As part of our new blog series, we have compiled some testimonials from students about their experiences studying abroad and with the Global Mobility Office. The testimonials are sorted by region and cover a wide range of subjects, departments, and universities in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania.
National University of Singapore – Singapore (Part 1)
Student: Alina
Subject: History
Alina was keen to study abroad from the moment she started her second year, recognising the opportunity this would give her to get out of her bubble in the UK. This led her halfway across the world, and she found herself spending the second semester of her second year at the National University of Singapore, as she saw this as a unique opportunity to live and study outside of Europe.
She recognised quickly that NUS’ wide offering of modules let her study new subjects that weren’t available back at KCL – alongside two History-related modules, she was able to take a course about ‘Food in Japan’ and on ’Bollywood Cinema’. She chose her history courses with the hope that she could learn about European and Asian History from an Asian perspective, and particularly enjoyed her more interdisciplinary ‘War on Civilians’ module, which incorporated elements of law and international relations into history. The Food in Japan module frequently had guest lecturers fly in from Japan, involved food tasting and article writing assignments, and explored the history of Japanese food and its connections with other Asian nations in great depth.
Outside of her classes, Alina was an active member of NUS’ Netball society and encourages students to get involved in the variety of interest groups available on campus and take advantage of being in Singapore! During her time off, apart from travelling to Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan, Alina recommends going to the Mandai Wildlife Reserve’s Night Safari, taking part in local celebrations, whether Lunar New Year or Eid, seeing the famous SuperTree Grove in person, attending Singapore’s many art exhibitions, temples, and beaches, and of course sampling the variety of food available in Singapore, which she says was a highlight.
Her experience was made better by her accommodation, which she described as providing plenty of opportunities to make friends with locals and tours of the campus for new students, complete with accommodation-wide dinners.
In short, studying abroad in Singapore was a rewarding and exciting experience that she recommends to anyone interested in the region, and hopes to reassure everyone that both the academic and social environments are highly enjoyable, and that studying abroad, whether for a semester or year, is a unique, highly enjoyable way to see more of the world and get outside of your bubble.