Amazed & touched...

A few days ago, I asked Lysia whether she wanted to bet with me on the no of people who would be attending NUS Rotaract Club Welcome Tea...My prediction was that not many people would attend this year's welcome tea, mainly because of the last minute change in the venue and my own reflection on our club's identity...There are so many other bigger and more popular community service club like NVAC and CSC, who are under NUSSU. I know that there should not be any competition between us, since we are all doing good deeds for the community...but i know for sure that my own club still loses in term of popularity...

I was totally wrong! The whole of LT 29 was packed with people during this evening's welcome tea...One person even thought that he was in the wrong venue as he had never attended any welcome tea with so many people around...believe me, it's even more than last year's welcome tea!

I made my last presentation for the club this evening and as i stood in front of this crowd, these images kept flashing back: I was like them sitting there listening to someone talking three years ago, I gave presentation two years ago, a year ago, and finally it's my last year standing at the same spot encouraging these people to join one of our projects, to volunteer not for the sake of CCA points, but to serve the community willingly without asking for rewards!

Looking at other presentations made by the different directors, i was certainly touched at what the club has done and achieved...I have watched this club grow from a small community service club to what it's today...a club which offers more varieties of community service projects, serves more groups in the community, boasts higher membership, and is filled with more passionate individuals!

When I saw Jacy presenting the video on Lions Befrienders showing all the activities that we organised for the elderly, i was really really touched...Being involved in kickstarting this project last year, i'm emotionally attached to this...There were so many obstacles and challenges along the way..but i'm grateful that this project still remains strong and hopefully will remain this way even after I leave NUS.

I am actually aware that this club has done a lot locally and internationally, but when all these achievements are compiled and presented at one go, the impact on the audience was tremendous! I, myself, who was involved in some of the projects, still find them amazing...what would others think of this club? Hopefull they will experience the same effect!

Next Friday would be the official day I retire from this club...not a full retirement though! The incoming president has already assigned me to a 'mentor' position,haha...Well, i will still play my advisor role in the club, but with minimal intervention in the club's activities...Let the new blood take up the leadership position and overcome all the challenges that lie ahead...As long as this club's legacy continues, i would be more than satisfied!

NUS Rotaract Club 36th Executive Committee & the incoming 37th Executive Committee

I am BACK...in NUS!

It's my first day of school in NUS today, after being away for 1 semester...and guess what i'm having a splitting headache now, even though i only had a 2-hours lecture in the morning, a briefing in the afternoon and Rotaract meeting in the evening...totally shagged!!! I got back to my room at 11 pm, really drained to the core...haiz...

Who should i blame? An extremely boring lecture which saw me yawning thousand times throughout that 2 hours? The hot weather? The countless flights of stairs that i climbed throughout the day?

I really really wish that i was back in my campus in Loughborough...extremely cooling weather, lots of greeneries, flowers everywhere, minimal stairs, a more interesting lecture, angmohs all around me...haiz...a wish will still remain as a wish! And i cant turn back time!

Greeneries, flowers, weather and angmohs aside, i did enjoy my first day of school though...I saw so many familiar faces around the school, met lots of my friends who made an exactly the same comment,"YOU'RE BACK!!!" I made friend with an exchange student from Switzerland...and not wanting him to experience what i had experienced back in UK (the feeling of being left out by the locals), Lester and I accompanied him for lunch, showed him around school, explained to him abt NUS system...simply making him feel as comfortable as possible. I met my fellow NUS Exchangers, those whom i normally saw back in Loughborough, but this time round, it was in the new Arts canteen!

I enjoyed the Rotaract meeting as well...really miss the jokes & funny comments made by the Yong brothers...Having to step down soon, i didnt have much time left to make my final contribution to the club...so i should put in my 100% to the club which has transformed me to be a better person and spiced up my varsity life.

The semester ahead would not be an easy one...I need to gain back my momentum of studying in this university to achieve the goal that i have set right before this day...I'm sure i can do it!!!

Good bye, my Lough...

It’s over! To claim that time really flies is an understatement…time certainly flies at the speed of lightning…I still remembered vividly my last few days in Singapore, when I was a bit reluctant to leave this place and all the friends behind and here I am, back in Singapore after 5 months of adventure into the foreign land – the most memorable & enriching experience during my varsity life!

Five months were certainly too short. Having spent 3 months in Loughborough University and 2 full months traveling around Europe, I still yearn for many more months in Europe…but too bad I could not pluck Poundsterlings and Euros from any tree that I could find along the streets, so I had no choice but to return to this small red dot, being totally broke.

Money issue aside, I have learnt a lot during this exchange…too many things that I could not list them one by one. Quoting what Xian once said,” You may not know what you have learnt from this, till you meet someone who doesn’t know something that you know.”

My exchange experience would not be as fun as it’s without the friends, who embarked on this exchange programme together with me and the friends that I made in Loughborough.

To Lester, Xian, Yanlian & Alwyn, the word ‘Thank you’ is not enough to express my gratitude for you guyz…Having spent 24/7 for 5 months with you guyz (except for Alwyn who were only with us till in Barcelona), I will never forget…

* our Thursday & Saturday weekly market sessions, when we shopped for groceries at the town centre. I still remember vividly the different stalls where I should get broccoli, carrot, oranges & apples, ginger, mushroom, garlic coz they are the cheapest, the English pork chop stall, the chicken stall where I’d get two gigantic chicken for 5.50 pounds

* our cooking session ( I gonna miss Xian’s teriyaki chicken, Lester’s black pepper sauce & hainanese chicken, Yanlian’s cheese cake & apple crumbles, and Alwyn’s beer-battered fish). Well, being the ‘cutting manager’ in the kitchen, in charge of cutting all the ingredients, don’t expect any specialty dish frm me,haha…but I only need to see them cooking a dish ONCE and I can actually master it (…in my dream!!!)

* the time we spent in the university - rushing to lectures in the morning under extremely cold weather, sleeping during lessons (btw we were the only ones, who slept during lessons, haha), rushing through the neglected courseworks, mugging for exams…

* many nights we spent planning for our trips: searching for cheap flights, cheapest yet centrally-located hostels, doing research on our destinations…hostelworld, hostelbookers, flycheapo – our favourite websites! Well, I can proudly announce that I have gained expertise in planning for budget trips…

* our table tennis & pool sessions in Butler Court’s common room…so sorry, if we, the lousy girls, deprived you guyz of your China-style table tennis matches,haha…I miss playing pool on that spoilt pool table with incomplete number of balls, but yet still fun enough (and most importantly, since it’s spoilt, I didn’t need to pay a single pence, only needed to squeeze my hand under the table to get the balls…)

* the two months we spent traveling around Europe…countless no of hours spent on trains, coaches, ferries, planes hopping from one place to another…Finding our hostel in a foreign place, given the limited info from hostel world, was always our challenge. It was no joke carrying a heavy backpack, wandering around looking for our destination, getting lost more than once…Thanks to the guyz whom I had to rely on for directions. We had gone through a lot during traveling together…losing our way to the hostel, being stranded on top of the icy mountain and struggling our way down together, being affected by train strike, airport strike, taking the wrong train and ended up being stranded in the train station, sleeping at the airport waiting for our flight, hopping from one supermarket to another in almost every city searching for cheap food and biscuit, losing our valuables...good and bad experiences...we had survived them!!!

My special thanks to the following people:

- The NUS Arts Exchange students: Aida, Mel, Joan, Yuan Mei, Yushan, Huiran, Yingzhi...I'll never forget our chitchatting sessions, first and only BBQ under cold weather, the Polar bear game, the late night supper...really miss your companions! Although we only got to know one another thanks to the International Day, your presence had certainly cheered up the lives of 3 Engin guyz, who were only surrounded by 2 boring Engin gals before Easter...haha...

- Eujin, Ying, Prima, Jeremy, Wee yong, and many other Singaporeans in Loughborough University. I learnt a lot abt Loughborough from you guyz...Thanks for making us feel like 'HOME' in that small little town...

- fellow exchange students: Sebastien, Chris, Junius, Martina...I learnt a lot of different culture from you guyz...

- my classmates & lecturers (Ian, Ed, Burns, Memis, Harrison)...I really miss attending the lessons in Loughborough...

- Lastly, our SEP coordinator, Henk...I have no regret being an exchange student in Loughborough UniversitY!