It's that time of the semester again. After four months of doing the bare minimum amount of work, students hustle to cram four months of knowledge in their brains during finals seasons. This universally dreaded season, that lasts from April 28th to May 12th this year, is not too much different at NUS as it is at GW. One key similarity is that every study space is jam packed with students reading class textbooks for the first time or reviewing online lectures for classes they barely attended.
To find out your exam date, you have to go to NUS's equivalent of Blackboard called IVLE. Each course has its final exam date listed in the course page. It's really helpful to know when your final exam dates are so you can plan trips and the flight back home easier. This semester, my exams are on April 30th, May 2nd, and May 9th. Additionally, I recently had an unofficial final exam for my Public Health in Action class. Perhaps its just my classes, but I have found that a lot of classes at NUS offer open note exams. I was allowed any soft copy material for my public health exam and will be allowed any hard copy materials for my Global Economic Dimensions of Singapore class. The exam formats are very similar to those at GW: open response essays, multiple choice, and short answer. However, some exams are conducted online on an application called Examplify. Moreover, the exams are worth a greater percentage of the overall grade for the class. With 40% of the grade being class participation, my public health exam is worth an outstanding 60% of my grade!
Like GW, NUS also has a designated reading period for students; however, NUS's reading period is one week long whereas GW's reading period lasts one or two days. While most local students spend that time preparing and reviewing for exams, exchange students use it to make their last few trips to other countries. Many of my friends are going to China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Thailand, and even the UK! I, myself, will be spending three days in Bali, Indonesia. While many of my friends are spending the entire week abroad (while abroad), I have decided to actually use some of the reading week for its actual purpose. I also hope to make a solo trip around Singapore itself during one the reading days.
Because finals are incredibly stressful for students, NUS allocates a lot of time and effort to relaxation and stress management activities for students. These activities range from stamp making sessions to ten minute massage sessions, pet therapy, and yoga sessions. I have also found that a visit from my parents who have been touring South East Asia to be quite relaxing. Despite my family's quirky and eccentric personality, I've enjoyed traveling to Phuket, Thailand with them for a weekend and showing them around Singapore. Having parents visit is not only great to get their company and be a tour guide for a country you've called home for the past four months, it also gives you the chance to enjoy higher quality food without spending any of your own money on it.
As the semester starts to roll towards an end, I have also started to feel nostalgic. April has been a notable month for me on exchange as I have made so many new friends (shoutout to my Brazilian friend Pedro), local and exchange. I've really learned that it's never too late to make new friends. At the GW exchange orientation, I was told about the different levels of ups and downs I would be feeling throughout my exchange semester (image attached, source: http://internationelle.co.uk/category/study-abroad/). While I initially put it off as something that was told but not actually felt, I didn't expect that I would be riding that same rollercoaster of emotions. I'm excited to be back to my normal routine in the States and see my family and friends, but will certainly miss all the memories I've made and people I've met. Luckily, I have two and half weeks left to enjoy Singapore before I leave. Until then, you might find me studying in the local campus Starbucks and cramming with other students preparing for the impending doom of finals! Wish me luck!
