So after nearly one and a half months of living in Singapore I have finally gathered my thoughts to write. Yes, I will be in Singapore for the next two years sprinkled with 2 vacations every academic year. And yes, I am here to study.
At first, when i applied to the institution I'm studying in, I had no idea what it was about. the only motivation for me was to get out of my workplace and do something different. frankly, I only wanted a vacation and let me tell you, this is not it.
So when I did get accepted at the school, i looked carefully at what it is that they teach and what will be the ultimate outcome of it. i didn't understand anything. Then i decided to give it try and i landed up in Singapore. In the meanwhile, i made several attempts at making family and friends understand what exactly it is that I'm going to study. One can imagine how difficult that task was, when i had no clue myself.
So baggage and myself were delivered at Singapore in the caring hands of my mother (yes I know I'm grown up and i didn't need my mother to drop me at Grad school, but let me make it clear, she insisted on coming and I'm kinda happy about it). Overall highly impressed with the school, she left me to figure the rest of it myself.
One would think a week long orientation for a two year program is a bit too much, but that was only a precursor to the torture chamber they were preparing for us. There is no doubt about the fact that international schools give you a lot more exposure and you learn more from your companions (mine are from 30 different countries and quite a brilliant group they are) than you learn in a classroom, but i do think to myself if this was what i asked for. Let me explain. it is Saturday night and I am sitting in my room with a line of assignments and readings that HAVE to be completed before Monday morning. At first I thought I should complain, but then i realized there's no point.
Now that there is a lot more clarity in what I could be at the end of two (and I'm kinda alright with it), there is the doubt whether I will survive the 2 years.
Living in Singapore is easy albeit costly. The city country is efficiently managed by a large group of paranoid people. The achievements of Singapore are impressive considering their size and history and the fact that their only natural resource were the people of the country.
Hopefully I will learn what I am here to learn and survive the onslaught of professors, assignments, readings, books and nonetheless exams.
"The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing"
--Martin Luther King Jr.
