Reserapport - KI-student
Lärosäte: National University of Singapore
Utbildningsprogram: Biomedicin
Utbytesprogram: INK
Termin: Vårtermin 13/14

Innan avresa

One semester, wrong hemisphere, away from family, friends and the security of your hometown. This was the most scary thought. What made me take the step and fullfill this committment was probably that three of my nearest friends were admitted for exchange in the same country. I got my friends with me, a new family, ready to create a new security in a new country, the Republic of Singapore. Okay, enough with the cheesy-talk, this is not a love story, but a story of a journey that began in Sweden, with a lot of paperwork and intramuscular injections of antigens (yes I mean vaccination). The most important thing to have during the preparations is patience, and a lot of it.
For the vaccination, you need to contact your preffered vaccination centre, and they will guide you. KI pay somevaccines depending on your program, check that up prior to vaccination.
For th paperwork, first, the university for exchange, in my case National University of Singapore (NUS), needs to accept you to their excahnge program as an incoming exchange student. Even though you are admitted to their exchange programme, you need to apply for the "courses" you are reading. When that is done, you need to wait for a number to use for application of the student pass, which is a "green card" for students. And the list goes on. Big thanks to our "international coordinator" for all the help, you made this possible. One advice though, start as soon as possible!
Merlion. Singapores kanske kändaste turistmål.

Ankomst och registrering

One problem we had was that the registration date was earlier than an exam we had, and the solution the course administrator and the international coordinator came up with was to send the exam to Singapore.Thus we travelled to Singapore ~ one week earlier than announced start in the laboratory and during this week, we stayed in hotel studying for the exam, searching for an apartment and in fight against the notorious jetlag (especially A'). Finding cheap hotels is not easy in Singapore,  if possible, try to avoid the area known as Geylang, especially if you are a female.
Registreringsdagen på NUS för alla utbytesstudenter.

Ekonomi

Singapore has for a long time been on the top lists of "most expensive places on earth". Don't let this scare you. The biggest expense you will have is for the housing. Otherwise, public transportation is rather cheap (you pay per fare as they don't have "Månadskort") as well as taxi fares. You very rarely eat at home (we cooked dinner approx. 5 times duringing our visit) as eating out is cheaper than ating at home with the average meal landing around 20-25 SEK. Keep in mind that virtually all food is imported to singapore and perishable goods such as dairy products and meat are very expensive and will be sparingly served. The four of us payed ~5000 SEK each month for the housing only but as the food, prepaid cellular were relatively cheap, one will survive with the CSN loan at ~9000 SEK each month including personal amusements. It is recommended to have a sum of money in the bank in case there is a problem or if the rental is due prior to the swedish date of wage payment. Most people tend to travel a  lot during their visit because in 2 hours and 2000 SEK or less you can travel to a nearby paradise island. If you plan on doing so, a small sum of saved money might be a good idea.
Regular meal at the local food-court

Boende

In Singapore you be faced with several options when it comes to accomodation. First, you will need do decide if you want the partner university to fix you a student apartment at or around campus, if no, you need to do it all by yourself. When looking for an apartment to rent in singapore, it will be difficult to find someone willing to rent you for less than 6 months, although it is not impossible. Secondly, you will find that there are HDB apartments or aprtments at Condos. HDB means that the apartment is built by the government and is thus cheaper than the private ones, they usually do not include a swimming pool, gym, barbeque pit nor a guarded entry, although some may have a laundry room. Condos are privately built and usually includes everything mentioned above and of course include a higher price tag thereafter. 
The 4 of us decided that we should stay together in an apartment /condominium (condo) and did not apply for the housings offered by the school. We had access to 3 pools, one jacuzi, sauna, gym, laundry room, guarded gates. We payed approx. 4500 SEK per month and person. The downside was that the lab was far away from Biopolis (where I had my internship) and took me about 45 minute to get to and from the lab. However, it was close to the other university (NTU) where two of my fellow mates had their internships. The donwside of staying outside campus was that it was not easy finding students to hang with wheras the exchange students who stayed at campus had activities planned together such as travelling. If that is your cup of coffee, then you should reconsider staying outside of campus. I don't regret the option we chose although both have their pros. and cons.
"The Floravale" View from the apartment

Studier allmänt

I did my bachelor thesis project at the Translational Laboratory of Genetic Medicine (TLGM) wich is a joint venture between NUS, A*Star (A research "company") and are in close colaboration with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. It is located at Biopolis, one MRT station away from NUS and is considered to be better for the personal record, so if you do get the opportunity to do your thesis at biopolis, you should probably take it, but as I already mentioned, it is located outside of NUS campus.
Searching for a lab who will accept you as an intern is problably the hardest thing to do before leaving for Singapore. Start searching early on and use KI in the title when you write the email. Some of us sent one email to several Principal Investigators (PIs) at different labs at one time, and got several replies of which they had to reject. My advice is to rank all the PIs and email then one at a time, and if one the first doen't answer, you go on to the next one, and so on.
The lab I landed in was awesome. The PI was canadian and did think much like Swedes when it comes to work-raltions and discipline, wheras the Singaporean culture seem to have a more strict relation to work, you start work at 8:30 and finish 18:00, not one minute earlier, and not one minute later. Most of us did get a Post-Doc to supervise our work and my Post-Doc taught me the techniques very good but he wasn't around more than that. Thankfully, the PI and I got more of a friend-friend relationship rather than a boss - employer relationship wich I am very grateful of, so he helped me with every problem I had and did more for me than he had to, thank you PI!
The project was graded by KI so no need to worry about the Singaporean grading system.

Biopolis at Buona Vista, Singapore

Kurser under utbytet

Kurser motsvarande termin 6 på KI
Only did my bachelor thesis and did not read any course. I have not met anyone who have read any course so I cannot say anything about the courses at NUS.

Språk och kultur

The main language in Singapore is English and you rarely encounter one who doesn't speak english. The only it happened to me was at a foodcourt in the outskirts of the city and it was such a pain in the "foot" as it took me 3 minutes to order an ice tea instead of 3 seconds...
The english spoken i Singapore is humorously referred to as Singlish since they hae some phrases taken from some of the nearby languages, it does take some time getting used to but after a while you tend to use the same phrases when you want to make a joke, and Singaporeans love it when you make fun of their Singlish.

Fritid och sociala aktivteter

Singapore is what I would call the Dubai of Asia. Since they have such a strong economy they have the ability to build all the attractions they want and can call them the "biggest" the"meanest" and the "baddest". I did sometime feel like it was too artificial sometimes and sometimes I took it for what it was and enjoyed the ride. Of course, if you want the biggest meanest and baddest you will have pay the fee for having it. There is always something to do in here, whether it's shopping at cheap local brands or at the most luxurious boutiques known to man, whether it's having dinner at the local food-court or having dinner on top of Marina Bay Sands (the worlds most expensive building) whether it is swimming in the infinity pool on top of this building, or swimming at Sentosa beach, you will never feel like you have nothing to do.
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of "paradise" islands in close proximity to Singapore and there are a few low-fare airlines that go there regularly. We went for a diving trip in Tioman, Malaysia for a relatively cheap price and later on we went to Bali, Indonesia, which is a beautiful place if you learn how to avoid the youngsters party-places. The countries around singapore are relatively cheap and you will feel that a dinner is a bargain compered to singapore, 60 minutes car ride away from Singapore. I recommend travelling while you are there, some like to take one long vacation at the end of the internship whilst some like to take short weekend visits. You have the options of doing both, you create your own opportunity!
GerGer beach at Nusa Dua, Bali

Sammanfattning

I have never gained this much experience in such a sort period as I have done during this exchange. About staying abroad, about living in a place with a totally different culture, in the lab and what it means to do research, but most of all, (yes i know it's cliché to say this, but) about myself. I do not regret one second that I did this exchange. Would I do it today if I had the chance? Probably not, but certainly in one year or so! I hope you defeat your fears and take this opportunity and if you need anything, I will be more willing to assist you as much as I can if you feel like you need some help or guidance. Just contact me in one way or another!
Last day celebration at One Altitude. Goodbye!