Final Reflection of My Stay in Singapore

When I first created this blog, I excitedly wrote down the first post unrelated to the module. It is beginning of my adventure in Singapore. Now it's the end. I would like to take the chance to reflect all my semester in Singapore, not just in ES2007S module.

This paragraph is for ES2007S module. Actually the workload for this module is more than what I thought in the beginning, which have pushed me to learn more. Now I want to say: Brad, thank you for your strict, vividly and interesting teaching method, thank you for your every comment in my every post, thank you for your detailed comment in my resume, cover letter and our group's report. At the same time, thank you for everyone to go through this semester with me, even though I didn't get the chance to get to know more about everyone, but I can really feel everyone is very kind, nice and also hardworking. Finally, I want to thank my group members: Poosai and Jeanatte. Thank you for being my group member in helping me learn the professional communication through doing the research, writing the report and addressing the presentation.

This whole semester, the first priceless treasure for me is the academic pursuits and leadership development.

I have learned the diligence and high-efficiency from those outstanding classmates who I study with; I have learned the knowledge and methodology from the excellent and profound professors’ teaching and inculcation; I have learned the innovation and persistence from the projects that I have involved in, I have learned the confidence and profession from the presentations I have prepared and addressed.

Even though I am from the engineering faculty, I still engage in experiencing and nurturing the entrepreneurship spirit which is highly regarded by NUS. I have attended many business talks and training programs that help me extract the logical thinking and organizational method to develop and excavate my potential leadership ability.

This whole semester, the second priceless treasure for me is the community services and the volunteer projects I have engaged in. I belong to the Red Cross community.

Project Rice is the first activity organized by Red Cross that I have taken part in. It is a nationwide rice collection community service project, in which, the volunteers will be going around the housing estates in Singapore to collect rice donations. The collected rice will then be packed in accordance to 5kg packs and be distributed to the various beneficiaries around the shores of our tiny island.

The second one is “The Red Cross Home for the Disabled”. It is a nursing home run under the care of the Singapore Red Cross Society. Yearly, volunteers from the organisation will participate in the Chinese New Year celebration, sharing the joy and love of the New Year to the residents of the home.

The third one is the “Blood Donation Drive”. Did you know that there are only around 1% of active donors in Singapore? So with each academic year, blood donation drives are organized in support to the good cause to appeal for more donors.

The fourth one is the “Learning How to Serve The Society Workshop”. It aims to help us strengthen our awareness of the importance of serving the society and our confidence in building and developing the leadership ability by designing some games for us to achieve its object by heart.

This whole semester, the third priceless treasure for me is the friends I have made here.

I can say I am really lucky to make so many friends from different countries, different backgrounds and different cultures. We study together, we travel together, we go out together...... They play hard, but they study harder. I enhance my English ability because of them, I expand my global horizon because of them, my thought become more global-oriented because of them, I become more mentally mature because of them. So many things that I just can not list literally.

This whole semester, the fourth priceless treasure for me is the travelling experience I have gone through.

From Malaysia’s trip with 7 friends from 4 different countries to Thailand trip with 3 friends from 2 different countries, to Cambodia’s trip with just my best female friend from Spain, to Philippines’ trip with 4 friends from 3 different countries, the experience that I have gained is something that I can not learn from the books. We plan the whole trip ourselves, from deciding the route, to booking the tickets, to carrying the backpack to find the budget hostels, to taking the 10-hour bus sometimes, to sharing our perspectives and thoughts for some current affairs , to discussing about the interesting cultural difference, to dealing with some occasional difficulties and emergencies, to taking care with each other when someone is in trouble……I learn the independency and well-preparation when arranging the trip, I learn the calmness and patience when handling those sudden problems, I learn attendance and carefulness when watching out for each other. During those travelling time, I also met many people who have amazing and special backgrounds and stories, which gives me the motivation and courage to face every potential upcoming challenges and setbacks.

In conclusion, I learn one thing: Nothing is impossible if you want to give it a try!