The End? or the Start of a New Beginning?

This is the final post of this blog. I have come a long way since I started this blog in December. Finally I have finished my exchange journey and boy it was definitely the greatest experience of my life!

Living in a different country, with different weather conditions, with people of very different culture and more importantly so far away from home and my family and friends.(Kudos to the technology that make it possible for us to stay connected even though we are 15000 kilometres away)

You get to see how people in another part of the world live their lives in a different way, for example without the use of smartphones but learning to speak to each other in a conventional manner. You get to experience cooking on a daily basis and buying groceries and living cheaply by looking for deals, house brand goods while at the same time trying to live to the best you can with the money and time you have. You feel joy, loneliness, excitement, fear, love and sadness in a foreign land which you learn to call home for these 5 months.

When we traveled around Europe, you meet many people travelling around the world too and share stories of fascinating adventures. You also meet locals who you probably have to use sign language to talk to but you can feel that they are very warm and welcoming of your presence in their country and want to let you experience the things that they are proud of in their country. (sometimes hostile unfortunately but rarely). You see so much history and the remains of people of the past and try to imagine how human civilization have progressed through the millenniums into the present. You compare the difference between your country and the ones you are visiting and realize that even though your country has a lot of things to improve, it is actually pretty good compared to most countries.

The greatest thing that I take away from this journey is not the pictures that I take or the amazing scenery that I got to see with my eyes but an introspective into the person that I am or that I thought I was. Sometimes you feel that being in a different environment will change you, for example I thought I would take more to drinking or enjoying the nightclubs more than in Singapore where it is so expensive, but I realize overseas where it is so much cheaper that I still don't. These kind of insights might be trivial but together they form the person that you are and gives you a clearer identity of yourself so that you will become more self-confident in the future.

As I look out of my window into the shimmering horizon of the setting sun on my flight back to Singapore, I feel a sense of satisfaction of having embarked and completed this journey. Well it's time to go home. A new journey awaits in the next chapter of my life!

Homebound!