Singapore Update

It’s been an eventful first month here in Singapore. I’ve made some great friends, swam in arguably the best swimming pool in the world, survived a three hour law seminar, and visited Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur!

Singapore is a fantastic travel hub providing easy access to the rest of South East Asia. A group of six of us flew to Bangkok for a long weekend, as we are all fortunate enough to only have classes Tuesday through to Thursday. Bangkok was everything I imagined it to be – chaotic, overpopulated, and extremely fun! Bangkok is certainly unique and incomparable to anything I have ever experienced before.

Over the weekend we visited many of the famous temples (or Wats in Thai) such as Wat Po, Wat Arun and Wat Saket. It was interesting to learn about the rich history behind each of them and to observe the locals practise Buddhism. We also spent time racing around the city in Tuk Tuks before honing our bargaining skills at the famous weekend markets. Here you can buy anything you can imagine, plus more, and if you can’t get those fake Ray Bans for the price you want, don’t worry because someone else will definitely be selling the exact same pair five metres down the road! We spent our evenings at the infamous Khao San Road which seems to be where the majority of backpackers congregate at night. After days of eating Pad Thai, the scorpion we ate here was a nice treat. On our final night we visited the Sky Bar which offers phenomenal views over the whole city, it was a great end to the weekend!

Kuala Lumpur was also a great place to visit. A group of 60 exchange students from NUS travelled by overnight bus to KL for the weekend. We visited Batu Caves a popular Hindu shrine teeming with unscrupulous monkeys who liked nothing more than to grab naïve tourist’s food and cameras! Seeing the Petronas Towers, the KL Tower and Merdeka Square were also highlights!

I’m now trying to settle down into some studying, it’s easy to forget that I’m actually here to study and not just here for a prolonged holiday. In Semester 1, I am studying Ocean Law & Policy in Asia, International Law & Asia and International Environmental Law. For the most part these are all interesting, and they’re completely different to the law I have studied back in Southampton. My favourite is Ocean Law.

The teaching style is very similar to that of Southampton’s. I have one arduous three-hour seminar per module per week, but I don’t have any lectures; which is good. Three hours is a bit of a struggle but I am slowly getting used to it. The main difference between NUS and the University of Southampton is the mode of assessment. Here at NUS for each module I have a take home exam and an assignment which is fine, but students are also assessed on their level of class participation. In a way I quite like this, it does promote discussion between students which can be interesting and it’s also an easy way to get marks if you do the work. However it also creates a competitive atmosphere which I do not like so much. It can also be off putting when you see an assistant who sits at the front of the class constantly marking down when someone speaks.

I’ll post again after the recess week at the end of September, myself and a few others have booked to visit Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai!