Bintan, Indonesia

Bintan, Indonesia was my first trip outside of Singapore.  After nearly 3 weeks of being cooped up inside Singapore, several international students and I planned a last minute trip to Indonesia for the weekend.  Bintan is only a short 1½-hour ferryboat ride from Singapore.  We booked a rooms online at the Nostalgia hostel, a sister resort to one of the nicest resorts on the Island.  Luckily we had access to a shuttle bus and all the nicer resorts facilities, but I would HIGHLY suggest paying the couple extra bucks to stay in an actual hotel or resort.  We reserved a “beach bungalow” that appears as paradise to the untrained eye, but in reality is only a death trap set above the ocean (at least during high tide) infested with mosquito’s, geckos, crabs, in addition to a variety of insects.

 
The hour-long taxi ride to the hostel also acted as a reality check showing me a different side to the Indonesia I had imagined.  I naively assumed all of Indonesia was similar to the vacation spot Bali I had heard so much about.  It was depressing to see that much of Indonesia’s population lives below poverty.  From what I could tell most of these people lived without a proper sewage system ultimately poisoning their own water supply, this was obvious after taking a closer look at the condition of the water near the hostel.  I regret only being 

able to spend 2 days here and due to safety precautions didn’t venture far from either of the two resorts.  Luckily the rest of the trip was more positive.
My absolute favorite part of this adventure was spending Saturday snorkeling off a small Island near Bintan.  For less than USD $25 our amazing snorkel trip included, gear, half day on a boat with a snorkel guide taking us to areas with lots of coral and marine life and back to the main resort.  This was unparallel to any snorkel experience I had ever had in the cold Pacific Ocean.  The water felt like a warm 80 F as I skimmed the water’s surface observing the abundance of fish and other sea life living in the coral.  This little excursion only deepened my need to become scuba certified!

Pulau Ubin

Our "Bum Boat" Captain

My first Friday lecture was cancelled and a few of us decided to travel to Pulau Ubin, an Island just off the northeastern tip of Singapore.  After recent trip to Sentosa Island, I had imagined a similar environment from Pulau Ubin.  I couldn’t have been more mistaken.  My travel book describes the Pulau Ubin as “Left behind by developments on the main island, Ubin was for a long time the last stronghold of old Singapore”. 

The journey involved a short bus ride to the MRT station, the Green Line MRT all the way across the country (approx 1 ½ hrs) then a second bus to the Changi Point Jetty.  What I can never get over with all methods of travel in Singapore is that the do not operate on a time schedule, busses get there when they get there (with or without you).  I was misled to believe we would be taking a ferry, instead we waited for 8 other people to show up (the boat doesn’t leave at a certain time, it leaves when it has 12 people ready to go), and then we were escorted down to the docks and began loading up the “bum boat” (NOT Ferry).  I still don’t understand exactly what defines a ferry vs. bumboat, but this definitely was a bumboat (I guess that is all you can expect from a $2.50 boat ride)!  

About fifteen minute later we arrived at Ubin, immediately we could see the entire town without really having to leave the dock.  There are less than 100 people who live on Pulau Ubin, it is just 5 miles across and 1 mile wide, and I can confidently say we saw EVERYTHING.  Since there wasn’t much to the town besides a convenience store, restaurant and a few religious establishments, we decided to rent mountain bikes and explore.  A 3-hour bike ride up hills and through jungle allowed us to see and experience all that is Pulau Ubin.   

Lunch: Ostrich

After the bike ride we ate at the local restaurant that served a combination of Asian food family style.  We thought we would get adventurous and ordered a dish of Ostrich.  Ostrich doesn’t taste as unusual as it sounds, it actually tastes similar to chicken but much more chewy.  After we returned the bikes and waited for the bumboat to fill up so we could head home.  

After a long successful mountain bike ride to the top of Pulau Ubin

    

Culture Puts a New Perspective In Organizational Behavior

Luckily one mediocre professor isn’t an indicator of the quality of teachers at NTU.  I have been very impressed with my Organizational Behavior professor.  He is a short, passionate, enthusiastic, Asian man who had foot surgery the day before our first seminar class, yet that didn’t prevent him from bouncing (realistically it was more like limping I suppose) around the classroom as he gathered class participation and encouraged opinions.  It wasn’t until I found myself literally LOL (laughing out loud) during this class did it occur to me how much of an influence one person can have on your entire outlook towards a subject.  I easily could have been in another organizational behavior (business management) classes attempting to stay awake as a teacher regurgitates terms from the textbook in the background.  What truly makes this professor standout from others is his ability to utilize the diverse backgrounds of his students as he looks for opinions and experiences that relate to the text.

 

Picture the classroom, approximately 4 round tables equally spaced around the rectangular shaped room, two tables consisting purely of students from Singapore.  A table made up of a student from India, Siberia (but she studies in Italy and is currently on exchange at NTU) Singapore and Germany.  Then the next table “Europe” as the professor refers to them (2 guys from the Netherlands, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Finland).  Finally there is my table (2 Malaysian friends and 1 Indonesian) and of course me (the ‘Western Influence’). I love how this professor has taught above and beyond what the text reads, he has taken every concept and puts it in context in terms of culture.  He frequently asks why/why not this would work for a company in Asia or the U.S. receiving answers in the form of students’ personal experiences.  This class alone has brought new meaning to the saying “you can’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”  I left the first 4-hour class session of organizational behavior with a new appreciation for diversity and realization of how blessed I am to have this amazing opportunity and experience to spend half a year living and studying in Singapore!

First Day of School Awkwardness

As if the first day of school didn't already bring enough pressure to "fit in," now try the first day of school in an Asian country as a 5ft 9in American girl and eliminate any possibility of "blending in."

My first class (Services Marketing) started at 8:30 AM, I set my alarm for 7:00 AM anticipating 30-40mins being lost in search of my class despite the map I have printed and route planned.  

So naturally I don't wake up to my alarm, instead I wake up to my roommate getting ready for her class (which I remember starts 1 hour after mine) I look at the time and its 8:15 I skip the "getting ready" throw on a sun dress, brush my teeth, and bounce.  As planned, I had a solid 30-40 minutes of lost wandering on the wrong side of campus, ask for directions, but they only answers I got from other students were "no sorry, sorry."  Eventually I made it... 

I arrive early (learning from my mistake) for my next class (Consumer Behavior.)  I am very excited for this class because my interest in the psychology of consumers is why I decided to study marketing.  My excitement for this class is severely dampened after I meet the professor.  He begins with the standard procedures and what is expected of us during the course, then off topic he mentions "...well that might be just because I am sexist."  The Singaporean student sitting next to me half jokingly says "that might not be something you should be admitting out loud" and the teacher responds "I don't really care, it's true."  I guess discrimination legal, chewing gum... NOT so legal.  At first I was a little worried about the effect his personal ignorant perspective may have on getting the grade I deserve, but I am confident my projects will speak for themselves and MAYBE POSSIBLY help him be a little more open minded?

Later in this same class (like most first day of classes) we went around introducing ourselves, I said "My name is Nicole, I am studying marketing and at NTU on exchange from San Diego State University in California, the U.S."  In response I get "you cool governor!"  It made wonder how seriously people take us and our "govern-ator" aka the Hollywood actor better known for his role as the "Terminator," but other students expressed how "cool" it was that I was from somewhere that had so much consumer control over what brands would and wouldn't be popular across the rest of the world, this made me feel much better about being born and raised in Los Angeles.     

My Dorms at NTU

Sentosa Island, Singapore

Before I made my decision to study in Singapore I researched a little and Sentosa definitely had some influence on my decision because of its beautiful beaches and the opportunity to swim with pink dolphins!

To reach Sentosa we took the bus to the MRT station, to Harbour Front (South Singapore coast) then boat another bus ticket for SGD$3 across a bridge to Sentosa.  I was a bit disappointed upon arrival to see how "touristy" the Island is.  My initial reaction was "this seems like an amusement park!"  Little did I know Singapore Adeventureland will be opening up in 2010 on Sentosa, so I guess my intuition was correct.  No joke, the similarities to an amusement park consisted of a cartoon-like map given to us with purchase of the Sentosa bus ticket, a large Sentosa statue welcoming us, a tram taking us to the beaches and Marineworld Pink Dolphin Encounter, gift shops, and photo-opps.  None the less I still enjoyed every second of this mini day trip!