/ 16 countries and I regret nothing /
Everyone had had their own personal experience upon coming to a new country filled with a different array of culture as an exchange student. Personally, I felt I had picked up way more I've expected and I'm really thankful I did. There were so many things I had learned within such a short span of 4 months from people from different schools and different nationalities, on many practical and emotional aspects. I'll be touching on the more obvious aspects.
Sharing my personal experience from this serves as a reminder to continue pursuing in the series of things I've come to comprehend and also show what one could get out of being an exchange student. Here are just a few key takeaways I've got over the past few months here which I would like to share:
A week in Lund: Day 6 A day of Personal Reflection
i. being domestically self sustainable
To be honest, I personally had zero idea how to clean my room, cook anything, do the laundry or even keep my room neat. I was even a little embarrass to ask how to. Heh. At the beginning, I had this significant worry that I would be really afraid that my sleeping/living environment would be extremely uncomfortable given these unfulfilled factors, and that it would lead me to becoming very homesick.
I realised making that little effort to keep an environment clean and conducive makes a place extremely comfortable to stay in goes a very long way. It makes a place a home. It induces a sense of belonging, along with snuggly quilts and very hospitable corridor neighbours who cooked extremely yummy dinners. (Thanks Clement, Mao and Ami for being such amazing neighbours in Brunnsbo!) I really enjoyed this one aspect of becoming independent because it really showed me what beyond what I thought I was not capable of (despite this being seen as the simplest of things to others) - especially when it comes to sleeping alone.
Over the months, I even get reactions from my exchange counterparts of me being unexpectedly neat and cooking beyond just edible. HAHA. I appreciate these comments, they show that I had improved on being domesticated. hehe.
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ii. accounting my expenses via excel
This is something I really feel pretty accomplished about - learning some excel along with being well informed of my current expenditure. Gratitude to Jonathan and Chen Lin who taught me excel whilst travelling because I was being super intrigue about how they kept track of money, hehe. I'm not always someone who really keeps track of my expenditure but having not keep track for four months with the incessant amounts of travelling sounded pretty outrageous so I ought to.
At the initial attempt of keeping track of my expenses, I was trying to account them in little pieces of receipt but only coming to realisation that it would be outright unsustainable. The next few attempts on excel weren't that fantastic either because I wasn't familiar with the commands and use of certain key functions. I guess after much help and observations of various excel sheets, it finally gets easier and much nicer to look at.
I'm definitely bring this thrift and prudence back with me Singapore, it feels good looking at how much you spend and knowing that you don't take money for granted.
Yes, I account my expenses to every single thing I purchased right to the very cent.
And no, I am not a penny pincher nor a Scoorge when it comes to pooling money with people.
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iii. learning that the world isn't a bad place
Getting lost and desperately trying to look for places definitely brought out the best and worst in me but definitely had much more good experience that I've expected. I was initially really skeptical about travelling, insecure about losing every valuable I have and feeling vulnerable to every foreigner out there. Something I took from my trusty exchange travel bud, Tao Oei, was that I learned that people aren't all out to taunt you and do bad things, as long as you carry yourself confidently.
I met so many kind people around Europe who were willing to go the extra mile to help me with my horrible sense of direction and random tourists introducing new places to go in the city and many many many other unexpected delight. If there's anything you need, just ask! Really. Who knows, you might meet bankers and traders along the streets who are willing to buy you a few rounds of drinks ;)
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iv. appreciating what I have, especially my family and friends
The little things people do like making the effort to keep in touch with you (despite me taking forever to reply :() asking me when I'll be back, reminiscing about the times we spent in Singapore together just feels right at many moments. Having to see postcards and letters from loved ones upon returning from every destination really made me feel really warm and fuzzy on the inside, especially reading through messages and looking at photographs of moments spent together.
Can't wait to meet everyone soon :)
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v. keeping myself organised and juggling with priorities
Alright, I guess I don't really have to explain this point judging from the pictures I've portrayed for it.
Okay I know I've becoming like an very hygienic and organised little freak but damn, these things are extremely therapeutic to do, seeing that you took some time out from work or leisure to do something so neat! And I really like it! Definitely going to take (DABAO) all these key learning points back home and use it for the greater good in my life and dang, I can't believe I could do my packing within a short period of time too. Okay I think I really learn shit tons here AND I'M GONNA RATTLE OFF IF I CONTINUE. SO I'M GONNA STOP WITH 5 POINTS AND I'M HAPPY I DID COME FOR EXCHANGE AGAIN SORRY I MENTIONED THIS WAY TOO MANY TIMES.. HAHA.
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PHEW. This was quite a lengthy post but thanks for reading! Oh yea not forgetting learning that this rice pudding tastes amazing in which has become my new addiction?!
