Singapore Spring 2015

Singapore Exchange Blog

Hello! This blog will briefly cover my first month here in Singapore. I will focus on my initial arrival, living conditions, and what I’ve managed to go and do all in this first month.

I arrived in Singapore on a Sunday night, staying in a hostel as it was outside of the campus housing check-in times. This was roughly $25 AUD/SG (the currencies are currently equal) for a bed in 4 person room. The hostel had free Wi-Fi and breakfast.

The next day I caught a taxi to the NTU campus. The check in process was quite smooth, and soon I was all unpacked. I was fortunate to be allocated to on campus housing which is far cheaper than living in an apartment off campus. My rent fees for a little over 4 months are $1200. I was also lucky, as I was allocated to Hall 3, one of the newer halls, which has aircon.

Here is the room as I arrived. My room is a double room which I share with another exchange student from The Netherlands. Our single beds are off to the left in photo one, and below left in the second photo, separated by shelving units.

Hall 3 itself is split into 5 blocks. Each block is a 6 story building, with roughly 8 double and 2 single rooms on each floor. There is a shared bathroom on each floor, mine having 4 toilets and 4 showers. There is also a small sink, and a hot water dispenser on my level. I have been eating at any of the many canteens around the campus for most of my meals. Meals are quite cheap, with something like this chicken rice being $2.50. If you are more adventurous with your food than I am, you can try all kinds of things.

This past month I’ve seen a lot of Singapore. I’ve seen many, many huge malls, some even with canals and boats in them. I’ve seen Gardens by the Bay, the Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion and Sentosa. I also arrived in time to experience the festivities for Singapore’s 50^th Birthday celebration, SG50. More recently I’ve been to Malaysia (twice now), and saw the first practice day of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Below are some photos of these experiences.

Canals inside a mall.

Gardens by the Bay

Marina Bay Sands

Merlion

“50” formation flight during the SG50 celebrations.

One of the many monkeys at Batu caves, Malaysia.

One of the Redbull drivers during a F1 practice session.

Pharrel at the Grand Prix Concert

Singapore is a major travel hub within South East Asia, and I already have 2 trips planned over the next month or so. I would definitely recommend you to strongly consider Singapore for your exchange semester!

Damon Croxton, 11379017