As I mentioned earlier, I went to NUS with my university friends. We started off the journey from Kent Ridge MRT then walk to Faculty of Medicine through National University Hospital. Then we explored the NUS Medicine museum before heading to Faculty of Science. That’s when we got really lost there and it was quite hilarious. Byron, Kuei Ni, Geck Keat and myself just laughed out loud at ourselves. It’s quite refreshing. It’s totally giving Las Vegas vibes – whatever happens stays within ourselves at that moment. 😀
Then we found our way and took bus 95 when it came to Yusof Ishak House before walking to University Town. We had this really amusing conversation when we were walking over.
Me: The tree is still there! (not sure of the tree name but it is at the entrance of University Town pathway)
Byron: Erm….. (fully judging me)
Geck Keat: Because of bai nian shu ren! (literally translated to it takes a 100 years to build the tree/human)
Byron: Wow. Simply wow.
Me: Wow (shocked expression and started shaking hands with Geck Keat for her action of defending me haha)
We had our lunch at the korean restaurant, Hwang, which was there for over a decade. Even the soondubu soup tasted the same! It’s definitely deja vu. It’s the best comfort food I have and it’s very nice to be able to revisit it. I never liked to dine alone in my school days but I will dine alone at Hwang. It’s also my comfort food when I am feeling really stressed with school and home. I also have my meals before my orchestra practice after it moved from CFA to University Town.
After lunch, we chatted a bit before heading to find Chicha San Chen. It’s quite cool that they actually have the self service machine too. I think that’s the only Chicha San Cheng store that I know that has the self service machine. So cool! Rayner and Yi Lin joined us after lunch.
Then we walked out of University Town and went to NUS Museum. It’s actually new as I never seen the exhibitions before. Glad that we followed Geck Keat’s recommendation for it. 🙂 We also saw the new residential buildings that is probably like condo for faculty staff (aka professors). It actually looked quite nice from outside. So nice of NUS to provide such luxurious looking residential units for their professors. Although I don’t think the inside looked that nice lah. Haha. Well, I am just guessing. Lol.
We then proceeded to Faculty of Engineering and was quite shocked at how much have changed. We can recognise the older buildings but the newer parts is really shocking.
We can no longer recognise the Engineering canteen and it is extremely sad. I really love the old Engineering canteen. 🙁 So much memories there.
Then we went to School of Design and Environment (SDE) and was a bit lost there. Well, I wanted to find the spot where the hornbill which YJ mentioned was spotted. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it then we gave up. We discovered a very different side of NUS though and the entire vibe is quite different. I think the most epic is this “Bee Hub” which we literally thought is some bee related stuff but it turned out to be some workshop place. Lol.
We also discovered there are like at least 5 wild chickens roaming around in SDE too.
We then went to Central Library and wow, the entire place looked really different. You can now enter the library from ground floor. 😮 Anyway, we proceeded to go to School of Computing. Yes, we skipped Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences because it is about to rain and is getting late. We are also old and is getting quite tired. Jonathan and Si Hui joined us at this time too.
COM1 building is still the same and wow, there are many students around, unlike other buildings. Well, I’m glad that School of Computing is making their students work really hard because when they go to workforce, it will be even harder. Lol. Just look at me. I literally work till 1am almost daily. 🙁 Anyway, we went to the new Biz/Computing canteen and it looks quite different. NUS really renovated all their canteens. We cannot recognise Science, Engineering and Computing canteens. I feel the saddest when it comes to Engineering canteens because of all the memories there. My core memory from university days. :'( Anyway, we were trying to find COM3, the new building and it took us some time before we found it. It’s like in between COM1 and COM2. It’s quite interesting because it adopted the circular architecture. To be honest, that’s what attracted me to want to come to NUS to explore. It certainly does not disappoint. What we noticed is that for the new building, there are a lot more research labs and tons of PhD students there. Then we walked past 1 out of 3 staff offices there and noticed how between every few office, there is a balcony like area. Not sure why though. COM3 also have a rooftop garden and there’s even steps/staircases to climb up too. Not sure why the staircase is there. It’s as if it is enabling people to jump down from the building? Creepy. I didn’t go there and see because it was raining which was a pity. The rooftop garden does look quite interesting.
I don’t know why the professor/staff offices are like all glass. It’s like no privacy for the professors. I texted Alex and Jin Quan about it and they are like… maybe it is designed this way? So cannot do anything intimate behind closed doors? Well, given all the sex scandals related to NUS, I can certainly see why it is designed this way. LOL! Even some of the bigger research labs for PhD students are also in glass walls/doors at COM3.
It’s a pity that it was raining when we were there. COM3 will look quite nice with sunset though. I love the circular architecture and I can see potential in taking nicer photos if it is not raining. I do like the rooftop garden. Will I go back again? No. NUS is simply just way too far.
So that’s it. That concluded our NUS hiking tour and gosh, we were so tired after the entire hiking journey. Lasted about 5 hrs? That’s intensive. I took more photos but didn’t upload all of them on my Instagram.
Let’s see which university we will go visit next! My friends were thinking of NTU or SUTD but let’s see. Haha. Definitely loving to explore my home country like a tourist in university campus – especially without the school stress. Haha. 😀 I already have my Bachelor and Master degrees. Definitely not going for more degrees and also not going for PhD. Unless I relocate to US or Canada, then I may consider taking a part time PhD to pass my time. Lol.
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