Kristin Schipull: NUS - Singapore

Studying abroad at the National University of Singapore is definitely an experience that I will never forget.  Last semester I was one of the 9 engineering students who became the first ISU students to spend a semester in Singapore.  Nearly every morning I would wait for the elevator and look out over the South China Sea reminding myself that I was not in Iowa anymore.  We had literally traveled from a cold Iowa winter to a tropical atmosphere near the equator, on the other side of the world.  It was at least eighty degrees every day!

NUS is a great University.  Along with a beautiful campus full of palm trees, it has the two things I was looking for, an excellent engineering program and a culturally diverse setting.  NUS models their engineering program after MIT's.  As a result the classes were comparable to those we would have taken at ISU.  However, my favorite part was meeting students from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India to name a few.  Each country's culture had an influence on the food, language, and religion.

With all of these cultures, you may be wondering what language was used in Singapore.  Well, I only know English, so luckily it was the medium for instruction.  English is used for most business type transactions, but families and friends generally prefer their native languages.  Mixed-in with this array of languages is "Singlish."  Singlish is a type of English slang with some Chinese and Malaysian terms, and a "Lah" or two wherever it seems convenient.

The whole country of Singapore is one big culturally diverse city.  We spent time in Chinatown, Little India, and on Muslim Street.  We visited Christian churches, Buddhist temples, Jewish synagogues, and Hindu temples.  We saw events like Chinese New Year, which is similar to Christmas in the States, and the Hindu Thaipusam festival, which isn't comparable to anything I had seen.  Many of the Indians would put hooks in their skin and parade with heavy offerings from one temple to another. 

Not only did we experience many cultures in Singapore, but we also had the opportunity to travel outside of this tiny country.  Exchange students visited countries all over Asia for Spring Break.  I decided to vacation in East Malaysia, where I saw monkeys, stayed in a long house with native Ibans, and had some memorable hiking adventures.

This past semester I learned a lot more then I could have at ISU.  Along with the technical knowledge from my classes, I gained insight about how people on the other side of the world live.  This was definitely an experience of a lifetime.