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  • Essay / My four years in Singapore

    Moving is always the hardest. If leaving San Diego was difficult, leaving Singapore is eternal torture. There are too many good memories here. Of course, when we arrived in Singapore, it was an explosion of culture shock on our faces, especially on me and my younger brother. Singapore was the complete opposite of San Diego. The peace of the suburbs has been replaced by the din of traffic and people. The dreary, cold and dry weather turned into an incredibly hot and humid atmosphere, with occasional thunderstorms during the hottest days. I remember, unable to stand the temperature a few days after our arrival, my brother and I went swimming, only to return indoors immediately after seeing a single flash.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Then school started. I felt like I was being zapped by lightning. I didn't know that something was studying, and even worse, how they studied. It was a note-taking system and I had never done anything like that before in my life. I didn't even get used to it after a year. Fifth grade was without a doubt the worst year of my schooling. As if school was bad enough, it took us an hour or more to get there by bus and train. The mornings weren't bad as it was cool with little sunlight, but the afternoons were unbearable. And yet, my brother and I never complained and we did it day after day for almost three months. I'm still grateful that we moved closer to the school and took a car, even though it may have made incredibly strange noises while driving and randomly broke down and drove off two minutes later. The best part of the school year was a week , when most of the students went to Malaysia or Indonesia, camping and living in nature. My first OBT was in Kota Tinggi. It was my first time traveling to another country without my parents and the thrill was undeniable. Sixth grade was my favorite OBT, on a quiet turtle beach on Tioman Island. Seventh grade was all about the mountains, with dawn to dusk being spent trekking. I made so many friends on these trips. My friends are one of the main reasons why it's so hard to leave. I made so many great memories with them, from caving in the Cameron Highlands to singing Coco Câline during our last French class in eighth grade. I didn't really understand what leaving school really meant until my last day, when I found out I wouldn't see their faces every day at school. The best thing about where we lived in Singapore was that ECP was next door. We were free to go biking or running on the path just a few steps from our house. I vividly remember and laugh about all the times my brother and I crashed and fell on the ECP. All our triathlons took place there. I love how Singapore has been able to incorporate green spaces and cycle paths, even in the middle of the CBD. My triathlon team cycled to Lau Pa Sat, the popular hawker center. I have never eaten local food. The smell of delicacies like Nasi Lemak and Singaporean noodles kept me away from the food courts. Although it might be tasty, I could never stand the smell of it and probably never will. My favorite food in Singapore would be GYG's Burrito Bowl, closely followed by MTR's Bisibele Bhath. I love going to Din Tai Fung,,.