And so we start class

This first picture is of my friend Saly's dorm.  They are painting the hall, and this is what the workers stand on to paint--bamboo sticks.  Twigs really.  The next picture is of my friends Monica, Saly and me in front of a restaurant at the mall which had life-sized Obama and McCain cut-outs at the entrance.  The McCain one read, "No hard feelings, Happy New Year!" It is really bizarre to me how closely American politics are covered around the world, not just in Singapore, but all of the other exchange students from other countries also follow very closely.  The last two pictures are of the streets in Chinatown.  One of the overhead decoration on the streets in preparation for Chinese New Year, and the second of the street-side markets--this particular one selling squid.  (By clicking on the captions you can enlarge the pictures. 

First of all, I have an address now, or I guess I know it now.  It is:

Amanda Maxwell 

Nanyang Technological University

Hall of Residence 15

Block 70 Level 3 Unit Number 1446

36 Nanyang Crescent 

Singapore 637635

My roommate also arrived.  She got here on Sunday night.  Her name is Alexandra Moebs.  She is a third year student from Germany studying business.  So far we get along very well.  Sometimes she says funny things as she is still learning some English, but it's cute.  She has already been here a semester as an exchange student, so she knows the ropes and is showing me around.  

Classes started on Monday, but here at NTU they have add/drop period where students basically shop around for classes, so things are pretty lax the first weeks.  I just today was approved for all of my courses that I want to take.  My classes are across campus, so I leave my room about twenty minutes before classes start.  I only have class on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday leaving every weekend available for four days of travel.  This is how most of my friends' schedules are as well and I have an exchange study partner in almost every class.  I am taking all fourth year classes as third year communication students here at NTU are required to take a year long internship so I'm in class with mostly final semester seniors.  I am taking Advanced Advertising: Integrated Marketing Communication, Issues in Public Relations, Creative Design in Marketing and Advertising, and Service Marketing.  The professors all seem very nice.  A little story to go out to all of my Missouri School of Journalism colleagues:  My very first class here at NTU--10:30 Monday morning.  I was sitting in class and the prof asks us to introduce ourselves.  I of course say my name and he says in front of the class, "oh yes, Amanda Maxwell.  We've been awaiting your arrival here.  I have been emailing your professors about you for weeks discussing your visit to NTU."  It turns out he isn't as creepy as he sounded and after meeting with him per his request after class I found out that he actually attended Mizzou School of Journalism and graduated from there years ago as did the Dean of the Communication school here.  I was then instructed on what courses would be best for me to take, where to find the dean to introduce myself, and informed that if I needed a job in Singapore, that I had a friend in the business.  Later this week in class he made reference to the "Mizzou Mafia" which for those of you who don't know is made up of all Mizzou School of Journalism alumni, the "Missouri Method" and many Mizzou professors including Cynthia Frisby (so she wasn't lying about knowing people around the world I guess), and Larry Powell.  So that was that.  Small world. 

A group of friends and I decided the other night to take the MRT (subway) to Chinatown to take a look around and grab dinner.  It was a really good time, and the food was great!  It was interesting to see what a different culture it was there at night.  We browsed through shops and drank bubble tea as we walked along the crowded streets.  We didn't do much the first visit there as it was late and our main reason for going was to eat.  A few of us had plans to go back with the business school later this week anyway.  I had lost my voice the day before, I guess just from talking to much, but it's back now.  

I eat almost every day at least one meal in one of the canteens on campus.  These are just like mini food courts having all different kinds of foods and drinks.  For breakfast I grab fruit from the market outside my hall.  For dinner I usually get a vegetables and sometimes meat with a side of steamed rice and chili sauce or some sort of Indian cuisine which I am becoming quite fond of here.  To drink I always get iced lemon tea which is a very popular lightly sweetened dark tea here.  The other day I was getting lunch and noticed that when I pointed to a dish I had gotten a few times before at this same canteen the lady confirmed with me that I wanted fish.  I thought this was odd as I assumed it was chicken.  Well it just so happens that I am not a fan of any kind of fish, and this was in fact fish that I had been eating.  Needless to say, I kindly switched my order to vegetarian.  

Aside from eating fish by accident, everything is still going very smoothly here in Singapore.  Things are of course very different, but I am really loving the experience.  I get to know the people I've met, and meet new people each day.  They are no Kappa girls, but they are very nice and I look forward to spending a semester with them.  More news soon!