This past week I had a pop quiz in my Combinatorics class, which would normally be terrifying because I tend to start out so far behind in school. This time was different though. I was not only caught up, but I went to lecture and stayed locked in on the content all class. Despite that, I got a literal 0 on the quiz 😭.

Welcome to NUS.

I’m quite shocked at how much I was able to fit into my first week of class at NUS. Tuesday was National Day in Singapore, which was a great excuse for every non-Singaporean to flock to the Marina Bay Sands for fireworks and celebrations.

Meanwhile every Singaporean went about business as usual, almost oblivious to the celebration.

I made a ton of new friends down at the Marina Bay, given that over 1000 exchangers were milling around for 3 hours waiting for the fireworks. Too many cool people to name, but among my favorites were this French guy who took a gap year, got his pilot’s license, and interned at Cirque de Soleil doing app development, and this Australian girl who solo-traveled the US and worked at a hostel in New Orleans for 2 months via a stay-away program.

All week I had planned to write this post about the things in Singapore that have taken me by surprise. My own little mini culture shock reflection.

But after going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this weekend, I realized that there’s actually very little adjustment coming from the US to Singapore. Sure, I still have not gotten used to walking on the left side of the street, or getting into the passenger seat of the car on the right side, or not eating microwavable breakfast sandwhiches every morning, but those sound like compaints from a spoiled kid whose parents decided to stop giving him everything he wants.

Singapore is fantastic. It’s incredibly westernized, everything is spotless, and unlike America you can actually feel incredibly safe all alone at 3:00AM while your Grab (Asian Uber) app can’t find you a car. Don’t ask how I know that.

I might come back to America fifteen pounds lighter because the food portions are so small here, but overall, there has been no real “culture shock.”

On the contrary, my trip to Kuala Lumpur was definitely more eye-opening into how the majority of Asia exists on a daily basis. KL was described to me as a nice “intro to Asia” city, and when we first touched down I was definitely a little overwhelmed.

Imagine New York City-level grime, tall buildings randomly sprouting up all over the city, plenty of big city chaos and poverty almost everywhere you looked, and you get a picture of Kuala Lumpur. I was taking it all in with two friends who had both been to non-Singapore Asia before and I could tell they were expecting this while I didn’t know what I had got myself into.

I also flew off four hours of sleep, and by the end of the first day I was ready to crash at our $6 per night hostel by midnight.

It wasn’t all rough though.

We met some strangers from the Netherlands, Alex and Jan who became our new best friends for 3 days. They were traveling through on their way for an exchange in Hong Kong this semester and we ended up going out with them all three nights in KL. Assuming Hong Kong removes their current 3 day quarantine to enter the city (fingers crossed for November!) we have two great connections in the city! Meeting random people is one of my favorite parts about traveling, and Alex and Jan were just another reinforcement of that!

If there’s one thing KL seems to be known for, it’s randomly massive buildings. They are home to the world’s tallest building from 1998-2004, the Petronas Towers, as well as the word’s second tallest building, set to be complete this year, Merdeka 118.

The city wasn’t exactly what came to my mind either when I think skyscrapers, but hey, every city has to have something I guess? We enjoyed some time at two different rooftop bars which allowed for some fantastic views of the sprawling city.

Another thing KL is known for is their markets. It’s quite common in many parts of Asia for rows and rows of merchants to sell clothes, purses, watches, and more.

However all of it is extremely fake.

Our Grab driver who dropped us off at one of the markets told us to negotiate with the merchants and never pay full price, so I made it my mission to negotiate down for a fake Rolex, to as cheap as possible.

I approached 6 different merchants selling the same fake watch just to see how low I could go. One guy started me at $385 RGT, which is about $85 USD.

At another stand I was able to negotiate down the same watch to $30 RGT, which is a whopping $6.75 USD. I had so much fun with the bargaining, and now I have a fake Rolex to add to my extensive collection of bling.

If there’s one takeaway I’ve gained this weekend about traveling it is that while things are sucking, it’s okay to embrace the suck. Our first day in KL, things were definitely sucking. I was sleep-deprived, I had a headache, and I felt like I was coming down with a cold. Our Grab app wasn’t working, it was pouring outside, and our hostel (which I picked) was quite awful, in a complete garbage part of town.

Things were not looking good, and I think mentally our whole group was a little drained by it. I certainly was, and internally I really felt it was important to acknowledge that. There are highs and lows on any trip. Travel is exhausting, even when you are getting the right amount of sleep. After accepting our situation, it only went up from there. We met Alex and Jan, partied until 3:00AM on Saturday, and saw every part of the city we wanted.

While embracing the fact that it sucked instead of denying it wasn’t the reason things got better, I’ve always found that keeping it real with yourself allows you to move past these low moments with ease and never look back.

Overall, the KL trip was a success. I got my first taste of “real” Asia, met some dope people, saw some great city views, and came away feeling like I did everything the city had to offer. The hostel experience was subpar and we could have benefitted from taking a bus rather than flying, but now that I’m back in my cozy westernized country, it makes no difference. Wonder where I’m going next 👀?

Answers I’ve received to my question: “If you have one piece of advice to share with the world, what would it be?”

Always have a goal that you’re working towards. If you reach it, then make another one. - Rebecca from Switzerland

Have patience. Everything will come as it has to. - Lena from Switzerland

Be tenacious. - Emma from Australia

What do you see that’s so different about someone with a different background, different skin tone, different anything? The world would be a much better place without bias of any sort. - Malavika from Singapore

Life is too short, have fun while you can. - Asmita from Singapore