Reserapport - KI-student
Lärosäte: Nanyang Technological University
Utbildningsprogram: Biomedicin
Utbytesprogram: INK
Termin: Vårtermin 13/14

Innan avresa

Motive:
The reason why I choose to take this opportunity and conduct my thesis project abroad was partly because of my previous experience with studying abroad, having studied one semester in the Netherlands. My desire to travel the world and gather experience from different places only became bigger after this first experience. Why I choose Singapore is because I wanted to travel to a country far away from Sweden with a totally different culture and environment (Hot!). A friend of mine who studies one year ahed in the biomedicine programme had did his thesis work in Singapore as well and only had positive things to say. So the choice for me was pretty easy! Of the 2 appliable Universities in singapore, National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, I got accepted into the latter.


Preparations:
One should be prepared for all of the paperwork that comes along with the complicated registration process ahead if applying for any of the universities in Singapore. I definitely recommend visiting the international coordinator several times during this process which will make it a lot smoother. Also print out all of the documents like the nomination form, certificates, passport scan etc and keep them organized in a folder since you will need them during your trip and once you've arrived at your university for the registration.
Once you've been admitted, I would strongly suggest that you start thinking about what areas interest you the most and look for a Professor willing to supervise your thesis project. This process can be discouraging at times since a majority of the Professors you contact will not even answer. But be persistent and keep emailing with this in mind and you will eventually find a lab willing to have you! Some tips is to make the mail personal by showing interest into the specific subject of the Professors research, and also attach a CV listing your previous experiences in the lab and maybe even some references. Here is a list of all of the professors in the School of biological sciences and their respective projects.
Another matter to start considering soon after youre admission is the different vaccinations one have to take before the trip, Twinrix for ex (Hepatit A + B) has to be taken in 3 sessions with the second one being taken 3 months after your first and the third one 6 month after the second. So visit the student health centre for more information on what vaccinations to take, and also the discounts available for KI students!



Ankomst och registrering

Since the process of finding an accomodation takes time, I would suggest that you arrive to Singapore at least 2 weeks before your project starts since it takes time to settle in as well as getting use to the time difference (7 hours). It is also nice to have some time to explore singapore before starting the project work. We arrived at singapore the 6th of january and stayed in a hotel during our first week and a half.
Once we had arrived and sorted out an accomodation, it was time for the registration at NTU. As I've mentioned before I would recommend having all of your documents organized since these will be necessary for the registration and to eventually receive a singaporean ID. There will be a lot of exchange students and understandingly a quite long queue. So therefore, be there early!
But there were no introduction days for the exchange students in contrast to my previous experience in holland were we received mentors which showed us around while also taking part in activities were we got to know one another.

Ekonomi

The rent which we had to pay each month as I've mentioned before was 4500 SEK per person. Included in the price was electricity and Hot water, but we had to pay extra for the WIFI. I would strongly recommend including the electricity and hot water into rent since singapore as you may or may not know is a VERY humid country, and using the AC frequently can result in an expensive bill! But everything else in Singapore except the accommodations are a lot cheaper compared to Sweden. The food for example ranges from 10-40 SEK in the different food courts which are scattered all over, so the majority of the population just eat out instead of cooking at home. 
Riding a cab is also very cheap compared to sweden, the highest amount we paid for a cab during our stay  was 150 SEK which was the long trip to and from the airport. But the normal ways to get around are with the MRT (subway) and busses, you buy a card which you load with cash. each trip might cost you between 5-10 SEK depending on the length of your journey.

Boende

When it comes to the accommodation, I was lucky enough to have 3 of my friends from my class also travelling to singapore, we therefore choose to share an apartment. We contacted an property agent via the site http://www.propertyguru.com.sg/ and let her know what our requirements were. She then took us on several viewings upon our arrival and we got to choose the apartment best suitable for us. We choose a furnished 2 bedroom condo with 2 bathrooms, a large living room and kitchen for 4500 SEK per person each month. This condo was part of a complex which had an outdoor pool, gym, tennis and basketball courts. Included in the rent was electricity and hot water which I strongly recommend that you also do. This because Singapore is a VERY humid country which means a lot of AC usage and also a high bill if not included into the rent. For any student travelling alone, I would recommend contacting the university for an accommodation on campus which is a much cheaper alternative than renting a condo alone. Alternatively try to find someone willing to sublet a room through the site http://singapore.roomsdb.net/ or the groups  "singapore exchange" and "NTU exchange" on Facebook were people announce rooms they're renting out. 
View from the condo.

Studier allmänt

I choose to conduct my thesis project full time and not reading any courses which I recommend since you need to put in a lot of time into you project. I did my project in the School of biological sciences in the NTU campus which has very modern facilities. I didnt see my professor that often since the lab had a lot of researchers while he/she also had responsibilities within the University. A Postdoc in the lab was my co-supervisor and the one responsible for guiding me during the project. This will most likely be the case for you as a student regardless of were you go, so I would recommend that you try to spend time with your professor outside the lab in the form of having lunch for ex so they get to know you on a personal basis as well. This will make it easier to ask for a recommendation letter after the completion of your project while also leaving a mark. I would also recommend bringing a KI Lab book with you to the lab in which you can document all of the experiments, and dont be afraid to ask questions being afraid to look stupid, to the contrary it will come of as you showing interest. Also read the criteria that set the different grades apart like independence, professionalism (going to seminars) etc and bring your A-game from the very beginning if you are aiming for the higher grades. I would also recommend that you ask for good articles to read so that you learn about the area of research before arriving to the lab.
The School of Biological Sciences (SBS)

Kurser under utbytet

Kurser motsvarande termin 6 på KI
Did not read any course, choose to make my Thesis project full time (30 ECTS).

Språk och kultur

The official language is in fact English so there is not really any problems with communication.They do however mix in a few words from languages such as mandarin and malay which might be confusing in the beginning. But you learn these pretty fast. The population in Singapore is very mixed with the majority being immigrants from other asian countries. The culture is therefore also very mixed with visible influences from india and china for example. Be sure to visit little china and little india!

Fritid och sociala aktivteter

Since I was mainly in the lab while in the university, I did not get to know many of the students on campus. There is however events organized by the students which you can check out at the Facebook group "NTU exchange students". 
NTU has its own gym and pool facility along with a Sport Club (http://www.ntusportsclub.sg/) with a bunch of sub-clubs ranging from wall climbing, judo, martial arts, floorball, soccer, basketball. This is completely free for the NTU students and a perfect opportunity to meet fellow students, I tried out Judo for the first time which was very fun!
Among the places I really recommend others to go during their stay is firstly Clark Quay which has a lot of nice bars and restaurants were a lot of exchange students hang so it is a perfect place to meet people. Secondly I would recommend the man made beach Sentosa were you can play volleyball and also the national park which is extremely beautiful. Thirdly Also visit the "Marina Bay" with its roof top bar along with the close by "Satay by the bay" which has very nice and cheap barbequed food.

What I definitely recommend you to do during you stay is to take the chance to travel! Singapore is very centrally located i south east asia making it very cheap to travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and China with the low budget airlines tiger air and air asia. A good time to travel is during the days of the chinese new year which is a public holiday. We visited Tioman in malaysia for a weekend scuba diving course in the middle of our stay. This was a bargain costing 3000 SEK with everything included, the trip, the food, the theoretical part everything! And since we performed these theoretical parts in singapore, we could focus on just diving and relaxing while in Tioman. The company we did this at was Gill Divers and i definitely recomend them, very nice instructors that were really passionate about diving. Since the semesters in singapore start earlier than in Sweden, we ended our projects by the end of april. So we had some time left before our flight back home so we squeezed in a 10 day trip to Bali aswell. But in order to do this, I recommend that you start writing on your report early so that the majority except maybe the discussion is done by the end of your project.

Sammanfattning

My time in singapore is a period in my life that I will always remember and cherish, at times it was challenging but also rewarding. What I've learned and experienced will without a doubt be helpful in my future career. So if you're not quite sure if you wanna go or not, just do it! You have nothing to lose, just a lot of memories and experience to gain.