Which Way Is West?

In preparation for this study abroad journey, I read The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew ,which provided a great political and historical context of how Singapore came to be what it is today, Singapore at Random: Facts, figures, quotes and anecdotes on Singapore by Didier Millet which was a great repertoire of fun trivia […]

The Hungry Ghost Festival In Chinese tradition, the 7th month of the lunar calendar signifies the opening of the gates of hell, meaning spirits of dead rise and roam the earth. The 15th day of this month is know as the Hungry Ghost Festival to Taoists and the Ullambana Festival to Buddhists. But the festival […]

English is one of the four national languages of Singapore, leftover from it’s days as a British Colony. English is the language of administration, and is all Singaporeans’ first language in school, as it allows for communication between different ethnicities and language groups. But the English you’ll hear in the classroom, government, and other formal […]

Five times throughout each academic semester, a group known as Octopus invites exchange students at NTU and NUS (National University of Singapore) into their homes to help introduce them to Singaporean food and culture, and to welcome them into the community. I was very fortunate to hear about this opportunity from a friend I met […]

Surabaya After Climbing Bromo, we had to do the same tiresome bus process backwards, but we eventually reached Surabaya for the night.  Surabaya is a huge city, the second largest in Indonesia, but isn’t on the top of any tourist’s list, in fact I doubt it’s even on anyone’s list at all. It was a […]

Indonesia is such a beautiful, special country, and it as been heartbreaking to see how marked by tragedy it has been these past months, with the devastating earthquake in Lombok and Lion Air plane crash. Bintan Island One weekend I was able get away from Singapore and my studies for a bit and travel with […]

For as much as Singapore has tried to forge a distinct, unified national identity, it’s cultural landscape remains wide and diverse. When trying to think of cultural symbols shared by all Singaporeans, what comes to mind is Hawker Centres, HDBs, and Singlish, all of which I’ve already covered, or shallow tourists icons such as Marina […]

While visiting an old friend and Mines alumni in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we saw ‘Earth & Sky’, a traditional Khmer dance show performed by Experience Cambodian Living Arts. This was an amazingly detailed and well-crafted performance, all of the costumes and dress were extremely intricate and the music was performed live. It gave us a […]

For such a highly populated urban city, Singapore hides a surprising amount of greenery. A few weekends ago I participated in the EarthLink Environmental Welcome Camp, in which we spent one day enjoying the good weather at the Labrador Nature Reserve, and took a ferry over to Pulau Ubin the next day to explore more […]

After weeks of trying many variations of extremely bitter or excessively sweet kopi, and stumbling through the pronunciations of different orders, I finally found a coffee order I like. Although now that I know how I like it, I probably drink way too much coffee, no matter how long the queue at the kopitiam. Learning […]