January 9th, 2007
SINGAPORE
Adjusting to a New World
My second day in Singapore was equally as hectic as the first, but there was a lot more solved today. I am taking Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Circuits, Manufacturing Processes, and a Chinese language course. The classes are enough to break me in two, but my intention for this semester is to gain a lot of technical knowledge in preparation for the future. My time in engineering school is not going to last forever and I still do not feel like an engineer - I feel like a student studying engineering. Maybe it is not in my genes to be a down-and-out engineer, although I desperately want to.
I have not met my roommate yet, and I feel very much alone in Singapore. I called a few friends I made while in Hong Kong and they are coming to pick me up on Thursday to show me around, but they study at another university. My campus is enormous and the student population seems bigger than Georgia Tech so it is difficult to feel at home. Plus, Singapore is probably the most international city on earth in terms of nationalities. The resident population is comprised of Malaysians, Indians, Chinese, Singaporeans, Thais, Indonesians, and Philippinos (along with the smattering of other nationalities typical in most cities). Conversations range in a wide variety of languages, and there is a lot of combining the different ones. Singapore definitely feels like South East Asia, and I am still an outsider.
I suppose the day’s one bit of good news is that Georgia Tech contacted me about profiling me for prospective students. I don’t know if I found it more funny or flattering but I was taken back all the same. I do not know how I got this far, but if I know anything that can encourage others I am more than happy to share my ideas.
Before family starts worrying, life isn’t actually as bad as I am making it out to be here in Singapore. I had an unusually good time in Hong Kong and it will take time to reach the same level here. “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and all that.