1 Month

It has been one month since I came to Brunei and I have gotten used to living here, so I will write down some random thing I found and felt during my stay.

Living in Brunei

Living here is actually a lot more confortable than I thought. Dorm is nicely cleaned up, and air conditioning is everywhere. Although outside is hot and humid, inside is confortable (sometimes cold!). 

Islamic culture isn't so strict compared to what I thought before coming here, although there are some restrictions, such as we have to wear pants which sleeves are below knees. There are Islamic Mosks and two praying time per day, non-Islamic people don't have to obey that rule. Since Friday is special praying day, weekdays are Friday and Sunday, instead of Saturday and Sunday. 

People here speak at least Malay and English fluently. But it seems that more people use Malay more often than English, because everyone chats with each other in Malay, rather than English.

Difficulty of Living here as a Foreigner

Dorm is consisted of rooms, each of which has four small room, where students stay. Kitchen and bathroom are shared in the room. It is 10 minutes walk from university campass.

There are some difficulties living here.There is no supermarket inside campass, and you cannot go outside campass without using cars. Highways are directly connected to university, so roads are not designed for pedestrians. I have to ask buddies (students who support foreign students) to go shopping. 

Buddies are supportive to foreigners and I am so thankful to them. They have helped me right from the start, including going to shopping, but acknowleding us about various events, and course registration. 

Food is another problem. Since we cannot go shopping often and vegetables in supermarkets are not that fresh, I haven't cooked yet. My diet has become unhealthy. I eat instant noodles and rice(My room had a ricecooker!) mainly. There are fast food restraunts (KFC, and Malay food restraunts) at the main building of dorms, so I sumetimes go there. I really miss Japanese dish so much. 

Last problem is exercising. There are not much opportunities to go outside and move my body. It is 30 degrees celcius in daytime, and it is too dark at night. Nowadays, I only move the distance between campass and dorm. Unless joining a sport club, you will end up living a super quiet life.

My Classes

All the classes are taught in English, and the levels are quite high. There are 2 hour class plus 1 hour tutorial (small-group, discussion-main class) class. Although whether doing tutorial or not depend on professor, I have tutorials in all the classes.

I took two social science course (Spatial Development, Literature of Southeast Asia), and one Programming course, and Malay Language course.

It reminds me of what universities should like !! Professors are enthusiatic about teaching, and the class is interesting, so it makes me go class for learn. Not to just acquire credits to graduate...

I will end here for today. I will continue my blog everyday. The topics will be random, but I'm gonna write three things I will learn everyday. Hopefully, by some time, my English and writing will get better and more readable.

See you next day!