“life will be better in spring”

March 2011 April 2011

30th March! A surprise museum visit to Singapore Biennale 2011 at Kallang airport(?)

^^ It was a "WOW" museum experience! Why? It's because the art works are based on not only the sense of sight, but also touch, smell and hearing.. It shows us that art can be in any form at all! :D For example, in the West Block, we saw a little barn filled with hay! It sure SMELLS like hay! XP and we climbed up this steps of hay to take a photo. Also, we saw many other art works in the terminal. There was a room with huge ropes that is made up of well... hair! creepy but WOW! There was a spiral staircase which anyone would have thought was normal.. but it was actually an art work. Walk up the stairs and you would have seen tiny scribbles on the wall! Well, i guess they were the random thoughts of the artist....?

There was an art work that i really liked! It was a little suitcase which was opened. the inner sides of the suitcase were lined with mirrors and the base of the suitcase was a video clip of waves. You can also hear the sound of the waves of course! Haha! makes me think that we can bring a breach along with us anywhere and anytime! :D Isn't that cool?!

There is a room in the East Block that i really liked. It was kind of scary but.. oh wells? It was talking about the ghost stories in Singapore and how people view and reach to such phenomenal activities.. Well, i read the news articles hung up on the wall and it was actually real articles from the straits times!

Of course, there were other art works that I've seen.. but too many for me to talk about one by one! Although the trip can be a little boring and confusing (you just don't understand what the art works are about), but it was fun! Oh! And an eye-opener to all! It only it wasn't THAT hot and stuffy that day! hehehee!

On the 29th March, we went to LTA!

It was a very cool experience as we get to learn not only by reading, but also by listening to the audio and looking at models. Yea! I thought that it was an innovative idea to use the doors (which were supposed to be like the doors of the MRT train) as a screen! Extremely cool when the doors opened to lead us to the next area!

Then, we got to know more about transport in Singapore in the past. There were models (live size of course) for us to play with.. we were even allowed to sit on the trishaw! :D We were given time to look around the area before the bell rang, cuing us that it was time to move on to the next room.

Yea.. the next room was more towards the modern transport in Singapore. There, we got to see small models of a part of Singapore, and how they build the roads and underground MRT track. Also, there was a huge map of Singapore that showed the MRT, bus etc. routes. :D Also, before we head on to the next room, we watched a short video about the current transport facilities in Singapore. Cool thing was that we sat on the benches that were supposed to be placed in bus stops in the future. Well, lights are placed at the bottom part of the chair! ^^

My favourite room was the one where we had a "QnA" session. We got to understand the problems that Singapore is facing now and what are the various solutions available. We really had fun during the session as we were able to give our stand and make our own choices.

Lastly, it was the room where we see what LTA wants in the future! auto-controlled cars whereby the owner can simply sit back and relax while the cars automatically drive him/her to his/her destination. Also, communication became even more advanced. And the best of all, there's an "agent" that helps you with your transport problems.. for eg., identifying bus services that we can take you to a certain place, finding out the approximate time in which the bus will arrive, or even booking a seat in the bus to make traveling more convenient!

After the tour in LTA, we went to the Banana Leaf Restaurant to eat LUNCH! yum yum! but a little too expensive for me! XP

28th March! We were supposed to have orientation programme... bu ANYWAY, there's a change of plans.

Instead of going for the "camp"/"leadership training", we had a little trip to bugis in the afternoon.

Let's backtrack a bit..
Well, we met Vani in the morning, and had a little briefing session. She seemed a little scary but oh wells? I guess she's nice most of the time disciplinary people are always more scary when they're serious.. right? *shrugs*)
And we got to talk to one of the SA person... Aaron (?) i think.. got to know a little bit more about SA and DSC. SA's like prefect's life (all over again =___=) while DSC's like the Peer Support Leaders in my secondary school.. hmmm... i don't know which to join! @_@

then, we went to Bugis area to look at the printing shops that the design students go to. Found out a few other interesting shops too! Too bad we were all quite tired..

All i cans ay is, glad to be home~
(gosh transport fee is horrible!)





So, on 25th mar, we did photography! learnt a lot more about Cannon and Nikon DSLRs.. quite interesting.. makes me wanna buy one! *resists the temptation!!!* i really like taking pics!

my group got the theme "Life in a HDB Flat" and what we did was to 'run' around the HDB area and take lots of photos! It was quite fun 'cause we get to go out of school!

we felt like secret agents/spies actually.. *teheheee* it was VERY fun! went to various floors of various HDB flats.. taking pics of shoes to furniture outside the houses.. and even played at the playground for a while! (shhh! it's a secret!)

In the end, we took more than 60 pics and deleted so many of them *heart pain!* until we had 12 left for our presentation. Well, everyone's pics were great! very nice indeed! ^^

and we spent the time after school has ended, taking jump shots and playing a game! :D

haha! DES DPA people are CRAZILY FUN! no doubt 'bout that!


We then had lunch at Mensa 2 (again) before going for the IAD (shrieks!) stuff!

watched a video(?) of an architect building buildings out of... well... rubbish! very creative and environmentally friendly! too bad not everyone accepts that idea.

well.. honestly, i was a little disappointed with it 'cause it was the course that i'll be taking for the next 3 years, and i didn't really learn much about IAD :C *sad face* I was hoping that maybe we'll be able to do some hands-on activities.. or even visit some hotels that have great interior design rooms (my brother told me of this hotel that has rooms designed by various designers.. they have different themes to it! so unique!)

overall, it was a great day nonetheless.

It was PID on 22nd march! Went to 2 places! where? *drumroll*

URA AND RED DOT MUSEUM!







SO! what do you think?

haha! honestly, the URA part was pretty random..
Red Dot museum part was AWESOME!

Went around looking at the different products. It was really interesting. my first time there so it was kinda cool to see the items on display. lights to toilet items.. to almost everything and anything! It's amazing how innovative and creative people are... and how weird it was that the ideas were so simple, yet we didn't think about it at all!

well, lesson learnt! Don't think too much about an idea you have. Just go with it! Figure out how to make your idea into reality! And don't think that any idea is stupid 'cause it's usually the "stupid" ideas that are the best ideas!





After spending our time looking around the area and going into the shops, we took the bus back to TP to have a little group discussion.

We talked about our favourite shop there and discussed what we like about the shop! Most of the time, we don't really think about how the objects are being placed, the lighting they use or the colours they use for the branding of their goods. However, it's all these stuff that attracts the customers, and make them aware of the products. It's interesting how people play with colours and lights to create an environment or an effect on shoppers! ^^ And it's really interesting when you notice how a shop is being designed! :D

Overall, i really enjoyed this trip as it was fun, in a way that we get to do whatever we want, and explore at the same time. It's like an independent learning experience, and a time to really get to know my other DES DPA-mates! Hope that we get to do more of these trips in the future! visit various area related to our course and experience it ourselves!

CHEERS TO DESIGN DPA!! :]