Finding my project was easy, I emailed a few professors and got fast responses. A year before departure I found a group at LKC Medicine of NTU which was willing to accept me. Now this was the easy bit. The hardest part was to get accepted by the university. Bureaucracy got a whole different meaning in my world when I applied to NTU. Everything that could go wrong did, e.g. my application was somehow lost, misinterpreted and neglected by NTU. The time difference did not make things easier when communicating with them but eventually, three weeks prior departure everything was set. Or so I thought. I encountered minor problems on the registration days and upon my departure back home to Stockholm. So my first tip to you who wants to apply to NTU (or to any Singaporean university): BE PATIENT! Eventually, everything will work out fine. You just have to have a lot of patience! And remember, you are on your own. Don't hesitate to email them as soon as you have any questions. 

Flights to Singapore may be very cheap depending on when you're buying the tickets. I bought my tickets for approx. 6500 SEK in the beginning of December. You can choose to buy only a one-way ticket if you're unsure when to return to Sweden but it will probably cost you more.

I arrived to Singapore 2 days before my semester started, but unfortunately I missed the introduction week at NTU. My landlord picked me up at the airport and I recommend you to ask your landlord/-lady to do the same. You also have the MRT and taxis. The airport is located on the green line, and takes approximately 1 hour to reach Pioneer MRT. However, opening hours for the MRT is 5.30 am - 12 am all week long. A taxi ride from the airport to the Pioneer MRT would cost you 30 SGD (approx. 240 SEK) to 60 SGD (480 SEK), or even more depending on the hour.

I would recommend you to arrive to Singapore a few days before the semester starts. In that way you will hopefully have the chance to acclimatise a bit. The time difference and the climate takes a toll on you in the beginning. 

Your first days in the semester will be registration. You will have to show all the documents in order to get a student card and a temporary ID (with a social security number). You will receive information about dates, time and location from the school 2-3 weeks before departure. But once again, make sure that you have all your documents, photos and other information when you register at NTU. 

Singapore is an expensive city-state. I would even say that considering the social standards, it is more expensive than Sweden. Cooking your own food is usually not that much cheaper than buying it. Singapore imports all food, which might explain the prices. A meal from food court or hawker costs 30-50 SEK. My biggest concern was not price but the content. The food is not very healthy, most of it is fried. And if you do find vegetables, it is in most cases overcooked and therefore lacks most its nutrition. The food is very tasty but not so healthy.

As a student, you are not entitled to a student MRT card, i.e. you have to pay adult prices. If you live nearby school, I would recommend you to buy a top-up card, rather than a monthly card. A one-way trip to downtown from Pioneer MRT would cost you 2 SGD (14 SEK). 

My monthly budget which only included meals, rent, MRT top-up card and weekend activities like museums was around 10 000 SEK. It is important to remember that your first month will probably be the most expensive one, until you figure out things like where to buy cheap food.

In addition to the budget, you have several fees to pay at NTU, e.g. sports facility fee and medical insurance which in total costed approx. 1200 SEK. It is mandatory to pay the medical insurance, even though KI provides with one!

If you want to go abroad before, during or after your stay, please include that in your budget. 

Cost of living in Singapore is high, almost higher than Sweden and housing is very expensive. I paid 600 SGD (approx. 4200 SEK) for one bedroom (with an air mattress, no bed!) with private bathroom and "no cooking"-policy at Pioneer MRT which is the closest MRT station to NTU. I bargained the price from 750 SGD which is still quite cheep for being Singapore.

I never visited the Novena Campus but if you will do your project there, then look up which MRT station is the closest.

As I have no prior laboratory experiences, I cannot compare KI to NTU. But you are expected to work more than 8 hours, which is probably not the case in Sweden. My group did not expect me to work independently in the beginning and I got plenty of help. But I think they expected me to have a lot more knowledge about structural biology, biochemical assays and how to set up experiments. When I compared myself to fellow NTU students with similar background as me, I came to realise that Sweden and KI approaches things differently comparing to Singapore and NTU. My fellow students in the group were perhaps more knowledgeable than me, but I as a Swedish student had other qualities, e.g. critical thinking. Knowledge is something you can acquire, and there will be times when you will feel insufficient but do the best you can. 

Singapore and Sweden have different ways of looking at life, studies and free time. Singaporeans are disciplined and take their jobs very seriously. Many whom I met put their careers ahead of everything else, and working with them was a privilege. When they know something, they know it very, very well and as a student, such environment is both stimulating and challenging. It motivates you to work even harder.

A project work takes a lot of time, and being in a foreign country takes even more energy. You will probably be fully acclimatised by the time for your departure so my best tip is to plan your project and your stay. You will probably want to do non school-related activities in the weekend so make sure to work well Mondays to Fridays. Start writing immediately, as it is always easier to erase things in the last minute than to add a lot of new information. It can be good to do some reading before arriving, e.g. find articles that your group has published or ask your professor which articles he/she recommends. 

By the end of your stay, you will most likely have a small presentation for your group. A tip is to do the best you can of it in order to improve it for the "real" presentation you will have at KI. 

Given that Singapore has 4 official languages, the spoken English will be something very new to you. It has elements of the other official languages and for some reason they like to add "la" from time to time. It may be difficult in the beginning to understand them and to be honest, I never got the chance to fully understand that English but you'll get used to it. 

Singaporeans are very, very friendly. They are so friendly that when the monsun is coming, and you are without an umbrella, they will share their with you. They would even walk with for a bit until you find shelter. 

What stroke me the most was how secure I felt. During my stay, I only saw the police twice. Instead, there are CCTVs everywhere. On top of that, the punishments are extremely cruel and severe which probably discourage people to commit crimes. As a woman, walking alone in the middle of the night, not having to constantly look over my shoulder was definitely something new and amazing! This comes in stark constrast to the neighbouring Malaysia so if someone says that it is dangerous there, you can dismiss that!

Concerning student life besides school: there are many parties organised by NTU and NUS. Many clubs have student nights (free entry before a certain hour) and Wednesdays are sacred nights for women since most clubs organise "ladies night", meaning free alcohol for women. If you're a man, that's bummer since alcohol is very expensive in Singapore. Even more expensive than Systembolaget and Swedish clubs/pubs. 

NTU and NUS also organise trips, sports activities etc and it is all on Facebook. 

Besides doing school-related activites, I encourage you to go to other Asian countries. I went to Malaysia and Gunung Lambak over a day, to do some trekking. You can easily reach southern Malaysia (also known as Johur Batur) by local traffic, using your MRT / top-up card. Flights to Thailand and Indonesia cost approx. 2000 SEK. Take the chance to have some vacation during Chinese New Years, if you don't feel like experiencing it in Singapore. The best opportunity for you to go abroad would be after your project is done. The semester usually ends last days of April, so take a week off, do some travelling before you head back to Sweden. 

Singapore has a mix of both East and West. It has better standards than most Asian countries but a few things bugged me. The society is very conservative, old-fashioned but yet modern. Death penalty and caning which are relatively common punishments stand in stark contrast to the otherwise very modern and digitialised Singapore. Old people, over 70 years of age, cleaning tables after you because they don't get a pension, do not really fit a society where some men and women earn several hundred thousand SEK per month. Singapore is a country with many contrasts, and it is difficult to define it. You have to experience it, so despite my negativity in this report, I encourage you to go there. It is a very valuable lesson, whether or not you like it. It is different, and in the end, that's what I wanted. To go to a completely different society, to experience things one hardly sees in Europe. Doing an exchange is rarely for the sake of school because an exchange period is so much more than a thesis. It is new people, new food, new ways of thinking, establishing new habits and connections. If Singapore is not your choice, pick another place for an exchange. Living in another country is an experience you'll hardly forget and regret!