When I started my degree last year, I was terrified. Sure, I was excited but I was way more terrified. I wasn’t ready to meet new people and make new friends all over again. I totally wasn’t ready to live in a whole other country! I spent my first months still being terrified and not really enjoying it as much I imagined I would. I went back home in December and (I thought) that I was happier there.
I now have a week left of LLM classes and by the end of July, I will have my degree! And now, I am not ready to leave.
It’s actually crazy (but also in another sense, very cliche) – I’m only realizing how much I’ve loved it here when its almost done. My one year in Singapore has given me SO much. I’ve met people that I would’ve never met if I hadn’t been here,
I’ve tried new food I would’ve never tried if I hadn’t been here,
I’ve experienced things I definitely would’ve never experienced if I hadn’t been here.
More than just the degree (and some really good teaching), Singapore has given me so much more. I once read somewhere that a lot of things change in life when you stop living with your parents. I haven’t lived with mine for years and yet so many new things changed when I came here. More than things just changing, I’ve had so many firsts in Singapore (my first time dragon boating, my first gin and tonic, my first time cooking a whole meal – and a million more things).
Now that my degree’s almost done, I’m terrified all over again. I’m terrified of leaving this city because its grown on me. I love my country, but these months have made me love this new country so much that I can’t understand why I was so excited to leave it. And so with every submission done and every class getting over, I am totally not ready for this part of my life to end.