Delicious Food (oh and Gardens by the Bay!)

After a more relaxed week, Saloni and I decided to check out the conservatories within Gardens by the Bay because they sounded a little more interesting than the regular gardens we've been to, and it was on both our lists! Starting slightly later than we anticipated, coffee and food were needed (in that order!) to make us function like normal humans. We stopped off at Jurong East and headed into Westgate Mall where we had brunch at Eggs & Berries. I personally am not a big fan of breakfast - I'd skip it more often if I thought I could get away with it however the food at this place was pretty good. Both Saloni and I ordered waffles and while hers were a little more impressive, both were really tasty, especially after we discovered the maple syrup and chocolate sauce. If you're interested in seeing the awesome food and places I've been checking out, be sure to follow me on instagram @accordingtoalicet. With the shameless self promotion over, on to the pictures!

Yes I did eat it all!

The waffles were so good, they even made up for the coffee being terrible which is usually a deadly sin in my opinion! Satisfied, we took the MRT to Bayfront station where exit B led us directly into the gardens. Entry to the two exhibits cost us $20 (I only paid $17 because there was a discount for VISA!) while for normal tourists it will cost $28 (for more information, please see this website). If you were trying to decide between the two, I personally thought that Cloud Forest was more interesting than Flower Dome. Cloud Forest was  nice as it had a lot of information boards available to read, meaning that you could enjoy the environment but also learn a bit while you were there ... I do love being able to multitask! The water coming from the waterfall was also really refreshing - the whole environment gave a nice peaceful atmosphere, despite it being really busy.

I do love those instagram filters!

This must be my car - plants have grown over it while it waits for me to get my license! (It could be there a while ...)

 

It's not a proper blog post unless you have a typical close up shot of some pretty flowers!

Haha clearly I wanted more of myself in this photo than Saloni! 

The Flower Dome was a bit less interesting as it was more plants than flowers although I'm annoyed that I missed the Tulip Festival by a few days. They were setting up the scene when I was there but it would've been nice to see the tulips in full bloom. 

Shopping for my first apartment ...

I should see if I can sell this photo to Windows/Microsoft - don't they need to update their stereotypical nature shots at some point? 

We were feeling a bit flat again after walking around so much, especially in the heat of the afternoon, so we headed back in the Marina Bay Sands shops to have a late lunch. I'm not sure of the name of the cafe, but when we were eventually served, the food was quite nice. I had a pide with felafel and lots of salad, while Saloni got the red shakshuka (I hope I spelt that right!). 

After a tiny bit of shopping, we headed home to try and catch up on some study, while I needed to finish an essay due monday. I was happy to cross the gardens off my 'to-do list', and enjoyed just being able to wander around and take plenty of photos. Although it was busy with tourists, there was plenty of space and I have to say that the air-conditioning helped as well!There are a lot of gardens to visit in Singapore and it was nice to have a relaxed day out with good food and great company! If you do spend some time in Marina Bay, I recommend you check them out as its amazing to see the greenery that Singapore has managed to fit in such a dense city. 

A Surprisingly Accurate Reading

So with half a hour left before I'm due to leave for the airport (hello to a relaxing weekend in Krabi!), I thought I'd write out this post because its too good not to share. The university always has events running in the space between the canteen and the NIE campus and this particular day, one of the stands caught my eye - Tarot card readings. I'd tried to do one before at some markets but after waiting for over an hour, I had decided that I wasn't that interested in knowing what my future held. However, the line was short for the stall and I only had to donate a few dollars as it was a fundraising event.

I hadn't realised that you needed to ask a specific question with a tarot card reading so after floundering around for a bit, I asked the lady about what my career held for the next 5 years. I'll be finishing my first degree at the end of this year and while I'm hoping to go into postgraduate law next year, I was interested to hear what she would say. According to the cards, I'm tied down at the moment and restricted in what I can do, which is true as I'm still studying and working part time. Apparently next year, I'll be working in a traditional firm which is strict, and requires me to follow the rules (sounds like law to me!). She also said that I'll be moving overseas again in 2018 - mum wasn't too happy about that! The cards also said that I'll work extremely hard to succeed - again, accurate - but that I'll receive justice for my hard work. I was particularly happy to hear this as I've always liked the saying 'you reap what you sow'. When you work hard like I do, its nice to hear that it'll be worth it later on. The justice card is particularly appropriate considering the career I'd like to go into!

My future is looking good! :D 

The tarot card reader said that we had time for another quick question so I decided to ask the typical question - will I meet anyone worth dating in the next two years? Ugh, even typing the question out makes me feel like a teeny bopper, thinking about guys while listening to Justin Bieber. Yuck! Anyway, I was interested to hear her answer which was very short - no I won't! Hahaha that's what I thought I'd hear. She said that I have a lot of friends (true) and that I was too busy for a relationship, particularly next year when I'm exploring a lot of different avenues. It was at this point I burst out laughing because her reading was so true! Hahah too busy to date anyone - definitely sounds like me! I'm not sure how believable these readings can be but mine was so accurate that I hope it's true. If you're thinking about doing one, it might be worth it, just to see the answer you get! Anyway, Mareena's here now so I'd better leave it here so we can head to the airport. Adios amigos! I'll be posting about Krabi when I get back. Happy Easter and have a good long weekend. xo

Status Update: Alive and Kicking

Hi! So it's been a while - sorry about that! Living here has been harder than I anticipated in a lot of different ways. I've passed the two months mark, and in fact only have about 4 weeks left! The time has gone so quickly but not all of it has been great... "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" seems appropriate in some ways (bonus points to those that got the reference!). Where to begin?

Well lets start with the workload shall we? I'm technically studying at a teaching college (National Institute of Education - think of it as a faculty within Nanyang University) however I'm only studying the humanities courses, not the actual pedagogy courses. Despite the unequal credit transfer (I'm studying 5 subjects here, to only gain the equivalent of 3 courses at home), I'm enjoying most of my classes particularly the history courses. Most of the lecturers are nice and helpful, there's just one that I can't stand - mainly because he repeats himself 50 million times during the lecture but can't specify what he expects to see in a presentation! His lectures feel like such a waste of time - with the material he covers, it could be 20 minutes long (if he didn't repeat himself) rather than two hours! I could spend that time doing the minimum of SIX readings he want us to do every week. On the other hand, I had an extended lecture today because our professor had to cancel the tute on friday. He felt bad that we always run out in the break to get food so he brought tea and fruit! He also brought us chocolate in February because we had class on Valentine's Day. Aww :') Either way, I don't find the material very challenging - everyone's method seems to be to read, memorise and spit it all back out onto the paper in the exam. Although I could be being too harsh - I am at a teaching uni after all so maybe they don't need in depth content for the classes they'll have to teach. Despite this, I think I might struggle to remember all the historical figures, especially since most of the names are frustratingly long and difficult!

Groupwork. The bane of most uni students' existence. I've had four group presentations this semester as well as another presentation which I did on my own. Everyone seems to assume that exchange students won't do any work anyway so I'm not really given the opportunity to contribute - their loss! I had to go to the National Library for one of my presentations and honestly, it was like trying to get into Fort Knox!! The first afternoon I went, I travelled forty/forty minutes to get to this library only to discover that the floor that had my book was under construction. So I had to make a request for the book to be brought down. Apparently this is such an onerous task that it takes a day ... sigh. Before I could even go into the library to make the request, I had my bag searched by security who said that I had to throw out my muesli bar and grapes before entering the library. Really?? I know that the government is keen on keeping Singapore clean but I honestly don't see the need to throw food out like that. It also annoyed me because I was planning on eating it once I'd finished at the library!! Ugh. Uni work requires so much extra effort here - rather than brainpower, everything is just more time consuming. I'm glad I don't have to work here as well, as I think it would be hard to stay on top of everything then. 

While I'm technically living in a double room, I haven't seen my room mate at all - nothing on her side has moved yet she takes up half the room with her stuff. Although I think this might be a blessing in disguise  - I'm not the easiest person to live with in a house, let alone sharing a room! I think my weird sleeping patterns alone might have been enough to drive her crazy. Thankfully though, she left me a fridge which has helped a lot! Half of the stuff in there is mine, and half is a friends who wasn't lucky enough to have a fridge. I can't wait to have long hot showers again as the shower I share with my neighbours tends to run out of hot water after a couple of minutes - rude considering how long it can take me to wash my hair! I had to battle for space on the ledge to put my stuff at first but I've got some space now. However it concerns me slightly that I've gone through an entire bottle of handsoap, and yet the level of the other sink's handsoap hasn't diminished at all - do they not wash their hands?? I don't even want to think about it to be honest, but I can't help but notice these things!

With a heavier workload than expected and strict attendance requirements, I haven't done as much travelling as I would've liked (although my bank account might thank me for that!). I have a separate post coming on the weekend I spent in Kuala Lumpar (here's a sneak peek: it wasn't my favourite place!) and I'll be spending a few days over Easter in Krabi. I tried to organise a trip to Japan after the semester ended but people kept flaking out on me. So I decided to make that trip another time as I have a few friends back home that might be interested in going. Despite not travelling to as many places as I would've liked, I'm happy that I've explored Singapore. I think its a much more interesting place than people seem to think. Some exchange students have basically treated it as a place to dump their bags while they go to other more 'interesting' countries. I don't think that's right - at least explore your host country! But maybe most people would disagree. Mum and dad came to visit over recess week and it was great to see them. I think they enjoyed their time in singapore :) 

When I first came here, I knew that it would be difficult and that I would have to learn a lot of new systems and cope with a different environment. After spending a year preparing for this exchange however, some of the issues I've had, I didn't expect to face and they made life..quite hard at some points. About two or three weeks into the exchange I had this week where I was short tempered, overly emotional and irritable, snapping at the people around me (sorry Saloni!). I'm going to call that cultural adjustment and move on. However, because NIE (think of it as a faculty) and NTU (the uni as a whole) don't seem to integrate well, it was so difficult meeting other exchange students. I barely spoke to anyone for a week until I was lucky enough to see a group of them at the canteen one night, and just had to go up to them. Fortune favours the bold right? So I started searching out NTU run events but then I would have issues registering which meant that I always had problems at the door.While there are always things going on at the uni, being separated in NIE makes it difficult to not only meet other exchange students but also maintain a friendship. On the plus side though, I seem to have made more local friends which is great.

While some things have being going well, there have been instances when I've felt like giving up.Credit transfers have been a big problem, particularly as this is my last year so I need to make sure that I can graduate on time. Of course, I never make things easy on myself as last year I decided to major in two courses (Political Economy and Government and International Relations) which means that I'm quite restricted in which courses I can take, as well as how many I need to be able to get credit for. I left emailing my home uni later than I should've to inform them of the new courses I was taking, and that meant that when things went wrong, they went wrong in a big way. When I  first arrived, the staff at NIE had enrolled me in eight courses! I wondered if they were crazy but it turns out that its pretty normal to study that much here. I cut it down to four and was pretty pleased, thinking that credit would transfer equally according to one of the forms I'd filled out earlier and I wouldn't be under too much pressure while I was here. However when the coordinators got back to me, I was reminded of the unequal credit value and it pretty much fell apart. I woke up, checked my emails and basically freaked out. If I couldn't get enough credits, my exchange might not have added anything towards my majors at all. I basically ran out of my room to go and beg the NIE advisor to let me into more classes. At this point, we were in the fourth week of the semester, and I knew it would be difficult to be let into any other courses. The advisor said that she would try if I emailed her some courses but that I should see if I could overload myself next semester instead. I went back to my room and basically lost it.  Here I am, potentially stuffing up a well planned degree, my host uni is not being that helpful and my home uni isn't replying to my emails. Yeah, I might've cried  a bit... or a lot. Thank god for facebook (never thought I'd be saying that) .. Mum came online and helped to sort me out, as mum's do. A few days later I was admitted to an extra course, which meant that I was meeting the basic requirements of my uni and I would get credit for 3 subjects, rather than none.  On reflection, I shouldn't have tried to do PE here, but to focus on my GOVT/IR electives. Of course, it would've been helpful for someone at my uni to advise me of this before I came. Then I had to catch up on the time I missed! I would join the only class where there's over 100 pages of readings every week .. that's how my luck goes!!

Despite a more difficult exchange, I've enjoyed this experience so much. I pushed myself so far out of my comfort zone and I'm not only surviving, but actually doing really well! I'm quickly running out of time though as 4 months goes past so quickly! I've had to make a list of all the things I'd like to do before I leave Singapore and I hope that I can get through them all and share my experiences with you!

• Zoo (since I started writing this post, I've ticked this off my list! Post coming ASAP)
• River Safari 
• Cafe hop at Tiong Bahru 
• Asian Civilisations Museum or the National Museum 
• Universal Studios (again!)
• Marina Bay Gardens 
• Marina Bay Sands Skypark at sunset
• Hajj Lane/Kampong Glam
• Raffles Hotel/Raffles landing point 
• Labrador Nature Reserve 
• Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum (Chinatown)
• Go for brunch at a nice cafe

If you've made it to the end of this massive post, then thanks for reading. I know I've been away for a while but with all of the drama, it took too much mental energy to try and write it down for everyone to read. I thought it would be difficult in the beginning but I didn't expect for this exchange to continue to push me, and challenge me the entire way through the semester. For some reason I thought it would get easier as I went on, but it just goes up and down, a bit like life I guess. I'm going to make a more concerted effort to catch up and then stay on top of my posts so if you've stuck with me this far, hopefully you'll enjoy reading about my adventures towards the end :) If anyone's interested, I'll be back in Sydney on the 9th May xo 

Jurong Bird Park

The bird park has been somewhere I've always wanted to go, after hearing mum talking about how much she enjoyed it when they visited Singapore (back in the day!). Although I was thinking of going on my own or with a friend, we ended up joining up with another group of exchange students who were planning on going the same day as us. A lack of introduction and the close knit nature of their groups meant that I didn't end up speaking to many people, other than the girls I already knew.

Watching the lion dance during the new year is supposed to bring you luck...maybe my luck got lost in the mail?

Penguins seem to like their side stroke!

While the exhibits themselves are nice to look at and wander around it, it's the shows that are really impressive. I only partly saw the High Flyers Show as I had poor timing and had to try and stand on my toes to see anything. My other friends that could see more clearly really enjoyed it though. We also saw Kings of the Skies, a falconry show.

I felt so sorry for this guy - it was so hot at this point, especially wearing those clothes!

 

This has got to be the ugliest bird I've ever seen. 

We went on Saturday and so it was quite busy with families celebrating Chinese New Year as well as those just enjoying their weekend. To be honest, I'd had enough of people and crowds at this point. The words 'excuse me' don't seem to exist or get used here - they go by the more common method of just barging past. Sometimes if you're really lucky, they'll run over your feet with their prams. So you can see why, when combining this with the exhausting heat, I was happy to leave after just a couple of hours. I'd definitely go back - in the middle of the week, when 90% of people are at work. 

To get to the bird park, exit the MRT at Boon Lay and transfer to the bus interchange where you can board the 251. The bird park stop is easily recognised, particularly as its the first stop on the route. To return to Jurong Point Shopping centre (where the boon lay MRT stop is located) you can get the 194 which is a direct bus. If you're planning on visiting either the bird park, night safari, river safari and/or the zoo, it might be a good idea to consider passes which enable you to enter multiple attractions. These passes save you money, but more importantly in my opinion, they let you skip the line. For more information you can visit this website here. 

The Year of the Horse

Unless you live under a rock, you'll know that the Chinese New Year recently passed, with 2014 becoming the Year of the Horse. I missed my Australia Day public holiday so I was happy to find out that I had a five day weekend! Nerdy though I may be, I didn't want to spend the entire time studying so I visited a few events, namely the river hong bao festival at Marina Bay as well as the special exhibitions at Sentosa Island. 

Saloni and I went to the festival on its opening night (29th January). Running until the 8th February, this festival has plenty of street food, entertainment and Chinese fortunes to keep you entertained until the fireworks at midnight. After alighting at Bayfront MRT we crossed the helix bridge before I heard a familiar sound - there was a man (supposedly Aboriginal) playing the didgeridoo, mixed with techno music. My Canadian friend thought it was great while I on the other hand wondered why I'd left Australia if I still had to listen to that stuff here as well!

This system works well in theory: in practice, not so much! 

Fun fact: the hotel behind me is the first thing I saw in Singapore (I could see it from my window seat on the plane!)

I don't understand why this cart is pulling a massive bunch of, what seems to be, bok choy?  

Chinese zodiac: tiger. It's so cute - it reminds me of tigger! 

While I was waiting for the fireworks, I had sticky rice with mango and coconut milk - it was pretty good!

After eating really nice street food, we wandered over to watch the fireworks and headed back once they were over. I'm not sure why, but dealing with the crowds can be pretty tiring! Part 2 of our Chinese new year celebrations happened the following evening when we travelled to Sentosa Island. I haven't explored Sentosa much so I'd definitely like to go back, however what we did see was spectacular. After heading off in the afternoon, we were quite hungry once we arrived so we stopped for a snack. After exploring, the main part of the island for about an hour before sitting down to watch the fire-twirling performance by the 'Flaming Matrix', and aerial acrobatics from the Zhengzhou Star Acrobatics Troupe.

Coffee flavoured ice-cream

I'd like this much chocolate please!

This girl is spinning by her neck! Incredible. 

Apparently these girls started training for this at 6 or 7. 

Saw the dragon dance for good luck

If you'd like to see a video of the acrobats performing, you can head over to Saloni's blog here. You can also see the durian ice cream that we tried - it was horrible! It tasted the same as it smelt and if you've ever seen durian, you'll know what I mean. No wonder its illegal to carry durians on public transport!  I hope that you all have a happy and prosperous lunar new year. I'm not really a believer in the power of the new year, but I'll try most things once...