Testimonials
17 students from Malaysia's Taylor's University College and University of Nottingham
Experience@Singapore 2009 programme from March 19-22
17 students from Malaysia's Taylor's University College and University of Nottingham were invited to participate in the Experience@Singapore 2009 programme from March 19-22. Li Fong and James Kan are from Taylor's University College.
“On 19th March 2009, all of us gathered at the Ancasa Hotel, Kuala Lumpur at 7.00pm to board the coach down to Singapore. Upon arrival in Singapore around 1.30 am, all of us were quite exhausted and headed straight to bed after checking into Goldkist Resort.
After breakfast on Day Two, we headed to Contact Singapore's office at Raffles City where we were greeted by Mr Ray Zhang and Ms Rebecca Sim, who were the organizers for our trip.
Next stop was the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) centre. It was an eye opener for all of us to see the extensive planning by the Singapore government for future projects as well as to preserve old historical buildings. The fully guided tour gave us to further insights into Singapore's history and developments.
We later headed down to Boat Quay to enjoy our lunch at an Indonesian Restaurant. The food was amazing and it was topped off by having such wonderful company!
Our next stop was the Marina Barrage, Singapore's artificial dam which showcases a very unique architecture. We could walk our way up to the roof which features a lush green garden. In the building, we were shown on an actual example of how the dam functions on a miniature sized model. Singapore is currently making a freshwater reservoir by natural flushing of seawater from the Marina Channel.
After that, we then headed down to a networking session with Ross Recruitment Agency and HRnetOne at Raffles City. We mingled with the directors and representatives from these established firms and gained a better understanding on career opportunities in Singapore. Among them was Ms SK Rosa, regional director for Ross recruitment agency. She gave us a lot of tips for interviews as well as CV presentation.
The fruitful session was then followed by a transfer to Orchard Road, the famous shopping district in Singapore. Surrounded by luxurious shopping malls and retail outlets, I was definitely amazed by the lights and sounds whilst strolling down the street.
The packed itinerary for the day had us all exhausted by midnight. However, some of us headed down to the beach for some light sharing session where we got to know everyone better.
Day Three began rather early with a quick breakfast before we were brought to the Contact Singapore office at Raffles City. Upon arrival, we were introduced to a fellow Malaysian who has been working in Singapore for several years and this special guest was none other than Mr. Lee Boon Bee who is currently an Associate Director with the Standard Chartered Bank.
The sharing session was very informative where Mr. Lee enthusiastically highlighted the benefits of working in Singapore besides talking about his priceless experience on how he was given the opportunity to climb the corporate ladder as a foreigner in the Lion City. It was inspiring to all of us! Following the sharing session, we caught the coach to Suntec City to attend JobsDB career fair which was the highlight of the day or practically, the whole programme.
At the career fair, we managed to visit and speak to several representatives from the banking and insurance industries such as Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC Insurance, Great Eastern Life Insurance etc.
After sending out our CVs and equipping ourselves with the information that we needed, we headed for lunch at the Food Republic of Suntec City. After lunch, we decided to do some window shopping at the Suntec City Mall before the Self Discovery Tour which would start at 4pm.
The exhaustion from the window shopping did not mar our excitement as we started the tour with Rebecca by visiting the magnificent Esplanade resting at the side of the Singapore River. The building may look like the eyes of a fly from afar but a clear view of the building at near distance impressed us with its top notch architecture.
After some picture snapping, our journey continued by crossing the historical Cavenagh Bridge before arriving at the half-fish symbol called Merlion. As usual, everyone resumed their photo taking sessions and spent some moments enjoying the scenic views of Singapore which was simply breath-taking.
Although physically tired, we were still eager to discover the landmarks of Singapore, thus we continued walking along the Central Business District and took a ride on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) just to get a feel of it and experience its renowned efficiency. After a brief ride, we arrived at Clarke Quay to dine at a Balinese restaurant called Bayang. The Indonesian food was nice but the atmosphere was rather sombre as this would be our last evening spent with Ray and Rebecca who had been very friendly and helpful to us throughout the whole programme. As the dinner came to its end, we reluctantly bid goodbye to both of them whilst a small group of us concluded the night by having drinks with Ray at the Highlander Bar.
Day Four was the last day with no activities scheduled for us. Not wanting to go home too soon, a small number of us actually woke up early so that we could rent the bicycles and made a few rounds along the beach outside of our resort. The ride was fun but our exuberance didn't last as we had to check out the room by 10.30am. We left Goldkist Resort with a heavy heart, wishing that the time that we spent there could have been longer. But all of us couldn't agree more that the experience that we had in Singapore was simply a blast!”