Chinese New Year

To say my life is eventful would be an understatement. Sometimes I literally have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. Where are the hidden MTV cameras? I am so blessed!

Last Friday, I was contacted by an NTU student named Wenxu who spent a semester at Elon two years ago. We exchanged contact information and he invited Leah and I out for dinner. We were so excited that he took us to an American restaurant in Clarke Quay called Brewerkz because we had been eyeing that restaurant the few times we'd been in Clarke Quay. In true American fashion, I ordered a cheeseburger, onion rings and beer. It was exactly what I needed after eating chicken rice and dumplings all week. It was great to talk to Wenxu about his experience at Elon and I was so happy to hear he had a great time.

Cheeseburgers, beer & onion rings = one happy girl.

Leah and me with our new friend Wenxu!

Saturday night, my new girlfriends and I hit the clubbing scene. We've had a lot of fun every time we'd gone out clubbing last week and this weekend was no exception. We went to a club called Zouk because a special guest DJ named Gareth Emery was performing. We had never heard of him before but had a great time.

DJ Gareth Emery!

The crew

Leah and me cabbing it back to campus, circa 5:30 am.

Today, Wednesday, is Chinese New Year. Wenxu invited Leah and me to spend Chinese New Year with his family for a traditional Chinese meal. Boy, were we in for a surprise. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. No one in his family except his sisters spoke English. It was a vegetarian meal and I ate things I'd never seen before. It was a far cry from American food.

No idea what anything on my plate is. 

At the end of the meal, the waitress brought out this plate of a mixture of foods. Everyone at the table stood up and dug their chopsticks into the dish and threw the food up in the air. It is Chinese tradition to do this every New Year dinner.

Before the chaos.

Chinese people chanting and throwing food in the air? I'll take it.

Us with Wenxu and his younger sister

Us with Wenxu's grandmother. She gave us money packets to wish us a prosperous new year!

After dinner, we walked through Little India to an inexpensive supermarket where we could buy souvenirs. On the way, I started to feel sick - really sick. I had to leave the supermarket in search for a bathroom because I could feel myself starting to get nauseous. There were no bathrooms in sight and I ended up getting sick in an alleyway. It was disgusting but hilarious. Singapore has all these crazy extreme laws and I was nervous that I was going to get punished for throwing up in public. Wenxu's sister informed me that because I threw up in a sewer, I was in the clear. HAH.

I was starting to feel a little better and we got a bus back to Wenxu's apartment. We all sat in his living room and watched Singaporean soap operas, which were ridiculous. His mother gave us oranges and little packets of money, both of which are given as wishes for prosperity and good health. Since it is the year of the rabbit, she also taught us how to make little rabbits out of towels. It was adorable.

With our new gifts

My towel bunny is the one on the left... obviously the sloppy one.

Most of our friends are traveling this week because we have no class on Thursday or Friday. Leah and I plan on spending the time exploring the rest of Singapore. It has been raining nonstop for the past 8 days, so we've got our fingers crossed for a sunny day to spend at Sentosa!

Settling into NTU life

It's taken a week, but it has finally hit me that I am going to be LIVING here for the next five months. The initial days have felt like a vacation, but now that classes have started, I realized that NTU will become my new home. I even caught myself referring to Hall 3 as "home" today. What a weird concept. But nonetheless, I am loving it!

Hall 3 - Home Sweet Home :)

I finally got my cell phone situation sorted out. I had to part ways with the beloved Blackberry and settled for a $50 "mini mobile." It can make and receive calls and texts. It has an alarm. That is literally it.

My new cell is the size of a credit card and looks like a calculator... uhhh?

This weekend was quite an adventure for the girls of room 10 in Hall 3. We went clubbing for the first time on Friday with our new friends and had such a great time. We found a really great group of friends and I am meeting new people every day. I've met friends from Canada, Sweden, China, Germany and the US so far. I love the international environment and having friends from all over the world reminds me of my days attending ACS in England.

Wednesday nights in Singapore are "Ladies Nights" at all the clubs (free admission and free drinks) so that will be our clubbing night. We quickly learned how expensive a night out on the town will be, so Wednesday nights are our designated club nights. Leah and I made a Singapore Bucket List of free and inexpensive things to do, so our schedules are full.

Meredith, JJ, Chrissy, me, Leah and Rachel on our first night out

This weekend we took a tram to Sentosa Island which is a man-made island right off the coast of Singapore. We ended up getting there later than we hoped because we waited for the wrong bus for an hour. We finally made it and the weather was overcast but still beautiful and hot. We plan on going back this Saturday with friends for the day. On Sunday, Leah and I took the MRT to Clarke Quay and wandered around. There was a street market happening along the river and although we did no shopping, we saw great deals. Clarke Quay is a touristy district filled with trendy restaurants, shops and bars. It reminds me of Florida.

Sentosa Beach

Room mates conquering the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia

Leah and me in Clarke Quay

I had my first day of classes today. I purposefully left an hour early because I knew I'd get lost -- and of course I did. But I made it on time! I'm taking four classes at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information - Integrated Marketing Communications, Organizational Communications, Public Relations Writing and Creative Strategies. The class schedules here are really bizarre and totally different than at home. For each class, I have a lecture either once or twice a week and a tutorial once a week.

Today I had my marketing course and creative strategies course and both seem really great! I've never taken a strictly communications course load and I'm excited about diving head in to my major. I am the only American in both of my classes so far and between the blonde hair and American accent, I stick out like a sore thumb. But let me tell you, I don't hate it!

The Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information... my new home :)

There is a gym on the ground floor of my Hall so I've been working out (almost) every day. The campus is huge so between all the walking and working out, I've going to be in great shape. Leah and I are trying to embrace the Chinese culture so we are signing up for Beginner's Meditation classes in downtown Singapore on Monday nights. Should be interesting! I actually accidentally walked in on a cheerleading practice in the auditorium in my hall one night. I was so excited and they asked me if I would like to join them. I got changed and went back to the auditorium and they let me practice with them for about an hour. It was a lot of fun to see the differences between cheerleading in Asia and the US.

Singapore "Wildcard" Cheerleading team

Today Leah and I began discussing travel plans for the next five months. One of our new friends has been in the exchange program at NTU since August so she has been a great wealth of information for travel. Our plans are still in the preliminary stages, but we hope to make it to the Boracay Island in the Philippines, Bali in Indonesia, Siem Reap in Cambodia and Koh Phangan in Thailand for the "Full Moon Party" in February (my birthday!!) My parents are coming to visit Singapore in April so I am going to go with them to Hong Kong for three days as well. Lots of look forward too!! Luckily we have a few days off in February for the Chinese New Year, a week off in March for spring break and a few long weekends sprinkled in between. We are motivated college students on a tight budget but we WILL get it all done!