A Little Catch-up

Alright, three weeks in, I suppose I should write something...so I will.

I arrived in Singapore on Jan. 8, almost on schedule. We would've been on schedule, too, had my last flight not been canceled. It wasn't a big deal, really, because upon arriving in Narita in Japan, they announced our flight was canceled, but that we could rebook on one of their partner airlines. Rebooking wasn't difficult (we spoke in English, there was a nice orderly line, and no one was yelling at me in Arabic...it was great). The problem arose upon my arrival in Singapore. There was supposed to be someone to meet me, so I hadn't bothered writing down any addresses or anything. It turns out United doesn't direct you to the rebooked flight when they cancel one...who knew? So there was, just a small town boy, alone at 3 am in Changi International Airport with horror stories of non-English speaking cab drivers who don't know where Prince George's Park Residences are haunting my thoughts. Then I waved down a cab, told him where to go, got there, checked in, and went to bed.

The first few days were kinda crazy. I registered for classes and got my student visa about 5 hours after I arrived. Systems of payments are quite interesting. Credit cards aren't accepted for a lot of things and sometimes cash isn't either. Things run on all kinds of plastic cards and nothing seems to be universal. Eventually I figured out which cards I needed, where I could get it, and how to use it. For example, to get my visa, credit cards weren't accepted. To pay with cash you had to go to the post office. To pay on the spot, a NETS card was needed. To get that you had to go to 7 Eleven. Of course, had I not been running on 2 hours of sleep and a little jet lag, I might have remembered reading that...

The first 2 weeks of classes were pretty laid back, minus the initial confusion. You see, classes here, mostly the registration of those classes, is quite different than ISU. The normal process for registering for classes is an auction. You bid with your alotment of points on the classes you want. Fortunately, the exchange students don't have to partake in this exciting...stressful process. Our classes were given to us according to our preferences in our acceptance packets. The confusion comes with determining the actual schedule of said classes. First off, let it be known that classes are generally taught in two parts: lecture and tutorial, lecture meaning lecture and tutorial meaning recitation (for you Iowa Staters). Usually there is only one lecture, and you sign up for tutorials and they start 2 weeks after lectures, so all you have to do is figure out when your lecture is online. Had I known these things, the first week would've been a tad easier. First off, I couldn't find out where the schedule of these lectures was online. The places people told me to look didn't have it. Second, once I did find it, I had 2 or 3 options for lectures...did it matter...hope not. Thirdly, there's all kinds of tutorials...how do you sign up for those and don't those start, ya know...TOMORROW?! Talking to the NUS students was helpful and they alleviated some of the confusion by politely informing me that tutorials don't start until week 3. They, however, register for tutorials using a system that exchange students don't get to use. After several emails, it was determined that exchange students must register with the head of each department of the classes they enrolled in. Not my first guess, but alright.

Other than that, classes have been alright. Tutorials have now begun, and homework has been accumulating so I will now begin studying...tomorrow...maybe.

I can't help but mention the weather, sorry Americans ;) Since I have arrived, it has been sunny about 47% of the time. About 50% of the time it has been night. The temperature is generally around the mid 80's. I don't have AC in my room, though, so that's pretty rough...nope, I lied it's not bad with the fan.

Ok, my attention span has run out, besides you're probably bored. Tune in next time for Borneo and Chinese New Year.