The First Week
Well, I have been in Singapore for about a week now, and figure I should get started with a few consecutive blog posts. I am currently in my dorm room at Nanyang Technological University, in western side of the island/nation/city-state of Singapore. Looking at Google Maps I think I’m about a mile away from the nearest city in Malaysia. Which I find pretty crazy.
I am in the dorms (again,) at NTU. It doesn’t have the same frentic feel as the dorms at SDSU when I was a freshman. All the dorm blocks are divided by gender, with the women getting a key-card access rot-iron gate as their entryway.
NTU has about as many student as SDSU, but there is a large percentage of full-time international students from all over asia. For example, each exchange student gets a NTU Student Buddy. My roommate (also an SDSU student) Tommy’s buddy is from Nanjing, China. My buddy is from Jakarta, Indonesia. There are people from all parts of Asia/Oceania at NTU. As far west as India and as east as New Zealand.
Classes started today, but because my schedule is being managed I didn’t need to go as my scheduled class is going to be dropped.
There are a lot of exchange students from the West here for only a semester. The bulk of the students, in descending order of numbers, are from Canada, US, Germany and Mexico. Some universities have nearly 15 students here while others only have one.
NTU, as it’s described on its Web site, is a “garden campus.” That basically means it’s in its own little enclave of the city. The city buses come right to the front of the dorm building and it takes you right to the MRT (subway/trolley) station at Boon Lay. From there you can hit all the big spots of the island (albeit, 30min-45min away) like Clarke Quay, Marina Bay, Sentosa Island, Little India, Chinatown and if you are willing to see the undeveloped island of Pulua Ubin (as seen at the top) expect to spend two hours on buses, MRT and a bumboat ferry to get there. Most of the time, it’s worth it.
That’s the first real post, so more will come.
-John
About The Author
John P. Gamboa
John is a Technical Success Manager at WP Engine. Before moving to Austin, John lived in South Korea and China for the better part of four years. His life as an amateur Chinese web censorship expert, traveler, map nerd and beer geek can be found on this site.
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Interesting info, hope to see some cool beach and food reviews. Beer is good, but hope you try some local drink as well.
This is the first blog I’ve ever been on. It’s great reading about your adventures and seeing the pics of the area. I’m interested in hearing about what the local people are like. I’m sure when you find that local bar you were talking about….we’ll learn all about them.