Chinese New Year- Gong xi fa cai!

So the year of the Snake began on February 10th, as a large portion of Asia shut down to celebrate Chinese New Year! While we don't normally celebrate CNY in the states, it is a very big deal here (as could be expected). Due to the holiday, we got Monday and Tuesday off of school giving us a very long weekend. However, something that didn't really occur to me before the holiday is the fact that all of the locals, including the owners of canteens on campus, would be going home to spend the new year with their families. This caused a very abandoned campus, with only some exchange students left, and very very limited places for us to eat. We did a lot of venturing out to nearby malls and hawker centers, a lot of which were also closed. Probably the best solution we had to dealing with the closure of food stalls was to make homemade egg/bacon sandwiches in the kitchenette of our hall! Definitely something I had been missing from home.  

Happy Year of the Snake! -Chinatown

Chinatown- So many people! 

On New Year's eve, Saturday night, we went to Chinatown (where else) to bring in the new year. The whole area looked so different decorated at night with lanterns hanging everywhere. It was a little crazy with the mass amounts of people, but definitely worth seeing! There was a stage set up for a concert later that night, which was all in Chinese of course. It was a very cool thing to see. 

In Chinatown with friends
for Chinese New Year

Also, this past weekend, my friend Hailey and I were given the opportunity to go to a real Chinese New Year party at her hall neighbor, Ad's house! It was very interesting to see all of the customs that go into the celebration as well as venturing out to a local home- an apartment flat. Most Singaporeans live in these flats due to the shortage of space! One Chinese girl I talked to there could not believe that I lived in a house with property (and animals). She said, "In China, you would be a millionaire or billionaire to live in such a place!"

Chinese New Year at Ad's
Hailey and I (center), Ad and her parents (front right)

The first tradition was that we needed to bring oranges to the party- in even numbers to signify good luck. We each had 2, and upon entering the apartment gave them to Ad's parents saying, "Gong xi!" (pronounced 'cone see') which means something along the lines of well wishes/ happy new year. They then took the oranges from us, gave us good wishes as well, then gave us two different oranges for us to keep. They also gave us envelope's with money inside, another CNY tradition.

Chinese Salad- mixing
with chopsticks!

Another Chinese New Year tradition is the mixing of a plate full of vegetables and other things. First, they assemble a plate full of different colored vegetables (no clue what they were), then gradually add other things such as nuts or honey. With each addition, they say something in Chinese to ask for good luck in some area. For instance, while putting on the honey they might wish for luck in their financial decisions, or for grandkids, etc. Once the plate is completely made, everyone gathers around the table with chopsticks and begin to mix! Supposedly the higher you toss the salad and the more mixed it becomes, the more fortune will come to you. It was really cool to participate in this tradition! And the salad wasn't even too bad when we ate it afterward. 

Also yes, there have been dancing dragons everywhere, usually accompanied by loud drums and cymbals. At one hawker center I went to for food, the dragon weaved around stopping at every stall until they "fed" it money.

This Thursday I leave for Bali for a weekend, then the following Thursday I have Spring Break during which I will be travelling to Cambodia, so I probably won't post for a little while. But when I get back I'll have so much to talk about! 




  

They have school in paradise, too

Believe it or not, I actually do need to go to school while I am here as well, it's not all just fun and games and swimming in the pool.. Although, yes, that's a lot of it. In fact, one of the largest challenges I've had since I've been in Singapore is finding the motivation to do schoolwork when I feel like I am on vacation! 
That being said, here are a few key differences I have observed between NTU and CMU:

1. Drop/Add period- One of the strangest things to get used to is the fact that NTU has drop/add period for the first two weeks of classes. As an exchange student, if I wanted to switch my schedule around I needed to do it during this time. This includes getting potential classes approved, arranging a schedule, arranging a backup schedule (in case you don't get into some), applying to be put into those actual classes, and then trying to foresee which you will actually be placed in so you can attend the first few weeks of lectures. It was all pretty confusing to figure out, but I have survived and am scheduled for 4 classes and total of 15 credits! 

My Schedule: It's a little wacky, but it does the trick.
No class on Tuesday or Friday! 

2. Exams- At Central, people often complain when their final exam is worth 40% of their grade for the class. However, at NTU it is the norm for your final exam to be worth a whopping 70% of your grade! The grades are a lot less spread out which means less quizzes, midterms, homework assignments, etc., but also more independent learning. It makes sense why exam week(s) are such a big deal here. I have a few weeks off of class before exams, just for preparation!    

3. Being the minority- It might seem like a given, but as an exchange student, I am usually a minority on campus- especially in my classes. For instance, in my statistics lecture I am the only exchange student out of 220! This has been a new experience for me, and little difficult to get used to. However, I'm sure when I get back to the U.S. it will seem strange to not be surrounded by Asian students every day! 

4. Tutorials- Most of my classes are split up into two parts, lecture and tutorial. Depending on the classes, they can be structured a little differently. For the most part, during lecture the professor presents material and more theoretical things. Then, during the tutorial sessions, you will be in a smaller group of people (similar to a lab) and work on the practical applications. In the previously mentioned statistics class, I have three hours of lecture every week, then 1 hour of tutorial during which my teaching assistant goes through assigned problems and demonstrates how to do them step by step. However, in my "Sexuality and Society" class, the tutorials are spent with in-depth group discussion.

Overall, I am glad for the opportunity to observe a new type of educational system! I can see pros and cons to each, and am interested to see how the semester will turn out. I am still playing a little catch-up from classes missed during those first two weeks of schedule-adjusting, but am starting to settle into the general swing of things.