Day 35 -- Sotong has finally grew up to become Independent and Matured

Today marks the last day of our trip in Wuhan! It is finally the time we are going back to our homeland, Singapore. These 35days in Wuhan has been a fun, exciting learning journey for me! It is a trip that I will never forget! However, all good things always comes to an end! Thus, today will be the end of the whole OIP trip! I must say that I have grown up from a 'sotong in Wuhan' to a more independent person now with more knowledge on the culture of Wuhan! I can still remember the first day we arrived in Wuhan! We were all fatigue after the 7hours to 8hours of journey! However, this time, we are all busy taking the last few photos that we can take in Wuhan! I think that everyone deserved an applause for taking good care of themselves throughout these 35 days! The 35days had taught me to not only be independent but also to be responsible for my own life and to take good care of this life that is given by my parents. This is the first time I traveled for 35days and I must admit that 'sotong has finally grew up.'
Day 1 -- Tiring Journey

Day 35 -- Final Day


These 35days had been a great learning and bonding experience for me. Not only do I get to learn, I am also able to get a closer bond with my friends and lecturers! I will definitely miss many of them, especially those who are changing course to CLT. Although we are only together for a short period of 35days, these 35days were one of the best days that I experienced in life. I can never forget the laughter we had every night, the card games we played and the unglamorous photos we took during the photo wars. Throughout this trip, I have learnt the importance of friendship. I think that these 35days passed so quickly is because of the presence of friends who are always there to support one another whenever one falls. Thus, because of this friendship that we had, we managed to pull through the tough 35days in Wuhan together. I really miss this bunch of friends that I made during these 35days that brought me with so much laughter and joy! As usual, I believed that most of us will suffer from withdrawal symptom as we all miss the days we had in Wuhan.

Lastly, I will to thank the lecturers and planners for this OIP trip. Without them, this OIP will not be possible for all of us. I will like to thank every single one of them who put in all the effort in planning this fun and meaningful OIP trip for us and I must admit that I enjoyed every single day of the trip.

~~ Friends ~~

Day 33 and 34 -- Shooping Spree

For the past 2 days, we finally had the time to shop in Wuhan! For the first day, we went to a place called 'Han Street'. That place reminds me of Europe with the short, western type of buildings. The view is magnificent and the weather is cooling which is most suitable for shopping! We went there for the whole day to shop and spent the remaining money we left! However, I must that the things there are not cheap. Despite the exchange rate from Singapore money to China money is 1:5, we still could not afford many of the items there. This shows me that China people who shop there must be really rich!

There are many international brands there like Vans, Ajisen Ramen and Macdonald! As most of the prices of the clothes were too expensive, we did not manage to purchase many items there. Thus, most of the time was spent at the Macdonald chatting and eating fries! Although we did not spend much, we manage to spend quality time together bonding together. At the time that we went there, it was raining and the wind was strong! The wind is so strong that it easily spoil the skeleton of our umbrella! However, when we are together, we manage to defeat the wind! This teaches me 1 lesson which is united we stand, divided we fall. It tells me that when friends are united, they become stronger than ever even the wind cannot blow them down! However, when they are divided, they become weak and will fall easily!
United we stand

Divided we fall

Other photos at 'Han Street'!

My lunch with a big spoon!

The beautiful night city view!


For the second day, we went back to Optic Valley for shopping. This time, we set ourselves a goal. We are determined to spend all our remaining money since this is the last day in Wuhan. When we arrived, we immediately went to have lunch and shopping after that. As the things are much cheaper, we manage purchase souvenirs for our loved ones, especially our family members! Going to town by bus is easy, however, coming back during peak hours is a problem for all of us. The bus that came are all packed. At first, we wanted to wait for a taxi. Unfortunately, after waiting for 15minutes, we still could not get 1 as the place is too crowded and there are few taxis there. Thus, we went for the last resort, taking private van. After my horrifying taxi incident, I already fear taking taxi. Now, I had to take the private van back. Terror held me like a vice-like grip. Will I be experienced what I experienced in my previous taxi ride? I am really not sure but I have a bad feeling about this ride. Fortunately, there many friends there who kept assuring me that it will be safe, telling me not to worry since there are 9 of them there. Throughout the journey, I was busy looking at the environment, taking note of every sign board that I saw so that if we were to be kidnapped, I can pin point the nearest location. Fortunately, we got back to our hostel safely!

That night, when I got back to the hostel, my roommate told me that he managed to chat with the new tenant. He said that we were too noisy the night before when we were playing the card games which woke him up. Luckily, he was not angry as he adapted to the noisy environment in New York. However, I feel sorry for disturbing. I must know that I am not only the one staying in this apartment. There are 2 other tenants too. I should learn to be considerate and think of others. The tenants might be working the next day and disturbing them at night will affect their working performance. This is something that I feel I have roam for improvement.

Day 31 and 32 - FS Presentation and common test

Day 31

Finally, today marks the day of our final presentation here in Wuhan! It is the last project we are doing as a group and we want to put in our very best effort to present well. However, things did not go as smoothly as the previous 2 presentations we did. This time, as we did not coordinate well, there are many frequent pauses in our presentation. Moreover, we had poor time management and exceed the maximum time given by 10minutes! If there is only 1 minor mistake, I think it is fine as everyone makes mistake! However, for us, we made 2 major mistakes that can be avoided! For that, we should reflect on ourselves on what went wrong. I think that it is because of the coming common test and we are new to planning activity which made us lose our motivation to carry on working on the project. We should actually put in effort in every single work we do and not to escape from difficulties! This is a lesson learnt for me that no matter what I do I had to put in 100% effort in it! It is still not to late for me as I had my Final Year Project (FYP) soon next year and this is a lesson for me so that I can change myself before FYP really comes!

After presentation, we went for our revision for our common test the next day! I do hope everyone will do well in tomorrow's common test!

Day 32

Today is the last day we are having our test! Finally, module on Forensic Science we took for OIP trip is about to over! We have studied all day long during our bus ride, cruise and hostel just for this test! Though it is only 1 module, the information that we need to memorise is huge. As usual, there will be questions that I do not know how to answer in the test! Mr Lee assured us that the time for the test is 2hour which will be more than sufficient for us! However, for myself, I did not know that I am always short of time! Even when Mr Lee said we will have more than enough time, I still had to rush to complete it! I think I really need time management and not to do my work slowly! Since the start of my life in polytechnic, I always required to rush to complete my paper. Time management is something that I had to learnt!

After the test, we are free from all burden as the report is due on next Tuesday! We spent the rest of the day having fun like watching movies and playing cards! For the card game, our lecturer Mr Lee even joined in! This card game shown the real Mr Lee, fast and swift in catching people that cheat! Laughter filled the room as we played the card game all night long and did not take notice that it is already midnight! Immediately, we stopped and went back to our dorm to sleep as tomorrow will be a long day of shopping for us and we need energy to buy stuffs! :D

That's all for today! Shall write again tomorrow on our shopping trip!

Day 30 - Last IS lecture International Business

Today will be our last IS lecture. The previous few IS lecture had been a long and tiring lecture of up to 3 hours with 100 over slides! I hope that today's lecture will be different!

Indeed, today lecture is interesting! We are taught the different methods of business etiquette like shaking hands, passing of name cards and greetings! Furthermore, she included that China has the 2nd largest economy and may even overtake USA! One of the thing that interest me the most is the China Import and Export Fair(Canton Fair). This fair occurs during Spring and Autumn. This is a must to go event for most businessman. This shows the high import and export rate in China that they require a Canton Fair. Next, after the lecture, we had a certificate giving ceremony by the Dean of the school. It has really been kind of them to provide all the IS lectures for us to learn more about the Chinese Culture. Moreover, he prepared everything for us, the classroom and hostel. Without them, this trip will not be possible for the 40 of us.

In the night, we went to the opposite side of the road for our street food! However, we had a major obstacle, our one and only obstacle, the crossing of road. The road outside our school do not have any traffic lights! Thus, it is difficult to cross it. Fortunately, we had our brave lecture, Mr Lee to lead us across the road. To cross the road in China, one require really good dodging and daring techniques. We had to look out for the cars and dodge it as the car will not stop for you to cross. Thus, we had to be extremely careful and to abide to the rules used in primary school, 'Look left, look right and look left again.' In Singapore, many of us took for granted the traffic lights provided and simply text or listen to their mp3 players while crossing the road. Many of us even jay walked across the road as it is convenient for us! However, when we are in China, we learnt the importance of traffic lights. Traffic lights is just one of the things that we failed to appreciate when we are in Singapore. There many other things like food and climate that we failed to appreciate too.

That's all for today! Hope that tomorrow presentation will go smoothly for every single one of us!

Day 29 - Day of Rest

It's the start of week 5 the last week! 1 last week left! For today, it is the day of rest and revision for many of us! There is no lectures for today! However, we had to make use of this time to complete our projects and revised our forensic science common test! Almost day was spent in revising my forensic science common test as there too much information to be memorized!

During the revision, I faced with 2 major obstacles! When looking at the pile of lecture notes that I need to study in such a short period of time, I started to panic. I fear that I do not have enough time. However this fear will not help me in any way. It only made me nervous which made it difficult for me to memorize the notes! I had to overcome it! I tried to calm myself down but to no avail. Fortunately, my roommate guided me on what is more important to learn and compress the information needed to be memorized! For that, I am really grateful to him for his help! The next major obstacle is the lack of proper table and chair! Personally, when I study, I prefer to study on table and chairs instead of bed as bed will made me fall asleep easily! Although it may be difficult, I had to learnt to adapt to the study environment and focus well.

In the evening, my friends and I went for our dinner. This time, the place looks different without the presence of street food stalls! The food stalls had changed their location to the opposite side of the road. It is a pity that I am leaving in 1 week. I will definitely miss some of the friendly stall owners here!

Day 26 - 28 - 3 days in 3 gorges dam!

For the past few days, I had my last trip in Wuhan to 3 Gorges Dam which really has a gorgeous environment, full of greenery! This trip also marked that our OIP trip is ending with only 1 week left! I know that I repeated this line almost every week but I feel that time flies! I can still remember day 1 when my parents sent me off to Wuhan! And now, I am left with 1 more week before I can see them again! There is one particular question asked by Mr Lee that made me ponder on: Do you feel home when you came back to hostel? After the 3 days trip in 3 Gorges Dam, I must admit that that the hostel feel like my 'home' in China to me! I can still remember day 1 when most people, including me, kept complaining about the place being dirty. However, after staying in the cruise and other hotels, I feel that this hostel is actually one of the best place and the standard may be equivalent to some 4 or 5 star hotels! The cleaners here came everyday without fail to clean up the room and made our bed for us! Unlike the 4 star cruise, the hot water here is always present for us to bath at any point of time! Moreover, during my stay in the cruise, I kept thinking of going home, not to Singapore but back to the hostel. I know that there is only 1 more week before we left but I will definitely cherish this week and the last week with some of my friends who will be going CLT next year! To those who will be going CLT, I wish them all the best in their future studies!

On the first day of 3 Gorges Dam trip, it was a long and tiring journey to the cruise. Though we set off in the noon, we only manage to reach the cruise around 8pm to 9pm! The whole day was spent traveling in the bus! Fortunately, no one complain about motion sickness and the journey was pretty smooth! There is one thing that I made a mistake during this trip. As the few previous hotels we went provide toiletries, I assumed that this 4 star cruise will too provide since it is 4 star and our lecturer assured us that they will have it. However, this time, it was different. The standard of 4 star cruise in China is much different from the international 4 star cruise. This cruise actually do not provide toiletries! I started to panic for I did not bring any stuff! I regret for assuming and not keeping to the always be prepared principle that I stick with! Fortunately, we are given time to purchase toiletries before we board the ship but I wasted those hard earned money my parents earned. Although it may not be alot but to me it is precious money that my parents earned through sweat, tears and even blood. This is a lesson learnt for me to not assume things but to confirm it. One phrase that my senior usually use: 'You think, who confirm?' Hence, I believed that I should no longer assume things but to confirm it before I take any further action.
The cruise we took!

In the cruise!



On day 2, we arrived at 2 places in the morning, Shen Nu Xia and Xia Shan Xia. As both trips require payment, we decided to stay on the cruise since we had limited amount of 'resources' left and we had to revise for our common test! In the noon, we went for a free trip provided by the cruise to Bai Di Chen! That island has many structures of different wise people from the past that used their wisdom to help the country like Zhuge Liang. We are given time to explore the island until 6pm. On our way back, there is kid that kept pestering my friend to purchase some items. That child has a pitiful and innocent look on his face while begging my friend to purchase his item. One of my friend could not take it anymore and he and I decided to share cost in purchasing his stuff. Although I heard that he gave a smirk after receiving the money, I did not feel scammed as a phrase came into my mind, 'a blessing to blessed others.' 'And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.' 2 Corinthians 9:8-11 Living in Singapore is a blessing for me to have everything provided for me. Thus, since God has provided me with sufficiency in all things at all times, he also wanted me to bless others who are in need. On our way to the cruise, we also saw many different shops selling different kinds of food like fried crab! Such food cannot be found in Singapore hence to me it is a must to try!
View outside cruise!

Crabs and Prawns!

Bai Di Chen!

And Mr Lee Fierce Expression Taken There!! First Time Seeing it!


In the night, we went for star gazing at the deck. Under the beautiful night sky, we get to see the spectacular view of the stars and the vibrant city! Moreover, we get to enjoy the cool breeze on the deck and immersing ourselves into the peacefulness and quietness of the night. This is really a place that everyone long for as we get to enjoy the peacefulness of the place instead of the stressful Singapore lifestyle!
The amazing night view we had!


Day 3 was another visit to the next island! This time, we are required to climb the mountain! Although it was a short trip, it was worthwhile to see things like cave and coffins that hang on the cliff! This is unique to me as Singapore do not have such method that hang coffin on cliff instead of burying it!


The adventure to the 3 Gorges Dam mark the end of the forth week! 1 more week to go and we will all be back in Singapore! Throughout the 4 weeks, it may be tiring for many of us but the experiences of studying and living in another country is something that not many people can afford and have it!

Day 22 - 25 - A busy but culture learning week!

Today marks the start of the fourth week! Three weeks passed so quickly! Times really do flies! Two more weeks and all of us can once again see our parents, friends and relatives! However, last 2 weeks will not be easy. There will be presentations after presentations, report and exams! I hope everyone will made it through for we have come thus far and will definitely make it to the end!

For the whole of this week, it was a busy week for me to prepare myself for the test, report and projects! However, this whole week is a fun learning experience for me as I get to tried many new things which include calligraphy, Feng Shui, etc...

Day 22

For day 22, we had our normal lecture in the morning. In the noon, we had something interesting, the paper cutting! It is indeed fun to cut paper into many different unique shapes! Cutting paper may seems easy but to cut it to a meaningful shape with a specific hidden message to it requires great skill! We are introduced to many different design of cut paper done by the people in the past. It is interesting to guess the hidden meaning before each paper that is cut out! One such example is the fish that is cut out!
Can you guess the meaning of it? It represents that 'nian nian you yu' as the fish is connected to the paper!

Other photos:


Next, we were shown some pictures and the different ways of cutting the paper to form different unique shapes before we began! The teacher also kindly demonstrate to us to give every single of us a head start as to what pattern to cut! This is the time when we also get to bond with the lecturers and to be able to know more about them like whether or not they have 'good' cutting skills like me! Overall, it is a great time spent bonding with friends. Although we may not really learn great skills on paper cutting, I think everyone had fun enjoying the quality time with friends and lecturers!
Teacher's work piece!


Mine awesome workpiece!


Day 23

Day 23 is the day of our IS presentation that we spent long and tiring nights preparing for it. As we were only given 5 days to prepare, we had no choice but to burn the midnight oil to complete it. During the IS presentation, I did not really feel nervous about it. When it is my turn to present, I manage to present with ease and also entertain my peers with those funny jokes in my presentations! I realised one thing that I changed since I came to Ngee Ann Polytechnic. During my secondary school day life, I am afraid of presentation, especially when presenting to the class on our projects. As a result, I always stammered during presentation. However, now, I manage to speak with more confident and courage! I think it is because that in Ngee Ann, I had much more presentation and together with the comments given by the lecturers, I am able to correct myself to become a better presenter. Lastly, I would like to praise my group mates for all the hard work that we put in for the presentation as without them, we may not had such successful presentation where most of the students laughed and were entertained by it!

In the evening, we learnt about Feng Shui and the different types of burial techniques. Feng Shui is something very unique. It comprises of wind and water. He taught us quite a number of things that will affect Feng Shui like the do's and the don'ts. For example, buying a house that face the sea will have a very good Feng Shui but a house that face away from the sea will have a bad Feng Shui. Next, we are also introduced to the different types of burial techniques. I find it interesting as in Singapore, we only had cremation or buried techniques. However, in China, there are other different techniques like the cliff burial where coffin is hang on the cliff or the water burial where the corpse is being laid on the boat and pushes away into the deep blue sea!


Day 24

Day 24 is another lecture day. Both the morning and afternoon are lectures held by Mr Lee and Dr Tan respectively! This will also be most likely one of our last lectures here in Wuhan. I promised to pay close attention and appreciate the time spent together during this last lecture taught by our lecturers. Although lectures may be common to us students now, the last lecture always made a difference to me as they will no longer be teaching us next semester! Thank you lecturers for the effort you all have put in in the last semester and this OIP trip!

Day 25

Day 25 is finally the day we get to rest! Although there is an IS lecture on calligraphy and tea session, we are free for the whole day after that. We start off with the calligraphy first followed by the tea session. First, we are introduced to the history of calligraphy and the different types of famous work piece that was sold at a high price! Next, we get to try it out ourselves! I always thought calligraphy is simple as for Chinese, we get to write Chinese almost everyday since young till our O levels. Moreover, during my secondary school days, I was asked to write composition every week to improve my writing skills! Hence, I believed that writing in Chinese is as easy as pie for me! Little did I know that calligraphy was way different from the normal Chinese character we wrote. Every strokes has a unique head and tail that is different from what I usually write! However, with both my friend and my effort, we manage to write out different idioms! Although it may not be perfect, we tried our best! It was a great effort that we done after all.



Next, we had our tea session! For tea session, we are introduced to many different types of tea like the Guan Yin, Red tea, Green tea and Yellow tea. I did not know that making tea also requires great skill. If you boil the tea leaves in the water for a longer period of time, the taste will be too dense for drinking. On the other hand, if you boil in water for too short period of time, the taste of the tea will be blunt. Also, if the water is not at boiling point, the flavour of the tea will not diffuse out and the tea will be blunt! Hence, making tea may seems easy but it is not! Furthermore, distributing tea also has steps! Oldest female should receive the first cup while the last cup should be taken by the one who made the tea to taste the flavour of the cup of tea he or she made. I do not know whether am I fortunate or unlucky as I am chosen to brew the tea in front of all my peers and the teacher! I can feel my hand shaking as I am afraid of doing the wrong steps! Fortunately, my peers helped me throughout the process and I managed to done it! Though it was not the best tea, I hope everyone enjoyed it! I will also want to thank the teacher for giving me the opportunity to try out! As I am a person who learn by practicing, by doing hands on activity, it will be easier for me to remember the steps for brewing of tea!
Different kind of tea leaves!

Tea set!

And last but not least the 'pro' making tea!


This week had been a fun and fulfilling week for my with many activities planned by the school for us! If not for the teachers and students in Wuchang University, we would not be able to learn and try out all these things and learn the the culture of China. Thank you Wuchang University of Technology.