Tales From The Travelled
I first realised that time and space are relative concepts when a three-hour ride from the airport to my apartment in Canada became a “short ride”. Back in Singapore, a three-hour ride from Changi Airport takes you into the surrounding ocean. After four months in North America for my exchange, I have become used to a concept unthinkable of at home: that a one-hour ride is considered short. However, after travelling nonstop from city to city, places began to melt together confusingly. Thus, I remembered places by their most important feature – food. I had hot dogs in New York City (juicy sausages that burst with a snap when you bite into them between soft pillowy buns), deep-dish pizza in Chicago (a meaty, cheesy pie-like pizza), cheesesteak in Philadelphia (thin slices of beef and melted cheese sandwiched between buttery buns) and clam chowder in Boston (an amazingly creamy To get around Canada and the USA, you take broth rich with flavour). the plane or bus. In North America, the plane is actually a relatively cheap way to travel. My host university was in a town close to the border Travelling makes me between Canada and the USA so I had the fortune appreciate home so of travelling around in both countries and much more. exploring many different cultures. Considering how vast both countries are, one city can be very different from the next. For example, Toronto and Montréal are so different that you would think As I ate my way down the USA’s East Coast, I you were in different countries. While Toronto is stored up fuel for my body before heading down to English-speaking, Montréal, located in Québec Florida and powering through three whole days of province, has French as its official language. The theme parks in Orlando. Other than her massive climate of the city also affects its culture. Despite theme parks, Orlando also offered an exhilarating Montréal only being six hours away from Toronto, experience that made the highest roller coaster in winter was much harsher there and some wear ski Universal Studios pale in comparison – skydiving. masks on the streets to shield their faces from the biting cold. 34
Words and Photo by Yvette Kan
I would summarise the entire experience in one word: breathtaking. Skydiving literally knocks the breath out of your lungs when you plunge from the plane and the air pressure makes it impossible to breathe. Figuratively, you forget to breathe when you realise that you have just jumped from a plane 15, 000 feet in the air but somehow, you are not dead. I wish I could tell you that a life-changing epiphany occurred to me as I was falling, but my thoughts were more focused on the fact that I had to smile so I would not look terrible in the video I paid an extra USD200 for. If you ever have the opportunity to skydive and you’ve always had the inkling that skydiving is somewhere on your bucket list, I implore you – do it. Everybody says that you should travel to expand your world, and this is true. I realised that it is important to travel not only because it brought me into contact with people from cultures I could only draw superficial conclusions about from films and TV, but also because travelling makes me appreciate home so much more. When I had eaten myself sick with burgers and fries, when I felt like I was going to freeze to death in -20°C weather, when the bus came only every half an hour, and when the subway stank of urine, I knew then that Singapore will always be home.
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