Shanghai Trip

Shanghai was the first official country that I have been to, and it has been years since I traveled out of Singapore. There were bound to be worries on how I would be able to adapt myself in a total foreign environment. These worries were slowly gone as I got use to their actions and behaviors.

I went with my school to Shanghai for 3 weeks for an Overseas Immersion Programme (OIP). At first all of us just could not accept how the people just cut our queue so nonchalantly, cars and motorists dashing across us without warning even when its a pedestrian crossing. The traffic was rather chaotic and we had to be extra careful when crossing the road for any oncoming vehicles. I guessed the reason for us to be shocked was because in Singapore everything seems to be safer and when we came to China, we were not used to the fast reckless traffic. 

Almost every single night, we would have a debrief session to share on our thoughts for the day. Initially, our discussion would mainly be how bad our perception of China people were but gradually our thoughts started changing and instead, we tried to understand and find out why they act in a certain way. When we criticized the people, our lecturer would constantly be provoking our thoughts at the sideline, telling us to observe more and not prejudice people so easily. It was kind of annoying when I just wanted to enjoy the trip without having to stress my mind to observe the things and people. As I think observing things drain out too much energy from me. However, I still tried my best to observe my surroundings.

When I first bought a dish from one of the campus's canteen, it was really oily even though it was soup based and the other foods were all rather oily as well. Nevertheless, we got use to this too and now we know we do not have to queue for the food but just go straight up to the cashier and give our order. As for the traffic, we were no longer surprise or too panicky and instead we looked out for one another when we were crossing the road. To add on, there were other parts of China that have less oily food so we should not categorize the entire China.

The most convenient way for us to settle our food and growling stomach was our dear 'Carolina Bakery' which was situated just next to our dormitory. Every time when I am not very hungry and just want to settle for a fast meal or have our breakfast, it was always the same place we go to. In addition, they have milk tea that comes in both hot and cold! I had never tried a warm milk tea before so it was a fresh experience. The breads there were not bad either. They sell burgers and fried chickens too! Egg tarts, sandwiches, moon cakes, tidbits, drinks etc. Talking about fried chicken, I got to taste the Korean fried chicken on my last night that I did not get the chance to and they tasted great!! There were soya sauce and spicy flavourrr.

As our room was one of the biggest and probably most hospitable, our room was regularly invaded. My room consisted of a living room connected to a bedroom where some of the normal rooms were just a bedroom. It irks me when people drop food bits in my room (where we later called them our house) and my friends would constantly hear me nagging if any bits drop on the floor or things they did that make my room dirty. We would always suggest other people's room to eat at as we all know the consequence of having visitors feasting in your room. It felt like we just moved into a new apartment as all the basic necessities were not available in the dorm. Hence, as one big class we went to the convenience store to buy things like toilet papers, hangers, 5L mineral water and dustpan. 

Yet, some of the things I missed were when people invaded my room, even though I disliked it when my room becomes a mess but I still like it when they come to my room making it chaotic. Also, it would only be a short while before all this fun moments end so why not make use of them fully. At least when I think back I would know I did something fun instead of the regulars. Guessing whoever was at the door by the sound of the doorbell which failed afterwards when the rest started to follow the initial ringer's style. Some of them got to see my unglamorous hairdo with my hairband on and luckily I have got my jacket to cover my not-very-nice clothes beneath.

People will always have a perception of you that they assumed or set themselves of you, or perception of you that they would not say. Even if you justified that you are not what they presumed, people would just brushed it off and choose to believe whatever they believe. Therefore, sometimes we should just do whatever the hell we want as it takes too much efforts to care about what people think of you. As whatever you do, people would bound to have things to comment on.

I would like to thank my group where they tried to help me by giving me ideas for my fishbowl discussion when I am lacked of it and others who said I was doing fine to make me feel good even though I know I totally screwed the entire thing. Sometimes, I think they should let me know the harsh truth so that I can improve on myself accompanied by words of encouragement to keep the morale going. Even though we all felt moody when our presentation did not went well, but I still appreciated the times where I got to know my members more, our freestyle way of doing discussions which was sometimes too lay back but fun as well. I guessed I hid my disappointment of my actions as I think that showing it out does not make any difference and others would not want to hear your miserable complaints as well.

Luckily, there were washing machine and dryer so I do not have to hand wash my clothes. It was good that my peers have medicines and electrical appliances like hairdryer and iron. Our dorm room was considered alright but it cannot be compared to when we were at Huangpu Hotel at Nanjing where they have clean fluffy beds and people to change your towels everyday. 

Our schedule was really packed for the first week where we went for museum rush and also various tourist attractions. We went to too many museums that I don't even know which one I was at. Most of my friends seems to know a thing or two and were interested in history. When I tried reading or hearing things about history my mind cannot really absorb the information, I guessed I am just uninterested in it and finds it rather dry. When I hear facts about history, its just like a whirlpool in my head. This made me ponder at times if I should read up on some history when I get back, but sometimes its just seem uninteresting to you that you will feel bored when you start reading.

It was a good experience where I got to taste new foods and enjoyed different sceneries.

Fried bun = DELICIOUS!!

I love long bus rides especially after long tiring trips.

Frequent tabao food gathering at our dorm.

Intership

Another milestone of our polytechnic life, Internship. It's both a daunting and exciting news at the same time for most people. My main concerns are that I am afraid of my inabilities to complete tasks given to me, if I am capable enough to be able to get and upgrade my skills and knowledge or will I stay at the same competency level? Last concern would be, you would not know what to expect on the things, problems or challenges that you might faced and will you at that point of time have an appropriate solution for it.

These are the daunting aspects of internship, BUT the exciting part of it are you get to experience new things in life that you would never get to have a chance to during your school time. You will have many kinds of unique encounters and able to learn something new. We get to broaden our knowledge and widened our viewpoint of certain things. In my case, I am curious how a park is actually run on a daily basis, what's the behind-the-scene like and what kind of stuffs we will be doing at a park. Being able to be involved in the events part is one of the things I am looking forward to, as events are usually high spirited and chaotic. If you're involved in a preparation, especially a long one just for a few days for a particular event, I believed there will be a great sense of achievement and satisfaction as you spent time overnight, had numerous meetings, plannings as a whole in hope to have a successful event. I usually played a minor role in an event as just one of the helpers, and I heard that this intern might have the chance to let us manage the event which means you got to be able to have those qualities where you can assign tasks to people and make sure the event runs smoothly. I would want to learn how or be able to experience that (with assistance of course) too as it would definitely be totally different from the tasks as a helper of the event.

There are so many types of application forms that we have to fill up before reporting on the first day of internship to our designated company. It's starting next week on the 14 March 2016, OH GOSHH!! Bless my soul~ Hopefully I will survive in one piece, gain some useful skills and get to know good people.

Today we attended a briefing regarding our internship before it start on what we should take note of. I am glad that we still have a 'mountain' to lean on which is our school and lecturers if we faced any problems or needed any help. WHICH MEANS, I don't have to be totally independent, do you know how scary that word is, it means you have to be all alone to solve your own issues and there's no one to help you solve your problem you have to do it yourself. At least to me, it meant that way so its always good to have some place you can turn to.

ANDAND YOU KNOW WHAT, we have to do these three reports during our internship. Its called Interim 1, Interim 2 and Final Report. Just by looking at the details you have to include in it = confusion, "what is this suppose to mean", "what am I suppose to write and how for this part" etc. Ahhh... see see so many things we have to go through in order to be sharpened into a better person.

May I survive happily through this journey, signing off once again!~

At this age

When we're reaching 20 or about starting from 16, most people will start to realise the responsibilities they have. Others will be expecting more from us. As a kid we wish to grow up quickly but now we wish to go back to when we were young. We looked back at ourselves, when we were young we just did whatever we want without being concern of the consequences at all but now we would think of them before doing(but sometimes even knowing the consequence we would still GO AHEAD & DO WHAT WE WANT DUDE). I like how you can bullshit with kids and say whatever things to them and they will get amused by it, the point is we are able to talk freely with them cause they will just laugh at anything you said. Its also therapeutic when you are with them they can either bring you to cloud nine or make your back sore.

Actually at times during your tertiary schools, when we behave immaturely and get chastised by the teacher, depending on the situation, instead of feeling guilty I actually felt kind of happy. Our teacher at this level, will be expecting more from us as we are going to be adults soon. But when they start to scold us about our behaviour it make me feel like I am back to the younger days where we were protected cause we're still kids that can get away with almost anything. Instead of finding what they called the 'immature classmates' annoying, I like how they are. I like it when things are more fun, not too uptight and serious with all the mature thing. We ought to be crazy and childish sometimes to enjoy things. Like when I see working adults outside, and they are still playing games on their phone or teasing one another. Its like there's still a playful side in them.

Its great to see some group of youngsters having crazy adventures whenever they can, I believe we should try out lots of things now so we can share stories to others like how we're now when we tell others stories of what we did in the past. At times, we have to follow YOLO, note, AT TIMES not all the time.