Singapore – It’s been my pleasure!

Just as fast as the first half of my internship flew by, so did the second. I finally felt like I was settling into the daily work routine, and my last day of the internship arrived.

The second half of “Singapore” was quite unspectacular. After my little trip to Ho Chi Minh City, my parents came to visit. The city started to feel more and more like “everyday life.” Since I had already visited the most important attractions, my sightseeing was mostly done. More about this in my next blog post.

That is why, in this blog post, I would like to focus more on how I experienced the city and its culture. Since it was my first time in Asia, everything was new to me. Before my departure, many people told me that I would love Singapore because it was so neat and modern. So, I set off full of anticipation and ended up being a bit surprised. What is everyone talking about? Singapore gave me the impression of a “western” city with a different culture. 

Everyone who asked me during the first two weeks what I thought of Singapore received the same answer: “Very interesting city. I’m most fascinated by the faster escalators.” I just didn’t see a big difference. Well, the city has a lot of parks and fountains/water shows and it is warmer than in Boston. It wasn’t until my day trip to Johor Bahru (a Malaysian city directly adjacent to Singapore) and later my trip to Ho Chi Minh City that I realized I couldn’t compare Singapore to Europe or the US. I have to see the city in the context of the surrounding countries. Suddenly, all the statements before I left made more sense, and I started to see the city in a different light. 

What else will I take with me? I definitely encountered a large selection of different foods. Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Indian, and many more… Sure, there are restaurants like these in Europe and America, but how authentic are they? Here in Singapore, they are a bit closer to the origin. I even found a super good German/Austrian restaurant. Can I differentiate between all the different cuisines or assign them to a region after the ten weeks? No, unfortunately not. I would have to stay here even longer to be able to do that. But I will definitely take one important thing with me: There is a northern and a southern Indian cuisine – I didn’t know that before!

And since all good things come in threes, I would like to share one last observation with you: It feels like everyone here does at least one type of sport. The gym is busy any time of the day, whether in the morning, during lunch break (probably the peak time) or in the evening. The range of classes is immense: from hot yoga and reformer pilates to cycling classes and boxing courses, there’s something for everyone. The people here live a very active lifestyle, which surprised me a little. Just the number of joggers I saw on my way to the office in the morning or on my way home in the evening was very high.

Unfortunately, my time in Singapore is over now. However, my farewell couldn’t have been better. Friday – August 9th – was Singapore’s Independence Day (“Happy 59th Birthday, Singapore!”). In addition to the military parade, there was a big firework in the evening. That was literally my grand finale, because afterwards I headed to the airport and started the first half of my journey back to Boston. Finally, it’s “Welcome back to Germany!”