Why Singapore Lah? – The Start

I’ve always wanted to travel around the world to get a better glimpse of many cultures of the world. We often take for granted western norms and western culture; as an Asian American, it is even more important to not forget your roots. Through this study abroad program, I’ll most likely develop some habits unique to Singapore and start to incorporate some of its version of English (Singlish as they say) into my own vernacular.

My end-goal of this program is to try to be indifferentiable from a local (outside of dialect). As an exchange student, it’s easy to stubbornly stick with other exchange students and never fully understand the country’s culture. I’ll have to be much more observant in how people do things and interact; I may strike up a conversation, but I believe it’s frowned upon in eastern culture. I’m always weary of blatantly outing myself as a tourist because I physically am Asian. It’s always a little embarrassing as a Chinese American to be in a country where Mandarin is the main language, yet being unable to understand a dime of it.

In the end, I’m definitely looking most forward to the food at Singapore. I’m a killer for both Asian food and cheap food, so having both in the same area is a godsend to me. I’ve talked about culture a lot through this post and my bio and whatnot, but food is a priority. After all, food is culture.