Like many other freshmen, I entered college with a set of aspirations, goals, and expectations geared toward making the most of my time here at UH Mānoa. Part of that was the study abroad experience. With this semester abroad at an official close, I can finally take some time to formally reflect on the eventful and gratifying past few months. Growing up in Hawai‘i’s relative isolation meant that I rarely had the chance to experience life in a foreign country, much less for extended periods of time. I yearned for the opportunity to freely explore unfamiliar places, embrace unknown challenges, and network with new people. The National University of Singapore (NUS) is frequently considered the top university in Asia. Paired with their international approach to education and research, I hoped to develop a more refined perspective of the international business environment. This semester abroad has granted me all of that, as well as some unexpected lessons. Over the course of the semester, I took FIN310A: Corporate Finance, FIN3117: Bank Management, and ACC1006: Accounting Information Systems. Partially due to the need to balance travels, student life, and academics, this semester’s workload was much more challenging than anything I endured at UH Mānoa. Although I did not join any clubs, I participated in the NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Competition, applied for the Yale-NUS Consulting Group, and attended events hosted by SGX Academy, NUS Business School, Tembusu College, NUS Enterprise, NUS Centre for the Arts, and Yale-NUS Society for Academic Research. The sheer number of opportunities available was overwhelming. Singapore’s utopia-esque cleanliness and sustainable architecture was expected, but nonetheless extraordinary. Furthermore, I had the rare opportunity to travel to five additional countries, i.e., Malaysia (Penang), Thailand (Bangkok), India (Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan, Delhi), Cambodia (Siem Reap, Phnom Penh), and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue, Ninh Binh, Cat Ba, Hanoi). The people I have met throughout this semester, from my suitemates in Tembusu College to my fellow classmates, eventgoers, travelers, and exchange students, will all remain an integral part of this shared experience of this period of my life. As such, I will continue to grow the international connections made with students and people from literally all over the world. "What you think is attainable is just a function of what you know at the moment." After undertaking everything packed within the span of four and a half months, I feel challenged to achieve more with my time. The relentlessness of the modules gradually taught me to enjoy the process, the learning, and the hours of work. The expectations at NUS are high and the students always seek to meet or exceed them. Perhaps the most impactful were the unexpected sources of drive from seeing firsthand the opportunities available, as well as the competence and intelligence of NUS students. Although my primary interests are still in equity research, investment management, trading, and financial analysis, I found other fields that may lead to fulfilling career paths. Working through the cases in ACC1006 and attending SGInnovate and NUS Enterprise events have confirmed the practical usefulness of understanding information technology and its rapidly developing applications for the future. It pushed me to add on Management Information Systems as a third major. The unique opportunities at NUS presented to me ideas potentially worth implementing at UH Mānoa in an effort to provide more options and add more value in Hawai‘i for the majority of our local students. This includes hosting our own stock pitch competitions and case competitions—and perhaps the most actionable and community impact-oriented—managing a student-run consulting group open to undergraduate students of all majors providing pro bono services to small businesses and non-profits in Hawai‘i. “And so I learned the secret of diversity. Life is made up of different avenues. Everything can happen in one of several ways, according to different musical scores and parallel logics. Each of these parallel logics is consistent and coherent on its own terms, perfect in itself, indifferent to all the others.” From experiencing Holi in Vrindavan and Mathura to visiting the Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat, traveling outside of Singapore to five countries over the past few months, both with groups of exchange students and alone, has been rewarding. However, it was not the fact of the countries and places visited, but the nuances and details—the dynamic social environment, the vibrancy of the city streets and the countryside, the blend of local cultures and norms—that defined the experiences to contrast with the familiar life in Hawai‘i. From witnessing the ways that many people try to make a living and the sacrifices that they need to make, to trying to understand what the locals value the most in order to improve their productivity and quality of life, I found an interest in the ideas of social entrepreneurship and social impact consulting. Particularly in traveling alone for the first time for three weeks across Cambodia and Vietnam, I met people from all walks of life, each perfect based on different interpretations of success and purpose in correlation with happiness. Perhaps this is partly a moot point stemming from ‘grass is always greener’ thinking without clear consideration for the true limitations of different circumstances. Nonetheless, this shift in perspective has convinced me that rather than obsess over the best steps to take for a supposed perfect career path and inadvertently waste time in inaction (somewhat like the indecision in the often-quoted fig tree vision in The Bell Jar), take a step and accept the inevitable risks, sacrifices, and detours as opportunities to further explore your interests and your own definition of success, regardless of deviation from seemingly conventional trajectories.
This undoubtedly valuable and forever memorable experience abroad would not have been feasible without the support of the Freeman Foundation and the Shidler College of Business. Just last Thursday, after finishing my last final exam and planning out my last full day in Singapore, I was walking back from the Sheng Siong supermarket near NUS with some cocktail prawn rolls for my mom, when I was hit with a sudden realization of what I owe to everyone that made the past few months possible. That explicit realization of gratitude is emblazoned in my mind and will serve as a force for discipline, humility, and ambition for everything I pursue in the future.
HOI AN I didn’t spend much time in Da Nang aside from the airport and later, the railway station. I had high expectations for Hoi An, but I ended up enjoying the place for all the unexpected reasons. The picturesque Hoi An Ancient Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is packed with tourists at night, much like a carnival. The city seemed to depend solely on the tourism industry, and the sheer number of tourists and inauthenticity destroyed most of the city’s charm. Although the main streets of Hoi An are busy enough that it isn’t the safest for biking, I biked everywhere—eastward to Cam Thanh and halfway over Cua Dai Bridge, westward back to Hoi An, and northward past Tra Que Vegetable Garden to An Bang Beach—sunburn and dehydration probably caused my fever. Within the Ancient Town, aside from visiting the Japanese Covered Bridge, the Old House of Tan Ky, the Museum of Trade Ceramics, the Hoi An Fine Art Gallery, the March Gallery, and the Fukian Assembly Hall, I discovered Réhahn, a renowned French photographer, at his Precious Heritage Art Gallery Museum and the Couleurs d’Asie Gallery. The friendly, genuine, and deeply passionate people of Hoi An, captured in many of Réhahn’s photos, define my memory of Hoi An: from Phin Coffee, a quaint, tranquil, outdoor coffee shop with a playful little puppy and an enthusiastic barista, to Phi Banh Mi, an unassuming family-run banh mi stand and a cozy place to escape the bustling streets and chat with the owners, to Golden Bell Homestay, whose receptionist evidently noticed my upcoming birthdate when I checked in three days ago and rushed out to wish me ‘Happy Birthday’ as I was leaving on a GrabBike for Da Nang. HUE Hue, the former capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty, is home to the ‘Complex of Hue Monuments’, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I arrived in Hue during Hue Festival 2018. For about $16, I bought a combined ticket for entrance to three tombs and one citadel. From my hostel, I took a GrabBike to the Tomb of Khai Dinh. However, once away from the city center, I was left with no phone signal and only tour busses available. I ended up walking over two miles to the Minh Mang Tomb. From there, it was about five miles to the Tu Duc Tomb. As much as it was calming walking alone on a simple road, the sun was unrelenting and time was running out. An idle taxi parked on the side of the road, but the cost of a taxi ride was much higher than that of a moped ride. My negotiation with the driver caught the attention of a local couple across the street, and the elderly husband offered to give me a ride for 50,000 VND or about $2. We ended up stranded on the street without fuel before a woman came by with a fuel-filled water bottle. Upon arriving at Tu Duc Tomb, an extra eager woman noticed and offered a moped ride for after my tomb visit. By then, it was almost dark and it would be another four miles to my hostel. Realistically, walking was not an option, but I couldn’t show that as her offer price was 600,000 VND, stressing that my hostel was very far and refusing my counter-offer of 50,000 VND. As I continued walking away, she lowered her price little by little, until a local man overheard and joined in with a single offer of 50,000 VND. I agreed immediately. It was too late to check out the abandoned waterpark at Thuy Tien Lake. The next day was much more laidback, beginning with a visit to the Pagoda of the Celestial Lady, Hue Citadel, and Truong Tien Bridge, which was designed by Gustave Eiffel, the engineer behind the Eiffel Tower. Sheltered from the heat, I waited at The One Coffee and Bakery for my overnight train to Ninh Binh. NINH BINH I arrived in a storming Ninh Binh at around 3:00am, eventually catching a $5 un-metered ride with a self-proclaimed taxi driver to the Tam Coc Bungalow. Ninh Binh was the most rural destination of my trip. At this hour, I was greeted only by a waddling puppy. After showering in the dark with tiny insects crawling about, I watched as daylight coyly revealed the limestone karsts surrounding the area. After breakfast, I rented a mountain bike for $2 for the day and made my way to the Trang An Grottoes. The boats seated four people plus a rower, so I was joined by three foreigners who met just a few days ago; one worked at a hostel where the other two stayed. After three hours on a boat through nine caves and three temples, I bid farewell and biked to the Mua Caves. Here, I fell victim to a parking scam. The road to the entrance was lined with vendors offering parking for 5K to 10K VND or about $0.25 to $0.50, however, parking was actually free right at the entrance. Later, as I was leaving, I saw two girls on mopeds hesitate when told to park despite their guide telling them to ignore the scammer. As a fellow tourist, I thumbed them onward to skip the parking and shared a good laugh with the scammer as I told her that I respected her audacity. The hike up to the peak was moderate, but the view was almost spiritual. There is something about sharing a sunset with people you don’t know from all over the world. This was unexpectedly a defining moment and the height of my time in Vietnam. CAT BA After experiencing the debilitating drawbacks of overly touristic spots, I decided to forgo the famed Ha Long Bay for now, in favor of Cat Ba Island. With the same few popular attractions, I frequently ran into people originating from Ninh Binh with whom I shared the bus-boat-bus journey to Cat Ba. Among others, I shared the dorm room with an Australian couple who’ve been travelling in Vietnam for over a month and a solo traveler recovering from a motorbike accident due to loose gravel at a construction site. At this point, I was fairly exhausted and spent most of my time in the hostel and at Yummy Restaurant tasting dishes and playing with their puppy instead of on snorkeling, kayaking, and island-hopping tours. The next day, I caught a ride to Cat Ba National Park and hiked up to Ngu Lam Peak for an expansive view of the treetops followed by a short visit to the Hospital Cave. As Cat Ba is known for its cheap yet fresh seafood, I had oysters and garlic squid at Quan Family Restaurant before hiking up to Cannon Fort at sunset. Despite deciding not to book one of the many cruises through Ha Long Bay, I originally wanted to get to Yết Kiêu to hike up to Bai Tho Mountain for an expansive view of Ha Long Bay. However, getting in and out of Cat Ba Island was too time consuming and getting through the entrance of the hike was logistically questionable. HANOI Hanoi, an interesting mix of grand streets and tight alleyways, bustling with life in every corner, was best explored on foot. In my two remaining days in Vietnam, I walked my way to various attractions and food places: Banh Mi 25, Pho Gia Truyen, Cafe Giang (home of the original egg coffee), Den Ngoc Son and Hoan Kiem Lake, Bun Bo Nam Bo, Hoa Lo Prison, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Cong Café, Hanoi Street Train, Lenin Park, Flag Tower of Hanoi, and the Temple of Literature. On May 8, after visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and stopping by Banh Mi 25 one last time, I took a GrabBike to the airport for my flight back to Singapore. SINGAPORE Upon returning to Singapore, I spent the remainder of May 8 and the entirety of May 9 reviewing for my Accounting Information Systems final exam on May 10. May 11 was my last full day in Singapore. Previously, my mentality was always that there would be another time to explore Singapore. However, the end of studying abroad came faster than I expected, and there was still so much that I wanted to do in Singapore. At this point, I probably did more sightseeing in foreign countries than in Singapore. As a last-ditch effort, I sought to make the most out of my last day, kicking it off with a visit to the Cloud Forest, Flower Dome, and Supertree Grove at the Gardens by the Bay. Don’t forget to show your NUS matric card and/or Student’s Pass for heavily discounted ticket prices. After grabbing some chai tow kway (carrot cake) at the food court in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, I visited the ArtScience Museum. Partnered with Google, Lenovo, WWF, Panasonic, and Qualcomm, Into the Wild: An Immersive Virtual Adventure included an augmented reality tour of the Southeast Asian rainforest. For every virtual tree planted accompanied by a pledge to WWF, a real tree will be planted in Rimbang Baling in Indonesia. Art from the Streets, the second main gallery I visited, showcased the progression of graffiti and street art with artists expressing individuality through design and technique and making relevant and powerful statements for the social and cultural movements of their time. Personal favorites from the gallery include JR, Tarek Benaoum, Futura, Vhils, FAILE, Blek le Rat, Banksy, Tanc, Sten Lex, and Shepard Fairey, with Rero and Zevs as artists with some of the more simply distinct and recognizable styles. From the ArtScience Museum, I walked across the Helix Bridge and passed through Esplanade for a view of the Merlion before continuing to Suntec City to check out the Fountain of Wealth, the largest fountain in the world. Passing by the historic Raffles Hotel, which was unfortunately under renovation, and Singapore Management University, I walked to the National Museum of Singapore. Among a few smaller exhibits, the Singapore History Gallery was one of the most interesting and by far the most comprehensive, detailing history spanning from pre-colonization to present day. After about two hours in the museum, I made my way through Orchard Road to Basilico in the Regent Hotel for a final dinner with family friends. I learned later that on the same level of the hotel is Manhattan, which is widely considered the best bar in all of Asia. By now, it was already around 9:30pm. From the Somerset MRT Station, I decided to head down to Marina Bay Sands for a final look from above of Singapore’s skyline. Coincidentally, the exchange students were throwing a farewell event at CATO, which was fairly empty when I dropped by. Although I heard the crowds came in later, I ended the night at the nearby Blu Jaz Café where there was a live jazz band playing mostly 70’s and 80’s jazz-funk and soul pieces. It was a Friday night, so the place was packed; the striking ambiance of people singing and dancing together seemingly without a worry on their minds was unforgettable. For me, Hawai‘i was at the very top of my mind. TAIWAN
At 10:25am on May 12, I flew from Singapore to Taiwan. When I was younger, I would visit Taiwan at least once a year, but now, I would only visit about once every two years. The last time I visited was in December 2016, and two years before that, I learned to drive, ride a moped, and bike (finally) in Taiwan. This time, the only agenda was to spend much needed time with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. In the evening of May 16, I left Taiwan for home. Before daybreak on April 18, I made my way to Changi Airport for my flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, marking what would be the start of three weeks of solo travel across Cambodia (Siem Reap, Phnom Penh) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue, Ninh Binh, Cat Ba, Hanoi). Leading up to this day, I had every desire to plan out this journey more or less to the hour. Nonetheless, quite intentionally, I had only booked this departure flight, my return flight from Hanoi to Singapore, and my first night’s hostel. Of course, with enough research, I would more than generally know what to expect from each part of this trip and be able to detail my itinerary based on the dizzying abundance of online reviews and recommendations. However, since I was traveling alone, it wasn’t necessary to plan everything out. In this way, I could minimize the possibility of regret and adapt and adjust along the way. I ended up forgoing a few places that I was originally interested in visiting (e.g., Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Ha Long Bay and Bai Tho Mountain, Sapa and Fansipan) in favor of a more relaxed three weeks. Rather than chronologically detail everything like prior blog posts, I will summarize and highlight a few experiences to keep these last posts from becoming longer than they are already. Visa Application For the Cambodia Visa, I opted for the $30 Visa-On-Arrival. Contrary to some concerning reports online, the process was painless and efficient. Upon arrival at Siem Reap Airport, you may hand in your visa application, passport photo, and passport, and watch as an assembly line-like row of officials process your visa. The separation of duties with payment means that there is no scamming and that change is provided. For the Vietnam Visa, I planned to apply for it in person at an embassy in Phnom Penh. However, I heard that dealing with the embassy was known to be troublesome and sometimes cost more than hiring a travel agency to work with the embassy. For a 1-month single entry visa with 2-day processing (which includes the current business day, essentially meaning within 24 hours), I paid Cina Travel a fee of just $2 for a total of $42. Transportation In Cambodia, locals assume I’m Cambodian. In Vietnam, locals assume I’m Vietnamese. As much as I appreciate people speaking to me in Khmer or Vietnamese, I inevitably can’t keep up this chameleon-ing act without speaking their language. As a tourist, I must face all the perks of my unescapable status. As I make my way around the city, I meet motorbike taxi drivers at every street corner (and sometimes far away) bombarding me with questions: “taxi?” “moto-bike?” “where’re you going?” and locals subsequently guessing my ethnicity or where I’m from: “Japan?” “Mom, Dad…Korea?” Rather than hiring one of these eager drivers, I found that Grab, in this case, GrabBike, offers more reasonable (and non-negotiable) fares. For example, in Siem Reap, you may hire a GrabRent Remorque for $20 for 8 hours, which is usually much cheaper than directly hiring a driver off the streets. Further, walking and biking are also cheap and enjoyable ways to get around in the city and in more rural areas. However, some areas have no connection or no drivers nearby for Grab. In these cases, it isn’t difficult to find locals willing to give you a ride for a price. Most often, the initial price will be extremely high, so it’s important to remain stubborn and either respectfully refuse their offer repeatedly until the price becomes reasonable, or find multiple potential drivers and have them bid against each other. You know you’ve reached the reasonable price when they get annoyed, call you crazy, and walk away when you ask for an even lower price. I’ve listed the transportation options I took for longer travel segments and their respective cost in USD and time spent: Singapore to Siem Reap | One-Way Flight (Malaysia Airlines) - $87.64 - 3hr 5min with 2hr 55min layover in Kuala Lumpur Siem Reap to Phnom Penh | Cambodia Post VIP Van (government-owned) - $9.00 - 5hr 30min Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City | Giant Ibis Bus - $18.00 - 5hr 30min Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang | One-Way Flight (Jetstar) - $62.78 - 1hr 20min Da Nang to Hoi An | GrabBike - $4.72 - 40min Hoi An to Da Nang | GrabBike - $4.85 - 40min Da Nang to Hue | Vietnam Railways SE4 - $3.27 - 2hr 41min Hue to Ninh Binh | Vietnam Railways SE4 - $20.81 - 10hr 31min Ninh Binh to Cat Ba | Booked via Tam Coc Bungalow (bus-boat-bus) - $13.11 - 4hr 30min Cat Ba to Hanoi | Cat Ba Express (bus-boat-bus) - $11.00 - 3hr 30min Hanoi to Singapore | One-Way Flight (Scoot) - $59.00 - 4hr 30min Accommodation From hostels to hotels to homestays, there is an overwhelming number of options for accommodation. I typically booked via Booking.com upon filtering by price and reviews the day before arriving in a new city. Aside from my stays in Hoi An and Hanoi, where I spent extra (about $20 per night) for some peace and solitude, I stayed in dorm rooms (about $3 to $7 per night) with anywhere from 4 to 24 beds arranged as bunk beds. In hindsight, if I wasn’t recovering from a fever in Hoi An and spending much needed time in Hanoi to regroup in preparation to leave Vietnam and then Singapore less than a week later, I would’ve preferred staying in a dorm room. Some nights, only a quarter of the beds were occupied, but regardless, it was inevitable that I would meet interesting travelers along the way. SIEM REAP Before I could freely venture Cambodia and Vietnam, I needed to complete a group Bank Management term paper (analyzing Qudos Bank using the CAMELS framework and comparable banks as benchmarks). Rather than spending this time in unchanging scenery, i.e., my room in Singapore, I dedicated most of the first three days in Siem Reap to this endeavor, spending hours at a time in nearby cafes and biking (rented $2 per day) to the Angkor National Museum and War Remnant Museum for breaks. The day before leaving Siem Reap, I hired a local tuk-tuk driver to explore Angkor Archaeological Park, beginning at sunrise with Angkor Wat and followed by Bayon, Baphuon, Ta Prohm, and more temples and terraces than I could handle before retiring for the day by early afternoon to enjoy more beef lok lak, fish amok, Khmer fried chicken, and red curry. I learned that my driver lives in housing costing $20 per month and wants to go to university but doesn’t have enough money despite having no children or wife. The prior night, I had dinner with 31-year-old Matias Yoon, a torchbearer for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics with plans to travel for two years, beginning in South Korea and onward to Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Nepal, India, and further westward around the world, in an attempt to ‘renew’ his perspective after his last job working a night shift. PHNOM PENH In Phnom Penh, I spent my time in and around the National Museum of Cambodia, Wat Ounalom, Sisowath Quay, Wat Phnom, the Central Market, the eerie and disturbing Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek (Killing Fields), the Independence Monument, the Statue of Norodom Sihanouk, and the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument, ending with a traditional dance show by Cambodian Living Arts at the National Museum of Cambodia. In the hostel, I met Cosmin Mee. Originally from Austria, he flew to China two years ago to learn Shaolin kung fu before moving to Cambodia to teach English. HO CHI MINH CITY Crossing the Cambodia-Vietnam border was an experience of lax security, an empty duty free building, and an abnormal amount of casinos. Upon arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, I had a bowl of beef pho at Pho Quynh and sampled local dishes at Cyclo Resto before mapping out the next day in preparation for an exhausting full day of walking and sightseeing. The day included visiting the Ben Thanh Market, Saigon Square, Cathedral of Notre Dame Saigon, Saigon Center Post Office, Independence Palace, War Remnants Museum, and Tao Dan Park, as well as a few cafes for the heat and lunch and dinner at Pizza 4P’s and Bun Cha 145. During my stay in the hostel, I met an English teacher who was from Norway, probably in his early 20’s, and is now based in Ho Chi Minh City. The next morning, I took my flight to Da Nang. Over the course of the semester, I found it increasingly difficult to balance academics, traveling to foreign countries, exploring Singapore, meeting new locals and exchangers, integrating with student life, and reflecting on experiences. The bittersweetness of not having the time to balance everything while giving some aspects more attention reveals my propensities and provides lessons on what I value and if that should change in hindsight. Nonetheless, the glorified experience of studying abroad does meet expectations as it is far from just another semester. The last two weeks have been challenging, to say the least. As much as I studied to a point of leaving no doubt in my mind that I will do well, the assessed content for my bank management module was something entirely different. The exam content would focus on minor topics, perhaps 1% of total material covered in the module, and inquire as if it occupied 50% of the semester. Other modules sought to test your creativity in applying the concepts taught. Don’t forget the crowded study spaces and the lovely hot and humid air that keeps your notes nice and damp. This week marked my last class sessions; it was all a bit sentimental. It is reasonably expected, but I noticed that people who speak the same primary language tend to naturally associate with each other to a point where it is difficult to engage with those who speak a different language. Exchangers from the US and Toronto mysteriously gravitated toward each other, whereas exchangers from France and Quebec mingled frequently. I encountered a large number of students from HEC Montreal, and often saw Norwegians, Dutch, and Italians in my modules. As the semester progresses, you need to go more out of your way to meet people. Furthermore, as it is the second semester, there are less recruitment events for the interest groups and organizations. For the next three weeks, I will travel alone, for the first time, across Cambodia and Vietnam (whilst submitting a term paper and reviewing for a final exam). The original naïve plan: Singapore -> Cambodia -> Vietnam -> Laos -> Chiang Mai-Pattaya -> Kuala Lumpur -> Singapore. It was definitely logistically possible, but I resisted the temptation to avoid visiting for the satisfaction of checking them off rather than experiencing them to at least some respectable degree. On another note: Tembusu College now has built-in Wi-Fi, so personal routers aren’t necessary anymore. SGX Academy | Workshop on Futures Trading
I attended a workshop in SGX Centre 1 focusing on futures trading with technical analysis. The workshop was led by Tom Yuen, an NUS Computer Science alumnus, former Defense Scientist at DSO National Laboratories, and futures trader with over 20 years of experience, of which the first 13 years was spent as a floor/pit trader with Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX). He frequently referenced Sun Tzu’s The Art of War as he talked about utilizing direction, level, and price action, and establishing standard operating procedures to take advantage of mass psychology and leave emotions out of trading. Specifically, he repeated, “Buy at greed; too late to buy at euphoria. Sell at fear; too late to sell at panic.” Tom issued his two golden rules: 1) follow the trend, and 2) cut losses. Explaining that trading is a probability game of maximizing the risk-reward ratio and identifying trend and rest phases, he demonstrated the use of exponential moving average (EMA) ribbons. He joked that Singaporeans don’t believe in their own products and don’t trade on their own index as STI Futures volume has been zero for years. Many don’t even know SiMSCI, but it is still alive for now. Tembusu Slate | The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ’S’ Machine Tembusu Slate, the theatre interest group of Tembusu, performed The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ’S’ Machine, a satirical play by local playwright Tan Tarn How, at UTown Auditorium 2. It was a low-budget performance but the enthusiasm of the performers, which included two of my suitemates, well conveyed the humorous script. Tembusu Formal Dinner The greatest recent highlight was the presence of President of Singapore Halimah Yacob at the Tembusu Formal Dinner held in the Tembusu Dining Hall. The Formal Dinner marks an unofficial end to the semester with awards for student achievements and recognition of the student interest groups and activities. The novelty of studying abroad and living in another country disappeared after about two months for me. It felt as if I had my fair share of the “study abroad experience.” This complacency was likely a byproduct of finally adjusting to the environment. However, knowing that there was much more to experience outside of travelling and attending classes, I was inclined to discover other deeper intricacies of day-to-day life here. This may be derived from joining student interest groups, attending house, college, and other NUS events, or checking out various festivals, conferences, and workshops around Singapore. Although Oahu is about 2.2 times the size of Singapore, Singapore still feels much larger, even after three months of living here. After all, Singapore does rank as the country with the third highest population density in the world. You can only spend so many consecutive hours reviewing lectures before your brain fatigues. Luckily, there is a massive array of events found via Eventbrite, Peatix, Facebook, SGInnovate, NUS Business School, NUS Investment Society, Centre for Asset Management Research & Investments (CAMRI), NUS Enterprise, SGX Academy, etc. that NUS students and the general public can attend. A surprising number of events are completely free of charge. Unsurprisingly, many events are quickly oversubscribed. In an effort to do more with my time, I’ve attended a few of these events, which I outlined below. I noticed that pigeonhole.at is often used for the Q&A session at many events. I will be occupied in the upcoming two weeks with an ACC1006 report, presentation, and peer critique; two FIN3117 quizzes; and a FIN3101A case critique and test. These assessments will collectively account for roughly 30% to 50% of my grade for each module. Tembusu College Forum | Singapore’s Fourth Prime Minister: Aspirations and Expectations Moderated by Professor Tommy Koh, the Rector of Tembusu College and Former Ambassador to the UN, the forum featured Mr. Zulkifli Baharudin, Executive Chairman of ITL Corporation; Ms. Kuik Shiao-Yin, Nominated Member of Parliament and Co-founder of The Thought Collective; Mr. Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at Singapore Management University; and Mr. Tan Yang Long, Tembusu College Student Representative. Mr. Eugene Tan presented that the selection process for the next PM is exclusive and limited to a few, so the public cannot really indicate a preference; how the Members of Parliament are chosen defines the future PM well in advance. When there is a higher level of approval by society, a leader naturally seems more distanced from the public. Mr. Baharudin presented the thoughts of the Malay communities, particularly noting Malay acceptance of meritocracy but rejection of tokenism. There is a need to make Singapore’s economic and business environment less dominated by big business and more permeable for small, local businesses by encouraging local partnerships. Ms. Kuik discussed the psychological and emotional considerations of governing Singapore as the PM in regards to society’s expectations, reception, and judgements in a critical stage of Singapore’s development. She emphasized the influence of the PM’s attitude, character, values on public perception and political influence and decision-making. Perhaps the most memorable part of the forum was Mr. Tan Yang Long’s speech in the form of a letter from Tembusu College to the 4th Prime Minster of Singapore. He questioned if the youth will be seen as leaders or as citizens to be governed, pointing out that although students are encouraged to think critically and voice their opinions, they are also told to respect boundaries and to prefer certain narratives over others. He recognized the impact of social inequality, social mobility, and social identity in uniting Singapore. With such rapid development, basic services are denied to those without technological know-how; will Singapore continue to be a national project all Singaporeans want to be part of? With the assistance of Ms. Kuik, Mr. Tan will deliver a hardcopy letter to each of the 16 fourth-generation leaders. This is the letter. NUS Business School | Behavioural Finance: Mitigating Financial Mistakes
Professor David Reeb presented on irrational decision-making and various behavioral biases, encouraging investors to focus more on cash flows and less on price appreciation. NUS Enterprise and Symphony Creative Solutions | Kopi Chat: Ocean of Opportunities Located just past INSEAD Business School’s Singapore campus, BLOCK71 is NUS Enterprise’s creative space for more than 250 start-ups and 30 incubators, accelerators, and venture capitalists. Mr. Kosuke Wada from Ocean Network Express (ONE) presented challenges in their container liner business and the impact of disruptive technologies on ship connectivity and digitization, hull cleaning, the customer contracting process, and the bill of lading documentation process. Mr. Daniel Sparing from Google Cloud discussed the use of machine learning for scaling, autonomous vessel navigation, cloud detection in satellite images, and pattern recognition. NUS Centre for the Arts | First Time by nuSTUDIOS Film Productions Some of the events presented by NUS Centre for the Arts are ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, which is a series of free-admission performances. Located in Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium in UTown, this production showcased six student-directed short films followed by a panel discussion with the directors. Yale-NUS Society for Academic Research | Development in Asia Research Conference 2018 President of Yale-NUS College Professor Tan Tai Yong opened the conference and welcomed the keynote speakers. Former Secretary-General of ASEAN, Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, presented on ASEAN and Asia’s geopolitical future, touching on the South China Sea disputes, US and China, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar and Rohingya, and the spread of radicalization and extremism. Dr. Thomas Schroepfer presented on sustainable design and architecture as an urban ecosystem. The conference concluded with a panel discussion and student presentations on their senior theses. From what I’ve experienced, NUS students are incredibly energetic, incisive, and fun-loving. The Tancho House Committee visited all rooms individually and delivered welfare packages to keep us snacking as we studied. More students than expected would be camped out at 3 or 4am in UTown in the largest Starbucks in Singapore. On any given night, students would organize a supper jio (meaning “invite”) in the Tancho group chat on WhatsApp, essentially compiling a list of food orders for a select restaurant (like a McSpicy from McDonald’s). In addition to three-hour-long class sessions, ACC1006, FIN3101A, and FIN3117 each demand seven to eight hours of preparatory work per week according to the syllabi. Coursework is not easy. Peer competition and instructors’ expectations are high. Theoretically, I could travel five days a week and still attend all three modules stacked on Monday and Tuesday. I know one girl managed to hit six countries already, so it’s possible if you want to live that life. However, some Saturdays are occupied by exams, and studying is an absolute necessity. For the first half of the semester, coursework was light, allowing me to comfortably travel every other week. I didn’t want to overdo it by leaving the country every weekend. However, the second half of the semester hit faster than expected, and along came the exams, term papers, and group projects that would collectively judge how much I retained amidst the distractions. Despite a few adventure-ready weekends, the mounting pressure to at least perform decently in the modules and complete my fair share of group work, paired with the fact that I have largely not explored Singapore, have convinced me to postpone any travel plans. After all, the temples and volcanoes will still be there, at least in the near future. The end of this experience abroad is rapidly approaching. Just as everything began rolling, it is all being abruptly forced to a close. I will have my last class session on April 17; reading week begins on April 21. After submitting a Bank Management term paper on April 20, I will have roughly 2-3 weeks to travel Southeast Asia before my Accounting Information Systems final exam on May 10. NUS Business School Career Services Prior to leaving for Singapore, I contacted the NUS Business School Career Services Office and inquired about interning in Singapore. BIZ Career Services sent me the following cover letter template, resume template, and foreign student guide and shared that exchange students are entitled to only one career consultation session of 30 minutes with the career advisor.
PART I: INDIA – JAIPUR, JAISALMER, AGRA, VRINDAVAN, MATHURA, NEW DELHI For the few days after my last class of the week and throughout the duration of recess week, I travelled to India, exploring Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Agra, Vrindavan, Mathura, and New Delhi. Prior to the trip, my group applied for Indian e-Visas and booked hostels, a domestic flight, and an overnight train. 1 US dollar = 64.96 Indian rupees. It only costs ₹400 to purchase a 2GB of data per day Airtel SIM card in India, however, we needed to provide a passport-size photo, passport, and visa. Departing from Singapore on Wednesday, February 21st, we arrived in Jaipur just before midnight, and the streets were deceivingly quiet. For roughly ₹170 per person, we rented tuk-tuks the next day. Aside from conveniently getting us around the city, the tuk-tuk drivers also acted as guides who gave recommendations on what to do, where to eat, etc. Leaving from Moustache Hostel Jaipur, we visited the cenotaphs of Gaitore, an elephant village, the Amber Fort, and the Jal Mahal (Water Palace). Hiring the same tuk-tuk drivers for the next day, we caught a ride to Hawa Mahal and Galtaji Temple before driving up the Aravalli Hills to visit the Nahargarh Fort at sunset. We received Remote Location Waiting List (RLWL) status tickets for our overnight train from Jaipur to Jaisalmer, meaning that there was a low chance that we would get off the waiting list. Following our backup plan, we caught an overnight “super luxury” bus from Jaipur to Jodhpur. It was not actually super luxurious. At 3am, we took a local bus from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, arriving at Swan Hostel even before our train-taking group members. After intentionally getting lost in Jaisalmer Fort, exploring the shops, restaurants, and homes in the back alleys and rooftops, I met up with the group and enjoyed dinner at the rooftop of the Hotel Lalgarh Fort & Palace. Meeting up with other NUS exchangers in India, our combined group of 17 people left Jaisalmer early Sunday morning for a 1.5-day camel safari in the Thar Desert, setting up camp a few kilometers from Pakistan. Upon returning to Jaisalmer, I stayed in the hostel to collaborate with my corporate finance (FIN3101A) group regarding our case assignment on Yihua Timber’s buyout offer to HTL International due over recess week. Majority of the local students remained on campus to study over the course of recess week. For the remainder of our time in Jaisalmer, we rode motorbikes to Gadisar Lake, the Jain Temple, and the strip of road to the airport. Before catching a flight from Jaisalmer back to Jaipur, we ate lunch at a family-owned Italian rooftop restaurant in Jaisalmer Fort. On the same day, we caught an overnight city bus from Jaipur to Agra, arriving at the Taj Mahal before sunrise. Everything we saw in Agra post-Taj Mahal, such as the Agra Fort and the Baby Taj, was comparably underwhelming. Despite the beauty and international popularity of the Taj Mahal, the streets of Agra do not share the same standards. En route to Hotel Kanha Palace in Vrindavan, we could see subtle signs of Holi—from pink sidewalks to the occasional bustle of men throwing colored powder. The legend behind Holi is that a young Krishna, jealous of his beloved Radha’s fair complexion compared to his blue-black skin, smears colors on her face to make Krishna and Radha one and the same. Vrindavan, the childhood town of Krishna, was roughly 11km from Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna. Afraid that food places would close down for the holiday weekend, we enjoyed arguably the tastiest lunch and dinner that we’ve had in India at Mayur Restaurant. We basked in the playful craziness of the locals near the entrance of the Prem Mandir, a Hindu temple. Countless locals insisted on taking selfies with us for their social media. It was a toned-down version of the festivities at the Banke Bihari Temple, which we did not partake in. Later in the evening, we saw massive piles of wood prepared for Holika Dahan to celebrate the death of Holika. The next morning, I journeyed to Mathura alone. Knowing I would be overcharged otherwise, I caught a free ride with a truck driver who seemed to be picking up anyone on the Mathura-Vrindavan road. Children on the rooftops and the streets would douse passersby with colored water from buckets and water guns. Adults usually threw colored powder or gently smeared it on faces. Walking the narrow alleyways to the Dwarkadheesh Temple in Mathura, I was inevitably colored from head to toe. I met a local university student who was kind enough to offer me water and negotiate with a tuk-tuk driver to give me a ride back to Vrindavan for only ₹10 (which he paid for me). He shared his WhatsApp and we still keep in touch. For the remainder of the day, our group hunted for an open and functioning ATM. The long holiday weekend meant that ATMs were either gated shut, out of cash, or somehow broken. By the time we were in Delhi, we were not interested by temples, forts, palaces, etc. We hired a tuk-tuk to explore Old Delhi and caught an Uber to the business district. After eating at Johnny Rockets, which was by far the most expensive (and most Western) meal we’ve had in India, we took the Delhi Metro to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. With a brief layover in Bengaluru, we arrived back in Singapore around 4:30am on Sunday, March 4th. At a certain point, it felt as if I was studying abroad in India. The hectic streets overwhelmed with the overlapping honking of car horns mixed with free-roaming cows and people hopping on and off moving buses. The nasty washrooms and the cold showers at every single hostel. The convenient snack stands at nearly every street corner. The clever ways locals try to make money and the hardworking and persistent salespeople, including young boys, on the streets who refuse to take “free money.” And the need to always bargain to a justifiable price and to remain conscious and aware of scams as they happen. Everything about India hit like a wall, but eventually, none of it fazed me. This fraction of India I experienced has grown on me, and definitely taught me to appreciate things I never thought I would. PART II: BACK TO SINGAPORE – ACADEMICS AND IDEAS
The day after returning from India, I had a case presentation for Corporate Finance. The case assignment (worth 20%) entailed analyzing financial statements and financial ratios, computing WACC, applying DCF, and performing DDM, relative valuation, and various sensitivity and scenario analyses in an effort to advise investors in regards to a buyout offer. Two of my modules (FIN3101A, FIN3117) schedule exams for Saturday. I recently completed a Bank Management quiz (also worth 20%) on the banking business, licensing and regulations, performance assessment and risk capital, product pricing, and asset-liability management. This upcoming Saturday, I will have a Corporate Finance midterm. Some instructors use ExamSoft’s Examplify, a testing application on student-owned or -loaned laptops. On a related note, some instructors use kahoot.it for informal, in-class quizzes to review or preview material. It seems that everything NUS does, NUS does extremely well. NUS Open Day 2018, basically a one-day open house event for prospective applicants, was on a scale I have never witnessed prior. The diversity and scope of NUS-wide, faculty-specific, and residence-specific events can make campus life overwhelming; you need to skim the myriad of flyers and select a few to focus on. Unaccustomed to living on campus, it sometimes feels like I am living in a bubble, sheltered from everything truly outside of NUS. Experiencing everything that NUS offers, I recognize that there are certain programs that students at UH Mānoa can adapt and integrate. Some ideas include:
From February 8th to February 11th, I visited Bangkok, Thailand with four other exchange students. Our Airbnb, located next to Victory Monument, cost roughly $60 USD per person for three nights. Bangkok was definitely not as cheap as Penang. Traffic in Bangkok is terrible; it is usually better to take the BTS Skytrain. For short distances, we used Grab or Uber. On the first night, we explored Victory Mall, Center One Shopping Plaza, and the night market around Victory Monument. On the second day, we ventured into the city core and visited the Grand Palace and the many temples in the area, including Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), and Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). Afterwards, we walked to Chinatown, appreciating the calmer side streets of Bangkok along the way. By then, we were exhausted and decided to unwind and enjoy dinner and live jazz music at the Saxophone Pub near Victory Monument. The next day, we shared a van with strangers to Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ayutthaya was once the largest city in the world and the second capital of the Kingdom of Siam before the Burmese burned the city to the ground. We hired a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) driver for four hours to take us around the city, visiting Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon (Great Monastery of Auspicious Victory), an elephant village, and Wat Mahathat (Monastery of the Great Relic). We ended our time in Ayutthaya with a quick lunch at the Pae Teva’raj Restaurant before rushing off to catch the train back to Bangkok. We spent the rest of the night at the Chatuchak Weekend Market and enjoyed Coco JJ’s famed coconut ice cream. We took an early 9:05am flight back to Singapore the next day. Although we enjoyed our short ferry ride across the Chao Phraya River to reach Wat Arun, we didn’t get a chance to visit a floating market. We also didn’t have the time to visit Asiatique The Riverfront and the massive malls in Siam, or try more genuine, local foods. Our weekend in Bangkok only scratched the surface. In a group with three other students, I participated in the NUS Investment Society’s annual NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Competition. Out of one hundred stocks to choose from, we selected Thai Beverage PCL (SGX: Y92). Competing against over a hundred sign-ups for the eight finalist spots, we had an intense three days to complete our report. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the finals. Nonetheless, we attended the finals in the SGX Auditorium. Coincidentally, two of the eight finalists happened to also pitch ThaiBev, but with more optimistic projections. On Wednesday (Valentine’s Day), I visited Alto Partners Pte Ltd, a multi-family office, and learned from CEO and Co-Founder James Quismorio, as well as the SMU and NTU interns, about financial modeling, Bloomberg, and their business segments and projects. UTown was a ghost town during the Chinese New Year weekend, which began on Thursday. The local students all went home to their families. It was difficult to find food on campus, and all of the facilities in UTown were closed. However, this did allow me to find a new 2.4km running trail along Sungei Ulu Pandan whilst running aimlessly north of NUS. I spent the night of Chinese New Year’s Eve at a restaurant in Chinatown with six other exchange students before walking to The Float at Marina Bay for the River Hongbao 2018 festivities and fireworks. Looking forward, I will be spending recess week in India. Time is going by slowly, but coursework is picking up, and there doesn’t seem to be enough time to do everything.
From Thursday, January 25 to Sunday, January 28, I went to Penang, Malaysia with a group of 27 exchange students. We were split into rooms of 14, 8, and 5 people. We unknowingly all booked an Airbnb at the Sunrise Gurney Homestay. It cost only S$40-50 total per person for three nights for my unit of 8 students. The round trip flight from Singapore to Penang via AirAsia cost S$128. We ran into other students on the flight back to Singapore; more travelled to Penang that weekend than we had expected. 1 Malaysian ringgit = 0.26 US dollars. Everything was ridiculously cheap. With either Uber or Grab, trips roughly cost between RM5 for a 3-mile ride and RM18 for a 13-mile ride. If you get a chance to visit an ATM for local currency or figure out SIM cards or data plans, take it. It is almost always more troublesome to do so later. Use Splitwise to easily sort out expenses owed among your group members. Use Google Photos to collectively share memories post-trip. We exclusively ate at the hawker centers for their variety of cheap, flavorful, and authentic local foods. If you’re looking for a light snack, try curry puffs. In most of the smaller, local hawker centers in Penang, you would order your food at the stalls, sit down at your table, wait for the food, and then pay for it at the table. Don’t drink the tap water in Penang! It shouldn’t be difficult to find a 7-Eleven to stock up on bottled water. If you buy bottled water at a hawker center, double-check that the cap is unopened. On Friday, we explored George Town in the unrelenting heat. Temples, museums, murals, and quaint alleyways. We sought shelter from the sun in the picturesque coffee shops and enjoyed some white coffee. Later in the afternoon, we visited the Ghost Museum. It was like a haunted house designed for photo opps with mannequins instead of actors; I wouldn’t recommend it. Eventually, we ended up at Texas Chicken in the 1st Avenue Mall before meeting up with the group of 14 people for dinner and calling it a night. I’m still longing for some genuine Western food, like a hearty, medium rare steak. We kicked off Saturday with a short visit to Penang Hill for a grand view over Penang Island (and for the monkeys). Afterwards, half of us visited the Penang Botanic Gardens while the other half visited Kek Lok Si Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. Our Grab driver recommended the famous laksa stand at the start of the road leading up to the temple. You can spend hours at Kek Lok Si exploring the statues and pagodas, but be prepared to sweat. Nearing sunset, we departed for Batu Ferringhi, a town with night markets and beaches with watersports and unusually coarse sand. Before heading back to the Airbnb, we made one last pit stop at the Old Green House Prawn Mee for the spicy noodle dish. Unfortunately, on the way there, our Grab driver recommended the alternative 888 Hokkien Mee for the best prawn mee in Penang. Nonetheless, Old Green House was delicious, albeit, a tad spicy. We took an early flight back to Singapore on Sunday morning. With classes only on Mondays and Tuesdays, I had more than enough time to travel. I did not know anyone from the Penang trip prior to meeting at the airport; it was interesting to travel with random people. There are already potential plans for other trips in the coming weeks: a trip to Bali, Indonesia or Bangkok, Thailand from February 8-11 and India or Nepal over recess week. However, this weekend is dedicated to coursework.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, I would take the D1 or D2 bus from UTown to BIZ2 (next to the School of Computing) or BIZ1 (aka Mochtar Riady Building) for classes. In the mornings, I would typically grab a sandwich and cup of black coffee on-the-go, and for dinner, I would eat with the other students. Tembusu College shares a dining hall with Cinnamon College with meals via ticket for breakfast (7:00am-10:30am) and dinner (5:30pm-9:30pm). You must bring your own container if you prefer take-out. Unfortunately, the quality of the dining hall food isn’t as good as the relatively cheap food in Fine Food or Flavours @UTown. In the evenings, I would frequent the gym in the Stephen Riady Centre. It is not as impressive as the Warrior Recreation Center as it is only one floor and frequently has “out of order” machines, misplaced weights, and grungy equipment. Regardless, it is still a convenient gym a minute walk away from Tembusu College. I took an 11-hour flight from Honolulu to Taiwan on January 7th with a 9-hour layover in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, followed by a 5-hour flight from Taiwan to Singapore. Upon arrival in Changi Airport on January 9th, I purchased a prepaid SIM card from a Singtel booth near the baggage claim area. If you have an unlocked phone, you should be able to switch SIM cards and carriers easily. Update: In hindsight, StarHub seems to have better roaming coverage plans. I was unable to use the Singtel data plan in Penang, Malaysia and decided to purchase a separate plan for use in Penang. Others with StarHub were able to directly deduct from their existing data plan. I arrived in Tembusu Residential College in University Town at around 8:45pm via Uber. I recommend arriving in the morning so that you have time to purchase bedsheets, pillows, clothes hangers, towels, etc. at IKEA on Alexandra Road. I slept on the plain mattress on the first night. You may purchase a router, plug adapters, and just about anything else you may need at Clementi Mall. Buy a 2-pin (US) power strip that has a 3-pin (Singapore) main plug for your dorm so that you won’t need more than one plug adaptor for use outside of your room. I purchased the D-Link DIR-605L Cloud Router for just S$29 at Challenger on the 4th floor of Clementi Mall. NUS does provide an Ethernet cable. Plug adaptors can cost as little as S$2. However, demand is high with exchange students from NUS, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and Singapore Management University (SMU) flooding the nearby stores. I spent the first week alone in my 6-bedroom apartment on the 17th floor of Tembusu College. The 5 local students moved in on the Sunday before the start of classes. I found out that they have all been staying in the same apartment together for 1-2 years previously. Our majors are all different, ranging across mechanical engineering, political science, computer science, philosophy, communication, law, and business. Aside from the 6 single rooms, we share a common living room area, two showers, and two toilets. In Tembusu College, there is a common lounge on every floor, laundry machines on the 9th and 17th floors, and a pantry on every three to four floors (one per house). The house system in Tembusu College consists of endangered Asian animal species: Shan (Snow Leopard), Ora (Komodo Dragon), Gaja (Asian Elephant), Tancho (Red-Crowned Crane), and Ponya (Red Panda). The house committees organize events from time to time. I am in Tancho. I'm lucky that the laundry room, refuse disposal room, and pantry all exist on my floor. Throughout the first two weeks at NUS, I attended a number of orientation and welcome events, including the International Students (NG) Orientation Briefing, the NUS Biz Welcome Tea and Welcome Party, and the SEP Orientation Briefing and Welcome Party. I recall my first meal in Singapore, breakfast in UTown’s Fine Food, the morning after arriving. All exchange students were in the same boat of not knowing anyone, but eager to meet everyone. The first week was a hectic period of trying to remember the countless names, faces, and facts of everyone I met.
Interning in Singapore
Non-graduating exchange students are not allowed to work or intern, paid or unpaid, while studying abroad in Singapore. Exchange students may decide to apply for a work pass after the academic term and after turning in the Student’s Pass. You may visit here: http://nus.edu.sg/cfg/students/international-students or the ICA’s website for the most up-to-date information. This is bittersweet. It feels odd to not work and have so much time, but this will allow me to become more involved in interest groups and clubs, travel more, meet more people, etc. Registration Part II and Student’s Pass Matters I completed Registration Part II, where I received my NUS Student ID (aka Matriculation Card), and submitted the Student’s Pass application documents on the NUS campus. Upon submitting the application documents, I received an appointment slip to pick up the Student’s Pass on campus at a designated time the following week. Business Module Registration The module add/drop system and timeline are different for business and law modules. We were given details regarding registration for business modules at the NUS Biz Welcome Tea. I was not able to change the modules allocated from the NGE Application until the add/drop period, however, one of my modules changed without notice (FIN3101A to FIN3101B). During the add/drop period, I successfully added two courses (ACC1006 and BSP2001). During the appeal period, I successfully appealed FIN3101B to FIN3101A. Before the deadline to drop modules, I dropped BSP2001 (Macro and International Economics) since I had yet to receive approval from Shidler’s OSAS of course equivalency with BUS 313, and FIN3103A (Financial Markets) since only two finance courses are transferrable to Shidler for credit. The following is my final course (module) schedule, fulfilling ACC 409 and two finance electives: The Mānoa International Exchange (MIX) and the Study Abroad Center (SAC) have different study abroad programs and different application deadlines. I followed the SAC deadlines and therefore, missed the MIX application deadlines. Fortunately, the National University of Singapore (NUS) was still accepting nominations and MIX and Shidler’s Office of Student Academic Services (OSAS) were flexible, encouraging, and helpful in the process. I have elaborated more on the timeline of my study abroad application processes involving MIX, the Freeman Scholarship, NUS, and the Immigrations and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA) below. Please note that this is specifically the timeline I experienced; if you plan to study abroad, follow the deadlines on the relevant websites closely without exception. Sept. 17 – Submitted MIX Online Application for Outbound Students Sept. 19 – Received offer of MIX nomination to NUS Sept. 20 – Submitted MIX nomination form to accept nomination to NUS Sept. 21 – Received official nomination email from MIX, which includes information on application procedures for NUS admission, modules (aka courses), and on-campus housing. Sept. 30 – Submitted NUS online non-graduating exchange application form Oct. 11 – Received MIX Pre-Departure Checklist, which includes information regarding the following:
Oct. 19 – Received official email notification from OSAS of selection as Spring 2018 Freeman Scholarship Recipient Oct. 23 – Attended Freeman Orientation Reception and met the donors Oct. 31 – Submitted Freeman Scholarship Contract Nov. 16 – Attended MIX In-Person, Region-Specific Pre-Departure Orientation. Offered admission to NUS Non-Graduating Exchange (NGE) Program and received information on applying for hostels (via UHMS System) and Student’s Pass (via ICA), and completing NUS Registration Part I and payment of fees (via ISIS). You will receive access to your NUS email and various other accounts after Registration Part I when you receive your Student ID, NUSNET ID, and passwords. Nov. 25 – Received information from NUS for ICA Student’s Pass application (e.g., SOLAR number) Dec. 15 – Received acceptance for NUS on-campus housing. I was allocated to a 6-bedroom apartment (single-rooms, non-AC) in Tembusu Residential College. I accepted the offer and paid housing fees online. Dec. 20 – Received approval of Student’s Pass application with IPA Letter attached in email from NUS Registrar’s Office. In preparation for Registration Part II and Student’s Pass Formalities with ICA, print extra copies of your passport particulars page and extra passport-sized photos, along with the other documents required by ICA. It will seem significantly more difficult and time-consuming to get everything together once you leave home if you’re unfamiliar with Singapore and NUS. Other exchangers will also be scrambling to get the documents printed and NUS may charge extra for printing and photo-taking services. USEFUL RESOURCES AND APPS
Getting Around:
Finances: I applied for the Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking® Account in early-December, which resulted in a hard credit inquiry and subsequent approval notice. A linked Schwab One® Brokerage Account is opened automatically with the checking account, however, there is no minimum balance requirement for the brokerage account. For the checking account, you will receive free standard checks and a Schwab Bank Visa® Platinum Debit Card, as well as unlimited ATM fee rebates at no monthly fee and no foreign transaction fees. I use the debit card to extract cash from any ATM, as Singapore and neighboring countries are still mostly cash-based. I also recommend getting a PayPal as it seems more common than Venmo or other payment services. This will come in handy in paying or receiving money from fellow students from sharing transportation, housing, groceries, etc. Communications: Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Different groups and chats were created for NUS Exchangers, NUS Business Exchangers, Tembusu College, and various interest groups. Useful Websites: NUS Email: http://outlook.com/u.nus.edu NUS NGE Application: https://myaces.nus.edu.sg/ngAdmForm/ UHMS (Housing): https://uhms.nus.edu.sg/Pre-Matstudents/Default.aspx Student Information System (SIS, formerly ISIS): https://myisis.nus.edu.sg IVLE (similar to Laulima): https://ivle.nus.edu.sg/default.aspx MoRe (Add/Drop Modules, excludes Business & Law): https://myaces.nus.edu.sg/PRJXIA/Student/Login NUS Business School Add/Drop Modules: https://inetapps.nus.edu.sg/biz/asp/undergrad/add_drop/ng/Login.asp Centralised Online Registration System (CORS): http://www.cors.nus.edu.sg/index.html NG Module Quota (similar to UH’s Class Availability): https://myaces.nus.edu.sg/ngModuleQuota/ NUS Module Timetable Builder: https://webrb.nus.edu.sg/ctt/builder.aspx NUSMods (independent timetable builder, easier to use): https://nusmods.com NUS Friendly Email Address ([email protected] to [email protected]): http://www.nus.edu.sg/identity/friendlyemail.php To: Mr. Graeme Freeman and Mr. Alec Freeman,
I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to you for your generosity in allowing me and my fellow Freeman Scholars the unique opportunity to study abroad without the financial burden. Upon immigrating from Taiwan to the United States at the young age of two, I have grown up in the tight-knit communities of Hawai‘i, rarely given the chance to authentically experience life in a foreign country. Brief family journeys to Asia gave me a glimpse of the joyous wonder of being surrounded by different cultures, traditions, and people with diverse backgrounds. I continued to yearn for the opportunity to explore unfamiliar places for that sense of unknown, discovery, and challenge. I look forward to living in Singapore for an extended period of time, studying at the National University of Singapore, and visiting neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand. I am currently a junior majoring in finance and accounting at the Shidler College of Business. My current interests revolve between financial analysis, audit, advisory, and consulting, but ultimately, I do not yet know what I truly want to do with my career. However, I recognize that my overarching personal objective is to connect and engage with people to do something that resonates with meaning and provides value for others. I cannot imagine having a satisfying career that involves sitting in a cubicle in isolation all day. As a major financial center at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore satisfies my curiosity and appreciation of other cultures and willingness to pursue new experiences. Spending my Spring 2018 semester at Singapore’s flagship university, I hope to develop a more refined perspective of the international business environment. The National University of Singapore is a leading global university frequently considered the top university in Asia. Paired with their international approach to education and research, I anticipate an academically stimulating semester. Through unrelenting exposure to new cultures, people, and languages, I will be sure to make the most out of my time in Singapore. The fascinating opportunities to network with and meet new people and create lasting memories, as well as the possibility of obtaining international work experience, will challenge me to achieve more and develop a global mindset. I will strive to do my best in representing you, the Shidler College of Business, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Once again, thank you for this precious and perfect opportunity for me to further grow as an individual through studying abroad in Singapore. Warmest regards, Charlie Chao |
ABOUT ME
Keng-Chia Chao BBA Candidate in Finance, Accounting, & Management Information Systems Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Archives
May 2018
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