Want a summary of our experiences at National University Singapore? Take a look at Raymond and I's presentation detailing everything you want to know :)
Thank you to the Freeman Foundation for sponsoring our travels!
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In the end, I went to Japan to celebrate my mom's birthday and stayed in the Philippines until the next semester at UH Manoa started. I explored Tokyo and Mt. Fuji with her :)
Anyway, I figured I should share some of my top 10 tips when travelling in SEA. I've learned a lot of this on my own, so I hope it's helpful -- it'll also be placed in it's own specific page as well. 1. Get a Singapore phone number/data plan. Technically optional but needed for a local bank account and other services. You can buy it at the airport— I personally used M1 Prepaid. Make sure your phone is unlocked through your US carrier before this! Make sure to specifically ask for a data plan with a phone number. 2. If getting a local bank account, use DBS & DBS Paylah. DBS is the bank, and DBS Paylah is equivalent to Venmo. You can do this all online once you receive your Student Pass information. Each has their own apps. 3. To ride the MRT or the bus, you can buy an EZ-Link card at any MRT station, a 7- Eleven, or Cheers convenience store. However, you can use any Visa or Mastercard to ride these as well. You can deposit money into the card either through the app, an MRT station, or convenience store. 4. Get a debit/credit card without foreign transaction fees. Personally, I often used Capital One (Capital One 360 Checking or SavorOne) & my Amex Gold. 5. Make a Wise account. Wise is a foreign exchange account (which also comes with its own debit card) that allows you to seamlessly transfer money from your US bank account to a foreign bank account in any currency. If you also don’t want to use your US debit card, you can use your Wise debit card. 6. Install the essential NUS apps: Telegram (main SMS app for Singapore), uNivUS (access to gym, museums, and grades at the end of the semester), NUSNextBUS (track buses at NUS live), NUS Dining (required for meal plan dorms), and NUS Mobile Key (required to unlock NUS dorms). 7. When traveling to neighboring countries, install an E-Sim app such as Ubigi or Airalo & get an all-in-one Asia plan. You’ll have a faster connection to the internet this way & you don’t have to worry about switching physical SIM cards! 8. When solo traveling, use Hostelworld to book cheap accommodation (ie: $9-$20+ a night). Make sure to check the reviews and book rooms based on your comfort level—if you’re a woman, book female-only rooms. Many rooms are very modern and provide essentials such as towels and toiletries for cheap or free! 9. Install Whatsapp & use Klook to book tours when traveling to neighboring countries. Most tours in SEA will be using Whatsapp to confirm your times. 10. Have fun! Don’t be afraid to talk to people—Singapore is extremely safe, so much so that it’s normal to leave a pack of tissues or your bag to reserve a table at a Hawker Center. a. Outside of Singapore, trust your gut, do your research (especially with visas, many countries in SEA require one with a US passport), & use common sense when traveling. Tourist traps and people selling things that you might not need are common, so learn to say no (or bargain, if you’d like). b. Although SEA has a reputation for being “unsafe” in ways such as pickpockets, I’d say many worries are over exaggerated—I’ve met so many nice locals willing to give directions or show me the best hidden food spots. We live in an era of Google Translate, so more connections than ever can be made. Trust your intuition, and make some memories. Technically, most of the classes in the business school ended mid-November, and I did a lot of traveling between that. However, in my last week, I made an effort to hang out with some of the friends I made during my time there. Shout out to EN-House, Joy, Sherry, Bryan, and Hazuki :)
The beginning picture is of a note I placed during my last day in Singapore. The picture above my note was something I discovered in the beginning of my semester, most likely left by a previous exchanger in my dorm. I hope it stays there. A bit of a reflection: Other than experiencing the student life of one of the top business schools in Asia, I learned that I had the capability to do anything I put my mind to & that people are way more similar than you might expect. I had this idea that people across the world would be extremely different from me and that I would not have been able to make as many friends and connections as I do now. I was scared—but I knew in the end I would have wonderful stories to tell. From Singapore, I hopped around different countries. From jungle trekking to see orangutans in Indonesia, eating bugs in Cambodia, petting elephants in Thailand, drinking egg coffee in Vietnam, I experienced all of what Southeast Asia had to offer during my time there. I am forever grateful for my exchange and the opportunities the Freeman scholarship allowed me to have. I hope to create more memories traveling in the future. November Part 2!
I had trouble deciding on my last trip in SEA (before meeting with my mom in the Philippines & Japan) between Laos and another part of Thailand, but I decided on Thailand because my US Passport didn't require a visa-- Laos will have to be for another time :`] Anyway, I did three things on my trip to Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai -- A Cooking Class, visiting the white and blue temples, & visiting an Elephant Sanctuary. The cooking class was on a whim-- I rarely cook as a college student, so I figured I would try it out. I booked it through Klook at a place called Grandma's Home Cooking School. The instructor was so much fun! She kept saying "Oh my Buddha" & called all of the dishes we made hot and sexy (because it was literally spicy). We made Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai, and Blue Sticky Rice with Mango! The rice was blue because it was made out of this flower called the butterfly pea. All the ingredients were grown within the garden we went to, and the Auntie was super knowledgeable about the different plants that we used to cook with. The next day, I booked a day-trip to Chiang Rai. This lovely auntie took us to some beautiful places, from a hot spring with a foot bath, the iconic white temple, blue temple, and the golden triangle (a river system connecting Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand). After the tour, she even offered to give me a ride back to my hostel on her moped :) On the last day, I was able to visit an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. There are 4 ethical ones located throughout different provinces. Of course, I visited the one in Chiang Mai. We got to feed the elephants bananas, pet the elephants, and even wash them in some muddy water! Our tour guide was super cool and even did some art on the side. It really is different experiencing these animals more naturally than in a zoo, and it was nice to know they were well taken care of too. A great thing about a lot of these tours -- they offer professional pictures with a DSLR and everything. For under $50, that is a steal, and it's something you should definitely take advantage of. This month had A LOT of traveling so I'll have to put it in separate posts, but for this one, I'll talk about my experiences in Ha Noi and Kuala Lumpur!
HA NOI, VIETNAM In Ha Noi, I visited Train Street & Ha Long Bay. For Train Street, it's basically this railroad with an active train going back and forth. There's a lot of conflicting information regarding this online as laws change constantly about visiting this place, but here was my experience:
After that night, I booked a day-trip tour on Klook to Ha Long Bay. It was pretty cool-- we were on a small cruise ship for only $50, travelling around the bay seeing the different rocks, hiking points, and views! There was also this pretty cave too. On the day I went (Saturday), there were a LOT of tourists, so if that's not your thing, I think booking it on a weekday would be best. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA I went with Raymond and Hazuki! Malaysia is a direct neighbor to Singapore, so of course we needed to go there. Bus is the cheaper option, but flights aren't too expensive as well. The key places that we went to:
I won't explain too much what these places entailed-- try explore them yourselves :) Onto Thailand in the next post! Heyooooo!
A lot of this month was doing school, but I did do a lot of fun things this month too. October 7th I celebrated my birthday with Raymond and my new friends Hazuki (from Osaka, Japan) and Bryan (Medan, Indonesia). My birthday is technically October 9th, but it was a Monday so we celebrated it on that Saturday. Raymond unfortunately got a little sick from biking too much the day before, but he got a hotel and stuff and we still enjoyed our time! We went to Universal Studios Singapore during their Halloween Horror Nights event, and it was like, A WHOLE THING. There were a bunch of Haunted Houses and stuff, but the one I found the funniest was one that was literally The Weekend (yes, the music artist The Weekend) dying in different ways. But everything was so cool and themed and Hazuki never went into a haunted house ever before so she kinda got traumatized I think but OH WELL HAHA. Next couple of pictures was my long 20k steps hike in Bukit Timah nature reserve. The were a bunch of cool things-- there was this guy and his pet bird, there were a bunch of quarries, an abandoned railroad, and a museum showing a cow. Idk why I made myself walk everything (and even accidentally got onto a bike trail where I was almost hit by a bike) but EXPLORATION!!!! Finally, I also volunteered with the NUS Community Service Club, or NUSCSC. I volunteered within their Project HeART division, where they did arts and crafts with two schools: Grace Orchard School & Genesis School, two schools specifically for kids with intellectual developmental disabilities. I decided to do this because I was apart of a similar organization with a similar mission in high school called Best Buddies, and when else would you be able to enter a primary/secondary school in Singapore? All the kids were super fun and I had a lot of fun interacting with them :) Anyway, October was super cool :))) OH MY GOODNESS THIS MONTH WAS CRAZYYYYYYY
Okay, maybe that was a quick over-exaggeration, but the travel bug definitely had bitten me this month and not gonna lie, I'm a little tired but I would not be opposed to doing it more. First off, classes (because yes, I was actually doing school). I pretty much got into the routine of things pretty quickly and met some new friends. Man, everyone at NUS is super smart and super friendly, and honestly, I got pretty lucky with my classes. I'm super engaged in all of them and all the professors are super passionate along with the students. I also hung out with my new friends exploring more of Singapore in the beginning of the month :) But OTHER THAN THAT, LET'S GET INTO SOPHIA'S LEAPFROG IN SOUTH EAST ASIA ADVENTURE! So the reason why a lot of exchange students choose NUS is not only for the top tier academics, but also for the fact that it's in the center of many Southeast Asian countries. NUS also has a week long "break" (meant to be study week if needed but since all of my classes are project based I got them done early and was free) that many exchangers use as an excuse to travel. Before that, I went to Phuket, Thailand with the other lovely Freeman Scholar, Raymond Tanaka. We went to places such as Old Town, Big Buddha, and other places I cannot mention in a University Blog Post but if you Google Phuket, Thailand you can discover that on your own LOL. As a note: If you're a woman, many temples require you to cover your shoulders and legs, so no tank-tops or shorts allowed. Some places provide shawls and skirts to cover up your legs for purchase, but if you plan on visiting temples, make sure to be more conservative in your clothing! Fast forward to NUS' recess week (Saturday, September 23rd-Sunday, October 1st), I went alone to Bukit Lawang, Indonesia > Bangkok, Thailand > Siem Reap, Cambodia > and Saigon, Vietnam. I spent about 1.5 days in each country doing various activities. I went on a jungle trek, went on a Buddhist Temple Run, went on an Old Temple Run, ate on streets with the locals, and went on MANY BOATS. I'm not going to go into too much detail of what I did in each country (please feel free to DM me on @ soapy.zepol on Instagram for more stories or email me at [email protected]!), but I will list a few apps that helped me plan this adventure: - Hostelworld: A hostel is basically cheap ($5-$30), short-term shared lodging meant for travelers! There are private rooms available in some hostels, but generally the concept is that you're assigned a bed and a locker in a room with multiple people. This is HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON YOUR COMFORTABILITY, but in my experience, it was a WONDERFUL opportunity to meet new people in either your assigned room or activities that the hostel may hold for a cheap cost! Very important note: make sure to do your research on the "vibe" of the hostel and look at the reviews in multiple sources other than Hostelworld to verify the state of facilities. Certain places like Mad Monkey are more on the party-end, so if you're not into that, look somewhere else. - Klook: Great for booking tours and activities! You will generally get cheaper prices here, but always compare with other rates. Your hostel may provide the same tour for cheaper. - Trip Advisor: Also great for booking tours and activities! I've noticed it's a little more expensive on this end, but again, compare your prices. - WhatsApp: Outside of Singapore, WhatsApp is the messaging app used in most SEA countries. It's normal after booking a tour on external websites/apps for the agency or tour conductor to ask for your WhatsApp, and any questions or inquiries after the confirmation email can be communicated there. It's going to be an obvious statement here: BE SAFE! Especially if you're a woman solo traveling, please take the necessary pre-cautions like leaving your most important stuff in your room and learning to say no if you ever feel uncomfortable or ignore people & continue walking. Unfortunately, due to smaller economic conditions, there are many locals that will offer to sell you something, especially in places populated with tourists. I, as a people pleaser especially (lol), will find it hard to say no. But you must! Remember that you are a college student on a budget too. With that said, find that balance of keeping safe and going out of your comfort zone. I found that many people are super nice and want to learn more about the world, solo travelers and locals alike. I made most of my new connections and new Instagram mutuals through tours, but even asking a random person "Hey, can you take my picture?" can go a long way into making lifelong memories. Also, do some crazy things! Touch a snake, eat some bugs (I ate a lot of bugs during this trip but frogs are the best tasting in my opinion), eat on the street! Always do these things with a group of people around you of course, but I encourage you to live life and do things that may be a little unconventional. People say that solo traveling will teach you a lot. Now did it change me in a week? Not really, I'm still the same old me. But I did learn that even as a 5'0 flat 19-years-of-age Filipino gal, I can take care of myself, and the world is huge outside of our island of Hawaii. YOYOYO AUGUST WAS A BLAST!!!
Before I describe the fun stuff, I guess I should talk about classes (because that's what you're here for LOL). My schedule was pretty simple. As a note, A & B described different sections:
On paper, my two afternoon classes ended at 3:00 PM while my morning class ended at 11:30 AM, but generally all NUS classes end 30 minutes earlier for people to walk to their next class. I was super lucky; other students had tutorials and labs along with their normal lectures, but I only had lectures with projects (and my Monday class has only one final exam at the end of the semester). I was also super lucky in that I didn't have to rearrange my classes around---during the application process to NUS, you need to rank your classes 1-8, and the registrar assigns classes for you. Super nerve-wracking and many exchange students needed to schedule meetings during this month for adjustments, but I happened to get all the classes I needed in the first round. Although I was big chillin' ✨ There's one reason that I suspect that may have lead to this outcome. It's not confirmed, but I think these are good pre-cautions to take during your application period:
So the lesson here: Be early! ON TO THE FUN STUFF! NUS provides a lot of activities during their orientation week and throughout the month (make sure to check your emails for registration!) to get exchangers and international students settled into their new home for a period of time. Here are the main NUS events and Singapore Places I've experienced during the month:
HELLOOOOO MONTH OF AUGUST!!!! Before I go into all the fun stuff I did, as promised, here's a comprehensive list of all the things you need for a comfortable time at NUS. Not gonna lie, you're still gonna get lost and confused and maybe cry a little (that's what I did), but I hope this helps a little more. APPS - NUS SPECIFIC
APPS - SINGAPORE ESSENTIALSNOTE: Many of these services require a Singapore phone number. Please see the previous blog post about getting one!
PACKING LISTI'm going to keep this short and sweet -- NUS should email you their own list during your exchange, but I'll attach what I've received here :)
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AuthorJust me! In Singapore. I like adventures! Btw, click on IMPORTANT INFORMATION under Categories for things like class structure, necessary apps, and anything pre-departure related. Blog per Month!
March 2024
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