No Reservations

The past few days have been extremely busy, but I feel like I have a good understanding of the city and the train/bus system (MRT). Yesterday morning, I woke up pretty early, because a bunch of us signed up for a tour of Singapore. We went to different neighborhoods, such as Little India and Chinatown. We only spent about 15 minutes at each stop though, so it was mostly helpful to figure out places that we like.

I was surprised to see that some areas, such as Little India, were completely dead (on a Saturday). It was a ghost town. Only tourists filled the streets, but it was hard to find locals. Later I learned that these areas empty, because the locals work everyday besides Sunday. On our visit the next day, it was so crowded that I could not even walk!

We returned from the tour and decided on a meeting time to head to Clarke Quay. We went to the bridge to meet all of the exchange students; over 100 people from different schools in Singapore were there! We explored the nightlife by visiting a few overpriced spots. In comparison to back home, places all have very extreme themes. There were very few bars; instead nightclubs with cover bands and loud techno music attract tourists. The cost of going out will definitely be something that we all have to adjust to. Just the cab ride alone is about $10 a person.

I woke up the next morning, and Claudia/Prashant took me out for brunch (which starts at 12:30pm in Singapore). The food was amazing, and it was nice to have a break from the canteens. It was great catching up with them, and the kids are so fun. I definitely will be spending a lot of time in their condo; it feels like a vacation home! I'm incredibly grateful to have them here, because it's like having some family to visit.

Instead of heading back to campus after brunch, I decided to meet up with a few of my friends in Little India. Although it was incredibly crowded, this is one of the best decisions I have made! We all hung out with local South Indians over some freshly made naans. Our new friend, Siva, told us several stories about his time in Singapore, and took us to his favorite spots. I honestly feel like hanging out with locals is more fun, because we had the opportunity to become entirely immersed in Singaporean culture. He treated us to all of his favorite dishes and drinks, making us feel like we were on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

Later, we climbed the Art Building, because the roof is covered in grass. Several exchange students were hanging out up there, so we decided to join them! I feel like I meet several new people each day, and I have no complaints.

Today, I spent the entire day relaxing and killing time. This is the first time in several years that I have absolutely nothing to do while school is in session. Although I skipped my only Monday class (I'm dropping it), all of the business students had a hard time registering for courses. Not only is the system entirely unorganized, most classes are always full. I'm not sure how a country so modern can have such poor systems for course registration. I still have some schedule stuff to figure out, but I don't want to worry about it right now.

After the meeting to register for classes, all of the exchange students met up at Staff Club once again. On the way back from the meeting, I--of course--got incredibly lost. Luckily, some extremely kind Europeans showed me the way, and I convinced them all to join us tonight. I actually just got back. I have to admit that every moment so far has been incredibly fun, mostly due to the wonderful local and international people. Everyday is exciting here!! We have two exchange student welcome parties tomorrow, and I never plan on studying.

Until next time,
--Ishmeesh