[Stories] Zahra at Singapore Management University (Singapore)

By Zahra
23 August 2022

I still can’t believe that I’m leaving this adventure. Never in my life, I would have thought that I’ll fell in love in a country like I did with Singapore. Having lived in 5 different countries already, I can say that Singapore, the Lion City, is my favourite so far. Each day, I saw this amazing country grow closer to my heart. Its safety, welcoming people, multiculturalism, multi-ethnicity, openness, internationalism is one of the few reasons why I have ever not felt at home. This experience is unbelievable and allowed me to meet so many people from different countries. Name a country and I’m sure I have a friend there now.

It’s been 2 months now since I’ve started studying at the Singapore Management University. Normally, I study accounting at HEC Montreal in Canada, but I can’t take my accounting classes here. I can tell you that schooling here is a little different from the ones we have at home. First, we have 5 subjects per semester and lesser subjects to do at home than here. Also, the participation is not really graded. Fortunately, you get used to the rhythm very easily. Other than that, the grading system is quite similar and the workload is a little bit lesser than the one we have at home. What amazed me the most at SMU is how the local students facilitate my integration. Being in the basketball team of the university helped me a lot too, I have to say.

One of the perks of living in Singapore is its location. For me to travel is to live. My travel experiences have always proven to be rewarding and helped me mature. I just came back from Japan and already planning to go to Australia, New Zealand and the Maldives. If it was up to me, I would have gone to all the countries in the world by now. Travelling helps you discover not only yourself but also people from different cultures, who have different values and beliefs and different histories. I’ve known it before but now I can clearly say that my heart was made to travel..

I always had a special interest for this country. I am fascinated with not only by its cultural diversity but also by the history of its unique economic development. It is the ideal place to create an international network, enrich and develop new ways to interact.

For me, an experience in Singapore was the bridge to another world and everything has been better than my expectations so far.

I will end this with a quote that I think signifies everything.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”