Some backstory here: I was looking at the computer at all of the different study abroad programs and leaning more towards the Greece/Italy trip; however, it was full. I was about to not study abroad this winter, but I saw that Dr.Lane was leading a Singapore business trip. Immediately, I knew that I wanted to go there; of course, I saw Crazy Rich Asians, and I just had to go. Being in Singapore was nothing like Crazy Rich Asians; it was better. One of the main differences is that it was so clean compared to America. I dread using public restrooms or going places that have a bunch of trash. Anywhere you went in Singapore, the restrooms were so clean, almost cleaner than my house.
One of our first company visits was Maybank, where we got to talk to Gregory Seow, who was the managing director and global head. Hearing him speak about the differences between Islamic banking and our banks opened my eyes. The second company we got to visit was ExxonMobile, which we have in America, but it was eye-opening to see one in Singapore. It opened my eyes to how big their company actually is. In addition, since the oil industry is very male-dominated, our speaker was a woman who also talked to us about being a woman and a boss.
During our trip, we also took a cooking class, where we learned to cook Laska. But what was also very interesting to me was that we had to take a bus in the residential area, and it was so cool to compare the everyday lives of Singaporeans and Americans. When we were invited in, one of the things I noticed was that nothing was locked. Singaporeans do not worry about crime. Second, it had no air conditioning and was a pretty open floor plan. Even how she cooked showed the roots that this recipe had on her family. We had to chop and crush all of the herbs and spices in the rock bowl and mix everything.
We also got a chance to visit with many different A&M alumni who were either living, working, or were students living in Singapore. One of the other things that amazed me was how kind and willing to help since we were all Aggies. It helped me see the Aggie Network in action. All in all, I loved the trip, and I know in the future, this trip will help me conduct business in any other Asian country.
