Ni Hao!
September 15, 2011, the day my Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship began. 27 hours of plane flight, 4 awkward plane meals, 2 books read (Outliers, Tuesdays with Maurie (real sad) both great), 4 movies watched (none worth mentioning, X-Men: Origins was pretty good actually), 3 plane bathroom breaks, 3 semi-naps, two stops (DC, Narita, Japan (had sushi in Japan…it was really good) and I am now literally half way across the world. No joke, if you are EST and it is 7 am, it is 7 pm in Singapore which actually makes the time difference easier to remember. Try digging a whole through the middle of the earth, you might just pop up in my new city (I by no means am advising doing this, you would be highly unsuccessful but you get what I am saying). I am officially a minority, even though with ginger hair I am always a minority but now I am really a minority. All good things though, this adventure/opportunity is about stretching myself and learning about a part of the world that quite possibly will be the biggest economic region for the 21st century. http://www.economist.com/node/21528979?fsrc=nlw%7Cedh%7C09-22-11%7Ceditors_highlights It is crazy to think that I am living in Asia, yeah never thought I would say that…..I am living in ASIA……still sounds crazy.
This is the first blog of many over the next 7 months living in Singapore while I am studying Mandarin at the National University of Singapore Extension Campus acting as a goodwill ambassador for Rotary International http://www.rotary.org/en/studentsandyouth/educationalprograms/ambassadorialscholarships/pages/ridefault.aspx. I couldn’t be here first and foremost without my ever so gracious and amazing fiancé Emily allowing me to come (yep I said allow, it has begun), secondly without Rotary Club of Tampa-Hyde Park’s sponsorship and Rotary District 6890’s generous scholarship and finally without my family and friends support.
For those of you that haven’t gotten all of the news over the past year since studying abroad last summer here is a quick rundown of events, cliff notes version:
Start last year of JD/MBA, meet amazing girl named Emily at UF tailgate, work 7 jobs at one point, date amazing girl named Emily, take trip to NYC with Emily after falling for my charm…..proceed to miss flight home…smooth, take job as a legal intern at Jabil Circuit, take final consulting trip to Honduras, graduate from Stetson with JD/MBA, take FL Bar, go on cruise with Emily and her family, go to Wisconsin and NC with Brother for 2 weeks to see mom, buy engagement ring thanks Uncle Stafford and Aunt Sallie Mae, get engaged to Emily (luckiest guy in the world), finish reading Atlas Shrugged and A Reason for God (yeah interesting dual book reading both worth the read), watch final season of Entourage (great ending), you get the gist…..it’s been a big year.
Now here we are back to blogging about traveling but now with a smidge more maturity, graduate schooling final wrapped up, a very significant other back home (thanks Em) and a lot longer of a trip. I am going to be coming back Dec. 12 from Singapore to spend time with Emily and the family but will be back to Singapore after Christmas, likely back for good mid April. So if any of you are feeling the travel itch, or swinging by Southeast Asia, please let me know.
A few things I have done and noticed since leaving:
Done
1) Eaten a lot of food, they have great food for cheap in Hawker centers aka indoor food markets (haven’t had any stomach issues yet so that’s good)
2) Visited the National Museum of Singapore, very cool, pictures are up on Facebook
3) Bought a cell phone in Little India……haggle haggle haggle
4) Found out at midnight sitting on Singapore River that I passed the FL Bar
5) Watched the Gators victory over Tennessee at 5 am on my computer in my hostel lounge in Chinatown
6) Video Skyped into one of my best friends, Lonnie Whitehead, wedding. Watched the wedding ceremony and had my own table at the reception…thanks Lonnie and Shannon
Noticed/Learned
1) Japanese runways and terminal signage are only in English there is not one word/character of Japanese
2) Singapore kind of like a big metropolis based in a tropical jungle paradise…..except there are malls everywhere…I mean everywhere
3) It costs nearly $40,000 to just get the rights to own a car (that’s not even including the cost of purchasing a car)
4) The country of Singapore is growing everyday….literally, they just keep adding dirt to the island edges. One day you have beachfront the next day you are staring at a new condominium, enjoy that property value depreciation.
Miss you all.
-Andrew
