Summer is over!

It's the end of my 'summer' holidays. It was so surreal that 8 months passed by so quickly. Many things happened as I grow to become a mature person during this 8 months of independence.

I stopped receiving allowance, I started working, I starting self-funding my own meals and transport. Upon receiving my Alevel results, I spent many nights applying for a scholarship and a scholars programme. Now, I'm proud to say, I'm a student studying in NUS studying under the faculty of science (chemistry). I also rejected a scholarship even though the terms were attractive. I don't know if this would leave a negative impression if I were to reapply for it again. My aim was to expose myself to a wide range of modules offered in USP which attracted me to apply even though I threw away my early admission slip as I thought it was just another programme. I did a teaching internship programme, gave private tuition and worked as a sales promoter. I believed I've learnt many valuable skills and lessons.

I never imagined myself to have come thus far. The 18 years 0 months old me back then was just studying hard for Alevels so that I will have a wide array of courses and scholarship to chose from and to apply to. The 18 years 11 months old me discovered that life isn't that easy after all. Having said that, I'm still a teenager who just discovered that there are many things to life. There are many options to chose from and there are many doors to open. It isn't about doing well, get a scholarship, get university over and done with and followed by a job which will perhaps make my parents proud. Having gone through 8 months of play and work, I've learnt to understand how the adult life works- how to make payment, how to do a bank transfer, how to send things via a post office, how to ask for help and many other things. The first 6 months of playing made me realised my desire to learn new things, to explore the world beyond education (not that I do not want to be a teacher. As of now, I still aspire to be one) so that I wouldn't be a teacher who only focuses on academia. (I discovered this as I was teaching my Sec 1). I've also interacted with a student and her parent who depended on tuition and my answers on a day to day basis.

Given that, I didn't waste my 6 months away. I started reading articles online to keep myself abreast of news and even read articles across many disciplines. I discovered that the world out there is so big and what I know is this small. I used to be nonchalant about the world around me. I didn't spend my 10 days in Vietnam playing but I also learnt about the different cultures in Vietnam. I discovered the many places Singapore have and yet so few know about them- except for a few hipsters who traveled all the way there to take photos to post on instagram. That includes my friends and me.

Then came July, I went for USP camp and made many wonderful friends. Eventually after the camp, somehow due to peer pressure and my own YOLO moment, I joined RAG. I learnt many dance steps and ended my holidays with a performance at the floating platform on the 7th of August. That was my first performance and perhaps its likely to be my last ever dance performance for I do not have hand-eye coordination. I had to repeat a certain step for hours to ensure I get the step right and not do anything funny.

These were my #holidaygoals- taken from a blogpost on 1 April 2015.

What have I done so far? 

1. Teaching internship (I'll elaborate further when I have time to do so, but I really enjoyed teaching!) 
2. Learnt Korean! (Vivian and I scored 93 & 94 respectively in our pre-elementary test) 
3. Hiding in National library with all the chemistry and psychology books. (Its really fun but 4 hours is the maximum I can go) 
4. Improved my squash skills (I'm not kidding when I say I improved, I'll work hard to improve more)
5. Keeping in contact with friends
6. Watched a lot of drama and wasting my life (I'm only watching an ongoing drama currently. I'm decent.)

What is next?

1. Improve my English (I think my english improved)
2. Read magazines (Not tabloid magazines) (I did not read any magazines)
3. Read books (I read books)
4. Read News (I read more articles and explored some subjects)
5. 10km goal!!! (I'm still stuck at 8km. I used to hate running, I can't believe myself) (I didn't reach 10km in the end. I ended up joining Rag dance and the conditioning was crazy enough. Dance practice was almost everyday from 10am-7pm 2 weeks before RAG)
6. Skip 2000 times without dying. (I'm still at 1300 times) (I reached that before July)
7. Learn a new subject on my own. (My USP essay was the first essay I enjoyed writing and it was on cognitive psychology. Along the way when I did some research, I found that social psychology was rather interesting so I've decided to pick it up and I've actually read some of it in the National Library.) (I didn't. I actually started working as a promoter as I felt that I needed money. But I assure myself that I learnt new things as I work too.)
8. Keep in contact with friends as much as possible (I kept in contact. It was honestly... tiring)
9. Work after I come back from Vietnam. (Probably retail or f&b) (Retail!!!)
10. Improve a skill - my guitar skills (Didn't do this at all)

It's time to start doing something productive! See you!