First Impressions of Singapore

So far I'm really loving it here. The weather is beautiful and there is so much to do. The people are incredibly nice also! I'm very lucky I got here on time, however -- I almost missed my flight!! I stayed out a bit too late in Chicago the night before, fell asleep, and woke up 30 minutes before my flight was scheduled. You can read more about it in my "Finally in Singapore!" post.


Accomodations. The room I'm staying in is just like any typical dorm. I have a twin-sized bed, my own closet and a very large desk. See photos of my room here. I share a room with another exchange student named Yonna who is from a small town in Sweden. She's very nice and we get along great!

Our room opens up to an outdoor hallway. (There are almost no indoor hallways anywhere on campus. The buildings are all very open to the outdoors.) Our floor is all females and there is a locked gate to get onto the upper two floors where all the girls live. Gotta keep those boys out!

When looking out my window or out my door all I see is green. There are trees everywhere and I like it very much! Even after only two weeks I'm feeling very at home here.


Climate and Geography. Singapore is a very small island -- it only takes about 40 minutes to drive across the whole thing east-to-west, and problably even less north-to-south. There are hills everywhere, which makes walking to class quite tiresome! (All the local students think anyone that walks instead of taking the bus to class is crazy. I prefer the walk.) Back home if there are hills the ground is more or less levelled off, but here the buildings are all constructed around them. Buildings aren't exactly rectangular, either, and there are tons of hallways that branch off into dead ends. That, in combination with the hills and all the staircases, makes it very difficult for me to find my way around campus! It took me almost an hour to find the bookstore this afternoon, and I had already been there twice. See photos of campus here. The civil engineers here must be very good.

The weather is hot and humid, but I like it better than the snow! The temperature is in the 80's by day and 70's by night. It rains every day, but usually just a light sprinkle, although we have had a few thunderstorms since I've been here. You can always tell when it's going to rain because the temperature will suddenly drop a few degrees. All the walkways are covered, so if I forget to bring my umbrella I usually don't get terribly wet.

Just like the rest of the city, the campus is covered in plants. It's beautiful! I've taken a million photos of all the different kinds of flowers, with this one being my favorite. On the west end of campus there is a dense forest that separates us from military ground, and often when I walk nearby I almost feel like I'm in the jungle.

Stray cats are everywhere on campus! Sometimes they sneak through the gate and wander around on my floor. I've seen them jump onto tables and eat people's leftovers after lunch or dinner. One cat likes in particular sits in for the security guard sometimes when he's off-duty.


The Food. Something that you are probably all curious about! The food here actually isn't bad at all. I eat rice with just about every meal, often for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. The portions tend to be a bit large so it's difficult for me to eat more than one meal a day -- I'll usually snack on fruit or pretzels (they import Rold Gold!) when I get hungry. Plus I've been getting so much exercise walking up all the hills that I don't have as much of an appetite.

For breakfast I usually drink a cup of Chinese tea with a piece of fruit (watermelon, pineapple, honeydew, kiwi, you name it) and some toast. The toast has a greenish colored spread on it called kaya which is delicious! I'll have to bring some home when I return in May.

There are, of course, certain foods that I will not be trying while here. These include, but are not limited to, fish head soup, pig organ soup, and whole chicken feet.


The People. And everyone thinks people from Wisconsin are nice!! Everybody in Singapore is so incredibly nice and considerate of one another. My aunt just told me that Singapore is the happiest country in the world, and I can definitely vouch for that. I get lost a lot, both on campus and in the city, and without even making eye contact with anybody someone usually will stop and offer to help. Lots of times they will even walk me part of the way. Bus drivers, students, random people on the MRT, you name it, everybody is helpful.

Last week I was worried about not having enough money to eat dinner and the guy in line behind me offered to give me money for me meal. How considerate! I ended up just getting something small so I didn't need it, but it was a very nice gesture.

English is an official language of Singapore but it is rarely spoken, and when it is used it's broken and has a heavy accent. All of my courses are taught in english, but I've noticed that many of the students don't even use it when they are outside of class. When I get food at the canteens people sometimes have a very hard time understanding me, and last night when I tried to get a taxi to another club the driver couldn't understand my accent. Haha, I thought that was funny. I could understand him just fine!


The Culture. It seems like Singapore is a mash-up of all sorts of cultures. There are many different people here -- Indians, Malays, Phillipinos, Indonesians, and Burmese. There are distinctly Chinese roots everywhere, in the food, the architecture, and the language. It's a bit like how The States are called a melting pot. There is a Little India and a Chinatown but I have yet to go to either.


The Exchange Students. Are wonderful! Most of the students here are incredibly friendly and it is usually very easy to strike up a converstation with a complete stranger. We are all very open to new things and want to make the most of our time here, so finding people who want to travel like I do is not difficult at all. And there are so many cute boys. :o)

I have already made lots of great friends and know there are still so many people to meet. There are 185 exchange students so it will take some time to get to know them all! The International Student Center organizes plenty of events for us to get to know one another, and next weekend are the International Games, NTU's version of the Olympics! Right now many of the people I spend my time with are from Canada and The States, and many people are gravitating towards their regions. The Italians stick together, many of the Candians stick together, and a few from Scandinavia stick together. I think that's only because many of the people already knew each other before they came, and people from the same region can relate to one another better. When we go out though, everybody mixes in with everybody and we all have a great time together. I think once people get to know each other better and start becoming closer friends we will all spread out more.



The next four months will be fabulous and I am very excited. I'm going to learn a lot about Southeast Asia, about other countries and people, and lots about myself as well. I'm already thinking about studying abroad again!