Kota Kinabalu

A group of 6 ESP students embarked on a journey to Kota Kinabalu in East Malaysia, or more commonly known as Borneo. The group had fun exploring Kota Kinabalu, with means of driving around as well as on foot. Some embarked on a visit to University Malaysia Sabah to satisfy our curious minds. We were amazed by the sheer size of the campus of the university and the facilities in the campus was no much inferior to that of National University of Singapore. It had a complete campus facilities such as library, a grand hall, and lecture theatres.

The highlight of the trip, though, was the trip to mount kinabalu. It was a 2 hour drive away from the city centre of Kota Kinabalu. The group went there in search for 6 places to climb the mountain. However, to our disappointment, there were only 4 places left. The consolation, was a short walk in kinabalu park, admiring the grandeur of the majestic Mount Kinabalu. It was a spectacular sight and a breath-taking picturesque scenary as we admired the beautiful mount kinabalu. We left the mountains for Poring Hot Spring with a heavy heart and a determination that we will be back to scale this mountain one day. We spent an afternoon at Poring Hotspring as we soaked ourselves into the spring waters and had a relaxing afternoon before taking a 3 hour car ride back to Kota Kinabalu where we settled down for the evening before proceeding for a KFC dinner followed by a walk through the night markets of Kota Kinabalu.

The next day saw us doing some island hopping from Pulau Manukan and Pulau Sapi where we spent our afternoon swimming and basking in the sun. We made an attempt at building a mega sand castle at Pulau Sapi which was foiled by a collapse towards the end of its construction.As we returned to Kota Kinabalu, we went to rent a car to get around kinabalu. We went for a dinner at a hawker centre near Tanjong Aru. It was sort of a pot-luck as each of us contributed to various dishes as we enjoyed our dinner there. The night ended with a drive around through the city of Kota Kinabalu.

The last few hours of our stay in Kota Kinabalu we spent was on shopping at the Sunday Market at Gaya Street which was just across our hostel. Food, clothes, bags and many other items were on bargain on the street as hawkers strut their products on display.

Freshmen Orientation 2009

ESP welcomes the addition of 61 new students for the fourth batch of students entering the Engineering Science Programme (NUS) family on 31 July 2009 with a Freshmen Orientation Programme arranged with the collaboration of the ESP Admin Staff and the ESP Sub Club. Among the attendees included professors and staff from the ESP family, the Engineering Science Sub Club,senior students, exchange students from the University of Toronto, Osaka University and the Imperial College who are here for internship and of course the freshmen who would be joining us on 11 Aug 2009 when the school term starts.

The freshmen orientation's proceedings started with talks in the morning, followed by activities organised by the ESP sub club in the afternoon. By 11 am, most of the freshmen and the invited guests were promptly seated. Prof C.M. Wang gave a welcome address introducing the Engineering Science Programme to the incoming 4th intake. He started off by envisioning the students with what Singapore would look like in future years and explains the propects of the Engineering Science Programme. After which, he went on to introduce the broad based ESP curriculum. He ended his welcome address by introducing the ESP professors and teaching staff as well as the administrative staff. After which, senior students, Edna Seah,Cai Ding yan and Tan Wen You gave their view and shared their experience in their various overseas programmes, for example, the Student Exchange Programme. Fang Jiexin gave a talk on his 12-week Vacation Internship Programme (VIP) experience at Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN.It was followed by a talk on the Engineering Science Programme Sub club activities by Martin. A brief talk on CORS and modules concluded the proceedings for the morning.

After which, the freshmen were invited for a welcome lunch. They were treated to a sumptous lunch buffet. It also gave an opportunity for freshmen to interact with the professors and the senior students to share their Engineering Science experience with the new batch of students.

After lunch, it was time for the freshmen to exercise a little by participating in the Amazing Race ESP specially prepared by the Engineering Science Sub Club. Students were required to search for clues to the next checkpoint in search for the next clue. Freshmen were divided into 6 teams and each team were led by their respective Orientation Group Leader which were senior students of ESP. Special thanks to Tan Wenyou, Tang Muzhi, Franco Lim, Yori, Jiexin and Alvin Toh for leading their orientation groups so successfully, Hao hui, Boon Chin and Jian Hao for following the groups to take pictures of precious moments and Daren for ensuring the checkpoint are still in place. At the WS2 leg of the race, groups were required to choose between a road block and a detour. The road block required groups to get together to build a motor from simple items like a battery, magnet, wires and paper clips while the detour required them to go back to the hot scorching sun to complete the 2 additional checkpoints. The motor road block proved to be tough for groups as they took about 45 minutes to complete it. Eventually, only 4 out of 6 teams managed to execute their task successfully.

The event was ended at E3A simulations lab where a prize presentation was held for the winning team and the runner up as well as to bring the event to an end.

From,
Martin