Trials and Errors
My third week of internship was very busy. I finished my first campaign! Now that it’s done, it’s a big sigh of relief. I must admit that my big trial and error was British English, which is very different from American English. Words I never imagined could have an “s” instead of a “z” do. I had to really pay attention to detail to adjust to the requirements needed to market to a Singaporean target audience. It took me back to International Marketing, which I took back in Sydney. One of the most frequent themes (Sienna and Jackson can attest) was that when you do business with another country, you need to adopt their practices — pretty common sense, but there were several real-world examples where companies failed to adequately translate a language, follow a cultural practice, etc. So, while truth be told, I found it a bit annoying how many words varied, looking back, it’s rather comical how I got to apply class theory. Even though I knew it, I still fell victim. Thankfully, Boss Tiffany was there to help point out my American spellings. My other big trial and error this week was attempting to learn Adobe’s Premiere Pro. While acquiring the skill set will be very handy, I’m sure, the learning curve is brutal. I’ve done video editing on iMovie, but (probably unsurprisingly) Premiere Pro is in another league. There are so many options that I’m struggling to wrap my head around making sure I get everything done. I’ve been watching YouTube videos to try and get my bearings. Stay tuned; I’m confident that within the next four weeks, the learning curve will lead me to comfortably add “Premiere Pro” to the skills section of my resume.

Chef Alexa
Saturday morning, we had a cooking class scheduled by Bucknell/GAV. We had to be downstairs by 9:10 a.m. to head to the cooking location. With people’s travel schedules and desires to sleep, 5 out of 12 of us ended up attending. From my apartment, it was me, Maddie, and Lauren who attended. It was about forty minutes away at a woman’s home, and it was a wonderful experience. Straight from the Singapore Culture book we had to read, we were asked to remove our shoes when entering her home — I was thankful I was wearing matching socks as I’ve lost socks abroad. It’s not an everyday thing for me anymore. Anyway, while she seemed slightly disappointed there were only five of us, especially since she prepared extra food, we made the best of it. We cheffed up Nyonya Laksa, which is a coconut milk-based broth that’s poured over rice noodles and garnished with tofu puffs, shrimp, and egg. That is the best way I can describe it. Matt and I partnered up to cook together as our spice tolerance is roughly the same — very non-existent, but we’re working on getting better. While I have never claimed to be a professional chef, I thought I could hold my own in the kitchen, at least in regard to chopping. I was sorely mistaken. I was convinced my knife was dull, and that’s why I was unable to chop up the chili peppers, lemongrass, and leaves into fine pieces. One of the family members came over to check if my knife was dull… she chopped it up in a grand total of maybe 15 seconds. Meanwhile, Matt and I were spending minutes at a time trying to dice and chop to make it fine. We still held our heads high but eventually had to cave and have our sauce blended because we were unable to thin the sauce enough. In the end, it was delicious, but I must say it was exhausting. One of my least favorite parts of cooking is having to do the big dish clean-up, and in Singapore, dishwashers aren’t common. So, cleaning up all the pots, pans, cutting boards, knives we used just to prepare the meal is my worst nightmare. However, I did have a great sense of satisfaction, and it made me realize I need to take a beginner’s cooking class and work on my knife skills because this food was so much more flavorful and decadent than anything that was previously in my wheelhouse. I was really glad I went as it was an eye-opening experience to see how the different members of the family worked together in the kitchen. Just like in Bali, it’s another cultural experience I got to see firsthand, how people come together to create something and share it with their families. I hope to bring those practices back home (watch out family, we might be making Nyonya Laksa from scratch).

Shop Till You Drop
I made some fun purchases this weekend! As our Singapore souvenir, the group has collectively (thanks to Stella’s discovery) purchased lipsticks that come with a pretty mirror case. While it doesn’t sound very exciting, let me tell you, it is. It looks very sophisticated, and they all have our names engraved on them. For mine, Stella’s, and Maddie’s, we also got a bee engraved as that is Guerlain iconic symbol. So, every time I go to use the lipstick (I will now be becoming a lipstick girl), I’ll think of the experience of purchasing them and our time abroad. My other big purchase was a hand cream that Maddie had shown me earlier in the week. There is nothing better than someone telling you, “I think you would really like this,” and that’s exactly what happened when she let me try some. I waited all week to make the special purchase at L’Occitane, really making sure I wanted it. It’s dangerous living next to a mall, but I must say that almost every store is about the hard sell. They always have a sales associate ready to help, and that’s not the way I like to shop. I like to find what I want and approach the sales associate if needed. But since I knew what I wanted, it was pretty seamless.

Gardens By the Bay
Sunday, Ariana and I had a strong start to the day by going to Pilates at 9 a.m. No one can convince me otherwise that there’s a better way to start your day — getting to work out first thing in the morning is the best. Anyways, after that, we bought some coffee at the Alchemist, where I bought an iced white. I got an iced white the day prior with Maddie from Plain Vanilla, and that might be my favorite type of coffee (according to Ariana, it has the largest milk percentage of all coffees). After coffee, Ariana, Maddie, Stella, and I hit up the supermarket. I’m working on solely eating out for lunch, so hopefully, I bought sufficient food. After the supermarket, there was some lounging around before Maddie and I went to the Gardens by the Bay. What a spectacular adventure! The flowers and plants were breathtaking.

One of the first things we observed (Maddie noticed first) was that both the Flower Dome and Cloud Dome felt air-conditioned. Which just seems crazy because of the large variety of plants. I was chilly, so I can’t imagine how native plants from the desert were doing. One of the first things I noticed was the high density of people. To be fair, it’s a tourist attraction, but as we haven’t done crowded tourist activities in a while, it was overstimulating. We ended up spending a little over an hour in both the Flower Dome and Cloud Dome, respectively. Our adventure was sparked as it was the final day of Sakura — the Japanese Gardens and cherry blossoms display. It was totally worth it; it was a transformative experience. I felt absolutely transported by the music and energy they were able to create. It was so fascinating how, in the Flower Dome, there were pockets dedicated to different countries, and they were able to make you feel like you were there. Although, aside from the Aboriginal art, the Australian portion didn’t feel familiar, it gave every West Australian which lends into my Aussie Life class about how Australia is pushing a certain identity that doesn’t completely align with the majority of their population. Nonetheless, it was all beautiful. The large variety was so impressive, that these flowers and plants are able to live all under one roof. Again, it was spectacular. I’m really glad Maddie and I got to explore the Gardens by the Bay because it was breathtaking.

Week three was definitely work-focused and recouping from the long week. However, as usual, we always find a good way to spend our time. I’m looking forward to wrapping up the month in Singapore (it’s almost been a month already!) and potentially looking into a day trip to Malaysia this weekend. How many people get to say that?! Just going to pop over to Malaysia for the day. I’m also hoping the rain will let up so after work, Maddie and I can take to the tennis courts!

Cheers!

-Alexa