Harry Forster, National University of Singapore

Last week I received my final grades from the National University of Singapore, officially marking the end of my time as an international exchange student. For me, these grades do not only indicate the academic progress that I’ve made, but they also remind me of the personal development I’ve made over the past year. 

To demonstrate this, I’m going to reflect upon some of the objectives I set out before undertaking my exchange:

• Experience new culture: I was fortunate enough to be linked with a local Singaporean family for the entirety of my exchange. This benefited me immensely, allowing me to gain an invaluable insight into local events such as Chinese New Year.

• Learn new skills: previously a scuba diving novice, now I am looking to take this skill to a professional level… also, I’ve mastered the art of falling off a motorbike (that’s definitely one for the CV)!

• Network: I forged connections and developed lifelong friendships in every continent across the globe. For example, some of my best friends are now situated in: Canada, Germany, Holland and South Korea… (they tell you in your pre-departure meetings that a year aboard is expensive, but they don’t tell you that your post-departure trips are even more expensive)!

• Push yourself out of your comfort zone: living over six-thousand miles from home, inevitably, I have had to face a wide range of new and unfamiliar circumstances whether that be new flatmates or speaking in a foreign language.

• Taste new cuisine: I experienced a plethora of different food; frog soup to Filipino Balut. 

• Take up new interests: hours of non-stop surfing without a break, actually no, I broke my rib…

I am truly grateful for this unforgettable opportunity and it is something that will resonate with me for the rest of my life.

Top Tips for New Exchange Students

• “It won’t happen to me”… unfortunately, it most certainly will.

Not to mention the obvious global pandemic during my time… but its almost certain, you’ll to encounter some kind of emergency scenario, whether that be an earthquake, a typhoon or a trip to A&E. 

To paint a realistic picture, all of those events listed above happened to me… an Indonesian earthquake, a Filipino typhoon and multiple medical trips. For example, I tallied up a total of four countries in which I have been admitted to A&E during my time as an NUS exchange student (Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore if you’re curious).

• You will NEVER have enough money or time to do everything on your travel to do list 🙁

For me, I didn’t get a chance to embark upon half of my travel plans… it’s pretty simply really, the more you travel, the more you want to see. You’ll meet people all across various hostels in Southeast Asia that’ll recommend you countless places, which is great, but one day your travel during exchange will come to an end.

A word of wisdom, its more often than not that you’ll go over any travel budget so make sure you’ve got supplementary funds – can you get an over-overdraft?

For my Next Chapter

I am now looking forward to commencing my summer internship at the Department for International Trade within the Civil Service. 

Once again, I believe this will be an invaluable opportunity, and I hope to build upon the skills I have developed over the course of the past year. 

Sweet dreams, Singapore xxx