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Singapore Summer Internship

May - August 2015
A 79-day adventure by Miguel Read more
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  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    Day 1

    Welcome!

    May 23, 2015 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Hey everyone, hope you are enjoying yourselves wherever you may be! So this is the site I will be using to share my adventures in Singapore... it's my first time doing anything like this so we'll see how it goes. I hope I didn't forget to invite anyone, but if you feel like you want to share this with friends and/or family, here is the link:

    https://findpenguins.com/5vpsddbcly1b8/81349797…

    I hope to keep updating as regularly as possible. The current news is my flight departs tomorrow at 8:15pm, Ottawa - Toronto - Hong Kong - Singapore. Everything should be fine as long as my luggage isn't lost, wish me luck!    Read more

  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    Day 4

    Pit stop in Hong-Kong

    May 26, 2015 in Hong Kong ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Landed a couple of hours ago in HK and had my first meal on the asian continent: scrambled eggs, macaroni and ham soup, and a croissant (not as foreign as expected). I'm just watching the planes fly in before mine departs in an hour (that's the airbus I'll be taking in the picture). HK is definitely different than Canada but it's still pretty western, kind of like Toronto but way more massive. Only one flight left and I'll be in Singapore!Read more

  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    Day 4

    Salutations from Singapore

    May 26, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Finally got to my residence after a 3.5 hour flight, 1 hour subway ride across the city, a 10 minute cab-ride that ended up in an hour-long backtrack walk. Today I learned that when you don't exactly know where you're going, ask MANY people for directions. Whether it's the officer at the neighbourhood police post, a construction worker on his lunch break, or a highschool secretary, it's always good to get a second opinion to make sure you're (still) going in the right direction.

    My room is fantastic: small but comfortable, furnished with a double bed, night table, two (!) desks with chairs, functional AC and fan, and more than enough closet space. The view from my 12th-story balcony is fantastic (see pictures below)! Bathroom, kitchen and living area are shared with the rest of the floor (up to 5 people, I know there are at least 3 others already).

    I just got back from a little excursion at a nearby shopping mall and picked up an outlet adapter for my laptop. It is ridiculous how many food shops there are in that place, probably more than I could cover if I only ate there my entire stay! Tomorrow's mission is to buy a towel and an unbrella and do some more exploring. Time to go eat some hawker food (for those of you who aren't familiar: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_centre
    )!    Read more

  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    1
    Day 5

    Day 2: more exploring...and getting lost

    May 27, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today started off with a bowl of laksa, one of Singapore's signature dishes. I then headed out on the path along the Jurong River to find a shopping mall. The fastest way to cross is through the Chinese gardens, where I climbed the twin towers (no, not the ones in LOTR) and read up on Confucius and other Chinese heroes. I know this makes me sound incredibly uncultured, but Mulan isn't just a Disney movie.

    I was able to pick up my toiletries at the mall, which was actually a mega-mall comprised of three Eaton-Centre-sized malls linked together, (one of which I didn't even have the time to explore). I also toured some more of the city and got lost again, so I think I'm going to stick near the MRT (subway) stations for the time being. I also met some of my floor mates: a girl doing her PhD in Biology at NTU (same school I'll be working at) and her husband who just came back from Rio (he's a cargo ship navigator). They seem very friendly and I think we'll get along fine. Maybe tomorrow I'll take the MRT with her and get a campus tour.    Read more

  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    Day 6

    Day 3: more adventures and exploring

    May 28, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today I decided to take my mom's advice and go check out the Singapore Rowing Association (SRA). It is located on the edge of the Pandam Reservoir which provides water to the city's inhabitants (and incidentally a great area to row). It took a while to get there: first a MRT ride 3 stations east and then a 5km bus ride. An interesting part about transportation in Singapore is that the fares are variable, unlike in Canada where bus/metro tickets are fixed rates. Every station here has tables of fees for different distances and passenger types; there is usually a flat rate of around 0.70$ and about 0.10$ per additional km. The SRA itself wasn't too exciting (unless you're a rower, in which case it was phenomenal), basically just a bunch of shells and oars of all sizes: single, double, quad and eight. The reservoir provided a cool breeze as I walked along it to get back into town, which was well appreciated considering it hit 42C with humidity today.

    After lunch I picked up a cable to upload pictures from my camera onto my laptop in yet another megalodon of a shopping centre. The highlight though was dinner, pictures of which are included below. It consisted of noodles with mushrooms in chili sauce and a bowl of soup containing minced meat, crab and fish balls. As I was served the cook cracked an egg into the broth and then lit a candle under the bowl. It was very tasty and by far the coolest thing I have eaten yet. While on the subject, here are a few culinary tips I have picked up and would like to share:

    1. Pointing to something is the universal sign for "I want that"; comes in very handy when you can't pronounce/don't what you're ordering.

    2. If the cook asks you something and you don't know what they said, just nod and smile. Chances are they just asking you if you want all the ingredients (fine for me since I'm not picky) or extra chili sauce.

    3. If there is something in your food that you don't think you should eat, show your bowl to the cook. If it's a stone or something inedible, you'll get another free meal.

    4. Do NOT stabs your chopsticks in rice, or anything for that matter. Everyone will stare at you weirdly. Same thing goes for eating with your hands, unless your a eating Indian food, in which case it's okay (make sure they are clean first though).    Read more

  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    Day 7

    Day 4: NTU campus tour

    May 29, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today I met my supervising professor italian Dr. Cesare Soci (believe it or not, I'm actually here to work). He showed me around the state of the facilities and introduced me to his other graduate students. After eating lunch in their canteen I spent the afternoon exploring the rest of campus. It is so big though that I only managed to cover about a third of the map in 3 hours. They have a beautiful campus and one of the biggest sports rec facilities I have ever seen. I meant to take more pictures but both my ipod and camera died so I'll have to go again sometime just so that you get an idea of it all. In the meantime you can always check out the google maps street view if you're interested. Hope you all enjoy your Friday, bye for now!Read more

  • Miguel YoungSingapore Summer Internship
    Day 8

    Day 5: Exploring Chinatown

    May 30, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today I got to see one of Singapore's most colorful areas: Chinatown. I got there early before the markets opened so I could get a good look at everything before it got too busy. I spend the morning strolling through the streets while tailors and various merchants assailed me for my business. This was definitely overwhelming at first as it not the way I'm used to shopping in Canada. I also visited a mosque, a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple and a Christian church. The temples are by far the most ornate of these buildings, decorated with brightly painted statues and offerings for their various deities.

    I had lunch in yet another hawker centre, but not before visiting the wet market in the basement of the building. There you could buy any and all foodstuff, from fruits of veggies (some of which I have never seen before), meat and fish, herbs and spices, fresh noodles and dumplings and all sorts of other things. I'll upload those pictures on another post since there is a maximum of 6 per post. I ate a "shark nugget" sweet noodle soup, after which I relaxed by watching some old men play checkers and Chinese chess. I was going to play a game myself, but when I saw money being exchanged after games and heated arguments over move take-backs (yikes, these guys are way too serious!), I decided to stay out of trouble and move on.

    I visited another church, mosque, temple and shrine and then made my way to the Singapore City Gallery, where I saw exhibits spanning the city's history from its foundation in the 1800s as well as plans and displays of upcoming infrastructure projects on the island. Before I headed home I wanted to also visit Singapore's oldest temple (now turned into a museum and heritage site) as well as the Majestic opera house but sadly they were both closed for renovations. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to come back next year.    Read more

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