I was accepted to the National University of Singapore by a study abroad program of Penn State University, and I am going there Spring 2014. I can't wait to blog about my life in Singapore, the wonderful and prosperous country. My GeoBlog application letter:
I am deeply grateful for the opportunities that are provided by Penn State. I will blog about the things that might be interesting and helpful to people who want to take a chance and apply for the study abroad program. I think one of the most important things that applicants want to know is the educational aspect. Basic things like how much time I spend in labs, what kind of problems an engineer might encounter, how overall engineering experience is "different" relative to a pennstater's perspective. Hopefully such stories will encourage more engineers to try a global engineering experience. Also, another important thing is the cultural aspect: events, traditions, cuisine, out-of-class activities, and unique opportunities one can try in Singapore. I will talk about the national holidays and how/where it is best to celebrate them. I'm sure, there are lots of things I will be able to talk about like popular classes and hobbies of local students, population, weather, accommodation, sport events, pop culture, etc. I would be happy to answer any question to help the future applicants.
The following text is taken from www.lonelyplanet.com:
At first glance, Singapore appears
shockingly modern and anonymous, but this is an undeniably Asian city with Chinese, Malay and
Indian traditions from feng shui to ancestor worship creating part of the everyday landscape. It's
these contrasts that bring the city to life.
Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore on the Singapore River, which is still the heart of the
city, encompassing the central business district and the popular entertainment and dining
precinct along the quays. Most of Singapore's tourist action is centered around Orchard Rd,
Chinatown and Little India.
In the crowded streets of Chinatown, fortune tellers, calligraphers and temple worshippers are
still a part of everyday life. In Little India, you can buy the best sari material, freshly ground
spices or a picture of your favorite Hindu god. In the small shops of Arab St,the cry of the imam
can be heard from the nearby Sultan Mosque.
Singapore
and Its Stereotypes
by Kamila
Dagilova
Travelling is
a nice way to enrich your life experiences, meet new people and see different
places; however, it takes a lot of preparation before you go abroad, and it
often happens that we don’t have enough time to learn about those cultures and
places. By watching random videos on YouTube and reading web articles about the
places you plan to visit, it is easy to become a victim of “stereotype”
thinking. Stereotyping is just an easy
way of thinking, because it simplifies our social world, and some people just
ignore “deep” details. But things can be a lot complicated.
There are a
lot of stereotypes about Singapore, the place where I’m planning to go this
spring. This enables me to pay close attention at those particular things, to
verify how close they are to reality. One of the stereotypes that I learned,
conveys positive impression; it is about the thing that Singapore is the
cleanest place on the Earth. Also, one of my friends told me that you are not
allowed to chew gum in Singapore, because they want to prevent public
littering, and fine or incarcerate people, who don't obey the rules. This was
quiet surprising! I cannot agree or disagree with that stereotype yet, because
I haven’t seen the streets of Singapore with my eyes, but it does make me have
high expectations and step back from chewing gum in public places during my
first days in Singapore.
Another thing
that I have heard is that it is important to know feng shui, if you want to
understand the culture of Singapore, because the feng shui symbols appear
almost everywhere. For example, all the buildings and roads are made using the
rules of feng shui, according to which, the sharp angles are not allowed, and
shapes of the buildings should symbolize the elements of nature. In addition to that, a prime minister of
Singapore explains that the prosperity of the country is due to “good feng
shui”, and even their currency has a symbol of Ba Gua, which brings luck to
every resident of Singapore. I personally know some basics of feng shui, and I
hope that I will learn more while I’m there.
There
are some advantages in knowing some stereotypes, like for example, a stereotype
about the thing that “all the rooms of all the buildings in Singapore are very
air-conditioned because it's hot outside”. This stereotype is helpful and
prepares me to take some warm clothes with me, so I can avoid sickness.
However, there are, obviously, disadvantages in stereotypes as well, when
people actually start believing that these “generalizations” about a particular
group of people or places are true, and they often rely and base their
decisions on them, which can cause a lot of problems in the future. For
example, one of my American friends, before coming to Kazakhstan, the place
where I live, was influenced by negative cultural stereotypes about Kazakhstani
traditions and people, after watching a British-American mockumentary movie
about Borat. However, according to her, the experience she had there was
completely different from herexpectations, so stereotypes are rarely a good
thing to rely upon.
