(Singapore Sessions, Episode 3 )
Current mood: busy
So 1 week down and adjusting well to Singapore. My plan of not sleeping paid off, no jet lag to speak of at all. FYI, it is the rainy season here and that is an understatement. Basically it has rained here everyday, and by rain, I mean rain. The good news is that since the weather has been so wet, I am fairly caught up on school. Oh yeah, you have to go to class during an exchange program, what a drag. Also since my program is accelerated, I am going to class 8 hours a day for 3 days, 3 days off and then 9 days straight. The three days I had off it poured, so I wrote 1 of my 15+ page papers and started the second one. My goal is to have all of my papers done by week end so I can actually get out and see some of Singapore and hopefully Kuala Lumpur.
I have also attached some photos on my Flickr site below. For some reason, I can’t upload photos onto my Myspace site. I know there are some tighter server issues here, so you never know, but you can click below to see some of the sights from Campus etc. You will enjoy seeing a picture of one of my roommates here (FYI, they fly.) In case you haven’t figured it out, this is a tropical climate so some of the bugs here are pretty spectacular. Lots of wild cats on campus as well. I came out of the elevator and about died tripping over a cat that made it self comfortable right at the elevator door. There are beautiful flowers everywhere and the frogs croak at night, although they sound more like cows mooing than frogs.
My technology woes are finally over. After first having an older converter, I got the new one and was able to use my computer. Also lost my cell phone somewhere between Seattle, Tokyo and Singapore. That was fun trying to call the airlines on the public phone. It kept cutting me off, etc., I also went through several phone cards because sometimes it worked as a direct dialed call (expensive) and other times like a phone card. The other lovely gem was the day that I left, I got a call from the FBI and someone had hacked into Ecampus.com’s website. (Take note if you are buying text books.) Someone had stolen a bunch of credit card numbers, one of which was mine, so 3 hours before I left, I had to cancel my Amex. Amex has a 800 number that you can call for international calls, but it doesn’t work from a public phone, and since I didn’t have a cell phone, I had to go through automated phone systems, etc., to finally get Amex to send me a new one. Got cut off, same problem with phone cards and I got so frustrated I actually cried!! This is Beth speaking. Totally frustrating situation. Finally Amex said they would send me on, and I got it the day after they told me it would be there, so of course I was in class then. Finally got it and that is taken care of. Also got a cell phone on yahoo auction in Singapore. Got a US phone that a former Canadian exchange student was selling so that worked out OK. It is a weird feeling to be on the other side of the world and be that disconnected. A little disconcerting to say the least, but now I am wired and feel great.
Finally made it off campus to downtown to pick up the cell phone and figured out the train station as well as the bus system. Actually pretty great and easy to get around.
My goal is to just focus on school this week and then play, play, play. I have to do some research on a paper that I am writing and have some meetings set up for next week, but I do think I will be able to do some shopping and toodle around before heading back.
Beth
(Organized by Cortilia)
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