Alina – Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Semester 2, 2016
Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Creative Industries
I chose to spend two semesters in Singapore because I have always felt attracted to this country. While I visited Singapore multiple times throughout my childhood, I made a decision to see this country under a different light. My host university was Nanyang University of Technology, or NTU – also a technological university like QUT.
I thought the campus was quite spacious and beautiful, though it blew my mind how such small country like Singapore has space for such grand campuses. Unlike the majority of exchange students, I chose to stay off campus. My reasoning behind it was that I wanted to live closer to the centre area because NTU is too far away from everything else in Singapore – well except Malaysia; locals even call the university ‘Pulau’ NTU, meaning it’s really far away.
So I stayed at Nanyang Girls Boarding High School, which is about over an hour away by public transport from NTU. Since public transport in Singapore is super convenient, I didn’t have a problem getting around anywhere. The hostel at boarding school was very convenient for me for its price and location – it’s near newly opened blue line that can get you to all the best places around CBD.
When my first (and second) semester began I had the worst headache trying to match the units to suit my study plan. This happened because some units weren’t taught anymore or didn’t exist at all. I found that Wee Kim Wee School of Communications at NTU has a different direction in studies. It’s more concentrated on media communications, hence I struggled finding appropriate classes to suit my major. I did somehow manage to match some classes but still you should remember that in the end of the day exchange students get what was left after the registration of the main student body.
Now let’s get to the classes. Students in Singapore are quite ‘hard-core’; they study everyday, everywhere. Like seriously you won’t be able to find a free spot in McDonalds or Starbucks or pretty much anywhere around the city to sit down and do your work. It’s a very fast-paced environment being it studying at university or just taking a train. Be ready for that. It was cool for me, because I only needed to pass, same it will be for you too.
I can write a lot of things about my experience in Singapore; I spent the whole year meeting people who influenced my personal and professional growth, learning new things about adulthood, travelling and seeing this beautiful country in a different way, maybe getting angry couple times for not finding a peaceful place to study, and getting caught up in the shopping-land. I am not the same person I was before this exchange experience. In the end, your experience will turn out the way you want it to be, just stay open-minded and set goals to fulfil.
