Settling into a New Adventure
Intern Diaries @ Singapore — Part 01
Hello everyone, it’s me again after a long time. I recently moved to Singapore for my internship. Life here is quite a change from what I’m used to in Sri Lanka. So, I thought about starting a blog post series to share my experiences here with all of you. These posts won’t be overly technical; I’ll be writing about my work, life in Singapore, and other random stuff.
How everything started
Let me take you back to how everything started. As a part of our degree program, we were required to complete a 20-week internship at the end of our 3rd year. I had the dream of securing an internship at a foreign institution. Despite applying to many companies, almost every application was rejected. Later, one of my friends suggested that I should consider applying for research internships as well. Initially, I wasn’t keen on research internships, but eventually, I thought it would be worth a try. It could turn out to be an interesting opportunity, allowing me to expand my network and gain valuable experience.
After applying to several potential options, I had the opportunity to virtually meet with Associate Professor Chau Yuen, who is ranked among the Top 2% of Scientists by Stanford University. We discussed a potential research internship position at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Later on, I was thrilled to receive an offer for a 5-month internship at SUTD, and I readily accepted it. What adds to the excitement is that three of my batchmates were also chosen for internships at the same institute.
First Week in Singapore
We arrived in Singapore on July 31st. The very next day, August 1st, we had the chance to meet with Assoc. Prof. Chau at SUTD. During this meeting, we discussed the available projects and were assigned to our respective roles. My friend Hariharan and I were selected for a project focusing on Robotics and Machine Learning. We were introduced to the project leads, Dr. Billy Lau and Dr. Ran Liu. These individuals are incredibly friendly; both are Postdoctoral Fellows at SUTD. Through discussions with them, we gained more profound insights into the project scope and the tasks we would be undertaking over the next 5 months.
Each of us was allocated our own workspace at the GutenBerg Collaboration Space of the Engineering Product Development (EPD) Pillar at SUTD. It is equipped with top-notch machines, and the working environment is exceptional. The atmosphere here is characterized by friendliness and humility, making it a truly welcoming place.
In addition to the above experiences, we took the initial days to explore the university premises and familiarize ourselves with Singaporean life. By the way, let me share a few random stuff I noticed during my first week here.
Random Observations from My First Week
- Cost of Living: The cost of living is significantly higher compared to Sri Lanka. To illustrate, the cheapest lunch meal comes at around 3 SGD, which roughly translates to about 700 LKR.
- Efficient Public Transport: Public transportation is incredibly convenient and efficiently organized. Most people rely on it because the cost of a taxi ride is more than ten times the fare of using public transport.
- Grocery Shopping Surprise: Something that caught my attention while shopping for groceries was that none of the products had prices printed on their packaging. Instead, the prices were separately displayed on the shelves. This was quite different from what we’re used to in Sri Lanka. As a result, the same item could have different prices in different shops here.
And that wraps up my first week here in Singapore! I look forward to sharing more of my experiences, challenges, and triumphs in the coming weeks. Until then, bye!
