The Beginning

After days of gathering, packing and discarding stuff, the day to leave had finally arrived. On 8 January at 5 pm I was saying goodbye to my parents at schiphol passport control, and from there on out I was on my own. First I flew to London Heathrow, and after a short wait there I boarded the plane that was to take me to Singapore. Walking through first class I wished that I was a millionaire, but even in economy class we all had our own tv screens, and a wide selections of films and tv shows to choose from. The amount of legroom wasn't great, but having asked for an aisle seat it wasn't too bad. I managed to sleep through most of the flight, so I wasn't feeling too terrible when I arrived in Singapore at 6 pm the next day. 

I told the cab driver the name of the road Fred, with whom I am staying, gave me, and when he repeated it in a Singaporean accent it sounded completely different, so all I could do was hope that we had the same street in mind and that I wouldn't end up on the wrong side of town. But luckily I made it to Fred's house easily, and I got settled in before dinner. It's not exceptionally hot here, but the humidity makes it feel a lot warmer, especially having just come from Holland where it's just plain cold. After dinner Fred invited over some of his friends from senior school for a small shisha party. Quite a lot of people came and they seem like a really nice bunch. Later on we hit the town --- no chance for jetlag, just keep on going --- and went to an amazing club called Ministry Of Sound, or MOS. The place was massive, with lots of separate rooms and VIP rooms with their own interior design and music. Where in Holland after going out most people go for fries or kebab, here in Singapore you go for chicken rice or something similar. By the time we got back I would have been ready for bed even my biological clock was still on Dutch time. 

Today I slept in, and then headed into town with Fred to meet up with Tim, whom I met last year when he was on exchange at UCU, for some lunch. By the time we finished lunch the skies had opened up and it was positively pouring, so Fred and I decided to go and see the history gallery on Singapore. It was very interesting, and nice to see the old photographs and paintings of Singapore in the old days. It has definitely modernized A LOT over the past couple of decades. 

I'm not sure what I will be doing the next couple of days, but if it's anything like yesterday and today I'm sure that I will have a lot of fun. On saturday I am leaving for Sydney, another long flight, another new country and lots more fun to be had.