My Exchange at The National University of Singapore
The exchange to the National University of Singapore is a great experience. It let me realize 3 points that I need to improve. First, I was struggling with my grade, but do not know why I can never fully understand exam questions. The exchange to Singapore let me know that it was because I did not even try to remember my notes. One big difference in the Singapore exam is that they are all closed books, while we are open books. Open book exam gives me the illusion that as long as I finish all my readings, and understand the lecture then I get the grade. I thought I got terrible grades in finals because I didn’t understand every lecture and reading. It is not true. To learn something, I also need to structure the lecture material myself and clearly understand that structure. Rewriting the note all over again is useful. One thing I need to do better is time management, I spend all my time on social and biological psych but did not give mental health and destress and organizational psych enough time (only have time to review half of the course).
The second learning from NUS is learning at school is not enough. You need an internship, research experience and at least some volunteer job at a non-profit organization. I used to think those should be completed after my bachelor’s degree. That is not true. Students around me in my residential hall, even in my first year of university consider to find internships on vacation. Professor also sends emails and introduces opportunities in the lectures. I realized how much I missed in the past. I did not check my email frequently enough thus I missed the pigeon lab invitation (although I did apply for it), I also think I might not be able to fulfil the requirement of Lifeline (a youth hotline) and decided not to apply for their volunteer opportunities. Nevertheless, I feel able to realize what I lack is still very lucky. After I finished my semester, I took an internship near my house in China during vacation, in San Xia University’s psychology centre. The job is very basic, but I’m able to do a few counselling sessions for students. During my time working there, I also started to understand what psych centres do in China and how they are different from ours. When I back to NZ, I will apply for Lifeline this time, too.
The third learning from NUS is how to make friends. The accommodation in NUS makes their community like a little family. Each of the floors has a group chat and I often see people in the chat ask for help. A girl helped me to take a little lizard off my ceiling. Our GA says they have so many coat hangers left by the last exchangers, if I say earlier, I can use those directly (I already bought hangers without asking…). I find that friend is made by asking for help and helping others. I always know the saying ‘no shame in for asking help’, but it is the first time I deeply felt it. Besides, friendships grow by inviting each other to go out together. I’m surprised why I didn’t realize it before. I was frustrated because I didn’t know how to keep in contact with some people I wanted to become good friends.
Some more interesting things about accommodation. They have a culture of chalking on each other’s doors (chalk the name in the centre), I got really cute messages and wrote/drew on other people’s doors too. It has a very welcoming and interactive culture. I met at least 3 people on my floor who just said hello and introduced themselves randomly. The only bad habit I discover is that some of them sleep late. Not only do so many students study passes 10 pm in Starbucks every day, but I saw one also join clubs that end at 3 am. I met her one day and I slept late too.
At last, I want to briefly compare Singapore with New Zealand. Singapore’s temperature is not as good as NZ’s, it is about 27-32 degrees all the time. Super-hot if just arrive there from NZ, I nearly regret coming on the first day. However, it does get better afterwards when I get used to it. Secondly, Singapore’s food court is amazing. Not amazing in its quality, but it’s price. Since the government supports food courses, the average price in the food court is about 5 dollars. The food with the same quality would be at least 12 to 16 in NZ. Quality-wise, there are 2 food courts near my residential colleges and 2 convenient shops, I think they have so many different choices because many students live around. Thirdly, they have clubs organized by the residential college (CAPT is my college) and clubs organized by the school. Their school club took student attendance. Since I came in the second semester, many clubs do not accept new members, so I joined handicrafts in CAPT. It is from 9 to 10 at night, although we often extend it to 11.
In summary, it is a very rewarding exchange experience. It lets me see my drawbacks and gives me the energy to keep working.
Q&A
What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?
Mostly specified in the report.
- I also find the psych course only has one lecturer for the whole course. The good thing about it is that I don’t need to adapt to the teaching style of different lecturers.
- Their lecturer made a feedback sheet in mid-semester, and two of them used that feedback sheet to adjust their teaching method!! that is so useful, my mental health and distress teacher added many more examples in her teaching. I did not grade well in her lecture but I still have to say that helped me a lot.
- They have practice questions for the exam, and the teacher reviews them in class. Helpful to see the structure of the knowledge points and review direction. I feel I remember most of the content after the exam.
Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?
Not really, everyone loves different clubs and activities right? I cannot give a specific recommendation.
Food courts are cheap, I recommend trying it out (but everyone do eat in food court though)
What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?
- Take a room with AIR CONDITIONER. You cannot live in Singapore without an air conditioner. Rooms without an air conditioner are cheaper but not worth it!! btw, the accommodation is relatively cheaper anyway.
- Residential colleges generally get better food than hall, guys.
- If you can, come in their first semester (starting from September), so you have a wider choice of clubs.
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 don’t have recommendations in this area, I did not make a budget plan.
Singapore does have a rental car service called ‘Grab’, but I recommend you always take the bus. Since 1h30 can nearly take you anywhere and is much cheaper than a car.
Living costs are just for eating and for air conditioning. if you eat in the food court for lunch and eat in the dining hall for breakfast and dinner, eating is just 5 dollars a day (weekends not fully included). Residential hall also has a “double wallet” that gives you about 40 dollars to each outside.
Do you want to share anything about travels you did outside your host city/country?
Well, Singapore only has one city. I recommend Singapore Airport for the best budget. Take an afternoon and go with friend. It has a free 4-floor high slide, you can play 10 times a day. Also, they build many things to play just within the airport like a mirror maze, etc. Everything here is not too expensive.
Night Safari is a very good place to go. Watch their performance, it feels very natural. Not like a traditional animal performance, they introduce night animals by leading them to the stage. They do interact a bit with the designed narration, I like it a lot. The animal park is really big, it has 3 separate parks, I didn’t have a chance to view all of them.
Many go to Universal Studios. That is a pretty small place though. Surely bigger than the rainbow’s end but still not big enough for a whole day. Plan ur day with another destination like the Aquarium, they are nearby. ALL the expensive things there. I would say, if you don’t have enough budget to go there, that’s fine, it is much smaller than you think. If possible, go to China for an amusement park, it is not even that far, only 3 hours of flight.