想い出は遠くの日々

My flight to London will depart in two hours. Sitting at Pier F of Pearson, once again, many things are going through my head… but I realize that I am a stronger person than the one who left on that wet May morning last year. Another step along the path.

So, it looks like I survived my 4A term here at Waterloo. I am quite glad that I have co-op coming up. Without a doubt, I would be really burnt if I had to do another academic term for the fall.

Okay, so… a review of this term:

Recall at the end of 3A, I pledged that no other term would be as difficult as the operating systems term. I lied. This term, I took the challenge of taking one of the three most difficult 4th year CS course. Surely, without the help of my friends, I wouldn’t have passed this term. Among the three, Real-time, Compilers, and Graphics; Graphics was the most interesting one for me. The difficulty of graphics lies in the fact that many hours must be committed to create nice looking pictures. I definitely knew what I was getting into…

My graphics prof says that not many students fail graphics…
…but they fail the other courses they’re taking in the same term.

I remember that my class laughed at that… now with clear hindsight, I know now it wasn’t a joke. I enjoyed graphics because it was the one of few courses in my undergrad that I could apply my own creativity to assignments. I remember the many mornings that I wake up at 10 am, only to sit back on my chair to continue coding so I could get another fancy graphical effect. My school time was highly skewed towards this course. I really never took a course that inspired me to this level… I guess that since the graphics project had a personal component, I was inspired to see it through to the end. It’s amazing how willpower keeps people going.

For my other courses, I didn’t do as stellar as I wanted. But this was anticipated well beforehand. The remainder of my courses, I was able to pass satisfactorily.

I usually have more to say about term reviews… but after graphics, I feel I’ve climbed onto a new level. I am eager to see the next ledge.

One more exam to go. I will blog a term review pretty soon.