National University of Singapore
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My first month in Singapore
People were often quite surprised to hear me say that I was going to be studying in Singapore. Having only met a very small handful of people from Manchester who were even going anywhere else in Asia, I was apprehensive myself before I left. It occurred to me that maybe I had made the wrong decision deciding to go somewhere so completely different from the UK, while others seemed to all be going to the slightly more familiar USA, Canada or Australia. Four weeks down the line it is safe to say that I definitely picked the opposite place from Manchester, but it was also definitely the right decision. I…
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North Vietnam by motorbike
By Monika Kvassheim, National University of Singapore My favourite trip last semester was motorbiking from Hanoi to Sapa in Vietnam during recess week. Warning, recess week at NUS is like reading week in Manchester, except in Manchester it’s treated like a recess week and at NUS it’s actually treated like a reading week. After a night train from Sapa to Hanoi and flight to Singapore on Sunday I had to take a midterm 8 am on Monday, worth it, but challenging. Hanoi is one of my favourite Asian cities, the old quarter is great and there are terraces like this everywhere. The Bánh Mi is amazing.
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Weekend trip to Mount Kinabalu
By Monika Kvassheim, National University of Singapore Mount Kinabalu is in the Malaysian part of Borneo. It is 4095 meters above sea level and really really cool. It’s a two day climb and you have to join a group with a guide, since it’s very regulated. They only let 130 people up there per day, which I think is part of what keeps it nice. I went with two friends one of the weekends last semester. We started the weekend early and flew to Kota Kinabalu Thursday afternoon and Friday morning we were picked up and taken to the start of the trek.
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Singapore begins
By Monika Kvassheim, National University of Singapore So, I have somehow been in Singapore for more than two weeks already? It has been incredibly busy and I’ve had almost no time to myself, definitely no time to blog, but now here are my first impressions of Singapore.
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Final reflections
Having finished my exams at the National University of Singapore by the beginning of December this final blog post is arguably slightly overdue. However, having spent a few weeks traveling and then having to revise for an exam I had in Manchester in January, I’ve simply not had the time. I feel like the time I’ve had has given all the impressions and experiences time to settle, so hopefully this will enable me to more accurately convey my thoughts through this final blog entry. Unfortunately it’s impossible to describe every experience you’ve had through an entire semester abroad, and how they’ve changed you. Nonetheless, I will attempt to offer some…
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Your stereotypical “My year aboard was the best experience of my life” speech from your returning friends
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore, Singapore. Hellooo Manchester, I’m back! I’ve settled back to my Mancunian way of life since mid-September. It all happened so quickly: moving out, grieving the Asian food, the beginning and the end of the blissful holidays with friends and family, packing and moving to my flat with my two lovely British roommates, starting Uni, seeing everyone you haven’t seen in a year like nothing changed, intense masters’ lectures, first coursework, graduate applications etc… -Catching a Breath- My usual Manchester way of life just smashed me right back in the face so hard and so fast that I ended up bamboozled…
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What an amazing year it’s been!
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore, Singapore. Helloo Manchester, Aaaand it’s the end of the year already?! What? Have I time travelled forward? How did it go so fast??!! … Well, the answer probably lies in all the fun I had this year abroad and the fact that South East Asia is so diverse that it is impossible to feel like you’ve managed to “do it all”.
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Semester Two as a Year long exchange student
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Hellooo Manchester, After having the time of my life travelling during 6 weeks over Christmas Break, it is time to go back to Uni! The majority of exchangers stay only for one semester. Therefore, the National University of Singapore was expecting a whole new batch of fresh new exchange students. I was excited to meet some new people and be one of the “ancient” … basically a local Lah (singlish exclamation mark). Additionally, the deeper bonds created during Christmas while travelling with my UK exchanger friends is going to be greatly valuable as they were almost all staying…
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Christmas Holidays
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Hello Manchester, I hope that you had a lovely Christmas holiday, I sure did! Here is a formatted report of my adventures in chronological order.
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Exams and Goodbyes
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Hellooo Manchester, First, a little retrospective on my adventure so far which I wrote on my Facebook wall in December 2015: The first semester is coming to an end, I’ve been through a great range of difference experiences, beginning by meeting awesome, intellectual, hilarious, enriching people which I went on some adventures with, at boxing classes, skateboarding, partying, laughing, dragon boating, chatting philosophically or politically until 3AM…
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The Exchanger life: midterms, recess week, panic and Fun!
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Hellooo Manchester, In this post I’m going to talk about the mid terms examination, my recess week holiday and life on campus in general. Midterms – Mid September Where to begin… Stressful for sure, especially that we do not have them in Manchester and therefore I didn’t know what to expect. Challenging, because as they count for only 10% to 20% of our final grade, the teachers take them as an opportunity to really test our problem solving skills by giving us impossible exercises… literally.
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The Phantom Menace
By Sam Haynes (National University of Singapore) Hey, I’ve finally gotten round to writing my first post! I have actually been in Singapore at NUS for two weeks now and have plenty to report back, both on the positive and, as the title suggests, the more annoying side. Term hasn’t officially started yet so for the last couple of weeks I have been settling in and exploring my new home as well as adjusting to the absurd Singaporean sleeping pattern which includes full meals at 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. Things that have gone wrong? (Deep Breath) Originally couldn’t get my student pass (aka visa) as my medical…
