Lifestyle and Culture in Singapore
A good way to discover Singapore history is through the heritage trails on the island, taking you to historical monuments and sites. For those of you favoring city sights, the bright lights of Singapore are for you! You can choose from many of its shopping malls, museums and dining, along a thriving arts and cultural scene. The nightlife is varied with themed nightclubs, clubs (on an enormous scale!), live music bars, pubs and beach bars. Singapore is also a food-lover paradise and the hardest thing to do will be to choose which cuisine (Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan) you want to try first.
If sports are what you enjoy, there is plenty to suit all students. World-class facilities cater for all kinds of sports, even winter sports (despite a tropical climate!). The sunny and hot climate means that outdoor pursuits such as wakeboarding, windsurfing, and dragonboat racing can be done year-round (except during monsoon seasons). Not forgetting to mention, food, a big part of Singaporean culture, and there are numerous restaurants and food stalls to choose from. From a bowl of noodles at a hawker centre to the tasting menu at a celebrity restaurant, diners can find just about every type of cuisine and eatery in Singapore.
Wondering about the language? Most people speak English, and government signs are posted in Singapore’s four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay (Bahasa) and Tamil. At hawker food stalls, or once your colleagues at work are comfortable with you, you’ll soon be exposed to a constant stream of Singapore’s unique brand of English Singaporeans often tend to place the good of the nation before everything else, certainly before the individual. The idea of community and society, though not as important as national welfare, is an important aspect of life in Singapore. The same is true for family values, reverence for one’s elders, and then respect for the individual.
