Welcome to Singapore!
First 2 weeks in Singapore: remember to bring along a hankie with
you coz you will sweat buckets. After 2 weeks, you should be ok
(i.e. normal like everyone else)
Not sure how long you need to get over jet lag but it took me 1
month to get over it. Do come to Singapore early to accustom yr
body to the climate and time here.
Always look on the right side before the left before crossing the
roads, unless you seek to be killed. We drive on the wrong side of
the road (from your perspective).
NTU campus is far out at one corner of Singapore. Not every
convenient to other places of Singapore. NTU Campus is more like
Stanford (relatively new) but not as spacious, than say Boston
University, MIT or Harvard (where architecture is ancient).
Classes at NTU depends very much on how enthusiatic students are.
Unless your class size is small where you would get students
participating, otherwise lecture is a total bore in a large class
size!
But don't underestimate Asian students, they are real smart,
alright!
There are only 3 local Universities in Singapore, NUS, NTU and SMU.
NUS and NTU are more established, with a longer history. All in
all, it's regarded highly by the locals. However, there's so many
grads from NTU that it's not an unattainable university like IVY
league ones in US. You judge.
You should explore the neighboring cities like Kuala Lumpur and
also beach places like Langkawi and Tioman. Thailand is a good
place for cheap buys.
Skip Bali, unless you seek to be bombed.
You need a jacket for class at NTU. In sunny Singapore where no one
has the chance to wear winter clothings, lecture halls are the
places where folks get to put on thicker clothings. The aircon is
freezing at times.
Don't bother to bring cellphones or laptops to Singapore. You get
the latest models ad cheaper here than in US.
Pack only Spring and Summer clothings. If you are big size, you
will have a helluva time looking for clothes and shoes here. Note:
it's Asian size, not American size.
Expect this place to be a little like Los Angeles, where you have
high-rise buildings everywhere. Also, San Diego's pace of life is a
little slow compared to Singapore. You need to adjust to that as
well.
If you need more info, PM me. I've stayed in California, been to
NTU and NUS and locally bred.
