Singaporientation

Sunday, Aug 12: Settling In and Familiarization Tour

• Touchdown at Changi Airport.
• Met up with my Resident Director, Andrea, and one of the other visiting students, and took a taxi to my new apartment, Sunshine Plaza.
• Familiarization Tour – Andrea showed us the surrounding area, places where we could grab some quick food, some general stores, and the MRT.
• Took the MRT to Clarke Quay – The train stretches across almost all of the city and goes several stories down; it took us seven escalators to get to the blue line.
• At Clarke Quay – Treated out to McGettigans for fish n’ chips by RD (thank you :D).
• Time to chill at the apartment – We activated our SIM cards, discussed tomorrow’s schedule, and got to know one another. The rest of the time was spent unpacking.

The view from my apartment 🙂 Not bad, not bad at all

We had some fish n’ chips by the river

The MRT entrance to the blue line — it goes anywhere and everywhere

Monday, Aug 13: Suntec City Mall, Haji Lane, and a short stop at SMU

• Woke up at 6 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep so I watched some Youtube videos. The night before I was sneezing like crazy because we haven’t figured out how to control the room’s AC yet. Needless to say, I was tired.
• We had the morning to ourselves, so I called with my parents. It was about 10 a.m. in SG but 10 p.m. in CA.
• Breakfast (toast spread with a Singaporean coconut jam called Nonya Kaya and cereal).
• Enter Andrea who brought us to Suntec City Mall.
  • In-door Hawker Center (tried chicken rice for the first time and iced calamansi tea).
  • Post Office/School Supplies.
  • Giant Mall (I appreciate how literal some of the names are. For instance, we saw a bag of chips that was called “Bag of Chips”).
  • The Fountain of Wealth.
• Haji Lane.
  • Narrow walkways, street art, charming mom n pop shops selling a wide array of textiles and food.
• Andrea dropped us off at SMU to get our Student Pass slips.
• Self-tour around SMU (one of us had some trouble with the ID picture, so we missed the free official campus tour).
  • Because we haven’t gotten our student cards yet, we had to get into buildings using our passports. Even then, most buildings said no, so we were only able to get into the library.
  • At one of the vending machines, we tried a can of grass jelly which two of us hadn’t tried yet.
• Hung out at the apartment and got to know one another some more before heading back to Suntec City Mall (with much confusion and discussion, we finally figured out the MRT system).
  • Bought some avocados, an extension cord, bread, onions, and a rice cooker.

Here for the long haul ;D (pun intended)

Fountain of Wealth – I followed the instructions, except for the most important one: Make a wish. Woops.

Haji Lane has gorgeous wall art…

Tuesday, Aug 14: SMU Orientation

• Showed a friend from Hope who was visiting for a few days around the school and the apartment (s/o to my roomie, Yeji).
• Met up with the other three at the SMU Admin building for SMU Orientation.
• After signing in, we got goodie bags filled with SMU swag and were served delicious Singaporean food including laksa, a spicy noodle soup.
• We had to sit on the floor because of the lack of tables, but as a result we were able to meet a few kind Canadian transfer students.
• The actual SMU Orientation.
  • Ice breakers (What’s an orientation without ice breakers?).
  • Introduction to the different student organizations, tips on how to get around SMU and what to do when traveling abroad.
• Naptime (I’m an introvert, I needed to recover).
• Meeting with Yeji and her family at Makansutra Gluttons by the Bay: chili crab, carrot cake (it’s not actually made of carrot or cake; it tastes more like pork belly), cereal prawn, and iced barley.

SMU Orientation

Before

Aaaaaaand after

Wednesday, Aug 15: Botanical Gardens and Riverboat Tour

• Morning at the pool.
• Orientation presentation by Andrea: Cultural lessons.
  • Don’t clean up after yourself when eating out, because the workers will see it as rude. Leave your leftovers neatly on the tray and let the workers do their thing.
  • For some elder Chinese vendors, use both hands to give and accept money.
  • The same thing goes when handing out/receiving business cards.
• Trip to the Botanical Gardens.
  • Lunch at the Bee’s Knees at the heart of the Gardens.
  • Trails through the Learning Forest.
    • Saw some wild chickens and monitor lizards.
• Suntec Mall again (I know, we go a lot).
• Recharge at home.
• Riverboat tour at Clarke Quay.
• Back on boardwalk for dinner at Ras, a stellar Indian restaurant: paneer, chicken tikka, daal mahkni, rice and naan, and iced tea.
• Music and chill at home.

Iced lemon tea, yum…

This place is gorgeous!!! I love the Botanical Gardens.

We found a wild chicken stuck in a tree. I hope it found its way down.

Ras, an Indian restaurant by the river

Thursday, Aug 16: Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands

• Morning at the pool.
• Meomi Cat Cafe on Haji Lane.
  • They take stray cats from the streets and those who are fit for cafe life spend time around doting visitors.
• Quick stop by Suntec Mall.
• Gardens by the Bay.
  • Took a self-driving car to…
  • Satay by the Bay: Prawn, pork, beef, fish, and a lot of different meats with a peanut dip.
  • The Cloud Forest/Flower Dome.
  • The Supertree Grove.
  • Marina Bay Sands Observation deck.
• Andrea treated us to Din Tai Fung: Xialongbao (Chinese steamed buns) and other side dishes.

Andrea, my RD, looking into the distance (waiting for us to finish taking our tourist pictures)

Meomi Cat Cafe except the cats didn’t want to be petted, only fed treats.

Satay by the Bay — best meal in SG so far

Cloud Forest, higher level

Hello, shrimps.

Cloud Forest, lower level

Friday, Aug 17: Free Day

• Morning at the pool.
• Suntec Mall with roommate, ate at McDonald’s and had a Durian McFlurry and a breakfast curry burger, shopping at H&M and Cotton On.
• A short stop by SMU Vivace, the university’s student organizations fair.
• Chilling out at the house, bonding with housemates.
• Got Dominos delivered to the apartment and watched The Italian Job with an HDMI cable.

They had the Big Mac but why would I pick that when I could get the curry burger?

SMU Vivace is a student activities fair where students perform on stage and pull Bambi-eyed freshmen to their booths.

Not my cup of flurry…