My Sunburst Youth Camp Experience ❤

This is gonna be a long blog post. 

I spent more than one day trying to remember what happened .

Hello, I'm officially back from Singapore !

and it was just an amazingggggggggggg experience, I just wish I could go back to start it all over again.

so here's a day by day blog about what happened starting from when I attended the central training in Sepang, Kuala Lumpur.

We spent three days of training in Sepang which basically meant three days in captivity since we weren't allowed out of the hotel and near the swimming pool.

Three days with no sun !

When we first arrived, we checked in and later when snooping around the hotel because we weren't allowed out. First selfie with my roommate for the next three days !

The selfie I took from the top of the hotel where the swimming pool was located.

Last at night at the first briefing, we were told that the swimming pool area was off limits.

We were already there tho.

Taken during our training time.

We were performing a Kompang Formasi for the cultural performance which is like playing the kompang while doing moves.

Everyone of us except Arman has never even held a kompang in our entire lives so, it was hard.

Nevertheless, we kept going and trained hard.

After going through many swollen fingers and a dozen of bandages, we managed to complete our kompang formasi in two days time.

Look at how fat my middle and fourth finger are from hitting the kompang too much T.T

The time when I brought original Harry Potter chocolate frog to training and invited my two dear potterheads, Jazz and Zharif to eat with me.

The frog was so hard, I wanted to throw it on the floor to break it apart.

It was yummy tho :)

oh and we received sponsored Adidas jackets to wear to the airport when we head to Singapore.

It was so awesome because I never expected the PIBG of my school to actually sponsor us expensive jackets,

Look how excited we were !

We actually received alot of sponsored stuff because of this camp, from bag to shirts and windbreaker.

I love free stuff.

The days flew by and without knowing, it was time to head to Singapore.

While spending time training in Sepang, we basically woke up early to have breakfast, went training, took naps during breaks and trained again.

On the last day, I actually felt like I didn't want to go Singapore at all.

because I missed Malaysia and the comfort of being home.

Being in a foreign country didn't seem very appealing to me and I didn't see how I could have as much fun as the teachers who previously went as chaperones to SYC said they had.

All the same, I went to Singapore and boy was I wrong.

DAY 1 - Departure & Arrival @ Singapore 

Our flight to Singapore was delayed by around an hour so we arrived at the airport relatively early.

We all wore the same shirt sponsored by the Ministry of Education ! 

How cool is that ?

And the guy at the left is our dance instructor, he was the one that patiently taught us how to play the kompang from scratch !

Thanks Encik Yusri !

Some parents of my friends came to send them off so I went to eat McDonalds while waiting for them to say goodbye lol.
The flight to Singapore only took 45 minutes. (I just realised how close Singapore actually is to Malaysia, just 45 minutes ! wow) . When we exited the departure hall, we were immediately greeted by smiling figures waving at us.
It was our country group !
We were a little awkward at the beginning, introducing ourselves and naming our favourite foods.
Now that I think back, gosh we were so awkward, it's making me laugh .

Checked in at RELC hotel and went up to my room to put my luggage away.
My new roommates left after leaving their bags.

The view from my hotel room's balcony !

Went out with my country group to eat chicken rice @ Far East Plaza and we had to hurry back because we were late for the first briefing.
The chicken rice was 4 singapore dollar which equals to RM 10.40 for one plate of chicken rice (yes i used the calculator), omg.
There was this drink called Godzilla drink and it seemed really cute and unique, but the price was 4 singapore dollar !
The price of a plate of chicken rice equals to one cup of Godzilla drink. *insert shocked face*
In the end, I settle with just Teh Ais, only 2.50 sing dollar .
Singapore food is really just so expensive :(

Hurried back for the first briefing and of course we were briefed about the rules and do and don'ts.
Apparently our curfew is at 10 pm and everyone should be in their respective rooms by then, plus no one is allowed to visit each other's room.
I think I broke all the rules in just Day 1.

The SYC bag they gave us when we first arrived containing all the essentials from cup noodles, water tumbler, wind breaker, booklet, name tag, towel, cap to different SYC shirts for everyday.

My name tag !

The booklet which has all our schedules and grouping information.

Basically the life of all the participants.

My roommate is a Singaporean girl named Cara who is also in the same country group as me and another Thailand named Nam who is in the same activity group, lucky me :)

Day 2 : Outward Bound School (OBS)

Had to get up at 5:30 am because breakfast was at 6:45 am but I overslept of course, still I managed to attend the morning briefing right on time by gulping down my breakfast like a dinosaur.

We sat a ferry across to Pulau Ubin where Outward Bound School was at, and I'm not gonna lie.

The sea stinks and it was raining so we had to wear our wind breakers.

We began our day with a few team building activity such as this hoop called the helium hoop.

This is potentially the nastiest hoop in the universe.

Everyone can only hold out one finger flat under the hoop (no curling around the hoop!) and we have to lower the hoop until our palm touches the ground.

The helium hoop is designed such that when just one person is holding the hoop a little higher than the others, the entire hoop rises back up.

To get the hoop to the ground, all of us had to do the same timing and lower at the same time.

Getting it to the ground was a real challenge and we took a while but we managed to finish within the time limit !

12 minutes to be exact !

Then, we started to get ready for the real excitement !

Rock climbing !

The safety checkups and briefing was around one hour long before we were taught how to belayer.

In case you have no idea what belaying is, it's the person who holds and tighten the rope that is holding on to the climber.

If the belayer lets go while the climber is falling, then well, it's permanent goodbye.

We also have a belayer assistant which is the person holding on to the rope beside the belayer just incase the belayer loses focus and another person holds the belayer down from the back as a deadweight so the belayer doesn't fly up when the climber falls.

I tried all position and I must say, the most awkward is the belayer because I was in a group of guys (i was the only girl) and they are easily double my weight.

When the climber did his falling, I almost flew up.

Thankfully, there was another guy holding me firmly to the ground as a deadweight or yeah, I'll be the next flyer.

Then, after learning how to belay, we could try machines with harder difficulty !

This is what I climbed.

I tried the parallel logs, and it was scary as asdfghjkl.

From the bottom sure it's easy to say 'nahh just climb don't look down' but when you are up there, god knows how many metres away from ground and nothing holding you but a rope, god it's scary.

The logs were separated at a distance, you can only grab the next log if you stand up straight.

Climbing onto the next log is another challenge.

Overall, I honestly wanted to chicken out when I reached the first log but I felt so sorry for my buddy climber, Atilah from Brunei because she wanted to climb on.

I think the entire place heard me yelling 'oh my god' all the way from the top.

So I just forced myself to climb on and I'm glad I did.

Proud to say, I climbed to the third parallel log and I guess I was about four metres plus away from ground ?

I was trembling too much to count.

In the end, we had to stop because the next log was too high up, we couldn't reach it even by standing up .

Short people problems.

The best moment was when you can just let go of everything and kick yourself off the log, trusting your belayer to hold on to you and let you down slowly.

My belayer was Jordan and I faintly remember threatening to burn his desk if he let go of my rope.

fear makes you mumble ridiculous stuff.

After lunch, we had more team building activities !

Giant skipping rope !

All of us had to hold a part of each other and walk on the tiny plastic words provided, the last person has to pick up the words before stepping onto the next word.

I'm loving this picture even if I look unglam.

Joined the mega rafters where they joined around five kayak rafts together with rope and together, we kayak all the way to the boat at the middle of the river to pass on the Sunburst Youth Camp flag !

Most of us stank terribly after that because we had to put on our life vests and float at the sea to make sure we are confident enough with our life vests, just in case we fall in.

Which means we didn't necessarily have to get wet, but they made sure we did.

After showering, we had our campfire night .

There were games like pass the parcel and we had a friendship dance where the girls stand in a front circle and boys stand at the back and together, we dance the friendship dance as a couple.
I still remember the song, dayum.
Lastly, we sang songs like The Climb together and just enjoyed each other's presence.
This was my first campfire experience and omg, it was perfect.

WE ARE SYC 2014 !

Day 3 : National Institute of Education (NIE) & Singapore Science Centre 

Good morning from my Indonesian friend, Cynthia.

The next day, we headed to NIE to visit the campus and learn more about the education system. The starting was a bit boring because we had opening speeches by a few professors and we were monitored by the ACEs to make sure we don't fall asleep.

I ain't gonna lie, I almost did.

My korean friend, Chang Yoon fell asleep the moment the professor opened his mouth lol.

Then, we went on a bus and did a campus tour of NIE.

The campus was huge ! Like an area of civilization on its own !

Then, we were brought to watch a science demo by one of the professors of NIE.

Now this show was really fascinating because the professor was really fun.

After that, we visited the green house and learn about hydroponic plants.

After lunch, we headed to the Science Centre Singapore !

SPOT ME !

  This picture was by the professional photographer of SYC and I was caught being a camwhore, lol

that selfie stick tho.

It was really cool and we were brought into different exhibitions. There are three main exhibitions which were the Human Body Exhibition, Wallace and Climate Change.

Climate Change is about the importance of taking care of our earth + green house effect.

Wallace was about this adventurer named Wallace and his findings and treasures.

The HBX (which was the best one) started with a large human mouth (like really large) and we had to crawl inside from the mouth, slide down the throat into the human body.

yeah, that size.

We passed the vocal nodules, throat, lungs, heart, brain, small instestine and stuff.

Basically experiencing what the food we eat experiences as it is being digested.

Most of the time we are being squeezed or have to bend down to slip through the fake nerves.

I think we were in the lungs, not very sure lol

The human body exhibition was so fun, we went in twice.

At the small intestine, there is this narrow hallway with big inflated balloon kinda material that completely blocks your way from entering so you have to really push through.

Thus, the second time we entered, we sat in the middle of being squished and took a selfie.

See how all of us are awkwardly bending our heads?

and there's a random cute kid who kept following us, yay.

A paper from Climate Change which tells me how much sun shone on my birthday, but this occured in Singapore and I was borned in Malaysia so ..

Then, we were allowed free time to venture alone around the science centre so we went into the sound section and played with the stuff there.

Because I was wandering around with a pack of Singaporeans, I decided to become a fake Singaporean as well for the day.

So I went and told one of the workers there that I was Singaporean too, and he believed me.

In fact most people didn't bother asking me which country I came from in the beginning because they taught I was Singaporean.

Gosh, I need to stop my Singlish and switch to Manglish.

 um, we were supposedly experiencing how loud a tornado is but I guess it wasn't that loud.

The Tesla show ! (which was pretty boring to be a main show, so sorry i don't do zapping much)

If you ask me to be honest, day 2 was the most boring day out of all the days of SYC.

Not because it wasn't fun or anything but others were just too interesting.

This one falls back a little.

At night, we all crowded in our chaperone's room and made lots of 'where's vanessa' jokes.

One of the best country group nights of SYC !

I'm sorry, Vanessa xD

Day 4 : Sunburst Discovery 

I don't remember a day that I wasn't rushing for breakfast so I can't say I was early.

but I still made it to briefing on time so I wasn't late.

On this day, we were allowed out on our own with an ACE and no chaperones which means no adults basically.

We are given a booklet and a list of compulsory places to visit plus the bonus places.

We have six hours to visit all the compulsory places and return to do our presentation slides.

The first place we visited was Punggol Waterway Park .

It was actually located at the same place where we sat the ferry to Pulau Ubin !
God knows it was called Punggol Waterway Park.
but Yi Zhen accidently stopped the bus before we reach the destination so we had to walk all the way to the park on foot, but it's okay.
The birds were singing for us then lol.

Next, we went to MICA building which was a colourful building with rainbow coloured windows !
It used to be a police station ironically.

Next is Jurong Bird Park,

and finally, we ran most of the way to and fro from Kampong Glam.

Really tiring but omg, so worth it.

The real fun moments were getting to know each other on the bus and MRT and taking random pictures of sleeping friends lol.

We were the last group to return so we basically ran the entire way back and rushed into the auditorium, thankfully we were done with our slides in the MRT so we just had to present with no preparation whatsoever.

Thank god for my public speaking experiences, I didn't screw up.

ah and the cameraman caught me laughing like a maniac, AGAIN.

I got to stop laughing like a retarded seal.

At night, tho we were dead tired from running around the entire day.

We went out with our country group to Orchard Road !

and we were acting like those typical foreigners because it was a five steps, one selfie progression.

 The Christmas decorations at Orchard Road is really pretty !

After that, we separated into two groups and Yuan Yuan, Jazlynn and me went into H&M for a little girl shopping.

We went to eat Garrett popcorn because yuan yuan said it was nice.

tho it costed 5 singapore dollars, I think I could afford to spend some money on nice food.

We had another night time Malaysian 'bonding' time at our chaperone's room but I was too tired so I fell asleep lol.

Day 5 : Exhibition & Gardens By The Bay

The night before the exhibition, plenty of countries were already setting up their booths but because we were out at Orchard Road, we paid the price pretty dearly and rushed to set up our booth in the morning.

The process was terribly stressful but we made it.

The exhibition started and when it was Malaysia's turn to present, I didn't memorise any script so I just spontaneously went off and once again, thankfully I didn't screw up :)

Then, we went around taking loads and loads of pictures !

We were supposed to wear our traditional outfits so we managed to see lots of foreign traditional clothings !

with the hanbok wearing Chang Yoon from Korea !

The hanbok is so pretty, i'm very jealous.

 I'm pretty certain he's from Thailand (i'm so sorry, my memory is bad)

with Athilah from Brunei !

Traditional clothing of Thailand girls !

Brunei's traditional clothing is just the same as Malaysia's baju melayu .

with Zhang Chi from China, god I look so short sia.

with Big from Laos , my man ! 

(he's actually very much taller but somehow the angle is being kind to me)

I met Harry Potter from Turkey !

dang the Vietnam girls are really pretty .

till this day, I still only know him as Mr. Fisherman.

Mr. Fisherman from Singapore.

and some of them didn't wear their traditional clothing especially the Singaporeans because there were 25 of them doing exhibition and only 2 of them actually speaking.

Another 25 of them were involved in the cultural dance .

with Ryan from Singapore !

with Valerie, one of my country group mates and YouTube buddies !

with Lee Chuan, my activity group mate from Singapore !

with Darien, another country group mate and also Mr. SYC of 2014 !

with Antonin and Eugene, yes antonin is singaporean, stop asking me.

with my two day ACE, Brian =D

I don't really know his name because he asked me for the photo but I know he is from Sri Lanka !

Hey !

After the exhibition, we had to rush and I MEAN RUSH, to get out of our traditional clothing and assemble at the auditorium because we were heading to Gardens By The Bay.

I think among all the places we went, Gardens By The Bay is my absolute favourite.

The place is fully air conditioned and there was Christmas songs playing in the background plus the decoration was really beautiful.

It's like in those drama where you walk along a beautiful path of flowers and soothing music is playing, yeah that was exactly how it felt.

The first section was the Flower Dome where all the pretty flowers were at !

 Next, was another section called Cloud Forest probably because it was cloudy ( artificial cloud lol)

greeted by this beautiful waterfall when we entered 

god my asian eyes.

All in everything, the Gardens By The Bay is just really a beautiful place to visit.
Idk whether they only decorate it so beautifully during Christmas, but if that is the case then visit it during Christmas month, you won't regret it.
As for cloud forest, if you are living a hectic lifestyle and need a little peace, go to cloud forest.
In the busy city of Singapore, it's like entering a state of meditation where everything is quiet and peaceful.
No kidding.

At night, once again we went out to Ion Orchard just for some simple night strolling with my country group mates !

I saw this really cute shop selling colourful small boxes of chocolates inside.

and I took pictures of it secretly because I didn't know whether pictures were allowed lol.

There's one for everything from breaking up to getting married.

How cute is that ?!

Day 6 : Cultural Dance Concert & Last Day

Almost every night of the SYC camp, we had 20 minutes of dance rehearsal for each country specially for this night.

The SYC cultural concert night where each country showcases the beauty of the culture of their nation.

The performance went pretty well and I would show you the video but I don't have it yet.

The Koreans actually danced Bar Bar Bar by Crayon Pop (god i dislike that song) but the koreans did it really well and everyone was cheering (including me !)

Then after the closing speech by Mr. Ong, everyone ran on stage and started jumping/dancing like mad including me !

Idk what was going on, all I remembered was jumping and screaming and chanting and everything from pins to samping falling off.

At that point, it didn't matter whether you are from Thailand, China or Sri Lanka, whether you even knew each other or you were complete strangers, you just danced together and laughed together.

That was when I truly felt the unity between all the youths from different countries.

There was no language barrier anymore when we danced and at that point, we were truly one.

Everyone was dripping with sweat and it was very stuffy but nobody cares anyways.

Then we had to leave after jumping for around less than one hour because we had to go out to Bugis Road.

I had almost drag the Malaysian boys out of the dance floor and the auditorium because they were obviously going high.

We went out for the last night to Bugis road ! 

They said this shop's bubble tea was nice so I tried it !

We reached the hotel at around midnight because screw the curfew, it's the last night.
At midnight, I went to join my activity group mates on our last party.

We wrote messages for each other on papers and passed it around. Then we just took selfies, did a group hug, sang songs and played the first impression game.
No surprise, most of everyone's first impression of me was 'that singaporean girl'.
meh.

Then, everyone started to leave because some of their flights were at 6 o'clock in the morning.
I hugged each of them goodbye because god knows when I am ever going to meet them again.
Then, at around 3 o'clock in the morning or so, I left to go upstairs and pack my stuff.
I remember packing my luggage until I guess 4 or 5 o 'clock in the morning.
I have no idea how but I woke up the next morning on my bed, with my phone uncharged and left with 5 minutes to eat breakfast and check out.
Leaped out of bed, did the fastest getting ready I ever had done in my life and ran down for breakfast.
Still, I wasn't the most late *smug face*
I didn't plan to sleep at all but I guess one hour of sleep makes it worse .

Day 7 - Departure :(

This is the saddest day of the week.

I never expected to be so attached to some people I have only known for one week.

But for one week, we were together as a family.

We ate together, went out together and had each other's back.

We made jokes together and laughed together.

Even when we arrived at the airport, I didn't feel the need to cry yet.

but when we were outside the departure hall where it was the farthest our country group could send us off,

when the ACEs came and sang us the goodbye song,

god the tears went flowing like a damn river.

I don't know why.
I remember trying to hold back my tears but then I saw Yuan Yuan crying and bam, I was crying like a baby.
It was hella embarrassing but it didn't matter then because I caught the guys crying as well.
We were all a bunch of crying mess.
I hugged all the ACEs goodbye and also my country group before unwillingly entering the departure hall.
The officer who checked my passport and boarding pass before I entered must be like, 'da heck this girl sobbing for'.

This was the first time I cried at the airport.
I always watched movies where the leads will cry as the other entered the departure hall and I never understood why,
but when you know you are leaving and probably aren't going to see them anymore, the feeling is terrible.
especially when I hugged him, the feels oh god.
I was still sobbing when I entered the part when I went through immigration, thankfully the officer didn't laugh at me.

I look so unglam because I was crying.

Nobody looks glam when they are crying.

Friendship bands from the Singaporeans.

All in everything, I miss you guys so much.

I miss my activity group and I miss my country group.

I miss sitting together for breakfast and dinner, making silly Vanessa jokes and talking about each other's crush.

I miss exchanging swear words with my activity group and learning new swear words.

I've only attended one camp besides this, which was when I was 12 but compared to this, that camp was nothing.

This camp is hands down one of the best camp I could ever imagine.

I met so many new people and made so many new international friendships.

We may have been awkward in the beginning but in the end, we really became as close as family.

I'm so thankful for being chosen and given the chance to attend this camp.

Here's to NINE POWER and the infamous noisiest country group, Malaysia !

I miss you, my SYC family.