People take a gap year for different reasons. Personally, I was absolutely lost in life. After twelve years, I realised that I had worked really hard only to come out of school not really knowing my passion and what I wanted to pursue at a higher level. I took a gap year and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!

I spent my gap year in 3 ways: a clinic internship, a journalism internship and then I went to a mission school. Today, I’ll share more about the last story. My school was 6 months and we spent 2.5 months overseas in Türkiye and in Poland. In both of these countries, I got to work with humanitarian organisations and partners on the ground who were reaching out to help refugees in both countries. I had three main takeaways from my time living overseas:


1. I learnt how to live cross-culturally and immerse in a foreign culture and community! And I fell in love with the people and the nation

I was very intentional about meeting and making foreign friends, and thankfully I got many opportunities to do so. Albeit it wasn’t too hard to do because of the warm and embracing culture in the countries but I was thankful that I also had that mindset and determination to make full use of my time overseas to go and enjoy the community and learn about their lifestyle and culture. I made friends with individuals and family, friends young and old and came back from these countries with so many pure friendships made. These are people whom I cherish deeply even though we are now countries apart.


2. I realised that sometimes our biggest act of love is our presence and time

In the presence of refugees at refugee camps, I looked around and thought to myself: how is a Singaporean girl all the way here in the middle of a Syrian refugee camp in Türkiye, and in the middle of the Polish-Ukraine border? Sometimes I didn’t know what to say to the people not because of the language barrier (which we could easily overcome with google translate, gestures/miming, simple Turkish or Polish phrases, and with the help of translators), but because of the heaviness and weight of their situations be it their refugee status or the outbreak of war. But what I realised was that I just wanted to be there with them, even if it was just for a short while. For them to see an Asian-looking person in their midst at such a difficult time, could be a reminder to them that the rest of the world loves them too and they have not been forgotten by the rest of the world.


3. I learnt to adult

It was the first time I lived overseas for such a long period without my family, and I grew up a lot. Whether it was having to navigate and find my own way around with my team, striking up conversations with strangers (which is sadly not Singaporean culture) or simply doing the necessary but ordinary things like taking care of laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping etc. I really enjoyed this taste of freedom. I learned to make my own decisions and really take care of myself (and my friends on my team too of course!)