Ayaan (Sem 1, 2023)

My Exchange at The National University of Singapore

In my first year at university, having been somewhat plagued by the pandemic, I met a few students who spoke really highly of having gone to a student exchange program with 360. I decided I had to look into it at the very least given a student exchange program can be a fantastic opportunity for personal and academic growth.

After a lot of thinking I finally decided to go forward with it and went to the National University Of Singapore. The first few days were a mixed bag of emotions from the sheer joy of traveling and exploration but also the realization that I would be stuck under this immense heat far from all friends and family, however, such worries quickly fade as you begin to meet people around campus and other fellow exchangers via events.

NUS greeted all of us, exchangers, with a multitude of activities ranging from hikes to tours or providing us with buddies to get us started. Furthermore, the university has a STRONG pre-existing exchange culture which means there are lots of exchange-specific events, group chats and such hosted besides the university ones. This made acclimatizing really easy as I got to meet people from dozens of different countries. I heard some were scared to go on an exchange as they may have felt alone, however, I think running out of social battery was the real problem for many.

Next my accommodation, while was small, it was cozy and provided lots of opportunities to socialise and meet everyone on my floor/ building with an immense amount of activities to take part in. The benefits of exchange really started to shine I realised I was paying much lower rent than Auckland but also getting meals included within the price while living in one of the most expensive cities in the world (on campus rent is purposely kept really low in Singapore to keep it student friendly).

Singapore also being a bit of a food paradise with eating out being the norm, meant that I got to enjoy dozens of different cuisines and dishes and a lot of which cost less than 10 dollars! Having completed my exchange over a month ago now, I still miss so many of the food spots I ate regularly there.

My advice to any exchangers who are visiting Singapore or simply anywhere else is to: get involved with any extra-curriculars that may seem unique to the country or culture as you are experiencing something completely new, and also use the exchange to your advantage, travel as much as you can and create as many memories as possible.

Q&A

What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?

One of my key academic highlights was learning a copious amount of pure math as one paper (equivalent to an engineering paper back at UoA) was given by the math department. While the content core may be similar to my engineering degree, it’s depths are always going to be different. This meant I had to learn and understand what initially seemed illegible, but it was very rewarding to work towards and catch up on the linear algebra concepts I do not learn.

Such an opportunity to look at optimization content with such a theoretical twist wouldn’t have been possible without this exchange.

Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?

Yes, if you are in campus housing, I would highly recommend the dodgeball interest groups, I found it really unique and interesting seeing competitive dodgeball for the first time. Furthermore, the bouldering club was great fun, it’s great making use of an on-campus bouldering wall.

What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?

1) Eat, eat eat! – Singapore is a food heaven and it holds up to its name. Food can be found at all price levels with all different cuisines. Try everything you can!

2) Travel, travel more! – You’re bound to find other exchange peers in your time abroad who are likely also going to be interested in travel. Don’t miss out on these opportunities, large Airbnb’s in nice areas come out to be sometimes less than $20 per night when you split it across your friends, south east Asia is really great for tourism and the flights are often less than $200 round trip.

3) Spend time with locals – This may seem obvious right now, but during the exchange, especially with all the other exchange students having a similar level of excitement as yourself, it’s easy to get lost in moving around in your own exchange bubble exclusively. Spend some time with locals, it will help you learn a great deal about the country/culture/university but also insight into life as an actual resident there.

How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?

I had planned around $12,000 for the 5 months I spent abroad. This helped me with several international trips (exploring south-east Asia), tourist spots, rent for the entire period, and all the necessities I needed to buy. I ended up using a little under this quantity, but this allowed me to spend very lavishly while abroad. I feel considering an exchange as early as possible is very important so that you can save accordingly, which will ensure you can make the very most out of the experience. That being said, it is entirely possible to spend a lot less than that quantity if you decide to eat out less and stick to campus food primarily and perhaps cut down on international travel a little more (I visited 4 other countries).

What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?

My key takeaways from exchange was learning about how much there is in the world to explore and how little I had actually seen despite having lived in several countries. Everything from cuisine to culture to language all changes so drastically and is all very beautiful in it’s own way. That being said, an exchange also helps broaden your perspective in terms of your ambitions, as you get to meet people all very successful from completely different backgrounds and how they pursued interests similar to yours whether it be career, academia or other interests.