So, why do I choose Brunei Shell Petroleum?

Frankly, it's all about the money. There you go! No money, no life :p Then again, comparing other scholarships offered, I think BSP scholarship is one of the best, if not the best. My job is 100% secured legally by a contract for 5 years after graduation.

Also, working in BSP doesn't limit me to office environment, which I'm not so fond of. I prefer activity! I like working in a field environment! Thankfully, BSP is not fully owned by the government, cause I don't like to comply to all government protocols like dress code, hair code, etc. There's more freedom in a 50% privately owned company :D As such, being a globally renowned company, experience opportunity will be vast!

Still, I would be equally grateful if I had gotten other scholarships instead. Bruneians are very lucky to have such lucrative offers for education! So I appreciate what I've got :)

I started out applying for a course in Mechanical Engineering. However, due to the high numbers of Mechanical Engineering applicants, I was persuaded to switch my course. I am now taking Systems and Control Engineering. It is also commonly known as Control and Automation Engineering, but some call it Instrumentation Engineering.

Confused? From what I've gathered during my attachment, Systems and Control Engineering deals with instruments.

For example, when you step on the accelerator in your car, how does your speedometer know what speed you're driving at? The speedometer is the instrument. So, to explain it crudely, I guess my engineering discipline is about maintaining the synchronicity of the instruments with its initiator. I'll find out more when I actually start my course ;)



While choosing my desired course, I must also choose my preferred department in BSP. Meaning to say, once I graduate, I will be working for that particular department. So, I have been accepted to join this department which carries out operations and maintenance.

Now, on to the working life. Work hours in BSP starts from Monday to Friday, from 7-12pm and 1-4pm. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I still had to wake up the same time I used to during school days! And since there are only 2 bathrooms in the apartment, everyone has to wake up extra early so that everyone can bath.



Annoyingly, the apartment's water heater tends to run out of gas! It is not cool to bath with cold water early in the morning.

My breakfast table must have Nescafe! Nescafe is like a drug to me. I cannot live without it :') As for food options, I would normally go for peanut butter bread. Otherwise it would be biscuits. But whenever I felt rajin, I would fry French toast. Yummy!



Oh God! All these temptations is making me hungrier!

Let's stop talking about food.

During my attachment, my assignment was to familiarize with the working environment and BSP's general process flows.

I was assigned to look after nodding donkeys.



I was assigned to study how the crude oil is being processed.





I relayed information from the computer to the field technicians via walkie talkie.



I climbed up two tanks!



I was also assigned to master at least 1 hands on analysis from each of the 6 BSP laboratories.




The attachment was overall a fun and useful experience! Although I gotta admit, sometimes there's just absolutely nothing to do one whole day due to supervisors being too busy. Those days were just boring to death. Makes me wanna jump down from the tanks.

So, to prospective students who are seriously thinking of getting the BSP scholarship, do not hesitate to leave comments here or at the tagboard.

Now that I'm done with the attachment, I will once again do the job of reviving this dying blog! I will divide my blog posts into several parts. I'll start of with life in the apartment.

To start of...

I would usually go up to Seria every Sunday afternoon. And then, after work hours on Friday, I would drive down back to Bandar. Luckily, BSP was kind enough to offer an apartment for the Bandar students to live in. I am not sure if I can tahan commuting up and down Seria everyday!

I gotta admit, driving up and down Seria is kinda fun actually. I mean, I get to see a lot of nice cars! I've seen a couple of Audi R8s, a lot of Audi A4s, an unknown Ferrari model, Mercedes Benz CLS Class, Mitsubishi Evolution X, Nissan GT-R, and the list goes on. One day, I'm gonna get one of these :p



There are a total number of 24 BSP scholars including myself. There are 6 MDians, 5 from SMSA, 4 from Katok, 3 Meragang students, 2 from Maktab Sains, 2 ITB students and another 2 from Jerudong International School. Out of the 24 students, there are 18 boys and only 6 girls.

The 2 JIS students didn't join the attachment as their school term ends in June.

There are 15 of us who chose to live in the 2 apartments that BSP provided for us - 1 for the guys & 1 for the girls. There are 10 guys and 5 girls. Now, I do not want to complain if I could help, but seriously, 10 guys in one apartment!! And only 3 rooms to share between us!

However, the apartment itself wasn't all that bad. It's still livable. I shared a room with Jong Hau of MD, Nigel Chin from MS, and Goh Jien Han from Katok. Yeah, I'm with the Chinese!

Our room is the only room which is occupied by 4 dudes. To make up for this, our room is equipped with a toilet, unlike the other rooms! The other rooms had to share one toilet. Hah!



Luckily, the apartment had a kitchen, which means, we can cut our costs on food! This way, I get to learn how to cook and learned how to cook I did!

I don't want to show off, but I can finally cook rice! Hooray for me!



This is the guy's kitchen...



...as compared to...





...the girl's cleaner and more organised kitchen. I guess boys will always be boys. Being messy and lazy is part of our natural instinct 0=)

But honestly, I actually love cooking right now. The first time I arrived at the apartment, I can only cook instant noodles and eggs. 3 months later, I now know the difference between big onions, red onions, garlics, and gingers! I know how to slice them, and apply them into cooking :p My best recipe yet is the Ginger and Spring Onion Fish! I am proud of myself :')



Our collection of shoes stretch for miles and miles.


Work hours in BSP starts from 7am and ends at 4pm. I still have to wake up the same time I did during school life. Darn it!

So, after work hours, we had 3 options of action.

The first option was to go to the BSRC - Brunei Shell Recreation Club, where we can play games such as badminton, tennis, futsal, swimming, or even work out! We were provided with free 3 months membership in BSRC.



The second option was to cook dinner. Those who planned to cook dinner must prepare early. I don't know if you guys know this, but in Seria, the cooking gas is supplied directly to each households for free. We don't use tong gas here. However, mysteriously, between 6-7 pm, the gas supplied to our apartment is usually too little or none at all. Therefore, whenever possible, we would cook our dinner before 6pm.

The third option was to...



...GAME!! Thank god someone by the holy name of Abu Afiq was kind enough to bring his TV and PS2 to the apartment! If not, we could have died out of boredom. Bless him.

Basically, these were our routine everyday in the apartment. It was such a good experience - being away from my family, being independent, learning new things and making new friends. 3 months passed by in a flash, but 3 very worthwhile months, I'd say ;)



If I'm not lazy, expect my next post in 2-3 days time.