Singapore

I have been wanting to blog recently, but just didn't have any thoughts or experiences that were too blogable! Believe it or not my everyday life here at uni isn't as exciting as you may have thought it was.

However, everyday I find myself learning new things (that's usual for me because i'm a question freak), but I thought I could share what I learned today.

With a bit of background...
When I arrived at uni I had orientation with all the international students, and it was an excellent way to meet people. (If you are thinking about studying abroad and scared about making friends.. have no fear! You will probably meet more of your friends in one day here than you will over the duration of your stay.) I met so many people in one day that I didn't know much about them (you were good if you could remember names), or you could generally classify them by which country.
I may not know your name, but I can sure as heck tell you where you are from!

Anyways, today in psychology class we were trying to figure out what the heck was going on (Sophie aka Alabama, Sabrina aka Singapore, and I). Afterwards we decided to get lunch. We sat down and started talking to Sabrina (just some small talk and odd questions), when we finally came out with it.
Where is Singapore? What language do you speak? What's the weather like? What is life like there? How long did it take you to get to Birmingham? What countries are you near by?

Maybe our geography is a little rusty, or maybe we just have never had a clue. (I'm going with the 2nd option myself.) But we confessed and learned more about Singapore. I thought maybe not everyone in SW Iowa or where ever you are reading from knows all there is to know about Singapore... So i'll share.

Singapore is an island. Covered by the red star in the photo above. Their primary language is English. In elementary and middle school they generally learn Chinese, but my friend Sabrina stopped learning it when she was 16. The island is small, and there isn't a part of it that she hasn't been to. The buildings in Singapore are at least 24 stories high, because they have to build up to have space for anything. She said it is very crowded there and everywhere you go. (I Googled the population and it's slightly over 5 million people.) If she wants to go to the movie theatre on the weekend she has to go buy her ticket in the middle of the week. Otherwise there would be no chance of getting in. From what I understood most people live in apartments (because there isn't enough land to just build houses for everyone).
She said the weather in Birmingham is freezing right now! It's been snowing and it doesn't do that often here, but it's been around 0 and 1 degrees C (which is about 33-34 F). In Singapore it's usually around 25-35 C (which is about 77-95 F).

It took her about 13 hours to get to Birmingham. (I think i'll stick with the 8 hour total flight time).
Rice is in most meals at least for lunch and dinner (sometimes breakfast). She asked Soph and I what would be like a staple item we eat a lot. I thought maybe potatoes. They can go with any meal, and the variety of ways they can be cooked. If you have a better answer, feel free to comment and I will let her know. :)

Here are some cool photos of Singapore. (Compliments of Google)

Beautiful, right?!

Well, I hope you learned a little something like I have today.  If you have further questions on Singapore you can comment and I will get a native perspective on it!

Thoughts, ideas, questions... whatever... are always welcomed (and make the author quite excited!) :)

Tomorrow I might be going to see Les Miserables. Have you seen it? What do you think? Should I "waste" my 5 pounds on it?

Also, what are your favorite Easter treats? Does anyone fancy the Cadbury eggs?!
Well it just so happens that the Cadbury factory is in Birmingham. I am going for a tour (and taste) on Thursday. I'll show pictures and maybe some fun treats I got to try! (Hopefully nothing bad happens to me like the kids on Willy Wonka!) Wish me luck.....