Today was the last day of our Petra Exchange Programme, the reality which we cannot bargain and ignore anymore.

We woke up a little later than usual as we did not have school today. However, breakfast still started at 07.00, so some of us woke up at the same time as regular. After breakfast, we immediately went back to our rooms to finish our packing and make sure nothing was left behind. It was really important for us to keep rechecking on our belongings since we could never go back to the hotel if we left any of our personal belongings there. Once everyone was ready with their luggage with them, we entered the bus and prepared for today’s trip.

There’s a saying that goes “Science is nothing but perception” by Plato. That was exactly what we were going to practise in our final sightseeing destination, Singapore Science Centre. From the sparks of electricity to the vibrant neon lights, we were astounded by the games and machines displayed there. One of our most enjoyed rooms was the mirror maze where we had to stick together and find our way out while making sure we didn’t bump into any mirrors! It was truly such a great opportunity for us to see science in action.

After our fun trip to the Singapore Science Centre, we went to Marina Square for our lunch and a short shopping session. For lunch, we were brought to Seoul Garden where we had an all you can eat session of Korean food and roasted meat. We were so glad to be able to eat as much as we wanted and satisfy ourselves for our last lunch in Singapore. Everytime someone would remind us of the fact that we have less than a day left, we’d start shedding a few drops of tears.

Once we finished off our visit to Marina Square with a short shopping session, we then went on our way to the airport. The process of checking in and immigration was surprisingly easy, so we had some free time to explore Terminal 3 as we finished off clearance quickly.

Then, the moment we’ve all been anxiously waiting for. As the plane was finally boarding, we moved along into the aircraft one by one and said our final goodbyes to Singapore.

After the 2-hour-long flight, everyone moved on with clearance and claimed their luggage. As we took a step out to the arrival hall, our parents were already waiting for us. Subsequently, everyone rushed to their parents for a reunion. It was truly a heartwarming view of people smiling, hugging, and crying tears of joy for the past week.

It has been such an unprecedented honor for us to be part of this Petra Exchange Program. A million words would never describe the vibrant colors this experience has painted in our hearts. Thank you everyone and we hope to see you again in the future!

Member of Group:
Kelly Michelle Wang
Marcio Sandy Moniaga
Tatiana Laory
Iglesta Narwastu Prawira
Calvin Tanardhi Setiawan

Today was our last day of school. Waking up early in the morning, we tried to cherish the day a lot more. We then had breakfast, which had lasagna, sausages, salads and fish soup. Then, everyone went downstairs to enter the bus and went for our last day of school.

Finally, we arrived at school. As usual, we went straight to class and followed the lesson. After all the lessons were finished, we gathered in the school lobby, where we took photos in the school garden, after that we immediately gave farewell gifts to our buddies. Then, we immediately met with the school administrators and school principal and thanked them for the last time. Finally, we got on the bus and said good bye to the residents of Dunman High School.

To start off our sightseeing journey today, we visited the Singapore Mobility Gallery. There were so many different interactive games to play with. These games were specially aimed for young generations like us to expand our thoughts and critical thinking in building a more sustainable nation in terms of public transport and technology. It was really impressive to see that people nowadays are starting to invest more into our education, so there was a flaming sense of motivation that started to grow in our hearts. Aside from that, the majority of us lined up to give short reviews on our experience and receive a train miniature set for our reviews.

We took the bus to the Plaza Singapore, a jaw-dropping mall with 7 floors! Like our previous shopping experiences, we went in groups according to our main shop destinations. Everyone was already over the moon, but there was one thing that kept us a bit on our toes, and that was time. Although an hour was given to us, we still had to be cautious and make sure we return on time, and that was exactly what we successfully did! As everyone arrived at the meeting point group by group, we were all seen with a warm, wide smile planted on our faces.

We walked from the mall for about 300 meters to a restaurant called “Simply Peranakan – Authentic Asian Cuisine”. We took our seats in a round table. The food were served as soon as we got there. There were chicken, vegetables, egg, apples, soup, and more. There were delicous, as usual. We were also given warm tea.

At the end of the day, we arrived at the hotel and got to our rooms. Honestly, it was really heartbreaking to know that this was our last day in Singapore. Time does fly very fast. Our trip so far has truly been spectacular and it has been a privilege to learn in Dunman High School. Thank you Dunman High School, we love you!

Member of Group:
Kelly Michelle Wang
Marcio Sandy Moniaga
Tatiana Laory
Iglesta Narwastu Prawira
Calvin Tanardhi Setiawan

Today (05/04/23) started just like any other day – waking up early and getting breakfast. What was different today is that it was raining heavily! Hence, we all swiftly put on our raincoats and opened our umbrellas. Thankfully, all of us got into the bus safely and we soon arrived at Dunman High School. We then got greeted by our buddies and continued with our school activities.

From our hotel, we got straight to school. After arriving at school, we went straight to our respective classes and followed the lesson. There were some students who followed chemistry practicum. They said that the practicum was very exciting. After the exciting lessons, students gathered in the school lobby at 2 p.m.

Our first activity after school was to attend a Parfume Workshop in Oo La Labs to create our own unique parfumes. It was a great opportunity for us to be creative and experiment on the different parfume combinations. The sweet and refreshing fragrance of parfume danced into our nostrils as we entered the room. It was surprisingly easy to blend the liquids into a perfume, which encouraged us even more to keep exploring the different aromas to mingle with.

After having fun in the perfume workshop “Oo La Lab”, we went to Vivo Mall to go shopping and had dinner together. We arrived after 10-15 minutes and had dinner at a restaurant named “Song Fa Bak Kut Teh”. We took turns sitting in groups of 8 and 4. The food were soon served and they were delicious, especially the soup. We were allowed to have refills for the soup and tea.

With our bellies fully satisfied, we continued with our shopping in Vivo City. The students separated into their groups with the teacher by their side throughout their journey around the mall. Aside from the fact that we got to buy even more souvenirs, our shopping trip this time was way more discipline and organized. Everyone was already gathering in the meeting point before the meeting time.

At the end of the day, around 7.50 pm, we arrived at the hotel and got a brief announcement as a reminder for tomorrow’s plans. We actually finished most of our journal throughout today’s activities, so that night was not as hectic as the other days were.

Today, we have learned that although it might sound simple, we were really proud that we could actually practise obedience and become an individual who does not prioritize themselves over others.

Kelly Michelle Wang
Marcio Sandy Moniaga
Tatiana Laory
Iglesta Narwastu Prawira
Calvin Tanardhi Setiawan

At five in the morning, all of the Petra students woke up and got dressed for our second day of school. We soon gathered to have breakfast at seven – the food was delicious! We had potato wedges, salad, sausages, scramble eggs, and pasta. With food brewing busily in our stomaches, we went to the bus and quickly arrived at school.

When we arrived at school it turned out that the bus we were using could not enter the school because we arrived late, so we immediately ran to the school lobby. After we arrived at the school lobby, we met our buddies. They asked us to walk down the hall to take part in the assembly. After a few minutes in the hall, we moved to the auditorium as we listened to a presentation regarding organ transplantation and organ functions. Once the assembly was over, we went straight to class for lessons. At 1.15 pm, everyone went to the school lobby, waiting for our ride. After the bus arrived, we said our goodbyes to our buddies and got on the bus.

As a vastly growing nation, Singapore has been facing problems with natural resources such as water throughout its history. Therefore, it was essential for us to understand the method of recycling water Singapore has been using for the past few centuries. Today, that was exactly what we learnt in the NEWater Centre after school. We went through a series of rooms and explanations on how every drop of water can be recycled and used for more than one time.

The whole process of explaining water recycling was quite difficult for us to digest. However, our trip to Jewel Changi Airport was the perfect cool-down for us! At the moment we set foot into the huge, gem-shaped mall, we rushed to the

IRVINS Salted Egg store for a short walkthrough on IRVINS’ journey to its success. After the presentation, we were given the honorable privilege to taste every single IRVINS product which eventually lured us into burning money to buy some of IRVINS’ best snacks!

Once everyone was satisfied with all our scavenging for snacks, the iconic Jewel Waterfall became our highlighted phototaking spot for today. Our hearts were fueled by excitement, knowing what was going to happen after the session. We instantly scattered in packs around the mall for a shopping spree after taking photos. Not a single person returned with empty hands! As our free time was finally over, we went back to the bus for the trip to dinner.

After gathering up near the exit of Changi Airport, we went inside our bus. It took quite a while to arrive at the restaurant. It was called “Sing Swee Kee Chicken Rice”. We took our seats and drank tea.  Then the food was served, they were chicken, rice, more chicken, tofu, duck, spring rolls and more. Like the previous dinners, the vegetables came last, when we were all already done with our dinner. The food was delicious, but the portion was smaller than yesterday’s.

After our exciting day of shopping, we reached the hotel at 8pm where we went straight to our rooms to shower. As usual, the journal was made in Iglesta and Calvin’s room at 9pm. We took the chance to reflect on everything we had experienced today and prepared for the next day.

Group 3:
Kelly Michelle Wang
Marcio Sandy Moniaga
Tatiana Laory
Iglesta Narwastu Prawira     
Calvin Tanardhi Setiawan

Today was the second day of the student exchange program. We started the day by waking up early, around 05.00. At 07.00 we went downstairs to have breakfast. Keiza and Jesslyn got locked out of their own rooms because they brought the wrong key. They accidentally brought Helena and Darlene’s key. The breakfast’s food was tasty. Unexpectedly, it rained hard so we had to put on our raincoats and umbrellas to go to our bus. The bus’ floor was fully wet.

Then, the trip from RELC hotel to Dunman high school only took fifteen to twenty minutes. A few minutes before arriving, we saw a glance of Dunman – we were immediately shocked by how big and grand the school looked. As soon as we got to the school,  we were greeted by the buddies. Then, the DHS and Petra buddies walked to an auditorium.  As we were walking, we saw a huge Confucius statue with trees circling it. The Petra and DHS buddies happily reinforced our relationship with one another – they were very friendly and welcoming. After a few minutes, we gathered at the school auditorium. There was a tangible sense of excitement ringing the hall. Then, we continued and followed our activities along with our buddies.

At 2pm we had to say goodbye to our buddies because a sightseeing adventure awaited us. We then proceeded with our trip to the enchanting Gardens By The Bay. We were welcomed by a short drizzle as we took a quick group photo session under the rain by the ‘Gardens By The Bay’ sign. Our first stop in our sightseeing adventure, the Flower Dome was the perfect way to display the radiant floral collection of our mother earth. The greens were painted with a variety of flowers and a blow of chill, fresh air. With all of them arranged together, it was a masterpiece!

Next on our itinerary was the Cloud Forest. As we went in, we could see an enormous tree right in the middle of the ‘forest’. It wasn’t long until we realized it was actually an attraction we could enter as well. A few phototaking sessions later, we found ourselves strolling through a bridge at the top of the tree where we could gaze upon the extraordinary view of Marina Bay Sands outside. As our trip came to an end, it was time for us to go on with dinner.

After our extraordinary trip to the Garden By The Bay, we went to Straits Chinese restaurant for dinner. We were served fishball soup, fried fish, chicken katsu, omelette, french fries, rice, sifulut, bokcoy with a plate of orange slices and watermelon for dessert. It was just the refreshment we needed from our exhausting trip.

Once dinner was done, we returned to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel at 7 pm. Mrs. Hariati immediately gave a detailed briefing about tomorrow’s activities. Then, we headed back to our rooms, took a shower and made a report. Today was quite an exhausting day but our eyes truly were pampered by the sightseeing in Gardens By The Bay.

Group 3:
Kelly Michelle Wang
Marcio Sandy Moniaga
Tatiana Laory
Iglesta Narwastu Prawira
Calvin Tanardhi Setiawan

The day every PEP student was waiting for finally came! It’s time for our impeccable learning experience in Singapore. We gathered in Juanda Airport’s Soerabaja Cafe at 5.30 am. As we went on with the briefing, the chaperones distributed shopping bags and passports to all of us. Once the teachers were done checking attendance, we went on to the long process of checking our baggage in and immigration to be cleared for boarding. Although we had to transport the aircraft by bus, the whole flight to Singapore was pleasant.

After about two hours, we finally arrived in Changi Airport safely. When we entered the airport, everyone rushed to the restrooms. It was surprising to know that we had to wait 30 minutes for everyone to be back after the ‘small’ toilet break. In fact, Kelly was the last one to get back from the toilet. Then, we went on with the most nerve-wracking part of our journey in the airport, the immigration! Everyone was so worried about what would happen later on when it’s their turn to go through immigration, but everything went on smoothly and all of us were cleared to enter Singapore. We then proceeded to the luggage belt.

After everyone got their luggage already, we took the bus to Qian Xi restaurant for our lunch. There was a variety of Chinese food for us to devour which included seaweed soup, black pepper chicken, sweet sour dory, tofu, shrimp and ginger chicken. That’s not all, though. As a refreshment from all the savories, they also served us Sunkist oranges. Considering it being our first lunch in Singapore, the food was delightful!

After lunch, we moved on with our sightseeing to the historical Merlion Park of Singapore. Every statue and building we passed by as we strolled through the park had its own philosophical relation to Singapore’s past. Our walk through the park truly was exhausting since we were directly exposed to the sun at that time. However, as time went by, the compilation of photos we took there together made it worth the walk under the scorching sun. It wasn’t long after the phototaking session until we eventually laid low and bought some refreshments in the park’s 7/11 store before we went back to the bus.

Our next stop was Chinatown which was only a few minutes away from Merlion Park. We were given an hour to spend our time shopping and buying all sorts of Singaporean souvenirs. The main reason most of us bought lots of gifts for our families back at home in Chinatown was because the prices were way cheaper there compared to the ones in malls. After the shopping spree, some of us spared some time to enter the temple out of curiosity. As we waited for everyone else to gather at the meeting point when the time was over, Mr Nando took the chance to flex his skills in performing dad jokes. Fortunately, his performance was cut off once we were already ready to go.

At around 17.30, we arrived at Yenney Hanoi Cuisine Restaurant for dinner. Surprisingly, our food was ready only a few minutes after we sat down. Being one of the favorite Asian dishes, we had the opportunity to eat Vietnamese dishes this time, starting from Pho soup, mixed vegetables, shrimp, eggs, pork, chicken to cucumber with rice. For our beverage, we were given a glass of cold water, just what we needed after a long, exhausting day. Everyone agreed that the food was absolutely delicious, mainly because it had its own authentic Vietnamese taste. Even so, we couldn’t fully finish our dinner as we’d already bought snacks in Chinatown before dinner.

Being full and satisfied with our dinner meal, we went to our hotel by bus and checked in. When we opened the doors of the hotel for the first time, there was an undeniable palpable sense of excitement. The teachers then gave us our room information and keys. All of the students got separated by two. Tania shared her room with Kelly, Marcio with Ethan, and Calvin with Iglesta. The hotel skyrocketed beyond our expectations. For a twin room, it was quite spacious. To the furthest point from the door, there was a balcony view – which was one of the things I enjoyed most about the room. This view was really refreshing – and everyone could indulge themselves in the beautiful city view.

Then, we decided to gather, until something tragic happened. Tania and Kelly went out of the room without holding the key! Therefore, Pak Nando and Calvin, Iglesta, Marcio and Tania went to the reception room and asked for a new card. Thankfully, everything went smoothly – and we got another card. After finishing the matter, we gathered at Calvin’s and Iglesta’s room for a further discussion about our group report. As the report was finally completed, we went back to our rooms and proceeded with our slumber.