Life of an ASEAN Scholar (Introduction) & About Me

Foreword

Hi everyone! After 3.5 years, I remembered that this diary-like blog existed and suddenly felt a stroke of inspiration to write a little something here...

TPE (JC2 Mid year exams) just ended yesterday and I am so so tired out from everything...I feel so bad for my friends who still have exams until next Tues/Wed THANK GOODNESS I am done !!!

ANYWAYS I wanted to be able to give myself a few days of rest after TPEs, but I didn't want to just doomscroll all day, so I decided that this would be a fun and meaningful thing to do! So for the next few days, I will try and write little bits about my experience in Singapore and those of my friends and fellow scholars. Disclaimer though, that my stories will vary from other scholars and definitely from yours (if you become an ASEAN scholar too), so take everything with a HUGE pinch of salt. 

About Me

I will provide an awful lot of details about me so that it can help you to contextualise certain things sooo if its too much feel free to just skip!

Pre-ASEAN

• Im 07, from Kl, Malaysia 
• studied at 育南华小, then transferred to AISM under a scholarship
• played basketball, Chinese chess (xiangqi) and was in the council equivalent in Malaysia
• Applied for ASEAN Scholarship in 2021, admitted as an AY2022 Scholar 

In Singapore:

• Joined Crescent Girls' School (Express) in Secondary 3, stayed in ACSBS
• Class 4S1/2023, Triple Science + Elect Geog/SS with Higher Chinese
• Was in English Drama, ACSBS's Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC), and was Sec 4 Class Chairperson
• DSA-ed Leadership to Hwa Chong for JC, stayed in HCIBS 
• 24S6F, PMEKi + GP and PW
• Council (HCSC) was my only CCA 

Some overarching thoughts on ASEAN Scholarship/SG

1. Have I ever regretted coming to SG?

No. Sometimes I joke about how some of my friends who stayed in Malaysia are coming to NUS this year and question why I put myself through this pain when I could have led a much more chill life in Malaysia. But deep down, I know that the value of coming here is not in the end result of where we end up for University, but the experiences and values I've gained in these 4 years here. Singapore really is a whole other playing field, a big fish pond, just like how I thought it would be. Those words I said in my interview - wanting to grow in a different, more competitive environment - were once words I understood abstractly, but now live through every day for 3.5 years. Ive grown so much - not in the oh I'm away from home, learnt to be independent sense - but in ways I have never imagined and I am doing things I wouldn't even have fathomed of. Sometimes - especially in JC - times really get insanely tough, but it'd rather have a chance to go through all these tough times, than to never know what itd be like.

And in life, there's just no such thing as regret. 人生走的每一条道路都算数，从来就没有白走的路。If we had taken a slightly different path, we never know if we would still be who we are today. And I love who I am now, not perfect, but enough. So I would never want to have done anything differently. 

2. Is Singapore really super stressful?

Yes. Secondary school's stress was pretty manageable, but JC is a whole different level - but ofc that depends on how much you fill your plate with. My friends and I often discuss how so many ppl go through the JC system and wonder how everyone somehow manages to get through it. So bad news is, yes it can get pretty stressful at times; but good news is, you will be able to make it till the end. I guess we are bound to feel immense stress at a certain point in our lives, and experiencing in slightly earlier by coming to SG isn't a bad thing, bc then in the future you will be able to cope better since uve gone through those periods before. 

And don't worry, for most people, you will probably find a really good support network with your friends, and they will make life a little more bearable for us all to survive together. There are still many many fun memories forged like yapping together at night, eating instant noodles tgt, and night walks tgt. These little moments make life more worth it. But not to overglorify our lives, life will be hard. But doing life with a bunch of other ppl in the same boat can be pretty fun. 

3. Main tips for surviving (or thriving) in SG

I will offer some along the way in my subsequent posts, but for now here are my 3 main tips:

1. Build a strong support system: 

Studying in Singapore as an ASEAN Scholar will be so much easier with a good support system. Have friends in school, out of school, and with your fellow scholars. I cannot emphasise this enough. Having a good support system will literally change your life. You should especially forge strong, genuine friendships with your scholarmates (which I'm sure will happen naturally anyways) because they are some of the few people on this world that will have similar experiences and mindsets as you, they can truly empathise with you and do life with you. And building a support system comes from being that support for others! If you are a genuine person, you will attract genuine friends, and you guys will be able to be there for each other - that is one of the best gifts in life. 

2. Be aware of how you are, how you feel

Aside from having a strong support system, you need to be the main pillar of support for yourself. Ultimately, everyone has their own lives and no one will know exactly who you are except yourself. Check up on yourself, reflect/introspect, and know how you are feeling, how your body is. This awareness will help you to take care of yourself better and maintain 好的状态

3. You'll never know unless you try

Here, you may feel like certain opportunities are so daunting and so BIG. You will hesitate, you may want to say no, but you'll never know unless you try. Ive been lucky enough that everytime I was too scared to try, someone was there to pull me back in and make me reconsider so many times and ultimately try. One thing led to another and, today, I have had so many amazing experiences that stemmed from opportunities I almost said no to. Looking back, if I had not been so lucky, and my friend hadn't asked me to run for JCRC ExCo with her, or if the senior HCSC VP had not encouraged me to run for PVP,  or even back in Malaysia when I almost didn't run for School Captain, I would not be where I am today. Or even the recent mooting competition, which I almost didn't join if my mentor had not encouraged me to do so, but it was an opportunity that proved itself valuable. So, join the CCAs you want, competitions you think you can't win, run for positions you're not sure if you have the experience for, and do the things you are scared of doing. Let your choices reflect your dreams, not your fears.

Those are my 3 main pieces of advice, and I hope you will better understand them as you go through this magical 4 year journey. Chase your dreams, and in tough times, remember that this life was once your dream too.