Tell us about interacting with locals...

Topic:
Tell us about interacting with locals. What did you have in common? What did you find new and exciting?

Unfortunately, there are two things about the research abroad experience in Singapore that have made interacting locals more challenging. One: because you are researching in the summer time, there are much fewer students staying on campus that you can interact with. Two: the nature of Singapore is such that there are many people living there who are either tourists, expats, or international students. As a result, I have not had the opportunity to interact with many locals beyond buying things from people.

From pure observation, however, and from talking to other foreigners living in Singapore, I think that Singaporeans have similar goals and aspirations as people in America. We desire many of the same things out of life and I think that comes from the similarly capitalist societies.

One of the things I found very exciting about the locals is that because Singapore has such a strong international presence, most people have very unique backgrounds. Where I live in Pittsburgh, the vast majority of people in my neighborhood grew up here and came back here when they got older. In Singapore, many people hail from other countries originally and that helps to make my worldview broaden beyond what one might expect from just staying on the little red dot.