Exchange Program from Nanyang Polytechnic University, Singapore

We still remembered the feeling of the first day going to Changi Airport and the last day coming back to Viet Nam. Smiling, crying, hugging, ... and a lot of undescribed emotions.

We cried because in the blink of an eye, we had to say goodbye and leave Singapore, Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and especially NYP buddies. 19 days – it was not a short time and long time as well, but it was enough for TDTU and NYP students can be closer to each other. Eating together, playing together, working project together and spending time everyday together. Not until we had come back to Viet Nam, did we realize how much we loved each other.

We smiled because we had a great time in Singapore and with NYP buddies. At the first time, everything in Singapore was new and quite strange for us, and then we gradually learnt, get used to it day by day. Indeed, we now can understand why Singapore is a modern and civilized country.

The first impression in Singapore is its transportation and infrastructure. There is no motorbike on the street, just cars, buses, coaches and SMRT. Besides, we also discovered lots of differences in Singapore compared to our home country. In Vietnam, one house is located next to other houses; but here, we could easily see that small houses were replaced by high buildings and modern apartments. We are proud of representing TDTU students to study how modern it is.

The first day coming to Nanyang Polytechnic, we were attracted by the kindness and enthusiasm of NYP students. This quickly made us forget all the weariness and integrate with them.

Every evening, after finishing class, they brought us to a famous restaurant in Singapore to have dinner. Even though they were exhaust after a long day at school and they could come back home and have dinner with their family or go out with friend, they spent most of the time to take care of us. We were too tired, but all the laugh and the jokes quickly remove all the tiredness. We treated each other as a small family. Tiredness but having fun – each memory is a meaningful part of my life.

In our first lesson at NYP, we got a chance to meet the Dean of School of Business and Management. We were really impressed because of his kindness. He asked us about our first impression when arrived Singapore, about our health during a flight from Vietnam to his country and gave us some recommendations for the places that we should visit and the food we should enjoyed. He welcomed us and made us feel that we were at home.

Beside studying, NYP also focused on improving our health by providing us in-door activities with Singaporean friends. Although these activities made us very tired, we really enjoyed it. Specially, we brought our beloved TDTU uniform to Singapore and got a chance to show to everyone our beautiful and unique uniform.

During 19 days studying in Singapore, some of the Vietnamese students got sick because of the weather and unfamiliar foods. However, thanks to the careness of NYP lecturers, our Singaporean buddies and our lecturers from TDTU, we could overcome our problems easily. To be honest, we really appreciate this.

In addition, at the last day before coming back to our home country, we had a chance to make presentation about our projects to NYP lecturers and students. The projects were about various fields of Singaporean economy so we could learn a lot of new things. At first, we all afraid that we could not do well on our presentation because this was our first time making presentation to the foreigners. However, NYP lecturers and our Singaporean friends encouraged and help us a lot to overcome our fears and made it perfectly.

Last but not least, we sincerely thank to Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU), Faculty of Finance and Banking and especially lecturers as giving us opportunity to have experiences in this Singapore exchange program. Being chosen as representative of TDTU students studied in Nanyang Polytechnic Singapore and met Singapore friends was the chance that I could not imagine in my university life. That makes the time learning in university is valuable, meaningful and memorable.