- My name is Jane, I am a fourth year senior
at Yale NUS College, and I'm an anthropology major.
I'm actually not originally from Singapore.
I'm was born and raised in Wisconsin,
which is in the United States.
And I actually kind of chanced upon Yale NUS.
I actually originally applied to Yale
through the common app and on the last question
it asks you to check a box if you want
to forward your application to Yale NUS.
At the time I had actually never heard
of the school at all.
So I did a quick Google search, read the Wikipedia page,
and said this sounds interesting,
but I probably won't go there
'cause it's halfway around the world.
And then actually I did an interview,
I wrote a supplement, and then I got in!
And it was really exciting 'cause it was
one of the first schools that I heard back from.
But at the time I was still thinking,
I'm probably not going to want to go there.
It's so far away, I didn't really consider it as an option.
And then in April of my senior year,
Yale NUS flew all accepted students out
to see the campus and see Singapore
and kind of experience what life felt like.
And I just remember it feeling super right
and being so confused 'cause I was like,
there's no way I can go there.
There's no way I'm going to move to Singapore,
but at the same time it felt so right.
And it felt like the place I needed to be.
So I made the decision to come here.
It was because of the people that I met.
It was such a diverse range of experiences.
I think not only in the superficial way,
which is like different nationalities,
different ethnicities, but also just different
education systems, different life experiences.
Lots of people have taken gap years.
There are a lot of people who have done
two years of army before coming in.
So we're all coming from different places
and bringing those perspectives in.
At the time I thought that was really cool,
and I think seeing it play out over these
past three years has been even more impactful.
It's even deeper than I originally thought it would be.
Seeing it both in the classroom,
realizing how American my perspective was,
even as somebody who was born and raised in America
but to Chinese immigrant parents,
I didn't really think I was that American,
but realizing how my perspective
was shaped by where I grew up.
And then seeing so many different perspectives
from other people have been really cool.
This is Koi; it's a really good bubble tea place
that every time I walk by it,
I feel a pull to go buy it.
I think I might get it a bit too much,
but it's really nice and refreshing.
There's like pearls inside, I guess 70% sugar,
which is probably too much for my own health,
but it's fine.
And it's just a nice treat after a long day.
- Durian, are known as the king of fruits.
They are different sizes.
They are sweet, sour, bigger, and different textures.
Some are more slimy, some less slimy.
But generally foreigners don't like the smell
and the taste of it, and it takes some getting used to.
So locals enjoy it, but it will be a time
before you get used to it.
You should try some.
Do you like it?
- I actually like the smell a lot more than the taste.
I don't like texture; it's really weird.
I think the smell is somewhat weird, but in a good way.
So right now we're at Clementi Food Center.
It's a hawker center which is about 10 minutes
away from Yale NUS, so it's really easy
to get here by bus, or you can even walk here
in like 15 to 20 minutes.
But there's direct buses that come to this mall.
And behind the mall there's this hawker center
and they sell all kinds of food, local food,
and it's really cheap.
So here we have laksa, this was three dollars.
We have arogya and this was also three dollars.
And then we have chicken rice, and this was four dollars
but actually it'd be cheaper
but I got two different kinds of meat.
I think arogya is a good example
of how Singapore is kind of an amalgamation of cultures.
So it's like kind of Malaysian.
- Malay - Indian
- Yeah, Malay - Indian food but also mixed with oyotal,
which is very common in Chinese desserts.
We have a set of practice rooms so people can actually,
like this one has a keyboard in it,
acapella groups will practice in here sometimes.
There's another room over there which is the jamming room.
I think that one has an amp, a guitar, a drum set.
So we have different areas that students
can actually use to come practice
either on their own or with groups.
So this is our performance hall.
I think it seats about 300, so it's actually not
a super big space but it is the largest
gathering space we have on our campus.
So our freshman lectures all happen here,
and after freshman year usually you don't have
any classes that are the lecture theater style.
We also have performances, drama performances,
musicals, acapella shows, presidential speaker series.
So we had the president of Iceland speak here before.
So just a lot of these kind of big,
all-school events happen here.
This is the Saga buttery, also known as the shiok shack.
So what butteries are, is that we have three on campus,
one for each residential college,
and they are kind of late night hubs for food,
so they'll be student chefs who are cooking
stuff to sell off a menu.
And this is also a place where people study,
both at night and during the day.
So right now some people are studying inside.
This one also has a TV and an Xbox in it,
as well as a pool table.
So actually I spend a lot of my time in the buttery.
I've been working as a chef in the buttery
ever since first semester of freshman year.
So the buttery is really something
that I've kept up with and that I really enjoy doing.
It's a really great way to meet
a lot of different kinds of students
that I wouldn't necessarily meet on a normal basis.
And I also really like pool.
Pool is something that I've gotten very into.
It's something that I enjoy coming down
and just playing and meeting people basically.
So in Yale NUS all of our rooms are either
in sextets or quartets inside of a suite.
So what the suite has is, like the rooms are all arranged.
So in Saga, which is the residential college I live in,
they're all arranged down a hallway.
In Cendana, which is another residential college,
they're arranged around a suite area.
And that's Germaine, Germaine come here.
This is Germaine. - What's up?
- She's rushing out, but so yeah this has five,
four other people right now 'cause we have
one empty room, and then we live in a suite,
and then we have a suite common area, like a living room,
and then a shared bathroom.
So Yale NUS, the campus is actually situated
right along side the NUS campus.
So we're actually located in this place
called University Town, which is U Town for short.
And there's a bunch of other residential colleges
that are NUS residential colleges
where people live for maybe one or two years,
but they don't necessarily study all together.
So it's really nice that we're situated
right next to the NUS main campus
because one, we have the option to take classes
at NUS and NUS students also have the option
to take classes at Yale NUS.
There's a lot of two way relationship there.
It's also possible to join their clubs.
They've got acapella.
I know people who have joined their dance groups before,
sports teams, because they've got varsity sports teams
whereas we don't necessarily have varsity sports teams.
And also just sharing facilities, so right now
we're actually next to Starbucks and also
this very nice green pasture called U Town Green.
And we've had frisbee practices here before.
People like to just sit here and have picnics.
And then also the food courts that are around here
are nice places to go if you want to get out
of the dining halls but you don't
necessarily want to go out.
(mellow pop music)
Today we're here at IFGs, the inter-faculty games,
which is when the different faculties
of NUS complete against each other
and Yale NUS also participates in that.
So this happens once a semester, in the Fall.
And then in the Spring it's inter college games,
which is against other residential colleges.
So this is badminton and today I'm playing
floor ball and net ball.
And usually every year it's really fun
because it's not a super high level competition.
It's not like varsity sports which are really intense.
But it's a good opportunity for people
who are interested in trying out different sports
to get an opportunity to actually play competitively
and also build like really good relationship
between the teams.
So come to Yale NUS.
I think it's one of the best groups
of people I have ever met.
I think that it's really a community
of so many different diverse perspectives
and backgrounds and everyone here just really
wants to learn and grow as people.
It's not just about academics; it's not just about partying.
I think it's a very good balance
of having fun and also working hard,
and supporting each other a lot.
It's a very supportive community.
You really get to know the people around you,
what motivates them, why they are the way they are.
And it's just a really great school to be at.
So definitely apply to Yale NUS and come here!