This week was filled with even more exploration of Singapore. Firstly, Saturday marked my 21st birthday, which caused some great local celebration. On Friday night, a bunch of buddies and I returned back to the Newton Hawker Centre, my all-time favorite food market, to dig into some Michelin starred chicken wings as well as some dumplings. The food, yet again, hit the spot. To celebrate my birthday, a bunch of buddies and I went to the Marina Bay Sands building, where there is a beautiful restaurant and bar on the roof, or the boat, of the building. Alongside the restaurant overlooking the harbor there was an infinity pool, which we all paid to jump in. The restaurant graciously found some towels for us afterwards, as we came straight from the Newton Hawker Centre, and we continued to spend the night at the CE LA VI nightclub, where we ran into a bunch of other Bucknell students. The food coupled with the amazing view overlooking all of Singapore was one of the highlights of my Singapore experience so far, and it was truly an unforgettable experience to be up top at the most iconic building in Singapore for the start of my 21st birthday.
One thing I would love to highlight about my birthday, giving major kudos to the Orchard Parksuites, was a hand-delivered birthday cake from the Orchard Parksuites team. This was an incredibly gracious gesture from the Orchard Parksuites team, and truly reflects and embodies the kind spirit that is prevalent throughout Singaporean citizens.
A final note about this local week that I would like to write about is an update about my internship experience working for a small venture capital firm. This week was an incredibly busy week within the office, as the firm was closing a deal with its 34th portfolio company, a chickpea bioprocessor company that is in its pre-seed stage. I spent the week working on an IC memo providing much due diligence to competitor analysis, market overview, company overview, company-specific technology, as well as the board and team of the company. With this memo, alongside a senior partner of the firm, we presented this to the entirety of the firm, which was followed by much conversation and Q&A, finally leading to an overall yes to follow through with the investment. After this notion, the team celebrated the decision, and we all went out for lunch near the office.
Overall, this week was yet another work-focused week, but also a week that made me appreciate the kind people of Singapore. I am thoroughly looking forward to these last 5 weeks of the abroad program, as my travel plans will start to kick in, as well as my familiarity of Singapore.