Hi everyone! This week has been one that I hope to remember for ages to come. Literally every hour leads to new discoveries- some great (such as the glorification the soybean receives in Asia) and some not so great (apparently I don't know how to work an Asian stove!) But regardless, everything has certainly been interesting, and I will try my best to recap the past four days in an interesting way!

Monday-Wednesday
My flight to Singapore was surprisingly easy! I thought I would be bored and cramped out of my mind, but it's funny how quickly hours passed when I stopped counting them. On my flight from Minneapolis to Japan I was lucky to sit in a row with 2 people my age- one guy from Sri Lanka who now lives in Australia and had been visiting relatives in Montreal, and another guy from Alberta who decided to spend a spontaneous month alone in Thailand. Good company made time go by much faster. On the flight from Japan to Singapore I had a row to myself, so I was a little more lonely, but I got some "luxurious" sleeping done!

Emily and her mom picked me up from the airport when I arrived around 1 am, and unfortunately they had to wait around, because my suitcase did not make it to the airport! It was quite a headache. Luckily they found my suitcase the next day :). Emily was kind enough to give me her bed to sleep in that night, but I only actually slept from 2:30-5:30 am because, despite my exhaustion, I was also jet-lagged!


The next morning, I experienced my first wet market with Emily's family- it was basically like a permanent farmer's market that was about 5x more dense than any farmer's market I've ever seen! With many new sights and smells as well. I think it's called a wet market cuz sometimes the floors are wet. For breakfast I had vermincelli noodles with about 3 kinds of tofu and vegetables and curry! Apparently that is not an unusual Chinese breakfast. I took this down with soy milk which is all over the place and quite popular! I believe this breakfast cost a whopping $3. We also bought 3 types of fruit- prunes, rambutan, and a fruit that Emily didn't recognize. They were all so good!!

Next I checked into my new flat which is in Boon Lay, which is relatively very far away from pretty much everything! The place itself looks a little depressing right now- we desperately need to decorate! However, I have 3 really awesome roommates (nice change in my life! some of you know what I am referencing), so that makes the place feel much more comfortable. One of my roommates is an American grad student from Chicago, and the other 2 are grad students from China! It is a really nice cultural balance, and we are going to exchange English and Chinese lessons with each other. I will post pictures of the place after we decorate it a bit.

In the afternoon I saw NUS and my new Conservatory for the first time (so beautiful!!!). I am so excited to spend my time on the campus and in the new music building. Once again, I didn't take pictures yet, but once I do you'll see what I mean! :)

That evening, we went to Clark Quay, which is a beautiful restaurant/bar/shopping area by the water (pictures at the bottom), for a trip organized by NUS Exchange students to all meet each other. At least 100 international students met on this one bridge to socialize for hours- it must have been a really strange sight too see all these foreigners mingling on a bridge! I met mostly Europeans- from France, England, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Amsterdam, Germany and others. Then there were those from China, India, New Zealand and Australia! I cannot express how thrilling it was to see only TWO other people from the US all day!!!!!!!

So that takes care of my wednesday. Not a bad first day, but you can imagine how exhausted I was after the crazy long flight, 3 hours of sleep, and a first day like that!!

On Thursday, I had to have my medical exam to get my student pass from the immigration checkpoint authority. It was relatively painless, besides when they couldn't get blood out of my arm and had to use my hand instead! ick!
The real highlight of Thursday was going to my new friend Qinying's birthday party! Qinying is a piano student at YST who is about to go to Peabody for her Master's degree. A bunch of YST students met at her house for birthday festivities and food! I made my first popiah which was really exciting and yummy! They were all so nice and welcoming, I'm really looking forward to hanging out with everyone more!
After that, I met up with all the international students again at Lau Pa Sat- or Festival Market. It was Singapore's first wet market, and now it's a huge beautiful food court! I met some more people, mainly Europeans, and especially a Swedish girl who is a big backpacker. We were talking about backpacking in the Phillipines over mid-semester break!
The last stop on Thursday was with Jolene, my roommate, at a bar called Indochine.We sat outside where there was live jazz music, beautiful lights, and delicious drinks (I got a chocolate martini!). It was also right by the water, so we were really happy! I think we'll be frequenting that place.

Friday I went to an international students meeting, where there was lots of free food and they told us about different trips and groups we could join, etc. I did some practicing (finally!) and then went to a barbecue at PGP (residence hall on campus) for the new music students.

as you can tell, I am getting tired of writing! And you are probably getting tired of reading! Saturday I went on a Singapore food tour organized by NUS! Instead of writing about it, I will now show pictures! Click on any to enlarge~

The sunset somewhere between Japan and Singapore, on the airplane

Me at Raffle's Place on Thursday- it's so beautiful at night!


Making my first popiah at Qinying's place!

Yes that is a stand for soy bean products and yes, they did dress up a soybean to look like a granny!

Peanut soup with sesame balls in chinatown
Some sort of pink treat in chinatown!

The colors of China town

Buddhist Temple in Chinatown
Me at Ann Sang Hill Park
Another temple!
It was really beautiful

Our food tour group! The girl on my left is Jolene, my roommate! The other girls are my new friends Zhou Ye (Chinese), Lin Zhan (Chinese), Adidi (Indian), Jia Fei (chinese).

These are both from a beeeeautiful Buddhist temple in Chinatown!

These are both from a sculpture garden in Chinatown

This is a statue in Little India of Shiva. People came frequently to pray at that corner.

The following are all from Little India:






Festivities by the Esplanade






Well, I will write more on my opinions and ideas of Singapore later! Thanks for making it to the end!!!