Prologue - The Road to SLC 2006

So we were told to prepare for the Student Leadership Conference 2006. I got my blazer, tie, packed my bags, bought an air ticket, and went through the motion of settling down at the City University of Hong Kong without another thought.

"It's just another one of those seminars overseas where speaker after speaker would preach to us about what the book defines leadership as", I brooded while waiting for my room mate, who had thrown his things all over the place and had since gone shopping without a qualm. It was Hong Kong, after all.

I was so wrong, as the following 8 days have brought me- just as I'm sure it brought the other participants- pain, joy, sorrow, frustration, extreme hunger =p, excitement, disappointment, love, and above all, the sense of pride of having a group to belong to, and the group is Group 2!!

Arranged in chronological order, the illustrated journal serves to remind my friends and myself of the good times that we had, this July 2006.

When we could have been working and making money; going out with our other halves; working on our own projects; staying home to play PC games/watch TV, we chose to leave the comfort zone and embark on this journey. I was, above all, impressed with the attendance by students from faraway places, and being able to rub shoulders with them all. Unlike student exchanges where the grades still matter, this was a no holds barred interaction we were given with no worries about suffering grades if we played too hard. There is no such thing as playing too hard these few days. Not that we did not get anything productive out of it either.



Read on, and may the happy moments always stay with you...

Day 1 & 2 - Arrival, Campus Tour & Games!

Day 1

After a long hike up from the academic building, lugging the suitcase, I made it to the student residences and checked into room 506B.






Here's the view from the window. You can see Festival Walk and the sheltered walkway linking the residence to the basketball court.








Here's a video of my room, shared with Chin Yoong. Interesting fact: I didn't know 4 people shared the washroom, so when I saw a pile of crap in the toilet bowl the first night, I thought it must have been my room mate. Must admit that it left a bad impression. Until the truth surfaced... ^^! Forgive me, 阿荣! (roomie) We chatted till the wee hours of the morning the first night spent in City University of Hong Kong.

Day 2

The campus tour took us around City University. Their library contains first hand copies of Pearl River & Yangtze River data, and is the largest single storey library in Asia!

Bachelor candidates can borrow 20 books at one go, compared to 8 in Singapore.





It was nice to be able to interact while taking a walk around to know the other group members.







Left to right: Sandy, Vicky, Ha Youn. Taken outside the Chinese Civilization Centre.






After lunch, we shifted chairs with everyone standing on it, competing to see who could shift the fastest.

Then we fought to build the tallest structure out of newspaper and scotch tape. Our group finished third. Here's a look at the foundation, strong as our group: built to stand the test of time.



Me and Claire, the bundle of energy, with trimphant looks on our faces. That thing sticking out from my head is, in fact, our tower.







Here's the group doing the cheer! Our very first, and it will not be the last you heard of us!


Our group's name is "Two Cool"! The number that started it all. Group 2 lives in my fond memories, where Ken still shouts "Richard!"





Here's the bunch of us looking mighty proud of our achievements, having known one another no more than a lunchtime and accomplishing this feat!



The bond between us will topple? My foot! (Our feet, for that matter)







After the games, Mr Ivo Hahn, CEO of Xecutive Group showed us the ropes on how to be a confident speaker. He paints very nice imagery with his words, and teaches us to be concise and yet create powerful images in our presentation where brevity is the order of the day, especially when briefing busy directors. He is deserving of respect as for his small stature (about 5 ft 4 in?), he is still capable of controlling the large crowd that is us.

After dinner, some went to Mongkok for shopping while the others went to Tsim Sha Tsui to see the harbour at night and witness the skyline from the ground up. That would prepare us for the magnificent view as seen from Victoria Peak during the City Tour! I chilled out with some friends at Hard Rock Cafe into the late night over some beer.

Click here for all photos taken on this day!