B4 NTU: Visa, Accomondation & other Info

Since this blog is mostly aimed at providing info for coming exchange students Ithought it’d be nice to give some help concerning paper work

So, after getting accepted at NTU what is there to do?

1) Send in paperwork to NTU & apply for Dormitory

- You need to fill out some forms and send them in via post mail. I received everything via e-mail from the coordiator in Taipei. It is imortant that this is done at College level and not University level. One of the forms (Health Form) is very time consuming and includes a visit at different doctors. Another important document is the Insurance Proof. Since most people are not insured outside Europe one needs to insure him/herself first of course. I recommend a call to your usual health insurance. They usually offer you the cheepest alternative.

-NTU provides on campus accomondation for all exchange students. All info was sent to me via email. And I could also apply/sign up via email.

2) Wait for the acceptance-letter of NTU

- I received the letter on December 15th, 2011

3) Book flight

-I booked only one-way.

4) Apply for Visa

- I called the representation of Taiwan in Frankfurt, Germany. This is the closest to my hometown, but you can find all the representions of Taiwan on Google. I only had to fill out one application form (online downloadable at http://www.boca.gov.tw/lp.asp?ctNode=539&CtUnit=58&BaseDSD=7&mp=2). After that the filled out form, a copy of the letter of acceptance, my passport, a passport-picture, €74 and a €3,50 postpaid envelope and to be send in via mail. 5 days later I received my Visa. It’s a multiple-entry visa. A single entry visa is cheeper, but does not allow you to reenter Taiwan after leaving. My Visa is valid for 90 days. This is the maximum they can issue it for here. During those 90 days I have to go to the agency in Taiwan and extend it there – supposedly for free.

5) Select courses

- Courses are selected online. I received detailed information on this via e-mail (in January). Courses can be added and dropped during the first two weeks of the semester. I did not really understand why I had to select courses already… more information on this later!

6) Get excited

It was not much work to arrange everything. The international office of NTU is very nice and helpful in any issue. I also got allocated to a “buddy” – a student at NTU who could also answer any questions I had. She seems really nice and we already planned to meet after my arrival the week after next.

I hope this info is helpful. My next post will be from Taipei and therefore probably be a little bit more interesting!

Course evaluation & practical info

Hello readers!

This will be my final blog for studying abroad. Currently I’ve had three exams and one still to come, monday afternoon. So I guess this is a good time to evaluate my courses for the convenience of people coming to SMU, and give you some final practical information. I’ll start with the course evaluation:

Course: Company Law
My opinion: Boring!

This course is not very hard, in fact I would guarantee everyone that puts some effort in that they will succeed. But, bear in mind that this course is very boring, unless you’re really interested in this topic. The course material is a book, but you can study with the teacher’s handouts just fine. It deals mostly about the Companies Act of Singapore, which is somewhat relevant as it is quite similar to the Commonlaw legislation (Britain etc). But it deals with the topics in a dry, theoretical way, so most of the times it was hard for me to keep my eyes open in the early morning classes (maybe you’ll have more luck if you are a morning person or choose a different timeslot). You’re graded on participation, a (boring) project, and a mid-term and final exam. The exams were open book and a pass was more or less guaranteed by the teacher, as long as you made a bit of an effort.

Course: Corporate Creativity
My opinion: Fun and interesting

This course is given by probably one of the most fun teachers in SMU (he’s the only one teaching it). He has a PhD and is specialized in creativity. The course material is a  base book you don’t really use nor have to buy, and more importantly, articles about creativity in the workplace/organizations. The teacher also shows a lot of videos, provides case studies, and teaches creativity methods to the group. You’re graded on participation, some individual work and a group project, and a small in class quiz. I’m still awaiting graded but I can’t imagine I failed, overall the stuff is fairly easy. Not much effort is needed to pass.

Course: Legal Theory and Philosophy
My opinion: Difficult but interesting

If you are interested in philosophy and in its common ground with legal issues (f.i. do judges always have to follow the law even in case of dictatorial regimes, is there a higher law, is moralism necessarily a source for the laws’ contents, etc), then you’ll enjoy this course. But, in order for it to work, you’ll have to put in quite some effort, the readings are tough and discussions are of a high level, so a lot of effort needs to be put in to understanding what everyone is talking about. The teacher (also for this course the only one teaching it) graduated from Harvard and is very involved and genuinely cares about her students, and she is very smart. Whatever topic comes up in class discussions regarding the course materials, she’s always ready to respond and ask the next challenging question, while the class is trying to keep up. Like I said: difficult, but very interesting. Graded on participation, a research essay and a final exam. You’ll pass as long as you make that effort.

Course: Security Studies
My opinion: it’s ok

Security studies is a course that is very interesting in some aspects, and boring in others. When watching a movie about Japanese kamikaze or visiting an exposition with pictures of the Vietnam war, I enjoyed it, when boring lectures about theory were given I was trying not to fall asleep. Guest lecturers are also used, they are sometimes very interesting and sometimes very boring. There is quite a lot to read, so don’t expect to get off easy. But, this course is not that bad, in the end the material is interesting enough to keep you, well, interested. Graded on participation, presentation, individual assignments, a big essay, and a mid-term and final exam (lots of opportunities to score points). Probably not too hard too pass, but making an effort is necessary.

Course: Strategy
My opinion: Not that good

For strategy, it really depends which teacher you choose. The entire course differs based on this choice. My choice gave me a course based on a theoretical book with concepts, and some case studies. Frankly, being used to Maastricht, this wasn’t very challenging or interesting. Moreover, the teacher I had took it a little bit too serious himself. I was surprised he taught a final year strategy course without academic articles. Anyway, this course is again passable without too much effort, but it depends on the teacher how interesting it will be; and maybe it won’t be that interesting overall. Graded in my case on participation, case reports, group project, and final exam. The final exam was boring and annoying as it focused very much on textbook theory, but asking questions with a level of difficulty that justified the final year status. Passing will take some effort, but coming from Maastricht you’re already ahead – sometimes even on the teacher.

Some final stuff:

Housing:

SMU basically doesn’t arrange anything. You have to be very lucky to get into the hostel, and mind you that it is not very good altogether and a bit far away. Renting an apartment with fellow exchangers you just met is more fun, but count on paying 700-800 SGD per month for living expenses if you want to live near the university, maybe a little less if you want to live further away. Public transport is good and near SMU but will still take you some time. For NUS and NTU housing is better arranged, check with people who have been there. Going to Bangkok, you can choose and I would advise you to go for their housing arrangements, they are very good and cheap.

Other money matters:

There are a lot of different currencies in South East Asia, but an important one is from a country west of Europe: the US dollar. US dollar is used to calculate the price for visas, and can be used as tender in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia (Bali) and probably some other countries like Laos, Philippines and Myanmar, although I can only be sure of the first 3 as I have visited those so far. If you have US dollars it is wise to bring some, or when in Asia, get some, because visas may be cheaper when paying with USD, they’re practical because of the usage in more countries, and they are easy to change for another currency. Alcohol is very expensive in Singapore so be sure to bring in a bottle of your own whenever you fly in (only 1 liter of spirits is allowed though).

Travelling:

Make sure you get your visa or permission for at-the-border visa for Vietnam beforehand, otherwise you’ll get into trouble. For most countries you can just show up at the border and everything will be fine. When travelling by bus from Thailand to Cambodia, beware of scams with visas, they try to sell them in the bus before you arrive at the border for a much higher price. In general, orientate about visa requirements and read up on these kind of scams.
Lonely planets are a good source, in some cities like Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City and probably some others, it’s easy to find fake copies that are almost exactly the same as the original for a fraction of the price.
Booking flights is easiest by going to airlines’ websites, or use www.skyscanner.nl.

Eating:

In Bangkok, food is cheapest and Thai food is good, so enjoy it while you’re there. When in Singapore, definately try murtabak/prata (Indian food), black pepper chicken rice. Singapore’s national dish is red chili crab, the best place to eat it is somewhere east, out of town. There are a lot of food courts/hawker centres around as well where you can get a variety of Asian food. Near SMU, you have kopitiam, a chain that has small food stalls inside (like a food court). There is also some good food available on Bencoolen Street, I especially prefer a little Thai place called Zenso. You get student discount at kopitiam if you get the student kopitiam card (with which you can then pay), student discount is also offered to SMU students at Subway, Mcdonalds and KFC (maybe even Burger King, I’m not sure).

That’s it! Anything I haven’t mentioned you’ll find out on your own, as is the best way to find out about stuff anyway. I hope you enjoyed my blog, also if you haven’t made it to this part and are now in a bar somewhere in Maastricht drinking a beer while outside the weather is cold as hell. If you’re going to study abroad in Asia: have a lot of fun and make sure you party and travel! if you’re going to study abroad somewhere else: do the same!

Cheers, Menno

Studying in Singapore

Hello readers! It’s been a while since my last post, so it’s about time for an update! I’ve spent the last 4 months in Asia now, and the biggest part of the last 3 months in Singapore studying and partying. So today, I’ll try to give you a taste of what’s it’s been like to actually study here, because we do study here…sometimes

As I already mentioned previously, SMU employs a system similar to that of the UM: group lessons with active participation. Although you will definitely benefit from your experience with a PBL system, the lessons are still quite different. Most subjects have just one class a week, but classes take 3 hours and 15 minutes (including breaks), so mostly up to 3 hours effective class time. In class, participation is somewhat expected, or at least appreciated. But group size can be up to 50 people, of which some can be pretty shy: local students may be shy because of Asian culture and habits, exchangers have a variety of educational systems backgrounds, some may never have done groupwork, some may never have worked on cases, etc. It seems incredible when you hear it sometimes, but I guess (for me), it goes to show how good the UM system works for us. In any case, classes depend more heavily on a teacher/professor that spends a considerable amount of time lecturing, so participation is a much smaller part of class than in Maastricht anyway. When people participate, half of the time they just try to say something to make themselves noticed, as participation is graded. Yet again, I have one teacher that specifically said ‘I actually may fail people for participation’ whereas most of the time, failing this seems out of the question, one of my teachers specifically mentioned ‘if you comply with basic attendance requirements, you’ll always get a B- or higher’. Bottomline: it differs from subject to subject, but overall you’ll have a much easier time than in Maastricht.

On the subject of grades, stigma’s are kind of true here as well. The system differs especially from ours in that passing doesn’t mean you did a good, or even reasonable job. Most local students would be devastated if they found out they got a D for a subject (the lowest passing grade, only F is fail). Not having your grades transferred to Maastricht, but just pass/fail, this makes your life at SMU that much easier, although you might be even more annoyed at some local students when you have to do group work with them (see below).

Another interesting aspect of studying at SMU, is that you can choose per subject (if availability allows it) your desired timeslot/professor. Some courses are only offered in one timeslot, but for others you have a choice. This means you can try to put together your week in such a way that your weekend is very long, in which I succeeded by getting all my classes on tuesday and wednesday. A long weekend is nice, but a day with three classes of 3 hours each is tiring…What is also interesting about the system, is that classes may differ hugely between different professors: different cases, different requirements, different literature…even though you’re taking the same subject! As an exchanger, I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but the locals are actively seeking out their professor based on reviews from other students.

Most courses you take here have a very diverse way of building your grade, my most ‘extreme’ course in this sense has 6 components building the grade (participation, presentation, small assignments all 10%, big assignment 30%, mid term and final exam both 20%). A lot of courses also involve group work. When doing group work with local students, you’ll get a feel of the way they tackle their study, but you probably won’t like it. It’s not uncommon to book a study room for 6 hours, start reading the case/literature when there, sit around, think about small details at length, and sometimes not really having a productive meeting at all. It can be an advantage to be in a group with them though, sometimes they are really lenient toward exchangers and do the work for you, but they can be a pain in the ass as well.

Exams are also planned a little differently. Instead of taking 2 courses at a time, having exams, and then two more courses with exams to close the semester, in SMU you take everything at once for a period of 14 weeks, including 2 weeks of holiday so 12 weeks of school. Then you take all exams in two weeks, which concludes the semester. However, you might have mid-term exams for some courses half-way through.

Considering the university, everything is really nice and modern. SMU was founded in 2000, so it’s all really new. Every building has escalators bringing you up, each classroom has nice chairs with a power socket for everybody, so in most classes you’ll be surrounded by people working their laptops. In front, there are two projectors showing the same presentation left and right, you can freeze a slide to continue with the next one on the other projector, or employ a camera device to show your piece of paper as you write on it – it’s all there.

As you may have noticed, the universities in Singapore all have quite a lot of places available for UM exchange students. When you want to go to Singapore, but are not sure which university you should apply for, here are some considerations from the SMU side I can give you. SMU is located in the center of Singapore, and although they have some accommodation in a hostel, this is very limited and also not near the university at all. Choosing SMU, you have to assume you have to arrange your own accommodation, which is expensive, but also a lot more fun, and you end up near the center of Singapore where everything is happening. NTU and NUS students have a good chance of getting accommodated on campus, which is cheaper, but beware: these campuses are located an hour travelling out of town, and most parties we went, we rarely met exchange students from NUS or NTU. From what I’ve heard, not that many parties are organized on campus either. This means your exchange experience will be a lot different from SMU, so it’s worth reading in to the exchange essays about how they enjoyed SMU life and NUS/NTU (campus) life.

For other universities in Asia, I’ve only heard a few stories from people I know there, but it’s best to read the essays from those people to get insights. However, the stereotype of Singapore as a nice, kind of Western city rings a little bit true, it’s definitely the safest, most organized, least crowded city. Don’t worry though, as European cities still don’t really compare to it: Singapore is really better described as Asia’s version of New York, with a lot of different areas, skyscrapers (especially in the financial marina bay district), and a unique ‘world city vibe’.

A small update considering travel, I’ve spent the recess week (one week of holiday you get) and an additional week in Cambodia, a destination I would also sincerely recommend to all of you. If you read into it, you’ll find out about Angkor Wat (biggest temple in the world) and Phnom Penh, the capital, but I would also recommend you also visit Sihanoukville or Kampot in the south, or if you have time, make your way up the North East to Kratie or even Ban Lung. I’ve made plans to go to Bali the week (of vacation) before exams, and I am travelling in December as well, so good times with good stories are still up ahead!

That’s all for now, next time I’ll be done with my courses, so I can give you an evaluation of how I enjoyed them, as well as some other stuff and updates I may have to tell you!

The first month

Hello readers!

By now, I’ve been in Singapore for exactly one month. As you would expect, this first month is very exciting, as everything is new and a lot of stuff is happening and has to be arranged. This is also the reason it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.

I’ll start at the beginning. After a very good night out in Bangkok, I flew to Singapore on the 1st of August. I had already booked a hostel for the first week, sleepy sams in the heart of the arabic district, so I was hoping for a smooth ride to getting a permanent place to stay and partying/relaxing until study began. It went slightly different…to start of, the hostels in Singapore are way more expensive than in f.i. Bangkok, but you get less for the money. Not quite what I was expecting from the most modern city in south-east Asia…but it shouldn’t matter. Luckily, I met a lot of exchange students right from the start (all SMU, which isn’t strange when you think about it, NTU and NUS have campuses), so I got up to speed with the ins and outs very soon. This meant reality check: there was more or less a rat race all over town to get a good apartment, and to get one you needed (in all probability) your students pass: a pass you have to collect from the government that allows you to stay for the period you’re studying in Singapore. Although before you leave, you will be guided through the process of making the necessary preparations to get this card, strictly speaking an appointment is needed to collect it. I didn’t have one and the next available one was the 1st of september. In the hostel, people around me started to find apartments and I started to realize that I couldn’t take it easy.

But then I got a lucky break. On facebook, I soon got in to the SMU exchange students fall 2011 group, and on the first day of looking for an apartment, I got in with a couple of guys who were already viewing apartments for a week, and had sorted a very good one out at a low price. The market mechanism was really alive at that time, from the stories we heard prices went up almost on a daily basis, so getting a good apartment at a price set a week ago, on the first day, was the best thing that could happen.

This problem solved, I had to get my students pass. Now, the government in Singapore has a special building for immigration affairs, which works similar to the municipal government building in Maastricht: you can make an appointment (which was impossible) or you have to show up early and wait in line. Showing up early meant before 10 am, and waiting in line meant a waiting time of 3 hours, although because of the way the system works, I could leave for 2 hours between 12 and 2. Half a day lost, but problemo solved.

Now it was time to settle in. As you may have read in my previous blog, alcohol is very expensive in Singapore, which was something I didn’t know coming here (naively, I had assumed that as it was very cheap in thailand and vietnam, it would probably not change much in Singapore). Also, the expenses of living in an apartment in the centre of the city turned out to be higher than expected. Furthermore, staying here for only 5 months doesn’t help: you have to pay a lot of deposits because you are not trusted as a foreign student living here (if we screw up and go home, it’s harder for them to get the money), and some stuff like buying beds for only 5 months, or getting internet but you have to pay a fine for terminating the contract early, makes you spend a lot of extra money.

Now in the phase of accepting that to live in Singapore, you have to spend a lot more money, it was getting time for school. Before however, we enjoyed a lot of parties and housewarmings in each others apartments, and the weekend before school started a big group of exchangers casually took a little trip to Indonesia, to Bintan Island which is one hour by ferry. All chilled out and boozed up, we were ready for school to start.

As an exchange student from Maastricht University (or SBE at least), you have to take 5 full courses to get 30 ECTS. Apparently, students from other universities like Tilburg only need 4 full courses for the same amount of ECTS.  I will not discuss whether or not this is fair, the IRO decides how much you have to do and they have their reasons. But, this shows that you have to do some more work than the average student. From my experience so far, it’s definitely not killing you to do 5 courses (although some people may say so). SMU employs a system similar to PBL, only with bigger groups and more guidance and explanation/lecture from the teacher. Coming from Maastricht, you have a big advantage in knowing how to participate actively, and how to leverage your learning efforts with your class participation. So with some smart prioritising, and not worrying too much, I think all will be fine.

SMU also has a lot of sports, music, arts and other clubs, they offer almost everything. Most things are very cheap as well, I’m able to play tennis every friday or saturday for only S$10 (= approx €6) for the whole semester. This is (I think) for a lot of sports the same. SMU also has a diving association, with whom I’m going diving in the weekend of 9-11 september. They offer very good packages in terms of price as well, I’m now getting my PADI open water certificate including theory, pool session, and an all-inclusive diving trip to a malaysian island for S$480 (= approx €288), which is a very good deal considering how expensive diving is.

Right, that sums it up for now, I’ll be coming back to you with more stuff next time!

Holiday in Asia!

Hi everyone!

Leaves will fall from the trees any time soon (though not here in Asia), and this means a new exchange semester! For the upcoming period I will inform you about the ins and outs of studying here, so that you may get a feeling of how it is to study here, and maybe start to enjoy some pre-departure fun if you decide to go study here as well.

As is pretty obvious by now, this blog is coming to you live from Asia, Singapore to be exact. No doubt that when you think of studying abroad anywhere, you’ll probably think about two things: travel and party! My thoughts exactly, so before I start to talk to you about how study life is (which is something I haven’t quite found out yet), I’m gonna fill you in on some of the amazing travel opportunities Asia has to offer you, and provide you with some tips.

I started out my journey in Bangkok, together with one of my best friends who also studies IB at the UM and who is currently studying abroad there. Compared to Singapore, Bangkok is on some levels a more fun city to be: there’s a lot of vibrancy and a lot of places to go, usually busy or even packed with people. Furthermore, like most of the rest of Asia, it’s cheaper than Singapore, which is quite the advantage if you’re looking for good shopping or an amazing night out on Kao San Road – the backpackers and party street of Bangkok. In short, Bangkok is a lot of fun.

From Bangkok, we wanted to fly to Hanoi in Vietnam, however we discovered that Vietnamese are very scared of tourists. Understandable of course as we are again, way taller than those people. At the check-in desk, we were denied entry to the plane, which we eventually missed. By a crazy coincidence, we booked our flight with Qatar so we could reschedule.

New plans! We decided to go to Chiang Mai in the north by train. Travelling there by means of train is very easy and also quite cheap, you pay around 35 euros for a return ticket. In Chiang Mai we rented motorbikes and drove up a hill, something I can recommend to everyone as it’s again really cheap and a lot of fun. The remaining 3 days we did a hiking tour, which was the best thing yet. The stuff you see and experience is really one of a kind – f.i. we ate snake, saw spiders the size of my hand and got us some hand-made bamboo chopsticks, made by our guide (free).

Chiang Mai done and the visas ready, we could get aboard to fly to Vietnam. Vietnam has some amazing spots, but the people can be quite war-struck, so unfriendly to westeners. Also, the communist influence is very visible if you look for the details: f.i. loads of shops nest to each other selling appliances no one buys, and salesmen absolutely uninterested if they sell anything at all. When travelling from north to south, it got different though and once in Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon) we almost had to beat away the people selling all sorts of rubbish on the streets. When making our way along the coast, the best place we visited was Hoi An. The inner city of this little town is unaffected by war, and also due to its beauty it’s unesco world heritage. We rented motorbikes there as well which again was loads of fun, got ourselves some tailored suits, and enjoyed the evenings at the riverside which is lit up by lampions at every restaurant and on the river.

After Vietnam, we made our way back to Bangkok for a final blasting night out, then on the 1st of august I flew to Singapore to start my studying adventure, I’ll tell you all about it in the next post.

Now for some practical tips before I leave you to start googling images of amazing places in Asia I have seen or will see

- If you’re travelling around somewhere for a week or longer, it’s worth buying a lonely planet. In Ho Chi Minh City (and maybe other places as well) you can also get them fake, that is: copied to give you the exact same result, but cheaper.

- Be sure to bargain for cheap stuff pretty much everywhere, except for food. More expensive shops aren’t sensitive to bargaining.

- Be careful with taxis. Make sure they turn on the meter, or agree on a price before you go somewhere. Extremely cheap prices means trouble, although regular prices are also very cheap.

- Getting around is easy enough. Mind the tips in the lonely planet locally. If you want to travel across boarders by bus, be sure to check if you need a visa (f.i. Vietnam), we heard a story of 2 girls travelling 6 hours to the border and then 6 hours back again because there was nothing at the border and they didn’t have visas.

- If you are booking a bus or any tour, be sure to ask around for a good price – it can differ some. Sometimes you may want to consider taking a more expensive alternative though, because it’s one of a kind. Ask around for other travellers/backpackers experiences to know what to take.

- Try to plan ahead, last minute air tickets are rare so booking at the last moment can be way more expensive.

- Don’t trust photos too much. A sleeper bus may look very relaxed but the personnel is unfriendly and the seats are small. It is cheap though. Same goes for some destinations advertised at tour booking companies.

- Get in contact with people along your journey!

- Street food is usually ok, so far I didn’t get sick at all.

- When going to Singapore, bring some alcohol. Alcohol bringing is limited to 1 liter of everything (spirits, whine, beer) but go for it as it is ridiculously expensive. a 6pack of the cheapest beer costs 10,50 S$ (6-7 euro) in the supermarket, when going out you pay 8+ dollars for a beer, or way more when at a fancy club.

- When going to Thailand and you like a good game of cards, bring your own. They don’t like gambling so cards are sold behind the counter like cigarettes and are very expensive (4 euros for 1 pack).

That’s about it for now! Next time I’ll take you trough my experience of arriving, settling and starting to study in Singapore. Further updates and tips about travel will also reach you in the upcoming blogs

Everything comes to an end!

Hi everyone!

I am hope you are all doing well!

On my side, I have finished my last exam in Singapore on the 27th April.  I have been in Melbourne – Australia since the 28th and I will stay there until the 27th May. Before going to university, I took a gap year to learn english in Australia. So I decided to take a few weeks to visit my host family and friends. Afterwards, I will go back to Singapore for 4 more days before flying back home on the 31st May.

In this post, I will tell you how the exam session goes at NUS. I will make a summary of my study abroad in Singapore. I will also try to give you some advice before you (eventually) live your semester at NUS.

At NUS, your last week of class can be pretty intense. At the SBE, we only have two classes for 7 weeks and we usually rush in the end to submit our assignments on time. Here, you have 5 classes in 13 weeks and you will most likely have at least one assignment to hand in during the last week. On Wednesday 13th February, I had my last undergraduate class ever! I was in Financial Risk Management sitting a quizz and listening to some group projects. Although it sounds great, I was not totally done with NUS yet. On the next day, I had a case study exam for my Organizational Effectiveness class. Afterwards, I had to submit a report for the same course 4 or 5 days later and eventually study for my exam on the 27th April.

One thing I want to mention is that for most courses, you should be able to pass without reading the literature completely. If you go to your classes, take notes on the lecture slides, and do not sleep during the 3hours of lecture, you will be fine. Most students told me: “it is so difficult to get into NUS that once you are in, teachers will not usually let you fail. You might get a C (one of the lowest grade – A+ being the top grade), but nobody fails at NUS”. Just have fun, but don’t mess around too much. It is important to have a balance. It would be sad to have too much fun abroad and have to redo some courses or a skill in Maastricht.

There is a week between the end of classes and exams called the reading week. The name is pretty straightforward: it enables you to read what you did not manage to read during the semester! For most exchange students, it usually means one week of holidays to discover a new country. For me, it was more like the shortest week I have spent in Singapore as time flew extremely quickly. Besides all the work I mentioned above, I had to clean my room and pack my luggage because I left Singapore 7hours after my last exam on the 27th April. I also had to request a check-out inspection at the reception. About a week before you leave, somebody comes to check whether you did not break things into your room.

Before you submit your course selection through the online application system, you should check out the courses you want to take. If you go to the university website and search for the course, you should find the blockbook of last year. Although the content and structure might change in the following year, it can give you some insight about the course and what to expect. This is useful if you want to choose courses which do not have exams during the exam weeks. If it was not for my Risk and Insurance exam, I would have left Singapore a couple of weeks earlier. In general courses which have exams during the exam week are more relaxed during the semester as you have fewer or no assignments to submit. However, the reverse applies to course with no exams.

Overall, I liked Singapore because of its weather, wilderness, convenience. First, it’s awesome to have the opportunity to stay a semester in a place where it’s rarely below 25C. At the start, I used to think “where did I leave my jacket”. In Singapore, you won’t need it! Just bring your summer clothes. If you plan to go to China, Hong Kong, Korea, North of Vietnam, beware that you might need some pants and jumpers because it can be quite chilly up there depending on the season. If you choose to go to Asia, you will have (depending on your budget) an amazing opportunity to discover quite a few countries in 4- 5 months, even more if you decide to stay during your summer holidays! Like in Europe it is easy and fairly cheap to go around when you are actually there.

I also recommend you to contact your doctor before you go to make sure you got the  appropriate vaccines before you go. He might also prescribe you some pills against Malaria if you are planning to travel in remote areas. From a health perspective, most people do no suffer from any diseases. But I have had a friend who travelled quite a bit and she would get a strange virus every time she came back to Singapore. But don’t worry, they have a good Health Center and a hospital on campus. So if you fall sick for whatever reason, they will  fix you! You should also pack a good mosquito repellant because they are everywhere!

Besides, Singapore seems like a big city, very modern, lost in the wild tropical forest. You will see buildings and resorts like Marina Bay Sands which look like coming from the 22nd century. You also have plenty of places to visit in Singapore itself: Pulau Ubin – where you can go bike riding for the day,  Sentosa resorts – where you can enjoy the beach or one of the theme parks (I swam with pink dolphins at underwater world), Little India – where I think you can smoke shisha, Orchard or Mustafa center if you want to go shopping,Chinatown, Clarke Quay – for bars and restaurants. Singapore is also super clean which makes it even more pleasant (beware of not eating or drinking in public transports or you will get fined!).

Unlike other reports you might read, I had some problem with the food in Singapore and Indonesia. I had food poisoning once and got sick 3 times. You can get the best restaurants with the best meals in the city. But around the area where I lived (Commonwealth), it was not extraordinary. Most of the stands where you can get meals are too small to have fridges. So I doubted a bit about the hygiene because some are not particularly clean.Besides, I have some issues with spicy food which does not help because  you can find really spicy food in Asia.

When I first started my classes at NUS, I really had the feeling it was “local vs. exchange students”. Most local students did not want to have any exchange students in their groups because we are considered as free riders. I believe it is the same around the world, but it is not a nice feeling when you arrive in a new country. However I have noticed students who have been on exchange seem more compassionate. Before you go to Singapore, you should meet a few NUS exchange students at the SBE. They might help you settle in when you start your semester at NUS and help you meet other local students. The other option is to met exchange students only, but it would be a bit disappointing to go thousands of kilometers away from home to do just that.

With regard to money matters, you should take into account the following:

> Return Flight from Europe to Singapore: between 700 – 1000 €

> Compulsary Insurance: 30 € for the semester

> Visa: 55€ – it allows you to stay one more week after the end of the semester (but you can always come back with a tourist visa – you will need to leave the country)

> Accommodation processing fees: 10 € to process the information you will fill into the system and 115 €  to reserve your accommodation once it is allocated to you.

NB: From next academic year onward, NUS will not use Commonwealth Hostel anymore (where I stayed for the semester). So if you are lucky you will be able to stay in brand new accommodations, have your own room, with no air conditioning I assume, closer to the campus. I think you will also have a MRT (kind of metro) station on campus, which will make much easier for you to leave the campus and go out. Before students living on campus had to take a cab.

Cab from / to the airport: 17 € one way (about 30 min.). Fairly cheap compared to Europe

Transport: you should get a MRT card which makes it more convenient to go around. It is also used on campus to pay for printing your lectures. One ride will cost you                                  about 1€ on average, but it depends on how far you go from you point of departure.

> Accommodation: around 750€ for the entire semester (16 weeks). If you don’t get an accommodation offered by the university, you might have to stay in a private accommodation and pay 450€ a month for a room.

> Meals: one standard meal = 1,7€ + drink = 0,9€ = about 8€ per day but if you want something more fancy, it might be more expensive (10 – 13€)

> Going out: entrance to club = 15€ (usually includes one or two standard drinks) + one standard drink = 8€

   For Ladies: Wednesdays is the day where you will enjoy free entrance and several free drinks in most clubs and bars!

   For Gents: you may try to get ladies to order drinks for you on. However, you might get into trouble if the bartender notices your scheme.

During my first month in Singapore, I spent around 1000€ because of transportations (i.e.: I used to miss the shuttles bus to go to the campus and had to take a cab or the MRT and the bus), puchase ustensils for your accommodation (e.g.: cuttleries, cups, soap …). You will also go around quite a bit during the first few weeks. Afeterwards, my expenditures decreased to around 650€ a months. This does not take into account the accommodation and various fees charged  at the beginning of the semester.

So to conclude my post, here is a list of what you should do or not do:

Do’s:

- Meet locals

- Enjoy your time in Singapore

- Travel around Asia (something I have not done)

- Party hard, but know when you have to get back to work

- Go to Sentosa

Dont’s:

- Stay with exchange students only > Mingle!

- Drink or eat on public transports

- Worry, be happy!

I tried to give you some objective insights into my experience in Singapore. Everything is not beautiful in Singapore. I told you some of my concerns and great times I have had in Singapore. Each experience is unique! So if you have any question, please e-mail me, but also contact other students who have been there as well.

Take care,

Olivier

Work ahead

Hi everyone,

It’s been quite sometime since I did not give any news. This is because the second part of the semester is busier than the quiet first 6 weeks. You don’t notice it during when you first settle in your new country, but in the end there is still some work to be done.  But before giving more information on academic matters, let me talk about the 9-day break, called “Recess week”, which students can enjoy after 6 weeks of classes.

Recess week is a great opportunity for exchange students to travel outside Singapore. Most local students will take advantage of this week to catch up with work and take a few days off with family and friends. Although Singapore is fairly multicultural as it embraces quite a few cultures, i.e.: Chinese, Malay, and Indian, Asia is a huge continent with many other interesting cultures. Therefore, you might use this holiday to go to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, or if you feel more adventurous or wish to go even further away from Singapore, you can also visit China, India, or Nepal! I decided to go for a few days to Bali with a some Malay, Indonesian, and Canadian friends. Although Bali is a great place where you could easily spent 10 days without getting bored, this reminded me that Singaporean are fairly well-off. Indeed, if you do not stay in the most touristy areas, you will notice the lack of infrastructure and how poor people are. I will always remember this “priest” in charge of a temple, telling us “let me show you home”, when is home actually consists of a mat.

Next to all the fun things there is to do in Singapore and around Asia, I still need to attend five courses at NUS. I chose to study the following courses:

1) Risk and Insurance :

Quality: 4/5 Workload: 4/5

This course introduces you to the concept of insurance, how do insurance companies define risk, measure risk, operates, price insurance premiums and many other interesting topic. Overall, I enjoy the course as the topic is new. The professor is quite knowledgeable due to his significant work experience. He always has some examples to make his point, although sometimes the examples are redundant and you already know the end of the story before the professor (Dr Chen Renbao) concludes his sentence. With regard to the workload, you only have two exams one at the middle of the semester and one at the end of the semester and a group paper. If you want to finish your semester as soon as possible, this course will delay your plan as you will have to sit the exam during the exam, which starts on the last week of April and lasts for two weeks.

2) Financial Risk Management :

Quality: 3/5  Workload: 2/5

The course title makes it quite clear what kind of topics to expect. With regard to the workload, there are three tests/quizzes spread throughout the semester. There are also one case study to present, two critiques concerning the case analysis of other groups, as well as a final report to submit. There is also an exam around after recess week. Overall, the course is interesting but with a heavy workload due to all the projects and quizzes.

3) Financial Statement Analysis :

Quality: 2/5 Workload: 2/5

During the first lecture, the professor summarized his course as “it will teach you how to make money through a detailed analysis of financial statements”. It basically takes the point of view of an analyst who must submit a report to his boss and argue why he should (not) buy a specific stock. With regard to the workload, you will have to submit five 2-pages report on a case study, sit two MC quizzes/tests, and submit one group report.

4) Consumer Behaviour :

Quality: 3/5  Workload: 3/5

Here again the course title is relatively straight forward. It investigates the concept of Motivation Ability Opportunity Exposure Attention Perception Values Knowledge structure Attitudes Culture and how it impacts on consumer behaviour. It will also investigate how consumer process information and how this process can be influenced by marketers. For this course, you will have to submit two (2-pages) individual assignments, sit a test (50% MCQ and 50% open Q) and present and submit a group project.

5) Organizational effectiveness :

Quality: 3/5 Workload: 3/5

This course aims to answer the question what makes an organization effective, what is the concept of effectiveness as opposed to efficiency, how can you measure effectiveness. This course is based on case studies. Thus, every session the professor will lead a class discussion and will ask you, as if you were a consultant, to identify the issues within the organization and how to solve it. As any management course, once you know the basic concepts it is relatively easy. With regard to the workload, you will have to submit one individual and one group projects and sit a case-study exam. In the final lecture, the professor made a presentation to summarize the whole course and the lecture pointed out at what kind of questions you should expect during the exam.

Overall, I am a bit disappointed by the courses I chose because they are quite basic and do not go in-depth (compared to our faculty). Of course, we are going abroad for the experience and the cultural shock, but I expected a bit more from a school that brands itself as Asia’s global leading school! However, it is not because I found my classes a bit boring that I will manage to get A+’s in all my classes. One of the challenge I encounter at NUS is to balance my (study) time between the 5 courses. And it will become tricky during the second part of the semester. Thus, my advise would be get to Singapore right after NY and travel as much as possible for the 1st  4 weeks and during the recess week as the second part of the semester will be more intense. Unfortunately, since I did not have my student visa during the 1st few weeks, I missed out on many travel opportunities …

There is now only two weeks left at NUS before the so-called reading week to prepare for exams in the following weeks. It might be an opportunity to travel. Although I do not have any plans yet as I also need to submit a final individual reports during that week. So in my next post, I might talk to you about my trip (somewhere) or talk about additional topics I did not cover yet or make a summary of my study abroad semester.

Until the next post!

Take care,

Olivier

Bali

Bali

Bali

Bali

Bali

Sing

Sing

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hello everyone!

It has been about 5 weeks now that I am living in Singapore. In this post, I will explain how I am settling in Singapore and get over my bumpy start.

After your allocation to NUS, you will receive some information  around July or August. They will explain you how to register online, submit a preliminary request consisting of 10 courses you would like to attend and  submit the required documents (e.g.: grade transcripts).  Around November, you should receive more information to apply for on-campus accommodation and Student pass (visa). As European citizen, you can enter Singapore as a tourist for 90 days. But  you will need to pay S$120 to be granted your student visa to continue your study. Here NUS will assist you by having the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority coming on campus to process your application.

According to the reports of previous students, the Singaporean administration is pretty efficient. As I mentioned above, everything should run smoothly during the application process and during your stay at NUS. However, it seems like I am the only one who managed to get all the troubles one can imagine! After my allocation to NUS,  I never received any information from the university. I always had to contact he IRO or ask friends to forward me the e-mails they received.  I had to submit my online and paper-based applications twice as the system did not register me. I had to apply for my student pass twice. Nevertheless, the bumpy start is now over and I can only recommend you to study at NUS!

After I arrived in Singapore on the 5th of January, I staid one night at Sleepy Sam’s bed & breakfast. This is a hostel which was recommended by several students in their study abroad reports. Although it is not an amazing hostel,  I only paid 20€ for a bed. I reached the hostel around 10 pm and went straight to bed as I was pretty tired due to the overnight flight. However, I was woken up by some loud music coming from a mosque nearby early in the morning, I assume around 5am. I think it is worth staying there one night, the neighbourhood is quite colourful (see picture below).

On the 6th January, I checked in my accommodation at Yoha Commonwealth Hostel. It basically consists of small two bedroom appartements for four people and you share your bedroom with a roommate. I am sharing my room with David Schneider, a fellow student from the SBE, and Michael and Bieu, two engineering student from Iowa.  Unfortunately or fortunately, I am not staying on campus.

On the one hand, I have to take the free NUS shuttle every morning and every afternoon to get on campus. The shuttle runs from 7:30 am until 10:00am and from 6:30pm until 10pm. So during the day, you are kind of stuck on campus. You could take the MRT (subway) and the bus, but it will take you about 40-45 minutes, whereas it only takes you 20 minutes with the Shuttle. Anyway, the campus has some awesome facilities such nice library, several food courts, a 50 meters outdoor swimming pool, gym, tennis and squash courts. It also has a nice atmosphere as the environment is very open, the nature is tropical, which makes you feel like you are in a holiday resort.

On the other hand, you have your own  living room, your own “kitchen” consisting of a microve and a tini electric stove and a washing machine, and your own bathroom. I said your own meaning that you only share it with four people instead of ten or more like in other accommodations such as Prince George Park (PGP) or other halls. The price is similar to PGP, about SGD$ 1500 (880€) for the whole semester which starts early January and ends mid-May. However, you should not expect too much from your accommodation. I can only talk with respect to my own experience at Commonwealth, but the room is not very clean, it looks quite old, you can feel the springs of your mattress. Besides, if you get allocated to the wrong unit or appartment block, you will be near a rail track and you will hear the trainns and feel your room shaking every hour or so. Although it stops around midnight and can start early in the morning, which enables you to get some sleep.

Although it might not sound exciting right now, I managed to adjust to my new environment. Commonwealth is located to several food courts, a Sheng Siong supermarket, and most importantly an MRT station located at 2 minutes by foot. This is really convenient when you want to go around  Singapore.  I think from PGP it might take you 20 – 30 minutest to reach the closest MRT station and then another 30 minutes to go downtown. Commonwealth is also located close to Ikea, which you will most likely visit at least once to buy bed sheets, forks, knifes, and the like.

Finally, a few days before the semester starts, you will attend an introduction day. This will enable you to discover the campus and understand how things work here. For instance, you will learn how to use the library system, the NUS Eleum, and how to can add or drop courses (called modules). During the first few days of the semester, you will be able to register on an online system to try to create your perfect timetable. This means that even if you were already allocated to 5 modules prior to your arrival at NUS, you will have the opportunity to modify your timetable by adding, swapping, or dropping some modules.

Although it is quite difficult to achieve this mix, you will eventually manage to fit all your classes on two or three days. For instance, you could have classes from 9am until 10pm on monday, as well as  3 hours on Tuesday. Most of the modules are given in the forms of seminars, which are basically 3 hours of small group lectures or 2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorial. This period can be quite stressful to some students eager to get into their dream courses. You will students staring at their laptops as if they were analyzing the stock markets. Indeed, as the system seems to work on a first come first served basis, students who can find available spots in their preferred courses will get them. Thus, if you want to get into one course you were not allocated earlier, you’d better be your computer, ready to grab the opportunity that might (or might not) arise.

Finally, the IRO of the business faculty organized several events such as the introduction day or a day at the beach , and a Chinese New Year dinner  to introduce us to the Asian Chinese culture before the actual Chinese New Year which was held on the 3rd February. To see some pictures of these events, you can go on Facebook to the group / page called NUS Business Exchange. These events were great because at the beginning it helps you meet a new bunch of people to hang out with.

After six weeks in Singapore, I think I made the right decision to come here. The place is great as I really enjoy this tropical environment. Even though five modules will keep you busy, you will still have time to enjoy life. Based on my experience,  I can already give you one advice: try not to leave all your assignments and readings until the last minutes. During the 6th week of the semester, you have to submit assignments and sit some “mid-term tests / exams”. Thus, you will have to work hard to catch up with your delay, while you could study a bit more regularly and avoid to cram all the material into your head over the week-end.  Anyway, the 7th week is called “recess week” and there is not class scheduled. It is a great opportunity to go on holidays wherever you might want to go: Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and many other places. With some friends, we decided to spend sometime in Indonesia – Bali during this week.

In my next post, I will tell you about my experience in Bali and talk about the courses I am attending at NUS. I am planning to buy a camera tomorrow or at least before I am off to Bali on friday. Then, I will post more pictures about Commonwealth, NUS campus, and the surrounding.

Until next blog!

Olivier

A new beginning in Sinagpore!

Hi everyone! I am Olivier I am studying IB and I am starting my semester at the National University of Singapore this Monday (the 10th Jan). This post mainly introduces why I came to Singapore and what I expect from my exchange.

I left Brussels on the 4th of January at 7pm to land in Singapore  on the 5th of January at 7pm (local time). Before we land in Singapore the captain of aircraft addressed the passengers: “Hi everyone! Here is your captain speaking. We will land in Singapore in about half an hour or so. The local time is 6pm and the ground temperature is 28°C”. When I heard that I knew that I made the right decision to put Singapore on top of my 6 destinations.

 

It can be quite difficult to decide where to go abroad. Since my 1st year, I wanted to do the double degree at Queens (Kingston) in Canada. However, I realized that I could not handle the -26°C for a few months. So I changed my mind and I considered most of the destinations the SBE offers. In the end, I had two options:  1) learn a new languages and go to either South America or Italy, or 2) discover a new culture, step out of my comfort zone, and grow as an individual by going to Asia. I chose the second option because as our world is becoming more global and we have to further develop our cultural sensitivity. In the near future, you are likely to do business with someone from a totally different culture. Hence, this will be a major asset for your career. I also do not really want my exchange to only bring me new knowledge. I hope it will be an opportunity to realize that the Western way of thinking or doing things is not the best, but one way among many others.

 

I considered the following Asian countries:

 

Japan because of its amazing history and culture. I also love japanese food. However, you can only go there for a full academic year from September onwards and I wanted to go on the second semester. If you overcome the cultural and language barrier, this will be a wonderful life changing experience. But, if you cannot adapt yourself, this might just be the longest year you will ever live.

 

China (including Hong Kong) because it is becoming a major international player. In the near future, I believe the Chinese will dominate the work (economically speaking). So it can be great for your future career to learn some Chinese, discover the culture, and step in this huge market. However, during an IRO lecture, a student who went to Beijing showed a picture with a skewer of insects and I dropped the idea of going to China. Some relatives also told me it was not very clean and people were not very nice.

However, I went to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in November and I can tell you this is a nice destination. The campus is great and it is a prestigious university, especially for finance. It’s also relatively cheap: you can take the cab without getting broke and get cheap great meals. But if you want to go out to party, you should go to the ATM first.

 

I decided to go to Singapore because according to many people it is the  cleanest and most efficient Asian financial hub. It is a mix of Asian cultures (Chinese,Malay, Indian) and everyone speaks English. Thus you will be exposed to more cultures and you will have a smoother start into your new country. I was also told It is a great destination to start if you want to travel around Asia. You can get cheap ticket with Tiger Airways to Hong Kong, Indonesia,Thailand, Vietnam, and even India or Australia.

In Singapore, you can choose to attend one of three universities : Nanyang Technological University (NTU), NUS, or Singapore Management University (SMU). Although NTU students will disagree, I chose NUS because it is the most well-known. There is some dispute about which university is the best.

A Singaporean grandma, which was sitting next to me during the flight, confirmed me that it is indeed the best in Singapore and Asia.”All over Asia, families send their children to study at NUS. NUS has high standards, probably higher than your university. Not everyone can attend NUS”.

We even have SMU and NTU students doing their exchange at NUS … If that’s not a good argument about the excellence of NUS!

Compared to NTU, NUS is closer to the city center and you should be able to get accommodation on or close to the campus. If you go to SMU, it is right in the city center, but you have to find your own accommodation which will be certainly more expensive.

 

I just got here 3 days ago on so I need time to settle in, explore my new environment. In my next post, I will  explain my arrival in Singapore and whether it meets my expectations so far. However, I can already tell you that I had bumpy start!

 

NB: I don’t have a camera yet, but as soon as I get one I will post some pics so you can see how it looks like!