Amazing Experience in Singapore

 I would say I was so blessed getting the scholarship to study in National University of Singapore. Only few people could get this chance, and I was one of those few.  I departed to Singapore on 29^th of July 2012 and was back home on 10^th of December 2012. So it’s about 4,5 months staying in a slightly different country compare to Indonesia.

During my exchange program for one semester there, I was taking 5 modules in total with 3 examinable modules (12 modular credits) and 2 audit modules. Audit module means we’re taking that module only for adding knowledge by joining the class but not examinable. So we don’t need to do neither assignments nor the exams. However, for the tutorials it’s optional.  My examinable modules were Adolescent Psychology, Public Sector Organizational Behavior, and Theories of Communication and New Media, and my audit modules were Introduction to Politics and Social Work. Those 3 examinable modules were under different department, which were Psychology Department, Political Science Department, and Communication and New (CNM) Department respectively. My major is actually psychology, but since I heard that Communication and New Media Department in NUS is the third best in world, so I decided to take one module under that department. I also realized I had a keen interest to social and political issues, that’s why I was taking some modules from outside Psychology Department but there was still a correlation to psychology that could benefit me and my major.

Honestly I think the lecture I attended there in NUS was not really different with what I have in UI. There must be some differences but not really significant, such as the readiness of the lecturers before conducting the lecture, the way they encourage their students to study, the academic system used by NUS to assess their students, and so on. I think the lecturers there were always ready to teach. The one that I found in UI, sometimes the lecturers weren’t ready with the materials and came to the class so late. In NUS, you wouldn’t find lecturer came to class late. About the academic system, NUS used bell curve system, which was the performance of individuals in class were assessed by looking at the other student’s performance. So it means even though we got 90 in an exam, but the other students got more than that, we might only score B, B-, or even below. That was the challenge there. Sometimes I was feeling like disappointed every time I saw I only scored B in the exam I was so confident in answering. Moreover, students of NUS were working so hard. They studied all the night and day. Almost all students have already read the materials given the next day. In the class, they didn’t really speak up, but when they were asked to make an essay, they would make it so perfect. Sometimes I thought they had no life since they used most of their time to study.

I was staying in University Town, which were the buildings with luxurious facilities prepared especially for NUS students. At first, I didn’t get any room inside campus but I appealed again and I got it. But the room was assigned randomly so in my case I couldn’t choose in which type of dorm I would be staying. So far I liked staying there. But the one that I didn’t like were just the rates and the foods. It was so expensive. Even my friends from economically developed countries such as U.S, Japan, Netherland, Australia, France, and Germany still thought that it’s expensive. I had no choice, so I kept staying there for the whole semester with limited budget. I was still okay with that since I got a very convenient place and experience there. The foods were actually good in terms of quantity, but not quality. It’s actually very healthy and nutritious with a big portion they gave to us, but the taste was honestly so-so. I was not so happy with the foods but at least by making meal plans compulsory there, I was accustomed to eat regularly every day. The name of my building was Residential College 4, the newest building which was much closed to the street. There were not many people staying there because it’s still new so there were still many things under construction. Anyway, there was no problem so far.

During my exchange program in Singapore, I didn’t only study, but I also did some activities outside class, such as Judo, Best Buddies Singapore, Group Dance, and so on. I understood that this was a great chance so I wanted to explore myself and dig my talent through several activities that I thought I couldn’t get in my University as well as in my country. Judo is actually everywhere, I can also join judo in Indonesia but since I thought that the atmosphere would be different if I joined it in NUS, so I decided to join it there. For best buddies Singapore, I never even heard about this before in Indonesia. Best buddies is actually an organization that stands to help intellectually disabled people to explore themselves and improve their skills so that they will still be accepted in the society and ready to work. It’s a befriended program with me and some other NUS students as volunteer to become a buddy of the intellectually disabled person. We were paired based on the similarities of hobbies and interests that we had. The volunteers were asked to take their buddy out at least once a month and call them at least once a week. I think it was a very good program since we could make friends not only with the disabled people but also with other generous volunteers. Best buddies have many branches, such as in The Philippines, Thailand, U.S., Singapore, and so on. However, Indonesia doesn’t have it yet. I hope such program could be established soon in Indonesia. Other than Best Buddies and Judo, I also joined many activities arranged by International Relation Office of NUS special for exchange students. I always came to every event they created. In the end of the semester, in the farewell party, me and the other 9 exchange students performed a dance which was choreographed by one of us.

            Well, to sum up I would like to say thank you to UI who had given me the scholarship to experience one semester study in NUS. There were so many things I got there that taught me about life and success. I hope in the future, there will be many other exchange programs for UI students to the countries all across the globe. I am sure, if we come to the countries which are quite different in terms of culture and environment; we could learn even more than what I already got in Singapore. Thank you.