Week 4: Miss Manique Cooray, Mr. Felix Idrissa Bigirimana, Mr. Ahmad Aqeil.

Week 4, Scene 1,Miss Manique Cooray:

7.30am: Woke up

7.40am: Showered

8.10am: Arrived in class

8.20am: "Faisal....what are you doing?" "You don't belong in this class do you?"

8.40am: "Faisal, I want to see you after class"

8.41am: *gulp*

9.00am:

"Faisal...what are you doing?"

"Sorry ma'am...I woke up late..."

"Faisal....you are way way behind...even behind my weakest students...you don't belong in that category of students...I have said what I needed to say. You do not belong with the weak students. Now it is up to you to change"

WHAM! That was all I needed to motivate me. "You don't belong in that category of students"...It's a wonder how a simple but honest statement from your lecturer can change you inside.

I know I will be snapped at angrily by Miss Manique many many more times this semester but I dont mind. It's for my own good. Thank you ma'am.

Week 4, Scene 2, Mr. Felix Idrissa Bigirimana:

7.30am: Woke up

7.45am: Showered

8.10am: Arrived in class

"Excuse me, what are you doing here? Are you sure you are in the right class?"

"Err..yes sir...I'm sorry I'm late"

"You have missed 4 classes...you cannot pass...I will not give you participation marks"

*GULP*

9.00am:

"Sir..I am sorry..."

"Why did you miss so many classes..."

"......."

"You are a good student....you cannot go on like this or your grades will suffer..."

"I know you are a good student....don't put that to waste...please study hard because only then can you succeed in life brother"

WHAM! "I know you are a good student"

That simple sentence made me want to study harder....I went back and I straight away opened my lecture notes and studied for 3 hours straight....and I haven't stopped studying on a regular basis since then.

Mr.Felix, thank you for those much needed words of encouragement. Honestly.

Week 4, Scene 3, Mr. Ahmad Aqeil:

5.00pm: "Sir...I'm sorry I missed so many classes"

5.00pm: "Why did you miss so many classes?"

5.01pm: "I've had some personal problems...I don't want to be in MMU"

* Mr.Aqeil gave a long speech about how to succeed in life, how I need to finish off my degree here in MMU. I told him I wanted to be a politician. He said politics is very hard.

"You need to be very smart". "So you need to study very hard. I told him I'm not THAT passionate about my law degree. I told him I liked political science. He straight away said "Look around you. Most of the politicians nowadays are lawyers". He gave Barack Obama as an example.

He said something along the line of no pain no gain. He told me a story about his friend, a medical student who studied under street lights because his family couldnt afford to pay high electricity bills. He told me his friend was focused and nothing distracted him from his goal.

"If a human being really focuses on something, there is nothing that he cannot do"

I could see the passion in his eyes, how much he wanted to lift me out from a dump and put me in a better place. I could see how hard he tried to convince me that I should stay focused, study hard and be a successful person.

Earlier he told the class: " I would very much like to see my students ending up as ministers...and saying things like, "Sir, please come and ride with me in my BMW".

He later said, "However, I would not like it so much if one day you say: "Sir, please come and ride with me in my Saga".

The whole class laughed.

5.17pm: "Do not worry about your attendance. I just hope I will see much change from you"

Thanks Mr.Aqeil for helping me. You're one cool lecturer.

The three scenes that happened above really motivated me. I'm gonna rock my world. Wish me luck :)