One of the key features of studying abroad is traveling within your host country and to nearby destinations. As a student in Singapore, there are multiple ways to travel within the university campus and around Singapore. I have listed five methods of transportation that I have used to get around Singapore.
1. Walking: At GW, I'm accustomed to walking to get to class, extracurricular activities, and exploring D.C. However, the campus at NUS is not only significantly larger than that of GW but also has more hills and slopes. Moreover, the constant humidity and heat in Singapore makes it difficult to travel long distances by foot. Consequently, most people do not walk everywhere around the campus of NUS. Fortunately, most classes in similar departments and areas of study are located close to each other. In Singapore, "colleges" replaced with the name "faculty of". For example, the GW College of Arts and Sciences is called the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS. Each of the faculties around campus have their own cafeterias. This also makes it much easier for students to walk and find food between classes.
2. Bus: Because of the sheer size of the campus, NUS provides free bus transportation around different faculties and dorms. This is the main form of transportation around NUS. There are four main bus lines: A, B, C, and D. The D buses take me from my dorm to my classes at the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The A, B, and C buses also travel to many of the same stops as the D buses as well as other places that the D bus does not go to. The bus also stops at the nearest metro station on campus called the Kent Ridge Station. The buses have wifi, are air conditioned, have a few seats for people to sit on. However, during the day, the bus is often packed with students. There is also an app called NUS NextBus that tells students when the next bus will arrive at their stop. Unfortunately, the buses do not run on constant schedule. Sometimes I only have to wait for two to five minutes for the bus whereas other times I have to wait more than twenty minutes. These buses run from approximately 9am to 11:20pm. In addition to the bus offered by the university, at least two local metro bus lines run at limited stops around campus. While it costs money, these buses are very helpful when I am trying to travel somewhere off campus or if it is past 11:20pm. However, the local buses also stop running around 12:30am so it is important to try to manage your time to make sure you can get a bus back to your room.