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: