Joanna's Singapore adventures

Only one week until I take the first flight of my trip. How time flies! It is hard to believe it really is so close.

I'll have to start packing in the next few days. Not sure how I am going to go with remembering everything I need and fitting it into my baggage allowance. Annoyingly Asian clothing sizes don't tend to fit me so I have to pack all the clothes I will need rather than buying them there. Then there is remembering all the right paperwork- passport, visa, banking, enrollment, accommodation, insurance.....It is amazing how much paperwork is needed!

I have been trying to brush up on my Asian language skills. It would be over two and a half years since I have used any significant amount of Indonesian or Malay. I only ever took classes in Indonesian but due to the similarity of Indonesian to Malay, I can understand some Malay too. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I do still remember. Can't say the same about my Mandarin Chinese skills. It is only 7 or 8 months since I've finished lessons but my skills have slipped badly. I look at characters and know I once learned them but have no recollection of what they mean. That is really frustrating. It is such a difficult language for an English speaker to learn!

One month today until i take the first flight of my trip. That's both very exciting and very nerve racking! I've had a lot of drama, some of which is sorted out, some of which is still of concern.

I had some problems in regards to whether or not i was accepted into the exchange program. For a little while it looked like i wasn't. Not sure what exactly went wrong there but i'm in and that is all that matters. I also got accepted for university run student accommodation. I don't have any details yet about what hall or type of room I get. There is a particular hall I want to get into so I'm waiting in hope on that one.

I discovered that I'd booked by air tickets for the wrong date! Thankfully tiger airways was kind to us and allowed me to change the tickets to a more suitable date, with only a small fee.

Then there is the Swine Flu drama. Although the infection rate around here is high compared to a lot of places, the local strain is very weak. A lot of people are saying it isn't even as bad as normal flu. Despite how weak Australian swine flu is, the rest of the world seems quite concerned about Swine flu spreading from Melbourne to them. Flu quarantine is one part of traveling i would rather not experience! I am hoping that the flu symptoms i had a few weeks ago were actually from a mild case of swine flu so make me immune from catching it again.

Not much news on the trip to report. Confirmation is yet to come on enrollment and accommodation. Enrollment shouldn't be a problem but on campus accommodation is not guaranteed and i really want it. For the moment i can just pray and check my emails a few too many times hoping a confirmation email is there. Hopefully i will know soon so i can get on with planning. I was advised to not pay for anything trip related until i got it confirmed but i got an absurdly good airfare i couldn't turn down. It is costing me AU$260 one way including taxes, booking fees and prepaying some extra luggage allowance. It does leave pretty early in the morning and has a stop over in Perth (not as indirect as it sounds) but I'm happy to put up with that to save several hundred dollars.

Finally i have my application form into National University of Singapore (NUS). It is good to finally have it in, even if i will probably have to make changes to my subject selection later due to a misunderstanding about how many units i was required to take and some uncertainty as to what subjects are available. Hopefully that won't be a problem. The application didn't give me a choice as to which one of the student residences i wanted to be allocated to. I'm praying for a single room with air-conditioning. Don't think i could manage without the air-conditioning!

Soon i'll have to start with some of the other things i have to organise. Of course there's the big things like flights, a student visa and travel insurance but there's also all the little things. Its amazing how many different things there are to consider like will the clothes i have be suitable for the climate & local modesty standards, will my Australian mobile phone work over there or do i need to buy a new one and whether to open a Singapore bank account or pay the international withdrawal fees to access my Australian one while i'm there.

It has been interesting seeing peoples responses when i say i'm going to Singapore to study. Even students who are originally from Singapore sometimes sound a bit surprised. While lots of students from Singapore come here, ether for the full duration of their degree or for a short term exchange, it seems that very few Australian students go to Singapore to study. Not sure why there is such a difference. When it is an Australian i'm talking to the surprise is often accompanied with "Singapore has an awesome airport."