Group member:

1. Ms Siska
2. Gisella
3. Gracella
4. Abraham
5. Johannes
6. Clarabella
7. Kezia

The awaited day finally arrived, the day we are all departed to Singapore for Student Exchange program on 4-9 August 2024, on this first day some of us went directly from home to KNO airport, some of them went by bus from school. When we all gathered at the airport, our teachers were busy tidying all the luggages at the check-in counter and collected all the Boarding pass for each of us.

And of course, we did not forget to take a picture with the banner at the departure gate with all the students and teachers and we flew to Singapore using Singapore Airline SQ 991.

The journey was 1 hour and 5 minutes to Singapore and when the air plane landed in Singapore, we immediately rushed to gather to get our luggage ^^, when we finished we met the other teachers Mr Endra and Ms Natali at outside of the terminal.

Arrived at Merlion Park… Woooow we were so excited and are eagerly despite the was scorching hot, together with Ms Siska we rushed to see the Merlion Statue. Merlion Park is located at One Fullerton. The Merlion Statue with its lion’s head and fish body, which spouts water from its mouth, is more than just a tourist attraction; we were closely looking at the Merlion’s statue we saw that it has a head of a Lion and the lower body of a fish or Mermaid. The lower fish body of the Merlion shows the origin of Singapore as a fishing village. We took many pictures of us although there were many visiting tourists walking around us, we saw many tourists from China, Thailand.  At Merlion Park we saw so many shops offering souvenirs, food and drinks as well as Seven Eleven after we bought drinks. On the other side, we saw Esplanade, the Singapore’s national performing arts centre.

Today was our first day visiting Singapore. Some of us went to school first and then to the airport together by bus. The other students went directly to the airport by car. At the airport, a few of our friends cried because, for the first time, they were going to be separated from their parents for five days.

Before we went to the boarding gate, Gate 4, our suitcases were scanned and our passports were checked at immigration. We couldn’t bring any liquids over 100 ml in our backpacks.

Finally, we were on the plane. We were so amazed and excited! We could choose the movies we liked on the small screen on the seat headrest in front of us. We even got free food and drinks. Some of us slept on the plane.

After we arrived at Changi Airport, we took a bus to Merlion Park. On the way, we passed Marina Bay and the Esplanade, and saw some beautiful views. Marina Bay has a shape like a ship on top of two buildings, and the Esplanade looks like a durian. When we walked close to it, we saw that its roof was made of many glass panels. We took some pictures near the Merlion fountain statue and bought some food at a 7-Eleven store. Then we had lunch at Newton Food Court. There were so many food and drink stalls there. It was raining while we ate, so we waited for almost half an hour before going to our hostel, Praiseheaven Retreat Center. It was like a dormitory with some rooms having 10 beds and others having 2 or 4 beds.

At the hostel, we unpacked, took a shower, and had dinner: rice, chicken with soy sauce, tofu, and broccoli. Some of us do not like broccoli. After dinner, we went back to our room and prepared our things for school tomorrow. Our teachers said we had to wake up early and go to school at 7:10 by bus. We went to bed at 22:00. We are nervous but also excited for tomorrow. Ok, time to sleep. Good night, Singapore!

Group member:

1. Ms Erna
2. Annabelle
3. Keysia
4. Eleora
5. Holand
6. Fransiscus
7. Sionella

Today is our first day in Singapore. We started our day by departing to Kualanamu airport. Some of us went to Kualanamu airport from school by bus with teachers and some of us went straight to the airport.

We felt happy, nervous and also sad because we were separated from our parents for a week. We checked our passports and our luggage to be stored in the airport baggage. And we also filled our drinking bottles after going through immigration. After that we boarded the plane and departed for Singapore.

We watched a movie on the plane. Besides watching we could also listen to music on the plane. And we were grateful to have arrived in Singapore safely.

After arriving at Changi Airport Singapore, we continued ourjourney to Merlion Singapore and took pictures and bought snacks at 7 11. After that we had lunch at Newton food court. Because it was raining heavily during our lunch we ended up spending time at Newton food court for 1 hour 30 minutes. The view at Merlion Park and Newton food court is very interesting and there are many trees and it is very clean.

After lunch, we went to Praisehaven Retreat where we stayed while in Singapore. Upon arrival at Praisehaven we took a shower then had dinner and were given a brief explanation by our teacher about the activities we would do the next day.

That was our first day’s adventure in Singapore. We really enjoyed it.

This morning we all woke up early at 4.30am, we made our beds, prepared our clothes for the today and took shower. After showering and dressing we had breakfast and we left for our study destination school at 7.10am Singapore time.

Although we initially mistakenly arrived at the destination school which was supposed to be a primary school building, we finally arrived. A school with a long story and history over 180 Years, the oldest Catholic school Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ).

When we arrived at the school we were immediately greeted by 2 teachers namely Ms Norma and 1 male teacher, Ms Norma arranged until we had a buddy, We were paired with the Main Buddy and Standby buddy. Not long after Ms. Norma introduced the school Principal Mrs. Simon who gave a speech and also closed the session by showing the CHIJ Profile Video and  briefing us all morning until the afternoon session.

We were invited by our buddy to enter the classroom to join the activities that morning. It turned out that in each class there was a Handy Craft Programme to produce reusable harangues from recycled materials, so we joined our new friends and our new teacher who we got to know guiding us. Throughout the session we were very impressed with our new friends who were talk-active, they were very kind, they were smart and creative.

At break time we all got a Free Coupon to enjoy a snack at the school canteen and of course we went with our buddy. After that, we went back to the dance room and a new learning experience was waiting for us, Waaoow Virtual Reality, a simulated experience that uses 3D close-up viewing and figure tracking to give each student an immersive virtual world that gave us the opportunity to do exciting new activities, that learning attached to the subject of Physic Education & Gymnastic, learning journey and some challenging outdoor activities in Virtual 3D.

BEAT SABER the name of the program allowed us to practiced speed, focus, eye-hand coordination as also seems some of our friends also got to experienced using VR to virtually experience the Flying Fox activity, it seemed that our friends Juan and Basar really enjoyed using this VR tool and we had the same experience in person. In almost 40 minutes the session ended and was closed with an introduction session about the activities we did earlier by the teacher.

After the lesson was done, we also received snacks from the school and together we finished our lunch and continued our journey to explore Orchard Road. A famous shopping mall in Singapore, with luxury outlets including CHANEL, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Hermes, Montblanc as well as many department stores, and high-end boutiques, in addition to luxury hotels, there are also many food shops that offer a lot of food and drinks. After wandering around we also stopped by a bookstore that is said to be the most complete in Singapore. A bookstore that has many copies of books with many categories. We enjoyed walk around.

Afterwards, together with our friends and teachers, we continued our journey for an early dinner at Popeye Chicken with all our friends including our siblings from the junior high team. We enjoyed the delicious crispy chicken with laughter and jokes. Here’s a picture of us ^^.

It is been a long day of activities since this morning, it was almost dark when we arrived at the dormitory and we immediately cleaned up, showered and finished our Today’s Daily Activity Journal for the second day.

What a Funtastic Day!

We started our day by waking up at 4 in the morning. After taking a shower, putting on a green T-shirt, and having a little breakfast, Mr. Endra informed us that our bus had already arrived and we needed to leave by 7:10 if we didn’t want to be late to CHIJ Katong Primary School. We certainly didn’t want to be late, as we were already nervous about studying in a new place with new friends.

We got on the bus, which was white and quite comfy. Some of us slept on the way to school, probably because we woke up so early. Unfortunately, the driver took us to the wrong school, CHIJ Convent. After Mr. Endra gave the address again and the driver checked the GPS, he finally took us to the right school. We arrived at around 8. Then, we were taken to the dance room, a large space with a wooden floor, a projector, and air coolers. We were warmly welcomed by three teachers, one male and two females. After a welcome speech and a brief explanation about the school via video, we were partnered with our buddies. We played Bingo to get to know each other, and then we were sent to four different P4 classes to attend lessons. In class, we worked on a group project using old boxes and other materials. The theme of the project was “Save the Earth: From Trash to Treasure.” We were thrilled to make new friends and work together.

Next, we had some food and drinks in the canteen with our buddies using coupons given by the school during recess at 10.

After recess, we had a PE lesson. We did PE in a new way using VR, playing Beat Saber and Walking in Adventure. It was so fun and exciting! After that, we had lunch in the canteen at 12.

From school we took a bus and went to Orchard Road by bus. We visited a mall, walked along the road, enjoyed the view, ate some ice cream, and went to a bookstore. At 5 PM, we had dinner at Popeye’s. We had chicken, rice, and French fries. Because there were so many of us, we got our food a little late and finished eating around 6:30 PM. Luckily, our hostel was near the restaurant, so we only needed to walk for a few minutes.

We arrived at our hostel at 7:20. We were so tired from all the activities and the long walk at Orchard Road, so we rushed to our rooms, took a shower, and got ready to sleep. We can’t wait to go to school and see our buddies again. See you tomorrow!

We started our second day by waking up early, taking a shower and having breakfast. After that we got ready to go to Primary CHIJ Katong by bus. But before our bus arrived, we took a picture first at our place of stay at Praisehaven Retreat.

After our bus arrived, we went to Primary CHIJ Katong. Our journey to Primary CHIJ Katong took about 30 minutes from where we stayed.

After we arrived at Primary CHIJ Katong, we were warmly welcomed by the teachers, principal and our buddies. Our first activity at Primary CHIJ Katong was playing Bingo to get to know each other with our buddies.

After playing Bingo we also took an art craft class with our buddies at Primary CHIJ Katong. When our art and craft lesson was finished we continued our activities by taking a PE class with the VR Experience method. We really enjoyed it.

At 12 o’clock the PE lesson finished and after that we had lunch together at Primary CHIJ Katong. After lunch we continued our activities by walking around Orchard Road. At Orchard Road we took pictures and bought ice cream for $2. After that we went to the bookstore in Ngee Ann City. At the bookstore we bought some books and didn’t forget to take pictures there.

The next activity we moved to Jalan Timah to have dinner. We had dinner at Popeyes not far from where we stayed at Praisehaven Retreat. After dinner we went back to Praisehaven Retreat and immediately took a shower and rested.

We really enjoyed our second day in Singapore.

On this third day, we all woke up at 4.30 am Singapore time.

After showering and getting ready, we had breakfast… today we smiled because we had fried rice and sunny-side up egg as our breakfast menu, we really enjoyed it. After a short briefing from Mr Endra we were ready to go :)

We waited for the bus and went to CHIJ (Katong) Primary School and Ms Norma was waiting for us at the school gate, she welcomed us and accompanied us to the dance room and there at this time Mr Yin was present as the teacher who taught us.

It was interesting that the session started with a clip from the film MEG 2 of a girl playing her robot Sphero and opened with the question, Can a Sphero move on its own? Of course not, it needs to be commanded, controlled and connected to a tablet or computer. Sphero is a robotic ball that we can control by touching and programming using Apps on tablets or computers. Mr Yin delivered the session and taught us gradually starting with how to get to know our Sphero, how to move Sphero with simple Coding program and how to design Sphero to move with some commands. In this activity we learnt maths topics such as triangle angle, distance and time. Sphero made learning more fun and of course this was new to us and we took turns trying to move Sphero and the most fun was that we had a race between groups. Playing and competing while practising designing movement programmes with Sphero and of course getting our team to win.

After a break time the second session was waiting for us which turned out to be more exciting.

Tello Drone programming using Python to control and move the Drone using the Keyboard. Python programming in Coding is an intermediate to advanced subject in learning Coding. Together with teacher Firdaus, he taught us teach us gradually and systematically in guiding us to make Coding Phyton programming simple to more complex so that our drone can move up, move forward and backward (Forward and Backward) and finally this Drone can fly high and flipped too. The Python Coding program to send commands to the drone turned out to be very fun and we securely took turns trying it one by one…When the command was set up we shouted “ Drone is Taking off “. Teacher Firdaus finally gave us the opportunity to deliver our opinion on what we have learnt and we shared our ideas on what we’ve felt in this learning session. The session ended with an interesting activity where we as a team had to share information, ideas and experiences about famous tourist attractions from where we come from, Singapore and Medan, telling stories about SENTOSA, GARDENS BY THE BAY, SAMOSIR, TOBA LAKE and ISTANA MAIMOON. After our discussion, the session was over and we headed to the canteen for lunch. Wooooww what a nice lunch and today we really enjoyed our lunch menu, Salted Fried Chicken, Shrimp Roll. We Loved it!!!

Not long after lunch we were ready to head to SINGAPORE PLAZA, this mall has almost everything available in a single place, it was a nice little local mall we spent for 2-3 hours. We bought many snacks and stationaries :)

We finally went back to the hostel and got ready for dinner, we enjoyed our dinner which we did outside. Thank you for today and that all our today’s journal.

Today was an incredibly fun day, packed with engaging lessons and exciting activities!

Our first lesson at school was learning math through Sphero with Mr. Yip. Each of us received an iPad and a Sphero robot to work with. We learned how to code the Sphero, and it was so much fun! We competed in groups to see who could reach the finish line first. Some of our friends won first and second place.

The next lesson was even more competitive and interesting! We learned how to control a drone from a laptop with Mr. Firdaus, a very nice and smart teacher. This was the first time we ever learned to control a drone at school! We used coding on the laptop, with some friends helping us along the way. We coded the drone to fly up and down, left and right, rotate while flying, and even flip. When we executed the flipping code, our hearts nearly stopped, fearing it might crash!

After the drone lesson, we ate in the canteen. Today’s food was more delicious than usual! Once we finished eating, we got on a bus and went to a mall. There, we visited the Smiggle shop, a small gifts shop, and others.

After shopping, we returned to our hostel and showered at 5 PM. Later, we had chicken curry at a nearby restaurant. Since it was so close, we walked there. Now, it’s time for bed. We hope tomorrow will be even more amazing!

Today was an interesting day. We did a lot of things and we enjoyed it. There were a few things we did.

To start the day, we woke up at 4.25 am, but some of us woke up at 5.00 am. We woke up early because we didn’t want to be embarrassed, and also because we were more disciplined when our parents were not around. After that we had breakfast, our menu was fried rice.

After breakfast we went to school. When we arrived at school, we learned math coding with sphero, a sphero that we could control. It was very fun and interesting. Then, we went to the school hall and learned coding to fly a drone. We tried to make the drone fly very high, it was very interesting, we played it for a long time, we really enjoyed flying the drone. After that we went to the canteen for lunch before exploring Singapore.

We went to Plaza Singapura, the place is very big. First we went to buy snacks, and went to Sniggle. Some of our friends bought something at Sniggle like bottles, erasers, but some others just looked around and didn’t buy anything.

We were divided in two groups, some of us went to Lego and some others went to shop for food. In Lego we just looked around but some also bought lego. After that we all gathered in a place and waited for the bus to go back to the hostel, and we came back from the mall around 4 o’clock.

To end our day, we went to a restaurant near our hostel for having lunch. Some of us ate curry rice and meatballs.

We really enjoyed our third day activities in Singapore. Thank you.

Wednesday, the 4th day of our school visit programme today was full of amazing activities. We woke up at 4 a.m. to have a quick shower after which we got ready, finished breakfast and left for CHIJ Katong Primary school at 7 a.m.

Upon arrival at the school we were greeted by Ms Norma who then took us to the dance room to give a briefing on today’s activities, Ms Norma said that today we would visit the Peranakan Museum and we finally prepared to leave by bus to the Museum.

Arriving at the Museum the thing that caught our attention was the name of the museum, “The Intan”, a museum we explored was very unique, it looked like a residential house but when we entered the room it was very dominant, this museum contained antique objects from various ethnicities and cultures, we were welcomed by Mr Alvin who is a native descendant of the Peranakan ethnic an ethnic group defined by their genetics from Chinese, Malay, Singaporean, Indonesian and some Southest Asia ethnics, he welcomed us cheerfully, Mr Alvin invited us to sit as comfortably as possible and he began to tell the history of the Peranakan Museum was founded in the beginning. Mr Alvin told us that he didn’t originally plan to open a museum, he just enjoyed collecting antiques. Mr Alvin took us around and told us what each antique was and where it came from. There were several objects that caught our attention, there were multi-level bushels as food containers that were arranged in a row on each step, those are very unique.

Mr Alvin and his unique museum, we learnt about the heart of a person who guards, preserves and defends cultures that are of course his identity. At the end of the sharing and introduction session from Mr Alvin he played 2 folk songs from Indonesia that we were very familiar with, the songs were accompanied by a Piano and we sang happily together.

After the session with Mr Alvin we went back to school and attended the Assembly session which is held every 3 weeks presenting volunteer figures who share inspiring and success stories.

This Assembly session wasn’t just a routine for IJ Katong school, it was the foundation of an hour session filled with learning, inspiration, best practice, tips and unity. We got many insights, inspiration from a CHIJ Katong school alumni sistem who is a successful as a Radio DJ, she shared her inspiring story and success tips.

After the session was over at school, we headed to the Singapore Discovery Centre, a place where we could explore, see and discover the history of Singapore, the struggles of Singapore, what made Singapore the independent country it is today. And on that occasion we saw the technology and   innovation are made in several stations or information corners designed so spectacularly, it was amazing. We took many group photos and got a lot of sticker gifts from the centre staff.

The exploration session finished at 3.45pm, we waited for the bus pick-up and finally we left for Marina Bay Sands, we enjoyed explore Marina Bay Sands, a landmark and Singapore’s most iconic destination in the heart of Singapore’s city district with its luxurious shopping outlets and stunning rooftop. We enjoyed walking around the mall and rooftop, doing some group photo sessions and took dinner.

we enjoyed our dinner which we did at the fancy food court that’s was Amazingly good at the mall.

Before going home we delighted watched the beauty of the water show attraction which was spectacular and beautiful Singapore’s nightly light show and immerse in the symphony of dancing fountain, vivid visual projections, we really enjoyed watching the fusion of the light and water show from the Merlion Park just opposite, an attraction that was very beautiful and so enchanting for all of us who just watched it. We finally went back to the hostel.

Hey… take a look at our photos, aren’t they great? Thank you for today and that all our today’s journal.

Today, we woke up at five o’clock, knowing it was our last day study at IJ school.. Today was also Singapore’s Independence Day. At school, we celebrated Singapore’s National Day with performances, singing, and games.Because it was our last visit, we git some spuvenirs from the school. ans our buddies. Some of us felt  so touched and even cried. After the farewell, we visited the Science center, where we learned about science and played educational games. Later, we went to Bugis Market  to buy souvenirs and chocolates for our families. In the evening, we had dinner and returned to our hostel to pack our suitcases because tomorrow we are leaving for Medan. Time went by so fast. (sigh) .

Today was the last day of our visit to CHIJ Katong Primary, but we were happy because we made many friends there, and today is also Singapore National Day. So we all went to the school hall.

There the students from Kalam Kudus gave a thank you speech, and performed two traditional dances (Batak Toba dan Simalungun traditional dances). After the show, we went to the Singapore Science Centre where there were many interesting things there, from illusion shows, fire shows, and many more.

There was a funny incident there, all the students thought that their teacher was lost in the mirror maze, and at that time I went to look for it, and it turned out that the teacher was taking pictures.

After leaving, we continued our various activities at the science centre. After that, we went to Bugis Street where we shopped for many souvenirs for our families and friends. Then we had dinner together with our group.

After that, we went back to our hostel. When we arrived at the hostel, we took a shower, then packed all our things into our suitcases, then we rested.

Today is the last day of our visit in Singapore. We are a bit sad but actually we miss our parents. But today is beautiful.

This morning we woke up late. We woke up at 06.15. We immediately took a shower and had breakfast. Then we went to Garden by the Bay by bus at 08.00. In Garden by the Bay we took a lot of photos, there is a very beautiful place with many plants there. The air is clean, and many attractions such as Supertree, etc.

After we finished our tour in Garden by The Bay, we went to the airport by bus. Some of us were late, so we went to the airport by taxi. After we arrived, we put our suitcases in the plane’s hold. Then we had lunch at an Indonesian restaurant and it was really delicious.

Then we took a plane to Indonesia at 06.00 pm. We arrived in Indonesia around 07.20 pm. We were very happy because we could meet our parents again but also sad because we had made many memories with new friends at school or with friends at our school. We really enjoyed this trip, it was an amazing trip we did for one week.

That’s our last story in Singapore for. Thank you.