...after spending half my life on planes, I swear. 2 hours from Raleigh to Detroit, 4 hour layover, 12 hours from Detroit to Tokyo, 2.5 hour layover, 7.5 hours from Tokyo to Singapore. I'm pretty sure it totally fucked up my sleep schedule/body cycles and now I will just feel like death perpetually. Anyhow, J picked me up at the airport and I spent some time at her family's place before moving into the dorms today. Settling in pretty well; classes tomorrow!
IT IS VERY HOT. Arriving last night reminded me of arriving at Beijing in the summer. It's so much more humid/tropical than Beijing could ever be though; much more foliage around too. And they drive on the left! Oh former British colonies...
I could see myself really happy in Singapore in the future, beyond just these four months. It's got a lot to offer and genuinely the best of both Western and Eastern worlds. We did a walking tour yesterday to a Buddhist temple and a Hindu shrine, which were next to each other, and down the street from a Catholic church. There is so much genuine intermingling of cultures here, despite the U.S.'s perpetual claim to diversity. I suppose what it comes down to is far less de facto segregation. They are definitely all in the Pro columns for Singapore, alongside the delicious, cheap, variegated foods and drinks (steak and tapas right alongside Asian desserts and delicious weird foods! so much coffee and real Chinese tea!), the public transportation system, the cleanliness, the opportunity to use my Chinese, the greenery, the beaches (I'm assuming, as I haven't seen them yet), the accessibility of things on the internet, and the sun showers. I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I love sun showers, but they've been my favorite weather phenomenon since I was a kid.
The cons? Oh, the heat and humidity. They say you get accustomed to it but I can't imagine. Missing out on cute fall and winter styles is only a very small part of it - boots and scarves and peacoats, I do like them so but really it comes down to whether I can survive the weather.
I actually met up with some international students on Friday - we did the walking tour and then had dinner and then bonded with our student tour group leaders. They're really fun and sweet and enthusiastic - leading the tour groups was all volunteer work (but oh so much unnecessary organization, Singapore; I'm coming to expect this). A lot of the international students are undergrad but there are a few Canadian and US law students on exchange too; we are clearly the older ones in the group. It's all good though, people came from all sorts of interesting places (Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, US) but much of the conversation was the standard orientation fare: where are you from, what are you studying, where are you living, why Singapore, etc. I'm suspecting that, much like orientation, you'll end up rarely seeing these people again - the real bonds tend to be established by who you see in class and around more often. It's early yet, anyway. And I'm still only very casually committed - I have plans to meet up with non-exchange students, tyvm. Today I met F for lunch, which was really nice - she's so sweet. I'm excited about hanging out with her more. I also have plans to meet up with G and S later this week.
I'm adjusting still, but I'm slightly less stressed. Once I settle into a routine of sorts, I hope I can be better at keeping in touch with people. Right now I'm just all over the map.
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