After 5 months of living in the Lion City I finally returned home on December 3rd. I've learned so much from this experience and am incredibly thankful to have had this opportunity. Here are the top things I recommend you should do when you study abroad!
Top Ten Things to do while Abroad!
Thank you for coming on this journey with me! I hope you all have a great time on your study abroad experience! :)
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Selecting your new home is a very important decision, that can be difficult to make, based off of photos from the NUS website. The following are reviews of a few of the accommodation options on campus. I lived in UTown Residence and I am very happy that I was able to be placed here. I personally recommend selecting UTown Residence, no A/C. I admit that in the beginning it was fairly hot however I was able to get used to the heat and found the windows and ceiling fan to be enough. It's also cheaper than the A/C unit, that is not only more expensive but also is based on a pay-per-use system.
Expectations vs. Reality Expectation: It's a safe country
Assumptions & Stereotypes Stereotypes and assumptions are inescapable and can be found everywhere. Going to a new country and meeting people from different parts of the world it's important to keep an open mind to what others may know about your ethnicity, culture and home as well as what you know about theirs. From my experience, most of the stereotypes or assumptions people make come from ignorance and misconstrued ideas from the media, not out of hate. Before studying abroad, there were certain stereotypes that I believed in because I didn't realize they weren't true. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet someone from that country/culture and to learn something new. Being Asian and being from Hawaii, I got a lot of different questions and had many assumptions made of me. The following are my experiences with stereotypes, I hope this will help prepare you for what you may witness while studying abroad.
Being Asian:
Being from Hawaii:
Take all of the comments and questions you'll receive with a grain of salt and an open mind. Look at it as a chance for you to enlighten someone about your ethnicity, culture as well as our home, Hawaii. This past week was the last week of my extra-curricular activities at NUS. On Tuesday, I had my last stage class, Thursday my last jazz dance class and that night my final judo practice. I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to get involved with the many activities that NUS offers. They definitely have been one of the highlights of my experience here. If you're able to, I highly recommend joining a club or sport at NUS. It's a great way to meet local Singaporeans and experience a different side of the school culture. Last Judo Training! Saying goodbye to these activities and my new friends, has made me realize how little time I have left in Singapore. It's been such a great past few months, experiencing the Singapore culture, exploring Southeast Asia and learning about myself. I can't believe it's going to be over soon and I plan on doing my best to making these next few weeks count!
This past weekend, Alisha, Erin and I went to Phuket, Thailand! This was one of the last weekends the three of us were all free, so we decided to make it memorable and go on our last trip together. Phuket was amazing and probably my favorite place out of the two other countries we traveled to. The beaches were beautiful, the food was delicious and there were a lot of places to shop. My favorite part of the trip was going to the Phi Phi Islands. We went on a tour that took us to six different spots around the islands. We also snorkeled in the Andaman Sea and I saw so many fish! The water was so beautiful and reminded me a lot of Haunama Bay. If you're able to, I recommend taking a trip to Phuket and visiting Phi Phi Islands!
I can't believe I've been living in Singapore for the last three months and now I only have about a month left! I'm definitely looking forward to going home but at the same time the more I think about leaving, the more I realize how much I'll miss Singapore and all the new friends I've made. I'm going to do my best to maximize the time I have left here! Here are a few updates of what I've been up to! Deepavali On October 18th, we celebrated Deepavali! Meaning "The Festival of Lights", Deepavali is a Hindu and Indian cultural celebration. During this time I participated in another memochrome event and we went to Little India to take photos and learn more about the Indian culture and their origins in Singapore. On this excursion we went to the Indian Heritage Center, a Hindu temple and got to walk through the streets of Little India. I was lucky enough to get my photo and write-up posted on the UTown lobby wall again. There was also a Deepavali event at UTown. Erin and I attended and were able to try Indian food, hear Indian music and get hennas! NUS Judo Club I'm really thankful to have had the opportunity to join the NUS Judo Club because not only is it a great way to counteract all the delicious food I've been eating, but it more importantly introduced me to so many local Singaporeans! As exchange students, there are multiple events in the beginning of the year that allow us to meet other international students. Unfortunately, we don't have the same opportunity to meet local students, so I don't think many exchangers get to make local friends. One of my goals for studying abroad, was to learn more about the Singaporean culture. Through the friendships I made in Judo, I was able to expand what I knew about Singapore. I learned some Singlish and Chinese, received great recommendations on where to eat and most of all learned what Singaporeans think about Singapore. I'm definitely going to miss my new local friends!
Sorry it's been a while! I've decided to put week 9 & 10 together because following recess week I've been mainly studying and working on projects. Last week I took two mid-terms, completed a case study report and am currently working on another report and two presentations. In my Week 3 blog I mentioned the classes that I was taking but didn't go into detail on the courses and the differences between studying here vs. back home. This blog will focus on the academic side of NUS, the school's study culture, and hopefully give you a good idea of what it's like to study at the #1 school in Asia.
This past week was recess week! Unlike UH, NUS has a fall break that this year occurred at the end of September. In the break most local students study for upcoming midterms while exchangers tend to travel. I recommend traveling if you have the opportunity to but of course if you have exams right after recess week you may have to really consider if you can afford to travel or not. Thankfully, my midterm exams were two weeks after recess week so I felt I could handle my academics even with a trip.
For recess week, me and four other girls (Erin, Alisha, Phoebe and Phillipa) traveled to Vietnam. Before going to Vietnam I want to say that I had an idea of what to expect but I really didn't. I researched what museums, attractions and restaurants I wanted to go to but not much on the people, society or lifestyle of the country. So Tip #1: Do as much research as you can. Even if you want to be "surprised" by the new country, it'll still be a surprise because you're in a totally new environment, you'll just be better educated and prepared about the place. Watch videos, read articles and learn about some of the rules in the country. Also, be sure to know the emergency numbers (police, ambulance, etc.) and have your accommodation's address and number written down. Tip #2 - Prepare! Yes, you don't want to pack too much but make sure you're prepared for the weather, possibly getting sick and even losing your passport. Here are some of my tips for the things I think you would need to prepare for.
Those are my two main tips that can apply to any trip you take, whether its a weekend, recess or even before studying abroad! Here are a few photos from my trip to Vietnam. This past weekend 5 friends and I traveled to the city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. It was my first trip while being here so I was nervous and excited on how it would go. Since Malaysia is just north of Singapore, we took a night bus (approx. 6 hours) into the capital of the country. The bus ride stopped twice for us to go through immigration and customs. Note: When traveling make sure not to forget your passport, student visa and for possible student discounts your student ID. Overall, the trip was great and I definitely learned a lot about myself and how to plan for future travels! One thing I learned/noticed about Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Traffic and driving is pretty bad. So you must be careful as a driver and especially as a pedestrian.
Studying abroad, is a great opportunity for you to travel to other countries! Especially living in Hawaii, traveling can be quite expensive so if you have the academic and financial ability, I highly recommend that you take the advantage to visit some nearby countries. I don't know if I'll ever come back to Singapore or Malaysia again, so I'm extremely happy to have had the opportunity to collect a magnet from these countries and add them to my "been there, done that" list. A list, I hope you'll be able to create as well. This past weekend I caught the stomach flu. I blame the Durian that I tried the other week (Just kidding!). I'm not too sure how I got it but I've never had the flu before so this was the sickest I've ever been in a long time. Usually when I'm sick, my mom being the amazing mom she is and also a RN, would always take care of me. Now, I was away from my mom for the first time sick with an illness I've never experienced before and let's just say I wasn't the most prepared. I didn't have all the necessary medicine I needed and began missing the comfort of my home even more. So this week I experienced not only being physically sick but homesick as well. Here are my tips to how to deal with both sicknesses.
Physical Sickness
The first step to dealing with homesickness is understanding that's it's normal! Missing home is natural so don't feel that you have to be ashamed or embarrassed of feeling homesick. After you accept this fact, there are a few things I think about that help me get through it.
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About MeMy name is Jackie Agena and I am a junior at the at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I am full time student majoring in Management Information Systems and Finance. Categories
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