Hi y'all :P

Hi everyone. Gerald here. I'm sure if you can't remember who this is now you will eventually. I suppose I will keep this as a short introduction and then save the class related stuff for some other time.

I am a year 2 student in FASS. I used to major in Political Science but I swapped to History this semester because I was getting fed up with what I was learning. In my mind political science is a whole bunch of theory created by academics to explain the world that has almost zero application in real life. I like to frequently joke that "It's called realism for a reason guys, because it's real". So I moved on to History, which has a slightly more solid foundation to work on. Also, I seem to be able to write better history essays than political science ones.

I am quite an old undergraduate. I have spent some time working for the air force before taking a scholarship to come to NUS to get my degree. I am a qualified pilot and early in my career I used to fly F16s. I am now qualified to fly the Fokker 50 in the primary role of Maritime Air Patrol amongst other things which I am really not at liberty to say. Coming from the military and arguably one of the most testosterone charged professions in an already testosterone charged organization has meant that I do not suffer fools gladly, which can make me a little impatient sometimes. However as a people manager and having been on the receiving end of criticism before has made me more patient than I used to be!

I am looking forward to learning from all of you in this module. I believe that there is always something to be learned from others no matter what the age. Being older does not mean that I know everything because we are all limited by our life experiences, social circles, and our ingrained mindsets. I always tell people I didn't come to school to cruise along and it's not necessarily easier for me than it is for the rest. After all I'm starting off on the same zero to minimal knowledge footing as all of you.