So I lied about writing shorter blogs and more often. I guess time kind of flies. It's now been about two weeks since I moved into my new place in Buona Vista. Since I've moved, my commute to school has been cut in half. Which is really nice, but it's still about half an hour out my door to the central library. Which to put things in perspective is the amount of time it takes me to drive from my home in Raleigh to campus in Chapel Hill. Yet, my place in Buona Vista is only about 2-3 miles from campus whereas Raleigh is about 30 miles from campus... it's kind of crazy. I guess if I were driving from Buona Vista it would only take about 5 minutes, but there's a lot of waiting with the bus.
Anyways, classes are underway and it seems there is no academic break with studying abroad in Singapore--except that I only have to get C-'s to survive. It seems with less time spent in class, there is an exponential return in demand for outside of class work. Maybe it's because I only have one class with less than four hundred people. And it also works out that it's my favorite. From the beginning I'm taking "Asia Pacific Business Ethics and Society," "Corporate Finance," "Introduction to World Music," "Management Science," and "Reason and Persuasion." My favorite is the world music class. Last Wed. we went to the SE Asia room and played a Gamelan set which is a musical style native to Indonesia based upon a weird tuning system and crazy looking instruments. It was probably one of the highlights of my week. My Asia Pacific class is my second favorite because it teaches me the business trends in the Asia side of the world. It's more interesting than any of my other business classes. I also like my philosophy class, mainly because it is based on Plato. I took four years of Latin in high school and in that learned a ton about Roman and Greek culture so it's easy for me to understand the mythology and concepts taught. The other two are really math based and kind of suck but will be worth it in the end with what I learn in them.
I've also gotten to see a lot more of the culture in Singapore. One thing that I have really enjoyed is how relationships are here. After joining the swim team and crusade I've gotten to see a bit how Singaporeans date (both inside and outside the church). I really appreciate the simplicity in it. When a couple is hanging out, they aren't all over each other like you generally see back home. They usually appear as very close friends. It's something that I admire. Most couples seem to have a large respect for each other. You also don't see everything in Singapore relating back to sex. There really are no bilboards, advertisements, TV shows/commercials promoting their products through sexual inuendos... unless they are American or European. It's almost like a breath of fresh air. As far as I can tell, you don't hear people talking a whole lot about getting completely drunk for the sake of drinking... and then having sex. People generally socially drink here. It's not about having a good story to tell tomorrow (if you can remember it) but more about building friendships, hanging out and laughing. It's really cool.
Last night Yong took myself and John David to a really nice hotel that had a lounge/bar on the top (70th) floor with panoramic windows overlooking the city. We had a couple drinks, hung out, talked, and enjoyed the incredible view. It was probably one of the most enjoyable times that I've had here.
Well, that's all for now. I think I am about to head out to find one of the few Taco Bells here in Singapore. Yeah, kind of lame but it will be an adventure since I think there are only one or two, haha. I'll really try this time to write sooner. Now that I'm settled in a little more used to classes, I think it will be easier. Oh, and I'll let you know soon what my plans are for Thailand.
Cheers,
-Matt
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Mind the Gap
It's now been two weeks since I've been in the "little red dot." But apparently the Singaporean armed forces has changed it to the "lethal red dot." Well that's what is says on the back of our student planners anyway.
Looking back, it seems a long time since I stepped off the plane. The first week was a bit rough dealing with all of the jet lag and getting accustomed to the culture and climate--and thus my last blog posting. Things have been a lot better since then. Walking through street markets laden with the smell of fish doesn't make my stomach turn anymore, nor does seeing chickens and ducks yet to be decapitated hanging in food court stalls. After living in yo:Ha ("your habitat") for a while it doesn't seem as bad as it once did but I'm still glad to be moving into a new apartment on Saturday. It is a 12th story HDB flat with 3 bedrooms a living room and kitchen. But the cool thing is... literally, is that it has 2 air conditioned bedrooms. I'm pretty pumped about that.
A lot of what topped it off for me about Singapore was my trip to Malaysia. Scott, Katie, Henrik (our Swedish friend), and I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to take a bus across the Singaporean border and into Malaysia. I thought it quite weird that we had to go through customs to get out of Singapore and then customs to get into Malaysia... what happens if you get stuck in between? Nevertheless, we made it through and it was about a 3 hour ride to Mersing. It was crazy to see the Malaysian landscape. It was partly beautiful and partly sad. It seems the country came a to a halt somwhere in the 1960's. There were shacks everywhere. But I was also able to see miles and miles of trees and hills. I hadn't seen that since I had been back home. Once we reached Mersing we hopped onto a ferry to Tioman island. We didn't really know where we were going to stay for the night, but we were bound to find something.
We stepped off the dock and headed to the left. There were two or three "resorts" with cabanas to stay in but it almost seems like a ghost town. We were kind of confused. There would be open air restaurants with one person sitting at the counter and nobody else in sight. We finally got to a place that looked only barely decent and asked if they had room, but they said no (We were kinda confused since we didn't see anybody... anywhere) and that we had to hike a trail over a hillside (that was covered in thick jungle), but there was no guarantee that the next place would have space either. We could either hike the hill or go back to one of the shanty looking places at the pier... we decided to hike the hill. Lo and behold there was a perfect resort. It wasn't too nice, but just right. They had a "super deluxe" room for us that came with "aircon" and room for four, perfect. It was really nice to relax for 3 days. The whole island was like a mountain rising out of the water with crystal clear waters. There were also incredible coral reefs about 15 yards out from the shoreline. I rented snorkel gear for about 5 bucks for the day and saw some of the coolest things that I have ever seen. All in all, my time in Malaysia allowed me some R&R and gave me a chance to better appreciate Singapore.
I'll probably write more about this soon, but classes started this week. I also joined the swim team and am checking out campus crusade tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with the longer post. I'll try to write them more often to keep them shorter.
-Matt
Looking back, it seems a long time since I stepped off the plane. The first week was a bit rough dealing with all of the jet lag and getting accustomed to the culture and climate--and thus my last blog posting. Things have been a lot better since then. Walking through street markets laden with the smell of fish doesn't make my stomach turn anymore, nor does seeing chickens and ducks yet to be decapitated hanging in food court stalls. After living in yo:Ha ("your habitat") for a while it doesn't seem as bad as it once did but I'm still glad to be moving into a new apartment on Saturday. It is a 12th story HDB flat with 3 bedrooms a living room and kitchen. But the cool thing is... literally, is that it has 2 air conditioned bedrooms. I'm pretty pumped about that.
A lot of what topped it off for me about Singapore was my trip to Malaysia. Scott, Katie, Henrik (our Swedish friend), and I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to take a bus across the Singaporean border and into Malaysia. I thought it quite weird that we had to go through customs to get out of Singapore and then customs to get into Malaysia... what happens if you get stuck in between? Nevertheless, we made it through and it was about a 3 hour ride to Mersing. It was crazy to see the Malaysian landscape. It was partly beautiful and partly sad. It seems the country came a to a halt somwhere in the 1960's. There were shacks everywhere. But I was also able to see miles and miles of trees and hills. I hadn't seen that since I had been back home. Once we reached Mersing we hopped onto a ferry to Tioman island. We didn't really know where we were going to stay for the night, but we were bound to find something.
We stepped off the dock and headed to the left. There were two or three "resorts" with cabanas to stay in but it almost seems like a ghost town. We were kind of confused. There would be open air restaurants with one person sitting at the counter and nobody else in sight. We finally got to a place that looked only barely decent and asked if they had room, but they said no (We were kinda confused since we didn't see anybody... anywhere) and that we had to hike a trail over a hillside (that was covered in thick jungle), but there was no guarantee that the next place would have space either. We could either hike the hill or go back to one of the shanty looking places at the pier... we decided to hike the hill. Lo and behold there was a perfect resort. It wasn't too nice, but just right. They had a "super deluxe" room for us that came with "aircon" and room for four, perfect. It was really nice to relax for 3 days. The whole island was like a mountain rising out of the water with crystal clear waters. There were also incredible coral reefs about 15 yards out from the shoreline. I rented snorkel gear for about 5 bucks for the day and saw some of the coolest things that I have ever seen. All in all, my time in Malaysia allowed me some R&R and gave me a chance to better appreciate Singapore.
I'll probably write more about this soon, but classes started this week. I also joined the swim team and am checking out campus crusade tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with the longer post. I'll try to write them more often to keep them shorter.
-Matt
Friday, August 1, 2008
Uniquely Singapore
So I've been in Singapore three days. It's been quite a journey.
Monday morning I woke up to my phone vibrating at 3:45... time to get up after only 4 hours of sleep. After throwing some clothes on and quickly brushing my teeth, my family and I were out and headed toward the airport by a bit after 4. I was in the air headed to DC by 6:30. Katie and I had a 5 hour layover and were soon off to Tokyo. This 14 hour flight was pretty grueling only to be followed by another 7 hour flight to Singapore. The funny thing was that it didn't get dark until half way to Singapore. Which meant I had ~24 hours of daylight... can you say jetlag?
A Singaporean exchange student from NUS who had spent a semester at Carolina decided to take Katie, myself, and later Scott into his home for the first couple of nights. It was a huge blessing to be taken in by him and his family (his parents and his twin brother Gabriel). After the first night, we checked into yo:HA hostel (off campus dorm) the next day. I walked into my small flat only to see trash all over the floor, spoiled milk sitting on a sticky kitchen table, and a shower and bathroom coated with a fine layer of soapscum/filth. I then walked into my bedroom to see one mattressless bed, and one bed with dirty sheets and a used showercap on the floor. George and Gabriel immediately offered for Katie (her flat was marginally better) and I to stay another night at their home. I told the front desk that I needed my room to be clean before I moved in and they looked confused. So we were back to Geroge's 12th floor 2 story flat that had a beautiful view of Singapore.
We then headed to NUS to begin registration and our application for our student pass into Singapore. It took about 4 hours to get through all of the red tape. Throughout our first two nights, George and Yong (another NUS exchange student from Carolina) took us to different local eateries to begin to experience the Singaporean cuisine. I've had fish head curry soup, squid, tofu, chicken rice, roast duck, Asian green beans, and a special fruit Duron. The Duron is a local fruit that is a bit of a delicacy. It has a very short season and spoils very quickly so you must eat it within one day. It also smells terrible. It turns out that to me, it also tastes terrible.
George and Gabriel took us to a Giant, which is a Singaporean version of Target... but much bigger. We bought all of the things we need... including cleaning supplies. We returned later to the hostel and my room was much cleaner so Scott and I unpacked our things and got settled in. This morning we went through general orientation and business school orientation. It seems that this will be an interesting journey. I'm looking forward to it after shaking off the last bit of jet lag. So I guess all in all this has been a good past three days. The dorm situation is quite disappointing seeing that many other international students got on campus housing (we are about a 15 minute bus ride from campus), but we are planning on moving out after our month contract is up. George and his family have made our entry into Singaorean culture much much easier. There will be more to come.
Monday morning I woke up to my phone vibrating at 3:45... time to get up after only 4 hours of sleep. After throwing some clothes on and quickly brushing my teeth, my family and I were out and headed toward the airport by a bit after 4. I was in the air headed to DC by 6:30. Katie and I had a 5 hour layover and were soon off to Tokyo. This 14 hour flight was pretty grueling only to be followed by another 7 hour flight to Singapore. The funny thing was that it didn't get dark until half way to Singapore. Which meant I had ~24 hours of daylight... can you say jetlag?
A Singaporean exchange student from NUS who had spent a semester at Carolina decided to take Katie, myself, and later Scott into his home for the first couple of nights. It was a huge blessing to be taken in by him and his family (his parents and his twin brother Gabriel). After the first night, we checked into yo:HA hostel (off campus dorm) the next day. I walked into my small flat only to see trash all over the floor, spoiled milk sitting on a sticky kitchen table, and a shower and bathroom coated with a fine layer of soapscum/filth. I then walked into my bedroom to see one mattressless bed, and one bed with dirty sheets and a used showercap on the floor. George and Gabriel immediately offered for Katie (her flat was marginally better) and I to stay another night at their home. I told the front desk that I needed my room to be clean before I moved in and they looked confused. So we were back to Geroge's 12th floor 2 story flat that had a beautiful view of Singapore.
We then headed to NUS to begin registration and our application for our student pass into Singapore. It took about 4 hours to get through all of the red tape. Throughout our first two nights, George and Yong (another NUS exchange student from Carolina) took us to different local eateries to begin to experience the Singaporean cuisine. I've had fish head curry soup, squid, tofu, chicken rice, roast duck, Asian green beans, and a special fruit Duron. The Duron is a local fruit that is a bit of a delicacy. It has a very short season and spoils very quickly so you must eat it within one day. It also smells terrible. It turns out that to me, it also tastes terrible.
George and Gabriel took us to a Giant, which is a Singaporean version of Target... but much bigger. We bought all of the things we need... including cleaning supplies. We returned later to the hostel and my room was much cleaner so Scott and I unpacked our things and got settled in. This morning we went through general orientation and business school orientation. It seems that this will be an interesting journey. I'm looking forward to it after shaking off the last bit of jet lag. So I guess all in all this has been a good past three days. The dorm situation is quite disappointing seeing that many other international students got on campus housing (we are about a 15 minute bus ride from campus), but we are planning on moving out after our month contract is up. George and his family have made our entry into Singaorean culture much much easier. There will be more to come.
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