Moving On

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