Transition

Well, it's been a little over a week now and I'm really starting to get settled in. I made it though all the challenges that have faced me so far, am starting to make some new friends, and am really getting to know my roommates pretty well. The "official" start of school was yesterday but they don't have any classes this week so I'm taking that time to get a jump start on my project. I've downloaded and installed a few of the necessary programs needed and am establishing contact with the DOE to get the source code to the EnergyPlus program to begin my analysis. I plan on writing an extensive blog post in the near future to clarify what exactly my Fulbright project is so people aren't lost when I reference it.

For this post I would like to share a short list of interesting cultural quips and experiences thus far:

- I recently bought a SIM card for my new cell phone (thanks Martin!) it is cheaper to call US phone numbers than it is to call other Singapore cell phones. I'm really baffled by this but it is nice to be able to call people at home whenever and wherever!

- It is actually much cheaper to eat out here than it is to buy groceries and cook it yourself. I spent over S$55 at the grocery store buying basically sandwhich-type stuff, juice, shampoo, etc and then you can get a full meal from a hawker center for S$3-5 (which is like US$2-3). Don't get me wrong - you can spend well over that if you eat at an actual restaurant but I've heard that the food isn't much better there than at most hawker centers; plus who wants to miss out on sitting on plastic chairs and being drenched in sweat while you eat.

- The humidity in Singapore is similar to standing outside on sort of a moderately hot day in the USA (75-80F)..... while wearing six layers of socks, snow pants, a winter coat, and maybe a couple snuggies (that one is for you Jake). It doesn't really seem like it should be hot but you're sweating like a dog.

- On the topic of weather, Singapore actually does have a winter season - it's in the shopping malls, offices, and classrooms. I came to the right country to study air conditioning for sure!

- The National Univ of Singapore and then country of Singapore itself are very well organized institutions but they LOVE paperwork. I officially have a FIN #, an application #, a NUS netID #, a PIN #, a student #, and my US Passport #; each of these generally also requires a special way of entering them into a computer system. Wow.

As in most posts I want to leave everyone with a smile on their face so please watch the following video. I get to watch this almost every morning and evening on the TV's in MRT (subway) station:

Well, here I am.

I never really minded flying - it always meant that I was going somewhere; usually somewhere new and exciting. The new and exciting part of my flight to Singapore was true but the 20 hour length was definitely mind numbing (and butt numbing). But I made it here safe and sound, got all set up in my apartment, and have ran around the city a little bit to become oriented. My first couple of days here were basically a collection of miniature conquests - finding my apartment, figuring out how to work the hot water in the shower, finding a grocery store, trying to figure out what the heck to buy at the grocery store, etc. This will probably be sort of the theme for my first week here as I fight off the culture shock and start to get acclimated to Asia.

The official start of the semester is next week, however I believe that the first week is formalities and "orientation". Before Monday I have to get my physical (which costs $30 here as opposed to the $300 it would have cost in the US), register with the gov't for my visa, and meet with the officials at the US Embassy for an initial "briefing" on my Fulbright.

Below are a few pictures from my first two days in Singapore, the rest can be found here.

View from my new apartment

my living room

Nice park near the bay (note the lawn mowing crew)

Standard "tourist" Singapore pose

Downtown Singapore

As a bonus - here is a short video of the Thian Hock Keng Temple near Chinatown (I got really wet on the way home...):

Goodbye Ireland, Hello Singapore

The final leg of my Ireland trip came to a pleasant conclusion as I met my good friend and soon-to-be old roommate Chip in County Kerry Ireland last Wed. I was a little worried whether the four flights getting him from Omaha to the quaint little Kerry airport would work out; much to both of our relief Chip walked out of the terminal and we were on our way. Our first stop was the town of Killarney where we rented bikes and rode around one of the most utterly breathtaking lakes I've ever seen. It would be a shame for me to try to describe it in words; I'll just post the link for the pictures (one folder for me, Chip, and a Slovenian girl named Helena who we met in the hostel who is an awesome photographer). A few of my favorites are below:

Riding bikes with the Swiss girls

Lake around Killarney

Another fun part of Killarney was all the really random people we met in hostels: Sweelai from Switzerland, Helena from Slovenia, Bob from Tasmania, Kevin from California, and Mikey the Brevete Alpine Irishman (ask me or Chip about this guy - got some awesome stories). Hostels may sometimes be dirty, uncomfortable, and lacking privacy but they sure are conducive to meeting some really awesome people.

One small drawback of the hostel life in Killarney was that I took my wet, smelly shoes off and put them in the bathroom to dry one night only to find them gone the next morning. Someone must have really needed shoes badly to take those old pumas. I was a little sad but my grief was short lived when I got to Dublin and bought some sweet Mercury Euro-style kicks - I think they're more stylin' anyway.

After leaving our friends in Killarney, we headed to the long-awaited Dingle Peninsula. Most of our experiences at this special place can be summed up in a couple of "Ode to Ireland" performance videos performed by yours truly and directed by Chip. Please contain your emotions:

After the Dingle Peninsula I parted ways with Chip and headed to Dublin. I was mildly impressed with Dublin - seemed to be more of a big tourist trap/business oriented city with crappy public transport (which was a big problem for a guy with only flip-flops!). I drank some Guiness at the brewery and got lost ten times for a total of like 5 hours. One really great part of Dublin was that I found a Catholic Cathedral ten minutes before mass was to start and they had a special choir there that only visits twice a year; they literally sounded like angels. Pictures from Dublin can be found here.

I flew back to Omaha on Monday and have since been preparing for my even bigger adventure in Singapore. I leave tomorrow at noon and won't be back until mid April! Kinda anxious, kinda sad to leave, but really excited about the adventure ahead!

Tea Time

For about the last week or so I've been wandering around the city of London with my good old pal (and old roommate) Kyle Hoback. I decided that I would try to focus on all the endless things which could be done in the city and not try to take a bunch of English day trips as I had planned earlier. Kyle and his LSE friends were awesome at showing me around and helping me know which tourist traps were the most important. I had the chance to walk along the streets of East London and learn the stories behind Jack the Ripper, explore the London Tower, take a nap in the parks, see Parliment, and eat fish and chips. One of Kyle's friends, Sanica, had a birthday party at a club in Picadilly Circus which gave a glimpse at the nightlife.

I think the most outstanding characteristic of the city of London is ridiculous amount of diversity; I think I only met maybe one or two British people the entire time I was there. There were a few afternoons where Kyle and I got set up at a table at pubs cleverly named things such as "The Bunghole" and "Ye Old Mitre" and just people watched. People of every shape, size, color, fashion sytle, language and culture can be seen - a really far cry from Frontier County NE!

Along with this exceptional diversity comes an overwhelming number of ethnic restaurants. I was able to sample Pakistani Punjabi, Argentine, Indian, of course, the world famous London fish and chips.

London Photos here.

Ireland!!

After one week into my Ireland/UK adventure - I feel like I have been gone for a long time! So much has been seen and experienced in such a short time that it blows my mind that this will be my life for the next month or so and even well into my nine months in Singapore.

I started out my trip to Ireland by flying into the Shannon Airport and taking a bus directly to the small town of Ennis. I checked into my hostel (Rowan Tree Hostel which is very very nice by the way) and started to explore. Ennis is the hub of County Clare, a place that I feel is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. I've always been a big fan of lush, rainy, green grass and picturesque countryside and this area is right out of a dream. The first day I visited the Cliffs of Moher with a tour group which was great but I felt very rushed. That night I ran into a couple of cool Australian girls, Katie and Laura, who were staying in my hostel and they invited me to ride with them to the Cliffs the next day and then onto Galway which was my next stop. The second trip to the cliffs was a much more fulfilling trip since we had time to just sit on the edge, eat an apple, and experience all the different sights and sounds. On our way to Galway we also stopped to sit and talk to a random Irish couple who was camping on the beach in their van - talk about a cool experience. Below are a pic from the cliffs (the rest can be found here)

On Wed and Thur, Katie and I took a trip to the Aran Islands off the coast of County Clare. It was one of the most stunningly gorgeous places I've ever seen. I have many of my pictures available to look at in Dropbox at this link. We rented a bike and rode all over the island and had a picnic on the edge of another cliff with an American guy from North Carolina. One highlight of my Aran Islands expereince is when Katie and I were biking down a random off road path (which was off the beaten tourist route) and I thought it would be cool to take a video with my camera while riding the bike. It turned out okay until there was a slight incline which I tried to slow down by braking with one hand - the results of my efforts can be seen in the following video. My camera doesn't have any sound; that would have made it a lot better if it did.

Despite the tumble I will never forget my first trek into western Ireland and the awesome people that I met there. Please please please let me know if you ever are planning a trip to that region and I can tell you exactly what you need to do to make it a life-changing experience.

The next few days will be spent in London with my old roommate Kyle Hoback who is pursuing a degree from the London School of Economics.

Cheers!

Off on a great adventure!

So here I am two years out of the AE Program at the Univ of Nebraska in Omaha - two quick years of building design and operations experience complete and ready to take on the next challenge in my career. A Fulbright Grant is part of a dream that I've had since I was a little kid - to live abroad and truly become familiar with another culture (back then I would have been ecstatic with just going to Iowa). Little did I know that I would be taking off to a country which is essentially a cross-roads of several different important world cultures. This blog will be a tribute to the lessons learned and the experiences gained along the way. For those of you that don't know, I'm also taking a trip to Ireland and London starting this Sat - so don't be thrown off when the initial pictures and posts seem to be full of Leprechauns instead of Dancing Dragons.

The title of my blog, "Nonstop Service to Singapore" comes from the witty (well not really that witty) response that I've been giving all the people that ask about my flight. I have yet to get anyone to believe that "Southwest Airlines recently added a nonstop flight to Singapore from Eppley... yeah, I think it's really cheap. Now you don't have any excuse to not visit!" I have a few more pretty gullible friends to try it out on - we'll see.

Now as a beginning theme for my posts; here is a list of Singapore lessons learned:

- Turns out moving to another country involves paperwork and medical exams. I had to send in one of my big toes the other day for testing to make sure I don't have swine flu.

- The NUS (National Univ of Singapore) has only 200 spots for Graduate Student housing and over 800 applicants; boy was I wrong in assuming that I would get one. Oh well, I think I almost have a room set up with a Computer Engineer named Ashish. I found him on easyroommates.com and his post mentioned that he would buy "move in night pizza" - jackpot!

For those of you that don't know anything about Singapore, here is a little informational video:

Yes - he said 15,000 people per square mile.