Friday 31st July

Friday 31st July
A good long update today.
No photos this time though as I had to give the camera back to my Dad. Ill try to get my own as soon as I have some free capital .

Moving in Day, or at least partially.
I had to give Dad a promise that I would leave most of my stuff here as an insurance that I would come back and see them. Actually thinking about it, it was quite a moving thing.
I mean he wouldn’t say it (what self respecting man would?) but I guess from the way he went about his day it was clear that he was already missing me before I had left.
In fact he insisted on walking all the way out of the hotel to the 100 or so meters to the station.
I will miss my family more then I thought I would.
Anyway, I left. As I had to do eventually.

I was fairly confident about where I was going. Looking at both my crappy map from England and the map the concierge at the hotel gave me it was pretty clear where the one university on the island was marked. So I took off on the MRT which is the tube system here.
Eventually I arrived at the station build into the University. Which was a good thing to because it was midday by this point? The absolute heat of the day. After about 10 minutes of wandering around though I cant find any signs for my accommodation, nor either any signs for the department I need to register with.
Turns out in the end I had wandered into the wrong university. Why it was the only one on both maps I will never know. I then asked for directions to my Uni.

The guard was friendly enough, but told me that he had no idea. So I went to ask the train staff. They suggested I get an MRT to a deeper part of the island because “it was probably around there”.
Having nowhere else to go I did. It turned out to be right and the uni was only a bus ride away. Handily you can use your ez-link card to pay for busses as well. It’s a general all round wonder card really. Eventually arrived at campus and began the long walk there.
Had to stop twice due to the weight of my bags (not even half my stuff) and the oppressive heat. After 40 minutes of walking I eventually arrived, exhausted.
At this point I was informed if I had just waited the uni hopper bus would have picked me up and driven me straight here.
Handy to know maybe an hour ago before I had totally sweated through my shirt. No lie. It had actually changed colour.

I was so tied that I don’t really remember registration for halls. I just signed anything they put in front of me and agreed to everything. So that’s how I got my room.

EDIT: You can look around it on a video from the post below, which pretty much renders this post redundant and describes the surrounding much better then I do here.

First impressions were the size of the room. Its very small. And has no aircon. So naturally is baking. Must be about 30c at nearly all times.
Around campus there is a mini-mart that has everything in it. With prices that are quite reasonable for the area (say $1 or so). You can get shampoo, sheets, laundry detergent, batteries, toilet bowl cleaner, CDs, frozen food, and much more. Handy to have really if you don’t mind queuing for ages. Ah! They also have pocky for $1 a pack. I have got through about six boxes so far. Gotta love it.
A big difference here to uni at home was that I was not issued a key but rather an electronic transponder, which I have to use to unlock everything (lift, doors etc) On halls there are a series of canteens – called food courts here. These canteens have Indian, Malaysian, Chinese, North Indian, and even Western food, (western food entails fish and chips, hamburgers, steaks) the shop rather conservatively being called “foreigner food”.
I will try not to eat at the Western kiosk I am in another country, perhaps the place I want to live in later life so why not eat the local food? When in Rome kind of thing. Common style of eating out here is with fork and spoon, and Chinese dishes are served with a pair of wooden chopsticks which must be broken apart and rubbed together to remove the wood splinters. The fork is held in the left hand and is used to shovel food onto the spoon that is held in the right hand.

Anyway to continue narration, after unpacking and collapsing on the bed I got round to plugging Lovejoy the laptop into the interweb and was able to send you all my first set of updates. Noone else living in my flat and being unable to enter any other flats due to my transponder I wandered around a little like a lost sheep. When I came back to my room I had a fb message from Keng who had moved in a while ago and wondered what I was up to.
I arranged to meet her at her halls and then went to ikea together where I got my bedding and so on. Met some of her friends as well and had a brewski or two outside her halls. Very social.
I should point out here that in this country you are allowed to drink in public even to the point of drunkenness. In fact most people drink on the street. If however you commit a crime, under the influence or not there will be a lot of trouble for you.
Just obey and respect the law here and you will be fine. Straight away a big difference to the UK!

By the time I got back I had a flatmate from Italy. He is very friendly and I think we will get on well. Nothing really going on here we decided to go to a freshers fair they were having on campus. Kind of wish I hadn’t really. It was a bit of a culture shock.

No drinking, smoking or having opposite sex in your room is allowed on campus. I will find out I guess if these are strictly enforced rules or not, if not through my own adventures then through the activities of my new friends. But yes, I got a gift bag for attending containing:

Caffeine tablets
Coffee sachets
Stress Ball
Chicken snacks
Contact lenses solution.

No doubt the solution will come in handy but the rest is such a shock. At Freshers back home we were given Condoms and Beer and pretty much told to get on with it. The freshers party as well was different to what I would expect – it was a large series of maths based games around the hall.
Me and Eital’s eyebrows couldn’t have climbed any higher up our faces and we soon left reeling in a combination of shock and horror. I had promised my Dad I would come back to the hotel so left about 9 to get there.
Arrived at 11:30 because I didn’t know the route properly and bus routes look different in the dark. Boo.
So hungry by this point so I went with Brother to get a McDonalds from the 24hour near the Hotel.

Whilst I was there I noticed a sign asking students to refrain from working inside the restaurant after 8pm. That was a bit of a shock for me. The entire culture is based on doing your best and working hard, something we lack a little back home.
I had an uneasy night, unsure if I could make it in this new driven world.

EDIT: sorry im so far behind in my updates, im really busy at the moment but will keep typing whenever i can. I should be up to date by the end of this week. J'espere
x