Community winter issue (dec 2014) by Warwick Singsoc

community Winter 2014

Winter Issue

December 2014

T h e U n i ve r s i t y o f Wa r w i c k S i n g a p o r e S o c i e t y

Back to school! - Start of Term Potluck In this issue:  Start of Term Potluck  Autumn General Meeting  Contact SG Careers Fair  MSA-Singsoc Halloween Movie  Production 2015 Sneak Peek  Christmas Dinner  Nottingham Winter Games

There’s no better way to welcome people back to the UK than with good food and good company, and that’s just what we did, at the Autumn installment of our semiannual Start of Term Potluck. Held in the Social Sciences café once again, members of all courses and years came together to enjoy an evening of casual conversation and homecooked food. While it probably

couldn’t compare to the food everyone was missing from home, the potluck was a good excuse for everyone to catch up with old friends and meet the newly-arrived freshers.

Couldn’t make the Autumn GM? Meet our new Freshers’ Reps on Page 2!

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Meet the Freshers’ (Reps): Autumn General Meeting 2014 On 18th November 2014, Singsoc held the annual Autumn General Meeting in H0.51. The meeting kicked off with a quick summary of Singsoc events held since the Annual General Meeting in Term 2 of academic year 2013/2014 by President Adrian Yeo. He then proceeded to outline the upcoming events for the year ahead, including the One World Week fashion show and Production 2015, before handing over to Treasurer Sean Lim who gave members a run-down of the Society finances. Finally, we proceeded to elect in our two new Freshers’ Reps for the year: Yu Jun and Su Yun.

Freshers’ Representative 1 Name: Tan Yu Jun Course: Economics

Hi everyone! My name Yu Jun, currently studying Economics here at Warwick. I enjoy travelling and eating good food, though I’m quite thrifty (maybe stingy to a certain extent, haha!) so I tend to be caught in the dilemma of spending or saving. I am also really active and enjoy playing sports and going to the gym. Even while I’m really active, I do enjoy some quiet moments from time to time. Looking forward to getting to know you all better!

Freshers’ Representative 2 Name: Heng Su Yun Course: Economics

Hi there, I am Suyun! I love playing sports but also like lazing around. Food is my first love and I am sometimes overly attached to my bed. Anyway, feel free to jio me if you’re looking for a buddy, I’m always up for trying new things! I hope to travel the world some day and my dream house will have a trampoline and many slides. Please do get to know me, I promise I’m not as retarded as I sound right now! See you around!

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Thinking ahead: Contact SG Careers Fair Singsoc doesn’t just aim to be a home away from home for members: it also intends to showcase Singapore to the world, and that’s just what we did on the 24th of October. Organised by Contact SG, the Careers Fair showcased a handful of top recruiters in Singapore, such as the NEA and Singtel, to both local and foreign members. Beyond the formal presentations, attendees also got to chat one-on-one with the speakers over a scrumptious buffet-style dinner, clearing up their doubts and getting to know the employers better, We look forward to hosting more such events, and keeping all members ready to hit the ground running once they reach home.

Fright Night: MSA-Singsoc Halloween Movie This

year,

Singsoc

collaborated

with

Warwick’s

Malaysian Students’ Association to bring members of both societies together for a spooky Halloween Movie Screening of Silent Hill. Held in H0.51, participants enjoyed a holiday-themed photo booth and snacks, alongside the wonderful company. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and can’t wait for the next intersocietal collaboration with our friends from across the causeway.

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Backstage pass: Production 2015 Sneak Peek Fiona Tay Co-director Production 2015 Firstly, choosing to join the directorial team for SingSoc was a big change in environment for me. This was my first time in an amateur production and i didn’t know what to expect - I had never trained people new to the theatre scene before. Furthermore, my previous productions were all kind of big-budget, while ‘Those Who Can't, Teach’ is fairly low-cost, which challenges me to find alternative ways to present the elaborate sets that I want to put on stage with minimal expenditure. Secondly, I committed myself to this before I even knew what Warwick looked like, or it’s culture, or the environment. I completely didn't know what to expect. If that wasn’t enough, there was the problem that, because I was a first-year, people might "see me no up" and question me - why did I deserve this spot? However, through the process of getting our team together and working on the draft plans, it now feels like I'm getting into the swing of things, and guiding our cast and crew to do well too. It's not easy to get so many people from such different backgrounds together and try something new, and being in University means our schedules don't quite match up nicely. But whenever rehearsals do happen, the cast really get into their roles and create some very different interactions from how they behave as themselves (to the extent that we sometimes even make script-related in-jokes in our WhatsApp group), and the crew does an impressive job of formulating what needs to be on stage, given that they've never been in a production before. My nervousness at the start - I tended to cower behind Dom and Werty - has quite faded away, and I'm really grateful to everyone for letting me gain the confidence I need. Lastly, I didn't know whether my expectations were too high or too low - what I can tell you is our team EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS ON ALL LEVELS. I'm pretty sure we're going to have a very thought-provoking performance with a perfect harmony from our cast and crew, at an exceptional standard this year. I'm really proud to be part of all this.

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Festive feast: Christmas Dinner 2014 Held once again at Le Bistrot Pierre in Leamington Spa, 2014's Christmas Dinner was a burst of food, fun and festivity before the start of Week 10 of Term 1, where assignments and tests abound. Entering the cosy restaurant, guests were met with a beautifully set-up dining area, complete with handwritten place cards, Christmas crackers and little bundles of goodies for everyone. As they dug into the French-style Christmas menu, participants were entertained by emcees (and freshly -elected freshers reps) Yu Jun and Su Yun, who got the crowd moving and necks craning with new twists on old games like Pass the Parcel and trivia. Everyone who got put on Santa's 'Nice' list also got to take part in a friendly gift exchange, with presents delivered in person by a buff Santa (Ziyong) and his dashing elves (Celynn and Yan Han). After which, a lucky draw took place, with prizes ranging from Nerf Guns to an action camera, followed by the finale event: the tradition Boat Race. Though they put up a strong fight, the freshers lost by a hair to the team comprising Year 2 and Year 3 seniors, with Rakesh sprinting the last couple of seconds to a photo finish win. Besides drawing in the younger crowd of Singaporean undergrads, we were pleased to welcome a few postgrads and non-Singaporeans to the Christmas Dinner, and hope that this heralds even better integration with our Masters and PhD members as well as our friends from abroad. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the planning and efforts of the wonderful Christmas Dinner committee, to whom we owe a big Thank You: Christina, Yan Han, Ziyong, Peng Ning, Shijie, Celynn and Yu Lian!

ÂŠ 2014 The University of Warwick Singapore Society

community Winter 2014

Last but certainly Nott least: Nottingham Winter Games

Ken Wei Tan (Captain) Frisbee - Placed 1st & 3rd Warwick Singsoc @ NWG 2014

As a team formed by members of the Warwick Malaysian Students' Association in 2011 whose motivations include playing in Malaysian/ Singaporean sports events at universities around the UK, Bounce is

Frisbee - 1st & 3rd

no stranger to entering such events. For the third year running, we were given the opportunity yet again to represent Warwick SingSoc

Netball - 1st

at the Nottingham Winter Games and retain our title as Ultimate Frisbee champions (which we first won in the 2012 edition of this event). This year, we sent three teams (one more than last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two). The atmosphere at our event could be best described as light-

Tennis - 2nd Monopoly deal - 2nd

hearted, but not without some intense competition. Bounce A

Soccer - 4th

came out on top, edging over Manchester in the finals, who were unable to respond adequately to our disciplined defence and welldrilled offensive flow. Meanwhile, Bounce B beat Durham in the 3v4 to finish third. Bounce C, which comprised mostly beginners, demonstrated remarkable on-pitch performance and rapid improve-

Photo: Kevin Yap

ment as the tournament progressed, but unfortunately fell short of clearing the group stage. It was certainly a good finish, setting the bar higher for the future edition of this event which we look forward to attending. We took this tournament as a warm-up to our major event, the Nottingham Malaysian Games, three weeks later, which paid its dividends as we retook the title (which we last won in 2012)!

ÂŠ 2014 The University of Warwick Singapore Society

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Jolyn Chew Tennis - Placed 2nd “ Playing for Nottingham Winter Games was an excellent opportunity to mingle with not only other freshers from school, but also to reconnect with old friends and foster new friendships with people from other schools. Although we lost the final narrowly, it was a day well spent out in the courts with lots of sunshine and laughter with old teammates. We also had the chance to explore the pretty campus and visit the deer park after our matches. Despite the extremely long bus ride we took to get there and back, Nottingham Winter Games really provided us freshers with a brief respite from school, and I am thankful for the opportunity to represent Warwick in the games this year :) ”

Ong Ee Loon Monopoly Deal - Placed 2nd Team Warwick’s participation in Monopoly Deal was actually unplanned for, but I would say our spontaneity paid off! The organisers had four players who pulled out last minute and the four of us (Justin Gwee, Tan Yuan Ming, Zachary Chu) decided to join the game. After a few games, Justin, Yuan Ming and I emerged top 2 in our respective qualifying rounds and proceeded to the semi-finals. As luck would have it, I managed to win in my semi-finals round and moved on to the Finals, where 6 more exhausting games awaited. By the end, all 4 finalists were zoned out, having played 14 – 20 intense games of monodeal in the last four hours. We bonded over the fatigue while still persevering in the game, and I eventually emerged 2nd! I never knew playing monodeal could be so mentally draining and require so much determination!

The University of Warwick Singapore Society c/o Warwick Students' Union Warwick SU Gibbet Hill Rd Coventry CV4 7AL United Kingdom www.warwicksingsoc.com contact@warwicksingsoc.com

The University of Warwick Singapore Society (Warwick Singsoc) is a 200-odd member society under the umbrella of the University of Warwick Students' Union Societies Federation. Our stated aims are to serve as a home-away-from-home for overseas Singaporeans studying in Warwick, as well as a platform from which non-Singaporeans can experience Singaporean culture.