hope for the best. So, cross your fingers with me ok? Hope I’ll receive good news by the end of this week.
