The Interview

An interviewing panel comprising a relatively friendly middle-aged man and two ladies made for a very relaxed Shaun. And a very relaxed Shaun results in very .. Shaun-ish answers.

Q: "How was the exchange in .. Waterloo, Canada?"

A: "Awesome. You know exchange is mostly about fun."

Q: "So what did you do there?"

A: "Oh, mostly drinking and partying."

Whatever happened to 'an exchange of cultures, meeting people of different nationalities, traveling, learning independence, exciting driving experiences, etc'? God knows. My subconscious seems to have neatly summed up my entire exchange experience into one phrase - "drinking and partying".

Q: "What's your favorite subject in NUS?"

A: "I enjoyed doing Business Law, but I didn't do so well in it."

Q: "You didn't do well in something you enjoyed?"

A: "Well, it was an open book paper, and everybody knew more or less what was going to be tested and so prepared extensive notes. So did I. Only difference is that I forgot to print them. And discovered it only in the exam hall."

Q: "Does this happen often? Exams are quite important matters, no? Can we say you're careless?"

A: "No, and you can't judge from a one-off incident -best disarming smile- blah blah blah"

God help me, eh? But honestly I think the interview went pretty well. Hopefully they appreciate honesty and me being completely at ease with them _should_ score some points.

I remember a question about how I should have had done very well in poly to be able to get to NUS. Uh huh. And the next line .. "So what happened in NUS? -waves hand over what I think is my transcript-" Ouch. My reply? Something about how poly students don't study much and I was able to get by with doing close to zero studying. After being motivated to get into NUS, all I had to do was start studying a little more seriously and here I am. And then I uttered a line about "and then there's the two years of brain decaying in national service..."

Yep. So, God help me. All ye righteous folks out there please start praying for me. Oh, by the way, it's an interview for a year-long internship/work-study program in silicon valley.