This is what i have been writing for TP de. they wanna see my experience in adelaide... Why cant they just read my blog? Hehe~ Here goes nothing~
Name: Johnathan Tan ShiLiang Admission Number: 0503347G Company attached: University of Adelaide, Australia
I am lucky that I am having my student internship overseas. I have been attached to the University Of Adelaide, Australia. There was once where I feel like backing out due to the cost and going without having paid. However, with much consideration and after talking to my family about it, my family encourage me to go despite of the amount they have bring out. This is also the first time I will be going overseas for a long period of time. This is the time when I could learn to be independent and gain as much experience as all of us could in terms of leaving with friends under one roof.
Upon arriving, I got stopped together with Trixie because I actually did not declare some food items which I have forgotten. I did not expect the immigration regulations are so strict. However, the security said it’s alright and just let us pass. We then took a cab from airport all the way to the services apartment centre and then to our apartment which cost about AU$30. Compared to Singapore, I think cab in Australia is cheaper due to the distant travelled and cab allows five people to squeeze in a four sitter cab. The most people here are very friendly. When you happen to meet any strangers in the neighbourhood, they will greet you with a smile. Or when you boarded every bus, all of the bus captain will greet words like ‘hi’, ‘good morning’ and when alighting, they will say ‘have a nice day’ or ‘take care’. If someone were to greet you near your neighbourhood, you may just avoid the person and thinking whether was he crazy or being too friendly.
When shopping for groceries, there come the similarities in Singapore. Super market here encourage everyone to bring their own Green beg so as to reduce the use of plastic bags to save the environment. The level of ozone protecting us from UV rays is very low in Adelaide which is located at the south of Australia and too much sunlight causes skin cancer so these is why the Green beg is encourage here, in Australia. Buying groceries is hard to compare with Singapore, beef, pork and some fruits are cheap. A box of tissues which cost about AU$3 per box is very expensive compare with Singapore.
Food here is expensive compare to Singapore. The weirdest thing is most of the food centre here sold Asian food. Western foods are mostly fast-food example McDonalds, KFC, Subway and Hungry Jack which is Singapore’s Burger King. Either fast food or restaurants so we have not tried any local delight yet. Fast food cost five to eight dollars for a meal and Asian food cost eight and above for a dish! Asian food is as nice as food in Singapore even though the restaurant looks high class and cost is high too. I also realise that there is no restaurants selling Halal food which I think is a barrier to all the Muslims or Malay friends that planning to visit Adelaide.
When we arrived to the university on the second day, we were warmly welcomed by Dr Yung, who is a Vietnamese. She started introducing herself to us by telling us that she taught in one of the poly in Singapore for 6-7 years before coming to the University of Adelaide. Next she confirms the projects we are doing and who is our supervisors before introducing us to the head of department, Professor Keith King. Lastly, we were brought to Mary, the administration stuff who do our entire document and bring us to our office. We were invited to a weekly tea party to bond all the stuff members and post-graduates. I think this is a good practice so as to bring down the stress and making the work place a nicer place to work at.
My supervisor will be away for two weeks. However, I am lucky enough that I have someone who will be taking over temperately. Jeffery, who is currently taking is PhD, he has already taught me how to make an emulsion along with the methods and how to use the apparatus; sonicator and the optical microscope. The practice here is very different. Lab coat is not a must to wear because for my experiment, I only deal with non harmful chemical like kerosene and water. They also has some similarities is that glove must be worn when handling chemicals and organic solution must be contained into another container for disposal. When using a micropipette, a new cartridge is use whenever a different sample is being extracted onto the glass and also, the glass that is use to put the sample can be thrown away, which means it is not a must to recycle them. There is also a thin piece of glass which was used to flatten the sample so as to make sure that there is light passing through the sample on the glass, it is usually thrown away after used. I think it’s a waste to throw away everything glass piece. Why can’t they put a recycling bin so as to throw used glasses and they can maybe wash it and recycle it rather then throwing it away. It seems to have contradicting the ‘Green’ bag they used in supermarket. Its like one minus one equals to zero, the ultimate result will be nothing.
Working pace in Adelaide is slower then Singapore. However, they still get their jobs done on time. This could be due to number of aged in the Adelaide. On our stay here, I’ve seen as much elderly then young people. It seems that most of the young generation have move to a more hectic city like Sydney or Melbourne. It has been around three weeks that we subscribe to the internet and it is still in progress, what worse is that they had already cut our bills. However, the stress level seems lower then what we have experience in Singapore.
Entertainment here is just like visiting the countryside; Adelaide is a very small city. Chinatown here is quite small and mostly are restaurants. Their working hours is different. Everyday, the working hours is usually from 0800 to 1700 that’s include Saturday and Sunday. However, for Thursday, in the suburban area, the working hour extends to 2100 and for Friday, working hour extends to 2200 in the city area. Other then shopping, there is the Zoo, the botanic garden and the museum. The outskirts of Adelaide are all vineyard and farm which we are still planning when to go. Watching a movie is very expensive which cost from $8 to $13.
Lastly, I feel that this trip to Adelaide will benefit me greatly in terms of the experience, to be independent and the things learn. I have already felt that I understand what my project is about and how to do it. However, my supervisor left me more question unanswered and I have to find the answer myself, it’s unlike poly life where we could ask the lectures what we do not understand and they will help to make us understand better. Overall, staying with friends is something not everyone experience and I will use this opportunity to learn and have fun together.
