My favourite summer vacation: Baguio

In 2019, the start of my third year at college was fast approaching. I was bored and burnt out from the previous semester. Although working a summer job had kept me occupied, the anxiety and dread of the coming semester was smothering me and a vacation was much needed. I could not have been happier when my parents said that we would be taking one to the Philippines, specifically a few days in the City of Baguio.Located within the Province of Benguet, Baguio is labelled as the “Summer Capital

February 6, 2023 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

A Must-go Journey in Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important festival celebrated in China from the first day of the 1st lunar month to the 15th day of the 1st lunar month annually. It is a precious time when all family members gather to experience the joyful moments. Our family has a must-go to location – and that is Disneyland.Travelling to Hong Kong Disneyland used to be one of my essential journeys in past Chinese New Years. It has always been a remarkable place for me. I

February 6, 2023 | BY Leong Weng Lam, local Form 5 student

Comment: 0

The last great adventure

When was your last great adventure? For me, it was in 2017. I had just graduated from high school and my classmates and I wanted to enjoy our newfound freedom before proceeding with a new chapter in our lives, which was either four years at university or jumping straight into the workforce. After much research and deliberation, we decided on visiting two places: Da Nang and Hội An  in Vietnam. This trip would end up being an adventure for kids who had never really had one yet.Upon

January 16, 2023 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

Life is about adventures

It is important that we have adventures throughout our lives as they make things interesting and give us memories that we can carry with us forever so I believe that life should contain as many adventures as possible.While I realise that growing up my life was very different when compared to the majority of people as my family travelled the world because of my dad’s job. I didn’t go to one school for the whole of my school days, which was great as if I didn’t like one I knew I wouldn’t

January 16, 2023 | BY Lesley Wells

Comment: 0

Our last 3 years

“Alert! An unknown virus is spreading around the world”, this is how my most awful, unforgettable experience, or should I say “our horrible experience”, began.For three whole years, we have been hiding behind our facemasks, avoiding social activities, separated from our loved ones, praying so hard to end this disgusting pandemic. We pray, we hope, we beg, but the novel coronavirus doesn’t seem to want to let us go. We struggled so hard to make things better, but it just wouldn’t go

January 9, 2023 | BY Yuki Lei

Comment: 0

It only takes one

Last week, I watched a YouTube video from Australian filmmaker, educator and outdoorsman Beau Miles in which he kayaked across Cooks River in Sydney, dubbed “the sickest urban river in Australia”. He highlighted the river’s poor condition throughout the nearly 24-minute documentary and at some points even got out of his kayak, took out a few rubbish bags and started a long process of collecting a plethora of waste that surrounded him as he stood waist deep in filth. By the end, he had

December 12, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

Make a Difference

“Put your make-up onGet your nails doneCurl your hairRun the extra mileKeep it slimSo they like you. Do they like you?”Do the lyrics ring a bell to you? If not, go and turn the song on before you continuing reading this passage! Here you go, the song “Try”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8.According to Wikipedia, “Try” was released by Colbie Caillat in 2014, which charted moderately on the US Billboard Hot 100, while becoming Caillat’s highest-charting single in five

December 12, 2022 | BY Yuki Lei

Comment: 0

Maintaining healthy habits is important – but life can get in the way

We all know that we should live a healthy lifestyle and the things we should do to maintain it, but nowadays work and school commitments make it difficult to do. It didn’t used to be like that did it?In the fast-paced life that most of us live today we all know that we should take care of our health to counteract the effects of pollution, the plastics that can be ingested the food we eat, the long working hours and many hours that school homework and studying take up, but sticking to the

December 5, 2022 | BY Lesley Wells

Comment: 0

Why walking daily is a great healthy habit

On Saturday, I logged a total of 23,882 steps on the step counter app on my phone. Though some may not deem it impressive, beating my daily average of 16,000 steps was my goal and to conquer that, I walked everywhere I went throughout the day, regardless of the distance or the time it took to get to a destination.To say that I was exhausted by the end is an understatement, but I enjoyed every step, just as I had since I made it a daily habit to walk at least 30 minutes a day since 2014. From my

December 5, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

Staying motivated through difficulties

With tired eyes and being just about ready to close shop, my barber picked up his clippers in preparation to give me a haircut, the buzzing sound breaking the silence of the empty barbershop.We then got into talking about men’s hair care as he carried on with his usual skill and precision, but I began to notice from a reflection in the mirror just how tired he was. He had once told me that he estimated that he cuts the hair of 60 or more clients a day, and the usually jovial barber was

November 28, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

Friendship’s value & meaning: a collection of perspectives

When I was in high school, I was always following behind my friends. This was mostly because I was never really interested in the things that they were, which, among others, were endless basketball games, the newest anime and breakdancing. In short, despite being friends with everyone in my group, I never felt like I fit in. However, there was one person among them who always went out of their way to come back to where I was.Although we were worlds apart in interests and upbringing, we built

August 29, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

Definition of ‘time’

What is the time? Time is intangible, though it is important to all of us. Time can be counted but it cannot be turned back. Time can be fast but also slow depending on how you spend it.  A secondary school teacher once told our class: “You should cherish the time spent with your classmates next to you in the class, otherwise you will feel regret one day for not treasuring the time you are in school”, which I previously strongly disagreed with, especially when I wanted to escape as

August 15, 2022 | BY Yuki Lei

Comment: 0

The grasp of procrastination

Have you ever delayed something that you really needed to finish? Perhaps you’ve even said something along the lines of “It’s fine, I’ll just do it later” or “I still have enough time anyway”. That is, until you realise that you almost have absolutely no time left for what needed to be finished. This constant delaying is known as procrastination, something that could have a very firm grasp on people to the point of affecting productivity.  Kendra Cherry in her ‘verywell

August 15, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0

Can money buy happiness?

In college, I was once told a story of a man who had everything he could possibly ever ask for as he was immensely wealthy. People assumed that he lived a happy life with all the money he had, but by the end of the story, the man is revealed to be quite unhappy.  A friend of mine jokingly questioned how a character with all that money can still feel that way, implying that happiness can somehow be bought and sustained with cash. To this, the common and familiar question of whether or not

August 8, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

Comment: 0