I must give a super-duper extra special thanks to Cindy Howe! She is the person in charge of co-ordinating all of the exchanges, and for answering all the silly little emails from worried students like me. You should go see her if you have any questions about exchange! Don't worry, she's very friendly. Just go to the Engineering Year 1 Office... from the Systems hallway, it is the first door in front of you when you enter CPH. She is the first door on the left. As well, Professor Ratz has done a tremendous job keeping contacts with all the universities, and encouraging students to participate in exchange programs.
I am in Systems Design Engineering, class of 2000 (Farsyde). I will
be spending my 3A term overseas at the Nanyang
Technical University. It is an English school! My school-work sequence
for 1998 was modified as follows:
| Normal | Exchange |
| Jan-Apr: 4th workterm | Jan-Apr: 4th workterm (at Mitel Semiconductor, Ottawa) |
| May-Aug: 3A school term | May-June: 5th workterm (at Mitel Semiconductor, Ottawa) |
| Sep-Dec: 5th workterm | July-Nov: School in Singapore |
| Nov-Dec: Travel |
The school term is Singapore starts July 13. However, there is an exchange orientation scheduled July 1st, and registration seminars for the rest of the week. It is strongly recommended you attend those. The last exam finishes November 7.
Tuition is paid at Waterloo. However, you save about C$200 in incidentals like the athletics fees.
Singapore makes you pay for health insurance unless you can prove you have your own. It costs about S$30.
Residence is cheap! It is about S$120=C$105/month for a room (with a Singaporean roommate). There is a S$15 Hostel Application fee.
Food is supposed to be cheap as well. According to Howard Chan, he spent about C$125/ months. NTU estimates it at S$400/month. Quite a difference!
The plane ticket: Howard says it cost him C$1350. According to the travel agent, that was because of the timing. When I inquired, it was C$1650+tax. Since I added Pakistan afterwards, it became C$1800+tax. Taxi to the University is S$35.
The visa is about S$80. You receive a two-week visitor pass on entry, and then apply for a year-long student visa after that.
There is a refundable library deposit of S$100.
I can't do justice to the subject like The Lonely Planet can.
Also check out the Singaporean Government web page for the official story.
The average daytime temperature in Singapore is 32 degrees celsius. Current Forcast from the Weather Network
The language of administration and education is English.
A lot of this work was done by Ben Moore, who subsiquently decided not to go.
If you count it up, there are only three courses! Prof Ratz suggested only taking 3-4 courses, as Singapore is known to have courses with much more quantity. Obviously, you need to have some courses stored up from before. I took distance ed course in my first (Phil 102B) and fourth workterms (C&O 227), and extra courses in 1B (Econ 102) and 2B (Phil 256).
Looking back, I found that at least for systems, courses match up much
better in 2A, no matter where in the world you go to. As well, you don't
miss any project courses, and then you have more time to make up for any
mismatches. For example, 3A is our second and last summer term, so courses
only offered in the summer (like Models) become a problem. 2A is the first
of three winter terms. Some people argue that students are not mature enough
in 2A.
I will arrive in Edmonton on June 18.
I will depart for Singapore on June 29, morning.
I will arrive there 23 hours later, June 30. It will be the morning
in Edmonton but evening in Singapore.
I have an orientation to attend July 1st in the morning Singapore time.
My plan is to switch to 25 hour days while in Edmonton (which is the
natural circadian cycle). Thus, my sleeping pattern will be as follows:
(24 hour times-Edmonton time)
June 19: 0-11 (note this is the night of June 18, but actually June
19)
June 20: 1-12
June 21: 2-12
June 22: 3-13
June 23: 4-13
June 24: 4-14
June 25: 4-14
June 26: 4-14
June 27: 4-14
June 28: 5-15
June 29: 12-18 (on plane: S-time is June 30 0-6)
June 30: 12-20 (at Hostel after arriving in Singapore: S-Time is 0-8...
after getting up, go to orientation)
There is a day that just disappears in there. That's cool.