As I enjoyed the comforts of Singapore Air – rated the
best airlines in the world – an enjoyment only diminished by the sheer length
of the 21-hour plus plane ride from New York to Singapore – two weekends ago
with other Carolina Southeast Asia Summer (SEAS) program students, UNC alumni
were gathering in Chapel Hill to reminisce over their own travels aboard the
S.S. France, a luxury liner, to Lyon, France 40 years ago. The reunion, which
included a number of alumni from ’68-’69 and ’70-’71, began on Friday night
with a wine and cheese social at The Carolina Inn and progressed with a
Saturday dinner at the French restaurant Provence and a Sunday breakfast back
at The Carolina Inn.
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| Marina Bay Sands at night--- Take a look at the Sands Hotel and the Merlion fountain! |
Boasting a silk district and the Presqu'île, home to
architecture spanning from the 12th century to the modern era and
now deemed an UNESCO World Heritage site, Lyon hosts a booming tourist
industry. But for Vivian Lutian (’70-’71), who helped organize the reunion, Lyon
was more than a place where she traveled – it was her home for a year. Lutian told
me that she still often thinks about her year abroad in Lyon. “I have had many
dreams about walking around the old town in Lyon, taking in the historic
buildings, being transported back into the middle ages, window shopping,
looking at all of the passers-by, sitting in a lovely little French cafe
enjoying coffee, taking in the atmosphere, listening to everyone speaking
French as they walked by.”
I understand
where she’s coming from, as I feel similarly about Singapore. This is not my
first trip to Southeast Asia. Last summer I traveled to Singapore, India and
Brunei with the SEAS program. Over the course of this past year, I’ve
continually thought back to the things that I missed most about Singapore: watching
the city wake up during early morning runs; trying new dishes like barbequed
stingray, chili crab, and jelly made with turtle shells; biking through Pulau
Ubin – a tiny coastal island off Singapore – and standing an arm’s length away
from monkeys at MacRitchie; celebrating the 4th of July at Marina
Bay Sands with fireworks and Milo King Kongs (an ice cream drink complete with
mounds of Milo- an Asian version of Nesquik); getting fitted for a white silk
suit in Chinatown; and going to the top of the Sands Hotel to watch the sun set
over the city and to enjoy a breathtaking view of Singapore, stretching to the
foggy edges of Malaysia.
And
that’s why I decided to return with the SEAS program this year – and probably
why Vivian and her classmates met twice over the past 40 years for reunions in
Lyon – because the country made an imprint on my heart and I didn’t want to
simply imagine how it had changed and what it was like – I wanted to return and
be a part of it.
As the
program’s research fellow, I’ve had the unique opportunity to conduct my own
research – studying Singaporean national identity from a female perspective
through a series of in-depth interviews with women spanning the ethnic,
socio-economic and age spectrum in order to understand how Singaporean women
define themselves and to determine common threads between the ethnic groups.
But I’ve also had the chance to show a new group of students some of my
favorite places in Singapore: like the shops in Chinatown, the fruit market in
Little India, and the perfume shop on Arab Street. When I told my friends from
SEAS 2011 that I was returning with the program, several of them asked me how I’d
adjust to seeing some of the same places with different people. I’d anticipated
that a different group dynamic would pose challenging, but it has actually helped open my eyes to
different aspects of Singapore.
Before
leaving for our trip this year, we’d been reminded that places will change in
our absence even as we tend to keep them stationary in our minds. This truth
has never been more evident than in my return to Singapore.
So
much has changed in a year! The dormitory where I have stayed both years –
Prince George’s Park – has undergone considerable renovations, adding a new
courtyard which has completely transformed the landscape. And a new Mass Rapid
Transit (MRT) stop right by campus, which was under construction last year, is
complete, transforming a 20 minute delay at the bus stop into a 10 minute walk
to a closer station.
Not
only has Singapore changed in a year, but I’ve changed as well; I’m looking
forward to doing some of the things that I didn’t get around to before – taking
a ride on the Singapore Flyer – the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, going to
The Shay movie theater in the downtown Orchard area, exploring nightlife at
Clark Quae, trying out the National University of Singapore’s Olympic-sized
swimming pool, having tea with a local Singaporean woman at her home … The list
goes on.
In
some ways, my return to Singapore is a lot like a reunion. I’m getting together
with friends that I made last summer and going back to some of my favorite
places. But in other ways it’s quite different because I’m having the chance to
see the country in a new way – from the perspective of 25 people who are seeing
it for the first time.
