Another of my roommates, from China, is also an international student at the university. She met a local guy who showed us how to get to campus on the MRT - you know, to prevent the inevitable disaster of us trying to do it on our own the morning of registration.

We got Subway on campus and for the first time since I got here, somebody else was more baffled by the food selection than I was. I guided her through the selection process - sandwich, size, bread, veggies, sauce, combo, drink. My sense of familiarity was shattered minutes later when I found myself face-to-face with a squat toilet.

I tried a durian in Chinatown...possibly an acquired taste. I mean, it was okay. Not as bad as the naysayers say, but it didn't inspire in me the kind of fervent adoration I've seen in its admirers. Just okay.



After that we wandered around Clarke Quay, a spot on the Singapore River known for its nightlife, and into the Colonial District. It houses the Singapore Parliament, Supreme Court, Art Gallery and Asian Civilizations Museum, among others. It's also home to the stunning Raffles Hotel, where you can drink a ludicrously overpriced Singapore sling, shop for Armani home furnishings, or - if you're a freeloader like myself - sit in the gorgeous public-access courtyard and use the marble-laden washrooms without buying a thing.



Today was registration...one of the most organized events I've ever been to, but utterly exhausting. Maybe the Society Fair was a bad idea. Faced with a barrage of eager Singaporean undergrads I found myself joining the mailing lists for rugby(!), the campus radio station and the choir. Don't laugh. Despite my protestations that I absolutely CANNOT sing and that nobody (well, except The Boy) WANTS to hear me sing, the society rep - a paradigm of bubbling exuberance - dragged me over to the sign-up sheet and told me she looks forward to seeing me at the welcome tea. I'm sorry to say that I don't think she will.


Favourite moments so far:

-On Orchard Road, the most ridiculously girlie boutique anyone has ever laid eyes on. It's like the living room of a psychotic old lady who has 28 fluffy white kittens and feeds them only cotton candy; a place where all the pink and frilly things of the world come to breed. I desperately wanted to take a picture...but apparently everyone does, and there was a sign forbidding all photography.

-Getting a huge Indian thali (set plate) for SGD$4 (around $3 to $3.50 Canadian). With a guy coming around periodically to top up whichever of the fiery curries you like the best.

-Eating it with my hands. Of all the people in the restaurant, only the white girls were given forks. Damned if I was going to use mine.

-Getting a free Hellgate action figure from the NUS Second Life rep. I didn't have the heart to turn it down. Anybody want a Templar Guardian?

-Signing up for the environmental society, "Students Against Violation of the Earth". From campus security to dengue to the threat of terrorism on the bus, Singapore is not about subtlety when it comes to imminent danger.