Say Uncle

I now have my first week of school under my belt and I’ve observed some new things: 

14.  In Singapore, they call cab drivers, street vendors, and complete strangers ‘Uncle’ or ‘Aunty’.  Why?  I’m not really sure of the origins of this custom, but it is seen as a sign of respect.  I haven’t called anyone ‘Uncle’ or ‘Aunty’.  I think it’s kind of awkward.

15.  Everyone here is very polite and generous.  Singaporeans are always willing to help out.  When I’ve asked for directions to places, many times the person has just walked me there.

16.  This is just trivial, but they use a 24 hour clock most of the time so I switched my cell phone time so that I could get used to it.

17.  At the university, they don’t have a scheduled passing time, the professor (they actually call them ‘tutors’)  usually just ends about 10 minutes early.  I just thought that was kind of weird.

18.  THE LECTURES ARE SOOOO LONG! In Madison, we’re used to 50 minute lectures or the occasional power lecture of 1 hr 15 min, but here some lectures are 4 hours!!!  My longest is 3 hours.  I don’t know how I’m going to do it considering I have a hard time paying attention for 50 min.

19.  I’m pretty sure they have the cleanest bathrooms in the world.  It’s mind-blowing that they can be so clean all the time.  Except in the MRT stations, which I’ve heard can get pretty bad.

20.  They just have the strangest laws ever.  Some of the laws have a lot to do with common sense, but the Singapore government has their own special way to make sure you don’t break these laws.  Examples:

-It is against the law and you will be publicly caned if you don’t flush the toilet after using it.

-If you litter you will be fined $1000 and have to do community service.  If you litter 3 times then you have to wear a sign that says, “I am a litter lout”

-Selling gum is illegal, BUT it is not illegal to chew gum.  Singapore banned the sale of gum after authorities noticed the amount of chewed gum being stuck in subway stations and on cars.

-You can’t walk around your house naked.

-No hugging without permission or you could end up in jail.

21.  No one wakes up early.  What I’ve noticed is that people stay up very late and wake up late as well.  All their malls, shops, and businesses stay open until 10pm and they are all very busy right until closing.

22.  The light switches are opposite.  Up is off and down is on.

Every Wednesday night is Singapore is ‘Ladies Night’.  It’s so great.  Girls get into all clubs free (usually $25 cover charge) and drinks are free all night!  It’s not just one specific club, but it’s city-wide.  I experienced my first ladies night last Wednesday and it was a lot of fun.  Wednesday is one of the most popular nights to go out.

On Thursday, I attended a Lunar New Year Reunion Dinner for Chinese New Year because the Chinese population is so large in Singapore.  It was neat to see the celebrations.  They had dragon dancing, really different sounding music, and food.  The dragon dancing was really cool.  I took a video that I’ll post later.  I also got my name written in Chinese calligraphy!  The boy that went before me had the name Mohammed and when it was written in calligraphy it was so pretty, long, and intricate.  They were telling him what all the symbols meant and they were things like good personality and unique.  Then I got mine done and I was so excited to know what mine meant and they said “yours means open door”.  I didn’t think it was as cool.  In Chinese they read from right to left, which I thought was interesting.  They also gave out a lot of prizes like TVs, ipods, ipads, and a lot of other goodies.  I never win anything though, but it was still really fun!

Haircut

Tonight will be my 1 week mark of being in Singapore!  I got a little homesick in the beginning, but now I’m loving it and meeting a lot of great people.

Since I didn’t have class yesterday, I went to get my haircut because my hair is so frizzy and dry here with this heat!  It was a very interesting experience and I don’t plan on getting another haircut until I get home.

I walked around the mall to try and find a reasonable looking place.  The first thing I found very weird was that most of the stylists were guys, which I’m not used to.  I’ve never had my hair cut by a guy before.  Once I found a nice looking place I went in and find that my stylist doesn’t speak english!  The receptionist translated, but I was still uneasy.  Then, he started cutting my hair dry!  They wash your hair after they cut it, but they do give the best massages to your scalp ever!  Another weird thing was that a different guy washed my hair than the guy who cut it.  Then they both blow dried my hair at the same time.  It was so weird!  My hair doesn’t look horrible, I just don’t particularly like how it behaves in this humid weather.

Today was also my first day of class!!!  I was able to register for all the classes that I wanted.  I’m taking first semester Chinese, cell biology, materials science, and biomedical optics.  I only had one lecture for an hour today because we don’t have discussions this week.  They actually call their discussion ‘tuts’ short for tutorials.  The class was in a super nice, huge lecture hall.  It was basically me with a bunch of asians, most of them guys.  So there was really no difference from my classes back in Madison.  The whole lecture, there were people continuously talking.  I found it really strange and rude.  It was like half the class wasn’t paying attention and they didn’t show any respect for the professor.  I felt bad.  It was also very distracting.

Some things I’ve noticed while here in Singapore…

1.  Things that are supposed to be hot (soup, coffee, hot tea) are SUPER HOT!  I burn my mouth almost every time.  Things that are supposed to be cold (bottled water, cold drinks, smoothies) are room temperature.  It’s very annoying.

2.  Asians are really skinny and little.  No overweight people.  I feel like that’s pretty common for most of the world except for America.  However, the portions are pretty big here and most of the dishes are some kind of starch (rice, noodles, bread) with some kind of meat and sauce.  Which brings me to my next point…

3.  It’s not very easy to find or eat a lot of vegetables.  I don’t think there is a salad bar anywhere in Singapore.

4.  They have many different nationalities here and they all speak different languages, so some of the locals can’t understand each other if they don’t speak English.

5.  The temperature seems pretty constant.  It’s basically always 85-90 degrees and humid.  I love it (except for my hair).  Make-up always seems to just come off because it’s so humid.  It also rains almost everyday, but only for a short time like 10 minutes.  When it rains it’s still super hot and sometimes sunny.

6.  The laundry in my dorm is free!!!  You do have to pay for the dryer though, but it’s not too bad.

7.  They don’t have napkins ANYWHERE.  Everyone carries them, or you have to buy them.  I actually went to subway today for lunch and they gave me two napkins.  I was very surprised.

8.  Everyone I’ve met is bilingual (unless they are American).

9.  There are millions of malls and they are always busy, even weekday nights.  They stay open until 10pm.  They have one mall that is 24 hours.

10.  I have yet to hear the world ‘line’.  Everyone uses the word queue, sometimes they just spell it ‘q’.

11.  The Singaporeans are very hard workers.  It is not uncommon for full-time jobs to be 12 hour days!  Also, most of the students take 24 credits (the credits are equivalent with Madison).  I’m only taking 12 this semester and when I told a local they were shocked!  I thought I studied all the time in Madison, but they literally study ALL the time.  None of them go out during the semester (or it is very very rare).

12.  It seems like all the AC units have one setting, on or off.  All air conditioned places are very cold!  I went to a movie last night and it was freezing.  It’s the same way on the buses, in classrooms, in the cafeterias, etc.

13.  Food is so cheap!  I can eat a meal for an average of 2 singapore dollars.

Everyone in the world is bilingual

Things still haven’t slowed down in Singapore and I’ve still been doing things non stop.  On Friday, we had our exchange student orientation.  There were about 360 people there from all over the world.  The US had the most students with Canada and Sweden close behind, but it feels like everyone I’ve met is from Canada.  The orientation itself was pretty boring, but afterwards there was a lunch and I met a ton of people.  Later that night there was an exchange student party for all the universities in Singapore at Club Soul.  It was a really cool club!  It was hard to see though because the fog from the fog machines was so think.  They played techno and electronica the whole time, which is a little different than in America, but I love it.  There was tons of dancing and mingling, but I like dancing with my friends from Wisconsin way better.

The next day I went to Orchard Rd again with a bunch of friends I met.  Orchard Rd just amazes me.  It’s mall after mall after mall after mall.  There’s literally at least 20 malls right next to each other there.  I didn’t buy anything. I was just hanging out with people and getting to know them better.  The group I’ve been hanging out with is from everywhere, it’s pretty cool!  We have people from Germany, Netherlands, US, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan.  Pretty much everyone I’ve met is bilingual and I’m so jealous!  I’ve decided to take the first semester of Chinese while I’m here.  I’ve also decided that I’m learning French when I get home.  Classes actually start today, but if everything works out like I hope then I won’t have class on Monday and only one class on Friday!  There system is so weird, confusing, and annoying.  I don’t actually register for classes until tonight even though they start today.

Some of the girls. From L to R: Cass (Australia), Emma (Netherlands), Anny (Taiwan), me, Kira (Canada)

On Sunday we went to the beach!  The beach was on an island called Sentosa, which is like a mini Orlando.  They have a universal studios and other rides.  The beach was pretty pathetic.  The whole thing is man made, but the sand was very soft!  There were things in the water that felt like they were stinging us.  It was freaky, but I was just happy to be at the beach because I plan on coming back very tan :)

We’ve planned our first trip for the first weekend in February (over Chinese New Year) to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia!  We’re leaving for Chinese New Year because the majority of the population in Singapore is Chinese and everything shuts down.  It’s kind of like Thanksgiving, but for a longer period of time.  We don’t have school on the 3rd and 4th of February because of it.  I ate for my first time in one of the school cafeterias.  It was awesome.  The food here is REALLY good.  They have food courts everywhere.  It’s also really cheap which is the best part.  Sometimes it’s difficult ordering because I don’t know what I’m getting myself in to.  There are so many things I’ve never seen, heard of, or tried before!  It’s also hard to order because I don’t know how to say most of the dishes :/  I have a feeling that one of these days I’m going to have to stop at McDonalds and just get a hamburger and fries.  The McDonalds here delivers!  And it’s expensive.

First days of the rest of my life

Since I got here, I’ve been busy ALL THE TIME!  It’s been great…. except for now.  It’s 3:51am, (1:51pm back home), my mom just left to go back to the states, and I can’t sleep at alllllll!!!!  Because of the jet lag I get SUPER tired everyday here around 3-5 and it’s hard to sleep at night.  So I’ll take this moment to blog.

The first day I got here, I went to meet my “buddy” and he let me in to my dorm room! :)  It’s a little nicer than expected.  It’s not very big, but it’s perfect.  I have a very large desk where I’ll be doing A LOT of studying (sarcasm), a twin sized bed, and a closet.  It’s so plain right now though… wish I would’ve brought my jbeibs and kimk posters.

My roommate, Vanessa, is an art major from Wyoming.  She likes to eat, shop, travel, and try new things. We have many of the same interests!  She enjoys red wine and good cheese.  She’s a total hipster. Not only is she also obsessed with Harry Potter, but she quotes Lord of the Rings.  What more could I ask for?  However, she’s not a fan of Justin Bieber, but she agreed to give him a chance :)

view from my window

After seeing my dorm, I went to one of the thousand malls in Singapore and just ran errands.  I picked up my ezlink public transportation pass will bring me anywhere is Singapore by bus or the MRT, which is the subways system.  It’s really great and cheap.  I also had the famous Singaporean meal of chicken rice, which was very good.  I’m sure I’ll be eating a lot of it.

Later that night, Vanessa came with me and my mom to dinner at Clarke Quay (pronounced ’key’).  It is my favorite place in Singapore so far.  There are a bunch of restaurants right on the river and there is colorful lights everywhere!  We had thai food, which was nothing short of amazing.  The food here is wonderful.  Singaporeans love to eat.  After dinner we went to the Raffles Hotel to try the famous original ‘Singapore Sling’.  It was the sweetest cocktail ever and I can’t say I’m a huge fan.  It consists of gin, pineapple juice, grenadine syrup, club soda, cherry brandy, and probably some other sweet stuff.  The experience was neat, but I won’t be having any more Slings.  That concluded my first day in Singapore.

Me and Vanessa at Clarke Quay.

The original Singapore Sling.

The next day was just as eventful.  First, my mom, Vanessa, and I went to the Botanic Gardens where I took a million pictures of flowers.  It was beautiful and I am LOVING the weather here.  Then, we went to Orchard Road which is just a street of shopping!  It’s similar to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, but bigger.  In between running around the city, I swam and laid by the pool in the perfect 85 degree weather.  We also went to China town, which was decorated for the Chinese New Year in February.  The Chinese population here is large.

For those of you wondering what country Singapore is in, it is its own country.  It’s an island about the size of a county in the US with 5 million people packed on it.  In my book I was reading about Singapore, it said they love to shop, eat, and watch movies.  So far that’s proven true and those are three of my favorite things so I’m looking forward to it.  I keep forgetting that I’m here to go to school (which starts on Monday and I have no idea what classes I’m taking)…

I MADE IT!

It’s been a LONG journey, but I just arrived in Singapore!  The local time here is 2:07am on Wednesday, January 19th.  In Minnesota/Wisconsin it’s 12:07pm on the 18th.  It’s weird to think that everyone in Madison is going to their first classes right now.  I tried not to sleep on the plane so I could sleep right now, but I was so tired it was impossible.  I’m pretty awake right now.  The first plane ride was 12 hours from Minneapolis to Tokyo.  My mom is with me, which is great because I’d be so much more nervous if she wasn’t.  The second plane ride was 7.5 hours from Tokyo to Singapore.  We got to sit first class for the first plane ride.  They give you SO much food on the plane.  It was great, I just watched movies, ate food, and slept.  I’ve only been here a short time and it’s dark out, but what I gathered from the ride from the airport to the hotel is that everything is SO CLEAN!!!  I guess that will happen when the punishment for littering is to be caned :/  I’m living in the dorms while I attend Nanyang Technical University, but for now I’m staying at The Ritz Carlton with my mom!  This hotel is amazing.  I wish you could all see the view of the city skyline.  It’s so pretty!  Tomorrow morning we’re going to make our way over to the University and check out my dorm.  I can’t wait to meet my roommate!  Oh, and it’s SUPER warm here :)  The current temperature is 80 degrees F and it feels amazing.  Well I’m going to TRY and get some sleep, but I’m so excited!

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”

—

Les Brown

Getting an early start

Over winter break I've already traveled to California with friends for the Rosebowl, took a pit stop in Phoenix, AZ to see my brother, met my family in Park City, UT to ski, and today I just got home from visiting Nick, Tom, Jersey, and the Fish on their man trip.  I'm so lucky my dad is a pilot.

CALI
Being in California with my friends (Heather, Mandy Motl, Mandy Stevermer, Tom, Blanch, Erik, and Brittany) was so much fun.  It was really nice to spend a lot of time with them before we all depart for different parts of the world.  We spent a day seeing the sights in Hollywood and Beverly Hills (I would love being famous), otherwise we just enjoyed each others company.  It was so great that we were able to stay at Erik's Uncle's place while we were there.  We saved so much money and it was such a pretty area.

The rosebowl was so surreal! There were SOOOO many Badgers.  Our fans are great.  We parked and tailgated right on the golf course.  I personally really liked the TCU fans.  They were all super nice and classy.  All the boys were wearing sweaters, ties, and button ups, and the girls were wearing boots, scarves, and pea coats.  I thought it was adorable.  They did end up beating us though, which was really disappointing, but we stayed after the game and celebrated for longer than they did because we're awesome.

The next day Heather, Steve, and I drove to San Diego to go to the zoo!  I love the zoo.  My favorite animal was probably the giant pandas.  I don't get to see those very often so that was super cool.  I also really liked the Okapi.  It looks like a horse and zebra combined!  After the zoo we continued on the Phoenix and stayed there with my brother for a night.







PARK CITY
My brother, Mitchell, and I flew out of Phoenix to meet the rest of our family plus Uncle Mitch in Park City.  It was a short 3 day trip, but we got some quality family time (which means I was only annoyed of Mac 50% of the time).  I'd never been skiing in Utah before so I was pretty excited.  The snow wasn't the greatest and it was pretty cold, but they still had some good runs.  They don't have a cute little village at the bottom of the mountain for shopping like the places I've been to in Colorado, and that's kind of a deal breaker for me.  All-in-all it was a great time.

BIG SKY
After Park City I was home for a solid three days before I headed to Big Sky, MT to go skiing with Nick, Tom, Eric, and Jersey.  I'm really glad I went because they definitely got me out of my comfort zone with my snowboarding skills.  We were doing a lot more difficult terrain than I was used to, but it was so much fun!  We also headed to the very peak of the mountain, which was extremely pretty and great to see, but also one of the scarier things I've ever done.  I was pretty much in shock heading up there and I was SO nervous.  The first part of it was super windy, rocky, and narrow with an unforgiving drop off if you slipped.  Being that high up with those conditions just made me think to myself "what am I doing?"  Once we got into the bowl, it wasn't so bad and ended up being challenging and really fun.  I had a great time with the guys, but I can't discuss any further details because I was sworn to a code of silence.



I now leave for Singapore in 5 days and my nerves are diminishing.  I am just so excited for something new in my life and I think the experience will teach me a lot about life and about myself.