ASIA TRAVELLLLLING

SO. Now that I'm over talking about Uni, I can concentrate on topics I consider more fun. Like traveling. Time goes unbelievably quickly! I've already been in Singapore for two (2) months! Even though I must confess, three weeks of that time I've been traveling abroad..

One thing good to remember is that the prepaid card you have for your phone doesn't work abroad. It might be good to carry your finnish sim with you abroad, so you can reach people. It is convenient assuming you aren't traveling all by yourself.

#throwback

I started my "see asia" travels with Tioman, a small island in eastern Malaysia. It's a super cute island, where you can do snorkeling, diving and tanning, for example. It's beaches are actually small, so  - walks on the beach and stuff, you know - don't exactly work. We did a day trip on a small boat around the island, stopping in a few places to do snorkeling (saw some awesome fishies and corals - and a shark!!!!), eat and to check out a cute waterfall. If you are not a BIG crew, i mean BIG CREW, don't spend more than one weekend at the island. You might get bored xD. It's more of a backpackers place, and so, is not the cleanest.
Also REMEMBER to check the room out before you actually take it !!!!! The negative part of the island is that most of the hostels/hotels have a bug problem... So if you have a room there, i do recommend you to pack all your stuff in plastic bags (minigrips of 6L, can be bought from IKEA) and don't keep your bags on the floor. Or you might end up having a bug problem back home in Singapore (we have heard of such cases).
You can't really walk through the island, for it is all jungle and mountainy. It's a nice weekend getaway though, and doesn't cost almost ANYTHING. The bus trip there takes about 4-5 hours, changing the bus in Malaysia. You should take a morning bus, leaving 6AM or so, because the ferries from Mersing to the island don't operate during the evenings due to the tides. There are several bus companies, but we took the public transport from close to Little India. Back and forth, our bus trips cost in total about 10 to 15 euros. Not BAAAD!

From Mersing

Boat trip around Tioma

The "Waterfall"

Our driver.. found it more relaxing just to chill in the front

Children playing at Tioman

One of our snorkeling sites

Next up was KL. To Kuala Lumpur we also did a one-weekend-trip. The perfect amount of time to spend there. In KL, you can do a lot of shopping, at least Clinique's lotions were a lot cheaper than in Finland! Stay at Chinatown, you'll get a good price for your stay there. Again, bug alert! We stayed in Swiss Inn, which was an excellent choice, cheap and good quality (bug-free). It's in the heart of Chinatown, so the little shops on the street, or market area if you like to call it so, was right in front of us. Remember to bargain, BIG TIME. You can find nice stuff there, just remember the quality is what it is. Take a transport from your hotel to Batu Caves, remember to ask the driver to wait for you. It's hard to get a taxi back, and they'll charge you overprice. Check out the Petronas and do some shopping in the city center. Get drinks at the Trader's hotel Sky bar. You'll get a cool view to Petronas, the drinks not being too expensive. If it's sunny, take your swimwear with you, they also have a pool to cool down at the bar. If you actually want to go up the Petronas, go early enough. They have a limited amount of people going up there per day. Another option would be the Menara tower, the seventh tallest communication tower. If you like walking, KL is actually ok for that. I liked exploring the city by foot and walking from tower to tower. From chinatown we also went jogging one morning to checkout the National Mosque on the opposite side of the river.

To KL you can always fly (quite cheap), but you can also go by bus (even cheaper). In all, the buss trip will be around the same duration as the flight taking into account checkins, security checks, boardings, the flight itself, and then getting to the city from the airport, as the airport isn't exactly close to KL. We did the trip by bus. The seats are normally comfy and you can do studying on the way, or read, or sleep. It's a nice way of seeing a little of Malaysia besides KL.

Oh, and one thing; Embrace yourself, for the smell of durian cannot be avoided in Chinatown. If your not completely bonkers, you'll find it appalling.

Entrance to Batu Caves. Not seen in the picture, there is a giant golden budha on the right side.

Watch out for the monkeys! They'll steel it from you!

Central KL, between Petronas and Trader's hotel

Menara Tower

View to the city

Next up in the blog Cambodia and Bali... ;)

Living in central SG

Many coming to Singapore might be weighing the options of living on campus and renting a condo from the city center with friends. Living on campus is of course a lot cheaper and you have all the facilities you need available. The negative part is that it'll take a long time to get to the city. I made the decision to live in the city -YOLO. My condo is located between Orchard road (the street of multiple shopping centers and an endless amount of shops) and Clark Quay ( the nro.1 clubbing area). So even if I say it myself: not bad at all! And the condos in Singapore aren't all that bad; they normally include swimming pools and gyms. Mine has also tennis and squash courts. So if you prefer living in the heart of the city you should consider a condo. You'll share it with about 5 other people, but hey, that'll just be your SG family. The best case scenario you will have a blast - I got lucky. It's also nice to live in a condo for pre-drinks! ;)

Aspen Heights condo pool area

I personally love living in the heart of the city. It's only a quick walk home from most of the clubs during nights (that's when you really appreciate it!) or a 5min cab drive. As i earlier said, the MRT's and busses are fairly well organized. It's quite humid during the days, but if you can stand the heat I recommend you to go for a run to Fort Canning park and continue to the riverside from Clark Quay to Marina Bay. I wouldn't say that its a boring jogging route ! =) Getting back to SG nightlife, wednesdays are called ladies' nights - I you don't belong to the right gender, this isn't your lucky day. Some clubs have really nice offers for girls! (read free drinks all night) Singapore has many pretty nice rooftop bars too. If you happen to be here during the national day Ku De Ta or 1-Altitude offer a nice view to the fireworks.

the walk down to Marina Bay

1-Altitude view

School? Yes, no, maybe so

Next up the mandatory (and mostly boring) part of an exchange blog: School. Yes, we actually do ho to school. Some days. The best tip I got was that courses aren't exactly all super exiting, so don't worry about your courses. In Sg most of the courses you choose before hand will change, so rather than stressing wether you get organizational effectiveness or human resource management, focus on the timetables. It actually isn't even easy to get the desired courses in NUS. Ou, I hope that I mentiones that I study in NUS (National University of Singapore), in Biz school - as we like to call it.

Surprisingly most of my courses have turned out interesting ( maybe cause I study accounting everything else seems extremely interesting...) I am doing 4 courses, technically the required amount is 5. I've played my cards right, cause I have classes only monday -wednesday - including both lectures and tutorials. Remember to check the tutorial timetables before deciding on a course! Two of my courses have a final exam, two don't. Try to maximize no final exam courses - vacation earlier ( mid november)! So you should spend some extra time in the beginning in sg to figure out your timetables, you'll thank tourself later.

Briefly about the courses (the unofficial guide for exchangers)

BSP2005 Asian Business Environments

The course consists of mass lectures ans tutorials (mandatory conversation of cases). Lecture attendance: don't have to. The lectures are put in ivle, schools into/weboodi or something like that in the form of a webcast. You do one group case study and participate during tutorials. There's also one written work ahead, don't know the details yet. Just as the name says, it takes a look in different business environments in Asia. Interesting topic, in reality: could be more interesting. Has a final exam (faillll)

DSC3203 Service Operations Management

Only lectures and a group assignmemt (real life cas:  required to study a Singaporean company and look into their operations. Mandatory attendance. Super funny professor! Oh yes - and one big quiz! So there's no final exam (traveltraveltravel). I recommend you to choose an interesting company - we took a cableski park, so I've really got no chooce but to try their services out (how unfortunate ;) ).
I like the course super much! Partly thanks to the great peofessor!

BSP3513  Family Business

My other favourite course. No final exam, one bigger group assignment. Mandatory attendance during lectures, no tutorials. A great professor, who actually does like Finland! There is a midterm exam, actually next week, but as we don't have any books, it will consist of minicases. During lectures we look into various family business cases, aldo Ahlström from Finland. For these discussions we read the cases beforehand and answer prestated questions. This course is highly recommended! (By me myself and i)

MNO1001x Management nd Organization

A basic level course consisting of lwctures and tutorials. Lectures not mandatory (mass lectures) but tutorials are. During tutorials cases are discussed. There is also one big group assignment and a final exam. The tutorial instructors are mainly great and have a great sense of humor.

The one funny thing about many asians during school is their way of studying. Singaporeans do have a high workethic, but hey, taking notes of what i say during lectures..? A bit overboard don't you think? Even though i have to admit that my opinions are highly intellectual - without question. xD A friend suggested that I try talking total bullshit just for my own anmusement, might even try it!

Hello!

I'm Ansu, a 21 years old exchange student from Aalto University and this blog is, for everyone's surprise, about life in SG -and its surroundings. (Read i like to travel)

The duration of my stay in SG is 4 months after which i'll travel for another month in Asia (this I highly recommend for y'all who just might consider an exchange in this part of the world). 

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                                                      Hi or Ni hao?

Even though english is one of the official languages in Singapore, a majority of the population is actually chinese by origin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore. So don't rely on a) getting understood b) understanding the locals at all circumstances. And if they're not trying to speak chinese to you, they might try tamil or malay.

Anyhow, SG is a cool mixture of Europe and Asia. The government is super strict (refer to the above-mentioned link), which actually has its pro's! A) the rate of crime is really low due to super high punishments B) the city is clean and green! C) the quality of food (and hygiene) is - this is my personal favorite part as a food lover (!!!!) - extremely good - not forgetting the local hawker centers, which don't always look all that inviting.

                                                  my first food court meal upon arrival!

The public transports actually function really well here. The MRT system is a quick way to travel and in avoiding traffic jams, if you're ok with a feeling that you're packed up like sardines during rush hours! IF you happen to use the busses (like I do daily) I strongly recommend you who belong to the small minority of smartphone boycotting conservatives to get over it! Its impossible to know any buss arrival times if you don't use the Next buss -app or Google Maps. You'll simply know that the buss comes every 20 minutes during morning peaks and every 30 minutes off peaks - if you're not lucky enough to be at a buss stop with an electronic arrival table.

In the end SG is only one city - and a country - so no place goes under the definition "far". And even though you get lost somewhere, the taxis are not too expensive, especially if you have company! And as a taxi driver stated, Singaporeans are usually willing to help and polite if you don't act like a total jerk.