Hello hello again family and friends, long time no see. After coming home from Italy things were in full swing again. I started working and after the holidays the semester was off to the races. With all the craziness of being home and I found that writing just didn’t make the top priority list. So how am I finiding time now you might ask? Well lets just say I have found a couple minutes to spare on my 11 hr flight from Singapore to Honolulu ;))
As most you know (all 20 of my loyal subscribers) I was in Singapore for spring break. How exactly I ended up in Singapore, with the business school I might note, is still a mystery to me. Never the less I want to share my adventures with all my favorite humans who supported me and my crazy self over the last couple months to get here.
So where to start?? Well I’ll just do a quick intro of the friends I made. I didn’t know a single soul going on the trip and I’l tell ya it was quite intimidating walking into the airport. But I did it!!! I made some life longs friends I am so so happy I met. Here they are:
Katlyn & Rachel (and others in the next post)
Singapore, as you might guess, is not just a quick hope across the pond but rather a 17 hr flight out of SFO that is actually the 4th longest non stop flight in the world. Nothing crazy to tell here. Lots of sitting, watching movies, a little bit of sleep and some teeth brushing.
We landed in Singapore around 8 am and got settled in our hotel. Now I wouldn’t naturally spend up time talking about details of hotel but let me just tell you, courtyard Marriot you OUT DID YOURSLEF. So I really didn’t take many pictures myself but shout out to the other kids in my group for sharing. Our views were insane, and the infinity pool on the top of the building was honestly one of the highlights of the trip. In the morning I would go for a little swim and do some yoga, I don’t think there could have been a better way to wake up.
After getting lunch, we went to the botanical gardens which was like walking into the jungles in the middle of a huge city. The plants were amazing and it felt so alive. I was only there for a brief moment before I met up with Nancy, my mom’s cousin. I am honestly not entirely sure of the family connection but she is a professor at the the National University of Singapore teaching International relations which is a program that is tied to Yale. It was amazing to spend time with her and the family, I hadn’t seen them since her wedding 10 years ago. We ventured to the Artscience museum (20/10 recommend if you find yourself in Singapore) and then she treated me to delicious dim sum. I headed back to the hotel in major need of sleep having run around the city all day and only getting 6 hrs of sleep on the plane. As I got to the hotel, I ran into my friends who were headed to a hawker market. If you have read or seen Crazy Rich Asians WE ACTUALLY WENT TO THE ONE THEY GO TO. So when Rachel and Nick first arrive in Singapore their friends take them to go food and that is where we went!! My friends and I got some film pictures so I’ll post those on the blog once Rachel gets them developed. So so fun.
The next morning we had a tour of the city from one of our professors friends who is a native to Singapore. He took us to the to of the marina bay sands, around downtown, and finally Chinatown where we enjoyed lunch. Here are some pictures from our travels along with one of our group. While I have never been a big “flash the u” fan, it was fun to with a group that was so enthusiastic about being traveling with our school and it definitely rubbed off on me. After lunch, we meet with John Lee, Director of the digital department for Singapore power. There is no way I am going to be able to explain what he does properly but essentially he heads up a team that is finding ways to use blockchain for green energy power sources. Singapore Power literally provides energy for the entire country so it was an amazing oppurtinty to get to talk to him. He has done everything from staring is own company to working for the big guys like Microsoft and HP. My biggest takeaway form his stories was the way he talked about his failures. The 8+ different companies he was worked for or with he told us about how it failed and what he learned. I don’t know if it was just his openness or the difference cultures but I think this is something we really lack in the United States. I absolutely loved it.
So long story short, after lunch I ended up at the interanational furniture fair Singapore. After talking to one of the German designers who is working in Indonesia, I found out that it was national design week in Singapore. This was one of those times where I was just walking around in awe because what are the odds I end up on a trip with the business school, half way across the wold, in one of the most innovative forward thinking countries in the world and in their national design week??? Excuse me what. So after spending time pursuing the furniture and talking to some really really cool people (and possible getting myself and internship in Indonesia with this German designer) I head to meet my friends at the Gardens by the Bay. Another Crazy Rich Asains scene!! So you know where Colin and Arimenta hold there wedding reception with the huge trees and also where Nick’s grandma and mom tell Rachel about her real father? This is the place hahaha. It was unworldly… not even joking. I walked from the marina bay sands to the gardens on a bridge that runs high across the city and was shocked becasue I thought I could be on another planet. I’ll just let the pictures show you.
Stunning right?
The next morning we spent our time packing up our suitcases and shopping. Sorry, not sorry it is in my blood hahah. We enjoyed lunch at the electric ‘my awesome cafe’ and then met up with group later that afternoon before we headed to the airport for our next adventure in Southeast Asia. Can you guess where?? More coming sooooooon.
Well while going through security my bag got pulled. Honestly not a major shocker I feel like it always gets pulled because I have lots of food in there, or forget to take a cord out or something. So they kept asking me ‘where is the spray’ and I was so confused because I was like spray?? Turns out pepper spray isn’t allowed in Singapore so the police had to come interview me and it was this whole ordeal. Haha really not tooooo crazy, I didn’t get get charged or anything but I am officially on their records and now have to “be careful” with what I bring into that country.
Missed writing so thanks all for listening,
gabi
ps: notice how I didn’t mention the heat at all?
Well during the week we were in Asia it averaged 90 degrees WITH 80% HUMMIDITY. If you know me (which pretty much everyone here knows me this well) you know that I DO NOT do well in the heat. Like mental breakdowns, don’t do well in the heat.
That fact that I didn’t talk about the heat once really goes to show you how much I loved it here.
