Today marked the first day of the longest travel experience
of my life. We stayed up late Saturday night and had to wake up at 4:30 in the
morning to catch our flights. Our ride never showed up, so we had to find
another way to get to the airport and we were pretty late by the time we got
there. Most of us almost missed our flights, but fortunately, we were able to
run through the entire airport and catch the flights with seconds to spare!
I flew from Panama City to Washington D.C. to Frankfurt,
Germany to Singapore. The entire trip lasted 32 hours with the longest leg
lasting 11 hours. I couldn’t sit down for that long and decided to do some
push-ups and squats in the back of the plane. Definitely a Nick-ish thing to
do! I left on Sunday morning and arrived in Singapore on Tuesday morning.
Yikes! Justin (who was the only other person in both the Panama and Singapore
classes) and I met up in the Singapore airport, exhausted but excited. Unfortunately,
his travel experience was much worse than mine. He almost missed his plane
twice and the airline had lost his bag in Panama! Hopefully they can forward it
to Singapore!
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| Rickshaw Rally, anyone?!?! |
There was no time to rest from our journey once we had
reached the hotel. We had to quickly hop in another taxi and get to the
National History Museum of Singapore where we would meet up with the rest of
our class. It was wonderful to see all of our Marine Lab buddies again! We
spent the morning in the National History Museum of Singapore, learning all
about the history and culture of this incredible city-state. Singapore is a
tiny island off the coast of Malaysia. One of the most amazing facts about
Singapore is that it progressed from a 3rd world country to a 1st
world country in 35 years! I loved walking around the museum and learning about
the steps it took to accomplish such a task.
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| Carrie and I listening to Singapore music from the 50s |
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| Million Dollar Duckie! |
In the afternoon, we went to the Asian Civilizations museum
to learn about the many different cultures that impacted Singapore. One of the
exhibits was specifically dedicated to the river that separates Singapore and
Malaysia. My favorite part was the ‘Million-dollar rubber duck’. A few years
ago, everyone bought a rubber duck to decorate and number. Thousands of ducks
were set loose at the start of the river. The owner of the first duck to cross
the finish line won a million dollars! Other exhibits featured Hindu statues,
Buddhist carvings, Chinese weapons, and other artifacts that were a wonder to
behold. Before today, I knew next to nothing about Singapore but now I know a
lot more about Singapore and its history!
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| The library! |
After the museums, we were on our own so some of us made our
way to Bugus Street, a large outdoor shopping experience with hundreds of small
venders. From there, we explored the 13-story public library. They were
featuring an exhibit about the various social campaigns that have taken hold in
Singapore. My favorite was the campaign against guys with long hair because
guys with longer hair were considered rebels and were more likely to get into
drugs. Obviously, this campaign isn’t popular anymore, but it’s interesting to
see what social issues Singapore has faced in the past.
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| Singapore!!! |
I found this Chinese proverb posted on the wall while I was exploring the Asian civilizations museum. I am traveling pretty far away from my parents right now, but they know my whereabouts and I am sending my love from afar! <3
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