I wrote this very first entry about my exchange student experience many weeks ago… Realized I didn't really published it anywhere.
It’s is the end of my first week in Singapore, and I’m
sitting in my dorm room alone…bored…not because there is nothing else to do in
the city, but because I lost my voice :( I “blame” crazy air conditioners. Also, I went to
Sentosa Island last night and swam a little bit… All of this made me sick. All
the physical symptoms remind me that my body needs to rebalance itself and
relax, which appears impossible during the orientation week (perhaps everyone has
experienced at least one orientation week in their lives, when you enter a new
society/environment and you want to learn/explore/communicate = no place for
sleep). On a happy note, I finally have time to geoblog about my first days. I
will describe why I think Singapore is a wonderful place for studying abroad.
Reason 1 Singapore is multinational, multireligious,
multilingual… It is a home for about five million people, and about 10 million
people annually visit Singapore. It keeps fascinating me everyday with its
diversity, cuisine, hospitality, etc. The very first thing that I did here is I went
to the city tour with a group of exchange students, which was organized by the
iCare (university project for international students). We visited old parts of Singapore, which embodied the coexistence of Malaysian, Chinese, Indian cultures. Here are some wonderful things that we saw:
Colorful Arab Street with good food and nice shopping. Here you can find such things as Persian carpets, halal alcohol free perfume, handmade bags, scarves and souvenirs.
Chinese Part of Singapore and preparation for Chinese New Year + beautiful temple
Later, my friends and I went to see the Garden by the Bay, which is situated next to the Marina Bay financial clusters. It is regarded as symbolic of Singapore's status as a premier tropical Garden City, and embodies the notion of work-play-live environment. Through the creation of such a perfect environment, Gardens by the Bay seek to position Singapore as a leading global city of the 21st century and botanical capital of the world. And this is the reason No. 2 why I like Singapore - it is very beautiful and green. To turn Singapore into a Garden City was a mission of ex prime-minister, Lee Kuan Yew.
Here is another Garden Picture - this time Singapore's Botanic Garden:
