Too quickly, the day of graduation arrived. For some of us, it felt like the end of summer. For others with plans to travel around Asia, it meant it was time for the next leg of the journey. For me, it meant standing in front of around 1000 people again.
The graduation ceremony began with the Global Forum, in which there was a debate on the resolution “Prioritising economic development over environmental protection is in the best interest of developing countries.” The “pro” side was made up of students from China, Korea and one very charismatic Singaporean from Nanyang Technological University, and the “con” side was composed of British and Korean students. Ultimately, the “con” team was able to persuade the audience that environmental protection shouldn’t take a back seat to economic development.
Though my team and I put in a lot of work, we didn’t really think we would win the whole competition, I feel very proud to have won an international debate and It was an excellent achievement to take back home with me.
Then, students donned graduation gowns and received their certificates of completion, and the long journey back to their home countries began. Many students and faculty left just as the Korean rainy season began picking up, leading to a soggy farewell. Oh well, at least we had many dry, sunny days prior to that for all of our outdoor activities.
“I have made friends in Singapore, Switzerland and Korea and all of them made my time during this 3 month really special, I feel like I was able to learn about many more cultures instead of only Korea’s.”
