Sunset Boulevard

During our second week, we pretty much got used to the everyday routine here in Singapore. Our days consist of nine hours in school, where we work on our projects, and rest of the day we usually just relax at our apartment or go refresh ourselves in campus' swimming pool.

In the weekend we went to downtown to visit the 1-Altitude bar, the highest alfresco bar in the world. Before that we ate at the bank of Singapore river in a nice local sea food restaurant. The food was good and delicious (Although Eero was rather disappointed with the portion size). Price of the meals were around S$30 (around 20 €) and a jug of beer cost S$9 during happy hour. The view was gorgeous and we had a great time. After our dinner we took a taxi and headed to the Altitude bar. The taxi was easy to pickup and it was inexpensive. 

View of Raffles Place

Searching for restaurant

Janne enjoying the view

Eero waiting for dinner

Once we arrived to the building, we bought our tickets to the bar, which is located at the top of One Raffles Place building. There wasn't much of a queue when we arrived so we didn't have to wait long to get to the elevator. The elevator had a glass wall so we could see our ascent to the 63rd floor. We managed to arrive to the top just in time to witness the sunset in all of its glory. There was also a wedding ceremony held at the top and later we witnessed a proposal. 

The view of the city was magnificent and the evening was magical overall. The experience is really hard to put into words so you just have to be there yourself. Even the pictures don't do justice but here are some of the pictures we took.

Santeri at the 1-Altitude

Sunset

City lights

Lights in the dark

Eero, Janne, Santeri

City Lights

Three weeks have passed very quickly. We've seen and done alot but haven't had time to write our blog. Now we thought that it is a good time to catch up with the writing and tell you what we've done the past three weeks. So let's start with our first weekend. 

Queue Hard: With a Vengance

During our first week we only had two school days in which we started our projects. On Friday Mr. Wee took us to the Visitor Service Centre to get our Student Passes. The pass works as an ID for foreigners in Singapore.

The bureaucratic process was different than we are used to. In Singapore we had to queue on several different counters to get our passes. In Finland most of the applications are handled electronically nowadays.  It took us 5 to 6 hours to finalize our applications to get our ID's. One of the reasons the process took so long was that our Finnish passport photos were not applicable to the Singaporean authorities, the pictures were too shiny. You should get the photos from the Visitors Service Centre before queuing. Against all odds we got through and kept our sanity. Mr. Wee took us to a local restaurant and generously paid for the lunch. After eating our group decided to see the Chinatown.

Chinatown

The heat was real. Hey remember that movie Heat? It is a really good film. Well, the weather was hot and the sun was shining. We didn't do anything special because it was the day time and most of the establishments were closed but the area was beautiful. There were a lot of old buildings and temples. We spent only few hours in Chinatown but we're definitely going to visit there again.

Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple

Sleepless in Singapore

We had heard about Clarke Quay, a place where we could find an active night life in Singapore. So we decided to spent our Friday evening there. It was easy to get there by the MRT. When we arrived to Clarke Quay the place was already full of people: Locals, expats and visitors like us. The view was composed of high-rises and the lights of the Clarke Quay. After a brief walk we found a cozy place near the water and ordered food and beer.

Our first view of the Clarke Quay

The price of the food was around the same than in Finland the drinks were somewhat cheaper during the happy hour. When we finished our drinks and food we proceeded to explore the rest of Clarke Quay. There were a lot of bars, pubs and night clubs. From the center square we chose one bar and got in. To our surprise there was a live band performing. They played their own interpretations of popular songs. The original songs weren't something we would listen but hearing them performed by a live band made a difference. The drink prices inside the bar were rather expensive: The cheapest beer was around S$16 which is about 10,50 €. Time flies when you're having fun.

Dinner by the river

Local band performing

After enjoying a few drinks and watching the band play we decided to go to eat and then head to the
apartment. Hailing a taxi was easy. Taxi prices are low in Singapore compare at least to Finland. The trip to our apartment cost around S$15. Overall it was a great experience!

The Tourist

Saturday morning we headed to Jurong East where we knew there was a shopping mall, The mall was larger than what we're used to see in Finland. Janne got a haircut from a local barbershop and was satisfied with the results. It was very affordable (S$ 15) compared to Finland and the service took around 15 minutes. There was no reservation required, only thing that Janne had to do was to write his name down in a queue list.


Like in most places the mall had a food court with wide selection of cuisines. Meal prices were around 5 to 8 dollars and the quality was a bit higher than what we've eaten normally. Basement floor had a supermarket which carried products from all over Asia especially from Japan. Also it is worth mentioning that the mall had a lot of international clothing chains e.g. Marks & Spencer and UniQlo.

Mixed beef noodle soup

The next day we headed out to the Singapore Zoo. This was the first time we witnessed Singaporean rain and of course we decided to leave our umbrellas back home. The Zoo didn't really include anything special than other zoos but they let some of the monkeys roam around free. According to the Singapore Wildlife Reserves' website the Singapore Zoo contributes to the global conservation effort with captive breeding programs of endangered animals. In 2014, the zoo bred over 100 animals, many of them endangered or threatened in wild. Also, the zoo is evolving from being a "viewing park" to a "learning park" and it showed. There were many plaques that educated the visitors about abuse towards animals and how to prevent it at consumer level.




Eero, Janne, Santeri

The Three Stooges

Hi!

My name is Santeri and I'm on the left in the picture. I'm a producer student from Kajaani University of Applied Sciences class TTK14. I moved to Kajaani from Joensuu and I have enjoyed my stay so far. Games industry has been an interesting experience after the first year, and I'm expecting the following years to be as exciting as the first one. Traveling has been always close to my hearth. In the spring I went to Casual Connect in Amsterdam and I wanted to go abroad again as soon as possible. When I got the change to go to Singapore during the summer, I didn't have to think twice. So far it has been great. It's been warm and there are plenty of beautiful girls.

I've undertook many tasks in Kajaani. When I go back I start as a sport tutor and as the CEO of Kajak Games. I've tried to stay active in both school and during the spare time. I'll write posts both with the guys and alone.

Santeri



I am Eero (on the right hand side in the picture). Like Santeri, I am also from class TTK14 from Kajaani UAS and I study video game producing and design. I've been born and raised in Finland's Turku. Before studying in Kajaani I worked as a chef during the winter season in Ylläs (in the Lapland). I like to challenge myself and perhaps that's one of the reasons why I ended up in Kajaani and in Singapore.

Now I have my first year behind which has been marvelous. I have been active at school. I am a tutor, a council member of the student union KAMO, and a member of the board in Kajak Games. Also, in the autumn I start as the lead of the Kajak Games quality assurance team. The exchange in Singapore has been nice so far and I look forward to what the coming months have to offer.

Eero



I, in the middle, am Janne. As both the other guys I study production and design. I'm also in the class TTK14. Before game development studies I got a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Oulu University of Applied Sciences. Game industry has always been a great interest to me so I decided to go to study production and design at Kajaani UAS. I've travelled much so the possibility to go to Singapore sounded awesome, especially when I haven't had the change to travel to Asia. It has been brilliant here.

I am a tutor and a council member in the student union. In the autumn I start as an EVP of Kajak Games. I also conducted a survey about our first year's studies with Eero for the first year students. I'm sure our time here in Singapore will be superb.

Janne

At the world's highest al fresco bar (282m)

Training Day

We woke up at 8am ready for our first school day in Singapore. The air was filled with excitement. We didn't hold any kind of information about our project teams, or what we would be doing during the summer. After the breakfast we headed out of our air conditioned apartments, and very soon Singapore would remind us about its tropical weather. It's a good that we won't ever have to worry about the weather being too cold. The only thing we have to worry about is if we need our umbrellas with us.

During the day time we were able to observe our campus' surroundings on our way to school. Outside of our apartment we saw multiple tennis and basketball courts. Gigantic palm trees and different fountains decorated the campus ground.

We arrived to the School of Interactive & Digital Media building where we will complete our project studies. Currently I can't really talk about the project itself due to my NDA, but I'll try to write a post about it later on. The school days start at 9am and end at 6pm. During the weekdays after school I tend to go to the gym or swimming. We spend our weekends exploring the city and different attractions.

Singaporeans are very polite people. During our first day my team members took us to see the schools canteens and campus surroundings. There are three canteens inside our school and each canteen includes several food stalls. There are a lot of different cuisines, for example Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and Japanese.

Our campus has a huge sports field where the local students gather to play different sports after school. Next to the field there are multiple gyms from which only one is in free use to all the students. You can also find different kind of club activities in the halls of the schools, like for example weight lifting and martial arts. Next to our gym there is a pool area that includes three swimming pools and deck chairs. Sometimes it feels like we're staying in a hotel..

Santeri

The main hall

The inner yard of the campus

The sports field

The swimming pools

Road to Singapore

2.6.2015

After a long flight we arrived at Singapore Changi Airport. We walked to the baggage claim only a hot shower and warm bed on our minds. We didn't have to wait for the heat long, it hit us like a wet towel as the moment we went outside. It was over 30 degrees outside and the humidity was over 70 %. We should've thought twice before wearing chinos. It didn't took long for the heat to make us regret our clothing decisions. So, if you come to Singapore, just wear a t-shirt and shorts.

We got a taxi, and headed to our apartment. We looked outside of the windows and the view wasn't something we're used to. The view composed of high-rises and between them tropical parks. The ride took under half an hour and we arrived at Ang Mo Kio block 168. Our driver gave us the bags and wished us a happy stay in Singapore. We didn't have keys nor information what to do. We waited at the entrance of the building and little by little the weather wore us down. We discussed how to proceed, but it was already the evening, so the school wasn't open. Then, like a miracle from the sky, we saw familiar faces. We haven't ever been this happy to see engineers. We got our keys and after comparing notes we headed upstairs.

Nanyang Polytechnic Entrance from Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 (not the main entrance) 

Our apartment was cozy and roomy. We changed to something more suitable for the tropic weather . Then we headed out to the Singapore's night. This is the start of our adventure.


Eero, Janne, Santeri


PS
We don't recommend eating pizza at the Istanbul Airport. Quality/Price ratio 0/5.