After being announced to succeed in the first-step of the prerequisite qualification process, the persevering dream of mine, has been brought into reality. I was ecstatic, uplifted, rejoicing, and feeling this short-lived euphoria; to hear the enlivening news, the other day. I was enchanted, at the same time, honoured to be selected as the worthy candidate; to have such wonderful encounters and cultural exchange with Singapore’s Durham students. However, prior to the long-awaited moment to come by, we were enlightened and familiarized ourselves with the given compact instructions, a summarized version of the run-down, and most importantly, delightful events in which we’d be able to partake in—kudos to our beloved teachers, we had a vivid depiction of what’s about to happen on the D-day. 

Since ‘Petra 1’ as our appointed gathering place is a faraway place for me to drop by, I was faced with an adversity, yet fortunate enough to have Petra 2 to facilitate my way there; alongside plenty of my peers. After our arrival, at 9:50-ish, another rather-short 

preparation was held, then we’re set to go. Long story short, all of us were disassembled into our own designated rooms—while for me, it’s Room 3. The apparent 13:00 (local time) showed that our exhilarating exchange program would begin promptly. Firstly, we were enthusiastically greeted by the Singaporeans—our Petra’s representatives did the same in turn. Afterwards, we’re split into our assigned breakout rooms, and ordered to fill out this specific worksheet concerning our collaborative project. But before doing so, our first-ever discourse session wouldn’t be so felicitous and ethical enough, without the well-needed and essential introductions from each one of us, to generate charming first impressions. 

At first, pure awkwardness and discomfort permeated the breakout room, as we chose to be reserved and tight-lipped, whilst adjusting to the unfamiliar situation. Not long after, the silence was bound to be broken, per usual. We started off with Durham’s magnificent architecture tour, then began to progressively transition our chatter’s topic, going from discussing habitual hobbies to retail services, our primary objective to accomplish. Coincidentally, we hadn’t really delved into our perplexing commissioned topic ‘retail services’, but we’re conveying our very own ideas of what actually defines ‘retail services’ itself. We’d come into a settlement that, the notion of this challenging topic, would be solely limited to the flourishing online shopping method, and the thriving delivery system to handle the current Covid-19 outbreak, where innovation and sustainability are prioritized. In a furious pace, we did an astounding job in completing the planner to assess our ‘retail topic’ as our main content. All in all, it was a thrilling rollercoaster ride in the process of it. 

By Wilbert Nathaniel (Petra 2)