Year Abroad in Singapore

Hi, my name is Eryl Malanta. I am a 3rd year student on the Business Entrepreneurship with Year Abroad course. For my year abroad, I was able to spend the last 9 months studying in the Singapore Management University (SMU) and exploring the country and parts of South East Asia. 

I flew and arrived in Singapore during the first week of August and had the chance to explore the city and try new food. During orientation week, I got the chance to meet people from other uni’s from the UK and other countries. The teaching style in SMU is different to how we are taught in Southampton as they follow the American style where classes are held in small seminar groups and tend to last for 3 hours (with breaks of course!). Even though it took a bit of time adjusting, I found that this style of teaching was very useful for content heavy modules such as Global Business and Trade shipping. Having, the ability to interact during class and the many assignments made sure I was able to understand the topics before exams came.

Places I recommend to visit are East Coast Park, Gardens by the bay and the Jewel Mall in Changi Airport. At the East Coast Park, there are so many activities to do. My favourite is riding a rental bike across the whole park. It is easy and affordable to do. Just need to download the “Hello Ride” app and scan one of their parked bikes to unlock to ride for only 1sgd (60p!). There was also spots for barbeque, fishing and overnight camping. Meanwhile when I checked out Gardens by the bay at night and was treated to an amazing view and lightshow. Finally, the Jewel Mall is home to the largest indoor manmade waterfall in the world! It is also a great place to do some shopping and eating 😉

Singapore is known for its diversity and multiculturality and can be easily seen through their cuisines. Among the dishes, “Ayam Goreng Berempah” and Malatang were my favourite and most eaten ones. The former is crispy fried chicken served with rice, soup and sambal. Whereas the latter is usually a dish served to be eaten with friends. You can pick and mix fresh ingredients of your choice and choose a base flavour and level of spiciness. Additionally, for those with a sweet tooth, there were new desserts and drinks to try out. Some classic examples are the “milo dinosaur” and “martabak manis”. These are an iced milo topped off with a generous amount of milo powder and a pancake sandwich with filling.  On the other hand, I got to taste “Bandung” which is a rose flavoured syrup drink with ice. The best part about the food culture is that a lot of delicious food is affordable as long as you look at the right place. And that would be at “hawker centres”, these massive canteen halls serve a variety of dishes (some even have been awarded Michelin stars :O) as low as 3sgd (£1.7)

During my second semester, I had the opportunity to explore South East Asia as I had less modules to take. In this time, I travelled to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and saw the Petronas towers and Batu Caves where I climbed the 272 steps in the pouring rain! I also visited Vietnam twice. My first trip, I flew to Ho Chi Minh City with a friend and we tried the famous Pho and Banh Mi. And during a day trip outside of the city we took a ferry to a small island in the Mekong river where they made a unique sweet tea made from fresh honey. My second trip to Vietnam was in Hanoi where I explored the Old Quarter and tried egg coffee and watched the water puppet show. My final trip was to Bangkok Thailand, where I got to see the Grand Palace and Sleeping Buddha, try authentic mango sticky rice and do souvenir shopping before going back home.