Zhengchu Tan (Department of Mechanical Engineering), NUS Summer 2014
During the summer between my third and fourth years of study at Imperial College, I participated in an international research exchange. After a week of settling into the on-campus accommodation provided by NUS, my 10-week placement began. The placement was an eye-opening experience into the life of a full-time researcher and also provided an insight into life as a Singaporean; exactly the experiences I hoped I would be able to gain. Not only was the work interesting, challenging and fulfilling, but through this opportunity many friendships were forged with other foreign students, native Singaporeans and my supervisors, and that is what I am truly grateful for and will remember forever.
The 10 weeks I spent in Singapore allowed me to fully experience life as a Singaporean. Overall, it was astounding and motivating to see the hard-working nature of the Singaporean people. From builders and cleaners to professors, the friendliness, generosity and diligence was truly inspiring and is something that has moved me to become a more hard-working person myself. In particular, it was rather remarkable to see the elderly members of the public working in the food courts at ages well past the retirement age in the UK. I believe that, because of this work ethic and also many other positive things, Singapore is such a wonderful place to study and work.
" Not only was the work interesting, challenging and fulfilling, but through this opportunity many friendships were forged with other foreign students, native Singaporeans and my supervisors, and that is what I am truly grateful for and will remember forever"