Half a Day at NUS

I had to go down to NUS for some pre-admission medical screening, so I long bang tagged along with my mum early in the morning to the National University of Singapore (NUS) at Kent Ridge.

The university was inaugurated on the 8th of August , 1980 with the merger of the Nanyang University (1956) and the University of Singapore (1962). It was preceded by the University of Malaya which was formed in 1949 when two institutions, the King Edward VII College of Medicine (1905) and Raffles College (1928) merged. The University of Malaya became University of Singapore in 1962.

The Nantah campus was renamed Nanyang Technological Institute in August 1980 after the merger and upgraded to a full-fledge university in May 1996, now known as Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The area that the campus was located is known as Kent Ridge, it has a colourful history during the World War II period, Bukit Chandu was the site of a fierce 48-hour Battle for Pasir Panjang. In fact a heritage trail runs through the university.

I was there early, the Deck has a few people around 6 plus. The stores are all busy preparing for the day. They were cooking, packing, arranging and cleaning. Traffic started to pick up around 7-7.30 with more students coming to canteen with their laptops, some going to the store to ask for beancurd and getting drinks from the drinks store. Once the shutters were up, a queue starts to form in front of the Economic Bee Hoon store. Work started as soon as it begun.

I left for the medical screening at 7.30. Medical screening was quick. There was this lady who seemed to know what she is doing, and giving orders here and there to ensure a smooth running of things.

It was about 8-9+ when I went back to the Deck again where I met a friend of mine. The canteen was quite busy by then. The Economic Bee Hoon store has a consistent queue, in contrast to the Japanese store next to it. I bid farewell to my busy mum and left.

Coming down to Arts Canteen gave me the opportunity to witness how busy and how much she worked all this while. It has been hard on her, I must give her a treat someday =/

On my way to the bus stop outside the library, I spotted this green feathery thing on the pavement. It was a parakeet but I not sure what breed it was. Adorable but defensive little fellow! It kept chasing my cameras and shoes. It was busy with some leaves on the pavement. I spotted a metal ring around one of its legs, some kind of tag?

Well, I would be spending at least my next 4-5 years here. I will be back soon.

Okay it is time to leave before it gets me!