By Yu Ning
23 August 2022

Thought that most people here in Singapore can speak both English and Chinese, I’d never expected my life here to be so different from that in China. This idea was proven completely wrong from the moment I landed.

What I see is a melting pot. I have 5 professors all from different countries but none of them are locals. The Chinese food doesn’t taste so “Chinese”; The Chinese they speak doesn’t always sound like “Chinese”; While the English they use is mixed with what is called “Singlish”. It took me a month to realize that the “la” people put at the end of their English sentence, is actually taken from Chinese.

The truth is, there’s no pure eastern or western here. There is only Singaporean.

Learning in SMU is interactive and fulfilling, where you won’t find any 300-people lecture. But it could also be stressful, with “5 dues in 3 days” happening all the time and you know what? Chinese students are not the most diligent ones. Singaporean students, or more specifically, SMU students are!

As an exchange student, life is full of novelty, surprise, clashes and beautiful marvels. It takes time to make adjustments for sure. But then all in a sudden, it just feels like a second home, a beautiful place with a group of beautiful people.

Yu Ning from Ji Lin University (China), currently on exchange at Singapore Management University

 

 

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