It almost feels like just yesterday I very excitedly (and nervously) boarded the plane in San Francisco to leave the United States and fly over 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to an entirely new continent. I had a faint idea of what to expect when I arrived, and how this experience would affect my life and personal development. However, studying abroad has more than exceeded my expectations! I never imagined what it would be like to throw myself into an entirely new environment and explore the other side of the world.
Educationally, studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has been a fantastic experience! I was a bit overwhelmed the first few weeks, but slowly began to understand the language (for example, classes are called "modules" here). The class schedules are very different from my home university (Brandeis University). Typically, lectures are only once a week for an hour and a half, and there are smaller group discussions (called tutorials) which meet every other week for an hour and a half as well. I found these tutorial sessions very helpful in keeping me on pace with my studies and reviewing the coursework to prepare for exams.
