Educational Trip to Singapore , 2011: My Reflections

LEARNING BEYOND BORDERS

Recently on the 15^th of September, a few teachers and students from MGSKL boarded a bus on the start of long and fun filled educational journey to the infamous 'Lion City' also known as our friendly neighbours Singapore. The journey took around five to six hours. We were all very excited at the thought of visiting Singapore as this was the maiden trip to Singapore for most of us. Throughout the whole journey we had a whole load of fun and we were happily singing songs and chatting away about the trip. At around 9.30p.m we reached the place we would call home for the next four days, the Girls' Brigade Hostel located at the Upper Serangoon Road. Everybody was exhausted by the long journey so we decided to just tuck in early and get a good rest. However at around 2.30a.m we were awakened by the shrill scream that came from one of our roommate. We were startled by the scream and frantically asked her what was wrong. She told us that she had felt somebody pulling her leg in her sleep. All of us comforted her and told her to stop thinking about it. Well none of us got any sleep after that as we were all terrified by the incident and also partially because of the ever famous ghost stories that originates from Singapore.
On the second day of the trip, we were visiting MGS Singapore, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian School, The Marina Bay Tower, and The Night Safari. Evidently it was a packed day. With the lack of sleep and excitement sending the wrong signals to our brains, we set of to see our other half, MGS Singapore. We were greeted warmly by the Vice Principal and a few of the staff. As many of the classes were having government exams during our visit, we were escorted around the school by the patient staffs who constantly reminded us to keep our voices low. They brought us into their wonderful conference room where we were told about their education system, their curricular activities and also their students achievements in the past years. They then brought us for a tour around the whole school and showed us all their facilities such as their library, auditorium, their music room and most interesting of all was the plant tissue culture lab. The plant tissue culture lab is where their Biology teacher and a few students experiment with various types of plants in an effort to make them more resistant to certain diseases, to produce a variation in the plants flower colours and also to create longer lasting plants. They were experimenting with plants like the Venus Fly Trap, Pitcher Plants and the Sundew plant. The teacher then demonstrated and gave a few students the chance to create their very own plant cultures. The teacher then let us bring a few samples that she had made earlier back to the school for the rest of us to try it out. Unfortunately soon it was time to end the tour and head to the Kuo Chuan Presbyterian School.
We arrived at the prestigious Kuo Chuan Presbyterian School at around 1.30p.m. We were greeted by the principal of the school, a few staff members and a group of students. We were then separated into groups of four and put under the care of the students. They were responsible for our well being and also to show us around the school compound. They brought us around the school and ensured that we had a good time. One of their very special features of their school is the 'Mustard Seed Program'. This is a program where selected students are handpicked and trained in the movie industry. They are thought everything about making a movie from cinematography to sound editing to directing their very own movie. The Kuo Chuan School is one of only five school in the whole of Singapore that have been given the permission to run this program. We then moved on to the robotics program where students that are interested in robot and technical field can take a special program and learn how to build their very own robots. After the school tour, the groups met up and decided to play games. They kept us entertained for one whole hour and we exchanged many different type of games. We had the time of our lives until it was time to head out. We bid our goodbyes, exchanged contact details and boarded the bus to the Marina Bay Tower. All of us left with a lot of valuable knowledge and cherished memories.
After lunch we made our way to Marina Bay Tower and enjoyed the view of Singapore from the second tallest building in the country. It was astonishing and breathtaking to see how much a small city like Singapore has grown and matured in the recent years. We also got a glimpse of the infamous infinite pool that has become a popular icon of the Lion City. Shortly after that we left the Tower for our final destination of the day, The Night Safari.
As we entered the Night Safari, we were all a little bit apprehensive as to what lay ahead. Many of the teachers and students were speculating and scaring each other with terrifying tales of the tigers walking around freely and the elephants carrying you out of the trams. We were comforted by our energetic guide, Mr. Jimmy that the animals are all tame and that they wouldn't attack any of the visitors. When we reached the packed area at 9.20p.m, we embarked on the journey fiiled with excitement and curiosity despite the tiring day. We learned many new things about the animals of the many continents in the world. The information that we learned from this twenty minute journey is more than we could ever have asked for. How unique the animals are up close and personal! They appear majestic and full of glory in their own habitats, and this in turn enables us to see the nature of this animals without being harmed. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget in my life. Soon after the Night Safari, we called it a night and got some sleep. Thankfully we did as the next day proved to be the most tiring yet awesome day of the trip.
Guess where we went on the third day of the trip? That's right, we went to the Universal Studios Singapore. Where do I begin in describing this one? Well we reached the Studios at around 10.30a.m. We were all so excited that we could barely contain ourselves. We were literally jumping for joy. We were amazed by the amount of details put into the entire place and astounded by the beauty of the place. The Universal Studios is divided into six parts namely Far Far Away that is dedicated to the Shrek franchise, Ancient Egypt that portrays the many wonders of Egypt, The Lost World that is dedicated to the Jurassic Park franchise, New York, Hollywood and last but not least The Sci Fi City that is dedicated to the Battlestar Galactica franchise. We were like five year olds in a candy shop with no budget. We were allowed to go on any ride that we wanted and if we were taking a time out from the rides, they even had various shows to keep us entertained all the time. Time flew by and soon it was 7.30p.m and getting dark. We had the best time of our lives and nobody wanted to leave.
After dinner we were scheduled to go for the pyrotechnic show entitled 'The Song Of The Sea'. This show was held at the beach an mainly focused on the use of lights and water to produce moving animations of perfect clarity. It was a blessing for students like us to see all that we study in Physics coming to life. The show was centered on the storyline that the lead character, Lee's voice is magical and capable of waking the sleeping princess Ami. Along the way he encounters many obstacles but he is determined to see the princesses beautiful face, therefore he perseveres and reaches his goal after all his efforts. The show was spectacular and mind blowing all at the same time. The amount of detail and time put into the show was definitely no wasted. With that our third day in Singapore came to an end.
Our fourth and final day was the easy going day of the entire trip. We packed our bags soon after waking up and had our breakfast. We were then given a tour of the city by Mr Jimmy. We visited the trademark of Singapore and the well known tourist attraction of all times, the Merlion. This Merlion is how the name 'Singapura' came about. Legend says that the emperor that first came to Singapore spotted a lion in the body of a fish and decided to name the island as 'Singapura' which translates to "Lions Home" in Sanskrit. After a brief photo shoot, Mr. Jimmy brought us to Bugis Street for shopping. We finished all our shopping by 12.30p.m and bid our farewell to Mr. Jimmy. We were then on our way back to Kuala Lumpur. We reached MGSKL at around 6.30p.m.
With that our four day trip has come to an end on a happy note. Even though we were all exhausted and tired both physically and mentally, we had the time of our lives and this was surely a trip that we will never forget in the near future. This trip has taught us that there is a mountain of knowledge that we can still obtain. We will never stop learning in our life and rather than waiting for the knowledge to come to us, we should go and explore the world and live our lives no matter what we are doing. We learned that if you have the will and ways, learning doesn't have borders or limits. Not even the sky is the limit. Always aim higher than expected. And don't forget that learning does happen beyond borders.
Prepared by Shumita – Tingkatan 4 Sains