My Hijab

Pretty much everyone knows that when in UIA, the females MUST cover up their aurah, including their hair by wearing the tudung/hijab. Though, of course, there are some of them who only wear the hijab in the university's compound and take it off whenever they are outside.

Ever since I entered UIA, I've decided to wear the hijab....full time. I dunno, somehow I feel like if I only wear it in the uni and remain a 'free hair' (someone who doesn't wear the hijab) outside, I am being a hypocrite. At least, that's how I feel, personally.

It's like I wear it just because the university requires me to do so and not because of Allah even though it's clearly said in Islam we have to cover up. I follow the rules set by humans but I choose not to follow the rules ordered by Allah? Where's the sincerity of my faith in that?

And because of that, I take the decision to wear it full-time and have been wearing it for the last one month, alhamdulillah :) Surprisingly so, I actually feel more beautiful, inside out when I adorn the scarf on my head. Plus, I wouldn't have to worry about having another bad, frizzy hair day. Hehe.

Everyone has the right to their own choices, whether they want to wear the hijab or not, whether required by an authority or otherwise.

Whichever choice you make, it's between you and God. This is my personal choice and as a Muslim, I am proud of it.

I can only hope this will lead me to a better person, Insyaallah.

Some shots of me with the new look ;)

With Ibu and Papa at a cousin's wedding. I chose to wear the normal scarf while Ibu opted to wear the 'Siti Nurhaliza's' tudung. Phewitt! =p

With Papa. Ever since he had his cataract surgery, he's always seen with his sunglasses outside. Stylo!

At our favourite hangout place, Starbucks.

See, no bad hair in sight.

Life as a Law Student, so far

Week 3 in UIA and things are beginning to look up. Classes have started though there are one or two classes where the lecturer is absent or choose to cut the class short. Nonetheless, I'm beginning to enjoy them and looking forward to more of the lectures.

Quick updates on my life as a Law student in the dungeon. I mean, UIA =p

- There are 3 core subjects this semester: Introduction to Law, Islamic Legal History and General Principles of Law 1.

- On top of that, there are university-required subjects we have to study: Arabic, ICT and Basic Themes of Al-quran.

- The students are divided according to their levels of English based on the placement test taken during the orientation week. I'm exempted from English classes and starting Arabic at Level 1.

- Arabic is tough. Most of us who are starting at Level 1 have zero knowledge of the language (other than knowing how to read the Quran) but you should see our eagerness in wanting to learn it. Too bad the Ustaz likes to cut the class short. Heh.

- The lecturers are pretty awesome. For once, I don't find myself wanting to fall asleep in class ;)

- There's an interesting mix of people here. We have the 'tudung-labuh' girls, the 'free hair' girls, the liberal ones, the politically-inclined group, the VIP kids etc. But somehow we manage to get along well enough.

- I've started my first case-study; Balfour v. Balfour [1919] 2 KB 571. Which requires a lot of referring to numerous law reference books.

- The library has become my new best friend.

- Assignments are slowly pouring in and no 'spoon-feeding' from our lecturers like how it used to be in secondary schools with our teachers. You're on your own most of the time now.

- I still eagerly look forward to go home every weekend and dread going back there on Sunday evenings.

Some photos from the place.

Taken from the 'Taaruf Week'. Spot me? Of course you can't. That's like 2000 girls being dressed in the same way.

One of the hostels or 'Mahallah' as we call it. CFS stands for Centre for Foundation Studies.

The Law Section of the library.

That's me pouring over different reference books.

Look at the books, they're as old as....god-knows-what.

Someone found a bug in between the pages of these books. No kidding!

Every Tuesday evening, there's a special outing for 'pasar malam'. So exciting right? LOL. And that's me with Syamir at our special outing.

In my room. The right bed is mine. Somehow this one looks neater than my own bedroom at home. Hehe.

Settling Down

It's been week two of my time in UIA and yet, classes haven't started. Other universities have started with theirs and we're still doing the whole orientation thing, more or less. Borriingggg, I tell you!

So what's it like in there? To be honest, I don't quite like it. At least, not yet. It's hard to say when I've only been there for 2 weeks and I'm trying to be as optimistic as possible of the place. After all, I'll be spending my next one year there so better start loving it.

There's so much for me to say about UIA's Foundation Centre here, mostly the not-so-nice things but I shall refrain myself from doing so. This is a public space and well, let's just say I wouldn't want to get into trouble with the UIA people because of this.

The point here is that some of the rules and the way things work over there don't really settle down well with me and I began to dislike the place, a bit. I found myself wanting to go home every chance I had.

Maybe it's because I've never been away from home and doing the hostel-living kind of thing. Maybe it's because I've always been this 'free hair' girl who suddenly got chucked away to a place like this. Maybe it's just because I haven't found my right footing here yet.

Classes will start this Monday. Perhaps things will get better then. Since I'll be busy and occupied with my new life, no time to think of my despairs and agony of the place.

Let's hope so.