First week of 2026

change. so much change. humid sticky weather. so many good bubble tea options. food that is so much cheaper. friends that i have missed for 5 months

i won't dive into exchange here because i'm still saving a series of recaps for that here (and on the spam) but i think that in the first week back here there have been a handful of moments that i have come to realise that i really miss the people on exchange. not only because i really cherish the 20 weeks with them, and that i feel like i grew very close to many of them, but its also that u never know when u r going to see them again. at least when i went on exchange i wasn't so sad because i knew i would be back in singapore in january. but i didn't expect to grow so close to so many people and i feel like there is such a big part of my life now dedicated to the people i met and the experiences i went through on exchange. and so yes, there have been nights where i have been lying in bed reminiscing everything, from 18 august to 10 january, and i have a couple of heavy-heart moments where i really wish i could just be back there with the 30 or so people that i met there and whose company i really cherish. 

anyways, onto the weekly recap. i feel like i should do a main recap of like the week with one big takeaway, and then dive into the nitty gritty of each day. so, here goes: 

it might just be me, but i think that the jetlag hit me SO HARD in singapore compared to amsterdam. like i feel like i was sleeping at slightly earlier timings in amsterdam for like the same amount of time each night, but in singapore i feel like my cycle has gone haywire. perhaps it is that from singapore to amsterdam i am going backwards in timezones so that is why i sleep a bit earlier (like 2 hours) and i can still sleep 8-10 hours a night (though i felt tired asf after each night for the first week). but coming to singapore i am moving forwards so if i were to sleep at the 'same' time in singapore (3am for example) it would only be 8pm in amsterdam which is way too early so....yeah maybe thats why the jetlag is so bad ugh

and dont get me started on the humidity jeez i realised how easy it is for ur body to get oily in the tropics (but at least also my blisters are closing up and my bottom lip isnt split in the middle anymore yay) u win some u lose some ig. and also driving on the left, walking on the left, having to wait for the heater to heat the water before showering, having to deal with parents' nagging and stubborness...wew. OH AND THE WORST PART IS i cant watch football in the afternoon anymore and watch basketball at like midnight UGH i have to sometimes watch football at 3am and watch basketball at 8am wtf man DIE LAH

and gosh it really is true when they say that u dont feel motivated at all when u come back from exchange...like it just feels like u dont want to go to school or study (though i guess a part of it is also because it is last semester). 

but enough of yapping about adaptation back to singapore, here is the nitty gritty recap from monday: 

monday, 12th jan: ended up not having any lessons because both profs cancelled so i just unpacked my bags and tried to finish watching the second season of ted lasso (great show tbh). for the record sunday night's jetlag wasn't so bad but i slept 12 hours lol. oh and i could have gone for chinese orchestra's general meeting (the thing u have at the start of every year for a school club) but i already polled my unavailability and i wasn't going to spend 1.5 hours travelling back and forth and waste 5 dollars so...xd

tuesday, 13th jan: first lesson of the semester! and it's the mod that abby and elgin dragged me into doing even though i technically don't need to (but the prof is kinda fun and chill ig). slept 2 hours the previous night because i couldn't sleep from 4-9am after binging half of season 3 of ted lasso. OH AND THEN...

wed: slept FOURTEEN hours the previous night because i was finishing up ted lasso, and i wanted to go for softball training but i woke up at 4pm lmfao. absolutely INSANE i cant remember the last time i slept more than half the day. but anyways because i was just chilling on my bed and at home and saw a very nice sunset outside my house heh (not as nice as europe of course but i will take what i can get). met my friend's FA and honestly she's p nice lah like I MEAN the only unexpected part was that she asked me to refer 10 of my friends...sighs

thurs: another lesson! german prof living in singapore for goodness knows how long and its about sustainable innovation...lets also be real i would not be taking this mod if i had mapped my modules on exchange properly lol and also not assumed a sustainability shipping mod was available this semester...so here i am because i assumed. idiot me. (edit: forgot to add that i had lunch with dorcas and zhiqing today yay! and at amoy food centre omg i missed everything there (went for the fish soup and vietnamese egg coffee this time OOMPH) so slay)

fri: i have never seen a class in smu have SIXTEEN PEOPLE before. its like, 1/3 of the maximum class size sia. absolutely insane. but i mean like prof said, more intimate setting (and i am gonna skip this week bcuz i already have plans and it is last semester lol oops). but it is one of the sustainability core classes so i dont really have a choice to not take it ykwim....yeah

sat: back on the penguins! and god i remembered how hard it is to adapt from softball to baseball like playing softball for 3 years means i am used to the ball sizes and all but a baseball blends with the sky and is so much smaller i cant judge it having only played it for 5 months before exchange lmao so cooked but luckily nothing much came my way. and at least we won (with me literally just making up the numbers on the field) but yeah fun times! went to a family friend's house for dinner and that is when i found out...MOLLY TEA IS OPENING IN SINGAPORE NEXT MONTH??? WTHHHHH if i had known then i wouldn't have gone to molly tea in london and maybe my phone wouldn't have been pickpocketed....fuck. oh and also watched man utd demolish man city we so back baby lfg

sun: back at smu softball! at least i caught both chances in the outfield today and i think it was more about getting used to the groove of everything again (throwing batting fielding) i feel like i could have made a catch diving backwards if i was really feeling like it but first time back after 5 months i wasn't gonna risk anything...pretty good fielding performance i'd say but gotta work on the batting (classic weakness)

misc. stuff: bought 4 milk/bubble teas this week (yidiandian, koi, 2 chagee). gotta cut down the sugar! 

anyways, long recap...but if u read till here then happy 3rd week of january to yall! 

- steve, still a bit jetlagged but we move (fighting!)