Claud

An avid collector of your hopes and worries, a romantic at heart.

She thanks her fairies, for blessing her with people who know compassion down to an art.

For accepting her for who she is, who never fails to turn up,

in times of need as well as happiness, or just there for a loving hug.

They say graduation is not the end of the road, it's rather the beginning of things to come. Before I step out in the world, I would like to take some time to reminiscence the times I've had in NUS.

I guess I was dragged into NUS kicking and screaming, because in my heart I truly wanted to pursue a degree in Geology at Imperial College. Then again, life has its way of getting what it wanted - after my mum's stroke - studies was really the only thing I knew that wasn't foreign. So I looked to it for peace and answers. I didn't get the answers, but I found peace and that is all that I really wanted.

I took modules like "Social Inequality: Who gets ahead?", "Geographies of Development", "Sexuality in Comparison", "Social Thought and Theory", "Social Geography" because I was really driven by notions of unfairness and social justice. After being rudely awakened by how unfair life can be, all I wanted was to know I wasn't alone. Through the case studies, I found that I'm indeed fortunate. When life settled down some, I felt that I could return to what I love about learning and took modules that were more theoretical like "Social thought and theory" and "Lifecourse Perspective and Aging".

Modules like "Economy and Space", "Remaking the Global Economy", "Service Industry" armed me with a more practical skill set to better appreciate the working world and how we all fit in the whole scheme of economic-things. These modules also discipline me in a way, where I have to rigourously ensure that my arguments and facts are on the ball - essentially, I quit "smoking" because of these modules.

I flirted with Stats and methodology with "Data Analysis in Sociology" and "Qualitative Inquiry" and it is these two modules that I owe most of my methodology training to. I truly appreciate the value of both methods and my honours thesis was really streamlined because of them.

Other electives like "Reading Visual Images", "Theory and History of Architecture", "Visual Culture" took my side-interests of art and architecture to a new high. Now I'm so excited to go museums and just appreciate in the expansiveness and extensiveness of what art can bring! It really helped me appreciate the Venice Biennale more as well, although I understand that I've only just begin to scratch the surface.

Just ending this semester, Philosophy was really an eye-opener to life's biggest questions: Why is someone held responsible when they i.e. kill someone? What are the arguments for the existence of a higher being and the arguments against it? What should we do when confronted with choices that seem to be impossible? I wished I had more time and energy to explore them all, I guess this one module is enough for now. It really spurred my interest in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences and Philosophy of Probability.

Most importantly, I've learn from my lecturers/tutors the most and they really inspired my passion for not the subject per se, but by the issues they discussed. When I look back 10-20 years, it is not the content nor the lecture notes I remember, but their passion for the subject, the values they impart, and the critical questions they set that makes me such a better person. There are more important things besides getting an accreditation, they are the wisdom. I feel that if all you take from tertiary education is simply the certificate and content, then you have learnt very little. If you are not changed at the end of your educational journal into someone better (a better thinker, a person with more compassion and understanding), then you have simply wasted $25,000 for very expensive toilet paper.

My academic journey is not the end, but the beginning. It takes a long time to gain these skills and more importantly, maturity to appreciate and apply what we have learnt.

I have been changed in ways, where I cannot return to the state I was before. I have been changed in ways I yet do not know. I have been changed in ways in which made me humbler about life, and to not take things for granted.


Although my choice of studying geology never did come true, but I immensely grateful that NUS has given me peace in time of turbulence, answers in times of doubt and maturity in times of self-interest. When I graduate, I shall look back and smile instead of frown. =)