Random Thoughts - Xu Shen

Just here to write down some of my random thoughts recently to keep the blog going ！

Firstly , somebody please post something ! Ah boey , Ong , Kai Yuan , Peter , Shin liang .. anyone ! You can't be that busy right ? Just write some random thoughts .. it wont take you long !

Entering week 6 of my Semester 1 , i still cannot part my heart from USA . Life there is simply amazing ... No stress , no hectic lifestyle , no things-must-do , no financial burden , no boring moments , no cold-hearted strangers on the road ... etc etc . I am registering myself again for Work and Travel next year , the destination this time is Yellowstone National Park. If i couldnt find any other interesting internship during that holiday , then i will go to US again !

Sometimes i just think , why everybody work so hard for CCA in Uni or trying hard to get an internship. To get early exposure ? To learn something more ? I dunt understand. Youth only comes once , and we should really enjoy life while we can. Why dont you enjoy while you still studying , still dont have burdens ? I can spend one more year in the industry to gain experience after i graduate . Well , it 's just PERHAPS one year slower than those who fight hard for CCAs or Internships. Take Work and Travel for example ... I dont think i will have the chance to do something similiar again in my life after i graduate. I traveled and played while i still can let go of the stuffs around me , go enjoyed life with my best mates , and opened my mindset while it is still open ... For people that cant even let go their school cca works , can they let go of their formal work after they graduate ? How about if we already have a family to take care of ? LoL !

Anyway , i should stop playing that much starting on year 3 .. gotta build some networks up for my future !( One thing i really dislike ) . I am actually quite a busy man now lar... Am a project director for NUSSU (student union) Hotline ( a funny club ) workshop , a project director for NUSSU SAVE ( an environmentalist activist club .. lol ) 1DegreeUp project , Vice project director for NUSSU welfare Diary , and a member of BINGO ( global business network dunno what ) . Quite looking forward for the works invovle in Diary project. I think i have to oversee the marketing part of the program. We are looking at not less than 30k SGD sponsorship and advert profit ... hm . Oh yea ! forgot .. i am a member of NUS Literary Society too ! Haha . just help out my friend with his publication and stuffs and meet girls in the society !

I am really tempted to try the Exchange program offered by NUS. These few days i was doing research on the universities offered by NUS. Was initially interested in New Zealand University (auckland) because of its cost of living and all . But after some research i found that Europe Unis' cost are quite similiar to the one in new zealands , some even cheaper. With my current results , i don't think i will stand a chance to choose those famous universities like UCLA ,UCB , UOT or those in England. Anyway , my objective of this exchange is not about academic afterall .. i just want to see the world , and experience how other students study in different cultures. I picked 5 prefered Unis and submitted it to the dean already... I picked 1 Uni in Poland , One from hungary , One from France , One from Norway and one from New Zealand.

Really interested about europe ... so hopefully i can get a placement ! My simple strategy to finance my exchange is : For exchange program , we have to fund our own expenses including air fare , accomodation and living expenses . Only the school fees are paid for us ( Actually , we paid normal NUS fees instead of oversea Uni's fee ) . Air tix to new zealand is about 1500 SGD , to europe is slightly higher , but still below 2000 SGD. For Accomodation and expenses .. because i purposely choosed all the unis with low cost of living , it is still managable . Homestay in Europe is about 200 Euros/month , in new zealand is 200 SGD / month . The expected normal expenses as indicated in NUS's infoweb and google is about 300-400 euro/month in poland/hungary(higher in France) or 400 SGD/month in new zealand . Total everything up , about 9000 SGD to New Zealand and about 10000 to Europe. That is a really BIG sum ! So... i got 1500 SGD given by the school each year , 1500 more for normal nus accomodation ( since not staying in NUS i can take this money out ) , 2200 subsistence loan ( haven renew for this year ... if this year get this , next year also get this it would be 4400 already ! ) , annual bursary for 1200 SGD . That makes a total of about .. 8000 SGD already . Then , i must study hard this sem to get my CAP(result) higher so that i can apply for exchange award , about 3000 SGD / student ( i think it is easy to get this lar .. they offer 600 awards while everyyear not more than 600 students do exchange.. so .. ) That covers all ! If it is still not enough , i might consider loaning money from the Student Exchange Loan scheme (up to 3000) . Lastly , NUS allow us to work part time oversea ! ( that is , if VISA approved ) . And my mum willing to fork out some money too ... hmm . who knows.

Lastly , i've been doing all the research about the upcoming Vietnam/Cambodia Trip. I already got us the air ticket (thanks andrew for the master card , all of us haven pay him yet ~ ) , tigerair to vietnam and airasia back. Getting kinda worried now because of the Air Fares we are getting , i might not able to plan a below 500 SGD's travel itinery ( oh sucks ... andrew you told me 500 more than enough to cover everything ! ) . Well , there's some really interesting places i plan to include in our travel , that is Halong Bay ( world heritage side , a would-be world 8th natural wonder ) , Sapa village ( bumiputra in vietnam ,extremely poor , in the mountain ) , hanoi and ho chi minh city , mekong delta ( soure of food for SEA depends on it ) <-- vietnam . Then for cambodia , i hope we can visit Tonle Sap Lake , other than Phom penh(capital) and Angkor wat. Anyway , i got a very nice documentary here about the wonderous of Angkor wat ( its 1 hour long) http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=IN46a_PjKFM&feature=related . I already finished watching it ( and absolutely fascinated by Angkor wat ) . Anyway , if you not free to watch it , you can alwasy ask me to explain it to you during the trip in cambodia !! haha , that's if i still can remember .


So ! There goes ... Study hard , do my various projects nicely , plan the vietnam/cambodia trip well , hopefully next year summer go Work and Travel 3 months , fly back rest one month then can fly to Europe for half a year ! Haha ... dreams ~ hope it can come true !

Xu Shen .
Dare to Dream !