Singapore Expats

Hey everyone,
I have just joined this forum and I am originally from New York but moved to Washington, DC. I will be spending the summer at NUS to do some research and I just wanted to get the feel of Singapore life. First of all, What does expat mean? What should I expect as a single 23 year old guy in Singapore? (how are the local women) What are the things I must do when I am in Singapore? I am going to be living around NUS. This might be a silly question, but how do i make fast friends there? I am very excited to be going so any help would be great thanks.

you'll find out soon enough

Expat = short for expatriates

I just came to singapore around 1 year ago and the fastest way to me to meet new people was probably through this forum. Aside from the FNDC (Friday Night Drinking Club) and other clubs thingy, I just message a few people from the forum and wallah! i have friends.. hahaha, ok not that i'm a loser or anything, I have friends but it's not bad to have a few more...

And one girl i met on the forum is like a social butterfly, I met a lot more people cuz of her.

Hope you have a good time in NUS. Ive spent 4 years in NUS and im like im ready to get out !!! haha, warning .. pplz are not so friendly in NUS or aorund NUS, but the forum is a good place to start, or if u know any exchange students before hand, it can make a great difference to your life. Don't bother to know the locals in NUS, they wont give a SH*T about u.

do pm me if u wanna a bit about NUS. im graduating from there in 10 weeks, SO DAMN HAPPY!!! lol

Take bandung's advice with a pinch of salt. The locals aren't that bad. Search for the NUS Exchange group on facebook. You may also want to check out www.couchsurfing.com to meet more locals.

Yeah the locals aint that bad! At least i'm not, you should be able to meet up with people in NUS easily! Have fun!

I'm an exchange student at NUS this semester and honestly it's pretty dead around here. I'd recommend getting out and meeting people through the forum sooner rather than later for sure.

Are you living at PGP or elsewhere? The S'porean students are nice enough just don't set your expectations too high. I think they're so used to having many foreign students coming and going each semester and since the expectation is that the foreigner won't be around long, they're not overly eager to really befriend them. Also, they're a particularly studious bunch but maybe during the summer it's different. More than likely, you'll end up hanging out with the other exchange students or the few non-exchange westerners who are in a similar situation as yourself.

I'll second the recommendation to check out the NUS exchange student groups on Facebook, although these have been mostly used for arranging travel.

Send me a PM if you want more info. All the best.

Hey- Im an American who's going to be doing research at NUS this summer as well, so I know how you feel. Hope things go well for you, send me a pm if you're interested in meeting up. Thanks so much!

mfb17 wrote:Hey- Im an American who's going to be doing research at NUS this summer as well, so I know how you feel. Hope things go well for you, send me a pm if you're interested in meeting up. Thanks so much!

Hi, there~

I'm a newbie so can't pm yet...
I'm a NUS student and will hang around in campus for another month or so before heading back home for summer vacation. So when will go be here in NUS? NUS will be pretty empty from next week onward cuz all students will finish their exams by then.

I'd love to make new friends and I can show you around....
If you are interested, keep me posted....
My email is [email protected]

Hey american student, I am heading to NYC and DC this coming Oct.
Can you give me some pointers? It will be of great help.
Is driving ok between NYC n DC? such and that. Basically am staying at Central Park Hostel..
Anyway, you can buzz me at [email protected]

I kno this is out of context but maybe a little help from u.

And dun worry about the locals here. they are fine and u will get to know more...

Kel

hey American Student,

are you arrived yet? I'm 21f asian student coming to Singapore for study this June also..

Kindda worried about new environment and looking for some new friends for coffee, chilling out and hanging around..

let's make friend by email me at [email protected] =)

goodluck w everything

A.

Welcome to Singapore and if you are looking for local friends, you can either PM or email me.

hey there...

There's a drinking session tml at Acid Bar (Details in the Friday Night Drinking Club threads). Feel free to join us. Look for the booking under Nicole.

Don't have to be a drinker to join...just have fun.

Hope to see you there!

Abby

Hello!

NUS is an OK place to meet people if you take the effort to join some social clubs and activities. Otherwise forums like this would be a great way to befriend some locals and foreigners. Singaporeans are actually pretty well-exposed culturally and have a high tolerance for people from different backgrounds so my guess is that they might take a longer time to warm up to you initially, but once that's done, I bet many would love to engage in a chat with you and get to know you better. You'll do fine here, no worries.

PM me if you wanna make a new friend or drop me an email. =)

J.

Expat simply is short for expatriate. A single 23 year old guy should expect a lot of going out and partying. The local women are nice, but aren't very initiative, ie. they don't make the first move.
Singapore's a small country. But there are some things you have to do to claim you've been here. Go to Sentosa, to the zoo, night safari. Eat at some hawker centre. Have some smelly stinky fruit called durian. Take the MRT train. Go to Equinox (highest club here). These are few top of my head. I'm sure there's more as you'll find out soon enough.

Where do you live around NUS? Probably in PGP cos most exchange students are there. The unluckily ones get rooms further from campus in the west. An exchange student gets orientation and stuff, I think So that's when you'll meet a lot of kids like yourself, on exchange. They usually spend the rest of the semester with one another, travelling/partying/whatever. Don't worry, exchange students have all the fun! I was on exchange before to Germany, and I really miss those times. I know how excited you must feel, I was the same!

Making friends in Singapore isn't very difficult. Singaporeans might appear unfriendly or reserved because they generally don't initiate conversation so much. However, they're more than happy to reciprocate if you smiled or say hi first.

It is NOT true that locals in NUS won't give a damn about you. I'm a student in NUS, and we always help kids on exchange.