Yes that is right! Bintan, Indonesia for me! It was the first trip that I had outside of Singapore and it was so much fun! I hope everyone had a great Chinese New Years. I certainly did. Even though I wasn't in Singapore to celebrate, I was with friends in Indonesia to celebrate! The weather wasn't the best, but I still managed to get sunburned and I am super dark! haha I love it! Anyways I want to update you more about what I have done.

Before leaving for Bintan, me and a group of friends went to the NUS Geek/Glam event and it was fun! We had to either dress up as a geek or dress glam and of course, I had to dress glam. Its weird because most of the people there dressed geek and I just didn't want to spend the money to purchase geek stuff (glasses, etc). I am on a budget, but I am certainly not on budget right now! If you do plan on studying abroad.. make sure you bring enough money because you will be spending it left and right!

The next morning, me and my 2 friends (Cathy and Scott) left to go to Bintan til Tuesday and it was such an adventure getting there. We didn't have accomodations, so we planned on just trying to "wing" it and get one when we get there. We took a ferry to get to Bintan and it was a pretty bumpy ride and it was very windy. Otherwise, it was a lot of fun and when we exchanged our currency we felt so rich because we had 200,000 rupiah each. If only it were in US dollars then I would be super happy! Once we got to Bintan we were trying to find the place to get our boarding tickets to return and there was this one taxi driver who insisted on taking us around and take us to the place we wanted to go to. He was trying to rip us off because the normal rate to where we were going was 150,000 rupiah, but he wanted to do 200,000. We managed to get it down to 150,000 and we got to where we wanted to go!

Once we got to our place Double yy (pronounced yeah) we saw our other friends and we managed to get a room! It was really nice, cheap, and we had air-con which is such a plus! It was really windy outside and it seemed like a storm was going to head our way. Once we had dinner they had fireworks for the New Years and we sang karaoke, walked on the beach, and had tons of fun. The next day it was just us three because our friends were returning back to Singapore, so we went around all the beaches and the weather wasn't so bad again. Though it was cloudy, we still managed to get sunburned and up to right now, I am a burnt potato! But, I am tan so I am very happy about that! Pictures are below!

I heard its snowing again.. the one thing I don't miss! Stay warm and drive safely! Any questions about anything leave a comment! I love comments! =)

- Pattie Vongsoasup

Posted by Patra Vongsoasup at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your probably wondering why is she writing Chinese New Year - "La" haha. Well I have learned that with the Singlish language (its what the Singaporeans speak) which is a mix of Chinese/British English they always say "la" at the end of every sentence so I think it is funny yet so cool at the same time. So, when I try to talk to people in the local area I try to add "la" at the end of every sentence but it sounds really funny and they still don't understand me. Though I do notice that a lot of the Singaporeans LOVE the American accent and are always asking questions on how to improve their English. Since they usually speak British English, they want to learn how to speak American English as well. Oh those Singaporeans, I love them!

So, right now I am just relaxing in the library because I don't have class til 4 and I don't feel like traveling all the way back to my dorm (which is about a 30 minute travel on bus) so I decided to update you on what is happening on campus! This weekend is Chinese New Year and we get Monday and Tuesday off! I am so excited and from what I hear, Chinese New Year is insane and a lot of fun! This should be a good experience. You will get pictures next post! Also, next week tutorials start so this should be interesting. So far I've only had 2 hour lectures and one next week starts I will also have 2 hour tutorials for those lectures! Yikes! Besides that, I love my classes and my professors make the class really funny and interesting at the same time. It keeps my attention for the two hours for sure.

Now, for this weekend I will be going to Sentosa, Chinatown, and Bintan, Indonesia. Also Saturday night there is a geek/chic contest of some sort on campus so its kind of a prom/dance thing. I wonder how that will turn out but I do want to try and get in on campus events just to get to know NUS better. Also, I was asked to join the IVP Judo Team, which is basically the Varsity team here on campus to compete this semester. I want to, but it is still up in the air just because I want to concentrate on my coursework and do some traveling. But otherwise that is all I can update you on for now. Leave comments/questions if you have any! Stay warm! I heard it is still cold in the states!

- Pattie Vongsoasup

Posted by Patra Vongsoasup at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello again!!! I hope you are all doing well despite the horrible weather. I heard from my parents that it is below zero, snowing, the whole enchilada haha. Its so weird to think about the weather just because it is nice and warm here in Singapore. So, I promised some pictures and I will give you guys some. But before I show you some pictures I need to update you on my first week of classes. Lets just say the National University of Singapore is no University of Scranton. It is VERY different, 10 times bigger, and their style of teaching is a bit different too. I decided to make a nice small list about the similarities and differences between Singapore and Scranton haha.

1. You know how classes cap at 35-40 students? Not the case in Singapore. My one lecture class is 197 kids and the other class is 79 (I still have one more lecture to go later today)! I am def. not used to gigantic lecture hall and this many kids! Its weird to see your professor (they call them profs! Singaporeans love to use acronyms.) holding a microphone and lecturing you. Also lectures are only once a week for 2 hours then you have to sign up for a tutorial/discussion class along with your schedule. That is when we are with different profs. and in smaller groups to go over what we learned in class. So its quite interesting!

2. The NUS students always bring their laptops to lectures and tend to come in 15-30 minutes after the lecture has begun. Yet, the professor doesn't really mind at all. I want to bring my laptop but I feel like I wouldn't be able to concentrate well enough. In Scranton I would never think to bring my laptop to class.

3. One similar thing that NUS and Scranton have in common is that they use an online system. So NUS's ANGEL is IVLE (Integrated Virtual Learning Environment). Its similar so I can get all my lecture notes and assignments. Its pretty cool!

4. The campus is GIGANTIC!! I will get pictures up soon enough about campus, but the campus is so huge. Its the Scranton campus times 5 haha. So to get to the different schools (luckily I am in the School of Arts and Sciences) you have to take a shuttle around or you will have a nice long walk. Good for exercise, but in this hot weather not so good. There are tons of shuttles going around so its not bad at all.

5. One thing that is really great is that there are many dining halls on campus. Actually there is one for each dormitory and one for each academic school. So my dining hall at the Arts and Social Sciences is called "The Deck". And they don't call them dining halls they call them Canteens. Funny right? But the food is different but there is Muslim, Western, McDonalds, Burger King, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai. Not going to lie, one thing I miss is salad. Singaporeans don't really eat salad, so it is very hard to find.

6. Sports!! There are sooooo many teams here its insane. They always have practice going on and there are teams that Scranton doesn't have. Of course I am a member of the Judo club here and we are going to train for competition. Its quite exciting! But they have a Lifesaving team, Water Polo, Dragon boat, Cricket! Its so cool! I love it!

7. The professors are so helpful and very nice! Also very funny! Though it is a bit difficult at first to understand what they are saying, they make lecture so interesting and enjoyable. So classes here are just as interesting as Scranton and I am very happy about that! In my first two lectures my professors were that friendly that they pointed me out since I was the only exchange student thus far. It was quite embarrassing haha

8. Although they speak English here, they don't speak American English. Everything is British English so I need to learn the new lingo. For example to take out is take away, cell phone = hand phone.

9. Your pass on campus and living in Singapore consists of so many different cards. Its like our Royal Card but different. Student ID is your access to computers and the central library. Next, your EZlink card is your transportation card for the public system (SMRT - monorail, bus, and taxi). You tap and pay with a prepaid card. Your Cash Card to pay for printing and your NETS card to pay for some of the bigger more expensive items. One thing I love here is that books are a lot cheaper!

Anyways enough with that, I know it is quite long. Here are some pictures that are also on my facebook and I took off some of my new friends! =) Here are two from Palawan Beach at Sentosa Island and the last one is at Clarke Quay with my London buddy Tank!

Wow I wrote A LOT! I hope you enjoyed reading! Leave some comments if you have any questions at all. Stay Warm!!

- Pattie Vongsoasup

Posted by Patra Vongsoasup at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everyone!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! I haven't been able to update because I have been very busy doing things for the past three weeks. Now that I have finally settled in I decided to update everyone on whats been going on.

So Christmas and New Years was a lot of fun.. I got to spend time with friends and family and it was a good time. I didn't ask for anything because my parents allowed me to study abroad this semester. On January 4th I turned 21! I was so excited I went to lunch with my sister, then I had dinner with my two closest friends from home. It was such a great day and the next day I left for Singapore (super early too).

The flight to Singapore wasn't too bad actually. It could've been worse but we arrived early, going through immigration was a breeze (some people had problems from what I heard) and I'm all moved into my apartment! I haven't met my roommate yet because she hasn't arrived yet but my other two roommates are here. One is from Milan, Italy and the other one is from the United States like me. They are awesome and I am hoping that my roommate is just as awesome! I went to campus and it is absolutely beautiful, but it is def. not Scranton. Its gigantic and I am totally lost. That's ok, maybe I will eventually get used to it and the hot weather. That's another thing.. the weather here is really warm, humid, and rainy. Well it hasn't rained yet but looking outside right now.. it seems like it will very soon.

Don't worry I will get pictures up very soon! I still haven't had time to take any, but when I do you will get to see them! I'm just going to rest because I still have horrible jetlag.. yuck!! We are 13 hours ahead, so its 1:48PM here and I'm sure everyone is asleep as I am writing this. I miss all my friends and my family! Hope you are doing well! Check back for updates!! I promise to have pictures soon!

- Pattie Vongsoasup

Posted by Patra Vongsoasup at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)