Experience report
ANR: 713418
Name: Astrid van der Hoorn
E-mail: astridvanderhoorn@hotmail.com
Exchange semester: aug-dec
Academic year: 2014
Host University: Nanyang Technological University
Country: Singapore
TOPIC: Admission, arrival, housing
How was your arrival organized? Did someone pick you up from the airport/station? Was an
orientation or introduction activity organized? How was accommodation organized? Does the
university provide you with accommodation? What kind of accommodation does the university
provide? Did you have to book your accommodation in advance or did you have to search for a place
to live after you arrived?
Unfortunately I was not selected for on campus housing, so nothing was arranged. Luckily two other
students from Tilburg were in the same situation and we decided to travel there together. After arrival
at the airport, we took a taxi to a hostel that we pre-booked online. From there we started searching
the internet for housing and agents and visited appartements in the first days. After 3-4 days we found
a nice place close to our university. It was a brand new condominium called Lakefront Residences,
very close to Lakeside MRT.
The first week of school was supposed to be an introductionweek, but there was not much going on.
There were just two introduction lectures during that week: one on general information & safety and
one on your faculty. But you can try to meet some other exchangers here.
TOPIC: Location of university/city
Please describe the city you lived in. Where is the university located in the city? What is the best
place to go to eat/drink/dance/do sports/etc.? What are interesting things to see and do in your host
city? What was different than in Tilburg?
Nanyang is located at the far west of the country/city. This is not a problem if you are planning to be
on campus a lot. You can do many sports activities there and since many students live in the on
campus housing you can hang out there with friends. And of course to go to lectures or to study in
one of the libraries on campus it is also nice to live nearby campus in the West. There is a very fast
subway/train for if you want to go to the city centre and this will take about 40 min. However if you are
going out at night you can only take a taxi back and this can get expensive. For eating, shopping,
doing groceries or sports you don’t have to go to the city centre nessecerily, since there are facilities
in the west too. But the most interesting part of the city with the most tourist attractions is defenitely
the centre ofcourse.
TOPIC: Academics
Which courses did you take and why? Which courses would you recommend? What did the courses
add to your program at Tilburg University? How does the university compare to Tilburg University
concerning the level of the courses, use of extra material, level of English, workload, etc.? Overall,
were you happy with your academic achievements during your exchange? Please describe the
campus of your host university.
1. ‘Chinese Economy’ because I wanted to have a course that related to Asia as I was studying
there. I very much recommend this course. It is mainly descriptive, so not very hard and the
team assignment is completely open topic, so very fun! And I feel like I learned a lot from this
course. It is very interesting, since China’s economy is so different from the rest of the world!
2. ‘Principles of Taxation’ because the IBA program has nothing on taxation. It was one of my
harder courses and mainly about Singaporean tax laws. However it gave me a good general
understanding of taxation and that’s what I wanted. Also, it was mainly tax calculations and I
like that cause I was like accounting. There is one group assignment, and since you will
probably be the only exchange student in this class, it is easy to do this assignment with your
Singaporean team mates.
3. ‘Talent Development & Management’ because the IBA program has nothing on Human
Resource. I really liked the content of the course, I thought it was interesting. However there
is not much content and it’s not hard content so the lecture is quite boring because is
becomes very repetitive during class (all lectures at Nanyang are 4 hours!). There is one team
assignment, which is fine.
4. ‘CSR in Tourism & Hospitality’ because there was nothing else left to choose (during the
add/drop period it is pretty hard to get the courses you want). This course was too easy and
boring and I didn’t like the content cause it didn’t feel useful. However, the professor is really
nice and the team assingments can be fun as you have to act roleplays for example.
TOPIC: Social life
Which social activities organized by the university or students? Did you have contact with local
students? Did you have contact with other exchange students? How did you get along with the local
students and other exchange students? Did you travel to other places/countries during your
exchange?
There are no activities organized for exchange students by the univeristy. Luckily some exchangers
take this duty up on them and make some facebook events or organize a group picture. But the
university only organizes symposia which are for everyone. I didn’t have contact with Singaporean
students. I did have contact with many other exchangers and everyone got along well. We did a lot of
partying and travelling together in big groups and sometimes a small group. I travelled two times for a
weekend to Malaysia (Tioman Island and Kuala Lumpur) and during recess week to Indonesia. This is
very fun! Defenitely recommendable.
TOPIC: Living costs
How did you finance your exchange period, apart from the grant you received from Tilburg University?
What were your living expenses abroad like compared to Tilburg? What did you spend most of your
money on? What would you advice future students to spend their money on? Please outline your
approximate monthly budget whilst on exchange: housing, food, textbooks, etc.
Singapore is very expensive so I decided to borrow the maximum amount from DUO for this period. I
paid 450 for a shared room, but in a very nice condominium with gym, swimming pool etc. I like to do
my own cooking so a lot of money was spent on groceries, but eating in foodcourts or local places
can be really cheap. As a girl I almost didn’t spent money on partying because it’s always ladies night
somewhere. Travelling with the subway/train costed me about 50 euro per month or more, but I
travelled to the city centre very often. I also spend a lot of money on shopping clothes, flight tickets
and the trips. I only had to buy one textbook for the course Chinese Economy which was about 20
euro.
TOPIC: Culture
Did you experience culture shock while on exchange? How would you compare your host culture to
your own culture? What did you learn about your own culture while on exchange? What was different
about your host culture than you expected? What did you like and not like about your host culture? Do
you feel you learned a lot about your host culture, and if not, what would you like to learn more? How
would you describe your host countries culture? If you travelled to other cities/countries during your
exchange, were they different than your host city/country, and how?
I experienced culture shock during the first days in Singapore because our hostel was in Little India. I
expected Singapore to be very clean and western, and actually it is. The only place in Singapore that
is not is Little India. It is smelly and dirty there so not a good place to start. The rest of Singapore is
very high-tech, furturistic buildings and infrastructure and clean streets. With just a few area’s where
there are terraces and cafes outside and the rest is hideen in shopping malls. Looking back now I
think Singaporeans are very business and money minded. It seems like people work from 8 till 22 and
then in the weekend spend all their money in malls or nightclubs to see and be seen. But they are
also very tolerant, the many diffents ethnic groups that live there does not cause any problems
because they respect each other (Chinese, Indian, Malay etc.). A misconception I had before
travelling there is that everyone speaks English. This in not the case, many elderly people working in
foodcourts or shops don’t and this can be frustrating sometimes. But comparing to the rest of Asia it is
the most Western and most English speaking country which I really appreciated for my exchange
because when I travelled to other places in Asia and you see the chaos or poverty there, I could not
imagine myself living and studying there.
TOPIC: Tips for future students
Would you recommend an exchange period? Would you recommend your host university? What
should prospective students bring with them/leave behind? What preparation is required for going on
exchange to this destination? Was there anything you should have done in preparation that you didn’t
do?
I would definitely recommend an exchange period! It is a lot of fun and I think everyone should travel
and experience more of the world! My host Univeristy has a good reputation and I would recommend
Singapore if you want to travel Asia but still be in a developed country. However, maybe SMU or NUS
are more convenient if you want to be in the city centre more often. As preparation you should make
sure you have a lot (10) courses approved at Tilburg and Singapore because during the add/drop
period it can be very hard to actually get the courses you want. Besides packing your bags very
thoughtfully I don’t think there is other specific preparation needed.
TOPIC: A picture is worth a thousand words
If you took any pictures or made any videos that you would like to share with future exchange
students, please include them (or e-mail them separately). Pictures that show your daily life or
symbolize your exchange period are especially interesting for future exchange students.