Your Singapore Experience - Text Entries

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text entry

submitted by
Suzhi Bi
China

title
Singapore — Familiar & Unfamiliar Host

Ever since I was a child, I had an impression of Singapore. I always remember the story about one of my ancestors who left our hometown to seek a better life in Nanyang, or the South Seas. I still remember the story although I am now a third-year college student at Zhejiang University, confronted with many choices about my future. Maybe it is time that I follow the footsteps of my ancestor and head towards Singapore.

I am truly interested in the education system in Singapore, especially the top universities such as the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University.

My fascination with Singapore re-started recently. I was at a youth summit titled "Ethical Leadership for the New Generation" hosted by ICAC of Hong Kong where many young students around the world were invited. Luckily I was one of them. A group of three students from the NUS gave their speech on enterprise structure and anti-corruption policy in modern firms.

Their confident, innovative, as well as passionate, performance outshined other contestants, and greatly impressed everyone present. Unsurprisingly, they were awarded a special prize among all the outstanding teams.

I had a chance to speak to them during the tea break. I was shocked to learn that they major in neither economics nor management. A member of the team told me that he was a history student. I admire him for being versatile and knowledgeable.

I think there must be some kind of "cause and effect" relationship in their talent and the education they received in Singapore. That was when and why I started becoming interested in the education system of Singapore. I wish to attend some college courses and experience the real campus life, like the three bright Singapore students.

I attended high school at the Jinan Foreign Language School. Several of my friends were selected to attend college in Singapore during the second year of high school. Now they are studying at NUS & NTU.

They keep us updated about their experience in Singapore. I 'saw' the Merlion statue for the first time in their postcards, got to know about Singapore as a "fine" country in their blogs (a signboard shows a fine of $1000 for littering), and heard many colorful stories about their campus life and travel experience.

I would love to experience such a visit to Singapore and I am thinking how surprising it would be should I stand in front of them in Singapore. It would be the memory of a life time.

Singapore's education system enjoys great fame. Its world-class universities appeal to many students. I believe that being educated in a multi-cultural environment can help students become leaders in many fields. Moreover, experiencing Chinese culture in another country is exciting.

I am really looking forward to such an opportunity to experience cultural similarities as well as differences in the South Seas.


Veronica Albela Malaysia "Singapore, exemplified by her people, has left a lasting impression on me."	Suzhi Bi China "Singapore's education system enjoys great fame. Its world-class universities appeal to many students."	Amit Dutta India "I want to go back to Singapore to delve deeper into the true "Singapore Story" unique in its history, culture and society."	Michael Lekich USA "Cultural differences are respected and maintained when it is time to eat, and this allows Singaporeans to co-exist peacefully."


Willy Lesmana Indonesia "This is a story about a young man who took a vacation in Singapore alone, for the first time."	Glenn Myers United Kingdom "Singaporean cuisine is egalitarian: noisy, busy, cheap, open to all."	Simon Smith Australia "Exciting, vibrant, a mix of old and new - and so much to do!"