PGP Welcome Fest Grand Finale

This year's Grand Finale is the most organized of the 4 years I've been in PGP. The event is very grand and the opening skit performed by the RAs was great! It was a mix of Lord of the Rings, Titanic and Star Wars but of course they were just spoofs replacing the key objects with transponder. The jokes were all about staying in PGP, guy and girl behind closed doors as well as the maintenance and cleaning staffs. The best part of the show was when they actually pulled out light sabers and fought. The crowd went wild as they extended their light sabers. Anyway, the events after that was just so-so... Belly dancing, seen before during the previous welcome fest - same drummer guy and same *cough* lady. The Chinese song item wasn't very suited for the Welcome Fest Grand Finale. It felt more like a 'shiok sendiri' item for the performer. Most of the people in the crowd either weren't able to understand the song or don't appreciate it as people around were just talking among themselves rather than listening. Maybe in a different setting, his songs would be appreciated. Anyway, as no major performances can end till the fat lady sings, no major PGP event is over until the fat lady eats! =P The food served was delicious!

Anyway, every year there is a different experience for the welcome fest. Despite the formality and organized Welcome Fest of this year, I missed the 'Welcome Fest' that I had. It wasn't formal but it was well organized (thanks to the volunteering seniors from TCS). That year, every freshman who participated could actually feel the bonding with the seniors and the other PGP residents around. I still see some of the Vietnamese I met during that time. Although we just say 'hi and bye' but we know each other by names and where we came from. We remembered what we talked to each other about at that time. Of course, this is my personal experience and it belongs to me. Others may feel differently about this (as in they also felt quite bonded with the other freshman in PGP) and I'm alright with it because that is their experience and I have no right to say that they don't have a fruitful freshman experience. What I want to say is maybe Welcome Fest can be improved further if they had a buddy-buddy system that I experienced as compared to "I'm an RA, call me if you need help else go play with your fellow freshmen". But of course, the seniors from TCS are still around. Every year, they'll come down to PGP to look out for the freshmen but some how not as large scale as before. Maybe it is also because of the various cliques that are already formed such as AMCISA (looong ago), VNC (my 2nd year in NUS) and Indon group (dunno when ... just saw them gang together recently).