The end of the chapter...

I am writing this blog from my room in a volunteer dorm in Hanoi, Vietnam. I never expected myself being in Hanoi doing a volunteer job in January when I first heard I was going to Singapore. Singapore just comes with many more benefits than only an amazing city to study in. Last two months I travelled around South-East Asia and that was a perfect way to make the exchange an even better, more self-developing and fun experience. My journey started in Vientiane, Laos and the first 2,5 week I was travelling by myself. From strange local buses, eating frog, watching amazing sunsets from my own balcony on the Mekong river for 2 euro’s and wonderful waterfalls to super friendly people, Laos was so so good! I met many nice other backpackers, but I was also impressed by the traditional way the locals live. Laos is very laid-back, so make sure you are not in a rush there. After 10 days I crossed the Cambodian border and went to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor Wat. In one word: impressive. There are so many temples and they are all so breath-taking that it is impossible to describe it. After Siem Reap I went to the capital, Pnom Penh. I dropped some tears in the S-21 museum and the killing fields, where I got an impression about the Cambodian war. It’s hard to imagine what the people in Cambodia have been through and this day was very tough for me, I was so touched by the stories and it made my love for Cambodia grow even bigger.

But after these weeks of intensive backpacking, sleeping early and waking up early to see many things it was time for some beach and party. So together with friends from Singapore and some from Tilburg we went to the islands in the South of Thailand and had some great days there. We swam with turtles, went to ‘the beach’ beach, drank (many) buckets and had great ‘feet in the sand’ parties. A total different way of celebrating Christmas, but I had the best time!!!

For NYE one of my best friends from home was in Singapore, so I went ‘home’ to go to the biggest beach count-down in Asia, which was on Sentosa beach. It was very good to be back in the city I love so much. Also nice to be in a proper city, where you can take the subway, withdraw money, have normal (expensive) supermarkets, where everything is clean and everybody speaks English.

After 4 days I was totally ready to go to Vietnam for my volunteer job. I am teaching English in a secondary school, which means children from 10 to 15. It’s very interesting to see the differences in manners from what I’m used to and here in Vietnam, but I expected way more respect. Vietnamese people are overall quite rude and that’s probably how they raise their children. They have no manners and there is total chaos in the classes. Children are busy with everything (brushing each others hair, shaping a drawing pencil, fighting, sleeping or chatting) except from listening to the teacher, to me or to other children.

These two months of travelling through South-East Asia have been so amazing for me, they were the cherry on the Singaporean cake. This Thursday I have to fly back to the Netherlands, because classes almost start again. I have no clue how to feel about going home, totally mixed feelings. Happy to see my family and friends again, but also very sad to close this chapter and realizing I’ll never come back to Singapore in these circumstances, with the same people..

I’m thankful for all the things I learned, about different cultures, about business, about people, but mainly about myself. I can definitely say this was the best experience of my life!