「✈」「We live in Singapura」

The past few days have been, for the most part, a large amount of free time with just a few planned activities here and there. Most of us have spent the free time just catching up on the rest that we sorely need and doing homework—as Hanna said, "I often forget the 'study' part of 'study abroad'."

But, at the same time, what makes this study abroad experience truly unique is that the concepts we're learning in class—both regarding migration and the history and governmental practices of Singapore—are immediately applicable to our surroundings. Many of us have struck up conversations with strangers regarding public housing policies, education, and other interesting topics. Additionally, a number of us have gone out and asked people for their opinions on migration: what they think about guest workers, their histories as immigrants, etc.



On June 2, we went to see a contemporary dance performance called Les sept planches de la ruse, which used the primary motif of the Chinese tangram in order to convey an artistic take on the human experience. The acrobats and performers effortlessly moved around these gigantic pieces (which, when put together, weighed a ton—literally) and scaled them with fluidity and grace. The performance was very much abstract and left up to individual interpretation, which the director reinforced in the Q&A session afterward, for which Hanna and I stayed. The intent of the performance was to allow people to imprint their own meaning onto the symbols and to take away their own understanding of the performance.

Q&A Session with the Director and Choreographer (two on the right)

On Friday, we went out to the Harmony Center, which is Singapore's center for interfaith activities and dialogue; it also hosts a museum of various artifacts that relate to Islam, to facilitate the understanding of Islam both in Singapore and abroad. The Harmony Center was great—we got to talk to representatives of a number of different religions, and we got to understand the interfaith programs that they put on. This experience was particularly insightful for me, as I'll be part of RELIC next year, which is the religious diversity living-learning community on campus at UNC.

Lea and I, along with a number of others, talked to a representative of Sikhism for most of the reception. Lea had never before head of Sikhism, whereas I had friends who were Sikhs, but had little to no understanding of the religion itself, so the questions and answers that we gave and received were very enlightening. I feel as though dialogue and informal Q&A sessions like these would really help our communities understand each other and would help religions live in peace alongside each other.

Harmony Center

The Harmony Center from outside

All right, that's all for me today. Thanks for reading!

—Stephany