By Micha Raja, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore When people think about a year abroad in Singapore, they often imagine either constant working or constant travelling/ weekends away. As much as I loved travelling however, some of my best memories were made in Singapore as a student living there and creating a routine. A typical day would start with me heading into university for classes and meeting up with friends. One of my favourite parts of studying at SMU was how social campus life felt. We’d usually have lunch together between classes, spend time sitting outside catching up or head to the library to get some work done before going…

By Micha Raja, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore One of the things I was worried about before moving to Singapore was accommodation. Unlike many universities, SMU doesn’t offer student accommodation or halls and there was not really any support from SMU regarding finding somewhere to live. This means that all exchange students need to arrange private accommodation themselves before arriving. At first, this felt quite daunting. Finding a place to live in a completely different country and having to sign contracts without even viewing the property in person first was scary. It also did take quite a bit of time so this is something that should be prepared for. Most…

By Micha Raja, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore Before leaving for Singapore, I assumed I’d probably get the chance to travel during the university holidays. What I didn’t expect was just how much time I’d actually have. By the end of the year, I found myself taking trips almost every other week. Of course, there were periods where I had to fully focus on university (especially during the exam seasons) but overall, there was far more opportunity to travel than I had anticipated. Being based in Singapore made exploring SE Asia incredibly accessible and over the year I managed to visit almost every country in that region and some more! Looking back, those experiences…

By Micha Raja, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore Coming to Singapore, I was initially nervous about the options for vegetarians and whether I would have enough variety of food to choose from. After having lived here for 3 months now, I can confirm, the variety of vegetarian options is incredible! Not only are there pure vegetarian restaurants but even some of the Hawker Centres have pure vegetarian food stalls. There has not been a single day I have struggled with food. One of my favourite go-to foods in the Hawker centres here is a Masala Dosa. There are lots of other Indian food options as well but also Southeast Asian cuisine can be made…

By Micha Raja, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore As Semester 1 draws to a close, I find myself full of several emotions – gratitude, excitement and disbelief at how quickly the past 3 months have flown by. I arrived in Singapore 3 months ago, completely alone with not a clue how the year was going to play out. I was nervous arriving, not sure if I would make friends, settle in well or enjoy the new academic culture I was about to take on. Everything felt so unfamiliar and I remember wondering how long it would take before Singapore started to feel like home. Now I am writing this blog feeling like a completely…