Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is situated well away from the noisy, crowded streets of cities in United Kingdom. I spent my 24 weeks of Industrial Attachment in RAL, a quiet and peaceful place.  The nearest city, Oxford, is a 40-minutes drive from there.

For this IA, RAL took in two Singapore students (Ming Yi and I). Our supervisor, Dr Kevin Paulson was an excellent mentor. He really made us feel at home while we were there. His work presentations were always fun and interesting.  You will never fall asleep while attending his presentations.

RAL provided us with accommodation in a town called Abingdon and rent was cheap by European standards. The house we stayed in was a terrace house with modern facilities. The upstream of the famous River Thames flows just 50 metres away from our house. In fact, you can actually see the river from one of the rooms! During our stay, we shared the house with a Chinese professor and a Ph.D student. It was ironic that I found out more about China during my interactions with them in a European country.

One of the highlights of our IA is the interactions with other students under attachment at RAL. Industrial attachment is known as industrial placement over there and the duration of placement is approximately one year. Some of them were there for six months when we first arrived at RAL and they formed an e-mail network under Listbot where we can communicate with each other easily. The first time when we joined this network, they played a game called Eye Spy! This resulted in our mailbox being flooded with over 200 e-mails in a single day!

Teabreaks were our favourite pastime there where students from different departments gathered at the coffee lounge to enjoy a cup of cappuccino or a pot of Earl Grey. In addition, we would chat about anything ranging from concerts to football.

Once a week, the students will organize a football match after work to keep themselves fit. The first time I played, I was amazed by my fellow players' fitness and speed. Some of them could really play good football. Occasionally after the football session, they would go to a local pub to have dinner and watch European football. One memorable occasion was the UEFA Cup Final between Liverpool of UK and Alaves of Spain. When Liverpool scored the winning (golden) goal, the whole pub erupted with joy.  Some of the blokes already had one drink to many by that stage…

Weekends over there were very precious to us. We would visit different parts of UK. Places such as Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Stonehenge have their own distinctive flavours. For instance, in Oxford, you can see students riding the bicycles around the city. For those English literature fans, visiting Stratford-upon-Avon to find out about the life of William Shakespeare is a must. Stonehenge and its award winning ‘tape’ commentary imbued in me, a deep sense of mystery. The sights and sounds we experienced there were great. I fully appreciated the Chinese saying, “Travelling tens of thousand miles is much better than reading tens of thousand books”. Although we did not travel tens of thousand miles in the UK, we still managed to learn a substantial bit of their culture and history. My understanding of cultural differences between Singapore and UK better which led to stronger bonding with those friends I made there.

This IA has been a wonderful experience for me. Looking at photos or hearing stories from another person is never good enough. Take the opportunity with an overseas IA to see and gain new experience! Bring with you an open mind and a willingness to learn and you will never regret it!  Trust me!