We were told to use blog posts like this to talk about our experiences during our SUSEP – the fun activities that we did and the new connections we made. Well, I’m here to talk about how I didn’t manage to do those things, as a reminder to future SUSEP and exchange students – they are important!
Admittedly, I was super disappointed with having to do SUSEP at the start – I was supposed to be planning for my overseas exchange in Canada, basking in the snow and looking for moose. It didn’t help that all my classes ended up being online, so I didn’t have to go to school at all, other than for written exams once or twice throughout the term. I decided to make up for the lack of student life for an internship with a company that I loved instead.
As much as I don’t regret reallocating my time to my newfound internship, I did regret not going to school to study or take my online classes. It didn’t mean that I would have classmates to study with, since everyone is online somewhere in their own homes or elsewhere on the huge campus, but I do believe that the atmosphere would have been different. Temporarily being a student of another school, I had the access to enter and do my work anywhere on another campus, and I wasted that opportunity. So I guess the point of this blog post is to remind those who want to go on exchange to not make the same mistake I did – spending time on another campus, even if it’s in the same country as the one you’re already in 24/7, counts as a new and possibly memorable experience. Just basking in that new atmosphere is something that you won’t get to have after your exchange, so don’t make excuses like “oh but my classes are all online”, just go and bask in that new air.
Unless of course, you want to spend time with your family or loved ones someplace else and do your lessons – but just once, maybe try going over to have your lessons. At least you can say “I actually studied at [insert host university name]” and have real pictures to prove it, instead of showing your NUS student ID as proof that you actually went there 😛
