Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institutes Summer Camp 2014

Hi guys!

Once again, I'd like to apologize for not blogging in such a long time. If you have checked my Facebook or Instagram, you would have found out that I was at Stanford University for a summer camp. I honestly have to say that it is the best experience ever and it’s been the best summer of my entire life. This is not exaggeration and I would totally go back in time to live those moments again.

I would talk about the overall experience and the key memories I had there.

The camp I went to was EPGY, now known as the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes. I took the business and entrepreneurship class and I stayed at Kappa Sigma which is part of the Lomita cluster together with the Decision and Leadership class. In general, our instructor led class went from 9am to 11:30am and this is more lecture based. Sometimes, we have guest speakers, but my instructor, Ms. Taylor taught us business concepts during the morning sessions. In the afternoon, from 12:30pm to 3:30pm, the teaching assistants will lead us with our assignments and we get time to do our reading etc. We have snack break from 3:30pm to 4:00pm and from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, we have activities which we are assigned to after signing up on a survey. Afterwards, we have dinner and free time till 9:30pm. Our lights out is at 11pm on weekdays and 12am on weekends. For my final project, I had to analyze a corporation using a given model. It was pretty challenging actually since I had almost no basic knowledge on business and entrepreneurship. I realized that the decision and leadership people get to do slightly more interesting stuff like getting to go to the Golden Gate Bridge and I was really envious of them. However, my class was very fruitful and I learnt a lot.

Some major events:

Oh by the way, I fell ill for a week and I had a really bad sore throat and felt crappy most of the time. Getting sick sucks.

28^th June:

It was a Saturday and Kappa Sig went to the Capitola Beach in Santa Cruz. I haven’t been to a beach in like 6 months and I was very excited to be at the beach. I played a little bit of ultimate Frisbee with a small group of friends, took a stroll in the water (which was actually really cold), went for a short walk around the town and just sunbathed on the sand. I felt really good at the beach and I truly felt the summer vibe.

This is Isabel, one of my favorite people.

Christine!

Sachita, my room mate.

Kappa Sig <3

29^th June:

It was a Sunday and we were free to leave campus. I went out with Sabrina and her mom. Sabrina is my classmate in SAS and we went to Valley Fair. I did some shopping there :) Let me just say that Valley Fair is AMAZING. It has sooo many stores I love.

4^th July:

It was a Friday and we had a cluster wide campfire at night. I roasted marshmallows and actually had the first s'more of my life. I'm seventeen lol. I know you’re probably judging me right now but yeah I never had a s'more until that night. Also, it was my first time in the US on the 4th of July and I got to see some fireworks!

5^th July:

It was a Saturday and that meant another field trip! Kappa Sig went to San Francisco and we hung out at the marketplace before going to the Exploratorium. I also took some photos of the Bay Bridge. San Francisco is really pretty. The Exploratorium is a science museum and it has been the most interesting science museum that I recall going to so far. There were a lot of experiments that we could experiment with and the museum was pretty big too.

I haven't had macaroons in a really long time. Just look at these beautiful macaroons.

THIS IS TRUE LOVE.

Ugh blurry but still so much swag in this photo.

This basketball game is actually really tough. The glasses screw up your aim pretty badly.

This wall is literally the coolest thing ever. My friend, Priyanka, was sitting across the room and when we sat facing each other we could hear each other so clearly. I'm so mindblown.

Artsy display.

At night, we had a cluster dance. It was seriously the MOST INTENSE dance that I ever had my ENTIRE LIFE. Because the place was really small, it was very crowded and hot. I sweated so much and the music was so loud I was half deaf at the end of the dance. But I gotta say that I really had fun at the dance. It was a real party and everyone was so hyped up and happy. I wonder why my school doesn’t have the energy like these kids to actually start dancing to any song. I felt good vibes. I would totally do it all over again. Oh lol btw, my legs and knees were aching the next day because apparently I think I jumped too much LOL that’s funny. And also, guys who actually know how to dance are very, very, very attractive. 

That's me right there.

6^th July:

It was a Sunday and I got to hang out with Sabrina and her mom again. We went to San Francisco and ate lunch at a really yummy seafood restaurant called Bubba Gump at Pier 39. It is famous for its shrimps. Afterwards, we drove on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was super foggy so I didn’t get the best photos but it was really beautiful and I would definitely visit the Golden Gate Bridge again in future. 

Sabrina, her brother Justin, and her friend Lulu.

I LOVE seafood.

10^th July:

It was the day for our final presentations and the last official day of class. L
This has been one of the best class I ever took in my life and I truly learnt a lot. I'm really thinking about going into the business world in future.

After dinner, we had a Basketball match against our rival house, SAE. I actually don’t know how the rivalry started but they do have really crappy sportsmanship. We were actually leading by like 10 at one point but the game ended in a tie. Everyone was extremely unhappy, I was pretty disappointed in myself too and we wanted to add time but the counselors ended the game. Nevertheless, Kappa Sig knows that we are the best house and our counselors told us that other counselors from other houses actually agree that we are the most spirited house. Everyone was there to cheer or play.

Since it was the last day of the camp, we decided to pull an all-nighter. I was seriously so tired. I think I only slept for like 10 minutes during the entire night. Kappa Sig also took a walk around campus at night and it was really peaceful and beautiful. Throughout the night, several people left for the airport and it was heartbreaking. I tried so hard not to cry but at 8:00am on the 11^th of July, it was the most difficult goodbye because a lot of people left at 8. There was Lisa, who was my very first friend at Kappa Sig, there was Leo, who is a really interesting guy and he’s REALLY good at Basketball too, and there were just so many people who left at once. A lot of people cried and I have to admit that I let a few tears roll down my face. I really miss my baes. (Oh I forgot to mention that we have this “bae” and “#ballislife” thing in our house). I truly felt pain while saying goodbye to them. I hugged every single person when they left and I wished that the camp would never end. Unfortunately, we all know that good things have to come to an end.

Come to think of it, my toughest goodbye was not when I graduated from “primary school” or when I left Singapore for Shanghai, it was saying goodbye to the people who actually meant something to me. It’s weird though, how these people mean so much to me in just three weeks. I’m proud to say that we are one united family. I am confident that we will definitely have a reunion in future.

Adam and Kevin performing for us :')

The Main Quad

The Oval

The Hoover Tower.

When it was 11:00am, it was finally time for me to leave. I said goodbye to the best people on Earth and the most beautiful and memorable place.

A professionally taken Kappa Sig photo <3 I'm in the third row.

I hope you found this post interesting and thank you so much for reading :)