Sentosa Island and movies

Last week was a busy one for all of us.  We had two quizzes, several adventures, and the great packing experience for getting to Bangkok for our first weekend trip.

Because our classes are so time intensive, everything is very rushed.  We have had class for a week now (five days’ worth) and we have already had two quizzes.  In one case, we had class in the morning, and the material that we covered was on the afternoon quiz!  When a class is this intensive, it can get crazy very quickly.  Now, we only have two more days of lecture, but we have one quiz and two papers to complete in that time period.  These classes really are a bit stressful for a study abroad!

Because it is a study abroad, the professors do try to give us time to experience the cities we are living in, though, rather than keep everything confined to a classroom.  So, last Tuesday, instead of having a normal lecture, the entire class went on a field trip to Sentosa Island.  Sentosa Island is a tourist magnet, even for Singapore citizens.  It is a bit of a destination spot.  We went there on a field trip because they have a good museum about the history of Singapore and the surrounding areas, including the cultural backgrounds.  The professors arranged for a bus to take us there, took us through the museum, and then we were left to our own devices.  Sentosa Island has a range of activities, everything from luge racing to food and coffee to an artificial beach that is known as the best one in Singapore.  We hung out by the beach for a long time (after the luge racing, of course) as one big group, just enjoying being out in Singapore.  I made sure to catch the laser light show before leaving.  It’s the Magical Sentosa laser light and music show, and it is like no laser light show I have ever seen before.  It had a distinctly Asian flavor, what with the new technology and the anime-type characters projected onto the water fountains.  We definitely made jokes about it, but it was still fun.  And free!  After the show we made our way to the gondolas to get back to the mainland and wandered back toward NUS (the university).

One other exciting thing that happened last week is that I finally got to see The Da Vinci Code.  We were going to see it on the night that it came out (and therefore before anyone on the east coast could see it), but it was sold out until the midnight showing, and I was too tired to see it that late.  Instead, we bought tickets online for the 8pm showing on Wednesday night.  We went ahead and went into town right after class to read and study at Starbuck’s before the movie, but we ended up wandering around running errands and not getting much studying done.  I really enjoyed the movie, although I was disappointed that they changed the ending so much.  It’s understandable, though, because a movie is very different from a book.  I really like seeing movies in different countries because it varies so much from culture to culture.  So far, I have seen movies in the USA, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Thailand.  Whew!