Day One

Mt. Rainier from the airplane in Seattle.

I arrived in Singapore early this morning local time. Of course, I completely forgot about the law and was chewing gum as I got off the plane. The first thing I saw was two military security personnel in full fatigues carrying massive machine guns. Yikes! I swallowed my gum. (Because I'm sure their main priority is offenses such as gum chewing.) 

After that close encounter with law enforcement, I made it through customs quickly, changed over some money, and got a taxi to NUS. My taxi driver gave me two bananas for breakfast. A campus security officer was there to greet me at the entrance to Prince George Park Residences. He carried my suitcase to my room (poor guy - it weighed 49.8 lbs). 

The first thing I did in my new room was take a shower. Even at 2:30am, it's incredibly humid. I also Skyped with Mom, Dad, and Leigh, who were out apartment hunting for Leigh in Boston. I unpacked and sent some emails and read my book and ended up staying awake until around 6am... oops. I finally fell asleep and slept until almost 5pm... oops again.

My room! Yes I stole two blankets from the airplane.

This evening, I ventured around campus and found a cafeteria for dinner. I ran into two of the guys from my group who I met in D.C., and we all ate together. The food was really good and cheap - plus the portions are huge, so I have leftovers for at least two more meals. I also went shopping at the market on campus for breakfast food and a notebook for lab. 

Tomorrow I have orientation from 8:30am-12pm. After that, I'm going to buy a phone and a Metro card, and hopefully go see my lab! Currently my DNA samples are in the shared fridge on my hall, so I should probably move those soon. 

A strange bug bit my thigh, so now I have a gross bug bite in addition to the massive bruise from skiing. Also I just saw a spider in my bathroom - ahhhhh! This is going to take some getting used to.

OK, I should probably sleep so I can get over my jet lag. Look for a post later this week :). Miss you all!!!! -Ann