3 months

Without realizing I have already been in Europe for 3 months. Today my friend, Yihan, asked me what has living in Europe taught me or how have it changed me?

I can safely say for sure that my stay in Europe, especially Germany has made me realized the importance of punctuality. Well, I do know the importance of punctuality before I come here but its only here that I realized that I must really be early or on time if not, I'm dead!

One, the trains and buses leaves on the dot, not very often to see a late bus/train. Second, the Germans are very punctual people, very much so compared to Singaporeans. However the presence of a fixed time system for public transport has taught me to appreciate the convenience and high frequency of the Singapore's public transport. Here I could easily wait up to 20 or 30mins for missing a train/bus. The train from my hostel to TUM ME faculty only comes once every 20mins. It not the regional trains we are talking about here, but the U-bahn, Munich's subway.

I also appreciate how the Europeans value family life. On Sunday, families throng to the parks or some nice places of interest and spend time together. You will not see families hanging around shopping malls because the malls are not open on Sundays. It probably will be unthinkable for many Singaporeans to survive a Sunday with practically everything closed, supermarkets and malls, etc. I have yet to see a convenience store in Europe, no 7-11 or whatsoever. You either stay at home on Sunday, head out to one of the few restaurants and cafes opened or go to a park. I felt that it would be great if Singapore have something like that but probably not every Sunday though, that would be too much for a generation of window shoppers to take. Maybe once a month or even once a year would be great.

Cook more, ride more is what I think I would do when I return. Its fun to try out different recipes and healthier as well, though the washing dishes part is not fun at all. I would miss the opportunities I have when I can just organize an impromptu dinner at my place and within minutes everyone would arrive or having a BBQ in my backyard under the tree I only recently realized is a cherry tree (We plucked a few cherries today!). Maybe I should review this post again 3months later when I would already be back in Singapore and reflect upon what have changed and what I miss about Europe.