The first five days in Singapore have been an experience, and quite frankly it feels like it’s been an eternity since I left Highland Park.
After nearly 30 hours of non-stop travel, and very little sleep, we arrived at roughly 6:00am on January 3rd. Jason (another UIUC student), Lauren, and I waited patiently for some other UIUC students to come in on a flight from Shanghai at a Starbucks in the airport. After splitting into cabs, we rode from the airport to NTU.
I will get into specifics of the past 5 days in other shorter posts, but here are some of the culture differences that I’ve written down that I think are cool, funny, or just notable:
- There are campus busses that you have to hail. If you do not put your arm up, they will not stop the bus. I have missed multiple busses so far because I have forgotten. Luckily, they come every 5-8 minutes.
- You have to back into parking spaces in Singapore. You can not turn into a space, you have to put your car into reverse and carefully back it up. I guess this is actually better, as your vision will not be obstructed and there may be less accidents when pulling out of spaces. One time I got really excited because I saw a car pull forward into a space. My excitement quickly turned to disappointment when I saw the driver only use that as a means to perfectly back into the space opposite him.
- Escalators have two lanes…...that’s right, you read that correctly. The left side of the escalator is for people who want to just stand and be lifted up/down. The right side is for people who don’t have time for the stationary lifestyle, and want to walk up or down while it is moving. They will mercilessly push you out of the way.
I am only now realizing that the differences in culture that I’ve listed are all transportation related. I’m so glad you’re taking the time to read my incredibly diverse writing.
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