New country, new hair.

Lobster shirts and short hair.

“Double A”

Tags

blogpost, Boat Quay, evidence, NUS, photography, Singapore, Studyabroad, United States, wastingtime

Sitting around Singapore sometimes we complain like little kids and reminisce of home.

We forget about the opportunity we have right in front of us.

12 days of summer.

Tags

Boat Quay, Clarke Quay, Clarke Quay MRT Station, fiber optic trees, infinity pool, juijitsu, Little India, Little India Singapore, Malay, Marina Bay Sands, peptalk, Singapore, stress and anxiety, time balance

On May 6th 2013 I began working. I worked 45 hours a week plus 15 additional hours for my commute. After work I’d train 3 hours every other night with high hopes of achieving Jiu Jitsu excellence. I tried to be the best boyfriend I could possibly be, while trying not to neglect the friends and family that I love so much. Every morning took a peptalk and every night needed a few deep breaths to keep me sane. Those 70 days were filled with unprecedented amounts of stress and anxiety which were sprinkled with breaks of fun and excitement. Everyday required me to be constantly on.

So now, in the unfamiliar land, I have finally had the opportunity to turn off. In the past 12 days I haven’t woken up at 6am and tossed on slacks. I haven’t had to rush out my door or hang up on a pretty face because I was crunched for time. If anything it has been the complete opposite. For the first time in a long time, I have had no agenda. My toughest decision has been whether I want to spend 1 or 5 hours at the infinity pool or which before 8pm drink special did I want to capitalize on at Clarke Quay? I have finally been granted the summer I wanted so badly even if it was only 12 days long. These past few days have been amazing. I have seen huge fiber optic trees along with mystical gardens. I have ventured through Little India and Malay seeing how a culture has fully assimilated their lifestyle into another country almost in a parasitic manor. I have eaten new and exciting foods everyday and spent more money on booze than I’d like to admit. Every single day has been a new adventure but I’m ready for it to slow down. I’m the kind of person who gets excited about learning new things and I honestly can not wait for classes to begin tomorrow. I want be fully immersed in the design world again and challenged with problems which call for simple and complex solutions. Bars at 830 feet in the air can take my breath away with views that are indescribable but classes at ground level provide my mind with a feeling that I’d say compares to a 25 dollar Singapore sling. My friend said to me earlier, “it’s hard to sleep when your mind is still thinking.” And to that I replied, “sometimes it’s good to turn off.” Tomorrow marks a brand new academic year at brand new school.

I feel like a 5 year old again and I absolutely love it.
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Terms

Tags

Boat Quay, Cure, Frank Ocean, Lolla, Lollapalooza, NUS, Phoenix, Robert Smith, Singapore, study abroad

Like the crack of a whip, it began to down pour. Today I woke up at 5:30am local time to watch my absolute favorite band live stream at Lollapalooza, a local concert at home. 5 hours later, I tapped in again to watch Phoenix, another band which I honestly believe to be one of the best in the world. As I sat there with the rain beating down in the background, watching two bands that I absolutely adore on a 13″ screen, I couldn’t help to feel somewhat okay with my situation. I was honestly anticipating to be depressed and sad seeing all of these people enjoying the smooth sounds of Two Door and a gang of French guys playing their hearts out. Instead though, I realized something else. I realized that probably 99% of those people will never in their lifetimes drop everything and move to Singapore or any country for that matter. Virtually none of them will know what it feels like to explore a new portion of the world without much instruction. Experience the distances my mind has traveled to while dealing with these insomnia influenced late nights in a 8’x12′ dorm room. I have been a Lolla junkie for a few years now and some of those moments like Frank Ocean serenading literally thousands of people will hold an extremely intimate place in my heart but along with that I feel that maybe missing this year was not as tragic as I made it out to be in my head. There are definitely memories with specific people that I honestly wish I could have been there to share. That being said, this part of my life where self exploration is so necessary has been 20 years in the making and when an opportunity like this comes forward I’d have to be a fool to not take it.

Tonight was a great night. I met some new friends. We adventured to Little India only to witness a traditional Hindu prayer service then leading us to enjoy an Indian dinner which made me miss my family a lot. We then revisited a cool part of Singapore known as Boat Quay to relax with a few drinks which lead to some great conversations and great times.

Each day the transition becomes less alien and more familiar,

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Culture

Tags

American Dream, changes, Cultural assimilation, England, Melting pot, realizations, Republican Party (United States), Sears, Singapore, United States

Here at NUS I have to say that the university is doing a great job of organizing functions that allow us international students to mingle and meet new people. Being from America which is considered the cultural melting pot by many we often believe that we have met every person from every walk of life. The problem with meeting people of diverse cultures and life experiences in America, is that more often then not, they have either been assimilated into our American lifestyle for quite sometime which causes some aspects of their heritage to dissipate or we don’t give them the time of day because they may seem to be too different. My parents are a prime example of what cultural assimilation is in action. Living in America now over 30+ years they still do have accents and definitely more times than I can count make ridiculous comments about our American lifestyle which makes me wonder if we are related but with that being said they are fully immersed in what being an American is. They shop at Sears and drove Ford. Live in a suburban neighborhood and pay taxes, for all intensive purposes they are the American dream if there has ever been one and to top it all off they came here from a different country with virtually nothing. So, where is this going? Here at NUS I’ve realized that I need to be more open minded and I need to learn that everyone is not going to come from even a remotely close version of my life. I have to realize that also I can not relate to everyone. I often find myself trying to create a connection with people which sometimes just is not there and making the realization that there is nothing I can really do about it, which for me is something difficult to accept. All I can do at that point is just listen attentively and be polite. This whole experience is opening my eyes wider and wider everyday and I am so excited to continue this adventure one day at a time.

I wish I had some cliche Singapore saying to end all my posts with but here they just speak English.

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The Room Tour

Tags

4/3rds Shots, NUS, roomshots, study abroad, UIUC

After a few requests to see what my room looks like, I present to you my humble abode.

So this is it. A desk, a chair, a bed and a few drawers. Doesn’t look like much and it isn’t but oddly enough I’m pretty okay with the space. It’s interesting going from a room that had too much space I didn’t even know what to do with it to a room that doesn’t allow for much variety.

Though yes I am fully extended, I don’t think NUS is very used to having taller people stay in their residences.

Pool

The pool is only 3 feet deep, don’t be impressed.

Hello

Tags

Academic term, Cinnamon College, Dormitory, Freshman, High school, NUS, school, Singapore, Student, Studyabroad, United States

“Hello.” “Hey, what’s up I’m Naveen.” “Hi, what’s your name?” These are three phrases I have been getting used to saying on a regular basis for the past few days. Being in a new country, at a new university, with brand new people has been a little bit of a shock to me to be completely honest. I’d like to think I’m considered to be pretty personable. I love meeting new people and making new friends because it allows me to foster new connections and memories. With that being said trying to meet new people in a different country is extremely interesting in both good and bad ways. I am fortunate and I mean fortunate that I’m doing this experience with a few other great guys. Some may believe that one needs to explore the world by themselves and have this life changing moment of being tossed into a unfamiliar environment and while I do agree with this for the most part, it is also extremely comforting to be able to say, “Man I miss Papa Dels deep dish.” and people know what in the world you’re saying. It’s interesting to see where I find comfort here in Singapore. When walking around campus the past few days my friends and I have gotten into this habit of when we see a person with white skin striking up a conversation. To some that might seem absurd but what I realized is that sub-consciously we are associating their skin color with what reminds us of home. This instant assumption is something that I believe needs to be over came but with that being said currently there are really only international students on campus so once the school year starts I’m hoping that meeting new friends of all walks of life will become a daily occurrence. I somewhat feel like this is my second chance at a “freshmen year.” As some may know, my first semester of my freshmen year was a not so great time thanks to a over weight, overly messy roommate that thought that wearing my medium t-shirts on his extra-large body was an appropriate thing do along with so many other just aggravating situations. The reason I say that I’m getting a second chance though is due to the fact that I’m living in the dorms, I’m eating in a cafeteria, I’m taking classes that as of this moment make me excited and I’m being forced whether I like it or not to meet new people while exploring a city that I’ve never been too. Much like freshmen year I haven’t slept as much as I should these past few nights. I’ve stayed up late thinking. Thinking about if it was the right decision to just pack up life and go overseas. I really need to stop thinking. This life needs a little more time for adjustment. A little more time to get used to the fact that I’m only three days into this whole thing and got 137 more in front of me. I miss many, love few and realize that in due time though I know everything will work out.

3 Am

Tags

Health, Jet lag, Preparation, Recreation, Singapore, sleep, Travel

I thought I did it. I really thought I did it. I really believed, truly, in my heart that I could honestly beat jet lag in one day. Well, this post obviously proves that wrong.

Exhaustion

I am as tired as I look.