Lovina, Yogyakarta, Jakarta

After a very tiring morning trekking up Mount Batur, it was time to head for Java. We decided to book our flight home out of Jakarta, firstly because it was $15 and secondly because we wanted to stop off in Yogyakarta to see Boror Budur, the oldest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. Before our bus/ferry ride over to Java, we spent a night in Lovina. Lovina was definitely more low key then Bali, but still had beautiful resorts and the same calming atmosphere as Bali. We stayed in another beautiful hostel for only $5. The room was spacious and it had a great pool. We spent the rest of the day at the local hot springs, sat by the pool and then called it a night.

$5 Hostel in Lovina...not bad
The next day, we headed for Java. The bus ride took approximately 13 hours from Lovina to Yogyakarta. This bus decided it would be fun to blast Indonesian Karaoke. Not only was the bus freezing, but we also had to try and sleep while Karaoke music was blasting in our ears. At first it was funny, but then it got to a point when I could have smashed the TV screen in front of me. Thankfully, the Karaoke finally stopped and I was finally able to fall asleep the rest of the way.

Karaoke Bus to Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta was definitely not as touristy as Bali. It was much more conservative, as there were posters reminding tourists to cover up. Since we decided to go to the Princes Palace, I was given a Sarong to cover my legs. It wasn’t until I started to notice people laughing and making funny faces at me that I realized Sarong’s are most commonly worn by Javanese males. I guess my legs were too long for the female leg covers…cool. The rest of our day was spent in a local restaurant since the heat was too unbearable.

Me rockin the male Sarong
The Boror Budur was as spectacular as I imagined. For being the oldest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, it was very well preserved. Where as, the Pramabanan had suffered a lot more damage from recent earthquakes and weathering. All in all, the temples were amazing and worth the long journey.

Infront of the Boror Budur

Such a beautiful view

Infront of the Pramabanan
The final leg of our trip was to Jakarta, probably my least favourite place since I have been here. First, we took the night train from Yogyakarta to Jakarta which had straight up seats, people sleeping on the floor, and beggars entering the train at each stop. We were also warned not to fall asleep because people will steal our belongings. We decided to go on sleep duty, so at least one person was awake at all times. We arrived in Jakarta at 5 in the morning with no place to stay. And let me tell you, this was not an easy task. All the hostels were booked and there were drunken (or on something else) people all over the streets from the night before. We finally found a place after hours of wandering up and down the streets. Since it was my birthday, we decided to keep it low key during the day (also since there is not much to see in Jakarta) and go out at night. But little did we know that Jakarta was on probation, which meant no alcohol over 5% was to be sold in stores. We then found out that people don’t normally drink in Jakarta, they just do ecstasy instead. This is when we decided that we were going to move my birthday celebration to a later day. I think this was the best decision. Certainly not the high point of our trip, but definitely worth the $15 flight home, what a steal!

Sketchy train from Yogyakarta to Jakarta...Yikes

Shelbs and I hiding out in our hotel room in Jakarta

Formula One and Bali, Indonesia

Before heading to Bali for recess week, Xander, Mehdi and I decided to go to the annual Formula One car-racing in Singapore. Formula One is one of the biggest events of the year in Singapore. They make a massive racing track out of the roads that surround the Marina Bay Sands area. Singapore is the first place to have hosted a night-time Formula One car race.

Xander, Mehdi and I off to Formula One Singapore!
It was exactly what I expected. A bunch of die hard Formula One fans that get a huge thrill over seeing fast cars. I have to say though, it was definitely worth experiencing. The cars would go by so fast, I could barely blink once. They were so loud that it was almost essential to buy a pair of ear plugs (maybe except if you are Mehdi haha). I have to admit it was quite the experience even for someone like me, who has never been or ever desired to go see a car race. Also, the track looked absolutely beautiful at nighttime from the Helopad bar above it.

The next morning we were off to Bali. Xander, Mehdi and I met the rest of the gang down in Bali, who had left two days earlier than us. When we got there, we were off to Uluwata Temple. The temple was at a high altitude looking out onto an endless body of water. We just sat there as the waves crashed against the rock. This is also where we were first introduced to the monkeys in Bali. For such cute animals, they were quite vicious and very mischievous. The monkeys tried to snag anything in their site, from a flip-flop to sunglasses to even cameras. The trainers would then retrieve the stolen belongings by exchanging them with a banana. As the sun was setting, we watched an authentic fire dancing performance on the rocks looking out into the ocean. A group of Balinese tribe men created music with their voices throughout the entire performance. I didn’t understand how their voices could continue their chants for a whole hour, it was unbelievable. The Balinese performers were in exotic costumes with glamorous make-up as they performed old Hindu tales. Later that night, we decided to get a taste of the Kuta nightlife. There were endless bars, all with bright rave lights and loud music. We just picked the place that had the loudest music and danced(or RAGED, as we call it) the whole night away!

The spectacular view from the temple top

The Balinese fire dance
The next morning we woke up early and headed for Ubud, Bali. We found an amazing guesthouse on Monkey Forest Road for just $10 a night. It had our own bathroom, balcony, a pool and included breakfast. We spent the day gallivanting up and down Monkey Forest Road, where every restaurant was beautifully decorated. The shops had vibrant and beautiful souvenirs. We then went to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary that was just up the street. Monkey Forest described the site perfectly since it consisted of Hindu temples and a whole lot of monkeys. The night ended quite early, as Ubud is not as lively and upbeat as Kuta. I would describe it as the perfect Honeymoon destination.

Our $10 hostel...not too shabby

Shelbs and I at The Monkey Sanctuary

Xander(aka Tarzan)with his brothers haha
The next day, we decided to do the Elephant Caves and the Gunung Kawi. The Elephant Caves were quite the site to see with water fountains, endless forest trails, tall trees and a beautiful forest covered stream with plentiful rocks and waterfalls. Next we headed to Gunung Kawi, which is an astonishing group of stone shrines cut into cliffs. It is currently being considered as Unesco Heritage site. Along with the stone cliffs were beautiful rice terraces and a viewpoint that looked over the entire site. Palm trees, vibrant flowers, rice terraces, carved stone hedges…you can’t really ask for more.

The Elephant Caves

The rice terraces

The stone carvings, Unesco Heritage site
Instead of going to bed that night, we decided to campout outside of our hostel until 2 in the morning, which was the time we got picked up for the Mount Batur hike in the Gunung Batur volcanic area. The crater of Mount Batur is the central point in the area, estimated to be 13 square km size. The ride over to the mountain was literally a zig-zag down steep mountains. The driver was probably going no more than 10 miles per hour, because if he went any faster, we would have fallen off the cliff (and of course there is no road guards to prevent such a thing from happening). When we got there it was pretty chilly and pitch black. I have never seen the stars so bright. The view was spectacular, I felt like I was in space. The hike up the mountain was a little bit of a struggle with just a tiny flashlight leading the way, but we made it. We soon realized we were not well prepared for the freezing temperatures at the top of the mountain. Rather, we thought it was a good idea to hike the mountain in our tight lulu lemon spandex shorts and a light sweater. After huddling up and gathering warmth from one another, the sun rose. We ate our bread with bananas and boiled eggs while taking in the breathtaking view. We then hiked to the top of the crater, where I actually felt like I was at the peak of the world. We were able to look out onto all of Bali and the beautiful Lake Batur that surrounded us. Because the volcano is still active, we could see the steam coming out of the air sockets of the mountain. The locals used the steam to boil their eggs. The hike up may have been a little strenuous, but the hike down was much more scary. With loose rocks, sand and numerous divots, we had to be careful not to slip. It almost was like skiing on sand at some points. Luckily, we made it down safe and sound. After all that exercise, we ended our trip to Bali by going into the local town to eat some authentic food. We found a home restaurant, where the local chef made us Indonesia’s famous Nasi Goreng from scratch. Nasi Goreng is their National dish that consists of fried rice with an egg on top. Always a good way to end a good trip…a good plate of authentic food. Yumm. Bali was only the first stop of our reading week…next stop on our journey was Lovina, Java, and Jakarta.

On top of the world!

Breathtaking Mount Batur

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Oh Ho Chi Minh such an adventure. Robyn, Jackson and I arrived at the “Budget” terminal for the first flight we have taken from Singapore. When we got off the plane we were starving and decided to trek to a nearby food court. I ended up getting three meals. I got a mango salad, fresh prawn and pork spring rolls, and chicken pad Thai. Everything was so delicious...well except for our new discovery, the “shrimpies”. Shrimpies are dried mini shrimps that taste overly fishy and salty. Anytime we smelt or tasted something fishy in our meals, we always just blamed it on the shrimpies. We then went back to the airport to meet Jas and witnessed a very disturbing sex trade. A young girl was being handed over to a 70-year-old white man by her pimp or relative. It happened so openly and in a matter of minutes. I was disturbed, but it was definitely interesting to witness it.

Pork and Shrimp Springrolls with Mango Salad...and shrimpies
We soon realized that crossing the street is a mission. Since the roads are filled with motorbikes, no stop lights and no cross walks, you kind of just have to make a pathway for yourself. Usually the motorbikes will stop or just swerve around you. The locals definitely got a good laugh out of us, since we would make a dramatic scene anytime we crossed the road. We ended up finding a nice Hostel for 6 dollars a night and breakfast, AC, cable and Internet included. You really can't get any better than that. At night, since there was a monsoon outside, we decided to get Vietnamese massages. They were good, but a little rough. With all four of us side by side, it was more of a laugh than it was relaxing.

Chilling in our $6 Hostel
The next day we decided to head to the Chu Chu Tunnels. The museum was the tunnels and trenches the Vietnamese soldiers had lived in during the war. Ironically, the tour guides wit made it more of funny tour than sad one. In the afternoon, we headed to the Bintang market. Here, we had some of the best fruit smoothies I have ever tasted! The market was full of great stuff, anything from purses to clothes to food. After all the chaos of the market, we decided to eat. We came to the conclusion that the best restaurants were the ones that had a combination of every ethnic food possible. The restaurants would be called “Mexican-Italian-American-Thai-Indonesian-Vietnamese food Restaurant”. The menues were the size of a biology textbook and very overwhelming. But no matter what you ordered, it would be great! By the end of our stay we decided to change Vietnam to VietNOM, since the majority of our trip involved eating and migrating from restaurant to restaurant.

Chu Chu Tunnels
The next day we decided to book a package tour to the Mekong Delta. Not really knowing what the tour entailed, we had no expectations. Our tour guide was named Romeo and he was quite the character. Everytime he would make any sort of joke, it was followed by "Thank You". The tour was a random series of activities. It included taking a boat to an island...watching bees make honey...visiting a coconut candy factory... a horse ride to a restaurant...watching an authentic Vietnamese performance...riding bikes in a random village...and Robyn driving the tour boat back. At night, we decided to try the authentic Vietnamese snake wine. It literally is dead snakes and scorpians that have been preserved mixed with alcohol. It says that it cures the sweat of limbs. Being the brave souls we were, we tried it. It was probably the worst form of alcohol I have ever consumed. It tasted exactly like fish oil mixed with a really bad whiskey. Why did we ever think it was a good idea to drink alcohol with dead reptiles in it?

Mekong Delta

Authentic Snake Wine...yikes
On the last day we decided to go to the Vietnamese War Museum. The museum was extremely well done. Each floor displayed photographed pictures with descriptions underneath them. It was very informative and interesting since we are not taught anything about Vietnam war back at home. The photography was unbelievable. It certainly put a damper on the day, but was worth visiting. For the rest of the day, we ventured to the French part of the city. Vietnam has French influence from when France ruled Vietnam as a colony until their defeat in the First Indochina War and the proclamation of Vietnam's independence in 1954. We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, the biggest Catholic church in the city. We ended our trip with a fresh baguette from the local bakery. Also to note, the bread and sandwiches in Vietnam are to die for. So fresh and delicious. Overall a very chaotic, educational, random and eventful weekend.

Tsik Chini, Malaysia

After almost a month of being in Singapore, our original group of 5 people grew to a group of 11. And we thought what better way to bond than go off to Tioman Island for round two. We got to Mersing in the afternoon and had realized that we missed the last Ferry over to Tioman, so we had no other choice than to spend the night in good ol’ Mersing. Since Malaysia is very Muslim, there really isn’t much nightlife, however we did find a Hawker type restaurant that served beers and we decided to spend the night there. It ended up being a great night as we met up with other NTU students and spent the night sitting around a table, while eating and drinking. With barely any sleep we were up and at it at 5 am to catch the 6am ferry over to Tioman. We finally got there and lucked out with perfect accommodations that looked over the entire ocean. It was another successful weekend in Tioman sitting on the beach, drinking with other exchange students and hanging out with the locals.


Since I had already been to Tioman, Jackson and I decided we wanted to trek to Tsik Chini, Malaysia for the remainder of the four day weekend. The Lonely Planet described it as “a hidden gem…hard to get to, but so worth it”. If only we had taken those words more literally. We left on Sunday afternoon to begin our trip up North to Tsik Chini where we were planning to stay at Rajan’s Guesthouse. Jackson and I lucked out by getting the last two spots on the bus to Kuantan, which is the closest city to Tsik Chini. Once we got to Kuantan, it became a hassle finding a taxi. The taxi drivers were too scared to drive back from Rajans alone due to the "evil spirits" in the rainforest at night. We finally found a brave soul to drive us up to Tsik Chini, which we soon discovered was in the middle of nowhere, in an isolated village, in the center of a tropical rainforest. After a long and frightening cab ride through the slippery roads and pounding rains, we arrived at Rajan’s Guest House.

Rajan was quite the character. As we pull into the guest house, Rajan is shaking his head at us and angry that we had arrived later than was expected. His wife had waited up to serve us food. She miserably gave Jackson and I some tea and biscuits and directed us to our room. I did not know what a ‘budget’ room was until Rajan’s place...it was as basic as basic can get. It consisted of a room of wooden walls, a blanket and a bugs net. Since I was so tired I didn’t mind and fell fast asleep. I then was awakened by the loudest and heaviest rainfall I had ever heard. Thought the roof was going to collapse on us, but luckily it died down. We woke up to a wet morning with tea and fried noodles with thai sauce (not your typical breakfast). Jackson and I were eager to start the Jungle Trek and boat tour, however that’s not how things work in Rajan’s village. Rajan’s words exactly “You city people are always go-go-go… this is not the city, you don’t push button and get what you want. You need to take it slow, take your time, things happen when they happen”. The only thing on our minds were uh-oh, we trekked all the way here and we are not going to get anything accomplished. After being a little aggressive and acting like typical ‘city people’ Rajan agreed to try and arrange a boat tour for us.

Oh hey Jackson!
We walk through the village and the villagers are outside on their porches starring at us. We peered into their houses… and interestingly, there were no couches, no tables, no pictures on the wall, just a large plasma television screen. Very odd. We finally get onto the boat tour and are taken on a lake full of vegetation, narrow channels and blooming lotus flowers. In the narrow channels, you could look up and see monkeys rustling in the trees. The ride was beautiful, although we were hoping to see a little bit more lotus flowers. The journey back home was long and freezing, since they blast the AC colder than the Canadian winter. This was then followed by Jackson losing his student pass and me being locked out of my residence room at 3 in the morning. Not a problem...Jackson just needs to get a new Student Pass and the locksmiths here in Singapore just break down your door. Definitely a very adventurous weekend. Jackson imitates Rajan till this day “this is no city, you don’t just push button” and it is always a good laugh.

Lotus flowers

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We decided to head to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia the following weekend. KL is the capital city of Malaysia and is a 5 hour bus ride from Singapore. We found a Hostel in Chinatown, where there was also a bustling marketplace. We avoided any shopping since we were not prepared to deal with the aggressive salesmen. After dinner, we then met up with another group from NTU and decided to go out to the bars. KL has a very nice downtown core with many classy bars and clubs. We bar hopped most of the night and were pretty much being pulled into bars by the owners. I guess they wanted more foreigners. Although the night was sporadic and random, we had a great time as we danced (aka RAGED) the night away.
The next morning we went to the Canopy Walk trail, a little bit outside of the city. We hiked up a steep trail to a lookout point. We then walked across a wobbly bridge that took about 15 minutes to get across, but the view as absolutely breathtaking. After the bridge, we walked back down the mountain where there was a waterfall. Xander (aka Tarzan) and Jackson were able to climb to the top of the slippery rocks in barely no time, while Robyn and I took our time and stopped along the way to lie on the rocks. I just lied there, looking up at the trees and the sun peaking through, while the cold sensation of water flowed beneath me. We then taxied right to the Batu Caves. There was a steep stair case that lead up to the cave and an enormous golden Buddha the size of the mountains directly in front of them. Before going on to climb the stairs, we stopped for lunch at a Vegetarian Southern Indian cuisine restaurant. Robyn went on to order “surprise us” and we were given assorted vegetable dishes with Naan bread. It was super spicy, but so delicious. We then climbed the stairs, alongside hundreds of monkeys. The monkeys were aggressive and would eat anything in site. The cave was enormous as we were like little ants in comparison to it. After the cave, we were exhausted from running on zero sleep from the night before and headed home. It was a short, yet very satisfying trip to KL. I returned home with a swollen foot from some mysterious bug bite. But it didn't bother me and it went down in a few days, I was just happy it happened at the end of the trip.

Batu Caves

Attempting to climb the wet rocks

The Canopy walk...I was shaking the entire time

A night out in KL

Tioman Island, Malaysia

After using the week to settle in and make friends, we decided to head off to tropical weekend in Malaysia. Not knowing the first thing about how to get places, we decided to fluke it and attempt to get to Mersing, Malaysia, which is the docking city to get to Tioman Island. After an hour long MRT ride and a 5 hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Mersing. This bus ride was definitely more of rollercoaster since the driver would go 150km/h , take turns at 150km/h and pass cars while almost driving into oncoming traffic. But after 4 hours of clenching onto my seat and making very nervous facial exchanges with the other passengers, we arrived alive. Its never a good sign when everyone getting off the bus sighs with relief. We then took the hour ferry over to Salang beach. The water was a perfect blue, the sand white and tropical palm trees for miles and miles in the distance… We have officially entered paradise. The first thing we did was get accommodations and then jumped into the water with beer in hand. The water was perfect and glistening in the sunset. The rest of the trip consisted of us eating, swimming, tanning and drinking on the beach. On the last day, we decided to go out to the other islands and snorkel. We went to 5 different stops at different islands on Tioman and snorkeled for 4 hours. The coral was all different colour’s and shapes and there were fish of all types and sizes. I felt as if I was on a Planet Earth episode and could hear David Attenborough's voice in the background... “And there’s Finding Nemo, the clown fish, peddling around in his exotic pink fungus that he calls a home”. The boat ride back from snorkelling was another near death experience, as the waves had picked up and boat was almost unable to ride through them. Other than the endless amount of stray cats, the sketchy toilets and lack of toilet paper, Tioman Island was a perfect kick-start to the school year. What more can you ask for than a beach weekend with new friends and beautiful weather.

The Perfect Sunset

Singapore First Impressions

My mom had joined me on my flight over and was there to help me settle in, while she did some travelling of her own. I arrive and experience a wave of excitement, it has hit me… I AM IN SOUTHEAST-ASIA, and not just for a trip, but for an entire year!

One thing I have come to learn about Singapore is that you can’t walk for more than 5 minutes without sweating from the humidity. After two days of fighting jet-leg and trying to get used to Singapore transportation, my mom and I finally made it Nanyang Technological University. We finally arrive at Hall 13, which was to be my home for the next year. Of course I was given a room on the fourth floor and here at NTU there are no elevators. So after a long sweaty trek to the fourth floor with my 3 extremely heavy suitcases, I made it to my room which didn’t even think possible, but was hotter than outside. Now that my stuff was finally in my room, we had signed me into the residence, and the jet-leg was finally wearing off, my mom and I decided to do some sight-seeing.

The Singapore Flyer
The next day we went down to the Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Sands part of Singapore. First, we decided to buy tickets to the Singapore Flyer, which is a massive ferris wheel that overlooks the entire city. I was fascinated by how developed and beautiful Singapore was from up above. The architecture here is fascinating with the differently shaped buildings and the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel (with the spaceship looking roof). After the Singapore Flyer, my mom and I walked through the Youth Olympic Park, across the Helix Bridge and over to Marina Bay Sands boardwalk and shopping mall. The top floor consists of D&G, Tiffany and Co., Chanel and Prada. And as you move to the lower levels, the stores get less prestigious, but certainly not by much. In the middle of the mall there is an artificial river that runs through the mall and you can pay to get a Venice type boat ride through the mall (a little much and don’t see the point of it, but I guess some people do it). The mall is just beautiful, spacious, and pretty empty considering over half the people in there aren’t able to afford anything in it. At night time, my mom and I went to Clark Quay for the first time, and I was absolutely amazed. Clark Quay is pretty central downtown and has a river that runs right through it. On one side there is a shopping mall and restaurants and on the other side there is Singapore’s famous bar district that I have came to know pretty well. We had dinner and walked along the lit up waterside and called it a night. Before I knew it my mom headed back and I was at NTU ready to start my school year.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Helix Bridge

My mommy
I got to my room one day to meet my roommate Samhita Bhat from the United States. I was happy to be able to share a room with another exchange student and so far we have been nothing but great roommates and have even became travelling buddies for all our trips. NTU is a beautiful campus and looks exactly what you would expect a campus in a tropical country to look like. All the buildings are white, big and weirdly shaped. One thing I noticed are that all the buildings are half inside and half outside. Each sidewalk has a walkway cover of it, I guess for protecting people from the sun and is convenient during monsoon season. Since Singapore’s forecast is always sunny with possible thunderstorms and rain, it makes sense that you can almost get anywhere on campus under some sort of cover. The campus has a lot fo very cool facilities as well. I have fallen in love with the Nanyang Recreation center, that has tennis courts, basketball courts, a full size track, basketball courts and my favourite...the outdoor pool. The pool area has a wading area for those sunbathers, an Olympic size pool for those that want to exercise and a closed off diving area. The campus is also famous for its brand new Arts and Media Building, which is known for its unique shape and grass roof. You are even able to walk to the top of it. In the first few weeks, we would go to the top of it at night and just lie on the grass and look at the stars, until the sprinklers would come on... That was always a nice surprise.

Hall 13...my new home

The Arts and Media Building
Each building also has a canteen to eat at. I am not a fan of the unhealthiness of the food, since everything is deep fried or drenched in oil. But I have found ways around that since there is a Subway on campus and my personal favourite, ‘Asia in a Bowl’ . ‘Asia in a Bowl’ is pretty much anything you choose, for example, hard-boiled eggs, crab, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, tofu. In other words, you throw anything you want into a bowl and they add broth to it. I also have fallen in love with their Soybean Ice cream. And man do they love their soybean here! They have soybean everything! Soybean milk, ice cream, curd, balls, pancakes, etc etc. But Soybean ice cream certainly is the winner and has become a daily ritual after at least one of my meals.
School-wise, the classes are pretty easy and taught in a completely different style than at Western. Each class consists of group work, group essays, and group presentations. Seems easy enough, but gets annoying when you want to travel on the weekends. A lot of groups like doing the work on the weekend and then you feel obligated to stay and help. So that’s annoying, but so far it hasn’t been too much of an issue. The teachers here love exchange students because we bring a new outlook to the class. I especially love being singled out when the prof makes a Singaporean reference and then has to take the time to explain it to us.
In the first few weeks we formed and Canadian/American/New Zealand/Switzerland/Finish group. The majority of us are Canadian and American though. This is the crew that I have spent majority of my time with first semester and have done all my travelling with. We have become more than just friends, as we called ourselves "La Famillia".

The Flight to Singapore

As I sat through the long, crammed flight to my cross-over flight in Hong Kong (It’s not easy having gazelle legs while sitting in any seat but the aisle), I decided to list my goals for my upcoming year in South East Asia. My list was as follows:
1.Make new friends and meet people from different parts of the world
2.Travel to as many places as I can while still being able to handle my course load
3.Try everything and anything in terms of food
4.Remain money smart
5.Take in every experience (good and bad) with an open mind
6.Adapting to new cultures
7.And most importantly NO REGRETS!
I knew the year wasn’t going to be a perfect tropical vacation, so I made sure to mentally prepare myself for all sorts of obstacles.(As a side note, the most stressful and hard times end up being some of the funniest). And with this in mind and written down, I was finally ready to begin.

At the airport in Canada sipping on my last Timhortons.

So Why Singapore?

People that hear about me going on an exchange to Singapore always ask me, so why did you choose Singapore? Some people ask the question with confusion and most are just genuinely interested. I always get the, "Why wouldn't you go to Europe?" or the "Isn't it dangerous?", or my personal favourite, "So how are you going to feel when you are the tallest person in the country?".  Well no, I am not the tallest person in the country (even though sometimes it feels like it) and no it is not dangerous. Some of these questions were just to be funny and some people just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact I chose Asia. But I knew when I chose Singapore, it was the right choice.


I have always wanted to study abroad while I was in University, but I didn't know where I wanted to go. In highschool, I was a part of a student exchange opportunity that went to China. This was a little different from exchange in University though. Rather, I went to China for two weeks and was paired with a student from a private school in Shanghai. I stayed with her family for three days and when she came to Canada, she stayed with my family for a week. This is when I grew an interest in Asia. The culture, the food, and their way of life is so much different from ours. I found the culture shock more exhilarating than I did uncomfortable. This is when I knew I wanted to travel the world.


When it came around to applying for a University abroad, I had multiple options that corresponded well with the MIT program. I chose to apply to England, California, Australia and Singapore. I heard great things about Singapore from previous exchange students that had been there. My friend Chrissy had done a semester in Singapore in the previous semester, and she only had good things to say. (and her pictures rocked!) Also, after I had been to China, I was itching to see what more Asia has to offer. Therefore, I decided to make Singapore my first choice.


A month later I got the letter from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. I got accepted! With so much excitement I accepted the offer almost immediately. It felt so surreal. I almost couldn't imagine myself being in another country for a whole year. Away from my friends, family and Western, I was definitely a little nervous. But after going to the exchange orientation at Western and meeting all the students that were also going on exchange as well, I was more relieved. Also, my friend Xander had gotten accepted for Semester 1, so it was comforting knowing I will know at least one person when I first arrive.


With all the sad goodbyes to my friends and the family, I was on my way. And little did I know, it was going to be the best year of my life.