National University of Singapore - Fall Semester 2007 an ISEP Experience Documented by Laurent Mang

FALL 2007 SINGAPORE JMSB GOES NUS

National University Of Singapore - Fall Semester 2007 An ISEP experience documented by Laurent Mang

[1] Introducing English. Singapore is an extremely EXCHANGE Singapore modern nation, culturally as well as physically. Skyscrapers This island state is not only and cutting edge technology OVERVIEW the smallest country in South- have almost become a trade- East Asia but also one of the mark for the island state. smallest in the world. 》Introducing Hence, Singapore hosts With its 4.5 million inhabi- Singapore one of the largest harbors, air- tants it attained a wealth, ports as well as Bio-Tech re- which is still unmatched by 》First Steps search centers (BIOPOLIS) in most developed western na- the world. tions. 》Academics Five minutes in Singapore Culturally speaking, Singa- will be enough for any tourist pore is very similar in diversity 》Campus Life to notice the surgical cleanli- to Quebec. The country has ness on the entire island. 》Essentials four major ethnicities among Please watch out; Singa- its citizens; Chinese, Malay, pore has some of the harsh- 》Tips & Tricks Tamil and foreign expatriates. est laws in the world and you This is why the country also will get ﬁned for almost every- 》Résumé posses four ofﬁcial languages; Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and

[2] thing. Chewing gum or jay mate of Singapore will be very come buddy’ prior to my arri- walking are absolutely unac- pleasant. The thermometer will val in Singapore. Furthermore, ceptable and will result in se- never drop below 28 C’ during I even had the honor of getting vere penalties of up to SGD the entire year. You will experi- picked up at the airport by my 1000 (~ CAD 700). Drug ence a lot of rain and thunder new ‘buddy’. She was Malay, abuse may be penalized with storms around January with studying pharmacy at NUS the life sentence or even exe- an average temperature of 35 and very helpful in sorting out cution (not uncommon for C’. minor misconceptions about foreign students either). First Steps campus life (referred to later on). Please refrain from experi- When I ﬁrst arrived at Sin- I strongly recommend to

“PLEASE REFRAIN FROM EXPERIMENTING WITH ANY KIND OF DRUGS IF YOU WANT TO RETURN TO MONTREAL EITHER ALIVE OR WITHIN THE NEXT THREE DECADES.”

menting with any kind of gapore’s Changi airport, I was take advantage of the offer to drugs if you want to return full of excitement and pas- get a ‘welcome buddy’. What- to Montreal either alive or sionate about this semester ever your background is, within the next three dec- abroad. these ‘buddies’ will be ex- I had already visited Singa- tremely helpful in coping with ades. (Hence your travel in- pore 3 years before, and knew potential culture shock, aca- surance will not cover the ‘re- demic queries, campus life or patriation of your remains’ in pretty much what to expect simply in guiding you through this speciﬁc case) from the city. I was fortunate enough to Singapore’s daily curiosities. For someone who is used to Montreal winters, the cli- get in contact with a ‘wel-

[3] “FARTING, BURPING AND truly singapore sentosa = an artificial SPITTING IN PUBLIC ARE NOT island paradise (pic. UNCOMMON.” left) with nice beaches to relax after a challenging day at uni.

‘lah’ = singapore’s most common word. Everything is ‘lah’. “Do you understand, lah ?”

Be prepared for Singapore. This means that every single Singaporean culture is not al- apartment building has a fixed ways obvious and at times number of apartments re- very complex to comprehend served for each ethnicity. due to its unique diversity. You Therefore you will rarely find might experience some kind of an apartment complex exclu- frustration in your daily life in sively inhabited by Singapo- the beginning. Do not give up reans of Chinese descent. too quickly; it takes a while to There are many aspects of truly understand the complex- Singaporean society which ity of every ethnicity’s charac- may seem slightly ‘artificial’ in Montreal. However, in my teristics. nature to us. However, I do opinion Singapore is an in- Even though the Canadian have to stress at this point credibly interesting place to and the Singaporean culture that the life of foreigners (and live and work (and study of share similar diversity, there especially foreign students) in course). The city has a lot to are major differences between Singapore is more than com- offer which other cities could the two. Singapore’s society fortable. The city itself is very only dream of. The copious lacks unity, in my eyes. The ‘westernized’ and probably amounts of expatriates in the segregation among different one of the best examples for city prove this thesis quite os- groups is more than obvi- extreme globalization; You will tensibly. I can honestly say ous. e.g. Tamils and Chinese, find a Starbucks or McDon- that I learned to love Singa- despite both being ‘purely’ ald’s at almost every corner. pore and I would definitely Singaporean, will rarely mix. Critics claim that Singapore consider a career on this is- However, the country main- has ‘sold its soul to capital- land. tains strong measures to rein- ism’. To a certain degree it is Warning: Farting, burping force its diversity. All publicly true that if you are standing in and spitting in public are not the business district, it very owned apartment buildings uncommon. Do not be of- much resembles any other su- (the majority of apartments are fended as it is culturally ac- per metropolis such as Lon- publicly owned) have specific cepted. ‘ethnic quotas’ to maintain. don, New York, Hong Kong or

[4] highly quantitative subjects cal students and it will be tre- such as Accounting and Fi- mendously appreciated by nance courses if you want to professors. maintain a social life during The class format is slightly your exchange. Especially different from Concordia’s. quantitative courses are fairly Nearly every course consists demanding and require a lot of of one lecture (2 hrs) and one dedication. tutorial (1 hr) per week with a Courses such as COMM few exceptions. Lectures will Academics 225, 305 and 308 are not only usually accommodate roughly challenging but also rarely 200 - 400 students whereas NUS is among the world’s populated by exchange stu- tutorials will not exceed a best universities; it is regularly dents. In my case it meant ranked in the top 20 world- that I was pretty much the wide. In 2006 the university courses I took at NUS only Westerner among 300 - was ranked 19th in the world 400 Asians in these three spe- (THES - QS World University ❯ POM (COMM 225) cific classes. Ironically, my Rankings 2006) ❯ Managerial Accounting fourth class (Asia Pacific Bus. (COMM 305) Warning: Be forewarned; Ethics) was close to being an ❯ Finance (COMM 308) The NUS Business School is exclusive exchange student ❯ Asia Pacific Business Ethics & an outstanding institution. class with only a handful of Culture (IBUS B) Particularly ACCO & FINA locals attending. courses are quite challeng- IBUS, MARK and MANA ing. courses are always a good class size of approximately 30 Do not be put off; I can choice and as a JMSB student students. honestly say that JMSB can you will already be well Lecture halls, class rooms definitely compete with the equipped to succeed in those and libraries are extremely well NUS Business School. courses. Especially our ability equipped and conform to lat- Do not make the same to analyze critically are of est standards. mistake as I did; Try to avoid great advantage over most lo- Apart from that, classes are very similar to what we are used to at JMSB. Most classes at the Business School will have a Mid-Term, a “PARTICULARLY group project, a presentation, ACCO & FINA a paper and a final exam. COURSES ARE The grading scheme re- QUITE CHAL- sembles much JMSB standards. LENGING.”

[5] laos

krabi, thailand

koh lanta, thailand

vientiane, laos luang prabang, laos

chiang mai, thailand

[6] Professors are of high in- would provoke envy in every ternational calibre, and usually McGill student. truly singapore studied outside Singapore Alcohol, Cigarettes and (mostly in the US and the UK). Singaporeans are ex- the opposite sex are three tremely competitive in University staff is extremely strict taboos on PGP (Prince everything they do. De- welcoming and polite at all nouncing fellow stu- George’s Park Residence). dents for minor irregu- times. However, rules are very PGP is the main residence larities is part of ‘the good tone’ and strict and are always to be fol- on campus, housing 3000 quite common. lowed. Hence, the word ‘ex- students. There are eleven ception’ is unknown in Sin- rooms in each apartment, fore, your apartment represen- tative (aka cluster leader) re- “ ALCOHOL, CIGA- ceives ‘good-will points’ for RETTES AND THE OP- denouncing his/her fellow flat POSITE SEX ARE mates for breaking any of the THREE STRICT TA- rules mentioned before. BOOS.” The large majority of exchange students lives on PGP and I would highly recommend it to anyone as a first choice for accommodation. Not only will PGP benefit any exchange student because of its af- gapore. sharing a kitchen, four toi- The university administra- lets, four showers and a tion may seem slightly ‘stiff’ at couple of lizards. times. Changing a class may Alcohol and Cigarettes therefore seem like a major are banned on the entire disaster for some administra- campus (Ironically, the uni- tors. Unlike JMSB, you will not versity bookstore sells wine). enjoy any priority for class The opposite sex may enter registration or course require- your room, however, the ments at NUS. room door must be ajar at all times. Hence, the opposite Campus Life sex will have to leave your room after 10 p.m.. As I men- NUS posses an absolutely tioned before, denouncing gorgeous campus. In fact, the campus is that beautiful that it people is like a national sport in Singapore. There-

[7] Bocconi (Italy), TU Munich jani. things to try ... or not (Germany), McGill & of course You will also have plenty of Durian = also referred to as the “smelly fruit”. Concordia. opportunities to participate in Singapore’s national Take as much advantage nocturnal gatherings at the fruit is absolutely dis- gusting in taste and tex- as you can of the opportunity famous Barbecue pits of PGP ture. But please try, maybe I am wrong! to build friendships with stu- (strictly non non-alcoholic, of dents from all over the world. course) or explorations of Sin- Kaya = delicious coconut- egg cream. Very common You are not only in Singa- gapore’s world renowned throughout Asia pore to study but also to ‘disco’ scene. travel. Singapore’s main at- fordability but also due to its traction is, without a doubt, its Essentials social network. strategic location to travel 》T-Shirts, shorts and san- Quite frankly, this residence throughout Asia. Therefore it is resembles more a holiday re- absolutely crucial to consider dals are absolute essentials sort somewhere in the Carib- potential travel mates early on for Singapore. There is no need to bring anything else for bean than a student hall. during the term. Do not stick clothing. You will ﬁnd two food to your own people. Mix with Singapore truly earns its courts, offering pretty much some of the more exotic cul- every dish that is available in reputation for world famous tures; such as Mongolian, bars and clubs. Asia. A full mouth-watering Burmese, Kenyan or Azerbai- meal will rarely cost you more than CAD 2. You will also ﬁnd a super- market, a gymnasium, a sports hall, study halls, TV rooms, Barbecue pits and in- credibly interesting people within the residence. At NUS you will not only have the privilege of studying with some of the brightest students from around the world but you will also have the honor to live with them at PGP. Just to name a few uni- “ DO NOT STICK TO YOUR versities: Wharton (Pennsylva- OWN PEOPLE. MIX WITH nia), HEC (Paris), Sorbonne SOME OF THE MORE EXOTIC (Paris), Berkeley (California), CULTURES.” UCLA (California), LSE (Lon- don), St. Gallen (Switzerland),

[8] vang vieng, laos

ayuthaya, thailand koh phi phi, thailand bangkok, thailand

ho chi minh, vietnam koh phi phi, thailand cambodia & vietnam

[9] (all-you-can-drink, unlimited) for internationals, at a cost of CAD 14. 》St. James used to be a

power station, now it hosts hong kong eight ﬁrst-class clubs, which are free of charge for international students. 》Sentosa is an artiﬁcial

island paradise with nice main shopping avenue (Similar beaches to relax after a chal- to Rue Sherbrooke but even lenging day at Uni. It is classier). reachable by bus, car, mono- rail or cable lift. Tips & Tricks 》Raffles Hotel is proba- § Plan your travels & trips bly the most recognizable lo- as early as possible during the cation in Singapore. A mag- semester. nificent colonial style hotel § Travel as much as you with legendary bars. The fa- can before the ‘recess week’ 》Alcohol is extremely ex- mous Singapore Sling cock- (mid term break) as it will get pensive in Singapore. You will tail was invented here. angkor wat, cambodia easily pay CAD 12 for a beer 》New Asia Bar is another in any bar. must-see of Singapore. This 》 Ministry Of Sound as bar is on the top floor of the well as ZOUK are absolute tallest skyscraper in the city must-see clubs of Singapore, and has by far the best view which bring the world’s finest over the entire country. DJs to the island. 》Clarke Quay is the main 》Insomnia is another fa- location for bars and restau- vorite location for international rants. Right by the water you students. It is a qualitative will find something for every place to mingle among inter- taste. national students from all 》Botanic Gardens are three Singaporean Universi- simply a gorgeous place to ties. Also, on Wednesday walk and relax. nights there is a ‘free-flow’ 》Orchard Road is the

[10] expect anything.” Always with the latter. keep an open mind towards everything and you will Résumé make the most of this expe- First of all, I would like to rience. Prejudice is natural, express my sincere gratitude and often subconscious. for having had this life chang- Stereotyping will not get you ing opportunity of experienc- anywhere during your ex- ing Singapore. I would like to change. thank in particular, Amanda § Take advantage of the Holt as well as JMSB on the busier after the break. opportunities you will be of- whole for making these ex- From Singapore you can get fered. Learn another language, change experiences possible. cheap ﬂights to almost any even if it is only a few basic I learned a lot for life over location in Asia. The following words. e.g. Any old Cambo- the past six months; not only websites should soon enough become your favorites. 》 Air Asia “ DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING” 》Tiger Airways

》Jetstar Asia

§ Have a vague idea who you are going to travel with. § Even though Asia is rea- hong kong sonably affordable, budget well for your exchange. Pay dian lady will be more than as- about Singapore but also particular attention to your tonished and grateful if you about myself. I realized much travel budget. can thank her in her native about as to where I want to go § The most important rule language. in life. I was blessed with for- for an exchange is; “Do not § AGL (Always Go Local) is tune, having met absolutely a philosophy to maximize cul- outstanding individuals during angkor wat, cambodia tural involvement within a new my exchange. environment by imitating local I can honestly say that this trademarks. e.g Instead of tak- exchange was one of the most ing a boring tourist bus with valuable experiences of my air conditioning for 12 hrs, life. Not only will it certainly take the local bus without remain an extremely nourish- windows and doors for half ing memory but also an inspi- the price for 26 hrs. You deﬁ- ration for the future. nitely get more for your money

[11] angkor wat, cambodia phnom penh, cambodia

halong bay, vietnam

pulau bintan, indonesia

[12]