Yeah baby

YEAH. Grad trip flight to Rome is booked, 25 days in awesome europe, 10 days on a contiki tour!

 

it is over two.

The holidays are OVER! I cant believe it, one month of travelling, going out, eating, spending time with loved ones and christmas celebrations just flew by. It is the time of the year again where we pack our bags, shop for back to school/hall items and prepare for THE Final Semester of my life. Unbelievable I’ve been in university for almost 4 years, feels like  yesterday that I got my acceptance letter into NUS Business School, preparing for hall and uni life. Now, I’m what you call an oldie in school, year 4, last year last chance, final year etc etc. Uni life has indeed been very very eventful, experiences I will never forget, some tight friendships formed, picked up new sport (squash), rekindled old friendships..

This is week 2 in school, and I’m here still in the East, spending time with gran, enjoying the warmth (figuratively and literally) here at home. The job search is getting more frantic, more anxious, more people asking about progress..2 friends even found jobs alr! It might be a Business School thing to be this competitive, but I seem to be lacking the drive..the edge. We’ll just see how things turn out..

For now, my grad trip mates and myself have to plan for GRAD TRIP! WOOOHOOO! So exciting. I’m looking forward to heading back to Europe, visit new cities and some that I’ve been to, seeing the world. My bank account is gonna be so busted. Estimated 3 weeks trip cost 6k. We are planning to go for slightly more than 3 weeks. 6k is a huge sum of money, but we only have this final 2/3 months of pure break before we head into the intimidating real world. One of the last person you’ll call rich, but this is gonna be money well-spent..memories itched in mind and heart forever, experiences that will never go. Money can be earned back I am sure, considering how hectic Singaporeans’ lives are and how hard workers we have been programmed to become. So..grad trip here we come!

Note to self: you still haven’t finished your entries on some trips since exchange!

 

it is over

The semester is over. Exams ended today, a geography paper which I spent almost a whole week preparing. Paper turned out pretty okay, maybe not fantastic but good enough.

I’m officially left with one semester of school! It’s the real end of formal education, heading straight into the next stage of my life. Job search seemed to have ceased during the exam period due to the lack of suitable opportunities. I’m excited to step out of the education system and earn myself a living and be financially independent. At the same time, the perks of being a student will disappear and soon I’ll just be working my ass off for some company for a Thing is, I don’t know what I want to do! Does knowing what you don’t want to do help? Guess I just have to wait for more opportunities, and hopefully land a job that I will enjoy.

Yes, the holidays are here! Days of sleeping in, going out, spending time with loved ones, nuaing in hall/at home, playing sports, shopping, eating all my favourite foods etc etc! Think I do deserve  a break after such a constantly busy semester, full of assignments, tests, projects, presentations – til presentations hardly make me nervous or anxious anymore.

I will remember rushing for a 15page single spaced assignment for 3 consec days that really tired me out but gave me an immense sense of satisfaction when I finally completed it and even exceeded the 15 pages.

I will remember rushing for my CP with my funloving CP mates, sharing jokes, spamming each other with up to 20 over drafts of reports and presentations, being constantly the best group during our presentations with the prof, having late dinner at HV together, having proj meetings at HV and sharing frolick together after that..it was definitely one of the most fun group I’ve worked with in my 3 years in business school.

I will also remember the rushing for my weekly culture assignments that seemed to always revolve around the same theme of culture sensitivities and the prof’s incessant sharing of his experiences (some were boring).

This semester was eventful, albeit a busy one. I hope I have done my best during this semester and the results will make the judgement. I can only look ahead to the final semester of my varsity life and enjoy every momemt left of being a student before I become a full-fledged adult, earning my own money, spending my own money. (I want to buy a car when I have enough!)

Till then, the holidays will be a fun filled one and I’m aiming to complete my long overdue blog posts from my exchange escapades in 2008!

 

 

don’t regret

Yes, the ramblings of a final year student in university.

It’s hard not to feel pressed for time, stressed to find a good job when all your peers are discussing the career talks they have attended or the multitude of companies they have applied to. I tell my parents, they are shocked that we are applying for jobs now for next May. I am shocked myself too.

But what to do? We were brought up in a society where more is good. The more you do, the harder you work, the more competitive you are, the better you will be. My 16 years of formal education in Singapore has almost come to an end. Instead of trying to enjoy the remaining time being a school kid, I am pushing myself to gain momentum, to work hard again, to try to believe in myself, that yes I can, yes I can achieve results better than this. What have I been reduced to?

Is this really what I want for my life? To compete alongside with peers for places in university, then for spots in business school, and then for hons year, and now, for JOBS. Aye. The requirements stated on companies’ websites for the graduates they intend to hire, never fail to demoralise me. Excellent academic results? All rounded CCA? Great presentation skills? Analytical? Interpersonal skills? Team player? Are we really capable of being a being packed with so many attributes just to be a tiny cog, a small fry of a big company? Why?

For reputation. For the need for achievement. For the money. I answer myself.

So please, work hard, or at least try to. So you won’t regret next time, sam.

 

To Blog.

Prague.

Berlin.

Munich.

Yes, I went for exchange like last year but still havent finished blogging about the trips!

SAM

 

Nostalgia hits home.

One year ago, I left for my exchange program to Lund University. I can still recall how I felt that night, at the airport with family and friends to send me off.  So apprehensive yet so eager to embark on a new chapter of my life. So much planning and preparation had been done for exchange and it was finally happening that night. Cliché as it may sound, I still cannot believe how fast time flew.

Within a few weeks, the homesickness the worries melted away as I was slowly adapting to living away from home and interacting with very few Singaporeans but many more people from all over the world. It is truly an amazing experience to meet people from different cultures, different languages but yet we were all connected in one way or another. Be it studying the same thing, having the same interests, having been to a certain country and loved it, it was really so enriching to mix and mingle with everyone.

Travelling Europe was simply amazing I wished I could do it over and over again. The freedom we felt with the wind in our hairs, our cold fingers in our gloves, the scarves around our necks but yet so excited to see that part of the world, to simply walk the streets of Europe.

That chapter of my life has sadly came to an end since Dec last year. But, it is so easy to get all nostalgic and start looking through the endless albums of photos taken during exchange. Slowly the little details start to fade, but I hold close to the memories created during the fabulous time I had there and the amazing people I came to meet.

Now, as the start of school beckons, I am ready to face the last year of being in formal education, to enjoy every bit of the remaining semesters before I am forced to face the uphill task ahead: entering the workforce.

Til then.

 

It’s the time of the year again.

Finding modules to take. Finding people to take modules with. Planning timetables. Etc. Etc. Only this time it feels slightly different. My last year at school. Last year as a student, with allowance to live by, with school troubles to worry about. I am determined to make the most of this final year. I don’t specifically mean a particular part of my university life, but more adamant on making this coming year at school enjoyable yet enriching.

embrace.

 

My Grandmother.

As I sit here at SS living room , with grandma next to me talking to me,  I am  suddenly filled with heavy emotions weighing on my heart. It dawns to me that she is ageing, rapidly.

A simple gesture such as bringing coffee and lunch for her brings a wide smile to her face. She tells the maid proudly that I “sayang” her because I think of her and I bring food and her favourite coffee. She stuffs a fifty note in myhands and tell me to share it with my sister. I say no but she insists.

I remember the times I was young, she would wait for me at a park bench next to a carpark, for my school bus to drop me off. She would carry my school bag for me. She would bring me to the mama shop just cos I insisted on buying cracker and sometimes feeding the pigeons. A few tens of cents would buy us a big bag  of green beans where we would stand at the big empty space in front of her block, and throw the beans for the birds to eat. This memory seemed so distant, I think I almost forgot about it until one fine day, she tells me about it and I remember.

I remember all the yummy food she used to cook for us at her place. Dark sauce chicken thighs with eggs. Assam “sweet potato” fish head. Tilapia steamed with spicy soy bean sauce. And of course, the fish maw soup she always cooks up til today. But her age is catching up on her fast, mum and other aunts help with the cooking these days for special occasions. Not quite the same but delicious, nonetheless.

I wished time would stop for us.. Let me go back to my childhood place. Where I spent afternoons watching tv in Ah Ma house at Haig Road. Where sissy and I begged  mummy to let us buy slices of butter to eat on a stick. Where we paid 1 dollar to the wanton mee aunty and we would get 10 deep fried wantons in return. Where we were kids and Ah Ma was one head taller than me.

But I guess time will never stop. We just have to make do and cherish what lies ahead and of course, the present.

To Ah Ma, wo ai ni.

 

Purpose of Work.

What is the purpose of work, one may ask. Is it for greater motives like self-devlopment, fulfilment of one’s potential? Or is it for more materialistic desires like the all-important $$$ or the wants you can purchase with it? Or maybe for the prestige, reputation and status?

Naively, I always thought work was for self development or fulfilment of one’s potential. Of course, the renumeration plays a vital role in determining the attractiveness of the job. But, ultimately, I think I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a job where I get ZERO job satisfaction but merely stay on for the figures I’m getting.

But apparently(according to some sources), many of maybe even most people work for the money. They stay on because they need the money, they want the money. Which is essentially quite sad. I guess, as we grow older, we complicate needs with wants, we become more obsessed with the materialistic desires. I’m not even talking about luxury goods like LV bags that costs 2 (freakin) thousand dollars or a wallet that costs several hundreds. We just become so consumed by the materialistic lifestyle. We beam after shopping. We are happy because we bought something new. Something pricey. Something that tells others something about ourselves.

I think it’s sad. Because I’m working now for the money too.

 

Watch this space.

Work in Progress.