By Ruohan Zhang, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Today, I am going to share the experience of starting the exchange at NUS in Singapore…

Student Accommodation

I applied for NUS student accommodation, and got a room in PGPR (Prince George’s Park Residence), with a shared bathroom between the floor. Sadly I have no air con in my room, but there is a huge fan that is in the room. However, you can apply for a portable air con, small fridge and parking space after you have checked in, but there will be a management fee and you will have to buy the appliances yourself.

Moreover, there are regular events that are organised by the block life assistant and other sports events by the PGPR life team, which you can join and get to know new friends. Besides the fun part, there is also a study lounge open for 24/7 in each of block with air con, which you can go whenever you want to.

Student Life and Lessons

Comparing to UoM, NUS is much bigger in term of size, for me to go a lecture, it could take up to 20 mins walk to get to the building I have lessons in. But there are shuttle buses within the campus helping you to get around, you can just get on the bus whenever you want, there is no need for you to have your student card around, and there is also an app called ‘NUS Next Bus’ for bus times and routes, which is very convenient.

Different to the UK, Singapore has lots of food courts, so you don’t really need to cook by yourself and they are also in a very good price. In the NUS, there are seven food courts, and one of them is just in PGPR, which have a variety of food, like: Indian, Chinese, Singaporean and Western food. I even saw one food stall selling fish & chips, but I haven’t had the chance to try it yet.

Moreover, Singapore focuses more on class participation and group work skills, for all the courses that I have chosen, I have one or more group assignments and a class participation grade, which is quite different from the UK in that we work individually.

NUS also has two swimming pools that are open freely for the students to use and other extracurricular clubs that you can join, I am currently enjoying roller skating with new friends that I have met and looking forward to the exchange life that is coming!