When I first entered Binus, I didn’t know what to expect. Learning about this event, Freshmen Enrichment Program (FEP), for the new students didn’t help either. The event included the General Orientation (GO), Academic Orientation (AO), and Organization Skills (OS). There was also the English Foundation for those who had lower scores in their English skills. Needless to say, I was nervous and couldn’t get much sleep as a result. I’ve always wanted to create my own games and improve my development skills. It was a long journey, but I am glad that I get to experience such an event. There are some good times and there are some bad times, but mostly good.
During the first day of FEP, I met the Buddy Coordinators and they were friendly. In fact, they helped me and the others. It turned out to be a presentation about the campus and the things we should expect in Binus. We were organized into groups and I was placed to DBN 11. Each group was assigned to make their own yell-yell and memorize the Binusian anthems. The best part, in my honest opinion, was the EXPO during the last day of the orientation. It was such as a sight to behold. I was enthralled, especially with BGDC. By the end of the day, everyone presented their yell-yells with different results, but they were mostly good. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed that my group didn’t win first place of ‘most creative yell-yell,’ but it was only a competition, was it not? The important thing was to participate in the events and enjoyed them. Another important fact was that I had met some new friends throughout the GO. They were among the best people I met in a long time. Overall, the GO was enjoyable at best despite a few embarrassing moments that I personally ashamed of. The one moment I would never forget was the time I tried to suggest a certain theme; an inspiration for our yell-yell. Unfortunately, it came out being extremely awkward that none of my teammates thought it was funny.
As for the Academic Orientation, it did help me to know more how the academics work in Binus and familiarize with the environment. There were some interesting activities we had to go through. There was one time we had to draw our own character – even though I’m bad at drawing – and a mouse. Creating a summary of my game, now that was a different story. I’ve always enjoyed writing my games’ stories; simply from the beginning, the middle, and then the end. Another thing I enjoyed with the event was to make our game’s concept. I had been making fangames over the past five years, so it wasn’t that hard to make a concept. However, the biggest challenge was learning C++ Language and Algorithm. I had trouble trying to learn the subjects. Doing the coding on Microsoft Visual Studio was even harder as I kept getting errors. It was frustrating, to say the least. Despite my difficulty understanding the language, the algorithm, and the coding, I did enjoy the Academic Orientation on the whole.
As for the Organization Skill, there were some presentations that I found them interesting. One presentation, the HIMTI, showed us the marketing side caught my attention. The other presentation was Ureeka. It was more user friendly and they showed a lot of promising materials such as their showcases of their works. Lastly, there was the Jollybee. While their presentation showed promises but they were not user friendly as they require a test in order to join in. The Organization Skill was good although I personally enjoyed GO and AO more.