Singapore

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Besides the documents required by NUS ( two passport copies, photos, and IPA letter, two copies of terms and conditions) and ordinary items, here are a few items I recommend you to bring:

• Adapter, Router, and cable

• Umbrella (big one)

• Camera (for memories)

• Your favourite snacks from home 

• Some cash in Singapore dollars or US dollars  

Click "More" about what to pack for Singapore trip

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Yay~ I left China for Singapore on August 2. Everything was great!! 

The weather is pretty nice here. But It is more humid and a little bit hotter than Hawaii. 

I got my Singtel SIM card and NETS card for Public transportation at the airport. Then I took a taxi to school that cost me 20 Singapore dollars. The public transportation is very convenient here. You can either take the taxi, Uber, Bus or Subway. 

Finally, I got to my dorm ~ Shereas Hall, as the picture shown. Shereas Hall is very close to Business school and HSSL ( Library) as well as the Bus stop!  But the bad is that there is no air conditioner available but fan only. And, there is single room only. If you are air-con person, I recommend you not to applying for any Hall. You need to look through the housing website to check which housing you prefer. 

Of course, the advantages of living in Shereas is that there are many events going throughout the semester. You can make local friends in the block Lounge and some fun activities. You will be notified via email. 

Click 'More" about Shereas hall events" 

We are invited to attend the Orientation at S17. There are Almost 1000 exchange students around the globe, most of whom are from European countries, China, Korea, Hongkong and the US. The Buddies group and Peers around us gave the information about registration and student pass for Visa. The whole lecture talked about the security and documents required for the visa. No matter whichever country you are from, you have to get a student pass through formal processes. 

The registration processes two weeks before the formal beginning of school. I was given the booklet about registration via email. The registration steps are not complicated. 

Click"More" about NUS guide

As a first-year student at Shidler Business school, I have to meet the minimum requirement of 12 credits. Since Business courses are really popular in NUS, the teacher recommended us not to dropping any business module registered on your application form unless the courses are not equivalent to the business course in your homeschool.

For exchange students, we have two weeks to add/drop classes as you want until the semester begins. After school begins, you have one week to submit the appeal form. And usually, the results come out in one week. The process is basically same as UH registration system. But the difference is that at NUS, the outcome of registration is updated in 16-24 hours instead of registration time. So please make sure that you double check your classes registeration on your IVLE on the next day.

For me, the registration begins on August 8 to August 14. I was not able to register the class I want, so I have to fill up the appeal form and submit it to the office after August 14. But I got the result on August 23, which made me stressed during the waiting time. Finally, I got the course below: 

• FIN 3102   Investments and portfolio management 

• FIN 3103   Financial Market

• FIN 3113   Financial statment Analysis

• MA1101R  Linear Algebra I 

Here are links that help you for school education and life. Some of them you can download the app on your Mobile. 

• IVLE=laulima      https://ivle.nus.edu.sg  ( app )

• NUS email= UH Gmail     https://exchange.nus.edu.sg/owa/auth/logon.aspx replaceCurrent=1&url=https%3a%2f%2fexchange.nus.edu.sg%2fowa%2f

• Class timetable: https://myaces.nus.edu.sg/cors/jsp/report/ModuleInfoListing.jsp

• Centralized class registeration: http://www.cors.nus.edu.sg/schedule.html

• NUS Shuttle: app on Mobile  

Click "More" about NUS Business School 

Singapore National Day is approaching........

I was so excited to get a chance to watch this biggest ceremony in Singapore. Some local friends and I went together to Marina Bay which is located in the central area in Singapore. I heard there would be thousands of people coming before the celebration begins, so we planned to departure around 4 pm then go shopping at some local markets around Marina Bay~Marina Bay Sands is one of the biggest shopping centers in Marina Bay. Here you can shop whatever you want. 

ok, back to this event. 

here's a brief timing of the events happening tmr at the waterfront:

1810 hrs: dynamic Defence display ( F16 fighter jets, navy boats, apache helicopters) will arrive at the waterfront and it's quite spectacular to catch them upfront at the waterfront area

1835-40: flying of singapore flag and another fly pass by the F16 fighter jets 

2010hrs: fireworks (1st wave)

2020hrs: fireworks (2nd wave during national anthem) 

*advisable to arrive by 5.30pm as the police will close up all entry to the waterfront area when it is around 80% full. Massive Crowd expected to gather around 6pm for the dynamic Defence display. 

Do bring your IDs along (student pass or passport) as security is tight tmr and there will be lots of random screening by police.

Here's a video of what to expect 

https://youtu.be/LVi3QEObaA0 

Click "More" about "National Singapore Day" 

NUS Peer Advising program invites some exchange students to travel around Singapore. I was lucky to be one of them. We went to little India and National Museum by Bus 95. 

Little India is a buzzing historical area that shows off how Singapore 's Indian community from Vibrant Culture lives. This little town is full of Indian culture involving food, historical buildings, Muslim culture. There are a lot of local stores that you can shop and restaurants that you can eat with fellows. 

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J.P Morgan has a recruitment talk session at NUS Business School. I registered the office tour for job opportunities. 

In order to preapre for my next internship application, I went to some recruitment talks that I am interested in and plan out what I am going to do next. Due to deep love in this city- Singapore, I am constantly searching opportunities in NUS school.  As an international student, I want to have a clear plan for myself to fully preparing job hunting. 

I found JP Morgan was inviting students from NUS and NTU to go office tour about career consulting. Then I registered as an exchange student, finally got a chance to visit this big name company. 

Click " More" about Career events in Singapore

I like to explore the culture by visiting the museum and parks. always refresh my understanding of what I got from books.  I went to Garden Bay and Art&Science Museum with three friends of mine. 

Garden Bay, a nature park located in Marina Bay, is regarded as a national icon of Singapore. It is absolutely a great chance for me to have the whole understanding of Nature world of the equator. 

Art & Science world is a museum, fulfill with the imagination of the future world. Many popular fashions are held every year here.  

I believe you will enjoy here if you had a chance to visit these two amazing places. 

NUS has a recess week around 09/23 to 10/02, which is also the same as Midterm time. So I have to balance well for vocation and review time. Some friends from Mainland China and I decided to go to Bangkok and Puget for Holiday since we thought Thailand is safer than other Southern Asian countries.

Day 1 we arrive at Thailand

Day 2 Chinatown and central place in Bangkok

Day 3 Palace

Day 4 off to Puget and shop around Patong beach

Day 5 Phi Phi islands ( Amazing, I highly recommend you to join the local tourism group which saves your money and time. 

Day 6 Shop around Patong for Spa and gifts for Family. 

Click more about my trip photos. 

After recess week, Midterm is coming.......

I would like to share the story about my study experience at NUS business college.

Financial statement analysis and Portfolio management are the biggest challenge class for me. Since I just took BUS 304 ( corporate finance) as an entry class for FInance major, It is not enough for me to directly into portfolio classes. But I have to take it because it is the pre-requisite course for finance major students.  If I drop this course, what I will face is that there will be no finance class for me to choose for next semester when back to UH. Thus, I took it as a challenge. 

The reason why it was hard was that there are a lot of case study that you have to do with your group. The skills involved include excel (solver) and basic financial market knowledge. Since I took financial market and portfolio at the same time, this class is totally nonsense for me. So I found it hard to catch up during midterm review time instead of the very beginning of class. I tried to talk with the professor to deal with my shortage of knowledge, but professor seems to be very busy in her research work. So I decided to learn by myself. 

Another challenge for me was Singlish. It is official English but talked in Singapore way, which called "Singlish". It is still hard for me to catch up their speed of speaking, especially in case presentation. So that forces me to review and do a lot of reading after class.  

Due to lack of some practice in previous classes, I had a big trouble while working with group members. I felt I almost failed to this class. Although there is no grade on my final transcript, it still important for me to get good grade for application for Graduate school. 

Here, I recommend you to double check what classes you will be taking, how the workload was for you.

Click "More" about study abroad struggles 

Here are some recommendations for you to be well-prepared for your exam. 

I heard from local students that the professor set the curve for grades, which means that the top 20 students in class will be able to get " A ". Although we exchange students just need to pass the course without the grade, it is still important for you to try your best to get good grades. 

For me, I am planning to go to graduate school in Fall 2019. The transcript from exchange school is required to be provided as a  part of the application process. Not only that, if you are going to apply for the job at big name company. You are required to provide the transcripts for your courses. But it really depends on what company you are applying for. 

After the Midterm week, there are only 5 weeks left. I feel a bit sad as the time is going so fast. 

I want to make the best use of my time to enjoy the school life at NUS for the rest of time.  But in fact, the upcoming projects and cases nearly spent all my time. I feel a bit hard to talk in group discussion since some language barriers. In addition, some skills required in the cases and projects I have never touched before made me lose heart. But with the help from group members, I am getting used to the process of doing the case. For some technique skills, like Bloomberg, solver, Matlab. I start to learn by online learning platform.  This kind of way pushes me to learn further instead of relying on the sources provided by the teacher. 

Fortunately, I get help from others and regain self-confidence. Although it takes time to struggling, I gradually found the best way to learn in a fast way. I think school life at NUS teaches me a lot in the study. It is not only about knowledge, but also the way to handle the study pressure. 

In addition to the study, I got some information from classmates about internship opportunities, which influences my thinking of the future career as well. Also, I made friends from Mainland China, Singapore, even from Australia. They are from the top university from their country. We share our values, thinking in future career path, which I have never thought about at UH during my sophomore year. 

I think study abroad life has been teaching me how to be independent, well-rounded, motivated person. I get answers from learning at UH and NUS. 

The night view of Singapore is really amazing. Skypark is one of the popular spots in which visitors soaring 57 levels above the heart of the city to have a broad view of Singapore. 

Here you can drink in the panoramic vistas of stunning Marina Bay, the world-class cityscape, the architectural wonders of Supertree Grove, and the vibrant colors of Gardens by the Bay. From Marina South Pier all the way out to the Singapore Strait, get a bird’s eye view of the bustling shipping lanes that have built Singapore’s rich multicultural history.

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There is no holiday on Thanksgiving day in Singapore. NUS kinda pushes students hard in the final. So I was fully filled with papers, two projects, and three finals. So I decided to cancel my volunteering at the elderly home but go to the universal studio with friends for a bit relax.  This amusement park is not that big as LA's one but is still worthy to go. I recommend you to purchasing an annual ticket that only costs 55 Singapore dollars for unlimited times. ​ 

The final week comes. I was a bit sad about leaving soon. On the one hand,  I really enjoy studying here with friends who come from the same culture with me. On the other hand, I think there are always new things to learn and I can expose myself to a new learning curve.  But I am still happy and proud of what I have learned during this semester. Singapore is an amazing city and moving forward at a fast pace in the current world. It offers great opportunities for young people to develop their career and achieve their dreams. As a finance student, I think I am lucky to study here. Studying at NUS business school absolutely taught me a lot about Singapore's financial Market in various aspects. I am really grateful for this opportunity offered by Shidler Business School. I believe one day I will come back to achieve my career dream.