Singapore!!!

I've finally arrived in SINGAPORE!!!! We are 12 hours ahead of Atlanta, so I didn't even have to change my watch! The minute and the hour hands can stay exactly the same! So wonderful! We arrived in Singapore at 1 PM on Friday (1 AM in Atlanta). We flew from Atlanta to LA (4.5 hours), LA to Hong Kong (14.5 hours), and then Hong Kong to Singapore (only 4 hours!). After we landed, we went to the university, checked into our dorms, went to orientation, went on a campus tour, then to the store, and then I was FINALLY able to shower after practically 48 hours. It was glorious.

One of the highlights of the plane flight- the flight attendants served Chinese food! One of our snacks was cups of ramen noodles. We were given chopsticks to eat them with! I ate ramen noodles on an airplane with chopsticks! I was pretty impressed. Also, when we were waiting in the airport for a connecting flight, a group of Chinese women flight attendants walked by in their uniforms, with their hair  held up in a bun by chopsticks. They were so tall, thin, and beautiful, and it made me want to be like them. Chinese women truly are exquisite.

I'm so excited to be in Singapore! Singapore is beautiful :)

It's so clean, and very green- lots of grass and tall trees. In fact, the parking lots look like grassy fields. There are strips of brick where the tires go, and the rest of the lot is grass! Amazing! The architecture around the city is phenomenal. We even drove by the Esplanade on the way to NUS. The industry in Singapore is crazy! We passed barges and barges loaded with cargo, high rise cranes dominate the skies and the shipping yards, and we passed a huge ship yard FULL of crates, stacked on top of one another- Hyundai, Costco, etc. It was incredible. Also, all of the curbs in Singapore are striped, painted black and white. They look like lane ropes! ...and I caught myself wondering who spent so much time striping the curbs. They must have had some fancy machine help. It seems a little excessive to me, but cool nonetheless.

Since Singapore is on the equator, it is oppressively hot and humid. I can barely move when I am outside. The heat is unbelievable. Luckily, our dorms, classroom building, and library all have air conditioning. Oh, and Singapore does not sell any water! There are vending machines all over campus, and none of them sell bottled water! Bottled water is not even offered in the cantinas (dining halls). I didn't see a single water fountain either! Thankfully the tap water is drinkable because I was filling up my water bottle with water from the bathroom sinks. I definitely can not do that in Beijing. I'd be a goner.

Also, in Singapore, I do not feel like a foreigner. All of the signs (road signs, advertisements, etc.) are written in English, and maybe only a quarter of the signs also contain the Chinese characters! I haven't seen a single sign yet that is solely Chinese. Also, everybody knows how to speak English, so it is kind of taking the fun out of being in Asia for the first time. However, I know that Beijing will be the polar opposite.

The dorms we are living in are very nice. Each person gets their own room with a bed, desk, closet, bathroom, and shower. The security is ridiculous. The dorm complex is divided into ten different blocks. The keys are electronic, and thus my key only sends the elevator to my floor, only opens the stair well door to my floor, only opens the door to my block, and only opens my personal dorm room. As a result, I can not visit other floors or blocks, and no one else can visit other floors and blocks. We could call each other and open the doors, but no one has cell phones. Hence, I am getting lonely in my room all by myself.

Tomorrow, we are getting up early to register for our student pass, which will allow me to reenter the country when I leave for weekend trips. After registration, we have our first class. After class, I am planning on taking the metro to find the pool where SwimFast Aquatic Club trains. I've been speaking with the coach, and I want to see if training with him this summer is doable. NUS has an "olympic-sized pool". It looks a bit short to me, and it also does not have backstroke flags or pace clocks. I will get a good tan though- the pool is outside! Furthermore, the weight room is out in the open, like in the courtyard, with no air conditioning. It should be fun.

I'm glad to finally be in Singapore! I'm so excited about my travels coming up, as well as exploring Singapore's city. We are planning on doing a Night Safari tomorrow. In addition, Monday is Vesak Day, a Singapore National Holiday. I'm hoping to join in some of the festivities and immerse myself in some of Singapore's culture.