Overall, I'm very happy with the exchange program. It's very independent, which I prefer. I've read the blogs of some friends studying in Europe and their programs seem to be very well organized. They have group outings to see the local culture and have planned social events with the other exchange students which sound like they're a ton of fun. We didn't have much of that here, at orientation they just talked about class registration and such and then we were pretty much on our own. They didn't even arrange housing for us. However, I am so grateful for the way the program was set up because staying in the hostel, finding roommates, and finding our way around the city all on our own was a great experience.
It's a great city, but I think it's a little different than we were all expecting. The country didn't really start to develop until it gained its independence just over 40 years ago. Today it is an extremely global and modern place making it very easy to live in and adapt to. This all sounds great but I think we were all expecting to experience a life very very different from our lives in North America and Europe so it was strange to move to SE Asia and experience virtually no culture shock. Because the country is so young and global it seems to lack its own individual culture. Also, it's so clean, sterile, strict, and organized here it almost seems fake. It's as though someone wrote out a detailed plan for a city 40 years ago...and then they built it. It doesn't feel like it developed naturally. It had to be produced because they didn't really have any natural resources to obtain wealth so their comparative advantages had to be created. Anyway, I think many aspects of the city and especially my university are modeled after American cities and universities so it was just surprising to me how similar some things are. I don't mean it in a negative way, I'm grateful for how stress-free it has been adapting to a new country, it was just unexpected.
I really really do love living here, so I'll also share some of the great things.
-The food is fantastic and pretty cheap. There are hawker centers (outdoor food courts) where you can find good food from many different asian cultures. Most of us have to ask if they can prepare it not spicy though. If they say the dish is a little spicy, that means I will need like 2 drinks nearby to get through it. If they say it is spicy, it's not even eatable. I don't know how they can handle
it!
-I mentioned that Singapore seems to lack a collective culture, but it's very fascinating to discover the multiple cultures that are represented in such a small area. Being in little india feels like being in a different country. It's the same for Chinatown and the Muslim district. When we stayed at that hostel our first week, almost everyone in the area was Malaysian and we were about 50 feet from a beautiful Mosque. There were cute little shops and people selling jewelery, purses, and beaded fabrics on the street. But you could walk 5 minutes towards the downtown area and suddenly you're in malls with top european clothing brands and a starbucks on every corner.
-It's very very green which is nice since I'm used to 6 months of leafless plants every year.
-It's really safe. We noticed the local students would always leave their belongings, including laptops, unattended in the library. We thought this was crazy but eventually realized it's totally safe; things just don't get stolen here. One day I went from the library downstairs to the Kopitiam (food court) with some other students. I noticed I was the only one lugging around my laptop bag and asked them who was watching their things and Dave replied "GOD......or the singapore cane". I thought that was pretty funny.
-Going out is a blast, though it can be expensive. I don't like clubs at all in the US because they just seem sleazy but here we go dancing at least twice a week and it's a ton of fun. They play either house, techno, or popular US music. Most clubs have a cover charge in addition to the expensive drinks but we've found a place that is free cover and unlimited drinks for girls on wednesdays. So, we've gone there every single wednesday! The poor guys have to buy their drinks and pay $25SGD cover though!
Some other info...
-Singaporeans refer to their elders as Auntie or Uncle. It's somewhat like saying ma'am and sir. For example they would always refer to their friends' parents as auntie and uncle. In a taxi you would even say "uncle, i would like to go to ..." Though I understand how the expression is used I haven't gotten in the habit of saying it yet, it still feels weird!
-When you go to the movies, they assign you a seat as you buy the ticket. I feel like I'm going to a play when I walk in and have to search for my seat. And you obviously have to buy tickets at the same time as your friends if you want to sit together.
-Most students here live with their parents, typically until they're married. Education is very valued and students feel a lot of pressure from their parents, making classes feel very competitive. During group presentations students will even try to challenge each other. Everyone has laptops in class so as a group is presenting some students use the internet to look up info about the topic being presented, then when it's opened up for questions they try to give facts that contradict what the group has claimed or they ask very challenging questions to put them on the spot. It's intense.
-This one might be awkward for the relatives to read, but I hope they can appreciate the humor: Green tea is very very popular here, and when some of my roommates and I were buying gag gifts for our other roommate's birthday guess what we discovered? green tea flavored condoms. Hilarious. Only in asia...
Now to just update on my recent daily life...
I still really love my roommates. I especially like sharing a room with Alba. She makes me laugh until my stomach aches on a regular basis. We're like little kids...when we all went to KL we had to take a bus very early in the morning. The night before we left we all went to bed but Alba and I continued to chat in our room and of course ended up laughing hysterically. Edouard had to come in our room and be like "come on now girls, we have a big day tomorrow. time go to to bed." it was funny.
Chinese New Year began on Wednesday the 6th and will continue for 15 days. It was amazing how few businesses were open. And not just for wednesday evening and thursday, but on friday and saturday there were still many restaurants closed for the holiday. This is time for Chinese people to spend visiting relatives so the city was actually quite dead on the streets. We knew wednesday night was especially devoted to family and there wouldn't be any public celebrations of the new year so my apartment decided to throw a party for all of the exchange students. It was a themed "international" party. All of the guests were told to bring something from their home country such as food, clothes, music, drinks, etc. My roommates went to the embassies of their countries and got all sorts of posters to cover our walls with. They also got other souvenirs such as spanish fans and hats that say Catalonia. We all made food before the party. Alba and Manena made spanish omelets, Leslie and Edouard bought bread and cheese, and I...made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate brownies! Us 4 girls all in the kitchen making our platters of food and singing backstreet boys at the top of our lungs is probably one of my favorite memories here thus far. Most guests brought food so we had indian samosas, pasta, crepes, pizza, german sausage, and a bunch more stuff that I either don't remember or I didn't know what it was. Some people came wearing their country's flag as a cape, a french guy drew a curly mustache on his face with eyeliner, and some americans came dressed in oversized jerseys and other "ghetto" clothes. Dave from MN went to a hardware store and made a beer bong to bring. The europeans had seen these in American movies but hadn't ever tried it so that was quite the hit at the party. But then some other Americans did the Soulja boy dance and people were less than impressed, they mostly just rolled their eyes at them which I thought was hilarious. Anyway I think we had about 80 people in our apartment, it was a ton of fun. However, after the party, the place was an absolute disaster. We had anticipated this and scheduled our maid to come thursday morning but to our horror she called and canceled! So we spent all morning cleaning. After mopping 3 times it still made a sticky/peeling sound when you walked on the floor. We got it to a livable state though until the maid came on saturday.
On Friday we went down by the Esplanade for a carnival type celebration. There were food stands, games, rides, shows, and a ton of lights and decorations. It's the year of the rat so most of the decorations and lights had a rat on them. We ate some noodles that they said weren't spicy but half of the people I was with couldn't finish them because their mouths were burning. Then we watched the fireworks and just walked around. Eventually we left the celebration and went to Chijmes for a drink. Chijmes used to be a catholic girls school but is now restaurants and bars. It's very classy and laid back, I liked it. There's still a church in the middle and little fountains and garden areas and most of the places have outdoor seating.
On Saturday Dave and I went to Denessa's house for a Chinese New Year dinner. She's an SMU student that studied at the U of M last fall. When we had study abroad orientation in october they asked her to have lunch with us to talk about singapore and we've kept in touch since then. During CNY it's a sign of respect to visit all of your elder relatives so Denessa spent wednesday-friday going to her aunt's and uncle's homes and her cousins were at her house visiting her mother. When we came over on Saturday her mom had just invited over their neighbors for a small celebration. When you're a guest in a Chinese home it's custom to give them two oranges as a gift. They then give you back 2 different oranges when you leave. So Dave and I each brought a little decorated bag with some oranges. It's also custom at these occasions for adults to give children (anyone who isn't married) a little envelope of money. They usually come prepared with multiple envelopes with different amounts in them and give smaller amounts to people they're just meeting and larger amounts to people they know well. I didn't know about this tradition and was surprised to receive 2 envelopes and $12 =). We first just chatted and had these little interesting snacks that are only sold around CNY. The meal started with a vegetable salad that is served with almost every big meal around CNY. It looks like noodles but it's long strings of shaved vegetables and there is also raw salmon in it. We all stood around the table and tossed the salad together with our chop sticks. The higher you toss it the more luck it will bring you. We then had chicken rice, spring rolls, and fruit for dessert. It was really great to be a guest in a traditional Chinese home and celebrate with them.
We leave for our recess week in about 10 days so we've been busy planning for Thailand!
it!
-I mentioned that Singapore seems to lack a collective culture, but it's very fascinating to discover the multiple cultures that are represented in such a small area. Being in little india feels like being in a different country. It's the same for Chinatown and the Muslim district. When we stayed at that hostel our first week, almost everyone in the area was Malaysian and we were about 50 feet from a beautiful Mosque. There were cute little shops and people selling jewelery, purses, and beaded fabrics on the street. But you could walk 5 minutes towards the downtown area and suddenly you're in malls with top european clothing brands and a starbucks on every corner.
-It's very very green which is nice since I'm used to 6 months of leafless plants every year.
-It's really safe. We noticed the local students would always leave their belongings, including laptops, unattended in the library. We thought this was crazy but eventually realized it's totally safe; things just don't get stolen here. One day I went from the library downstairs to the Kopitiam (food court) with some other students. I noticed I was the only one lugging around my laptop bag and asked them who was watching their things and Dave replied "GOD......or the singapore cane". I thought that was pretty funny.
-Going out is a blast, though it can be expensive. I don't like clubs at all in the US because they just seem sleazy but here we go dancing at least twice a week and it's a ton of fun. They play either house, techno, or popular US music. Most clubs have a cover charge in addition to the expensive drinks but we've found a place that is free cover and unlimited drinks for girls on wednesdays. So, we've gone there every single wednesday! The poor guys have to buy their drinks and pay $25SGD cover though!
Some other info...
-Singaporeans refer to their elders as Auntie or Uncle. It's somewhat like saying ma'am and sir. For example they would always refer to their friends' parents as auntie and uncle. In a taxi you would even say "uncle, i would like to go to ..." Though I understand how the expression is used I haven't gotten in the habit of saying it yet, it still feels weird!
-When you go to the movies, they assign you a seat as you buy the ticket. I feel like I'm going to a play when I walk in and have to search for my seat. And you obviously have to buy tickets at the same time as your friends if you want to sit together.
-Most students here live with their parents, typically until they're married. Education is very valued and students feel a lot of pressure from their parents, making classes feel very competitive. During group presentations students will even try to challenge each other. Everyone has laptops in class so as a group is presenting some students use the internet to look up info about the topic being presented, then when it's opened up for questions they try to give facts that contradict what the group has claimed or they ask very challenging questions to put them on the spot. It's intense.
-This one might be awkward for the relatives to read, but I hope they can appreciate the humor: Green tea is very very popular here, and when some of my roommates and I were buying gag gifts for our other roommate's birthday guess what we discovered? green tea flavored condoms. Hilarious. Only in asia...
Now to just update on my recent daily life...
I still really love my roommates. I especially like sharing a room with Alba. She makes me laugh until my stomach aches on a regular basis. We're like little kids...when we all went to KL we had to take a bus very early in the morning. The night before we left we all went to bed but Alba and I continued to chat in our room and of course ended up laughing hysterically. Edouard had to come in our room and be like "come on now girls, we have a big day tomorrow. time go to to bed." it was funny.
Chinese New Year began on Wednesday the 6th and will continue for 15 days. It was amazing how few businesses were open. And not just for wednesday evening and thursday, but on friday and saturday there were still many restaurants closed for the holiday. This is time for Chinese people to spend visiting relatives so the city was actually quite dead on the streets. We knew wednesday night was especially devoted to family and there wouldn't be any public celebrations of the new year so my apartment decided to throw a party for all of the exchange students. It was a themed "international" party. All of the guests were told to bring something from their home country such as food, clothes, music, drinks, etc. My roommates went to the embassies of their countries and got all sorts of posters to cover our walls with. They also got other souvenirs such as spanish fans and hats that say Catalonia. We all made food before the party. Alba and Manena made spanish omelets, Leslie and Edouard bought bread and cheese, and I...made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate brownies! Us 4 girls all in the kitchen making our platters of food and singing backstreet boys at the top of our lungs is probably one of my favorite memories here thus far. Most guests brought food so we had indian samosas, pasta, crepes, pizza, german sausage, and a bunch more stuff that I either don't remember or I didn't know what it was. Some people came wearing their country's flag as a cape, a french guy drew a curly mustache on his face with eyeliner, and some americans came dressed in oversized jerseys and other "ghetto" clothes. Dave from MN went to a hardware store and made a beer bong to bring. The europeans had seen these in American movies but hadn't ever tried it so that was quite the hit at the party. But then some other Americans did the Soulja boy dance and people were less than impressed, they mostly just rolled their eyes at them which I thought was hilarious. Anyway I think we had about 80 people in our apartment, it was a ton of fun. However, after the party, the place was an absolute disaster. We had anticipated this and scheduled our maid to come thursday morning but to our horror she called and canceled! So we spent all morning cleaning. After mopping 3 times it still made a sticky/peeling sound when you walked on the floor. We got it to a livable state though until the maid came on saturday.
On Friday we went down by the Esplanade for a carnival type celebration. There were food stands, games, rides, shows, and a ton of lights and decorations. It's the year of the rat so most of the decorations and lights had a rat on them. We ate some noodles that they said weren't spicy but half of the people I was with couldn't finish them because their mouths were burning. Then we watched the fireworks and just walked around. Eventually we left the celebration and went to Chijmes for a drink. Chijmes used to be a catholic girls school but is now restaurants and bars. It's very classy and laid back, I liked it. There's still a church in the middle and little fountains and garden areas and most of the places have outdoor seating.
On Saturday Dave and I went to Denessa's house for a Chinese New Year dinner. She's an SMU student that studied at the U of M last fall. When we had study abroad orientation in october they asked her to have lunch with us to talk about singapore and we've kept in touch since then. During CNY it's a sign of respect to visit all of your elder relatives so Denessa spent wednesday-friday going to her aunt's and uncle's homes and her cousins were at her house visiting her mother. When we came over on Saturday her mom had just invited over their neighbors for a small celebration. When you're a guest in a Chinese home it's custom to give them two oranges as a gift. They then give you back 2 different oranges when you leave. So Dave and I each brought a little decorated bag with some oranges. It's also custom at these occasions for adults to give children (anyone who isn't married) a little envelope of money. They usually come prepared with multiple envelopes with different amounts in them and give smaller amounts to people they're just meeting and larger amounts to people they know well. I didn't know about this tradition and was surprised to receive 2 envelopes and $12 =). We first just chatted and had these little interesting snacks that are only sold around CNY. The meal started with a vegetable salad that is served with almost every big meal around CNY. It looks like noodles but it's long strings of shaved vegetables and there is also raw salmon in it. We all stood around the table and tossed the salad together with our chop sticks. The higher you toss it the more luck it will bring you. We then had chicken rice, spring rolls, and fruit for dessert. It was really great to be a guest in a traditional Chinese home and celebrate with them.
We leave for our recess week in about 10 days so we've been busy planning for Thailand!
1 comment:
my cousins hated living in s'pore. I think visiting s'pore is a whole different experience than actually living there. that goes for any place but i think it's really holds true for there. it makes sense that s'pore caters to the tourists b/c that's what their whole economy is based on. s'pore is super safe with great public transportation and is visually stunning and that what all the tourists care about and need. but it's the citizens who have to deal with the restrictions, tourists, and superficalness day in and day out. don't get me wrong I had an amazing time there and want to come back soon but i wouldn't want to live there. alright i'm gonna stop my rammbling. haha.
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