Credits to Nicholas Ong, a very nice alumnus who put in the effort to make a good translation!

Singapore Diary~ AIESEC and I

My relationship with Singapore has to be traced back to my beginnings with AIESEC. My first encounter happened in APXLDS (Korea) back in 2003 where I made a few friends from Singapore. My second encounter is during APXLDS (Taiwan) in 2004. The chief delegate from then brought some postcards from my friends in Singapore. And I had also enjoyed myself at their GV booth. The 3rd encounter was when I stopped by for transit back in 2005. I stayed with a Singaporean friend as well as experienced tasted some local food. My 4th encounter was during a brief transit on my way to Turkey for internship in 2006.

My 5th, which is now, is a stay of 4 months in Singapore.

For the past few years, my visits overseas are either related to AIESEC events or visiting AIESEC friends. This is the first time I went overseas due to non-AIESEC reasons, yet, I am still within the influence of AIESEC.

When I started planning for my student exchange 6 months ago, I obtained the contact details of the local AIESECers from my friends for enquiries on accommodation, food and lifestyle information. Alvin, who was then LCP in NTU, kindly helped me and provided a lot of support. More importantly, he is a good friend to many Taiwan AIESECers and had been to Taiwan for a few times, hence chatting with him seemed akin to chatting with a close family member.

The 2nd AIESECer that I encountered is WenFeng. He is from Canto – China, studying in Singapore for quite a while and is also an experienced AIESECer. The first day I arrived in Singapore, he was carrying mattress and blanket, welcoming us from the hostel. This left me a impression that he is welcoming an old friend. For the next 20 mins walk to the hostel, we pulled along the luggage and chatted along the way, with the conversation resolving quite a bit, around Singapore issues.

The 3rd AIESECer that I met is WanXin, a Malaysian and the current LCP in NTU. WanXin is one who is filled with dreams and ambition towards AIESEC. And seemed to be always on a “high” state although I don’t know whether that should be a compliment…. But that definitely has powerful effects on people around her. Her mood affects people around her as well as letting others feel a sense of joy. I think she will be my first reader in Singapore as I brought a book as a gift for the LC of NTU.

I have met a lot of other people too along the way, e.g. LiJun, Ivan, Weiwei, Trang, Vincent, Aravinda,… etc. They are the first group of friends I made in Singapore.

In the second week of school reopening, I went to the NTU CCA fair. NTU has got a lot of clubs and society, comparable to National Taiwan University. Point to note is that there is a lot of cultural clubs such as Lion Dance club, Muslim Society, dragon boat club… or societies that serves different nationalities such as Korean Society, Malaysian club, etc, showing Singapore’s global diversity.

AIESEC is also among the many booths on display, attracting a lot of attraction and queries. I stood up as a spokesman of international AIESECers, letting the freshmen to understand the AIESEC and its connection with the world. 3 days of promotions, total of at least 300 interested students, yet leaving only 50 AIESEC newies after member interviews – the intense competition between applicants is easily seen.

A lot of freshmen asked – “What’s AIESEC?” I had lost count of how many times I was posed that question, yet each time, my answer is not entirely the same. Basically, AIESEC is tightly linked to the social environment. When I was in Taiwan, I would usually reply “AIESEC is a place where one could expand his horizon and know the world” Yet, in Singapore, my answer would be “It is a place where one could discover himself and go up against challenges” To AIESECers, these two different answers means the same, yet to freshmen, they are entirely different. Hence to understand AIESEC, one must experience AIESEC.
As such, I would encourage everyone to join AIESEC.

the Welcome Tea session, the MCP for the past 2 terms - Sharon - gave a speech. I was especially intrigued by her speech, not only because it had successfully promoted AIESEC to the freshmen, but it had influence everyone that is present in the LT. What a display of innate charisma and motivating speech. Sharon is the MCP for 06/07 and 07/08, graduated from NTU and is preparing to go for an AIESEC exchange. Her 4 years in AIESEC brought her to over ten countries, knowing people from all over the world, even from countries one would not have known existed.

Each photo Sharon shown is a trail of growth, each interaction, each gain in knowledge – and she summarized “I joined AIESEC to change myself. And it has led me to be different. It has led me to embrace the world with an open mind and an open heart” In a globalized city such as Singapore, her words seemed even more convincing - because she’s a Singaporean.
Her story also reminded me the friends I made in my first International Conference. Coming from different places and culture, yet we are brought together, perhaps by the power of fate. And five years later, if we could still meet up, chat like old friends. It must be the bond of friendship.

JiaLiang is the last person I would like to introduce, because she the first Singaporean AIESECer I knew and whom I have kept in touch. She is of my age and we both joined AIESEC in the same period, knowing each other in 2003 during APXLDS in Korea. Because both of us speak Chinese, that foster a bond of familiarity. After conference, we occasionally contact each other but haven’t had a chance to meet up till now.

The week before, we arranged to meet at China Town, friends apart for years, but we could recognize each other in an instance. A difference in our looks, feelings unchanged, and the moment we met seemed to continue where we have left off 5 years ago. Touring the place, we chatted about what had happened in these 5 years as well as memories in Korea. Soon, the afternoon is gone is a flash - like the ancient said “To have friends from afar is happiness, is it not?” This saying aptly describes the mood of the situation

In one’s life-time, how many such opportunities can one have and how will fate decides. Whatever the chances, we should cherish that short moment in time, because no one will know when that moment will return. It is as such in AIESEC, likewise being an exchange student. I think that as the exchange students from NTU depart, they too will have that same feeling.

Who knows?
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