A BIG "shock" came together with my friends’ congratulations, while I was still preparing for my exams.  This big "shock" changed my life for the rest of my 3rd year.  Without enough mental and physical preparation, right after my research exercise, I set off in the very early morning from Singapore Changi Airport to my dream place, the United States, with a small piece of luggage and my family’s blessings.

By my brother’s and sister-in-law’s warm hands, I was welcomed on a rainy night in Maryland, my first stop.  After one week, I left for my real destination, Boston.  January 6 was my first day in my IA company, Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (CDM).  From that day onwards until June 21, I experienced another life style, another culture.

CDM is one of the top environmental consultant firms in US; it has more than 90 offices located worldwide at present.  I fortunately had the chance to work as an attachment student in the headquarters which is a 7-storey building located in Cambridge Center in Massachusetts.  My duty was to help the engineers on various projects.  Since there was no specific job, it was a good opportunity for me to be involved in various disciplines or technical calculation including project management and administrative management.  With my kind supervisor, Mrs. Ginny Roach, and my dear colleague, Mr. Mörk Murdock, I was given great guidance in doing various projects, so as to let my IA program become more fruitful and joyful.

Besides working, I travelled around in the weekend.  Boston is an old city with more than 300-years’ history.  Since I had no US driving license, I chose to walk to explore this small city with a map in hand.  As it is located in the temperate zone, the four-season climate was an excitement to me, especially the winter which almost made me frozen at our first encounter.  Boston is also well known for world famous universities like Harvard University, MIT and Boston University, all located around the Charles River. They have made Boston a city with an academic atmosphere.  I guess that’s why Boston is also one of the safest cities. There is not much to worry about while walking alone in the night.

Boston is also the immigrants’ paradise. Over the years, many Spanish, Irish and Chinese have settled here.  With 60,000 Chinese, I could not "escape" from them. I mixed around with people from Malaysia, Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong most of the time. So I lost the chance to improve my English again.   Sigh…

Outside Boston, I have also been to Washington D.C., New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon …  Are you excited already?

Without Mrs Loh and the staff in OPA; my supervisor in NTU, Dr Lim Siow Yong, and the staff in the School of CSE; and all my colleagues in CDM, my IA program wouldn’t be so fruitful and enjoyable. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them.

Last but not least, here is an advice to future students who are going to take up this program:  When your dream comes true, be prepared.