Hi everyone! As the title of this blog suggests, my name is Colleen and I will be studying abroad in Singapore this fall. This marks my third year at UR, and as a rising junior I am majoring in Leadership Studies and minoring in Business Administration. Wow, that was weird to type: college really does go by quickly.

Over the next four months I’m hoping to share with you my abroad experiences through photography, and also provide tips/ advice to anyone who is considering studying abroad–or traveling to Asia for that matter. Since I haven’t yet left for Singapore (2 more days- eeeep!!), I’ll give you a little background info on my trip.

First off, everyone asks, “Why Singapore?” To be honest, Singapore was not my first choice–for a few weeks I was set on studying abroad in the Netherlands. Long story short, final exam dates in the Netherlands conflicted with my sister’s wedding, so I looked into programs that had earlier end dates and, voila, Singapore was the perfect match. The whole situation was definitely a blessing in disguise. Wherever you study abroad will be amazing, but I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out. I guess I have my sister and her fiancé to thank for that one.

At Singapore Management University (SMU) I will be taking three business courses and one leadership course. SMU’s course registration is unlike any registration I’ve done before. Basically students are given 100 “e-dollars” and bet on courses they wish to take. The whole process is built upon the concept of supply and demand, and in my opinion, actually makes a lot of sense. Apparently Nicole (another UR student going to Singapore) and I should take a trip to Vegas when we get back because we successfully bid on all the classes we wanted.

Since SMU doesn’t provide housing, most exchange students get together and rent an apartment for the semester. A lot of people actually stay in hostels for a few days upon arrival while they search for an apartment. Nicole and I weren’t feeling that adventurous, so we decide to pre-book an apartment. We will be living with four other girls–Mckenna from Oregon, & Lea, Lauren and Monica from Paris.

Packing. All I will say about packing is it’s kind of like hitting that age when you realize you have to start making your own doctor appointments: a little frightening at first, then the procrastination sets in, but when you finally get around to doing it, it’s not that bad.

Located in the heart of South East Asia, Singapore is ideal for traveling. I’m planning on traveling to several countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia to name a few. Let’s be honest, this is what I’m most excited about.

I’ll leave you with some photos from my last week here in the U.S. since this is a photoblog after all:

Blue moon over the ocean

Morning chats

One last hike with Pops

Sister and a sunset

Jersey Shore Sunrise

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 11:15 am and is filed under Colleen in Singapore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.