Previously
Phil, Vincent, Albert and I just flew into Singapore from Japan. Three of us split a taxi to NTU and I started to get settled in and meeting my roommate!
Back to School
Monday was the first day of classes, I went to a morning class about negotiations that I really wanted to take. Unfortunately the class was full so I was on the waiting list but I attended the class just to see how I’d like it. It seemed like something I would enjoy where we did various exercises regarding negotiating. It didn’t seem likely that I would get in though with no vacancies in the course and a waitlist of 20 people.
The next class I had we got straight into notes and unfortunately it looked like I was the only exchange student there. I went to my last class which was a possible elective for me but seemed pretty boring. I still needed to decide my final elective since I was probably not getting into the negotiations course.
Some things I found interesting in campus were that to get to different buildings, you can only take specific floors. So you had to know which floors connect certain areas which was pretty confusing. I have also seen some wildlife around but got used to it very quickly surprisingly. I’ve seen: bats, mice, lizards, and spiders, but still looking for a monkey!
Tuesday I didn’t have class for the first week so I used this time to sign up for my student’s pass and officially check into residence. For breakfast, canteens have different sets which are really cheap. 3 pieces of toast, 2 half boiled eggs and a coffee or tea for $1.70! I explored more of the campus today but still got lost at times. I used the campus shuttle which is really convenient as it takes students around campus, preventing having to walk outside in the heat if you don’t want to. I’m also still getting used to Singlish which is a different form of English that Singaporeans speak.
Wednesday morning I had my next class and met two exchange students finally! I had another class in the afternoon which was a bit weird. We watched a documentary on an incident for 15 minutes which I found a little long, then basically watched a video of a lava lamp for 5 minutes (class was on mass transfer so watching the coloured liquid move in the lava lamp). I went to the mall after to do a bit more shopping.
When I got back I quickly got ready to go to a club that night. There was an exchange student event I heard about. A ton of exchange students (around 40-50) went to central Singapore for a party on a rooftop of an apartment with a great view of Singapore! It was really fun getting to know the other exchange students coming from all over the world. There was also one girl I never met who lives a minute away from me back home!
A group of us then went to a nightclub called Bang Bang in which we put ourselves on the guest list in advance. They wanted our passport as ID but luckily I scanned it and showed the scanned version to get in. Some of the other students that didn’t have theirs couldn’t get in but we were told to bring it in advance. The club was a lot of fun and afterwards we cabbed it back to McDonalds and then back to NTU. I didn’t sleep till 5:30 though!
Thursday I was somehow able to get up for 9:30 class but really regret it. We barely did anything in the class and the final hour was the prof doing a science experiment which reminded me of high school. That evening Phil and I played pool in his residence. His lounge was a really chill area with a pool table, foosball, pinball machine, flat screen and speakers!
Friday I had only an hour of class for the day. Before class we played human foosball which we signed up for in advance. There was only our team and one other team who were exchange students from Hong Kong. Our team just destroyed them so we mixed up the teams. It was a lot of fun though and we ended up being on the NTU instagram!
Little India
I went to class and after got ready to go to Little India for the day with a bunch of exchange students I made friends with. Walking through the streets and markets was pretty cool. We had Indian food for lunch and dinner in a canteen which was really good too. After we went inside a Hindu temple and a gurdwara (Sikh temple). We went to the Mustafa Centre which is a massive department store. I thought it would sell cool or interesting things, but it seemed to be a typical mall. I also saw some monks in the mall and on the street casually!
Singapore Nightlife
Saturday night we were going to a beach club event on Sentosa Island. We took advantage of public drinking being allowed, when walking by the harbour front of the island. It was a really nice view with some fireworks too. We also saw the entrance of Universal studios. The club came with a welcome shot but it was a shot of beer which was pretty dumb! It was a good time though but they didn’t have some of the things they advertised which was a little annoying.
I chilled on the beach outside the club with a few friends afterwards and we saw a drunk guy in the ocean who did not look okay. Two people in our group were lifeguards and went to check up on him. He was barely conscious so myself and the rest of the group followed instructions from the lifeguard friends in timing to check his pulse, turning him over to his side, calling an ambulance, etc. It took 45 minutes for the paramedics to arrive which was way longer than what it should have been. A disturbing thing was we told a security guard at the club about this and asked for water for the guy, but the guard didn’t care at all! After the paramedics took the man we chilled on the beach a bit more, then called an uber to go home.
The uber couldn’t find us so we walked back to the harbour front to hail down a cab. On the way we found some lit up areas as well as fun house mirrors. We also saw a massive statue of a Merlion which is an animal with the head of a lion and body of a fish which was strange. We got a cab back home after to end the night.
Next
Up next is my second week of Singapore which included tons of events like a Waterloo alumni event, BBQ birthday party and a residence party!
Cruzin the World 