First week in the Lion City

It’s been over a week since I arrived in Singapore, so I guess it’s time to write about it.

Arriving in Singapore, I had the assistance of one of my mom’s old co-workers, and he could not have been of more help. He (Van) showed me around the city, took me out to lunch, and helped me get my bags to my apartment. He was so incredibly helpful, and I can’t thank him enough for what he did.

After living in Singapore for the past week, the one word that accurately describes it is efficient. From the way the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) is set up, to even the pace at which Singaporeans walk, everything is efficient. The main means of transportation in Singapore is the MRT, which is basically a larger, more connected version of the lightrail for my Colorado friends. Since Singapore is such a small country, you can get from coast to coast, via the MRT, in about an hour. It is cheap too, as that fare would only cost about $2.

The day after I arrived in Singapore, my friend Ivan who I met while he was studying at CU, offered to show me around. Our first stop was at a hawker center, which is basically an outdoor food court with endless amounts of choices. There are basically two things in Singapore that are inexpensive: the MRT, and food. If you eat out in Singapore, it gets pretty pricey. But at hawker centers, you can get a meal with a drink, for around $4.

On the right is bbq stingray, on the left is chut chut (snail), and below are Malaysian style noodles.

For those of you that know me well, you probably know that I’m an extremely picky eater. (i.e: I eat cheeseburgers with only the meat and cheese). So to try this type of food for the first time, was quite an adventure for me. I didn’t know that you could eat stingray until we had ordered it, but it was delicious. I had a difficult time getting the snails out of the shells, but those were good too. The crazy food didn’t stop there either, as Ivan had me try frog leg porridge later that night.

Frog leg porridge.

The frog leg porridge was good as well, and I have yet to find food in Singapore that I truly don’t like.

On the 8th Mckenna flew in to begin her two months in Singapore for work (I swear we didn’t plan it), so we’ve both been able to explore the city together. The first night we were able to see each other we went to Clarke Quay, which is situated on the Singapore River, and is a very lively place at night.

Clarke Quay.

Triangle ice cream, with some random person behind it…

The next time we saw each other we stumbled upon a theme park that portrayed Chinese folklore and Confucianism. According to Wikipedia, the place has “over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas.”  This is one of the coolest/weirdest things I’ve seen while being here, and if you ever find yourself in Singapore, it’s definitely worth 30 minutes of your time to check it out.

Just one of the many statues that the park had.

And one more…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haw_Par_Villa <— Here’s the Wikipedia link if anyone wants to check it out.

Finally on Sunday, we went downtown to go to church (which was very different from church back home), and walked around a bit and found the famous Raffles Hotel.

Built in 1899, it has housed Charlie Chaplin, George Bush Sr., and Michael Jackson among others.

If anyone reading this would like to visit me and stay in the hotel, it will only cost you about $4,000/night.

Classes have begun, and it’s weird being the only westerner in some of my classes, but I’m excited for the semester to start. If anyone is reading this and wants/needs to contact me, Facebook is definitely the best way to do so. That’s all that I have for now, hope everyone back home is doing well!

Welcome to Dubai

I have made it to my room in Singapore, just so everyone knows! (Big thanks to Van for all the help)

My flight from Dallas to Singapore connected in Dubai with a nine hour layover, so I decided to explore the city. Getting through customs was a breeze, and was out of the airport under 30 minutes after landing. I decided to take the train to downtown Dubai since it was a fraction of the cost of a taxi, and was at the Burj Khalifa in about 20 minutes. Before going to the tower, I visited the Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world in terms of total area. The mall had four floors, and endless amounts of shops.

The aquarium in the mall, which is the largest indoor aquarium in the world.

After walking around the mall for about an hour, I walked outside the mall to find the tallest building in the world.

Words cannot describe how tall it is. After looking up for a couple of seconds, my neck started to hurt. That’s how tall it is.

The Dubai Skyline (Minus the Burj of course)

This was the lake outside of the mall, and the surrounding buildings.

This is the only picture I was able to get of the tower from base to the top, it’s too tall to take one near it.

View from where I boarded the train to go back to the airport.

After spending 4 hours at the mall and the Burj, I was exhausted and decided to head back to the airport, where I was able to take a shower and look around the airport. My plane was delayed by an hour getting out of Dubai, but it was an easy flight to Singapore.

Goodbye gum, Netflix, and America.

The day is finally here. Tomorrow I leave for my adventure in Singapore. I remember when I first learned about the program at the National University of Singapore (NUS) that CU had offered. I was filtering through the more inexpensive study abroad programs, and stumbled upon the one in Singapore. Being completely unfamiliar with Singapore (even where it was), I began to look into it. After applying to the program in early May, I had to anxiously wait for six months. In November I found out that I was accepted, and could not be more excited.

A little about the program: I will be staying in Tembusu Residential Hall, with five other students. NUS is the the ranked as the top university in Asia, and 22nd in the world. And finally, I will be arriving in Singapore on January 5th, and leaving May 11th.

I am so incredibly excited for this opportunity, and I can’t begin to thank everyone who has helped me achieve this dream of mine. To my parents, grandpa and grandma, Nonnie, friends, and so many others, thank you so much for all that you have done for me. I can’t tell you how thankful I am.

See you on the other side of the world!