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Taiwanese host Matilda Tao<\/a> has joined her son in studying in Singapor<\/a>e.<\/p>\n The 56-year-old, whose son Li Wu,<\/a> 17, attends an international school here, recently enrolled in the Chinese EMBA programme at the National University of Singapore<\/a> (NUS).<\/p>\n After completing her first course \u2014 accounting \u2014 Matilda returned to Taiwan and shared her experience on her podcast.<\/p>\n And talk about being thrown straight into the deep end.<\/p>\n According to Matilda, her professor crammed what would normally be two years\u2019 worth of accounting into just four days.<\/p>\n After three days of lessons, students had to give a group presentation analysing a company’s financial report on the morning of day four, followed by a written exam that afternoon.<\/p>\n Matilda, who doesn’t have a business background, admitted she barely understood anything on the first day and felt close to breaking down.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first time, I felt like half my brain had been emptied out. I was really putting it to work!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The syllabus covered 10 chapters, including accrual accounting, revenue recognition, inventory, fixed and intangible assets, and more.<\/p>\n Just hearing her rattle off the list made our brains hurt.<\/p>\n There was no hiding at the back of class either.<\/p>\n Each student had a huge name tag on their desk, which meant the professor could call on anyone to answer questions at any time.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you can’t even doze off,\u201d joked Matilda.<\/p>\n Somehow, though, things started making sense by day four.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the revision, I suddenly realised, \u2018Hey, I actually understand it!\u2019\u201d she recalled, adding that she eventually found accounting \u201cfun\u201d.<\/p>\n Lessons started promptly at 9am, with each class lasting 90 minutes. Students attended around four or five classes a day, with lessons ending at 5.30pm.<\/p>\n Matilda would then return to her hotel to revise, often falling asleep while watching lesson videos on her phone.<\/p>\n And this is just the beginning \u2014 she’ll be returning to NUS every month for more classes.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Matilda hadn’t set out to study accounting \u2014 or even business.<\/p>\n She was inspired to enrol after meeting a young woman on a flight home from visiting her son in Singapore.<\/p>\n