Agustus 2014

These weeks might be the busiest weeks I've ever had in my life. From 16th to 21st August, I joined a training camp for OSN in Bandung, then from 24th to 29th I went to Singapore for Asian Science Camp or ASC (which I'm going to write about here). And later, from 1st to 7th September, I'm going to Mataram for OSN (I really hope I'll do really well here, Amin...). I don't really feel tired, I guess. The trip and flight was OK. I'm just tired of packing my clothes and things. After all, I enjoyed those two activities I've joined. I got new friends from both and I'm sure I'll get more in OSN later.

So... Let's start the story!

What is ASC? ASC is an event where students from countries in Asia will get the chance to meet and hear lectures and classes from Nobel Laureates, Field Medalists, and eminent scientists from Asia. There are also some other activities related to science like, poster competition, lab visits, and excursions. This year is the 8th time the event is held, and the country that got an honour to hold it is Singapore, hosted by NTU. There were 29 participating countries with over 300 participants. I stayed in Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School, while most of other participants stayed in Nanyang Executive Centre (NEC).

Hwa Chong

What is so special about it? Well, that was my first time going abroad, so of course it is special. This was also the first international event where I got to work in team with students from other countries, so it was really fun.

How can I participate in this camp? Actually, I don't really know how. My counceling teacher just appointed me and that's it. I wrote an essay and submitted my data (including my achievements) before, but there was no selection or anything. I guess I was lucky.

What did I do there? Mostly I listen to the scientists giving lectures. There were some very interesting ones, and frankly speaking, some others are boring. I enjoyed lectures around medicine and biology. I also enjoyed lectures about nanotechnology which is new for me. After the lectures, we had master classes. The participants were divided into three classes according to our interests.The scientists will come to different classes and usually they will talk about their personal lifes and how they become who they are now. We could ask questions more frequently and easily than in the lecture (where all the participants packed in one hall together) if we wanted to. We also had a panel discussion with theme "Can Discovery and Innovation Solve Global Challenges?"

Took a picture with one of the Nobel Laureate, Ada Yonath

The Panel Discussion

There was also a poster competition, where we were grouped with people from other countries randomly who has the same interest as us (in my case, it's biology). The poster we needed to make was about things we learned from the camp, and if possible our own ideas of how to solve global challenges. There were five students in my group. We made a poster about personalized medicine (something we learned from the camp) and our idea to solve the problem of antibiotic resistance. Unfortunately, we didn't win. But none of us cared about that, it was really fun and nice to work with them all. We even made a WhatsApp group for us! I wish I could meet them again somewhere, sometime later.

I remembered the first day where we needed to find our group, and I was like... "WHAT?!" I mean, I didn't even know their faces! How could I find them? So I just shouted my group's number, B8. I met Wei Shan first, she was really friendly and we were relieved when we finally met the others. Then the second day, after a short meeting for the poster, Shreya invited me and Wei Shan -who stayed in Hwa Chong- to her room in NEC. We didn't really do anything, just seeing the room and talking about random things. We talked about school and college, and how all our countries accidentally have their independence days in the same month, August. Shreya even showed us her video of traditional Indian dance while we were talking about our performance for the 'Open Stage' on the last day. The next day we discussed more about the poster, then the last day we made it. It was really fun, discussing, writing, painting, and all. Zhang do most of the 'labor' work, like drawing and writing things, and Ingon mostly do the researches. I helped in-between. I write some and helped with designing a bit, and I give some scientific journals for them to read. We received some critiques in the presentation, but I guess it's OK. I know more about the thing we talked about since then.

B8 (left-right, Zhang Bochao-China; Yoo Ingon-South Korea; Shreya Gupta-India; me; Teoh Wei Shan-Singapore)

We also visited science labs. I visited labs in School of Bological Sciences and Traditional Chinese Medicine in NTU. Honestly, it was more like a 'classroom visit' than 'lab visit' because we couldn't really enter the labs. After lunch on the same day, we had excursions. First we went to Marina Barrage, where we got information about how Singapore control their water level using the reservoir. We took some pictures from the rooftop and it was awesome. After that, we went to China Town. I bought some souvenirs there, and I got one super cute owl bag for me! Then, we went to Asian Civilization Museum, where we could see traditional stuffs from many tribes in Asia. We walked to Merlion Park soon after. And at the end of the day, we went to Satay by the Bay to have our dinner. I also went to Clark Quay (not recommended if you don't like nightlife, I just bought a cone of ice cream there -_-) and Marina Bay Sands (Just for sightseeing, I can't afford a single thing here).

Marina Barrage

Sinapore, taken from the rooftop of Marina Barrage

China Town

The city view

Merlion Statue

Sky Tree at Night

The last night we performed in the 'Open Stage'. Indonesian team gave presentation about our country, from size to places recommended to visit. After that, we invited people to the stage to dance with us. The music we used was dangdut. Honestly I don't like the music and the dance, so I just stayed in the back while talking with other participants who came to the stage and told them about the music and the dance (._.v). The other countries' performances were really good and amazing as well. I guess my favorite is Japan's. They danced to a Japanese song, and it was so cute and funny (sugoiii (y) ).

I just went back to Indonesia this morning, and I was sad to leave. There are many reasons. First, I've made some good friends there, and second, back to Indonesia means I have to study again.When we parted with our LO, some of us even cried. It was such a great experience for me. I had so much fun there. But now let's face the reality, I still have some days left 'til OSN, so that means I need to study more (because it was hard to join the event while studying for OSN before). I received the results from the training camp in Bandung. It was good actually, but I don't think it was enough for me. I want to be better, as good as I can be before the D-day. I hope I could get a gold medal this time (Amin...) and joined IBO next year in Denmark (Amin...).

Good Bye Singapore! and should I say... 'Welcome Mataram"?