First days in Singapore

I have been in Singapore for 10 days already. The time flies over here: it seems that there is always something to do, somewhere to go. I have not been bored even once. On the contrary – I do not really know which place to go to first! Since the school did not start yet, I have some time to travel around. With a group of exchange students we have traveled to near-by islands, went to Kuala Lumpur (only 5 hours travel by bus), visited a botanic garden, went “prawning” (fishing for shrimps what involved grilling and eating the food we managed to fish), and did some sightseeing in Chinatown and Little India… The list of the activities we have done is very long, but I still cannot say that I fully understand Singapore. The best answer for the question “How is Singapore” still remains: It is different. Is it a culture shock? It might be. But the symptoms of it are certainly positive: it makes me more interested, eager, and happy to do new things and meet new people.
There is however one problem with meeting Singaporeans. They are very nice people, but it is really hard to understand them. The official language is English, but since the majority of people in here are Chinese, their language has a big influence on English: different accents, pronunciation, mixing Chinese and English words in one sentence… I am sure it’s a matter of getting used to Singlish, but it gets a bit annoying when one is lost in the “urban jungle” of Singapore.
Today is the first day of classes. I still have some problems with signing up to the courses because the system is highly competitive and, in the opinion of all the exchange students, unnecessarily complex. A student receives e$100 (electronic money) and has to bid for the courses through an auction. Right now I have to hurry up for one of my classes, so hope you have a great day and talk to you in two weeks!