An adventure of self discovery

Overseas exchange programmes, which were suspended since March 2020 because of COVID-19, resumed in January 2022 for NUS students.

As more countries eased border restrictions, SEAH Song Jie, a Year 3 student reading a Chemistry Major and Forensic Science Minor, packed his bags and headed to Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden for the summer semester.

Should chemists focus on saving the earth? Or to continue improving our lives? What are the trade-offs? These were some of the burning questions Song Jie brought with him on his journey of discovery.

At Chalmers, he found some of the answers – and new perspectives. For instance, in the module KBT140 (Global Chemical Sustainability), he learnt that chemists “just had to focus on finding new breakthroughs for humankind,” albeit such breakthroughs may not be correspondingly beneficial for the environment.

Without the worry about grades, Song Jie took every opportunity to learn chemistry in a different setting, including taking modules not covered in NUS as they related mainly to case studies in the European Union (EU).

He said, “I got to experience independent living outside my own home for the first time and it also taught me the importance of planning, and staying healthy, to make the most of my stay abroad.”

Song Jie recently joined the Volleyball Club in Chalmers, and plans to try out other activities such as sauna sessions, trips to Lapland to catch the Northern Lights, or potluck with international students under ‘phadder’ groups, or college ‘parents’ to new students.

Ice hotel at Kiruna

Dog-sledding at Kiruna

Experiencing the Northern Lights

A trip to Helsinki

Stockholm’s photospot – Gamla Stan