Comment by lowpro | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lowpro | Hacker News Reader

I’m currently in my final week of a semester exchange program in Singapore (from Midwest USA). Even though I’m a student I might have a little different perspective.

As background I’ve already traveled quite a bit with 15 countries and 45 states so I knew a little what I was getting into.

I generally have loved to travel, but this 6mo period has actually made me find some limits and has been pretty tough. I really found some things that make me very uncomfortable culturally and realized I can’t live anywhere I want like I thought I could. I’ve ad some not as good experience here due to several factors, but I’d do it again even knowing that. You really find your limits and the world opens up a lot more. One of the major things for me is even though you can make friends anywhere, if I lived abroad longer I’d have to go where I know at least a friend or 2 already to help me establish roots there. Friends really make or break wherever you are.

I'd be interested in knowing more about the limits you hit in Singapore, if you're willing to share! Singapore is a really interesting city and as someone who moved to Hong Kong a few years ago, I've always wondered what life in Singapore is like.

Well they aren't related to Singapore specifically, more or less Asian culture as being more conservative than American culture. It can be really hard to meet locals here, as many stick to themselves and find talking to a stranger somewhat weird, much less making friends for no reason. This can be seen especially at clubs, where you go and hang with your group of friends rather than meeting new people. I was just in HK for a week and really liked it, it seems more vibrant than Singapore as far as the energy of the city.

Many limits I ran into were personal including health conditions and it turns out humidity really makes me sweat which I never realized. Also in India for some reason eating with my hands made me so uncomfortable, whereas eating with chopsticks was fine and I learned it quickly. The language barrier wasn't too bad since Singapore is English speaking, although the accent can be really difficult sometimes so speaking slowly is sometimes needed. I knew Asian culture was more conservative as I've been to South Korea before and have a lot of friends there from research at my home university, but I really thought I could make local friends anywhere despite a quieter culture and that turned out not to be the case.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com