Living in Singapore

It's a question that I received a lot in the past. So for those who didn't know, it's nearly 2 years since I moved to Singapore. I currently pursuing a Product Design degree at Lasalle College of The Arts and I'm on my second year now.

I received a lot of questions about living in Singapore, so might as well I post about it!

HOW MUCH DO YOU SPEND PER MONTH?
I receive this question most often, especially when I went somewhere with my friend from Indonesia.
Do remember that Singapore is an expensive country. At first it was a total culture shock for me, especially because I came from Indonesia. I could spend almost more than S$ 10 dollar per day only on food, and I even 'enjoy' my meal in hawker center! Not to mention that I'm renting a unit of HDB here and it is a totally different thing comparing to Indonesia's kosan. But in average, I spent around S$ 2500 - S$ 2700 per month (includes everything, from renting, utilities bill, transportation, etc)

HOW DO YOU OPEN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT IN SINGAPORE?
I open my bank account under DBS. Because there's a lot of people that use DBS here (in Indonesia, it is similar to BCA). Moreover, it is very easy for me to find DBS' ATM.
So if you're studying here, you can open a bank account very easily. The assistant there are super friendly and helpful, and they're more than happy to help you. If I'm not wrong, you need a certain amount of deposit at first, I don't really remember but for mine I think is around S$ 3000.

HOW IS YOUR SCHOOL LIFE?
Nothing much, my daily activities consisting of school and my house only. If in Jakarta every weekend I could go out with my friend, in Lasalle, sometimes I spend my weekend at campus.

In my program, what we did is the lecturer will give us the design brief, and that's it. Their role in our learning process is to be our design consultant. We search for our own research, for the thing that we want to tackle, the target market, mostly everything. Sometimes, they will teach us some theory like the design history and they somehow force us to know the latest designers, trend, and material. Other than that, we develop by our own will.

CAN YOU SHOW US SOME OF YOUR WORK?
I don't really show my work to public because I'm a shy person in general. But here is my latest work (a collaboration with fashion program); KONTRAS







IS THERE ANY GREAT PLACE IN SINGAPORE?
Honestly speaking, one of Singapore greatest charm is their shopping center, no other than the famous Orchard Road. You can find almost everything here. Another shopping place that you might want to try is Haji Lane. I personally think there's nothing much to buy but the stores there are just so irresistible and you can also take instagram-worthy photos there.
But if you're not into shopping, you can go and explore Singapore. Singapore has a lot of hidden gem, take Henderson Waves, Gardens by The Bay, and Macritchie Reservoir for example. If you're not on your budget, you can also go to Clarke Quay and Ann Siang Hill to enjoy your dinner there.



HOW DO YOU TRAVEL AROUND?
I could never afford a car here. Furthermore, the public transportation here is good enough for me. although it is very tedious during the peak hours, other than that I could travel around Singapore in ease. All you need is EZ-LINK card that you can easily purchase at every MRT station. You can top-up your card at MRT station, 711, and sometimes at ATM

HOW IS THE ENTERTAINMENT IN SINGAPORE?
You got cinemas, amusement park, park, shopping center, cafe, basically everything that you have in Jakarta, Indonesia. It's just in more expensive version. However, because I don't have that much time, I don't really go to those kind of places. But obviously I won't miss a chance to watch some of the blockbuster movies like The Avengers, Guardians of The Galaxy, etc.


ANY PLACE THAT YOU RECOMMEND TO TRY IN SINGAPORE?
Depends on what place that you're looking for :)


So those are some basic questions that I often get. If you got any further questions, you can ask me directly at my Ask.fm :)