Unity Among Student Scientists :: Personal Narrative Essays

Unity Among Student Scientists This summer I had the opportunity to attend the APEC Youth Festival in Singapore. On July 23, I arrived in San Francisco at the Marriott to gather with 19 other students from around the United States. The purpose of this gathering was to discuss our future trip to Singapore and to get acquainted with each other before we left. APEC stands for Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation. The purpose of the APEC Youth Festival is to bring unity among other student scientists from all around the world. Students who attended the Festival came from eleven different economies and all brought a unique culture with them. The festival included various activities, such as a cultural exchange, science and technology lectures, a youth science summit, a farewell party, and tons more. Every activity at the science festival was a learning experience. Two days of cultural performances were held, in which each of the economies put on a five-minute performance representing their culture. My favorite of these was the drum performance by the Koreans, but each of the dances by the many Asian cultures were equally good. And the U.S. economy's performance . . . who could forget about that? Did anyone really know what they were doing? Although the U.S. economy's cultural presentation definitely didn't turn out as expected, we gave the audience a good laugh and started a new craze among the other attendees: the shark song. The students' cultures were reflected not only in the two cultural presentations that were held, but also in the way they presented themselves at the conference. By attending the AYSF, I received a little taste of different cultures stretching all the way from Australia to Thailand. The real cultural experience came from the learning about the laws, languages and customs of Singapore. In Singapore, there are many laws that are strictly enforced, such as no chewing gum, no picking flowers, mandatory flushing of toilets and no bird feeding. The most outrageous law is the "no peeing in elevators" law. By the cleanliness of Singapore, one could tell the laws are enforced. In Singapore, just about every student that I had the opportunity to meet spoke two different languages. All spoke English and another Asian language. I had the opportunity to get to know students that spoke Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, Thai, and many more.