Lastly, to make sure I don't become a couch potato during this time, I also began exercising. Who would've thought I would actually be motivated to exercise! I started off by running around UTown, which was roughly about 2 miles. Then I saw online that many people were doing Chloe Ting workouts during quarantine, so I decided to try it out! Let me tell you, her ab workouts are INTENSE. The first week of doing her workouts, I actually felt my abs on fire and really showed myself that I was definitely OUT OF SHAPE 😔. It's surely a sweat breaking workout but highly recommend it! I'll surely be working out for the time being as although cb was originally supposed to end on May 4th, it was extended till June 1st. These are definitely some rough times that many of us are going through but it is wonderful to see the community coming together! #SGUnited
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Last Day Out Together (April 6th): Today is officially the last day before the circuit breaker kicks in tomorrow. Knowing that it would be the last time the four of us can ever go out together, we decided to go to our favorite places to eat. For dinner, we stopped by the Beach Road Scissor Cut Curry, and per usual I got pork belly and egg as my toppings. Then for dessert, we headed to Ah Chew Dessert in Bugis. Ah Chew has become one of if not my favorite dessert stores here in Singapore. This is mainly because there is really nothing like it back home. From mango sago to grass jelly, they have everything that I love and crave in a dessert. This time around, I ended up getting the grass jelly with carnation milk, which really added sweetness to the grass jelly. Looking back on the time we had together in Singapore, we had a wonderful time. I can't wait for one day when we are able to go out again and actually dine in at F&B (food and beverage) outlets again.
At Jurong East, there are several malls to go to, and an outlet mall, IMM, located about a 7 minute walk from the MRT station. We even got to try the famous yogurt drinks here in Asia at Yomie's. Although purple rice yogurt drink is the most popular (which Brittney got), I ended up going with the strawberry yogurt smoothie as I was into a fruity mood. The yogurt drinks certainly didn't disappoint us and lived up to their expectation. It was so good and creamy, definitely something I'll be getting again in the future. The One Where We Explore Singapore One Last Time Together (April 5th):
With two days left before the circuit breaker kicks in, the four of us went all out to enjoy our last weekend out. We started off the afternoon by heading to Central Perk Singapore! As someone who is watching Friends, I was so excited to be able to visit the store. Although there were some aspects that did look different, it was wonderful to see many of the aspects in real life. The workers there were so friendly as well and they had the show playing on a screen as well. It was kinda funny as the intro played, they would all clap when the song did (for those of you who know the intro you know what I mean). We obviously had to do a photoshoot because this was another memory for the books. And it was fun being able to be Monica for a bit (which I am according to the Myers Briggs test and my friends). After our fun at Central Perk, we headed to the Gardens by the Bay. Even though we have seen the gardens before, we decided to take this opportunity to go to the Supertree Observatory and OCBC Skyway. We went to the observatory first as we wanted to see the sun set from there and just have an opportunity to enjoy the sky line. The difference from day and night is an amazing change to see as the sun goes down, the lights come on around the city, lighting up the streets. Fortunately, we were also able to see Marina Bay Sands light up with the Singapore flag reflected on the bottom of the "boat." Once the sun set, we headed to the skyway as there is a canopy walk. It's certainly a different view from seeing the trees from the bottom and the top. Lastly, to wrap up our night, we headed to Swee Choon Tim Sum, a popular dim sum restaurant (and open till the early morning hours if you're craving some late night dim sum). Swee Choon is honestly one of my favorite dim sum places here. The price is pretty good and they have a wide variety of items to choose from. Overall, this was one of the memorable nights in Singapore and I'm glad we got to venture out before the circuit breaker kicks in.
As for my modules, this was a pretty busy month. For my marketing class, I had my group presentation as well as my individual assignment due. Our group assignment was on H&M Conscious, the sustainable line for the H&M brand. We had to present on the macro-environmental factors, impact on the environment, customers and segments, the 4Ps, and promotion recommendations. Working with my group, I had a wonderful time collaborating, we had amazing teamwork and I was so proud of our end result. Our teacher loved it that she even gave us an A+ for our grade. Sure it was just one group project but this was one that meant a lot to me as I had learned so much from the project. Not only about the company but the work ethic of some of the students at NUS. They really showed me what it meant to go over the top (one of my group mates made an example PR box which was AMAZING 🤯). Aside from my marketing class, I also had a group presentation for my Asian Business Environments class. This was a little more nerve racking since there was a mandatory Q&A session for class participation points. Seeing some of the other presentations and Q&A prior, I questioned myself if I was ready for the challenge. We presented regarding Samsung's business impact on the South Korean economy. Ultimately, everything went well and our professor was very pleased with our group as well, given that we had a challenge of not having one of our members present as they had gone back home. With the alterations that have been made to our modules, I am still very grateful that I have been able to still learn and even give group presentations in person, providing me with the full experience.
See you back home (March 23rd/24th): The recent weeks have been rough once the US announced the Global Level 4 Health Advisory. Many exchange students from the US began planning their flights back home, while some decided to take the risk and stay. As for my friend group, Isaiah was the first one to leave. To enjoy his last night in Singapore, our friends and I decided to pull an all nighter in our lounge. From dancing around to our favorite songs to playing our last rounds of mahjong, we had a wonderful last night with the seven of us. As dawn came upon us, it was time for us to say our last goodbyes. Although I knew I would see Isaiah once I go back, it was still a sad moment as our study abroad experience together was coming to an end as we were able to become closer friends from this trip. *To Isaiah: See ya when I get back and looking forward to our upcoming semesters!*
Souffle Pancakes (March 27th):
Here's a post dedicated to the famous souffle pancakes 🥞. After seeing on my Instagram that at Vivo City at a cafe called Gram, there was no way my friends and I weren't going. Us girls headed there in the afternoon and shared a plate. Like many popular things, the pancakes were some what over priced. However, we since we decided that it was going to be an one time thing, we were content with our purchase. Once the pancakes came out, they were SOOO fluffy and thick (and of course jiggly 🤤)! The cafe itself was small but had a cute aesthetic feel, especially with the greenery hanging from the top. Will I get the pancakes again? Probably not, but I will say it is worth it for the one time to experience souffle pancakes! Newton & Mini Golf (March 18th): Like many that visit Singapore, Newton Hawker Center is a necessary stop, especially because of Crazy Rich Asians. So we took our friend there for dinner. No matter how many times we go, I will forever LOVE the popiah rolls. They are just amazing and so flavorful (especially getting it with chili), definitely nothing like anything back home in Hawaii. On top of that, the popiah stall ALSO has satay, which mean you can enjoy BEST OF BOTH WORLDS🤤. My personal favorite combination is getting the chicken and pork stay, but mutton is also good as well! After dinner, since we didn't want to end the night yet, we decided to go and try an indoor mini golf place we found before. Holey Moley, located in Clarke Quay, was mini golf on a new level. Each hole was uniquely themed from Monopoly to Pacman. Additionally, the obstacles they had made the holes even more challenging, yet entertaining. A bonus was that since we went on a Wednesday, it was ladies night so us girls got 9 holes free! We ended up playing two 9 hole rounds and our friend ended up winning the first round and then I won the second round 🙌🏼. It was a great way to end the night and can't wait to hopefully be able to come back again! Universal Studios Singapore!! (March 20th): It's so nice to be able to visit an amusement park!! The last major amusement park I've been to was USS about year 9 years ago and it was wonderful to be back. I felt like a little kid again as I wanted to ride as many rides possible. The four of us headed to Transformers 3D for our first ride of the day. In combination with the graphics and movement, the ride was definitely enjoyable and a good way to kick off our time. My all time favorite ride at USS is the Battlestar Galactica Cylon rollercoaster as the ride goes upside down and I was surely thrilled to be able to go on it again! It was unfortunate that we were only able to go on it once (mainly due to the almost hour wait for the ride. The other rides we got to experience was the Revenge of the Mummy, Puss in Boots Giant Journey, Enchanted Airways, Accelerator, King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round, and Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. Fair warning for the Jurassic Park ride, if you don't want to risk getting SOAKED, bring a rain coat with you! We went without one and luckily, we only got a little bit wet but those in our raft who were unfortunate enough to be on the side of the water drop, they definitely got soaked from head to toe😅. Despite the wet risk and the wait time, it is still a ride worth while. Due to the virus, USS has unfortunately shortened their park hours so we didn't get to fully enjoy all the rides as the wait time also took up our time there. However, I am so happy that I got to come back and visit the park once again and relive part of my childhood 🥰. Dim Sum Sunday (March 22nd):
Having dim sun for brunch on a weekend is something that has always been a part of me growing up. On a hunt for good restaurant, Brittney, Anna, and I decided to go to Red Star Restaurant. Located in Outram, it is exactly like what you think a dim sum restaurant looks like, from the aunties rolling the cart to the sound of chopsticks/dishes clashing, it was a great environment. Compared to other places, the dim sum here was relatively on the pricier side but it was an enjoyable and satisfying brunch. After our satisfying brunch, we headed to Dhoby Ghaut to look around Plaza Singapura, one the larger malls located here. Before even making it to the mall, our attention was caught right after we got out the train when we stumbled upon Calla, a store selling freshly made bottled non-alcoholic cocktails. The store and the aesthetic of the bottles ultimately drew us in and we ended up purchasing one. I had the Duxton Swizzle, which was a minty yellow watermelon drink, which was refreshing and fruity at the same time. We then finally made our way through the mall. Being in Singapore, all the malls always amaze me, no matter how many I've been too. There are many aspects but the one that continues to amaze me is that majority of the malls all have at least one or two basement levels, making average malls about five floors. This is like a shopping heaven to me as I love to spend time at the mall 🤩. Looking around and spending time with my girl friends was a great way to wrap up this fun-filled weekend! Local Eateries (March 10): Today Brittney and I decided to adventure out and try something new. We headed to Tiong Bahru Market, where we got to try fried kway teow. Like most stalls, the auntie here was so sweet as she took our order and cooked our dish. The dish was amazing as it consisted of two types of noodle (flat and regular) and mixed with various types of ingredients (bean sprouts, fish cake, clam, etc). One thing we forgot was that it was Tuesday, so unfortunately many stalls were closed due to weekly cleaning. Later on, we met up with Anna and headed to our favorite dessert place, Ah Chew's. They have so many different options to choose that you definitely need more than one visit! This time we got the almond paste with rice balls, black sesame paste, and grass jelly with mango. They were all very good but personally I thought the almond paste was a lot to take in, especially with the after taste. Ultimately it was still a satisfying dessert choice! Dinner @ HortPark w/Anthony (March 12): For dinner, Isaiah and I had a wonderful opportunity to be invited by Anthony Wong, a Shidler Alumni, to eat at one of his restaurants, Vineyard at HortPark. Since the restaurant is in the middle of the park, it has a nature vibe to it, which creates a wonderful atmosphere for the restaurant, while serving French-Italian cuisine. If you're ever in Singapore, I highly recommend visiting here or one of his other restaurants. As for the food, we got to try the new five course meal Vineyard had to offer. From truffle soup to beef cheek, the course was very flavorful and delicious, it filled us up very well. Not only was the food amazing but we also had great company. We got to meet some of Anthony's friends where we got to share our stories but also hear about their careers and life experiences. As the night came to an end, Isaiah and I had a wonderful time and I am truly grateful to be able to network and be be connected to people like Anthony through Shidler. Siloso Beach and Luge!! (March 15th): Since this weekend have a friend visiting us here in Singapore, we decided to have a fun filled week. We kicked it off by going to Sentosa! Our stop was Siloso Beach, which is one of the popular beaches here. *side note: Hawaii people, we have beautiful beaches back home so please do not expect the same 😌* Although it wasn't the most luxurious beach, we made the most of our time sunbathing, taking pictures, and relaxing in the sun. However, after a while it started to get REALLY hot, to the point where the sun was starting to become unbearable. Which at this point we decided to leave our short-lived beach day. To make the most of our journey to Sentosa, we also decided to try the Luge. *TIP: buy your tickets on Klook for cheaper prices* Initially, we were all not sure what to expect as we've never experienced anything like it. Nevertheless, we had the time of our lives. We had a little getting used to to-do but going down the course was so much fun. Since each course doesn't take that long, I recommend getting the package to ride at least twice. After finishing our last ride, we headed back to campus, where we all knocked out after a long, heat filled day. Foods of the week:
Tiong Bahru Market: - Kway Teow (S$3) -> 9/10 Ah Chew's (Bugis): - Chinese Almond Paste w/rice balls (S$4) -> 7/10 - Grass Jelly w/Mango (S$3.30) -> 9/10 - Black Sesame Paste (S$3.30) -> 8/10 Back Together (March 3rd): After spending a week together in Taiwan, we definitely needed a break from each other 😅. Tonight we all met up together at PGP (one of the other dorms at NUS) and had a game night. We started off the night playing mahjong, which Cel brought from Taiwan. After several rounds, we headed outside to the basketball courts to play a 3 v 4 game. The game really brought out a lot of our competitiveness (especially with some elbowing in between). More importantly, this being the most exercise many of us have done the whole week (or even the whole trip), we were all VERY exhausted AND dripping in sweat after our 1 hour 30 min game. In all, it was a great night and a nice change in scenery from being inside often. SUSHI (March 5): If you didn't know already, I love sushi. Since I haven't had it in a while, I decided to drag my friends out with me to get sushi for dinner at my favorite place here, Sushiro at Shaw House in Orchard (and it also reminds me of my grandparents place). It honestly is the best conveyor belt sushi because their fish is fresh and cut at a decent thickness compared to other places. I was so satisfied as I was able to get my FAVORITE yellow tail (hamachi) 🥰. Some of their other good dishes are salmon belly, spicy tuna/salmon, and scallop. For dessert we headed to Tiga Tiga. We all wanted to go there after discovering from Instagram that they had $2 brown sugar soft serve. At first glance, the cup does look pretty small. However, it is just the right size, not too much or too little. Additionally, the flavor is the perfect balance of sweetness, especially with the green tea powder on top. It was a great treat to end the night😌. Little Discoveries (March 6): Only in Asia would you ever find a library in a mall. Here in Singapore, there are several libraries located in malls throughout the country. Today we visited library@orchard, which is located in Orchard Central. The library itself was amazing, it was two stories and had a WIDE range of books. From fiction to business skill development books, they had everything. And of course, the first sight you see is everyone diligently working/studying hard. All these little discoveries continue to amaze me every day at how Singapore has developed themselves in such a short amount of time. Gang Outing (March 8): Finally the seven of us were back together again after several days spending time apart. To start off the day, we decided to cook ourselves lunch! We cooked some noodles, stir-fried some broccolis and onions, and topped it off with an egg and kimichi. After filling our stomaches, we headed to Time Zone at Vivo City, which is an arcade (similar to Dave & Busters back home). There were so many different games, we were so excited to try all of them. At any arcade. my all time favorite games are driving games and basketball, which they both had (so I had a wonderful time). Time Zone also had bumper cars which we were so stoked about! Although it only lasted about 10 minutes, it was so much fun and made us feel like a kid again ☺️. After all the fun we had, we were definitely thirsty so we headed to Nayuki, a bakery and tea shop located in the mall. In my opinion, they have the BEST tea in Singapore. On top of that, their cheese foam is amazing as well. It's perfectly creamy with a hint of sweetness that it'll have you craving for more. Foods of the week:
Sushiro (Orchard): - Yellow Tail (S$3.20) -> 10/10 TigaTiga (Orchard): - Brown Sugar Soft Serve (S$2) -> 9.5/10 Nayuki (Harbourfront): - Cheese Ali Mountain Dew (aka Alishan tea) (S$5.90) -> 10/10
Our everyday life outside of class was pretty normal. My friends and I still got to go out together and dine in at restaurants. We were fortunate to even be able to travel to Malaysia and Taiwan during this month. Being able to explore these two countries really allowed me to further expand my global perspective. Although I had been to Malaysia once previously when I was a child with my family, visiting with my friends was a new experience. Aside from the aspect that I was traveling with my friends, I got to see how different life was like from Singapore. In comparison, Malaysia is less developed, except from their main city areas. With the cost of living also lower than Singapore, everything was relatively cheap to us as well. Even though we don't understand Malaysian, many of them spoke English, which was really helpful for us. As for Taiwan, it was a complete new experience. The first obstacle my friends and I faced was the language barrier. I do have a conversational understanding of Mandarin through learning in class but a real life application is definitely different. There is English written throughout the city and there are people who speak English but the real challenge was at night markets. As most of the stall owners only speak Chinese, Anna, Cel, and I combined our skills in order to communicate with them. Being in Taiwan really made me appreciate the time I have taken to learn Chinese as I had a wonderful time being able to hold small conversations with those we met at the night markets. Although they were short conversations, it was wonderful to share with them where we were from and why we were in Taiwan. Upon coming back from the trip, I told myself that I would love to go back one day and further experience Taiwan, whether it is with my friends or family.
Taiwan Day 3 (February 24th): Being the foodies we are, of course we had to stop by the one and only Din Tai Fung. This Din Tai Fung visit was a special one as we got to go to the original store in Xinyi, Zhongzheng District. Known for their long lines, we were fortunate to only have waited for about 20 minutes (and every minute of this wait was totally worth the food we were about to have). Once we got inside, there were so many options to choose from. Some things were got were: xiao long baos (we got 30 of them... again), spicy dumplings, custard buns, green beans with minced pork, After fueling up, we headed to the one and only Taipei 101. When we got there, of course we had a mini photoshoot! We took pictures with the Taipei 101 building but also the LOVE sign they had. Given the building is extremely tall, we did have some struggles taking pictures with it (*TIP* if you want to have a photo with the full building, suggest going somewhere where you are able to see the building from afar). From there we quickly stopped by Long Shan Temple (龙山等) before we headed to Raohe St. Night Market (饶河夜市) for dinner. Us girls and guys decided to split up and go our own ways around the market, and we had a great time! Some of things we got to try were papaya milk, pork buns, mini pancakes, chicken sticks, etc. The BEST part was the arcade. We spent couple hours playing games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Taiko (japanese drums), etc. This was where we also discovered a song, Love Scenario by IKON (that would eventually end up being a song we would remember throughout the rest of our trip). After meeting up with the guys, we called it a night and headed back to our Airbnb. Taiwan Day 4 (February 25th): For our last day in Taipei, we started off our day eating Beef Noodles (牛肉面) at Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles. Their beef noodles were very fragrant/flavorful and different from other beef noodles I've had before. Compared to most places, their noodles were flatter and thicker but since it was homemade, it had the chewy texture to them which I enjoyed. We got the regular size, which was very filling because of the amount of noodles and the meat! For dessert, we stopped by at Mister Donut which was at the Ximending (西门町) station. I was so excited since I haven't had Mister Donut since Japan! For the rest of the day, we ended up shopping and packed for our trip south to Tainan to visit Cel and her family! Taiwan Day 5 (February 26): After checking out of our Airbnb, we headed to Taipei Main Station, where we boarded a train to go to Tainan. We decided to take the 4hr train ride to give us time to rest and relax before we arrived since we were fairly tired from the night before. Once we got to Tainan, Cel and her mom came to pick us up and we all headed to her home. After settling in, we finally got to meet her family's dog, which was the CUTEST and FLUFFIEST thing ever. For dinner, we headed to Wusheng Night Market (武聖夜市), yes another night market 😝. I love how each night market has their own atmosphere and variety of shops. Wusheng for sure was the busiest night market we have been to during our time in Taiwan. Most stalls had lines and sometimes it was pretty difficult getting through. Some of my favorite things I had were liang sha yuan (涼沙园), deep fried potato balls (地瓜球), and milk tea. We even played a game where we had to shoot five basketballs into different leveled baskets, which we unfortunately couldn't achieve (but the workers were funny and nice even though one of us hit them in the head HAHAH). We wrapped up the night by heading back to Cel's and had a short karaoke night singing some songs (one of them being Love Scenario). Taiwan Day 6 (February 27): We started the day by heading to Chimei museum (奇美博物馆). The museum was interesting as it had a wide variety of exhibits from Western art, musical instruments (with a "live" orchestra), weaponry and natural history. From there we headed back to the Anping (安平) area. We got to try a popular beef soup and had some dessert which was so gooood. After we ate, we also looked around at some stores and ended up buying snacks (specifically big bags of shrimp chips which we ended up finishing that night). For dinner, we got takeout and had stinky tofu, xiao long baos, and stir fry which was all very tasty. However, the exciting part of the night was learning how to play mahjong. At first it was difficult since we had no prior knowledge of how to play but as we played several rounds, w all started to understand and learned some tricks to help us win. Taiwan Day 7 (February 28th):
For our last day in Taiwan, we started the morning off by playing mahjong (we became addicted after last night). For breakfast, Cel's grandma was so sweet and made us breakfast! From homemade breakfast noodles, fruits, bread, and tea, she had prepared everything. It was such a heartwarming breakfast since it was the first time I've had a home cooked meal in about two months 😌. After breakfast, we packed up our stuff to prepare to leave for the airport later on. But before we had to leave, Anna, Isaiah, Brittney, and I decided to have a relaxing afternoon and went to get a massage. Getting a massage was so calming but my back also ended up hurting (probably from the extreme amount of pressing the lady did 😅). Once we got back to the house, we all headed to the train station to go to the airport. Our flight ended up being fairly empty due to COVID-19 with not many people flying. Overall, I had a wonderful time in Taiwan and already looking forward to going back. There is amazing food, shopping, and the people are truly one of the nicest people I have met. Looking back at my time here, there is no other place with such an amazing night market culture🤩 |
kelsFrom traveling to tips, I hope to share my experiences with you all and motivate you to explore your kuriosities :) Archives
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