SMP Group 3 – Day 1
Group 3 Day 1
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.