I am Terry Ho Chao Jin. I am a Singaporean whose past education experience include six years at Chongful primary school, four years at Anderson Secondary school and two years at Victoria Junior college. Currently, I am a life-sciences (concentrating in Biomedical science) undergraduate the National University of Singapore (NUS). After completing my undergraduate degree next year, I plan to continue with postgraduate studies. I choose this major because I am an inquisitive person who enjoys the investigative nature of doing scientific research.
Character-wise, I am a person who is hardworking, amicable, caring and patient. In contrast, some of the negative qualities that I have include the lack of self-confidence and leadership. I hope to improve on these negative points by striking more conversation with other students and probably take more initiatives to lead during group project work. I have a wide range of interests which include oil-painting, photography, shopping and sport activities such as squash, running and swimming.
Last semester, I embarked on an exchange programme at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. The study environment in this university was quite different from that of NUS. All the modules that were offered were biomedical related. In addition, the number of students enrolled into each courses was comparatively smaller (at around 50). My overseas stint also made me realized that I actually take joy in travelling. The several travelling opportunities that I had in Europe were fulfilling and also enabled me to develop better time-management and interpersonal skills. This was because I was required to conduct intensive research of the places of interest and search for affordable accommodation. During each trip, I had ample opportunities to interact with the local as well as exchanging valuable travelling tips with other avid travelers. In future, I do hope that i can find a job that can provide many travelling opportunities.
My Final Reflection
15 years ago
Thanks, Terry, for this informative post. You certainly have diverse interest! I like the way you organize the info here and the way do an analysis of your own characteristics and the overseas travel experience. That sort of reflection is worthwhile, I think, and it should enhance your travels, both social and geographic.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck on your future path!
Hi Terry,
ReplyDeleteIt is quite a nice post, very clear too! I just want to comment that I feel a bit weird reading the starting of second paragraph, "Character-wise..." It felt as though you are speaking and not writing. Maybe you can see if there is a need to phrase it in a more formal manner? I hope I make sense!
Hmmm. I have realized you know a lot about many different countries, probable because you read about them but I think I could guess from you biodata that you really like travelling and have been doing so. That's good! I would love to travel around someday myself too.. recommend a few nice beautiful places please!
Thank Brad and zQ for commenting on my blog post.
ReplyDeleteZQ, I do agree with your comment about starting paragraph 2 with "character-wise". Maybe, I can just ignore this word and start directly with " I am hardworking....".
Indeed, i am really fond of travelling. In fact, i am currently planning for a month-long trip after my last paper on 6 May.I do recommend anyone who have the opportunities to do more overseas travelling.
Dear zQ, I still have a lot of places that i want to visit like in USA, South America etc. If you want to embark on a graduation trip, i do recommend a backpacking trip in Europe. This is because the region is well connected by trains, planes and ferry. In addition, there are lots of history and culture to be discovered. Not to forget, there are also great physical landscapes!
Hi Terry, thanks for sharing your interests with us and being so honest about your strengths and weaknesses! That itself is admirable. It's interesting that you mentioned shopping as one of your interests too, despite the perception that shopping only appeals to girls...I guess that's a stereotype eh?:) And you also do oil painting!!Wow, that's a really cool hobby. My cousin does wall murals and paintings too. But I could never understand some art pieces...haha...Maybe you could put some of your art pieces up on your blog for us to admire!:)
ReplyDeleteHey, I can really feel your enthusiasm for travelling though your blog post and it somehow seems infectious. I really want to go travelling too! Hmm...actually, besides your blog post that has inspired me to want to travel, sitting in Mr Blackstone's class has also stirred in me the desire to see the world and widen my horizon. I feel like I have a very microscopic view of the world and as I am typing this, the word ‘claustrophobic’ suddenly popped into my mind. haha...I feel claustrophobic in Singapore!! I think it's not because Singapore has a small land area, but it’s just that there isn’t enough room or capacity for exploration and even for failure, which I feel is necessary for everyone of us. Mr Blackstone’s invaluable experiences have allowed him to discover his interests and passion and got him where he is today. May we also have the courage to sometimes try out the unbeaten paths and most importantly, to discover a greater purpose in life!:)
I really appreciate this statement by Grace: "May we also have the courage to sometimes try out the unbeaten paths and most importantly, to discover a greater purpose in life!"
ReplyDeleteThinking out of the box, leaving one's comfort zone, spending 40 days in the desert...these may have become cliches, but there is more than a grain of truth when we use them as phrases for motivating ourselves to go beyond. That's generally when the "greater purpose" knocks us on the head.
Thanks for stimulating this discussion, Terry.
Dear Grace,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your valuable comment. I have only taken a basic oil painting course at NAFA (16 lessons in total). To date, I have only completed 4 pieces of work and none of them looks presentable enough! I took this painting course last year (before my SEP) so as to better appreciate western art during my Europe trip. Besides, I have long wanted to explore another art form apart from chinese calligraphy and painting. I was trained for 6 years in this skill during my primary school days. Perhaps, another reason was probably because my paternal grandfather was a painter. I really want to experience what my grandfather did 20 years ago. My interest in Shopping is probably due to my inquisitive and thrifty nature. Through shopping, I am able to discover new products and ongoing sale. Also, Shopping involves lots of walking which is something I really like to do.
I have to say that travelling really change my perspective of space. When I was young, I did not realize that Singapore was actually a small country. I remembered that my mum only brought me to Orchard road once a year when I was studying in preschool. These valuable visits gave me an impression that Orchard road was really a distant place from my neighbourhood. After embarking on trips out of Singapore, I realized that the world is really huge and it does have much to offer.
In addition, travelling also hold another important meaning to me. Travelling provide me valuable interaction opportunities to interact with my family. My previous family trips really help to strengthen my ties with my father who I rarely have time to chat during everyday life.
Anyway, I hope you can indulge in travelling! All the best for your job application!