The combination of monsoons and no laundry dryers...
Our residence hall does not have laundry dryers here; we only have drying racks outside of our room/ building. The problem is that it downpours at least once a day and the drying process is usually defeated by the monsoon. How do dry your clothes then? Ha. Good question. We are on a hunt for a laundry rack to keep in our room, but until then we are open to suggestions.
Our Room is Ready for Chinese New Year!
In an effort to make our room more festive and lively, Michele and I decided to buy decorations to hang on the walls. We decided that nothing would be more appropriate than decorations for Chinese New Year, so last night we dug through hundreds and hundreds of red decorations to gather the most beautiful, glittery, authentic wall hangings. Our room is much more welcoming now, and has a feeling of home. Also, when we pack up to return to the States, we are going to split everything and be able to decorate our rooms next year!
FUN!
In other less major news, my Electronic Broadcast Media professor knows me as the only exchange studnet in the class over over one hundred. Today in my tutorial, one of the girls was explaining something, and all of a sudden started speaking in Chinese. My face must have been pricesless, because seconds later our professor interupeted her with "You need to speak English for Danielle's sake." Awesome.
Also, I met with the station manager of the radio station today, and she asked me to develop, train, and run a news department for NTU. I guess she liked what she read on my resume and was thinking about starting a news department here anyways? Um. I've been here 3 weeks, and I thought last semester's job was a lot. I'm going to keep in touch with her about doing remotes and stuff, but I do not think I am prepared to be responsible for a news department in a country that I don't even understand the government and laws I would be reporting on.
A Day in Pasir Ris
Michele, Jeremy, and I traveled to Pasir Ris today, an area of Singapore on the north east part of the island. We walked around a fishing pond for a while, and then explored a big park on the water. Since Jeremy originally told us it was a fishing village, I had low expectations for this adventure. Instead of fish smells, though, I was pleased to find a grassy park and beautiful palm trees! There were also bbqs that you could rent, and we plan to do so in a few weeks!
We spent a long time unsuccessfully searching for bikes to rent, but found the spot as we were about to give up. We saw that they also rented rollar blades, so decided to give that a try instead. We skated all around the park for about an hour and a half, and I think it was one of the most fun experiences I have had since arriving in Singapore!
On Friday and Saturday, Michele and I shopped at malls on Orchard and Bugis. I got a few really nice pieces and am excited to wear them out. I also got a few big belts so I am ready to fit in with my Singaporean fashion! I'll have to get some photographs as I start wearing everything.
It's about time that I get to work though, since combining school with our adventures is pretty tough. Mondays are my longest days here, with classes all morning and then one in the later aftenroon. Tomorrow night I am meeting with the radio station manager, so maybe something exciting will come from that as well!
When NTU invades KL in Pictures
AdveNTUre 1: Kuala Lumpur
Although there were fears that our trip to Kuala Lumpur, would be Kuala LumPOURED out, a group of 8 exchange students and myself traveled about 6 hours by bus to the capital of Malaysia this weekend.
The trip got off to an exciting start as we left a bit later than we had hoped to and had to run across Singapore to catch our bus. 9 obviously exchange students, running across the city's streets with huge backpacks, must have been a wonderful site for anyone watching. Still, we made the bus with plenty of time and rode to Malaysia in the pouring rain, crossing our fingers that it would let up.
It did, by the time we got to KL, and didn't start up again until the very end of the trip. We spent the early part of our morning at a McDonalds while we waiting for other shops to open. We then headed to the
Petronas Towers, the tallest Twin Towers in the world. We spent over an hour photographing each other around the towers, and made an appointment to go up to the bridge between the two for later in the afternoon. We grabbed lunch and then napped for a few hours, since no one had gotten a great amount of sleep on the bus. We headed back to the Petronas for our 5:30 appointment, and then got a beautiful view of the city from above.
After we finished at the towers we were all dressed up so we went to a nice dinner. We all actually at burgers and fries, but it was a wonderful vacation from rice and noodles. We then headed back to the hostel, and stopped off to do some shopping at a night market. I got a really cute pair of BIG sunglasses, and on Sunday I also got a watch and earrings. We got back to the Backpacker's Inn around 10:30, promptly changed into pajamas, and hung out at the roof cafe with the other guests. It was so interesting to hear their stories and get tips of places to visit. I don't know that I can imagine myself doing what they do, just going, but it is so exciting to hear about. Still exausted from the bus ride over, we all went to sleep by 12:30 and got up for breakfast at 9:30.
We then went to the Batu Caves just outside of KL. The caves house many Hindu temples, once you climb the nearly 300 steps. We also saw many wild monkeys around the area. After the Batu caves we returned to the city to explore the lake gardens and listen to a concert in the park. We grabbed a quick dinner before getting on our bus, and rode through the night back to Singapore. Waking up for classes this morning was not at all a lot of fun, but the trip to KL was well worth it! 
I don't know why my blog had been giving me so much trouble, or how long it will continue to work. I will try to update from the first week a little more when I get a chance!
Cultural Singapore Tour
Last Saturday the International Student Center lead a Cultural Tour of Singapore, where we were able to see most of the city. Our first stop was in Katong, where they picked me to model a traditional Nyonya kebaya.
While there, we also watched a man make wontons by wrapping pork and rice in some form of a leaf. Jeremy tried to learn how to make them and found it looked much much easier that it really was.
We got to taste the wontons, along with something made from fish and pineapple cookies, my favorite! The tea there very nice, but I may skip the fish and wonton next time.
From Katong we traveled to Arab Street, where we visted the Sultan Mosque, one os Singapore's most imposing religious buildings and the focal point of Muslims in Singapore.
We were allowed to go inside, but had to wear robes out of respect for the religion.
After Arab Street we visited Little India and Chinatown, although only for a short while. We will need much more time to explore these locations in any way that does them justice, but the trip was a wonderful introdcution to the different parts of Singapore.
Schooling in Singapore
Registration at NTU seems to be more difficult than Homer or Degree Navigator, if you can imagine that. Right now I am registered for Electronic and Broadcast Communication, Media in America, and Promotional Communication. I am awaiting approval for Intro to Lit and Psychology. But plan on not taking Psych.
My EBC class seems really interesting. We are going to look at the mediums in electronic broadcasting, including TV, radio, cable and staellite. Then we will examine the broader issues concernign electornic broadcast media, including media impact and effects and ethics. Finally, we will examine the business of electronic broadcast. My professor was a producerof tv shows in Asia, and I believe our TA produced for MTV? I bought the books and one is a book from the US, so that works in my favor, I think.
My Lit professor is a British man who is SO sweet, and half of that class is exchange students, which will help. I don't understand why the approval for this class is taking so long, other than it is not a Communications course.
Media in American is the class I looked forward to the most, and I think it will be very interesting becaue the professor is very critical of the US's media. It only meets once a week and for 3 hours, but I look forward to it a lot because I understand all of his references, and hope I can contribute a lot.
An interesting thing about classes here, is that they tend to depend on the final exam that counts for 50 percent of the grade, and a large group project. I am not sure how this will impact me, but I just need to know that I can study and prepare for a final and hopefully that will be enough. I "made friends" and am in a group for my EBC class, so hopefully they are going to be smart girls? Michele and I are in Prom Comm together but not our tutorials, so I will have a different group for that. My friend Rachel from UofMissouri is in Media in America with me, and Jen from across the hall is in Lit.
Address in Singapore
I know a few people have asked for this, but please don't feel like I am expecting mail.
Danielle Barnet
Nanyang Technological University
Hall of Residence 3
3C-05-09
52 Nanyang Walk
Singapore 639928
First Full Day in S-pore
After my first full day in Singapore, I am feeling a little less overwhelmed, but also still filled with questions. Having Michele and Jeremy around helps a lot, and we are starting to meet more of the exchange students. It is interesting, that the exchange students really are not from the US. I don't know why I believed there would be more, or that I thought there would be less international students, but I think this will be a completely differnet cultural lesson. So far we have met students from Canada, Sweeden, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, and Mexico, with many many students from Canada and Sweeden. Along with learning the accent of Singaporeans, I am not trying to translate everyone else we meet too! I love it though, and can't wait to catch up on my sleep so that I can go out with them. We're hearing that a night out gets to be pretty expensive, but we'll have to try it out soon. Food here is amazingly inexpensive though. For breakfast I had pancakes because I was unable to make myself eat noodles at 9 am, and paid a dollar twenty Singaporean. Yay for that.
We were oriented today, although I am not sure if they really told us much useful information. We learned about their version of online class supliments (like WebCT) and they explained to us that many classes are videotaped, so at least I can replay over and over my professors if I don't understand them. I still feel totally unprepared for classes to begin in a few days, and still need to add a course and have no idea about anything related to the ones I am registered for. I would REALLY love to just be on vacation all semester, but I guess that's not going to happen. We are already talking about the trips we would like to take, so homefully we can get on planning for that sooner than later! :)
I am still trying to learn my way about campus, but am very confused on my thoughts of its size. There are dozens of more buildings here, but I don't think it takes any longer to walk from our hall to the main part of campus than it would to go from Terraces to Park. The humidity and the stairs are not a great mix, but Ithaca has prepared me well!
Tomorrow the IC kids and I are going to head off campus and around Singapore to take care of our immigration paperwork. We were told that you have to go early, drop it off, and then pick it up later in the day. Hopefully we will get some shopping done and start to explore this city. Tomorrow we'll get our transportation card, "ez-link" which you can just add money to and tap (think swiping at the subway, but just tapping your card instead) when you get on a bus or MTR (this subway).
Views from Singapore
I am here, somehow still awake, although exausted. Michele from Ithaca is my roomate so I am waiting for her to get in, but I think I may nap and just wake up when she arrives. I met up with Jeremy early this evening, and just having that familiar face and friend makes everything seem a little bit easier. Today was very overwhelming with all of the paperwork and details, but tackling it with friends seems possible. I am proud to say I managed to set up my internet so I should be good to go on this end, please keep in touch! Below are just a few photos of my building and my room, I will post more once Michele gets here and settles in so it's more like home! The hall (dorm) reminds me of a resort, with open halways and pretty tiling. I will have to take more photos so you can see.
Packed? and ready?
I have the best friends ever, and as excited as I am to travel, I am really going to miss them! I think I am all packed, a HUGE suitcase on wheels and a smaller bag to carry on my shoulder, plus my back pack as my carry on. I am sure I am over packing and will never be able to get everything home, but that is a problem I will have to worry about in May. For now, I guess I will consider everything ready and just... give this a go! This New Year's Eve at home with my family will not top the list for most exciting holiday ever, but hopefully 2007 will bring me a year of adventure and new experiences.
In an effort to make our room more festive and lively, Michele and I decided to buy decorations to hang on the walls. We decided that nothing would be more appropriate than decorations for Chinese New Year, so last night we dug through hundreds and hundreds of red decorations to gather the most beautiful, glittery, authentic wall hangings. Our room is much more welcoming now, and has a feeling of home. Also, when we pack up to return to the States, we are going to split everything and be able to decorate our rooms next year!
FUN!
Michele, Jeremy, and I traveled to Pasir Ris today, an area of Singapore on the north east part of the island. We walked around a fishing pond for a while, and then explored a big park on the water. Since Jeremy originally told us it was a fishing village, I had low expectations for this adventure. Instead of fish smells, though, I was pleased to find a grassy park and beautiful palm trees! There were also bbqs that you could rent, and we plan to do so in a few weeks! 
On Friday and Saturday, Michele and I shopped at malls on Orchard and Bugis. I got a few really nice pieces and am excited to wear them out. I also got a few big belts so I am ready to fit in with my Singaporean fashion! I'll have to get some photographs as I start wearing everything.
Although there were fears that our trip to Kuala Lumpur, would be Kuala LumPOURED out, a group of 8 exchange students and myself traveled about 6 hours by bus to the capital of Malaysia this weekend.
We got to taste the wontons, along with something made from fish and pineapple cookies, my favorite! The tea there very nice, but I may skip the fish and wonton next time.
We were allowed to go inside, but had to wear robes out of respect for the religion. 
After Arab Street we visited Little India and Chinatown, although only for a short while. We will need much more time to explore these locations in any way that does them justice, but the trip was a wonderful introdcution to the different parts of Singapore. 
I am here, somehow still awake, although exausted. Michele from Ithaca is my roomate so I am waiting for her to get in, but I think I may nap and just wake up when she arrives. I met up with Jeremy early this evening, and just having that familiar face and friend makes everything seem a little bit easier. Today was very overwhelming with all of the paperwork and details, but tackling it with friends seems possible. I am proud to say I managed to set up my internet so I should be good to go on this end, please keep in touch! Below are just a few photos of my building and my room, I will post more once Michele gets here and settles in so it's more like home! The hall (dorm) reminds me of a resort, with open halways and pretty tiling. I will have to take more photos so you can see.
I have the best friends ever, and as excited as I am to travel, I am really going to miss them! I think I am all packed, a HUGE suitcase on wheels and a smaller bag to carry on my shoulder, plus my back pack as my carry on. I am sure I am over packing and will never be able to get everything home, but that is a problem I will have to worry about in May. For now, I guess I will consider everything ready and just... give this a go! This New Year's Eve at home with my family will not top the list for most exciting holiday ever, but hopefully 2007 will bring me a year of adventure and new experiences.
