Feeling~

Hi everyone,

I'm back in wonderful Singapore already. It sure was hectic trip to the Wuhan airport. I couldn't sleep on Saturday night for no reason. It was only at 3 plus am that I finally managed to sleep. I woke up 4 hours later to start packing the rest of my stuff into my luggage. I had breakfast at the beef lamian stall before we boarded the bus to head to the airport. What supposedly took 2 hours to get to the airport, we arrived within an hour. The bus driver, or shi fu, drove really quickly there. In usual airport procedures, passengers have to be at the airport 2 hours before the flight timing. However, we could only check in our luggage 1 hour earlier. All of us had no choice but to sit around to wait for the time to pass before we could enter to check-in our luggages. It took us quite a while to clear all our baggage. By then, we had missed the flight timing and so the plane was delayed. We finally managed to take off at 3.15pm. Jovin and I entered the plane and our first reactions was: "Malays! How long have we not seen them!". There were two malay air stewardesses assigned to that flight and we were exclaiming loudly at the sight of them. Surprisingly, I did not sleep for the entire journey as Jovin and I were watching a Korean variety show. We were trying to control our laughter as some parts were really funny. Soon, it was almost the time to reach Singapore. As all 45 of us spotted the brightly-lit Singapore at a distance, we were all exclaiming loudly on the plane. The moment the plane landed onto the runway of the airport, we all clapped and cheered. Even the air stewardess seemed very happy for us as she sounded very happy through the intercom system. I was so happy to see all my loved ones waiting for me outside the gates as I have not seen them for such a long while. It sure is good to back in your home country.

This OIP trip was really a great and enriching 35 days for me. I have made many wonderful and great friends across semesters and courses and I have also learned many things along the way.

Our last day was really quite sad for me as I have grown accustomed to the environment and learned to adapt to the different situations and places around me. Even though I may complain sometimes, I really appreciated everything that was provided to us. From the living quarters to the weekend trips, everything was planned quite well and I could enjoy the trip.

As much as it is a study trip where we have to clear two modules in Wuhan, I got to learn even more things than Forensic Science and Chinese Culture. I have grown to be even more mature, understanding, appreciative and adaptive after the 35 days. This trip has also taught me to appreciate Singapore even more and to be thankful and grateful for whatever we have. When comparing between Singapore and Wuhan, there are so many different aspects that Wuhan is lacking or is vastly different from Singapore. I am sure that this is the life the people in Wuhan are used to and are brought up in. Thus, this makes me feel that I am indeed very lucky to have been born in such a wonderful country like Singapore.

The people there whom I met were all really nice to us. The street food vendors always greets us with smile and chats with us when we purchase food from them. The van driver who drives us to town also talks to us, asking us about various things like the weather in Singapore. The dean of the Foreign Language school and Liu Lao Shi were all very hospitable and friendly. Shan Hui and Jovin even went to see Liu Lao Shi's dogs and played with them too!

Some of us who met each other for the first time on this trip were strangers at first. However, we've become much closer throughout this trip by working with one another for our different projects. I will miss those times where we could go up or down each other's units to just chit chat or play around and laugh. I became closer to the friends whom I've known previously and I became close with the strangers whom I didn't recognise at the start. Without all of them, this trip would be boring and meaningless. The lecturers and technical officers who came with us also became close with the whole group as we were always around each other, going on the weekend trips and having meals together.

I will miss so many things in Wuhan. However, I will be able to retain the wonderful memories by reading this blog that I have created and the photos which I took.

This will be the last post for my Journal of Memories. Thank you readers for accompanying me on this trip to Wuhan by silently reading my posts.

~Over and out~

xoxo
Zayneeer