My University and Hall...
I am an exchange student from Victoria University of Wellington, studying for one semester at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
NUS is a large campus - about 26,000 people study here and maybe 4.000 live on campus. We have everything here - shops, canteens, swimming pool, sports facilities, and an air-con bus to take you around. It took a while to get used to the size, but now it is no problem.
I am staying in Temasek Hall - the newest and supposedly the best! There are probably about 400 students living in Temasek - about 20 of us are international students. Life here is far stricter than I imagine it would be in NZ - the whole campus is smoking and alcohol-free, and if you have a person of the opposite sex in your room, you have to leave the door open!
Food in the Hall is terrible - it varies between bad and inedible.
None of the rooms are air-con, which takes a bit of getting used to, and we have huge cockroaches (which fly) and beetles to contend with, but otherwise it is a lot of fun! I have met a lot of great people and we have a lot of fun.
Exchange students all revel in their 'Exchange Student Immunity' : "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise we weren't allowed a party of 13 in my room. Were we really that noisy? Nor did I realise we aren't allowed alcohol in our rooms. I'm only an exchange student..."
A short walk away along the storm-gutter is "Aace: A Very Cool Place". It serves delicious roti-prata for .60cents and is a major hang-out. We usually go there at about midnight, sit outside and eat! You can be guaranteed to bump into someone else there.
Every fortnight most Exchange students get together at the American Embassy Party. It is hosted by the US Marines and held at the Embassy. The main attraction are the cheap drinks - on average you can expect to pay $14 for a cocktail in Singapore. At the Embassy you pay no more than $5 for a very generous drink! It is the only bar in the world where people actually complain that there drinks are too strong!
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