Monday, August 25, 2008

welcome back to school

supposedly having tons of work to do (yea i havent even finished the tutorial due tmr at 10am) but i have to blog about the most unforgettable tutorial thus far today. okay vital stats first- in my SSA class we've 19 people, out of which there're 7 singaporeans, 1 malaysian, 11 indian exchange students from, well, india. imagine the trepidation and anxiety that gripped me even before class started. i've witnessed how patriotic, vocal, knowledgable and emphatic our foreign friends are during lecture (even the lecturer has to be extremely cautious with everything he says), and i couldn't help feeling a little initimidated, especially as we settled down into our smaller discussion groups. Just for the record, i believe i still remember their names, shortened versions nonetheless: ash, bharah, nidi, ramees, aki, eileen. excuse the spelling though, cos i still have no idea (x anyway, discovered a few amazing facts:
1. They are still relatively younger! mostly 17, 18. ohgosh, more reasons to feel old.
2. MOE offers scholarships to the engineering students for 4 years and in return they have to work here for 3 years thereafter. Talk about tapping on highly skilled professionals in the region!
3. My name is actually french. Alright i don't know how true that is but i grew up thinking that my name is an indian name, and apparently my newfound friends proved me wrong.
4. Indian scholars believe that, unlike themselves, the chinese and vietnamese scholars are die-hard muggers. And we always thought scholars are all the same.

Boisterous chatter. Emotionally charged remarks. Hands raised up high. Tremendously enthusiastic responses. Suddenly i didn't feel like i was in a singapore classroom anymore. My tutor was spot-on in one of his final comments of the day: the answers are often not in the books.

by exalted! at 7:58 pm |